He smiled. “They’d be proud of you.”
Would they? Her thoughts flitted back to her time spent with the lieutenant, and she sighed. The first officer’s words had haunted her all day.Do you wish you had?And all day, she still couldn’t come up with her answer. Yes. No. Both.
She pulled her shoulders back. Time to find some treasure. Raising the map, she pointed to one side of the inlet. “This way.”
They pressed through the underbrush while she counted her steps and kept an eye on the map. In the mottled light filtering through the leaves above, it would be easy to veer off course. The “X” nestled on one side of a small circle. A cave perhaps.
Almost there.
The heavy canopy above gave way to palm trees and intermittent live oaks as they approached a clearing. Samantha wiped sweat from her brow and kicked at the long grass. No need to get bit by a snake.
Several indentations in the grass caught her attention and her heart lurched.
Griff ducked beneath a palm frond and came to a stop next to her. “I’ll be damned.”
He frowned at the circular expanse of glistening water in front of them. Almost a perfect circle. Steep limestone rose nearly vertical around most of it except for one side where it had caved in, leaving a precipitous bank to the water’s edge.
A sinkhole.
She pressed a finger to her lips and pointed to the disturbed grass. “What do you think?”
He bent on one knee and swept his hand over one indentation. After a long moment, he stood and stepped into the sunlight. She held her breath as he scanned the ground around them.
“No sign of more tracks. Must have been a wild animal, perhaps a boar.”
She rubbed the back of her hand across her forehead as he waved the crew forward and peered into the underbrush around the clearing. An odd silence wove through the trees. Heat pricked across her skin. Of course it was quiet. In this oppressive heat, they were the only creatures foolish enough to be out and about.
Samantha walked to the rocky edge of the sinkhole and pulled her lip between her teeth. The light limestone walls showed no sign of caves or even a crevice that could have been used to stash any sort oftreasure.
The men filed from the woods and milled around, scratching jaws and tugging beards. Tommy squinted.
“Where’s the treasure?”
She sighed and dropped her eyes to the map, then back to the steep bank. “I don’t know, Tommy.”
Griff fanned himself with his hat. “Do you think this was filled with water two hundred years ago?”
Sticky heat beat against her dark breeches and she rubbed her hands over them. “Let’s hope that’s not the case.” Still, numbness began to creep through her limbs.
Dark water lapped against the rocks as her throat tightened. If the treasure was underwater, it was lost for good.
She yanked her hat free and threw it aside with a growl. After all these years. After so much had been lost. All for nothing.
Fighting the urge to scream, she scanned the map one more time, willing there to be something she had missed. She traced the fresh inked lines. But the circle didn’t lie. The treasure had to be down there. Out of reach.
Griff set a hand on her arm. “Perhaps it’s best this way.”
Tears pricked her eyes. “How can you say that? My parents died for a treasure they never had a chance of finding. If they had known...” she took a shuddering breath. “They might still be alive.”
“Fate can be a cruel master.” He cleared his throat and turned. “Well, boys, best get back to the ship.”
A disappointed murmur ran through the crew and a bitter taste filled her mouth. She’d raised their hopes. Dangled the promise of wealth and an easier life if they only followed her. Her shoulders curved in and she kicked a rock.
It hit the water with a splash and she followed the ripples until they bounced against the stone wall. Her brows pushed together at the damp water marks on the limestone.
Could it be?
Tossing her rapier to the ground, she climbed down the steep incline and dipped a finger in the water. Brought it to her lips.
