The Pirate Ghost Read online

  “The only warmth I can feel is your warmth,” Gabriel whispered huskily.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Books by Laura Pender

  Title Page

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Epilogue

  Weddings by De Wilde

  Copyright

  “The only warmth I can feel is your warmth,” Gabriel whispered huskily.

  Tess could merely stare at this strange man, this apparition dressed in pirate’s clothes. Was he a ghost? A time traveler?

  “Your skin has the texture of the finest silk,” he continued, “and nothing else has any texture at all. You feel complete beneath my hand. And I feel a connection to you. Don’t you feel a bit of the same?”

  “Yes,” Tess whispered, barely able to believe this was actually happening. “But I don’t know why.”

  “A person can grow old waiting to find out the why of things.”

  “I thought you were a hallucination,” she blurted out. “I thought I was losing my mind. Why have you come to me, Gabriel?”

  “Ah, Tess,” Gabriel returned softly. “Because you’re my only connection to the world.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Between her writing and children, Laura Pender is kept very busy. She lives in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area, and she feels that her spouse is a heavy contributor to all her Intrigue novels. A prolific writer, she has written for Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and many other publications.

  Books by Laura Pender

  HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

  62—TASTE OF TREASON

  70—HIT AND RUN

  91—TRAITOR’S DISPATCH

  108—SKY PIRATE

  142—DEJA VU

  177—MINDGAME

  212—DANGEROUS VINTAGE

  240—GARDEN OF DECEIT

  249—MUSIC OF THE MIST

  280—MIDNIGHT RIDER

  292—THE DREAMER’S KISS

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  Harlequin Reader Service

  U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

  Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

  The Pirate Ghost

  Laura Pender

  TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON

  AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY HAMBURG

  STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN

  MADRID • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Tess Miller—Was she losing her mind...or was her latest suitor really a ghost?

  Gabriel Dyer—The sexy pirate claimed Tess was his only connection to the world.

  Darrell Cage—Tess’s angry ex-husband didn’t particularly want to let Tess go.

  Charles Dumont—He seemed to be nothing more than a stranger on the beach...but was seemed the operative word?

  Betty Crown—Did the woman know more than she was letting on?

  Detective Wilkes—When Tess was accused of murder, the good officer had reason to believe she was guilty as charged!

  Chapter One

  It was after midnight when Tess Miller parked her car in the lot at Bernie’s Lounge, a beachfront tavern in Los Palmas, Florida, and got out. It was a beautiful, moonless night, the clear sky alive with stars. Tess stood for a moment looking up at those distant points of light visible beyond the lights of the nightclub before walking down to the sand. She wasn’t going to the bar, but merely borrowing a space in their lot while she strolled along the broad beach that graced the shore of the Gulf of Mexico.

  She’d given up a beachfront home in her recent divorce and found herself landlocked now, after five years with an ocean view. The beach was the only thing she missed about her marriage to Darrell Cage, and so she had made it a practice to return to it for a stroll before bed a couple nights a week. Even though it meant a drive across town for the pleasure, she loved the serenity of the ocean lying dark beneath the stars. And, on a moonless night like tonight, the mystery of the ocean filled her with a sense of awe that soothed her after a hard day’s work.

  The tall, athletic brunette took off her white canvas shoes and walked north from the nightclub, surveying the ocean with calm brown eyes. There was something about the endless expanse of water that drew her back, a nameless feeling of desire that seemed imposed from the outside and totally separate from her own feelings. It was as if the ocean itself was calling to her, and she always answered the call.

  But the disturbing thought of Darrell Cage, her ex-husband, came unbidden. His large house was just south of here. It was most emphatically his house—never really hers. Just as she had been his wife—his property as far as he was concerned. It had taken her five years to realize that about him. Five years to realize that his big house and his money couldn’t make her happy.

  She had hoped that a child would bring them closer but her pregnancy had ended in a miscarriage. Darrell had told her they hadn’t really wanted kids yet anyway, and then he had gone out on “business” and left her alone again. How could she have ever loved him? How could he have been so unfeeling?

  Memories were stubborn things. But it was all in the past now. After the long fight to divorce herself from that possessive, vindictive man, Tess had her life back, and Darrell Cage was just one more bad memory.

  There were nothing but good memories ahead of her now.

  Tess walked along the beach, beyond the lights of the beach strip, then toward the private beach. It fronted the expensive homes on Sandhook Road, where the movers and shakers of Los Palmas lived. There were lights on in some of the big houses, but none that extended far enough to illuminate the shoreline.

  Tess reached a small cluster of water-smoothed rocks and sat down to rest. She’d walked much farther than she had intended, and she felt flushed and hot. A smile skated over her lips. What she needed was a cooling dip in the placid gulf waters.

  For a moment, it seemed as though a lilting masculine voice was calling her name, beckoning her to come into the ocean’s cool depths. And why not? The beach was deserted and she was a strong swimmer; why not follow her whim?

