Jade Star - Catherine Coulter [2]
“I don’t like it,” Bob Gallen said.
Jameson Wilkes knew the moment the two women recognized their danger. He heard one of them scream, saw them flip over and race back toward shore. But his men would be faster, of course.
“Kanola, hurry!” Jules gasped over her shoulder. But Kanola wasn’t as strong a swimmer. Jules slowed, and grabbed her friend’s hand.
“Go on, Jules!”
“No!” Jules gasped, swallowing a mouthful of salt water. Wild, terrifying thoughts swirled through her head. She’d seen the whaler in the distance, watched it without a great deal of interest until she heard Kanola cry out. Then she’d seen the boat coming toward them.
She grasped Kanola’s arm, pulling her with all her strength. But it was no use. The sun was shadowed by the men and the boat.
“Come on, little girlies,” she heard a man’s gleeful voice call.
“Dive, Kanola!”
But Kanola was much heavier than Jules, her body no longer as lithe. Jules watched helplessly as one of the men grabbed Kanola by her long, loose black hair and dragged her over the side of the boat. Without another thought, Jules dove deep. She had to escape and get help. It was her only thought as she swam with strong strokes underwater. I must get help! When she could hold her breath no longer, she surfaced, only to see a swarthy grinning face directly in front of her, blocking her way to shore.
“That’s enough now, girlie,” Rodney said. He and another sailor grabbed for her, one of them clasping her upper arm.
Jules fought silently, but she was no match for the two men. Like Kanola, she was dragged over the side of the boat and dumped on the bottom.
“Would you just fill your eyes with this, Ned,” Rodney said. “Not a freckle on that pretty little face. The captain’ll be mighty pleased. Oh yes he will.”
Jameson Wilkes was pleased. He watched his sailors bundle the two girls up the ladder. He quickly dismissed the native girl, his eyes on the flame-haired wench. He couldn’t believe his luck. Even though her thick hair was straggling down about her face and down her back, he knew she was a beauty. She was tall, slender, straight-legged, and those marvelous breasts, heaving beneath the thin covering of her sarong. Like Rodney, he quickly saw that not one freckle marred her lovely white skin.
Jules was brought to a stumbling halt before a tall, very well-dressed man. He looked a bit like her father, she thought wildly, but his face was seamed and swarthy from years spent on a ship. Her father usually carried an umbrella to protect his face from the harsh sun.
“My dear,” Jameson Wilkes said, offering her a slight bow, “welcome aboard the Sea Shroud.”
“Who are you?” Jules blurted out. “Why have you brought us here?”
“My dear,” Jameson Wilkes said in his deep voice, “I have but one question for you first. Are you yet a virgin?”
Jules stared at him as if he’d spoken Greek.
“Ah,” Jameson said, his eyes glittering. “Come along now, and I’ll tell you all you wish to know.”
“Kanola,” Jules gasped. “She is my friend, she must—”
Jameson stopped in his tracks. Slowly he turned. “Her status isn’t in much doubt, but nonetheless, we will see.” He walked to Kanola, who stood straight and proud, and with one fast motion he ripped off her sarong. Kanola lunged toward him, her nails aimed at his face, but three sailors grabbed her.
“My dear,” Jameson called to Jules. “You see, it is as I expected. The marks on her belly. Childbirthing marks. She hasn’t your worth. And like most native women, she’s got too much flesh. No, unfortunately, she has no value. Come along, now.”
Jules screamed, her voice high and thin, but she didn’t have the strength of Jameson Wilkes and he dragged her forcibly toward the hatch. The dim companionway loomed below. She heard Kanola call her name, then heard her cries of terror.
“I suggest you think about thanking me for protecting you from my men,” Jameson Wilkes said. “Nor, my dear, do you want to look.”
But she did. She saw Kanola on her back on the deck, men holding her arms and legs, and the sailor who had captured