“Darcy Delmar, these two charming women are Miss Winnie Peel and Miss Ruby Lewis.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Darcy said slowly as she clutched at the blanket.
“It’s so nice to have another young lady in town. We’re the head of the church’s women’s league and we brought you a Welcome to Shadows Landing basket,” Miss Winnie said as she set a basket on the table and opened it.
“And I brought you some treats for later,” Miss Ruby said as Wade’s stomach rumbled at the smell of freshly baked biscuits, sausage gravy, and brownies. You would think they wouldn’t go well together, but Wade was pretty sure he’d eat them all by the time Miss Winnie and Miss Ruby made it to their cars.
“It’s nice to meet you both. Thank you for this. It smells so good,” Darcy told them, leaning forward to take a whiff of the basket of goodies.
“We heard you met the family yesterday. And Reverend Winston. Moving fast, aren’t we?” Miss Winnie asked as her eyes dropped pointedly to Darcy’s stomach.
“Miss Winnie,” Wade warned as kindly as he could.
“Win, I told you she wasn’t pregnant. He just met her. They could have been going at it like rabbits, and they wouldn’t have any inkling of a baby when they met with the reverend. Though a weddin’ would be lovely. After all, when you meet The One, you just know.” Miss Ruby sat back, folded her hands in her lap, and smiled widely at them.
Wade glanced at Darcy who was frozen next to him. Her mouth was partially open, her eyes were wide, and she looked down at her stomach before turning to Miss Winnie. “I look pregnant?”
“Told you,” Miss Winnie smirked to Miss Ruby.
“I’m not pregnant. It would be impossible. Literally, impossible,” Darcy said with a huff as she dropped back against the couch pillows. “But now I don’t think I’ll be able to enjoy the biscuits and gravy.” Wade was about to defend her when Darcy shrugged. “Screw it. It would be a sin not to eat them.” Darcy leaned forward again and grabbed the plate of biscuits from the basket.
Miss Ruby chuckled. “You got yourself a good one, Wade. Even if she is a treasure hunter.”
“What does that mean?” Wade asked.
“Do you know how many people have been looking for Black Law’s treasure over the decades?” Miss Ruby asked as she shook her head. “They get treasure fever. They can’t think of anything else. I sure hope you give her something else to focus on so she’ll stay around. Everyone in town has been sayin’ how much they enjoy having you here, dear,” Miss Ruby said, turning to Darcy.
“Thanks?” After that Darcy bypassed breakfast and went straight for the brownies.
“It’s not some willy-nilly hunt, ladies,” Wade said, feeling the need to defend her. “She found a three-hundred-year-old rowboat belonging to Timothy Longworth.”
“Really? How do you know it belonged to Timothy?” Miss Winnie asked. It was clear they were now just as interested as Skeeter and the others had been.
Darcy suddenly went still mid-bite.
“Does it have anything to do with what you’re going into the archives to search for?” Miss Winnie asked, zeroing in on Darcy as if she were a toddler telling tales.
“Yes,” Darcy said slowly. “Which I really need to get ready for. We have to get to court, and then I have to meet Skeeter.” Darcy stuffed the brownie in her mouth and shot up from the couch. She kept the blanket wrapped around her as she practically fell over Wade in her attempt to get out of the living room.
“Thank you so much for the food. I don’t want to be late. Excuse me.”
They sat and watched as Darcy ran up the stairs.
“Does she know it’s only seven in the morning?” Miss Winnie asked.
“You scared her, the poor girl. You went straight for the juicy stuff. You need to learn some tact,” Miss Ruby told Miss Winnie with a cluck of her tongue.
“When you’re as old as we are, we don’t have time for tact. Besides, it was fun.”
“Miss Winnie!” Wade shook his head at her but she just winked back at him.
“Let us know if we can help in any way. We know every story, where every hunter has gone wrong, and probably forgotten some too. But we’re happy to help,” Miss Winnie said as she got up.
