“Does your mother always say awful things and then use similar sounding words to try to make them sound as though she said something different?”
“Just to certain people. When we were all at Chase Park, way back when the Duchess and Marcus were first married, she used to dish up the Duchess with every sentence she uttered. Then one day the Duchess actually did the same thing back to her. It was quite well done.” He sighed, then stiffened like a hunting dog sighting a pheasant. Jessie’s hands were stroking his back. She was caressing his buttocks. He felt himself filling her again. Her fingers went between his thighs and he thought he’d croak that instant.
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“I hope so, James, I surely do. Oh goodness, you’re gaining in proportion again.”
“A necessity, Jessie, a necessity.”
“There’s another mystery.”
James, so exhausted he didn’t know if he could even draw enough breath into his lungs, just stared down at her. He wanted to collapse, but he managed to keep himself up on his elbows. He’d nearly crushed her before, but she hadn’t complained. But now there was a light of excitement in her eyes; unfortunately it had replaced that sated, vague look that had filled her eyes just five minutes before. Women, he thought, shaking his head to keep himself awake, were extraordinarily different from men. She should be whispering love words to him, rubbing her sweating body against his, then falling asleep even as he got hard inside her.
But she was wide awake. It was as if having all that woman’s pleasure gave her new energy. He himself wanted to sleep for a week.
“What mystery?” He didn’t give a good damn. Nor could he keep himself up for another moment. He pulled out of her and collapsed next to her, drawing her against his side. “What mystery?” he said again, trying to remember a time when he’d felt this content, this pleased with the world and his place in it. And the reason he felt this way was because of Jessie Warfield. The former brat. Amazing.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot what I’d been thinking about. My thoughts drifted to thinking about how that felt, James, you sliding out of me and the way that made me all quivery inside.”
“Be quiet, Jessie. I’m on the very edge of death. What mystery?”
“You’ve heard of the lost colony on Roanoke Island, haven’t you?”
“Certainly. Sir Walter Raleigh owned the ships and was a major backer of the expedition. He shipped colonists to the Outer Banks, off the coast of North Carolina, to Roanoke Island. It was sometime late in the sixteenth century.”
“Yes, in 1587. There were more than one hundred colonists from England, including women and children. In fact, the first child born on American soil was Virginia Dare, the granddaughter of John White, the leader of the colony. When it was time for Sir Walter to leave Roanoke Island, the colonists asked that John White return to England and make certain that they weren’t forgotten and to see to replenishing their supplies. However, Spain attacked England in 1588 and thus no relief ships ever went to Roanoke Island. White wasn’t able to return until 1590. When White and his men landed, there was no one there. Not a single soul. There was no sign of them, not even a trace. There hadn’t been a massacre because there would have been bones, debris, wreckage, but there was nothing. The colonists had simply vanished. So what became of the colonists of Roanoke Island? It’s been a mystery ever since. Many men have tried to solve it and have come up with outlandish theories.”
“Is this leading somewhere, Jessie?”
“Yes. I’m a woman and I’ve solved it.”
“What?”
“Well, I really haven’t quite solved it just yet and by the time I do solve it, I won’t have had to study it as all those poor men have in the past three hundred years. I just have to finish reading Valentine’s diary—that’s her first name, I suppose, but I’m not really sure. She only ever refers to herself by that single name. Of course we have to find all the diaries first.”
“Who the devil is Valentine? Where did she get that ridiculous name?”
“She was one of the colonists. She is also Blackbeard’s great-grandmother. Yes, you heard me right. Evidently she was the one who passed on the habit of recording events in diaries. She was Blackbeard’s great-grandmother, so therefore she must have survived and thus it’s likely that all the other colonists survived as well. When we find the diaries on Ocracoke, I’ll read the rest of her diary and know what happened to the colonists. I’d forgotten about her just as I’d forgotten Blackbeard.
“Her diary won’t help us find Blackbeard’s treasure. She died long before he was ever born. But I imagine she can set to rest the mystery of Roanoke Island once and for all. Isn’t that exciting, James?”
“I don’t believe this. You’ve had too much sex, Jessie. You’re not thinking with your brain, not if you’re dredging up this ancient relative of Blackbeard’s. You just want me to caress you again and come inside you and make you scream and moan.”
“Well, perhaps you’re right about that.” The hussy closed her hand around him and he nearly leaped off the bed.
“Stop that or you’ll regret it.”
“Just how will you manage that, James?” She leaned up and kissed his chest.
“I’m so tired I can’t make you regret anything right this minute, Jessie, but there’s always tomorrow. Actually, there’s always two hours from now. I just need a bit of rest, only a small number of minutes. Blackbeard’s great-grandmother, you say? This is surely too much. She was a member of the lost colony of Roanoke? You’ve lost your grip on things, Jessie my girl. You’ve been off a horse for too long. You’ve been wearing stockings and lovely gowns for too long. Those streamers have cooked your brain.” There was no answer.
He nearly laughed aloud. Jessie was sound asleep, her fingers still curled around him.
There was no nightmare of Mr. Tom that night. James didn’t mention it the next day, and neither did Jessie. Maybe the nightmares were gone for good. Maybe. But James didn’t want to take the chance. No, he wanted to go to Ocracoke and he wanted Jessie to see where it had all happened. Then he wanted to find that bloody treasure, like everyone else in his house.
29
“WE’VE DISCUSSED THIS thoroughly and come to a decision.”