Read Online Her Sworn Enemy (Men of the Zodiac) by Theresa Meyers - Free Book Online
Authors: Theresa Meyers
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line?”
“Just a sec.” Bella could hear the click , click , click of keyboard keys. Her palms were growing damp and her heart beating a little harder. Please, please, let it be something , she silently prayed. The sooner they found what they were looking for, the sooner she could restore her and Min’s finances, and the sooner she could get out of the way of temptation in the form of Tucker McCormack.
A grainy image of the shape came up on screen. Whatever it was, it wasn’t natural. It was too straight to be a rock formation.
“What’s the ETA on getting an ROV image, Barclay?”
“Give me five more minutes.”
This time when he looked at her, there was a genuine sparkle of excitement in his blue eyes; potent enough it made her breath catch.
“Perhaps your bad luck is finally wearing off,” he said. “We may have found the piece we’ve been looking for.”
Chapter Five
E nergy zipped and sparked along Bella’s nerve endings. Her stomach fluttered in anticipation. She grasped the mermaid pendant on her necklace and pulled it back and forth along the chain. Was this the breakthrough they needed? Was this their first piece of the Rapid ?
She remembered way back to when she’d been so young that seated on the old davenport at her grand-mère’s house, her feet hadn’t touched the floor. The French-made sofa and chairs had been older than her grandmother even then. Bella recalled how, over hot black tea, she’d begged her grandmother to retell the stories over and over of their family history and the shipwreck.
Even as a child Bella had been fascinated and intrigued by the tales of daring and drama. Her grandmother’s stories spoke of great wealth and a family whose standing in the community was unrivaled. And even then—as young as five years old—she’d known that she’d be the one to find the Rapid and restore the family’s fortunes and good name. She’d never wavered. Her entire life felt like a giant arrow pointing to exactly this time and place.
Her heart pounded unevenly against her rib cage, and her eyes burned because she was afraid to blink and miss anything. The ROV circled, the lens zooming in on the raised ridge that was perfectly straight, but not flat. In fact, to anyone else it might have looked more like a blackened, bumpy, encrusted log that tapered narrower on one end.
“A cannon,” she breathed excitedly.
“Don’t get your hopes up. Reeves,” Tucker ordered into the mic. “Get me a magnetometer reading on the object.”
“Aye, Captain.” The seconds ticked by with agonizing slowness before his voice returned. The ticking sound in the background increased until it became a steady hum. “Looks like metal, heavy iron content.”
“What’s your best guess given the reading?” Tuck asked.
A few moments of static on their mic had Bella on the edge of her seat. “Possibly a cannon, Cap.”
Bella shot him an I-told-you-so look.
“Can you use the blower on it to remove enough sediment and get a better reading?”
“No, it’s got too much buildup on it. Looks like we’ll have to clean it up before we can really see any detail.”
“Mark it, and we’ll haul it up after we get a full scan of the site.” His blue gaze connected with hers, and his lips thinned as he seemed to read her thoughts. “This could be a cannon from a different ship or not a cannon at all.”
Bella refused to let him dampen her hopes or the giddy sensations fluttering in her stomach. This was as close as she’d come, and she wasn’t about to give up before they’d even brought whatever it was to the surface.
“Why are you waiting for the full scan before you bring it to the surface?” she asked.
“I want to make sure this is a worthwhile site before I send down any more equipment.”
“It seems like a lot of work when you could just take the ROV down and start searching.”
He shook his head. “Trust me, this will go much faster and have better results if we take a
“Just a sec.” Bella could hear the click , click , click of keyboard keys. Her palms were growing damp and her heart beating a little harder. Please, please, let it be something , she silently prayed. The sooner they found what they were looking for, the sooner she could restore her and Min’s finances, and the sooner she could get out of the way of temptation in the form of Tucker McCormack.
A grainy image of the shape came up on screen. Whatever it was, it wasn’t natural. It was too straight to be a rock formation.
“What’s the ETA on getting an ROV image, Barclay?”
“Give me five more minutes.”
This time when he looked at her, there was a genuine sparkle of excitement in his blue eyes; potent enough it made her breath catch.
“Perhaps your bad luck is finally wearing off,” he said. “We may have found the piece we’ve been looking for.”
Chapter Five
E nergy zipped and sparked along Bella’s nerve endings. Her stomach fluttered in anticipation. She grasped the mermaid pendant on her necklace and pulled it back and forth along the chain. Was this the breakthrough they needed? Was this their first piece of the Rapid ?
She remembered way back to when she’d been so young that seated on the old davenport at her grand-mère’s house, her feet hadn’t touched the floor. The French-made sofa and chairs had been older than her grandmother even then. Bella recalled how, over hot black tea, she’d begged her grandmother to retell the stories over and over of their family history and the shipwreck.
Even as a child Bella had been fascinated and intrigued by the tales of daring and drama. Her grandmother’s stories spoke of great wealth and a family whose standing in the community was unrivaled. And even then—as young as five years old—she’d known that she’d be the one to find the Rapid and restore the family’s fortunes and good name. She’d never wavered. Her entire life felt like a giant arrow pointing to exactly this time and place.
Her heart pounded unevenly against her rib cage, and her eyes burned because she was afraid to blink and miss anything. The ROV circled, the lens zooming in on the raised ridge that was perfectly straight, but not flat. In fact, to anyone else it might have looked more like a blackened, bumpy, encrusted log that tapered narrower on one end.
“A cannon,” she breathed excitedly.
“Don’t get your hopes up. Reeves,” Tucker ordered into the mic. “Get me a magnetometer reading on the object.”
“Aye, Captain.” The seconds ticked by with agonizing slowness before his voice returned. The ticking sound in the background increased until it became a steady hum. “Looks like metal, heavy iron content.”
“What’s your best guess given the reading?” Tuck asked.
A few moments of static on their mic had Bella on the edge of her seat. “Possibly a cannon, Cap.”
Bella shot him an I-told-you-so look.
“Can you use the blower on it to remove enough sediment and get a better reading?”
“No, it’s got too much buildup on it. Looks like we’ll have to clean it up before we can really see any detail.”
“Mark it, and we’ll haul it up after we get a full scan of the site.” His blue gaze connected with hers, and his lips thinned as he seemed to read her thoughts. “This could be a cannon from a different ship or not a cannon at all.”
Bella refused to let him dampen her hopes or the giddy sensations fluttering in her stomach. This was as close as she’d come, and she wasn’t about to give up before they’d even brought whatever it was to the surface.
“Why are you waiting for the full scan before you bring it to the surface?” she asked.
“I want to make sure this is a worthwhile site before I send down any more equipment.”
“It seems like a lot of work when you could just take the ROV down and start searching.”
He shook his head. “Trust me, this will go much faster and have better results if we take a
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