“Thank you, I’ll remember that.”
Wade helped the ladies to their car and returned inside to find Darcy eating biscuits and gravy. “Hurry, we have to leave for court in just a minute. Or I do. Are you coming? I didn’t even ask.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
* * *
The drive to Charleston seemed to take forever. Darcy was nervous, even though she shouldn’t have been. She knew the drill. The state would take over the wreck. She was just nervous about being asked if she’d found anything else. She was going to lie, and she really didn’t like that.
When they pulled up to the courthouse, Kord was flirting with Olivia as they both stood waiting on the front steps.
“Bless his heart, I don’t know if Olivia would go for a younger man. Well, on second thought,” she said as Gerald passed them and shot daggers at Kord.
“I think she’s amusing Kord. I also think Kord is just having fun. He isn’t exactly known for being in relationships,” Wade said as he parked the car.
“Right on time,” Olivia said as she walked over to them.
Kord hung back, and when Darcy looked at him, he gave her a thumbs-up. Phew, a little of the pressure was off. The jacket had been returned to the site.
“It’s okay,” Wade whispered to her as Olivia and Kord took off up the stairs.
“I’m really nervous,” she admitted to Wade.
“Do you want something else to think about?” he asked.
“Yes.” Anything would be better than potentially perjuring herself.
Wade pulled on her hand to stop her from walking up the steps. When she turned to ask him what was going on, his lips met hers and everything vanished. His mouth was sure, confident, and felt so good on hers. His hands held her neck and her back in such a way she wanted to climb into his arms and never be put down. And then they were gone. His hands dropped, his tongue went back into his own mouth, and she felt empty.
“You’re up,” Wade said as Darcy looked around as if seeing the world for the first time. Olivia was waving frantically from the door, and Wade held her hand as they walked into the courtroom.
The hearing went by in a blur. Darcy was acknowledged as the finder of the wreck and entitled to a small finder’s fee, the right to assist with the excavation, and her name on a plaque if it ever went on display. She was never questioned. Olivia handled it all, and since Gerald had been on scene, they never asked if she took anything from it. Even though what she did was wrong, she was relieved they didn’t ask her about it.
“Are you ready to go meet Skeeter?” Wade asked after they were back in the car.
“I’m ready for another kiss.” Darcy stopped in the middle of buckling her seatbelt. Had she said that out loud? She hadn’t meant to. She looked over to Wade who was unbuckling his seatbelt. She wasn’t sure if he had heard her slip.
Suddenly, Wade slipped his hand behind her head as he leaned over the console and kissed her. Oh, he’d heard. And it was like he’d read every X-rated thought that was going through her head because one hand controlled the kiss as the other pulled her top from her skirt. This kiss was way more demanding and hot. Darcy was panting and her eyes practically rolled back in her head as he pushed her back against the seat. Wade’s tongue took control of her mouth as he used his body to block anyone from seeing his hand roll her nipple between his fingers. When Darcy gasped in pleasure, he deepened the kiss.
His fingers played magic upon her breast as his kiss made her see stars. She reached for him and wrapped her fingers around the erection in his black slacks. Wade’s hips surged forward into her hand, and she felt the power she had over him. And then there was a knock on the window.
Darcy screamed in surprise into Wade’s mouth as he pulled away
quickly. Detective Chambers stood there with red cheeks as he looked down the street. Wade took a deep breath as he rolled down his window.
“Detective. Can we help you?”
“You two are coming very close to breaking the law. But other than that, I wanted to let you know the South Carolina archaeologists are heading to the site. They have asked for your contact information and will want to speak to you. Also, here are the things you asked for.”
“Thank you, detective,” Darcy said as she avoided looking him in the eye. She’d just been caught making out in a car like a teenager, and now she felt like one after being busted.
“Any leads on the attacks?” Wade asked and all embarrassment fled. This was way more important than being caught making out in the car.
