Beauty's Curse Read online

  Amelia resisted. “But David.”

  Mrs. Hale would not be dissuaded. “We’ll return as soon as you’re properly dressed and cleaned up.”

  Amelia stared down at her stained shift and the blood that coated her arms and hands.

  “Come now,” Mrs. Hale insisted, tugging her arm firmly. “We’ll only be a few minutes.”

  “Don’t worry,” the doctor added. “He’s extremely fortunate. If the knife had cut a major organ or artery, he would have died by now.”

  Fortunate? He’d been stabbed. With a sigh, she let the woman lead her away. David’s luck had gone dry the moment he’d met her. He likely wouldn’t have been stabbed at all if she hadn’t been there. She quelled a dry laugh. Of course he wouldn’t have been stabbed. If they’d never met, he wouldn’t have abandoned his ship and been stranded on an island with a man so distrustful, he’d rather lash out than extend a hand in friendship.

  She followed Mrs. Hale up to the second floor and into a bedroom, the guilt building with every step, her stepmother’s words ringing true once more. Poor judgment, bad luck. They followed her like a plague, infecting everyone she came into contact with.

  “There’s water on the table in the corner. You can use it to wash up.” Mrs. Hale moved to the wardrobe and searched within.

  “Thank you.” Amelia poured water from the ewer into the basin and tried to wash off the blood, using a scrap of soap from the table. David’s blood. Her hands shook as she scrubbed harder, the soap scraping against her skin. David will not die. I will not be the cause of his death. She should leave. David would be safe here with the doctor. She shuffled from foot to foot, the urge to flee strong.

  “Here we are.” Mrs. Hale laid out a fresh shift on the bed, along with a sturdy pale green gown. “This should fit you well enough, but you’ll need an under-petticoat and stays. Hmm.”

  “I have my own. They’re in the boat down at the pier.” She gasped for air as a wave of heat overwhelmed her.

  “Yes. I’ll have someone fetch your things for you, but in the meantime…” Mrs. Hale rifled through a chest along the far wall. “Poor girl. You look like you’ve been through quite the ordeal.”

  If she only knew. “Would you tell me about this island?” Amelia asked as she changed into the fresh shift.

  Mrs. Hale arched a brow. “What do you want to know?”

  “Are there any uninhabited places? On the opposite side perhaps.”

  “Yes, no one that I know strays beyond the plantation and town.” Mrs. Hale handed over worn stays then returned to the chest and dug inside. “Why would you ask?”

  Amelia hurried to tie the stays in place, her fingers tingling. “No reason. From a distance, this place appears desolate.”

  “Mmm.” Mrs. Hale brought over a petticoat, wrinkled from its time in the chest. “Have you and your…brother traveled far?”

  She ignored the question in Mrs. Hale’s voice regarding whether David was her brother or something else. “The ship we traveled on sank, leaving us stranded on the ocean for days.” The half lie would have to do. No point in mentioning that David had been a pirate as it might not settle too well, and he’d need the help of the doctor and his wife until he healed.

  Amelia hurried to dress, eager to see David again. She would make sure he was in good hands…before she left. The thought robbed her of breath and produced an ache in her heart she feared would never go away.

  As Mrs. Hale escorted her downstairs, the sun peeked through the windows with the start of a new day. The doctor was nowhere in sight, and Mrs. Hale left to find him. The dawn’s rays bathed David’s face as he lay on the bed. A man so strong and stubborn, now fighting for his very life.

  Although she longed to pace, to move, she touched her palm to his face, his whiskers prickly. “I love you,” she whispered. She had to tell him just once, even if he couldn’t hear it.

  “Amelia?” His eyes opened, his lids heavy and his gaze unfocused.

  Her heart leaped. “I’m here,” she said, then winced. But not for long.

  The corner of his lips rose in a smile that warmed her through and through. She had so much she wanted to say to him. She wanted to thank him for all he’d done for her, the support he’d given, the encouragement, but the words wouldn’t come. Tears stung her eyes, and her voice wavered. “I have to go.”

