Alexandra huffed. “I know exactly what youare doing. We have to finish the watering.”
The tip of his tongue emerged, and with afeather light lick, he tasted her lips. Salty and sweet. “No?”
“Certainly not.”
He nipped her lower lip with his teeth andshe shivered.
“Nicholas.” She pushed him away, and in thatlight of crystallized time, her face brightened with sudden andstriking excitement. “I know where the treasure is.”
“Not again. I’m not spending my whole lifedigging in the dirt. That lunatic, Sharp, has his treasure buriedin the sands of time, far from our reach…that’s if it reallyexists.”
She grabbed a shovel from the shed andreached the corner of the garden. “This is where Captain Sharpdied, Nicholas. He could have died in the comfort of his bed. No.He chose to die here because it was where he buried histreasure.”
Nicholas scoffed and took the shovel fromher. He stabbed the dirt, spooning the soil in a heap. “Dead mentell no tales,” he muttered.
After ten minutes of digging, the shovelclanged and it wasn’t rock he’d hit. Alexandra dropped to herknees, and eagerly swept away the earth with her hands.
“Dig. This is the treasure.”
They scooped and scraped, a pile of loamgrowing high from their efforts. A trunk was cleared and Nicholashauled it from a hole. She reached to open it.
“Wait,” said Nicholas. “There is anothertrunk.”
Alexandra squealed. She scrambled down intothe hole and helped Nicholas pry it free. He heaved the trunk nextto the other.
“A third.” Alexandra clapped her hands andclimbed back down in the hole.
“Don’t be disappointed if there is nothingvaluable inside.” Nicholas brushed the sweat from his brow and dirtsmeared across his face.
She bit her lip, the quest of the unknownand at last unearthing what they had been searching for.
“Don’t open them yet. Let me haul them inthe cottage.”
Inside the cottage he blew out a breath andlaid a hand on her shoulder. “Again, Alexandra, don’t bedisheartened if we have been duped by Captain Sharp.”
“Hurry, Nicholas.”
With a pick, he cracked open the lock on thefirst trunk and swung back the lid. “Indeed.”
She stared wide-eyed for a full two seconds.Gold doubloons, brilliant ingots, winking jewels, silver coins,dazzling pearls, gold plates and goblets. “My God, this is morethan the King’s treasury.”
“Definitely gains from a Spanish haul. Butthey can’t all be full of such treasure, can they?”
Nicholas cracked open the remaining twotrunks and threw back the lids.
In a twinkling of the eye, pure energyboomed around the cottage. Alexandra whirled, her arms extendedfrom her sides, and Nicholas’s laughter became the sunbeam of hersoul. He picked her up and twirled her around.
Out of breath, he put her down. “You wereright about everything.”
He scooped up strings of pearls and placedthem around her neck.
She reached for a crown and steadied it onhis head. “Hail, King Nicholas.”
He tumbled her onto the bed. “Your faith andpersistence paid off.”
She placed her palm on his chest and pushedhim back. “It isn’t right. None of this. We cannot keep thetreasure. It belongs to Lady Jane.”
“Lady Jane gets it all, now let’s attend tomore important things.” His crown fell over his brow, she lifted itoff and tossed it into the chest. He was hot, hard and ready whenshe scrambled on top of him, her pearls teasing his chest and herhair veiling them when she leaned over for a kiss.
