Chapter Eight
Adrian didn’t wait for Toney and Jacob to tie the boat off before he leaped to the dock. He barely registered the vibration of the dock beneath his feet as he strode toward her.
“Adrian, I—”
He didn’t let her finish. Damn, she was so pretty, even windblown, even with the flash of uncertainty he saw in her eyes. He took her face in his hands, stroked his thumb over her cheek and kissed her. Surprise had her tensing for a second, and he feared she might pull away. Instead, she relaxed, just a bit, and he came home.
She was as soft, as sexy as he remembered. Her taste hadn’t changed, her mouth moved beneath his the same way, as if those three years had never passed. He dipped his tongue into her mouth, and hers rose to meet him, glided along his, so right, so right.
He rubbed her hair, regretting the calluses on his fingers that snagged on her hair, her skin. Her fingers closed on his bare shoulders, her nails digging in briefly before sliding under the straps of his shirt, and he was lost. Dropping his hands to her hips, he drew her against him, wanting to sink into her, wanting her hands on him, everywhere.
Slowly, it came to him where they were, why they were standing here, and he lifted his head to smile. “You came back.”
She looked a little dazed, her mouth swollen, her eyes dark with a passion he remembered too well. She blinked, lowering her hands from his shoulders.
“Adrian, I—”
“Come see what we found.” He slid his hand down her arm to take her hand and guide her to the Miss M. She resisted at first, then followed him, trying to ignore how everyone else was watching them with interest.
What the hell had she done, coming here? Mallory swayed on the dock and watched Adrian beckon her. Once she’d reached home, she’d put her feelers out. The offers had come in fast and furious, but all she could think of was getting here to help Adrian. She waffled for a long time about how much help she’d give him. The cashier’s check in her bag was the least she could do. Staying to help excavate was the most.
After that greeting, she didn’t know how wise it was to stay, even as everything female inside her proclaimed they were ready to set up camp. Had he been so glad to see her? No, something in his eyes told her there was more. Something out there had gotten his juices flowing.
Something out there always did.
She approached the boat at his urging, refusing to look at the curious crew as Adrian swung aboard and offered his hand.
She took it in the name of expedience, ignoring the heat that infused her from the point of contact. As soon as her feet hit the deck, she pulled her hand away. He didn’t notice, so engrossed was he in showing her what he’d found.
The realization washed all pleasure from his kiss away. She wasn’t here for that, anyway. She was here for the find.
He presented the medallion and turned to watch her reaction. Despite herself, she caught her breath and gripped the edges of the basket. “That’s not Spanish. See the imprint? It might be a buckle. Look here.” She motioned to the slender piece of metal, separate from the medallion and the attached loop. “Is there more?”
He shook his head, his attention on the artifact. “There wasn’t time to find more. A bunch of splinters.”
She skimmed her fingers over the air just above the ancient article, wanting to touch it, knowing she shouldn’t. “We need more resources.”
“I’m calling Jeff at A&M, see if he can get us some students.”
She stepped back as Adrian dismissed the others, sending them with the artifact. He stayed with Mallory. She tensed, knowing what was coming.
He didn’t speak right away, leaned on the railing of the boat, looking out over the waves before he turned to her. “Why are you here?”
She’d planned what to say. “I needed to finish this.” This time. She wanted to say more, but he gave her that smile, that one that started in his eyes, creased his face, flashed those white teeth, infusing his being with joy. The rest of her words stuck in her throat.
“I hoped you would,” he murmured.
“Not for you.” She had to make sure he knew that. She didn’t have the safety of the barriers between them anymore, not unless she could hold her own with him.
He nodded, not expressing any surprise, masking whatever he was feeling. He’d always been good at that, though she thought she knew him well enough to read him. Not today.
“Not for this, either.” She gestured toward the ocean. “For me.” Leaving Jonathan had been hard, but being alone hadn’t been as hard as she expected. That had been the most empowering revelation yet. She reached into her pack for the envelope there. “I took out my savings. And since I cancelled my wedding, I got my deposits back. I want you to use this to help with whatever you need, hire more divers, get more equipment, whatever.”
He took the envelope, his eyes not leaving hers. “Mallory.”
“This is important. It’s important,” she repeated, and inclined her head toward the envelope.
He drew out the check, and his eyes bugged. “No hillside wedding, this.”
“No.”
He held the envelope out, his lips thinned, no trace of joy remaining on his face. “Mallory, I can’t take it.”
“I want you to have it.”
He hesitated. Clearly he needed the money but was unwilling to accept it on her terms. “I’ll keep it on one condition.”
She tensed at his tone. “What?”
“That you stay.” He folded the envelope, creasing it between his thumb and forefinger. “That you help with the dive.”
She drew her lower lip between her teeth, saw his eyes follow the movement. “I don’t know.”
He took a step toward her. “What have you got to go back to?”
She moved away and studied the deck beneath her. “Adrian, staying here, with you, is not a good idea.” She hated admitting that weakness.
“And yet you want to.” The burr deepened.
She lifted her chin. “If I stay, this”—she flipped her finger between the two of them—“can’t happen. I learned my lesson the hard way, Adrian. If I stay, it’s professional behavior only. Deal?”
He cocked his head just the slightest bit, almost a challenge. He tucked the envelope in his back pocket and reached out to her. “Deal.”
Toney waited for Mallory on the path from the shower that evening, his jaw set mutinously. He looked so like Adrian, though his hair was longer, thicker, his features softer. It might be argued that he was the better-looking brother. Good genes certainly ran in that family. As did an excess of testosterone.
Toney’s stance was rigid, confrontational. She slowed, wary.
“Why are you even here?” he demanded.
