His Timeless Treasure (Treasure Harbor Book 5) Read online

  His Timeless Treasure

  Treasure Harbor: Book Five

  Kristen Ethridge

  Copyright © 2016 by Kristen Ethridge.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  Laurel Lock Publishing

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

  Book Layout ©2013 BookDesignTemplates.com

  Treasure Harbor/Kristen Ethridge – 1st ed.

  Contents

  Dear Reader

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Epilogue

  Sample Chapter: Shelter from the Storm

  Sample Chapter: New Year’s Eve

  Sneak Peek: Text on the Beach

  About the Author

  THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF TREASURE HARBOR

  Dear Reader

  Arrrgh!

  I got my start in life in the same place many pirate legends were born. Galveston, Texas was once the home of the infamous pirate, Jean Lafitte, and the foundation of his home remains there today, standing sentinel along Harborside Drive. In fact, it became the inspiration for a key part of His Timeless Treasure—I know you’ll recognize it when you read the scene.

  Later in life, I lived in a Galveston neighborhood which sat right on top of Lafitte’s pirate base, known as Campeachy. The subdivision was named Campeche Cove. There are a few historical markers on the island that record the legend of Jean Lafitte and there’s no shortage of pirate flags, eye patches, and plastic swords sold these days in Galveston souvenir shops.

  Everyone loves a good swashbuckling story and a tale of treasure. I mean, there’s even an official “Talk Like a Pirate Day” and not so long ago, Facebook was overrun by people changing their official language to “English—Pirate.”

  I think the most intriguing thing about the idea between pirates and buried treasure is the idea of the secrets behind them. Every legend is built on a story.

  And so it is in Treasure Harbor. The quest for treasure sparks a search for the truth, and both Bree Burton and Reid Knight realize that whether the secrets are old or new, keeping a part of your life closed off from others is hard. I hope you’ll enjoy their story.

  If you haven’t already, don’t forget to pick up the other stories in Treasure Harbor. My fellow authors Belle Calhoune, Leah Atwood, Patricia PacJac Carroll, and Angel Moore have all put out some wonderful books in this series.

  And I hope you’ll join me this summer as I write more stories that take place on a different beach. I’m headed back to Port Provident for my new Port Provident: Holiday Hearts series, stories about finding love on the most special days of the year. Be sure and click the yellow “follow” button on my Amazon page so you’ll be notified when the next books from Port Provident are released and join my newsletter list so that you can stay connected with all the exciting things to come in Port Provident, including Text on the Beach, a Holiday Hearts novella, in the First Kiss Fireworks series that I’m a part of, along with reader favorites Carol Moncado and Jessica Keller and New Year’s Eve, the first full-length book in the Holiday Hearts series.

  All the best-

  P.S. If you’re joining me because you love one of the other authors in this series and you haven’t read any of my other books yet, you can catch up with what’s been going on in Port Provident through the Port Provident: Hurricane Hope series. Look for Shelter from the Storm, The Doctor’s Unexpected Family, His Texas Princess, and Holiday of Hope. And, if you want to read more of what happened the night that Hurricane Hope came to town, be sure and pick up my Love Inspired release, Second Chance Sweethearts. For an introduction to the Texas Gulf Coast and Port Provident, please pick up my debut Port Provident book from Love Inspired, Saving Gracie. You can still get both Love Inspired books in digital format.

  As always, if you liked the books, please leave a short and sweet review on Amazon—that’s the best compliment any author could receive. Think of it as a Christmas present that lasts all year long! They really do make a difference in helping other readers decide to buy a book themselves.

  HIS TIMELESS TREASURE

  Acknowledgements

  To Marlene Price and Veronica Deneumostier, as you know, I was headed to the store to buy your end-of-year presents when someone ran a red light and hit my car. So… Redhead 1 and I didn’t have the proper chance to tell you how much you brought to our lives this year, but now is my chance! You two are simply the best second grade teachers any kiddo could have hoped to have had. Thank you for filling her life with learning and laughs and love and for always going above and beyond to do the little things like maintain our Facebook page, send out the weekly newsletter, and organize special events outside of class. Every other teacher that will ever come after you for all of the Ethridge kids has some mighty big shoes to fill.

  Thank you and gracias.

  “Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves cannot break in and steal.”

  ―MATTHEW 6:20 (NLT)

  HIS TIMELESS TREASURE

  Chapter One

  “For the love of pizza. Just stay put, will ya?” Dr. Bree Burton gave the sliding pile of books a shove to emphasize her current state of frustration. She wished the books had ears, because just once today, she needed something to do what she needed it to do—even if it was just as small as a row of hard-bound books staying upright and in a line.

