Mystery in the Moonlight (14 page)

The clear blue Caribbean felt as good as it looked. Paddling contentedly through gently rolling swells, Caitlin sighed as her sore muscles began to loosen with the sun-warmed water’s therapeutic effect. What a treat. After two days of working hard as a deckhand, hoisting sails and swabbing decks as well as assisting Lars with his duties, she was more than ready for a recreational break.

When the ship had anchored off a small, uninhabited island that morning, she’d stared longingly at the water and asked Thomas if the captain ever allowed his crew to go swimming. To her surprise, sometime later Bryce had approached her and tossed her a swimsuit, explaining that it had been mysteriously left behind, like the shorts and T-shirt she had been given earlier, by one of the crew’s female relatives. Then he’d gruffly told her she could take the day off.

What had prompted those unusual actions? Caitlin wondered. Had Bryce softened toward her for some reason? Since the fish incident two days before, the captain had put her into training with the crew and spoken to her only to issue orders. He’d been quite cold and aloof.

Trying to be just as cool and detached in return, Caitlin had worked hard at her new duties. Was awarding her the time off Bryce’s indirect way of telling her he approved of her work performance? Although a novice, she certainly had enough rope burns on her hands to prove that she’d been doing her share as a deckhand. Even now, as she swam along, the raw areas stung slightly in the salty water.

Despite the reprieve she’d been given, however, Caitlin was still fully aware of her captive situation. Although she no longer feared that Bryce was a murderer, the
Sea Devil’s
captain definitely was involved in theft and kidnapping and who knew what other illegal activities. The man should be brought to justice someday—and had deserved a dead fish in his pants at the very least.

Chuckling as she remembered the expression on Bryce’s face when she’d deposited the smelly fish, Caitlin stopped to tread water midway between the ship and the small barren island. Then, adjusting the snorkel mask Thomas had kindly loaned her, she prepared to make a shallow dive beneath the surface of the translucent water. Enough of dead fish. It was time to encounter some livelier sea dwellers on their own underwater turf.

Slowly, letting her eyes adjust to the filtered light, Caitlin peered down at the seabed some twenty feet below. Strewn with rock and often encrusted with exotic coral, the ocean bottom stretched out endlessly beneath her like some otherworldly landscape. Branching antlers of elkhorn coral sprang forth magically from deep crevices of rock. Slender pillar coral, resembling miniature castle towers, nestled in a yen table forest of seaweed and reddish, fan-shaped fire coral.

Admiring the scenery, Caitlin became even more intrigued by the wildlife of the region. Before she’d gone far, a couple of delicate, bright yellow butterfly fish darted before her, then swam away to play tag among clumps of seaweed. She had to smile when a large iridescent-blue parrot fish swam lazily by and seemed to give her a derisive stare. Then, far below, she spotted a school of baby squid propelling themselves along like tiny underwater helicopters.

As she rose to the surface to catch her breath, she tried to remember the names of other indigenous fish of the region. Sea bass? Conch? She was sure they were all listed in the kind of tourist guidebooks she’d seen in Bryce’s cabin. Dare she ask him if she could borrow the books when she returned to the ship? Bryce surely didn’t use them. Caitlin couldn’t imagine a pirate captain reading such materials before he went to sleep.

After spending an hour or more swimming around, she began to feel tired and headed toward the island. When she reached a depth that allowed her feet to touch bottom, she stood and turned to look back at the ship. Perry, working near the portside rail, waved a friendly greeting. Caitlin waved back, then made her way toward the beach of gleaming white sand.

It was too bad that she wasn’t really on vacation, Caitlin mused, easing herself down in the shallows before she reached land. In some ways she’d actually been enjoying her work these last three days. Helping to sail a ship was the kind of challenging outdoor work that made her desk job as a college counselor seem distinctly unexciting. She only wished she had more control of the present situation. If Caitlin had her choice, she’d prefer to be something other than a lowly deckhand,

What would it be like to captain a ship like the
Sea Devil
? Amused by a school of tiny striped angelfish that suddenly surrounded her, Caitlin let them nibble delicately at her fingertips while she daydreamed.