  His eyes drifted closed, and her tears fell. David had lasted through the night. He’d recover with the help of the doctor. Then he could find The Wanderer once again. He’d be safe if she left his side. He’d be safe. That thought locked in her mind, she headed for the door. Once outside, she raced toward the edge of town, then gave in to the impulse to run. Although her injured foot ached with each step she took, she ran as far and as fast as her legs could go.

  Chapter Fourteen

  David awoke with a start, blinking rapidly to bring the world into focus. Something wasn’t right. An anchor-sized knot twisted in his gut, and a sense of loss pervaded his chest. Amelia. He attempted to sit up and pain sliced through his side, forcing him to lie back. He held his hand over the pained spot, a bandage beneath his fingers, and scanned the room. “Amelia?”

  A balding man came through the door. “Good. You’re awake. I’m Dr. Hale.”

  “Where am I?”

  “Caldwell Island.” The doctor checked beneath David’s bandage. “And this,” he gestured toward the doorway where another man stood, “is Robert Caldwell.”

  David ignored Caldwell and groaned as the doctor pressed his fingers around the wound. “Where’s Amelia?”

  “Ah, the girl. Haven’t seen her since early this morning.” The doctor reapplied the bandage and settled a hand on David’s forehead. “Don’t worry. We’re on an island. She couldn’t have gone far.”

  “I have a few questions.” Mr. Caldwell stepped inside the room with the confidence of a man who owned the place and everyone inside. He removed his hat and wiped his brow with a handkerchief. Although the day wasn’t yet excessively warm, the portly man already had a sheen of sweat coating his skin. “I’ve been told you came from the neighboring island.”

  Had he? He remembered very little of the prior night. Although…yes, Amelia had helped him into a boat.

  “Did you see anyone else while you were there?” Mr. Caldwell asked.

  Isaac and Ruth. Mr. Caldwell of Caldwell Island must be the plantation owner. David shook his head. “No, no one.”

  Mr. Caldwell’s blue eyes narrowed, his crow’s-feet deepening. “Are you saying this girl, Amelia, stabbed you?”

  A vehement denial sprang to his lips, but he held it back. Caldwell’s insinuation was clear. If she didn’t do it, then who did? He wouldn’t have stabbed himself. “It was an accident. She didn’t mean to hurt me.” Placing the blame on her soured his stomach, but what else could he do?

  A smirk stretched Caldwell’s lips. “An accident? How did it happen?”

  “She slipped.” He would say no more. Better the lie be a short one. “Now if you’ll excuse me…” He attempted to sit up once again.

  The doctor pressed him down. “You should rest.”

  He couldn’t rest. Amelia wouldn’t simply leave him in order to explore the town. A memory came back, a hazy one. Amelia by his bed with tears in her eyes, telling him…she had to go. His heart crashed to the floor. But where would she go, and why?

  “You’re lying,” Caldwell insisted. “I’m looking for two escaped slaves. Where are they hiding?”

  He had no time for this. He had to find Amelia. “Unhand me,” he ordered the doctor, who pursed his lips and stepped away. David pushed himself up into a sitting position, his side burning with the effort.

  “My men searched that island a year ago. Where did you see my slaves last?” Caldwell demanded as David struggled to rise.

  Once on his feet, David drew in a long breath, and promptly passed out cold.

  …

  Amelia trudged through the foliage, the forest more dense than the one they�
�d passed through on the other island. While her pulse had calmed to a steady rhythm, her nerves still hummed. She’d been walking for hours, or so it seemed, and still the need to escape propelled her forward.

  Seeing David covered in blood, unable to open his eyes… She shuddered and nearly tripped as she stepped over a fallen tree. Her throat tightened and her eyelids prickled at the thought of the man she’d left behind. To never see him again… The ground blurred as tears filled her eyes.

  Drenched in sweat, Amelia broke through the trees to a deserted sandy beach. Blue water and pale sand, coconut trees—she’d seen it all before, although the colors here were less vibrant and the heat less bearable. Even the sun had dulled without David’s presence. How she yearned to run back to him.