  Tess glanced around quickly, then dropped her shoes beside the rock and stripped to her underclothes. From a distance, she’d look as if she were wearing a swimsuit. She ran eagerly to the beckoning waters and dived in.

  The water refreshed her with its cool touch, and she rolled over onto her back and floated, looking up at the stars. Then, feeling energetic and carefree, she turned over and took several strong strokes just to enjoy exerting her muscles. She dived beneath the surface and then burst up again, winded and happy. She had lettered in swimming in high school, placing third in the freestyle event in the state competition during her senior year, but that had been ten years ago and it felt good to know she still remembered her training.

  Rolling onto her back again, Tess floated easily, sculling her hands just enough to keep herself afloat until she decided to head back to shore. She turned over and treaded water, looking for land.

  She couldn’t find the shore at first, and a flutter of panic struck her when she found herself in a dark world without a reference point to guide her. Then, what sounded like a
shout caught her ear. She turned toward the noise. Yes, a rectangle of light had appeared in one of the houses on what must be the shore. She could dimly see two figures standing in it. Were they really that far away? Suddenly, the light was extinguished, but she had her bearings now. She began swimming toward shore.

  You forgot about the tide, she thought as she swam. It had still been going out when she’d started swimming. Now, she was much farther out than she’d intended to go, way too far.

  She swam faster, fighting against the fear that coiled in the pit of her stomach. Taking strong strokes, she kicked hard. When she paused to catch her breath, she looked around her. She could see the darker shape of land against the dark sky now, so she knew she’d made progress, but she was still dreadfully far out.

  She swam again, slower now, knowing that endurance was the key rather than speed. It seemed to take forever, and she was dizzy with fatigue, but the next time she looked, the land was closer, looming large before her. She could make it now. She would be all right.

  Finally, she felt something with the tip of her toe. When she swam a bit farther, her toe dragged through sand and over a rough bit of rock. She was almost there!

  Too tired to swim anymore, Tess put her feet down. She was barely able to keep her head out of the water when she stood on tiptoe. Suddenly, a swell of water rushed over her, filling her mouth and nose and knocking her off balance.

  Tess panicked, thrashing in the water. Then she broke free, coughing and sputtering, only to be pulled down by another swell. The sandy bottom beneath her feet vanished. And there didn’t seem to be any up or down in the dark water, no light and no air, no safety.

  She broke the surface one more time, drawing in a breath that choked her and burned her chest, shouting once, feebly, “Help me!”

  But no one was there and she sank again.

  And then there was little sensation, nothing but the grip of the dark gulf waters and the painful beat of her heart. Nothing but the ocean, deep and cold. Miles of water and icy silence. Only quiet death lay beneath these waves.

  But she seemed to hear the sound of a ship’s bell—an old-fashioned dinging like that of a sailing ship. She could swear she heard men shouting. They sounded terrified, and the roar of an ocean storm was swirling around them. But then all sounds faded—except the sound of her heart and a man calling her name from the depths.

  She felt herself miraculously rising in the water. She felt the cool touch of air on her face and shoulders, the warm strength of a man’s arms around her back and the strong movement of his thighs against her as he carried her up from the water.

  She coughed—water erupted from her mouth and was replaced by feeble currents of air. And then she was laid on the sand.

  “Have you no sense?” A man’s deep, lilting voice broke through the ragged sound of her own breathing. “Swimming in the moonlight like an eel. No, floundering like a pup in a sack, you were, for it wasn’t swimming. You’da drowned surely if you hadn’t woke me, and a beauty like yourself deserves better than to end up blue on the rocks somewhere.”

  She couldn’t speak. It was all she could do to breathe just then. Each gasp of air burned her chest and rasped in her throat. So, she could only lie on the sand and stare, blinking, at the dark form of the man above her.

  “Don’t try talking, lass,” he said softly. “And, anyway, it’s me who should be thanking you.”

  As Tess’s senses slowly returned, she could make out a square-cut face with a rather broad nose poised above the friendliest smile she’d ever seen. Green eyes, she thought. They sparkled like emeralds in his shadowed face.

  “Thank you anyway,” she said now. She swallowed hard; it hurt to talk.

  “And thank you,” he replied. Then he leaned down and slipped one hand behind her head, lifting it toward his. “Such a beautiful woman, you are. A comely lass such as yourself should sleep with someone other than Davey Jones.”

  He kissed her then, claiming her lips roughly as his due for his heroism. Then he drew back and released her with a laugh. His wet skin gleamed as he sat back on his haunches, highlighting a bare, muscular chest and stomach.

  “That’s all the thanks I’ll ask for now,” he said. “Though, seeing you like this, I’ll admit I’m cursing myself for being a gentleman. But a gentleman I’ll stay, and I’ll bid a good-night to you.”

  Suddenly, she realized he was naked! Seemingly unconcerned, he turned with a small shake of his head and walked back toward the ocean.

