Scarlet Butterfly Read online

  Scarlet Butterfly is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  A Loveswept eBook Edition

  Copyright © 1992 by Sandra Chastain

  Excerpt from Taking Shots by Toni Aleo copyright © 2013 by Toni Aleo.

  Excerpt from Along Came Trouble by Ruthie Knox copyright © 2013 by Ruth Homrighaus.

  Excerpt from Hell on Wheels by Karen Leabo copyright © 1996 by Karen Leabo.

  All Rights Reserved.

  Published in the United States by Loveswept, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  LOVESWEPT is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.

  Scarlet Butterfly was originally published in paperback by Loveswept, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. in 1992.

  eISBN: 978-0-345-54163-5

  www.ReadLoveSwept.com

  v3.1

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  The Editor’s Corner

  Excerpt from Toni Aleo’s Taking Shots

  Excerpt from Ruthie Knox’s Along Came Trouble

  Excerpt from Karen Leabo’s Hell on Wheels

  One

  Sean Rogan had become a man of few words, damned few words.

  Particularly where his family was concerned. In fact, he hadn’t spoken a word of any kind to another Rogan in more than two years—not since he’d dissolved the family corporation, divided up its assets, and accepted the decaying family home on the St. Marys River as his part of the Rogan real estate. He couldn’t speak to them; the pain and disappointment had been too great.

  Then an article about his resurrection of the Scarlet Butterfly had appeared in the Savannah Journal, the daily newspaper of which his brother David was editor, and he had been forced to face his family again.

  Sean had successfully avoided the press and the bickering of the various factions within the family for two peaceful years, until David had broken his agreement to protect Sean’s privacy by printing the story about the schooner he’d raised and restored. Now Sean found himself in the spotlight again, in the center of a controversy over ownership of the vessel. He’d be forced to do the thing he wanted most to avoid—defend himself in a court of law.

  Sean Rogan had had enough of conflict and the threat of legal battles to last a lifetime.

  It didn’t matter that the story of the 1850’s schooner would sooner or later have been published by some other newspaper. It didn’t matter that his editor brother had spent a good part of the afternoon trying to explain that he’d decided if his paper covered the story, he could protect Sean, and maybe Beth, from more publicity. Sean wished he believed him, but trust was a thing of the past. David had wanted to be the first to break the story, and he’d done it, at Sean’s expense.

  His sister was dead because of that kind of thinking, because they’d all been too self-centered to see what they were doing to the youngest Rogan. The family might not have been aware of what their bickering was doing to Beth, but Sean should have been. His father had left the family in his care.

  Now it was about to happen again. But the Scarlet Butterfly was his and nobody would take it away from him, no matter what the state antiquities law said. Sean had turned his back on his former life, sworn never to go to court again, for any reason. But now he’d have to.

  Sean glanced into the mirror of his truck and groaned. Though there was a recent scar on the side of his face that made him look more like a pirate than an executive, he’d been forced to take on the mannerisms of the world he’d left behind. The clothes he wore were expensive, imported, uncomfortable, and hot.

  September on the Georgia coast was hot as hell and, as far as Sean was concerned, almost as populated with the devil’s chosen advocates, starting with Ryan, the younger brother who most shared the responsibility of their sister’s death, and David, the older brother who’d drawn Sean back into the public eye. David’s claim that he’d managed to fend off all the outside inquiries about the reclusive Sean Rogan, except those of one woman who claimed to be a descendent of a woman who’d vanished in 1850 on a schooner called the Scarlet Butterfly, fell on deaf ears.

  A descendant of a woman who’d vanished on the Scarlet Butterfly? Sean shook his head and slid his broad shoulders from the jacket of his suit. Fruitcakes were already coming out of the woodwork.

  Wiping his forehead on the sleeve of his shirt, he threaded his fingers through his shoulder-length hair, pulled it back, and secured it with a rubber band. He wondered if he might have fared better in his meeting with the state officials if he’d had a haircut.

  Sean started the engine and backed the truck into the street outside the courthouse. He left Savannah behind and drove down the coast toward the sleepy little town of St. Marys, back toward the river that shared its name, toward peace and tranquillity, toward the welcoming silence that came from being utterly alone in an inaccessible place.

  In spite of the oppressive heat, the farther he drove the better he felt. For several days the local weather forecasters had been tracking the third tropical storm of the season. It was moving in the direction of the Southern coast, but its destination had not yet been pinpointed. He glanced at the sky. Sunshine was already giving way to clouds riding in from the Caribbean. No matter; he’d be home long before dark.

  As he turned off the intercoastal waterway, his truck was quickly swallowed up by the thick underbrush and marshy land that bordered the road. A number of people—farmers, river people, some of them very wealthy—once lived along the St. Marys. But the pull of the city and the hardships of the area had lured them away. Gradually Sean had bought up the land until he was blessedly alone. No more corporate decisions. No more threats of takeovers and buy-outs. No more courtroom drama or family disputes to settle. Just Sean Rogan, reclusive millionaire, retired corporate CEO, renegade runaway. He’d run from the famous Southern family corporation that had once controlled several newspapers, television stations, resorts, and a pecan business that for the last century was the basis of wealth for the Rogans, this clan that rivaled the Kennedys for airing their public sins before the world.