  If David were here, he’d say she was being foolish, that her curse was nothing but a misguided theory based on malicious lies. That she placed too much importance on her every misfortune and poor decision. But this time, the things she’d said, the things she’d done to prompt Isaac to attack… David had been stabbed, and a coconut had fallen on his head!

  She approached the water’s edge and rubbed her face with her hands. Although he was so far away, she could hear David’s voice in her head, reminding her that she’d experienced good luck as well as bad. Amelia inhaled a large breath and dropped her hands from her face. He’d been right on that count. She’d been most fortunate to know him.

  Her stepmother had instilled the belief in curses and bad luck, and David had suspected jealousy as the cause. Once again, she had to agree. Her relationship with her father had never been the same after her stepmother had spread her poison.

  She stared out at the water, the vast blue ocean stretching out as far as she could see, and her gaze caught on a sight to her far left. A ship moored just off the island. No pirate flag. Perhaps a trading ship, but what was it doing here instead of at port? She returned to the line of trees and followed the edge. Peeking between the foliage, she watched a longboat heading to shore.

  By the time she crept up to the far side of the beach, the boat had been grounded and a handful of people were disembarking. Among them was a woman, her stomach slightly rounded. A tall man with ink-black hair helped her alight from the boat. The man looked vaguely familiar. They walked toward Amelia as she crouched in the scrub.

  “Are you sure you’ll be comfortable here?” the man asked.

  The woman smoothed her hand over his coat, her head cocked at an angle. “James, I’ll have Dr. Newsome, Whip, and the guards to watch over me. Besides, you’ll be returning by nightfall.”

  James nodded. “I will. I promise.” He took her hand and dropped a kiss on her knuckles. “I just hate leaving you here even for a short time. If I could take you with me, I would.”

  A smile touched the woman’s lips. “Believe me, I have no desire to return to New Providence. Now go. I’ll be fine.”

  The man released a long exhale and shook his head as if he would change his mind.

  “James Lamont,” she scolded. “We’ve traveled for months searching for your brother. You can’t stop now.”

  James Lamont? Searching for his brother? David. Amelia smothered a gasp. Was that why James had looked familiar? For once, she’d come across good fortune.

  For once? Was that true? David would argue that she’d had good fortune all along. Perhaps he was right. After all, she had found help getting David to the doctor when she’d needed it most, and David had survived a serious knife wound, for goodness’ sake.

  “You’re right.” James kissed the woman’s cheek and headed for the boat.

  “Wait!” Amelia rushed from her hiding place before James could get away.

  Hands dove for pistols and swords at her sudden appearance, but none were drawn. James hurried back to the woman’s side. “Who are you, and what do you want?” he asked Amelia, his eyes searching the area behind her. “Who else is with you?”

  Amelia raised her hands as a show of good faith. “I’m alone.” A pang of sadness clutched her heart at the reminder.

  James’s brows drew low in disbelief.

  “Truly, I’m alone,” she insisted. “And I know where you can find your brother David.”

  “New Providence,” James supplied. “We’ve heard that’s where The Wanderer has gone.”

  “David is no longer on The Wanderer. He’s here on this island.”

  James took a step toward her, an earnest look on his face. “How do you know all this?”

  Because she’d been rescued by those same pirates, by David. If she were truly bad luck, she would have drowned on Fortune’s Song. “He left The Wanderer for me. We’ve been traveling together, and I brought him here because he’s been injured.”

  Shocked expressions greeted her all around, and she rushed to add, “He’s recovering. I brought him to a doctor who lives in the town on the other side of this island.” Not that David’s survival had anything to do with medicine. Dr. Hale had done little more than stitch him up.

  She gazed at David’s brother, who’d traveled so far with the unlikeliest odds of ever finding David. “What brought you here?” They could have chosen to land on the neighboring island or on the other side of this one. Why here? Why now?

  James shrugged and turned to the woman at his right. “Lady’s choice. I left the decision up to my wife.”

  A becoming blush pinkened Mrs. Lamont’s cheeks. “I don’t have a good reason for choosing this place over another. I suppose you could say something drew me here.”