Starting with more realistic thoughts, trying to envision the duties of a legitimate ship’s captain, she soon took her fantasy to more outrageous levels and imagined herself as a flamboyant pirate leader. But, of course, Caitlin the Pirate Queen would rob the rich only to give to the poor, keeping little for herself. Laughing as she visualized herself in a feathered wide-brimmed hat and swashbuckler boots, Caitlin stirred when she felt a stinging sensation on one of her thighs. Had she gotten rope burns on her legs too?

Gazing down into the water, it took her a few moments to recognize that the numerous, clear-colored strands floating across her leg and arms were tentacles. Then even sharper pains made her struggle to her feet. She was surrounded by stinging jellyfish!

What was Caitlin up to now? Standing near the rail of the
Sea Devil
, where he’d been keeping an eye on the young woman for a while, Bryce frowned when he saw her suddenly stand up in the shallows and thrash around.

“Perry, get the skiff ready!” The captain’s concern grew. Obviously there was something wrong. Caitlin was rubbing desperately at her arms and leg. Could she have hurt herself on some coral or run into jellyfish?

Jumping into the skiff as soon as it was lowered to the water, Bryce got the craft to the shallows of the island in only a few minutes. By that time Caitlin had waded farther out into the deeper swells.

“Come this way!” Bryce shouted as he shut off the skiff’s motor.

Leaning over the side, he almost capsized the boat as he helped her scramble into it. She was shivering, and her teeth were chattering as he quickly examined her body, noting the large welts rising on her thigh.

“Jellyfish,” she explained, panting.

He could tell that she was trying to be brave, hardening her chin against what Bryce knew from experience must be throbbing paid. Yet he’d never seen her quite so vulnerable. Why hadn’t he warned her about jellyfish before she’d left for her swim?

“I’ll get you back to the ship right away. Then we can take care of those stings,” he assured her.

Kneeling in the skiff, he felt his heart thud as she gazed at him with pain-filled blue eyes. And he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out. Drawing her closer, he cradled her wet body as if to warm her. When she shivered against his chest, his protective instincts rose to the fore.

Damn! Despite the threats he’d directed toward her to get her to talk or stop her from running away, Bryce hated to see Caitlin suffer. He kept her nestled firmly in his arms as he guided the skiff back to the larger vessel. Once there, he helped her up to the deck and gently lifted her into his arms to carry her to his cabin.

“I can walk.”

“Sure, and you could have swum back to the ship by yourself too.”

“I would have tried.”

Striding to his cabin, Bryce carefully deposited Caitlin on the bunk, then rummaged through the cupboards for alcohol, talcum powder, and cotton balls. Livid red welts crisscrossed her right leg, arms, and upper chest. Glancing over his shoulder as he searched, Bryce frowned when she started to get up from her seat.

“Where do you think you’re going? Sit down. I’ll find the right stuff in a minute,” he told her, unable to keep the concern from his voice. He knew the pain couldn’t have abated—the stings Caitlin had suffered were similar to those inflicted by at least a dozen bees.

“I’m getting your bed all wet,” she said morosely.

“Then take the swimsuit off…and put this on.” Grabbing a dark blue cotton shirt from the back of a chair, he tossed it in her direction. She started to rise again, obviously heading toward the bathroom to change. “Don’t try to move around. Change your clothes here. I won’t look,” he assured her, turning his back obligingly.

He thought he heard her moan but allowed her a few more minutes before he turned. Still sitting on the edge of the bed, she was shakily fastening the shirt’s buttons. Bryce took the items he’d located and stepped closer to apply the alcohol to her injuries.

“I can do it myself,” Caitlin insisted, trying to take the stuff from his hands.

“Sure, you can do everything yourself,” he said softly, resisting the urge to take her in his arms and comfort her. But that wouldn’t make either of them feel better. “If you’d tried to swim to the ship, if I hadn’t taken the skiff out to get you, you probably would have fainted and drowned,” he grumbled. “Jellyfish stings are painful. You don’t have to prove your courage every moment, Caitlin. I know you’re the toughest female deckhand around.”

