Page 26 of Seaside Cowboy's Fairy Tale

A long-evasive carefree feeling filled him as he rushed to her and lifted her in the air, preventing another splash. She quieted in his arms, her hazel eyes huge. His heartbeat skyrocketed.

Did he overstep her boundaries? She didn’t say anything, just stared at him with those large, doe-like eyes. Every scent and sound seemed to disappear. Well, except for the heart thumping in his chest.

Then he put her down, and she walked back to the shore without saying a word.

He closed the distance between them fast.

“I... I’m not sure I’m ready for a new relationship yet,” she finally said. “I’ve had a no-dating rule for many years.”

“Same here.” He bottled up his disappointment. He wanted her in his life. In whatever capacity she chose, though granted, some of them were much better than others.

She shielded her eyes from the sun as she faced the lighthouse. “Isn’t it weird how we choose our beacons in life and travel to them despite great difficulties—but when we get there, we realize it might not be the best direction for us?”

She wasn’t talking about lighthouses. But with all his intelligence, he couldn’t say whether she talked about herself, him, or both. “My beacon was success. What was yours?”

“Independence and survival on my own. Now I’m not sure anymore.” She started walking along the ocean, something on her mind. “What do you know about the progress in the stolen-necklace case?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, shifting at an inner cringe. He’d sort of click-baited her with that, and he didn’t have much to offer. “The police had a suspect from the party who matched the thief’s description, but that person produced an ironclad alibi. The police have two more possible suspects but haven’t revealed their names. So far, nothing similar to that necklace appeared on the black market. Oh, and the necklace’s former owner said there was a romantic legend behind it.”

“I know about the legend. The necklace used to belong to a royal family in a small European country.”

“Really? Tell me more.” This case interested her way too much. Was her reluctant attention to him only because of the necklace? As the thought sliced through him, he nearly stopped walking the beach.

Something flashed in her eyes when she looked up at him, but he couldn’t decipher it. It disappeared fast like words written in the sand and taken by the tide. She leaned to the water, but this time, she didn’t splash it, just let it run through her long, ringless fingers. “According to the legend, a prince gave the diamond necklace to his redheaded bride after their wedding. Before that, the necklace belonged to a noble family in the kingdom, but they sold it when they fell on hard times after the king ordered their patriarch’s arrest. The family’s youngest son vowed to prove his father’s innocence and one day get their treasures back.”

Tex whistled. “A beautiful present that came with a warning.”

“Indeed. She was kidnapped during their honeymoon voyage while wearing the necklace.”

“What happened to her?”

She shrugged. “Nobody knows. The ship was taken by pirates. The prince’s life was spared, but his young wife was taken captive. The prince later offered a huge ransom to get his beloved back. But she and the pirates disappeared with no trace.”

How much of this was true and how much was just romantic words? He didn’t voice the question in case she was entranced with the story. He itched to take her hand, but her earlier words stopped him. So he settled for just looking at her against the beautiful ocean backdrop and listening to her soft voice against the waves.

She slowed her pace as if disappearing into her story. “The legend says she might’ve been in love with the pirate captain. But that part could be the prince’s guilty conscience speaking for not being able to save her. There was a rumor later of a rare sighting of a pirate queen—with red hair.”

Interesting detail, but some things didn’t add up. “What about the son of the noble family who vouched to get the treasures back?”

“Good question. The king pardoned their patriarch and released him. But the son was never seen again.” She paused as if pursuing the same unspoken conclusions he was. “Coming back to the necklace now, it’ll be difficult to sell. I imagine they will take it apart and hawk the individual diamonds. Which is a pity, considering it’s a historical treasure.”

“It should’ve been in a museum.”

Her eyes darkened. “Probably. But a lot of people like expensive toys with interesting histories they can brag about.”

Was that a dig in his direction? He liked expensive cars, though he wouldn’t call them “toys.” “What about other treasures that once belonged to that family? What happened to them? Did they get them back?”

“Most of them. Except for the necklace, two rings, and a bracelet. The necklace resurfaced centuries later in a different European country and then made its way to the US. The great-grandmother of someone I know bought one of the rings at a European auction, and it was passed through the generations in that family to the first daughter, eventually making it to my friend.” She opened her mouth as if to say something else, but then clammed up. Except to say, “No word on what happened to the other ring or the bracelet.”

“An interesting coincidence.”

Her gaze sharpened, and she stopped. “Or it wasn’t a coincidence. That jewelry doesn’t just have historical value and obvious sentimental value to the family. The items are rather expensive.”

He didn’t like where this was going as he remembered the gunfire at the charity ball garden. “Expensive enough to kill for?”

“I suspect so.”

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