Sunken Treasure

DANGER ON THE HIGH SEAS

Shipwreck diver Gage Fontaine is used to modern-day pirates chasing after his boat and the buried treasure he salvages. But when he unknowingly leads a dangerous criminal to the waters off Stepping Stones Island, he puts a beautiful fisherwoman in grave danger. Rachelle Thibodaux has spent the past year hiding on her boat to avoid the town’s censure for her father’s crimes. But when she comes face-to-face with a gun-wielding pirate, she becomes a new kind of target. To save her own life, she’ll have to work with Gage to find the treasure before the pirates do.

“You’re in danger,” Gage managed to say.

“You’re delusional from the lack of oxygen,” Rachelle said.

She had no idea, he realized.

In the next moment, the doctor affixed an oxygen mask over his mouth. Relief swept over his pained body, but not his mind. He needed to make sure Rachelle was safe before he was completely incapacitated and unable to protect her. The female pirate could come through the front door right now and take them all out, and he wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop her.

He whipped the oxygen mask off his face. “You’re in terrible danger.”

“I didn’t rescue you so you could kill yourself.” She replaced the mask on his face and kept her hand there so he couldn’t move it. Her glittery green eyes locked on his.

He tried to tell her to stay with him. The idea of him begging anyone, never mind a woman, to stay beside him, felt foreign but somehow comforting.

Regardless that it was for her safety, he liked her there.

It made him feel as though he had family.

KATY LEE

is an inspirational romantic suspense author writing higher-purpose stories in high-speed worlds. She dedicates her life to sharing tales of love, from the greatest love story ever told to those sweet romantic stories of falling in love. She is the children’s ministry director for her church as well as a leader of a Christian women’s organization. Katy and her husband are both born New Englanders, but have been known to travel at the drop of a hat. As her homeschooled kids say, they consider themselves “world-schooled.” But no matter where Katy is you can always find her at www.katyleebooks.com. She would love to connect with you.

Sunken Treasure

Katy Lee

www.millsandboon.co.uk

He reached down from heaven and rescued me;

he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me. They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress, but the Lord supported me. He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.

—Psalms 18:16–19

To Jason, my blue-eyed gentleman.

You bring me so much joy with your quick smiles and caring heart. I love you beyond measure.

Acknowledgments

First, I want to thank my editor, Emily Rodmell. Without her brilliance, I would be laughed at.

Second, a huge thank-you goes to the Scuba Shack and to Enfield Scuba for their training and expertise that gave me the knowledge to write the dive scenes with accuracy and feeling. Any mistakes are my own.

And third, as it is on Stepping Stones Island, community is just as important in my life. I want to thank my church community at Calvary Church. Your support means the world to me, and not only with my writing, but in every aspect of my life. God bless you all abundantly.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Acknowledgments

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Extract

Copyright

ONE

“Oh, no you don’t,” Rachelle Thibodaux said with her camera held steady at her eye. From her boat and through her telephoto lens, a diver could be seen holding a Thibodeaux lobster trap in his hand, swiped right off the ocean floor. The poacher, dressed in a black, full-bodied wet suit, jumped up on the diver’s platform of a luxurious mega yacht with his dinner in hand. Her dinner. “Get your own bug catchers,” Rachelle grumbled. “Judging by your ride, you can afford it.” She let her camera fall back to her chest where it found its perpetual home, hanging on the strap around her neck. “You’re going down for stealing my pots.” Well, not technically her pots, she begrudged, but her uncle’s. She sped up her turtle-slow, thirty-two-foot lobster boat that also belonged to him. She had a poacher to catch before the thief made off with her livelihood.

Stolen lobsters only increased market prices, and in turn, that meant sales lost to the competition. Which also meant lost jobs. There was no way she could lose this job because of another’s crimes. The idea of more undeserved penalties being slapped on her shoulders brought on an unusual wave of seasickness, even with the sea around her at a dead calm. She supposed a year of paying for the sins of her father was what brought the nausea on so quickly, but it was the idea of having to take a job on the island again that really unsettled her stomach.