Passionate Choice

Chapter 6.7

   "What are you going to do about the box in the wreck?" Selena asked, looking down at the coin in her hand rather than at Keith. Some of the tarnish come off the coin. There was a full gleam if silver and she could make out some letters. She continued to rub it with the ball of her thumb.

   "Nothing," he replied and laid back on the sand, supporting the back of his head on clasped hands. "Right now, I'm going to take it easy on this beach since Heather has made off with the ship and all the diving gear."

   "But if you're right, if the Santiago's treasure is in that box, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to tell the government of the islands about it?" she demanded more urgently.

   She wasn't going to look at him. She wasn't going to be betrayed again by her own desire to caress his sun-bronzer skin, to kiss his parted lips and be transported into a world of sensual delight. She wasn't going to give in to passion at noontime.

   "I might mention it to John when he comes," drawled Keith. "Heather hired him, not me, remember? And who knows? He could be in with them in the conspiracy to keep quiet about the treasure. He could have a share in it too, and I wouldn't want to be the person to betray him to any government authority. He would lose everything he's got if it was known he'd been a party to undersea piracy." He turned his head, opened one eye and added enquiringly. "What about you? What are you going to do?"

   "I'll have to tell Ben," she said. "I'll have to tell him what I...what we suspect." She looked down at the coin again. More tarnish had come off. She peered at it properly. She scraped at the tarnish with a fingernail and found some figures. The letters that had appeared now formed a name.

   "Keith," she said excitedly, leaning over him. "It's English. The coin is English and there's a date on it, 1701 and the name William. That would be William III. Do you know in which year the Pelican was lost?"

   "September 1702, in a hurricane that lashed the islands and sank many ships." He rolled over on to his stomach and took the coin from her. "How many of these did you find?"

   "Only two. But there might be more buried in the sand. I found this piece of pottery too. It looks like part of a Spanish clay jar, the sort used for carrying wine. Do you thing such a thing would be taken as loot?"

   "If it had wine in it, yes," he said. "But these can only prove that the wreck on the other side was carrying some Spanish goods and was probably English. They don't prove that it was the Pelican. We'd need to see the treasure in that box to do that. We'd need to check it again the cargo lists in the records Ben has, to make sure it came from the Santiago."