  They’d come here by chance. One could say by luck. A weight lifted from Amelia’s shoulders.

  A curious look swept over Mrs. Lamont’s face. “If you’ve been traveling with David, what are you doing here alone?”

  The truth became as clear as the ocean water around them. She did have good fortune. Well, good and bad, like everyone did. Meeting David proved that beyond all else. With him, she’d found love, which made her the luckiest woman of all.

  Her lips curved in a bright smile, and the thought of seeing David again made her breathless. “The reason why I’m alone here doesn’t matter anymore. Let’s go see David.”

  …

  Already afternoon, and still Amelia hadn’t returned. “I’ve walked your corridors for the last half hour. I’ve eaten and had plenty of water. I’m feeling fine,” David lied. “Short of tying me down, you won’t be keeping me here a moment longer.”

  Dr. Hale scowled. “Do what you must, but if you lose consciousness or break open your stitches—”

  “I won’t blame you,” David finished for him. Tucking in the tails of the shirt Mrs. Hale had given him, he ignored the discomfort each movement caused. As for the light-headedness, it came and went less frequently than it had during the morning hours. He headed for the door, thankful to finally leave the sickbed and begin his search for Amelia. Where could she be?

  He spied a flash of pale green in the hall, and before he could reach the corridor, Amelia was there in the doorway. Thank God.

  A happy grin lit her face as she rushed forward. “You’re up.”

  He met her within a few steps, and his injury be damned, he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. “Where have you been?”

  “Don’t worry about where I’ve been.” She gestured toward the door. “Look who I’ve found.”

  David peered over her head. James? His hold on Amelia loosened, and she stepped away to make room for the others to join them. Behind James was a woman, trailed by Thomas and Whip, James’s trusty crewmen. Thomas nodded toward David, while the old man Whip displayed a toothy grin. “Where you been, sprat?”

  “How did you find me?” David asked, his voice barely more than a breath.

  James gave a harsh laugh. “Through a combination of perseverance and luck. I’ve sailed all over the world searching for you.”

  He had?

  “We traveled to Madagascar, then heard tell you’d joined a ship headed this way, so we followed.” James’s golden eyes, so much
like their father’s, glistened. “Good Lord, it’s good to see you.” He closed the distance between them and clasped David in a hug so strong, David grunted from both emotion and pain.

  “Sorry.” James backed up a step. “I heard you were injured.”

  “It’s nothing,” David assured him. At least nothing that would kill him.

  David looked past his brother, and James hurried to introduce the woman at his side. “This is my wife, Mrs. Charity Lamont.”

  Wife? And a pregnant one at that. “When did this happen?”

  Charity’s loving gaze turned to her husband, and James’s smile grew. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk about it on our way to London.”

  David froze, and the relief at seeing his brother faded away. “I’m not going back.” He’d made up his mind on that months ago.

  “What?” James asked. “Why not?”

  “I don’t belong there anymore.” He didn’t care if he ever saw his father again. Gordon Lamont had never believed his second son was worth the air he breathed. What would his father think of him now? He’d spent time as a pirate and a slave. He’d murdered an innocent man. A strong mixture of anger and shame burned in his gut. No, he could never face his father again.

  James stepped forward. “I haven’t been searching for more than a year to return empty-handed.”

  “And I appreciate that you searched for me, but—”

  “Think of our sisters,” James argued, his voice growing louder. “They’ve been beside themselves with worry.”

  “You can assure them I’m safe and well.” He was a selfish bastard. He couldn’t deny it, but while he missed his sisters and James, his life wasn’t in London anymore.

  “David,” James growled. His wife Charity rested a comforting hand on James’s arm, and he inhaled a deep breath, his jaw rigid.

  David shook his head. “Unless you plan to take me as your prisoner, I’m not going.”

  “How about to Sussex then?” Amelia still stood by David’s side, but the joy that had bathed her face when she’d first returned had disappeared. “When I left here today, believing I’d never see you again…it forced me to think things through, such as why I’d left the man I love.”