  There. They seemed balanced. Maybe they did have ears after all. Maybe one thing was going to go right today.

  Bree pushed aside a stray tendril of hair that had escaped her ponytail. She was coming to dread Tuesdays even more than Mondays. As far as she could tell, Mondays were getting a bad rap. They’d never done anything to her. But Tuesdays…Tuesdays were the enemy. They were staff meeting day.

  She had been so grateful for the opportunity to come back to her hometown and teach at Carolina Harbor College—a combination of two things she loved dearly. But almost as soon as she’d hung her diplomas on her office wall, a clique of her colleagues had started treating her as though she were still an undergrad instead of someone who had two advanced degrees, post-doctoral study at Oxford, and a tenure-track position.

  She was only a few weeks into the fall semester, but already it felt like the last straw. The unearthing of the legendary Burton/Callahan treasure earlier this year out on Bounty Beach had turned the whole department into a bunch of amateur treasure seekers—much as it had done for everyone in Treasure Harbor.

  With a specialty in archaeology, Bree probably held the distinction of being the only professional treasur
e seeker in town. And as a descendant of Drake Burton, the pirate who stashed the gold bars along the North Carolina coast in 1717, she probably ought to care more about the hottest news story in town since the secret marriage between the pirate and Camilla Callahan, the daughter of Treasure Harbor’s founding family.

  But she couldn’t.

  She was done with drama. Through. Finis. Kaput.

  She’d grown up in Treasure Harbor, a Burton in a town that had seemingly always known angst and tension between her family and the Callahans. She’d packed up and moved to New York for grad school, where she became a laid-back, small-town Southerner who valued a nap, now living in a northern metropolis that never slept. And to top it off, she was the middle child in a family best identified for the social scheming between two divorced parents.

  Drama was practically her middle name. But no more. She was a grown-up woman with a grown-up job. She was not about to allow office politics to color this new phase of her life. For once, Bree Burton was going to define herself on her own terms.

  And it started with this treasure nonsense. She wasn’t going to go treasure crazy in her classes, like several of her colleagues were. Sure, the treasure’s reappearance represented local history. But Bree had no interest in teaching her students about the feud that had marked her family as the villains in Treasure Harbor’s story for generations.

  Nope.

  If anything, Bree wanted to minimize the talk about the Burtons and their history around town.

  She shook her head and her sharp inhale caught in her nose with a half-snort. “Always the peacemaker. I’m trying to make peace for a pirate who’s been dead for 300 years. I’ve got to stop this.”

  The sound of a knock on the frame of her office door shook her train of thought. Bree tried in vain to recall any appointments on her calendar for the afternoon. Unfortunately, she was drawing a blank. She couldn’t place any plans she’d made for students or colleagues to stop by today.

  She could, however, place the sense of fear that whoever was there had probably heard her talking to herself. Slowly, she pivoted on the ladder step, praying her face wasn’t red as she turned more fully to face the visitor.

  “Can I help you?”

  “I’m looking for Breanna Burton.” The face in the doorway looked vaguely familiar and the accompanying voice was low and measured, giving a depth to her name she hadn’t heard before. It was almost like listening to liquid milk chocolate call to her.

  It was yummy.

  In fact, he was yummy. She tried not to stare. That wouldn’t be professional at all. That would be what a drama llama would do. And she was not going to be that llama. Nope.

  “I’m Dr. Bree Burton.” She tried her hardest not to sound like a chocolate-craving drama llama.

  He took a step inside the office and extended his hand. “Reid Knight, NWN News.”

  Her chocolate fantasy melted. A reporter. Her childhood friend, Lara Callahan, was a reporter, and Bree had sat down recently with her for an interview. But aside from her trust in Lara, Bree tended to think that nothing on earth dragged along drama like reporters. Always looking for a story, looking for ratings, looking for any detail that could bring them fame and viewers and all that kind of stuff.

  And all that was basically everything that she was not interested in right now. But that did explain why he looked so familiar. She’d watched a lot of National Weather News when Igor, last year’s much-talked about nor’easter, blew through town. She hadn’t yet relocated back to Treasure Harbor, so the only way to get information about the mess left behind in her hometown was through the nation’s leading weather-related channel.

  “How can I help you, Mr. Knight?” Bree started to climb down the ladder, then her foot missed the last rung and the slick sole of her ballet-style flat slid. Suddenly, she knew without question that her face had turned red as she was awkwardly propelled backwards into the corner of her desk.

  So much for not being a part of drama.

  She was a one-woman drama machine.

  She kind of hated herself right now.

  “I’m looking for some information on the Burton-Callahan treasure.”