“Turns out there are a lot of treasure hunters in town. Working off the list of names Darcy gave me, I found out that Jules Chasseur, Cash Olweck, and Hugo Lopez are all in town and have all been crossed by Leon Snife at some point. So, no solid leads, just plenty of suspects.”
Darcy pulled out her phone from her freshly retrieved purse and pulled up the private social media page for professional treasure hunters. “Cash is putting on a tribute to Leon tonight at Hunters Bay Bar.”
“We need someone in there,” the detective said more to himself than to her as Wade put the metal detector into the back of the car.
“No offense, but you’d stick out like a sore thumb,” Darcy told him. “Wait,” she said turning to Wade. “Put Granger in some kind of surfboard T-shirt, a pair of cargo shorts, and flip-flops and he’ll fit in perfectly.”
“Who?” the detective asked.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him in flip-flops,” Wade chuckled before turning to Detective Chambers. “Granger Fox, sheriff of Shadows Landing. I think it’s a great idea to send him. He’s not local, he’s from somewhere with a rich history of piracy, and if we can get him to dress the part, he will blend right in. And he doesn’t need to be briefed as we’ve already filled him in.”
“I don’t like not having one of my guys there, but I’ll look him up. Having a person who knows about it and who can talk the lingo is more important than a jurisdictional pissing contest.”
“Couldn’t have said it better,” Darcy said, trying not to laugh. Plus, she’d feel much better having someone she already trusted with her.
“Plus, we’ll both be there, too,” Wade said as he got back behind the well.
Darcy smiled. He had read her mind, again. Her mind then went right back to that hot kiss. Wade winked at her, and she really did wonder if he could read minds.
“I’ll be in touch before then. Call me if you hear anything else.”
“If I speed, I can get home twenty minutes before you need to meet Skeeter.” Darcy didn’t need to be a mind reader to know what to do for those twenty minutes.
“What are you waiting for?”
16
Oh my stars. Darcy was breathing hard as her eyes slowly uncrossed. Wade had gotten them to his house with twenty-three minutes to spare, and he’d used every single one of those minutes pleasuring her. It was as if he was on a personal mission to see how many orgasms he could give her before they had to leave. She looked down to where he was crawling up her naked body and sighed in complete ecstasy.
“I wish you were naked too,” Darcy said as he pulled her into his arms.
“We didn’t have enough time for that. And now you have five minutes to get dressed and meet Skeeter.”
“Five minutes!” Darcy tried to scramble from the bed but her legs were like jelly.
“I wanted to make every minute count. Plus, there is nothing sweeter than hearing you yelling my name over and over again.” Wade grinned and looked every inch a cocky man right now. But he deserved it. The things that man could do with his fingers and tongue made her really want to skip meeting Skeeter to find out what he could do with another part of his anatomy. A part she missed out on since he stayed clothed. A part she had dreamt about and a part she really wanted to see up close and personal.
Wade got out of bed and playfully swatted her bare bottom. “Hurry up. I’ll drop you off there before I meet with Granger. I want to fill him in on tonight.”
“Set up a fake profile, and I can add him to the group so he can monitor it and get a feel for who he’ll see there,” Darcy told him as she turned her back and had him clip her bra in place.
“It’s much more fun taking this off,” he told her as his hands came around front to squeeze her breasts quickly before he let her finish getting dressed.
Wade had her out the door and down the street while she was still a pile of sexually satisfied mush. That was until she saw a man entering Harper’s bar.
“What is it?” Wade asked when she shot up from her seat.
“I would have sworn I saw Jules enter Harper’s bar just now.”
“The French treasure hunter?” Wade asked as he pulled to a stop across from the bar.
“Yes. What is he doing here?”
“There’s Skeeter. You meet with him and don’t worry about it. I’ll find out what he’s doing here. The bar just opened. It won’t be busy. I’ll have Harper question him.”
“Text me as soon as you find out something.”
Wade was already typing on his phone as she got out and met Skeeter. Darcy felt as if she were breaking into the historical society as she practically ran into the old building with Skeeter trailing behind her, confused as to why she darted past him so quickly.
