by Kitty Margo
Joshua returned later to find Lynna kneading what looked like bread dough. He entered without an invitation and seemed somewhat calmer, but she had been fooled before by his mercurial moods. He stood quietly watching her. “Where did you get the ingredients to make bread on this island?”
“From the breadfruit tree,” she answered without even glancing his way. “Thank goodness, Rob worked on a plantation in Jamaica and was taught which trees and fruits are edible. He taught me to soak breadfruit in seawater until it softens. Then you peel it, and mash it into a pulp. Next you knead it like this, roll it, and bake it as you would ordinary bread dough.”
“Amazing.”
“Look at this.” She held up what looked like a chunk of ivory. Slicing a small piece, she handed it to him. “Taste it.”
Joshua was surprised to find that it had a pleasing nut taste. “What is it?”
“Palm cabbage. The cabbage is the buds on the trees.” She then handed him a cup of coconut milk.
“You are a wealth of information.”
“Rob is a very good teacher.” She instantly regretted mentioning Rob’s name after seeing Joshua’s knuckles whiten under the pressure of his clenched fists. She hadn’t meant to provoke him again. “Since neither of us remembers my name, he calls me Buttercup.”
“How touching, I’m sure.” Joshua moved to the entrance of the cave peering outside. “Do you ever leave this cave?”
“I did before you and your men intruded on the island,” she answered truthfully. “We would spend most of our evenings on the beach having clam and oyster roasts, or building bonfires, or just watching the sunset. I have never witnessed a more breathtaking sight than when the moon hovers over the island.” She cut her eyes toward him when she said, “Now I’m afraid to leave the cave.”
Joshua sat down at the table and crossed his booted feet at the ankles, nodding toward a neat row of seashells lined up on a shelf. “I noticed that you have found some beautiful shells to add to your collection back home.”
Lynna had no idea what collection he spoke of, but she knew that a discussion of shells was not what he had on his mind. She was correct. “You need not fear going out as long as you accompany me.”
Which danger was greater? Facing his men, or being alone with him? They were silent for a long time, both lost in thought. Joshua was the first to break the silence. “Lynna, am I to believe that you have no memory of anything that happened before you came to on this island?”
“What I have told you is the truth.”
Ignoring her, he continued, undaunted. “And that you awakened on an island with a man you had never seen before and the two of you immediately set up housekeeping together?”
“Did you expect us to live in separate caves?” she murmured guilelessly.
“I sure as hell didn’t expect you to share his bed!” Joshua’s chest heaved with anger as he scrubbed a hand over his face. “It is almost impossible for me to believe that you have been living in this cave all this time with…with…”
“Rob,” she supplied, since he seemed to have some difficulty saying the word.
“Have you no explanations for me, Lynna?” He was begging her to make him understand. “How did you go from loving me, to marrying Michael, to this tryst with…with…”
“Rob.”
He opened his mouth to say more, but thought better of it and fled the cave in a huff.
Lynna smiled at his retreating form, going over in her mind what he had said. He certainly painted her as a wanton woman with a very colorful past. Evidently he didn’t know about her giving herself to the pirate captain to save Rob from being flogged or he would have surely added that to his long list of grievances.
The following morning Lynna sat by the edge of the beach digging into the soft sand with her bare foot and watching a ship with the name Windjammer painted on the bow roll with the ocean swells. Heavy clouds rolled over the mountain making the midday heat bearable, almost pleasant as the cool breeze caressed her heated skin.
The scene was ethereal and had been hers and Rob’s alone until those horrid men had found it. But if she admitted the truth, the men weren’t so bad. She no longer believed them to be pirates. The few she had come in contact with had gone out of their way to be nice to her, always polite and offering assistance should she need it. As for Joshua, what did she know of this man who claimed to love her?
Absolutely nothing.
It was so nice to have her freedom back after the many days of being cloistered in the cave. Joshua had ordered his men to move their encampment further down the beach. Now she never happened upon any of his crew. Little did she know that each man had been issued a personal warning by the Captain. “The lady is mine and I do not share what belongs to me. Any man who doesn’t heed my words will answer directly to me.” The message in his eyes spoke louder than his words and each man had taken the warning to heart.
“May I join you?” his sultry voice startled her.
Lynna turned to find Joshua watching her intently. “We have nothing to say to each other.” She brushed the sand from her legs and made to rise.
“Yes, Lynna, we do. I can answer most of your questions about your past.” His soft words caressed her like silk. “Aren’t you curious?”
She turned to face him then, having a strong desire to learn about her past. Yet, at the same time, she was afraid she might discover that she had been little more than a shameless hussy. Hiding her blazing face in her hands she wondered if it might be best if she never learned of her sordid past. Yet Joshua seemed determined that she remember as he divulged all that he knew of her life in great detail.
She could almost envision her Aunt Judith sitting at the table in the small cottage behind the great plantation house, and Crystal running down the beach in Jamaica. Her heart constricted painfully in her chest when he told her about the child. Lynna tried desperately to remember, tried to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. “And you? What part did you play in my past? Did you live in Georgia as well?”