  Alone.

  At least he thought he was, until he came to the red compact rental car, abandoned in the middle of his road, blocking his way.

  Carolina Evans drew in a big breath of pungent salt air and glanced dolefully around at the sharp, spiked-leaf plants and thick underbrush beside the road. When she’d left the bustling seaport city of Savannah, Georgia to find the mysterious recluse living on the river, she hadn’t known what to expect.

  From the moment she’d seen the story about the millionaire who’d discovered the 1850’s schooner called the Scarlet Butterfly in a river near the coast of Georgia, she’d become obsessed. She’d read about that ship in an old journal in her father’s library, read about it and the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother who’d run away on it. Seeing the Butterfly for herself became the dream that had gotten Carolina through the months of the radiation therapy that had made her hair fall out and her body so tired she could hardly move.

  For so long her gains had been measured in hours, then days, and finally weeks. By then the tumor was gone, but so was her strength. Just getting to the river was as far as she’d allowed herself to think. She still c
ouldn’t believe that she’d actually come.

  Her father now knew that she was gone, she realized. He’d cover his hurt with anger, then come after her. She wondered how long it would take him. She was sorry she hadn’t said good-bye, but she hadn’t been sure she had the courage to go through with her plan. Having the most powerful attorney in the state of Texas for a father was both a blessing and a weight to carry. He’d been able to afford her medical care, but he refused to discuss the possibility that she was ready to start her life again—alone.

  And she was determined to build a new life, her own life. She’d loaded up her supply of medication, flown from Houston to Atlanta, changed planes to reach Savannah, and rented a car. After an unsatisfactory conversation with the editor of the newspaper that had printed the story, she’d driven to St. Marys and spent the night at Ridgeway Inn, the bed and breakfast that dated back to the Revolutionary War.

  After several conversations about her mission, the innkeeper, Ida, had finally told her where to find the man who’d brought the ship to the surface. Confidently, Carolina had set out to see the vessel. That’s all she had in mind. Then she’d call her father and let him know that she’d arrived and that she was all right.

  She hadn’t expected to get lost.

  But the asphalt road had changed into a black dirt road that had gradually narrowed. Now trees with huge limbs, laced overhead like fingers, closed out the last of the early-evening light and dangled long tassels of gray moss over the rental car. There had been no place to turn around. The ground fell away from the road into what smelled and looked, in the fading light, like a saltwater marsh.

  The car had sputtered and died, leaving her stranded in a green swamp that seemed to breathe like a live thing ready to devour her if she stepped off the road. It was getting late. She considered her situation. There had been no houses for miles. Still, overhead she could see a power line. Power lines took electricity somewhere.

  Carolina had been determined, but now she was very tired, and she wondered if her doctor and her friends had been right when they’d pleaded with her not to leave her father’s house. They’d warned her that she wasn’t ready to be on her own yet.

  “No,” she whispered, shoring up her waning strength. They were wrong. She wasn’t strong yet, but the doctors had fixed her body. Now she had to mend her psyche. She’d been so tired for so long without knowing why. When her problem had finally been diagnosed as a cyst at the base of her pituitary gland, they’d operated. The growth hadn’t been malignant, but she had required radiation therapy, followed by months of medication adjustment and careful monitoring in the hospital, before being transferred home and to her father’s care.

  Angus Evans, who had always been overprotective, had become a warden, and she’d felt as if she were slowly being smothered. Finally one morning she’d decided that she had to get away. She’d promised herself that she was going to see the Scarlet Butterfly, and the time had come to go.

  “I’d rather you didn’t leave,” her doctor had argued when she’d confided her plans. “But I understand. As long as you take your medication I expect you’ll do fine. Just don’t overexert yourself.”

  “Why on earth would you leave a place where you have servants and an unlimited allowance?” her best friend had asked when Carolina had confided that she was considering moving out.

  She hadn’t told her father. He would have said that he knew what was best for her. And he’d promise that someday, when they were sure …

  That someday, she knew, would never come. But he’d expect her to agree with his plan anyway, because she always had—except once, when she’d been determined to go away to college. In the end, he’d been right about that too.

  It had been early in her illness that Carolina had found the journal among her mother’s books in the library. From the moment she’d read it and discovered that the woman writing was also named Carolina, she’d been fascinated by the ancestor who’d run away from her powerful Boston family with a sea captain. Angus Evans had shrugged off her questions, saying he didn’t know where the journal had come from, nor did he care. Yes, Carolina carried the same name, but it was simply a coincidence, he’d insisted.

  Carolina knew he was wrong. And when she saw the newspaper story about the newly discovered schooner called the Scarlet Butterfly, she’d made up her mind. Like the first Carolina, she would strike out on her own, escape to a place where she could take control of her life. She was as well now as she was going to get. All she needed was time. What she did with the rest of her life was up to her.