“Is everything all right?” Skeeter asked in his country twang.
“No, I think I saw a rival walk into Harper’s bar. I can’t let him know I’m onto something here.”
“You betcha. No one will find us where we’ll be.”
“And just where will you be?” Darcy looked up to see a stuffy man in his thirties standing there, looking and sounding completely out of place. Darcy wasn’t from Shadows Landing, but she fit in better than this man did. He was in a tan seersucker suit with a green bowtie. His brown leather loafers were so polished the room was reflected in them. And there was an obvious stick up his ass.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” Darcy asked, instantly disliking the man.
“I’m Dr. Stephen Adkins. I run the historical society.”
“Oh, how did you end up here? It sounds as if you’re from New York.”
Skeeter snickered next to her, and Stef-awn, that’s how he said his name, turned red.
“I’m from Shadows Landing. I got my doctorate up north. I must have lost my accent when I was around my intellectual equals.”
“Okay then,” Darcy said as she looked at Skeeter and rolled her eyes. “It was nice meeting you. If you’ll excuse us, we have some research to do.”
“I can assist you far better than this man can. What do you need help with?”
“Thank you for the offer, but we’re good. We’ll call you if we need anything.” Darcy grabbed Skeeter’s hand and dragged him across the large open lobby filled with statues, paintings, and bookshelves. “Am I going in the right direction?” she whispered to Skeeter.
“Yup. Take the stairs to the basement. That was right funny back there.” Skeeter opened the stairwell door and held it open for her.
“I don’t like him.”
“Most of us don’t. He always thought he was steppin’ in high cotton. Then he went away for college, and we didn’t see hide nor hair of him for years. Then he comes waltzin’ back to town as if he owned it.”
“Will he tell anyone we’re here?” Darcy asked, worried about Jules as Skeeter pushed open the door to the basement archives.
“Darn tootin’ he will.”
“Then I don’t have much time. Jules will come here after he gets as much local gossip as possible. If I tell you something, can you swear upon your life you won’t tell a soul?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die.” Skeeter used his finger to draw an X over his heart before turning back around and pushing through anoth
er door. He fumbled for the light switch as it was black as night in the room. When he turned it on, they saw old microfilm machines and what looked to be a large pressurized vault taking up a wide section of the far wall of the smaller room. Skeeter closed and locked the door behind them.
“What is this place?”
“This is the pirate archives. The vault holds original diaries and such. The old newspapers and records are on microfilm. While Mr. Fancypants up there was off doing his learnin’, the historical society was still running. I spent a lot of time down here just readin’. Plus, my ma volunteered here when I was growing up. I helped put many of these documents on microfilm after school. It’s also how I know the combination to the vault. Something Stephen is spittin’ mad about.”
“Why would he be mad about that?”
“´Cause I won’t tell him what it is.” Skeeter grinned his crooked grin and Darcy broke out in laughter.
“So, what did you want to tell me?”
Darcy pulled up her pictures that Wade had texted her and showed the clue to Skeeter. “I’m guessin’ you figured out the Rattlesnake Shoal part, right?”
“Yes, it’s the last couple of lines we can’t get.”
“I don’t rightly know either. Let’s see if we have anything in the books about a dancing master and someone loving someone so. I’ll work the microfilm if you want to look at the original books.”
Darcy’s heart pounded with excitement. “You bet I do.”
Skeeter opened the vault and Darcy stared with wonder. If she hadn’t orgasmed so many times that morning she would do so now. In front of her were rows and rows of original books. Black Law, Anne Bonny, and every famous pirate ever to set foot in Shadows Landing each had their own section. All worry about Jules vanished as she threw herself into the books.
* * *
“I just love your accent,” Harper said with more of a southern belle accent than Wade had ever heard her use sober. When Harper got drunk, her accent got thicker. “It’s so cosmopolitan.”
Sunken Shadows Page 11