  Tess lifted herself up on her elbows, trying to call out to the man But her voice was gone, scoured away by salt water. She was helpless to do anything but watch the man walk away, the long mane of his ponytail hanging halfway down his back. He walked directly into the sea without looking back, continuing until the water rose up and consumed him.

  She fell weakly back onto the sand. Within moments, she fell blessedly asleep Her savior was waiting in the gray shadows of her dreams, where he seemed more substantial than he had on the shore. His body was hard with well-worked muscles, his eyes a soft green and his smile as gentle as a baby’s.

  “Should you need me, lass, just call for Gabriel Dyer,” he said, nestling his mouth close to her ear. “Now that you’ve found me, I’ll come running. Lord knows I couldn’t help myself in any case from running after so fair a lady. Dead or not, I surely couldn’t help it at all.”

  His words remained after he’d gone, lulling her with their secure promise, borne on the sound of waves and the creaking of ancient rigging as sails moved in the gentle gulf breeze that flowed through her dream.

  Chapter Two

  Tess awoke shivering as the frail rays of dawn filtered past the big houses on the shore and over the placid water. She was disoriented, unsure of where she was, but when she rolled to her side and felt the damp sand beneath her hands, she remembered.

  “Oh, no,” she moaned. Her head throbbed as though a heavy-metal band was warming up inside it, and her legs felt like ice. Her long dark hair was matted with sand, her mouth tasted of seawater and her throat hurt horribly. “What did you do to yourself?” she sighed as she pushed herself up to her knees.

  And then she remembered. Thank heavens someone had been swimming just where she needed him to be. It didn’t seem possible that anyone else could have been in the water but he must have been, since she surely hadn’t saved herself. She felt like a total fool for having been caught by the tide. She could have been drowned through her foolishness.

  And now, she was in a real pickle. She was half-clothed on a strange beach and the sun was coming up. She had to find her clothing fast!

  Unfortunately, the tide had come in while she slept, and her purse and clothing weren’t in sight. Tess stood quickly and scanned the beach. She spotted something! Yes, a shoe, and she ran to it despite the hammering behind her anxious brown eyes. Her other shoe lay just beyond it, and beyond that she saw her blouse. She shook it out quickly, struggled into the damp garment and buttoned it.

  Fortunately, her shirttails were long. She looked as if she might be wearing a beach cover-up. Taking her shoes in one hand, she walked farther along toward a pile of smooth boulders. She didn’t have much hope of finding her blue jeans, but she found her purse lying half-buried in the sand. Inside, she found her car keys.

  At least she’d be able to drive home. It was early yet and all she had to do was get to her car without being seen. She might make it. Hoping to preserve some dignity, Tess began walking along the shore as though she was just out for a stroll.

  “This is a private beach, you know.” A man’s voice stopped her. “Not that I mind.”

  Was it her savior from last night? She turned to look at the man. He approached her rapidly; he seemed to come from a two-story house of glass and weathered wood that was perched on a low hill. He was tall, with sandy hair and a saltwater tan, and he was wearing a pair of brown Dockers and a blue crewneck shirt. He caught up to her, his smile revealing a set of glistening white teeth. He had blue
eyes, though. So it hadn’t been him last night.

  “Technically, the beach is public,” she replied hoarsely. “But I’m leaving it nonetheless.” Tess cleared her throat and shook her hair back as best she could while she continued walking toward the beach area in front of Bernie’s Lounge. It seemed a horribly long way off.

  “Like I said, I don’t mind,” he told her, walking at her side. “You look as though you slept out here.”

  “And you look as though you didn’t,” she said. “What of it?”

  “Do you make a practice of sleeping on the beach? Or did your date desert you?”

  “I didn’t have a date,” she retorted. “And I think I’m far enough away from your house now, so you can chill.”

  “How can I relax with a beautiful woman so near?”

  As she walked, a dark spot on the shore began to come into her view. Drawing closer, she saw that it was her jeans, a sight she would have welcomed moments earlier. Now, however, her dignity might be better served by leaving them. It was no time to admit that the empress had no clothes, so she walked past them, regretting only the loss of the spare change in her pocket.

  “Well, if you decide you might want a date,” he persisted, “give me a call. Charles Dumont.”

  “I’ll remember that, Charlie,” Tess said, smiling his way. “But I’ve got an appointment, so please excuse me.”

  “Certainly,” he said. “I’m just out for a stroll myself.”

  “Right.” They had reached Bernie’s, and Tess started up the slope to the parking lot. “Goodbye.”

  “Goodbye.” Charles Dumont remained on the beach and watched her walk up to the lot. “See you soon,” he called out.

  Tess didn’t reply but hurried up the slope. Once she was in the parking lot, she ran across the asphalt to her car and threw herself inside. Never again, never again, she thought as she started the engine and threw the dusty blue Toyota into gear. I’ll do my swimming in the public pool. She could feel herself blushing hotly now, feeling as though everyone she passed along the route home was staring at her and clucking their tongues in remonstration. Never, never, never again.