  Simultaneously, she rubbed the small of her back and shook her head. “I’m afraid I don’t have anything that would be of assistance to you.”

  “You’re related to Drake Burton, aren’t you?”

  “Distantly.” She frowned. “Look, I can’t even say ‘aaargh’ particularly well. I’m his great-to-the-somethingth grand-something-or-other, but that doesn’t mean I’m an authority on him, by any means.”

  “But you are an archaeologist, are you not?”

  “Yes. I do dig up things for a living. But I didn’t dig up this treasure. In fact, I’ve never seen it. I wish I could help you, Mr. Knight—”

  He cut her off. “Reid. You can just call me Reid.”

  “Ok, Reid—I wish I could help you, I just don’t think I’m the best resource for it. A few of my colleagues are digging into this—well, no pun intended—but they’re a little more taken with treasure frenzy than I am. They could probably give you some better insight. I’m happy to make an introduction.”

  She gestured out toward the hallway where the other professors’ offices were.

  “I was really hoping you could help. I’d rather not involve anyone else.”

  Bree wanted to tell him “too bad, so sad” or some other highly professional phrase, but something about the way he stood in the door made her bite back the sarcasm. Something in the way he stood in the door reminded her of Josh. Reid Knight didn’t look anything like Josh. He didn’t sound anything like Josh. And there wasn’t much comparison between a TV weatherman and a Navy SEAL sniper, but Josh had never taken no for an answer—and something about the set of Reid’s shoulders told Bree that he wasn’t going to, either.

  A breath escaped from between her lips like a gentle sea breeze. Her heart squeezed a bit.

  She was surprised that even after three years, she still felt sometimes like he was going to walk through the door and flash that smile she’d depended on for so long.

  It surprised her even more that she thought of a total stranger in the same way she thought of her former fiancé.

  Well, not a total stranger. After all, he’d been in her living room for days while Igor roared through North Carolina. He’d been her lifeline to the people and events back home.

  Maybe that’s why she felt this peculiar sense of familiarity.

  Maybe it’s why she decided that she could answer whatever questions he had.

  Josh would have done the same. He always tried to help others. Even if it meant diving in front of two young Afghan girls to shield them, then subsequently taking a fatal bullet in a firefight no one saw coming.

  “So what exactly are you looking for, Mr. Knight?” Bree faintly rubbed the sore spot on her back as she spoke.

  He nodded and leaned in slightly. “The truth.”

  “The truth? Are there lies?” She cocked her head slightly, trying to figure out what exactly the reporter was getting at.

  “I don’t know. But I think so. Isn’t that how all great legends go? There’s the larger than life story that gets passed down, but then there’s the real nugget of how it got started. Think about it—everyone knows that the Hatfields and the McCoys have been bitter rivals since the Civil War, but if you stopped and asked the man on the street, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell you why.”

  “I get what you’re saying. So you want to know the truth about my family and this treasure?”

  “I do. It’s my job. But more than that, don’t you want to know? It’s one of the most viral stories going on right now, and your family is right in the middle of it.”

  He gave Bree a strong stare. She felt like she was on camera, being interviewed.

  But more than that, she realized he was right. Ever since returning to Treasure Harbor, she’d been defined by what others thought of her. Her brother still thought of her as the
little sister to protect—even though he was technically younger than she was. Her colleagues thought of her as the undergraduate they’d taught years ago. And the residents of Treasure Harbor thought of her as the descendant of the rogue who’d tried to ruin the town’s founding family.

  As a historian, Bree knew things weren’t always what they seemed to be. Neither was she. And neither, she would bet, was Drake Burton.

  She slowly sized up the man in the doorway once more. He had access to some of the most powerful tools in the world—television, print, social media. What if she could solve the mystery of the treasure, and in the process set the record straight about Drake Burton? What if she could definitively show the history professors she worked with that her commitment to study and history was just as bona fide as theirs was?

  What if she was no longer the peacemaker, stuck between warring parents, brothers, co-workers and opinionated neighbors?

  What if Bree Burton became a rainmaker?

  And what better way to make it rain than to pair up with one of the most famous faces in weather?

  Bree offered her hand in her new partner’s direction. “You have a deal, Mr. Knight.”

  Reid sank into a booth at Treasure Burger, a local favorite that afforded him a view of Bounty Beach while he sat and dreamed about gold bars and pirate treasure.

  It was easy to get sucked into thinking about bullion and the Jolly Roger around this place. Everything seemed to revolve around pirates. It was a good tourist gimmick, to be sure. Even after a major weather event last season, the people weren’t staying away. In all his years of covering weather-related disasters, he knew that more often than not, it took years for a town to get back on its feet and feel like it was back to business as usual after something the size of Igor.