“I’m tough?”

“For someone your size you’re definitely tough.” Lifting her legs, he gently eased her farther back on the bed and helped her lie down. “I should have warned you about the possibility of jellyfish around here. I just didn’t think of it at the time.” Using a cotton ball, he carefully applied the alcohol, lightly patting the largest welt on her thigh. He saw her biting her lip and knew that the medication stung.

“I’m not going to die, am I?” Caitlin asked, sounding as if she were trying to be sarcastic. He couldn’t help but smile.

“No, jellyfish stings are uncomfortable, but they rarely kill anyone.” Glancing up from what he was doing, Bryce met her suspicious, defenseless gaze. And noticed a few other things.

With her long, fine hair spread out and drying around her face, her pale, sun-kissed skin emphasized by the deep blue of the shirt, Caitlin looked…very attractive, he admitted. Had he noticed the curve of her cheekbones before? The soft fullness of her lips? The startlingly pure and guileless beauty of her large, clear eyes?

“Ouch!” she exclaimed when, unthinking, he brusquely rubbed the welt on her thigh.

“Sorry,” Bryce muttered with a frown, shifting his scrutiny downward to pay closer attention to what he was doing. It wouldn’t do to let himself get carried away by Caitlin’s seeming innocence. As he administered alcohol to the reddened places on her knee and calf, he struggled to get his thoughts back on jellyfish.

“Luckily the little devils you encountered weren’t men-of-war,” he told Caitlin. “Those big purple monsters are bad news. As it is, you should be feeling better by tomorrow. I won’t rub your skin again—pressing hard against the welts could release stingers that haven’t been activated yet.”

“There are a bunch of stingers still under my skin?” She frowned.

“Actually what you’ve got under these welts are poisonous threads. Jellyfish release them when touched. But don’t worry, the alcohol will get rid of the poison,” Bryce said reassuringly as he continued to treat her leg. “Ordinarily the creatures use their poison to stun and capture small fish that happen by. Being simple, brainless organisms that are tossed and turned by the tides, jellyfish will sting anything they brush against, including human beings.”

“So the attack wasn’t intentional, huh?”

Bryce shook his head. “A jellyfish isn’t half as complicated as a shark. In spite of lurid stories you may have heard, most of the injuries suffered by swimmers are from small organisms—jellyfish, sea urchins, stinging coral.”

“Is there a way to avoid those things, in case I go swimming again?” Caitlin asked as he grasped a delicate ankle and turned her slightly toward him. His eyes ran down the length of her slender legs. Had they always looked so shapely?

Bryce cleared his throat before saying, “Just watch where you’re swimming, so you don’t brush against the coral. And if you’re in the shallows or climbing over rocks, watch out for spiny black sea urchins. If you step on one of those, the spines can penetrate your foot.”

“You know a lot about, sea creatures. Is that because you’ve lived in. the Caribbean a long time? Or is it because you’ve read all of those?” She pointed to the shelves beyond the bed, which held various novels as well as nonfiction works on fish, plants, and ocean conservation. “Some of your guidebooks seem a little elementary for a Caribbean native, and none of these books are the sort of reading material I’d expect a pirate to keep around.”

Bryce tried not to grin as he worked on the welt behind her knee. “But those are only a front. I keep my books on torture and robbing in the chart house. If you want to see them—”

“
Are
you from the Caribbean?” Caitlin asked suddenly, interrupting him with the question. “Were you born and raised here?”

“Yes.” Bryce continued to swab her leg, refusing to offer any further details. But obviously Caitlin was determined to be persistent.

“Are you from this particular area, the West Indies?”

“I may be well-known around here.”

“No, I meant do you
live
on one of these islands?”

“I pretty much live on this ship.”

“The ship? Why? Are you unable to set foot on land because you’re a wanted man?”

“Some people may want me.”