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‘You overwhelmed her. She took one look at you and saw your experience showing through—’
Gidley interrupted, waving a hand. ‘Save yer perfume-y words for them that wears such. I know better’n believin’ any yer treacle.’ Then he paused and squinted at Ben. ‘Well, in this case, yer might be right.’ He puffed himself taller. ‘Probably shows right from my eyes what I can do to make a woman beg for my attentions. Just takes once and they be talkin’ about ol’ Gidley for the rest of their lives...assumin’ they survive the pleasure.’ He turned to Ben. ‘I ever tell yer about that woman who fainted dead away at the sight of my manhood?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well it won’t hurt yer to hear it one more time...’
He let Gidley’s words fade from his hearing. He watched the fading sky, wanting so much to step foot on Ascalon and know he finally owned all of her—not just part.
Gidley’s talk penetrated Benjamin’s thoughts when he heard the woman’s name mentioned. ‘Too bad that Thessa one sprouted legs.’
Benjamin thought of Thessa in the sea. He couldn’t get the image of her stepping on to the sand out of his mind.
‘Capt’n, I can see what thoughts is in yer eyes. A sailor doesn’t need a woman to drag him down. ’Specially not for nothin’ permanent. Married man goes to sea—he drowns. You know it as well as I. Weight of leavin’ a family behind pulls him under.’
‘Nonsense. But a man can’t expect a woman to remember him when he’s been gone two years.’
‘Bet yer my braces it be bad luck to marry.’ He looped his thumbs under the leather straps holding up his trousers. ‘No. I don’t bet yer my braces. They’s my lucky ones. But I’m wantin’ to keep yer around, Capt’n. So just yer remember—yer can look. Yer can touch. Yer can promise. But yer can’t say no vows. Not even them short marriages a seaman can give a woman on an island he’ll never see again and her only knowin’ his first name and no other.’
‘I don’t want a woman. I want a ship. You know how I feel about Ascalon. Best ship I’ve ever sailed and better than gold. Even if that treasure’s only broken rocks—Warrington promised me a ship for them. And I’m taking the stones to him—with a ribbon ’round them. He’ll make good on the promise.’
‘Fine talkin’. But a mermaid flash a little tail at you and you be forgettin’.’ Gidley laughed at his own joke. ‘Wouldn’t mind staying on this rock pile, if I had me a mermaid. Long as I didn’t get finned in my man parts. No. I’m thinkin’ wrong. A mermaid would pull the life right out o’ me.’
‘There’s no such thing as mermaids.’ His mind flashed to Thessa stepping from the water.
Gidley snorted. ‘I seen her and so did yer. She just sprouted legs. I know my history, Capt’n. On a moonlit night, don’t get in no water with her—she’ll turn back fish, drown yer and swallow yer just like yer a minnow.’ He raised a brow. ‘Yer has to promise me, Capt’n. No swimmin’ in the moonlight with the woman. All we’d have left o’ yer is yer boots. She may look tasty on the outside, but on the inside she’s all scales, bones and slimy parts.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘Ain’t a man alive now what’s coupled with a mermaid in the water. On land they be fine, but get ’em in the sea and they’s all bite.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘I bet that other sister sports whiskers longer’n my own.’
‘She has big eyes and gills. Smells like bilge water. So get your mind off the women.’
‘Yer seen her last time?’
Benjamin shook his head. ‘Just seeing if you’d believe my fables as well as you do your own. If you mention one more word of that superstitious muck you’ll be tied to the mast, heels up, singing hymns.’
Gidley stopped for a moment. He mused, ‘Wonder if that one swimmin’ has one of them marks like her sister has.’ He touched above his breast. ‘Kind of draws a man’s eyes.’
Instantly, Benjamin’s thoughts jerked back to Thessa’s body. The sight of her stepping on to land. His imagination searched her skin, though the shift hadn’t allowed him to see close enough for a birthmark. His brother had said all the sisters had a small skin discoloration of some sort. The earl claimed it a longing mark. A remnant of something a mother wished for before a child was born.
