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He sat on a driftwood log and looked back at the jungle, then beyond to the mountain peak. He couldn’t recognize the geographical features, though there wasn’t an island in the Caribbean he hadn’t visited or sailed past in the last ten years.
He didn’t relish the prospect of revealing the news to Heidi.
* * *
Heidi wished she could have cleansed her body of the sand and salt before donning her clothing, but was immensely relieved to be out of the nightdress. She was tempted to toss the garment into the ocean but Maximiliano was right that they shouldn’t throw anything away.
For a while, she resisted the temptation to peek into his sack, but a quick check showed he was still sitting on a log on the beach. She opened the drawstring. Jewelry, pocket watches, coins, banknotes. What…
The truth struck her like a blow to the belly. She was looking at loot stripped from fellow travelers aboard theHekla,many of them refugees from British aggression. Maximiliano claimed to have spared their lives, and she had taken his word for it.
She sat back on her haunches, not certain why the revelation was so upsetting. He was a pirate after all. It would behoove her to remember that. She was completely dependent on him for survival, but she’d been too trusting, too ready to think well of him. Lust had affected her judgement. It was time to remember she was a respectable Danish woman from a good Lutheran family, not some pirate’s moll.
Besides, she’d trusted Torsten and lived to regret it.
* * *
Estimating he’d allowed Heidi more than enough time to change clothes and peek into the sack, he returned to the clearing. Her pout as she rose indicated she hadn’t forgotten his boorish behavior and definitely knew the source of the valuables in the bag. “I apologize,” he said in his most polished tone as he took her hand and brushed a kiss on her knuckles. “It was rude.Perdóname.”
She blushed, or perhaps she was simply sunburned. “We’re both exhausted. Think no more of it.”
He accepted the small concession. “There are a few hours of daylight left. We should find shelter away from the sand, maybe closer to the mountain.”
She turned to look. “Do you recognize where we are?”
He saw no point in lying. “No.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “So we have no idea of our location?”
“Correct.”
He expected tears. Instead, she clenched her jaw, looking determined. “A cave is a good idea if we are going to be here a while.”
“It will be easier once we leave the beach,” he said her, hoping his prediction would hold true as he took her hand.
“Aren’t you going to bring your treasure?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Nothing to buy here, and we can come back for our belongings.”
“Someone might steal it.”
The time had come to voice his biggest fear. He shook his head. “I have a feeling we are alone on the island.”
The Cave
With Maximiliano’s steady hand supporting her, Heidi soon fell into a slow rhythm in the thick undergrowth.
She expected creatures to scurry out of their way, but there was no sound other than their own footfalls. “I don’t even hear birds,” she said.
The vegetation thinned out near the base of the mountain. Stopping to catch their breath, they scanned the barren rocky slopes.
She looked to where he finally pointed. “Up there, a ledge of some sort, but it’s too high. We need something closer.”
They changed direction to follow the base of the mountain, taking advantage of the easier going, until they came to an opening. “This might do,” he said. “Stay here.”
She watched him search for footholds as he climbed, her heart beating erratically when the hole swallowed him up. They’d seen no wildlife, but that didn’t mean some dangerous creature wasn’t lurking in its lair.
She breathed again when he reappeared, waving. “Looks good. Can you make it up here?”