“No, my sweet. My home is in Charleston. We were reunited after three years apart. First, we met onboard my ship, the Windjammer, when you sailed from France.”
She peered across the harbor to his ship, hoping for a memory, but none came.
Joshua decided not to mention her father, it would only cause more pain. A mischievous grin curved his lips as he recounted her first night of passion on his ship. But the smile rapidly vanished as he continued with Suzanne’s treacherous schemes. Pure hatred shone in his eyes as he remembered the pain on Lynna’s face the night of the Harvest Ball when he had believed that Suzanne carried his child.
“But I could not have loved you,” Lynna tried to reason with him. “Or I would not have married another man so soon.”
“You married Michael because you believed that we could never be together. You believed, as did I, that Suzanne carried my child.” He held a handful of sand, allowing it to sift slowly through his fingers before continuing. “We are both free now, Lynna. We can start fresh. Your memory may return in time, but if it doesn’t I will make you love me all over again.” Then he added, entirely too cocksure of himself, “It should not be too difficult a task.”
Lynna wanted to believe him. She prayed that his words were true. But she couldn’t push the nagging thought from her mind that he was a complete stranger and could be filling her head with lies. Rob was aware that she had lived on the plantation with Michael, yet he had never mentioned this child named Crystal. She wondered if any of what Joshua had told her was the truth.
Taking her hand, Lynna didn’t resist when he led her to a grassy knoll where colorful wild flowers waved in a gentle breeze. Joshua bent to pick a handful, presenting her the fragrant bouquet as an offering of peace. When she would not look at him, he turned her face up to his and saw the confusion in her azure gaze. “You question the truth of my words, Lynna?” With their lips only inches apart it was an act of sheer willpower that kept him from tasting her sweet
nectar.
He was certain beyond a shadow of doubt that if given half a chance, he could make her remember him. He was sorely tested now each time he was near her. And each time it grew harder for him to leave. The only solution to the problem was to put some distance between them until he could convince her to trust him.
“I…I’m not sure what I believe. I need time to think and sort out my feelings,” she whispered. “You must try to understand how confusing this all is to me.” Her eyes swam with unshed tears as they pleaded with him for understanding.
“I do, and you will have the time you need.” Joshua made a spur of the moment decision. “I am returning to the camp with my men.”
Lynna looked at him, her pulse quickening for some strange reason. “Will you come back?”
Her response filled him with a small glimmer of hope. “Yes, I will be back.” Then he planted a tender kiss on her lips before she could voice an objection. “I will not leave this island without you, Lynna.” His tone left no doubt that his words were true. She watched him walk away until his tall shadow blended with the trees.
Three days later she awoke to find him watching her. “Don’t you have anything better to do with your time?” She was furious that he came and went as he pleased. “And you really should learn to knock.”
“Than watch you sleep?” Joshua shook his head, having found it impossible to stay away. “Since I was denied the pleasure for so long, I can’t imagine a more agreeable past time. I find watching you in the flesh far greater than imagining you in my dreams.”
Why did she have such a strong desire, an almost overwhelming desire, to slide over and hold back the covers for him to join her? Her blushing cheeks betrayed her and Joshua needed no more encouragement. Moving toward her slowly, their eyes locked, so close they could almost touch.
When she felt his warm breath near her lips, she panicked. “I cannot betray my husband’s memory. Even though I have no memory of him, there must have been love between us or I would not have married him.”
It was entirely possible that he had survived the shipwreck unharmed, just as she and Rob had. Lynna put her hands out to stop Joshua’s progress, but he easily brushed them away with a steely glint in his emerald eyes.
“Don’t fight me, Lynna. My patience has worn thin and I will have for myself what you so eagerly give to your Rob. I cannot bear this torture another day.” The past few days had been especially difficult for Joshua and he had found sleep impossible. He hadn’t meant to mention the other man, yet he could not rid his mind of him. The thought of them together, making love, burned his mind like a branding iron and he was immediately possessed by a blinding rage.
With a rending tear he ripped the sarong from her shoulders, drawing in a ragged breath at the sight of her naked loveliness. He prayed that she would come to him willingly, without a fight.
But she did not. Instead, she clawed at his neck leaving four bloody trails. Taking her hands in one of his, he held them above her head as the blood from the wounds she had inflicted dripped down onto her neck and chest, smearing over her skin as his lips left their path. Lynna fought the passion rising in her. With all her strength she fought it. She would never succumb to his lust.
She remembered the spear hidden under her bed, but it was impossible to reach with his heavy weight atop her. With no other weapon available she sank her teeth deep into his shoulder, causing him to pull away so fast that he almost took her teeth with him.
“Does Rob have to fight you every time he takes you? Is that how you like it now? Or do you go willingly to his bed?” He hated her for the pain she was causing him.
No, he knew that was a lie meant to justify his depraved actions.
He could never hate her.
Glancing down into her eyes, swimming with tears, Joshua’s heart melted and he realized that if the only way he could have her was by force, he didn’t want her. Overwhelmed with tenderness for her, his lips descended and he drank of her sweet mouth one last time before rising to leave the cave without a word.
Chapter 37