Passionate Choice

Chapter 3.3

   "Have you left the company?" Selena asked curiously.

   "No. Just taken some leave of absence to cruise about for a while."

   "In Nightingale?"

   "No. Another yacht. A bigger one. Thirty-seven feet."

   "A sloop?" she queried, interested in spite her resolve to keep aloof from him.

   "No. A cutter. I took delivery of her a month ago and decided to take time off for a shake-down cruise through the islands. Made it as far as St. Thomas."

   "Alone?"

   "No." The answer was short, repelling any further questions on that subject. "In St. Thomas, I ran into some diving friends and one of them told me John Claes had this commission to help with an underwater exploration off the Sanada reef. I went to see him and found him lying near to death with flu ad about to get in touch with Heather Langdon to tell her he couldn't make it. I offered to take his place until he'd recovered. As things are with him, he couldn't really afford to lose the commission."

   "I had no idea you could be so altruistic;" she mocked.

   "No altruism about it," he replied easily. "I'm really interested in what you and Ben Hunt are going to find under the wreck of that freighter. Heather Langdon isn't spending money on hiring John's diving outfit for nothing. Have you any idea what Louis Langdon came up with from the site that made him believe he'd found the wreck of the Santiago?"

   "Some late seventeenth-century artefacts."

   "Such as?"

   "Some silver tableware-a plate, a jug, some forks. Several old coins and, most important of all, a gold cross set with diamonds and emeralds, the cross of the Order of Santiago, that could have only belonged to a wealthy Spanish nobleman."

   "But if the Santiago had already been looted by the pirate, surely she wouldn't have had such valuables on board when she sank, would she?"

   "The pirates may not have taken everything, she argued.

   "Perhaps not." He was silent for a few moments then said, "The privateer's ship was called the Pelican, wasn't it?"

   "So our records show. Her owner and master was commissioned by King William III of England together with some other aristocrats with interests in these islands to intercept and seize pirate ships operating in the islands. He must have turned pirate himself, seized the Santiago and made off with the loot."

   "He didn't get very far with it," drawled Keith drily. "His ship and all the loot were caught in a hurricane and sank."

   "How do you know? We can find no record of what happened to him in our archives. Where did you hear that story? Is it based on fact?"

   "I believe so," he drawled.

   "I suppose you're interested in him because his name was Walker. You dot really believe he was an ancestor of yours, do you?" she said derisively.

   His teeth flashed in his shadowed face as he grinned down at her.

   "Sure, I do. Daniel Walker turned up in Charleston, South Carolina soon after the sinking of the Santiago and established a trading business there. He had a small fleet of ships and traded with the islands and his grandson founded the Walker shipping line. My brother and I aren't direct descendants of his because the main branch of the family died out but our great-grandfather was descended from one of old Daniel's sons and he inherited the business when his cousin died. My father was really keen on genealogy and that sort of thing, kept all the letters and records pertaining to the beginnings of the company and even drew up a family tree."

   "Where is all this information?"

   "Locked up in a file in the Charleston office."

   "Ben and I would love to see it. Do you think we could?

   "You'd have to apply in writing to my brother," he replied coolly. He raised his head sharply and turned towards the shadowy palms that leaned over the pathway she would take up to the resort buildings.