Benjamin had no longing mark visible but when he looked at Thessa, he felt one deep inside his body coiling and bumping against his skin. He had no belief in mermaids or goddesses, but when he looked at her, he wished he did.
Chapter Three (#ulink_46c155d0-9b11-5d12-9252-d1285cea7ff9)
Even before she left her house to return outside, Thessa thought of the captain standing at the base of her stairway, waiting for her to take him to the stones. She remembered his eyes, surprised at how she hadn’t wanted to turn away from him. He had lightness in his gaze which reminded her of the way the early morning sun shimmered across the blue of the sea—when the golden glow of the morning made her feel she’d awoken into a world fresh and new.
Stephanos would remember the name of the ship that took her sister. He would be angry to see it in the harbour. She would have to talk to him, otherwise the captain would be in danger. Even if the captain worked all night getting the stones, Stephanos would gather the men of the island and attack before the ship could sail. She would have to speak with Stephanos very soon—before the captain lingered on the island digging in the earth.
Thessa opened the door and moved to the top of the stairway. The older man stood away from the house, his eyes on the landscape, but the captain waited for her. When the captain stepped aside so she could descend, she noted the width of his shoulders and the firm line of his lips. He looked no happier to be on the island than her father had been the last time—no man should disdain the island so. But she did want to help her sister and the captain had no knowledge of what could happen to him on the island.
‘You should take care.’ She studied the paths. ‘Do you have weapons on your ship?’
He didn’t answer and took his time turning back to her. His voice was soft. ‘Whatever would I need weapons for?’ He stood as still as the fallen columns at the top of the island.
She let the wind ruffle her hair before she answered, ‘Sea serpents.’
‘Ah, yes.’ His lips turned up the barest amount. ‘Sea serpents. I’ve dealt with them.’
‘They have deadly teeth.’
‘Mine are just as sharp.’ His chuckle both warmed and chilled her at the same time.
To men spilling blood hardly seemed to matter. But she hated the quick death. The suddenness where light went to dark.
Her mother’s brother had been celebrating the birth of a child and everyone had been merry. But someone had said something about the child not favouring the father and, before she even realised anyone was truly angry, a knife had slashed through her uncle’s belly. Everything had changed in less time than it took to scream. Her uncle bled to death almost before her aunt could kneel beside him.
She had learned how a world could be wiped away with a moment that happened in the space of a few heartbeats.
Even when Thessa’s sister left, this sea captain did not know how carefully Thessa had chosen her words to Stephanos. She had pretended her sister had said she was visiting their aunt and that it had been days before they realised she’d left the island. She’d even begged Stephanos not to search out the ship, flattering him and hinting that her sister was marred—in case Melina returned. Thessa didn’t think the Greek could have found the ship in the vast seas, but she’d not wanted him to try.
Melina had been trying to provide for them all and Thessa knew her elder sister had wanted to search out their father. Melina couldn’t have survived marriage to the Greek, but she insisted Thessa not go near him. Melina believed in art and beauty. Thessa wished every painting on the earth destroyed. They only caused grief.
If she thought and spoke carefully, she hoped to put off marriage to Stephanos long enough for him to notice someone else.
She became aware of the captain examining her face. Straightening her sash, she said, ‘I wanted to be certain you take care. One bite from a sea serpent and a man can sleep for ever.’
‘I realise life can be deadly.’ He looked at her and had the look of secret humour in his upturned lips, but his eyes had blandness behind them, as if he wouldn’t even let himself look back at his own memories. ‘Creatures of the sea...or land...they are nothing compared to the storms the heavens can send and I don’t fear them either. If I wished for a different life, I would be with my second brother, watching flowers grow while I sipped wine and swirled it on my tongue, wearing unscuffed Hoby boots. I take your words carefully, but they are not necessary.’