  It might not be the same schooner as the one the first Carolina had run away on, but it could be. She’d had to find out. And so she’d come here.

  Carolina resolutely crawled out of the car and started down the road. Overhead she could see a sliver of light now and then, but the trees were so thick that the sky was hidden. She was hot and unbelievably weary. Her trek quickly turned into agony when she was attacked by hordes of mosquitoes and enveloped by an absolute stillness in which not a breath of air moved.

  In the hospital she would have taken a nap to recoup her strength. Now, forcing herself to put one foot in front of the other, she kept going. Gradually she became adjusted to the sounds of the birds and swamp creatures and settled down into a kind of peaceful acceptance. The biting insects seemed to lose interest, and her fear changed into a curious kind of waiting. Somewhere ahead of her was sanctuary. She felt its pull. She’d get there. She was too close to fail.

  She didn’t know how far she’d walked when it happened. Suddenly she became dizzy, disoriented. Carolina didn’t see anyone ahead in the road. She didn’t hear anyone. She might even have dreamed the strange man who suddenly appeared beside her. One minute he wasn’t there, the next he was standing in the shadows with a scowl on his face. She saw his strong profile clearly as she crumpled in his arms.

  “What the …? Who are you, lass? How’d you get here? How the bloody hell did you find me?”

  The captain, wearing an old-fashioned navy pea coat, held the frail, half-conscious young woman and continued to swear. He was speaking aloud, he thought in amazement, though his voice was rusty and the girl didn’t seem to hear. What was happening made no sense. Finally he looked around and, as if resolved to play out the familiar role of protector again, stomped off down the road carrying the girl.

  He didn’t know what she was doing on the road, but maybe he’d been given a second chance to fulfill his vow. Promises were sacred trusts that forever bound a person. But this woman? No, it couldn’t be.

  A colorful string of complaints followed by a long silence and finally by the smell of pipe tobacco intruded on the peaceful afternoon.

  Sean was sweating. He’d been forced to abandon his car and walk. Now his imported Italian shoes were rubbing blisters on feet that had worn nothing more close-fitting than running shoes or moccasins for longer than he could remember. And his temper was stretched to the breaking point when he finally reached the schooner.

  “Who’s there?” he demanded, climbing the ramp to the boat.

  There was no answer.

  Sean stepped on board and stopped, listening carefully. No human sound broke the silence. There was only the lap of the water against the hull and the gentle movement of the deck beneath his feet. Even the river creatures were silent. Still, there was something, some presence. He felt a curious prickling sensation, as if everything had stopped to wait, as if he were being watched.

  That sensation caught and held him. Normally he would have charged across the deck and below, but now he paused. If someone was hiding, it would hardly be a smart move for him to announce his actions. He didn’t even have a weapon. Though he doubted seriously that a criminal would rent a car and drive into the swamp to commit mayhem, he’d long ago accepted that he’d lost touch with the way people think.

  Patiently he forced himself to reconnoiter the deck. Though it was still light, beneath the trees the shadows cast a secretive green haze th
at concealed and changed the shape of the ship, turning familiar structures into ghostly objects.

  Even the air seemed different. There was a suggestion of fragrance that he couldn’t quite identify at first. Then it came to him. Pipe tobacco. The smell confirmed his suspicion. Someone had either come and gone or was still waiting below. Quietly Sean slipped his feet out of his shoes and let his jacket and shirt fall to the deck.

  A weapon. He needed something with which to defend himself. He hadn’t spent the last year painstakingly floating and restoring the schooner to have some burglar invade his privacy. Lord knew his condo in the city had been broken into. His car had been stolen. Once he’d even had his pocket picked. But this was different. This was personal, and his pulse throbbed with fury at the thought that someone had violated his sanctuary.

  He withdrew a hammer from the toolbox which he’d been using to work on the planking. On cat’s feet he crept across the quarterdeck and down the steps, his heart catching painfully in his throat at every creak. With any luck, whoever was waiting below wouldn’t be able to distinguish his presence from the normal groans of the old ship.

  Then a shrill screech cut through the air, almost causing Sean to drop his hammer. Bully. The contrary parrot who shared the ship with Sean suddenly came to life. “Ahoy there, matey. Furl t’gallant!”

  The thought crossed Sean’s mind that if there was an outside presence on board, Bully, who’d been left in the galley, should have been protesting like crazy. But he hadn’t until now. Was the bird responding to Sean’s presence, or had the intruder made a move?

  Just as quickly as he’d come to life, the bird hushed. Even spookier, Sean thought. Bully had a mind of his own. He was a foul-mouthed renegade who insisted on doing his thing, much like Sean. There was no love between the two, merely the tolerance of two adversaries who recognized in each other a kindred spirit.

  Sean moved down the steps, bypassing the galley, reasoning that Bully wouldn’t have hushed if the intruder were there. The door to the captain’s quarters was closed. Sean was certain he’d left it open. He’d found his thief. But how to proceed? By opening the door he would expose himself to whoever waited beyond. Yet there was no other way.