‘Don’t try to outlive your welcome.’ Thessa’s voice lowered to a whisper. She needed to be careful of what she said. Voices could carry on the wind, or the sailor with the captain could be a fool who spoke to the wrong person.
The captain moved close. ‘I’ve outlived my welcome before.’ His words were soft, but she didn’t think he tried to hide them from someone, only that he wanted to convince her of the truth of what he said. ‘No fables of mermaids or serpents will change one furling of the sails on my ship or cause me to change one step of my well-travelled boots.’
She glanced at his boots. They were marred with lighter worn spots and darkened places on the leather. ‘Are those bloodstains?’
He didn’t answer and yet he did—with that same blank look.
‘Then I will not be concerned for you,’ she said.
He turned away. ‘Waste of your time.’
* * *
Benjamin had to put some distance between him and Thessa. She’d had care for him in her gaze. He didn’t like that.
He wished he’d never seen her swimming. Just because she’d been so at home in the water, his thoughts had lodged on her more strongly than they should have.
Thessa didn’t have the flowery scent of the few women he’d danced with at soirées in Warrington’s home, nor did she have the sometimes jarring perfume of the tavern wenches he’d enjoyed. She smelled of warmth and a different kind of soap than he was used to. Something which seemed exotic to him, perhaps a blend from island herbs or plants he didn’t know of.
The first hues of the sunset fell on her face. She wore the new shawl and her hair was pinned, but still, she didn’t look like any woman he remembered. Just like when she swam.
‘We should search out the stone in the morning,’ she said.
‘No. Absolutely not. I may not fear a sea serpent on the island, but I don’t wish to stir up any nests of them.’
‘You would listen to me and wait if you knew what was good for you.’
‘Really, Mermaid? Tell me more.’
Thessa shrugged his words away and moved past him, walking inside the bottom part of the structure and returning with a crude wooden spade. ‘It’s your neck.’ She moved away from them.
Tendrils of hair bobbed freely at the back of her collar, drawing his gaze to her skin.
‘Stay here, near the woods, Gid,’ Ben said, turning to Gidley. ‘Watch the path. If someone is approaching, then catch up with me and let me know.’
‘Right, Capt’n,’ Gidley said, and as Thessa moved away, Gidley mouthed the word smile and pointed to his own uneven teeth.
Ben did the opposite, then travelled along the white-sand pathway edged by stones removed from the trail possibly a thousand years before. Clusters of spindly vegetation dotted among the white stones, like rounded-over bonnets. Only a few scattered bits of green interrupted the burnt red and brown plants dried by salted wind.
The beauty contrasted the island’s harshness. He knew from the last trip that black glass-like shards could be found in places on the island, probably left from a centuries-old volcanic eruption.
His men had told him of the catacombs they’d found and his own eyes had amazed at the sharp white cliffs sticking from the sea, their bold colors contrasting against the blue water. One rock jutted from the sea, its top shaped like the scowl of a raging bear. If he sailed deeper into the islands around, the rocks could be like stone fingers reaching to rip the Ascalon’s hull.
As they walked the paths, the trees filtered what was left of the sunlight. But nothing softened the edges of the rock. Staring at the land around, he almost missed seeing Thessa step forward to move an olive branch aside. When it slapped back, he dodged and it grazed his cheek.
This could never be his home and he marvelled that Thessa seemed so enamoured of it. Except, she did have her sea to swim in—her own endless sea.
In one stride he’d caught up with her and walked at her elbow on the narrow path. He thought of Gid’s advice. Smiling couldn’t help if a woman kept her eyes averted from him.
Ben touched her arm to give her assistance when she stepped around a huge rock at the side of the path.
Her eyes flicked to his hand and then to him. ‘You should not show notice for me. It will not do you well.’
‘I would not be a true man if I did not show concern for a woman.’
She puffed out a grumble. ‘Englishman. Full of pretty speech.’
His hand dropped and he met her eyes. ‘I’ve never seen so much beauty on an island.’
If she wanted out of his grasp, she had only to take a step. She didn’t move.
‘Why have you not already married this Stephanos?’ he asked.
She gave a shrug. ‘I am waiting for the house to be finished.’
‘If we find the stone, then will you take me to Stephanos so I can purchase it tonight and leave straight away?’
She laughed and he instantly tensed.
‘It’s not the kind of thing you can put in a small place. Did you not see the marble Melina took?’
He shook his head. ‘I saw the wrapped parcel. Not inside it. My brother said it was a carved stone. That was enough for me.’
‘It was part of an arm.’ She moved her hand from fingers to elbow. ‘Not much, and yet bigger than my own. The rest is part of a woman’s shape, but I would wager it would take two men to carry each half of her.’ She looked at him, her eyes telling him she questioned his wisdom.
Thessa turned and began moving up the path. ‘The rocks are on the highest part of the island. You can still see walls from long ago which have crumbled to the ground. And I warn you, Stephanos will not let you take them from Melos easily. If someone else wants a thing, it becomes valuable. You will have to pay twice. Stephanos holds the land, and Melos, in his palm.’
He took her arm and stopped her steps. Watching her expression, he asked, ‘You’re sure the statue Melina wants is broken?’
She nodded.
Warrington had sent him on a voyage for some damaged statue? His brother’s nursery maid must have bounced him on his head thrice a day.
But his brother was besotted. Warrington did have a tendency to choose a wife who was a bit cracked. His first wife Cassandra had been full cracked and on the jagged side. Melina was only normal-woman daft.
‘Your sister knew this?’ he asked.
Thessa nodded. ‘Yes. She insisted I view it when she first found it. We helped her dig and we covered it back afterwards. And we all talked about the look of her.’
‘What was it about her appearance?’ He released her arm.
‘She looks like our mother did. And that made us sad because the statue was so destroyed.’
‘Destroyed?’ He heard his voice rise. For the cost it had taken to get his crew to the island a second time, an Italian sculptor could easily have been commissioned to do a statue of Melina and probably both the other sisters.
Thessa sighed. ‘She saw our mother’s face in the woman, so to her, this was a treasure. She is not like me. She thinks with her heart.’ Her lips turned up, but her eyes didn’t smile. ‘She’s insensible that way.’
Benjamin shook his head. ‘I understand...quite well.’ His brother Warrington hardly thought at all when he was around his wife though, unless it was of her. The only thing he’d been firm about was in not letting her take another voyage. But from the look of relief on Melina’s face, she’d not minded. The woman had been fish-belly white on most of the trip to England.
Thessa stopped and stared at him. ‘Did she describe the stones to you?’
‘No. She assured my brother you would know exactly what it was and where to find it.’
‘It is a woman. Both arms are broken. My sister left with one of them. The other we did not find, but parts of it.’
He stopped moving. ‘Are you sure this is the statue Melina wants?’
Thessa nodded. ‘You would have to understand my sister. She thinks leaves and feathers are beautiful.’
He grimaced. ‘I do not think my brother knows what he sent me to retrieve. And I hate to say what he will think when he realises he is trading his share of my ship for a long-buried statue of a woman with no arms...’
Chapter Four (#ulink_5ba26eaa-dd40-54b7-9528-771935015dfa)
Thessa looked at the captain as he turned to examine their surroundings.
Fading light touched a lengthwise section of column splintered long ago. Mounds of near-barren dirt pressed against the forgotten rock, with only occasional vegetation grasping for life among the harsh environs.
She could forgive him for gazing at her with such intensity, if he would keep his eyes from her for a bit longer so she could examine him. He reminded her of the rocks that jutted from the sea. Majestic. Feet staying in water. Daring the world to try to move them. Commanding. But he wasn’t a rock and he would not treat her as another wave to be brushed aside.