The words were like bullets, hitting their mark one after the other. She eased away, wishing for another layer of protection, at least another person as a buffer. Toney could carry a grudge so she had been careful to keep her distance. She wasn’t afraid of him, but she’d worried this would happen.
“I’m here to help.”
He folded his arms. “Why? Why now? You’re not helping. All you’re doing is giving him hope when you’re just going to walk away again.”
She couldn’t deny it. “I don’t mean to give him hope. I just want to see him succeed.”
“Why? What does that matter to you? If he fails again, are you going to turn your back on him like last time?”
“Toney—”
He took a step closer. “You thought you saw the worst of it, right after, when the police arrested him and accused him of stealing the casket. Yet here you were snuggling up to Smoller, when he was the one who took it.”
“I wasn’t. I was trying to help.” And there had never been proof that Valentine had taken the box, but she wouldn’t prod Toney with that reminder.
“So you were helping by driving Adrian out of his mind? Good thinking. Yes, he became driven, obsessed, maybe even a little paranoid, but it was all for you. He thought you thought he wasn’t good enough. You know what he went through with our father, and you go and walk away and make him think he screwed up. Then you proved it by filing for divorce. You broke his heart and now that you see he’s back together, you’ve returned to do it again.”
“Stand down, Toney.”
Adrian’s quiet voice behind her made her jolt. How much had he heard? How much of that was true? In trying to save herself, had she destroyed the man she loved?
Toney’s hot gaze flicked over her shoulder at his brother, and he pressed his lips together.
“Apologize,” Adrian commanded.
“No,” Mallory said softly, not looking at him, not trusting herself to look at him. “He doesn’t have to.”
She made it to her tent, leaving the brothers to face off, before she burst into tears.
Movement outside the tent a few moments later had her sitting up and wiping at her eyes. She didn’t want Linda to see how upset she was. After all, Linda was on his side, right? Or worse, what if it was Adrian? After Toney said all those things to her—all those true things—how could she look him in the eye?
Dr. Vigil poked his head through the tent opening. Mallory tugged the T-shirt down her thighs, offered a tight smile she didn’t feel. Dr. Vigil’s smile was more benevolent as he sat on Linda’s cot, movements slow and stiff. He’d gotten so old in the past few years. Her heart constricted over the time she’d lost with him because she’d bolted.
“Did you hear all that?” she asked, her voice tear-roughened.
“Enough.”
“He’s right, isn’t he? It’s my fault. I walked away. All this time I blamed Adrian.”
Dr. Vigil folded his hands over his knees. “I’ve known the two of you since the beginning. I watched you fall in love, and I watched you fall apart.” His smile was tinged with sadness, and his eyes glazed over as if he was seeing into past, happier times. “One thing you’ve always been is equals, even in blame. He trusts you, Mallory, despite everything. Don’t betray his trust. It’s all he has left.”
“You’re wrong. He doesn’t trust me. How could he? He doesn’t know me anymore.”
Dr. Vigil inclined his head indulgently. “You haven’t changed as much as you might think. If you’re looking for it to work this time, you’re going to have to think about that. You’re both going to have to learn from your mistakes.”
“I didn’t come here to get back with Adrian.” But the words she’d said so often sounded hollow to her own ears.
Dr. Vigil stood and gave her braid a playful tug. “You and I both know better. Think about it, Mallory. Adrian will need you.”
The old man left the tent. Mallory stared at the flap as it fluttered closed, wondering how she’d fooled herself with her reason for returning. She wanted to belong, more than anything, to step right back into the role she’d walked away from. That wouldn’t be as easy as she’d hoped.
Mallory approached the Miss M cautiously the next morning. She’d barely slept, unsure of how to face Adrian and Toney after last night. She should have gone to talk to Adrian after Dr. Vigil left, but she was wary of being alone with him, especially with her emotions so close to the surface. If she had, they both might have slept better. Her nerves were scraped raw by the words Toney had spoken, which had played over and over in her head all night.
On deck, Adrian snarled at Jacob. Mallory could see by the surprised look on the boy’s face that his temper wasn’t a common occurrence. This was going to be fun.
“Adrian, can we talk?” she asked from the dock.
He didn’t turn but continued securing the computers under the bench. “I want to get out there, Mal. Can it wait?”
“I really need to talk to you.”
He straightened with a huff of breath. “What?”
“Adrian, can we just talk?” She shoved her hair back with one hand. “The ship will still be there in ten minutes.”
With a scowl, he hopped onto the dock, his long legs carrying him too close to her. She didn’t ease away though her heart gave a kick of alarm. She wanted to retreat for her own sanity, didn’t want to breathe in the scent of him—sweat, salt, sea—not when she needed to keep her wits about her to talk.
To apologize.
He folded his arms over his chest. “Look, if this is about Toney, I tore him a new one. He never should have talked to you like that, and he’ll apologize.”
“This isn’t about Toney. It’s about me and you. I’m sorry. About last night, about three years ago. I’m sorry.”
He stared, head angled to one side. Wow, she’d made him speechless. She hadn’t been able to do that in years.
“Toney was right. I was wrong not to be there for you the way you needed. I put my own needs above yours because I thought I was right and you had lost your mind.”
A corner of his mouth kicked up. “Are you saying I was right?”
She stiffened, hesitating before giving him that victory. “I’m saying I was wrong, and I should have trusted you. I should have listened. I wasn’t who you needed me to be, and I’m sorry.”
“So what does this mean?” He sobered and shifted his hands to his hips.
Did he realize how intimidating that stance could be? He was already a big man, but with his elbows out… Though she knew him better than anyone, she wanted to take a step back. She swallowed. “It means I want to put the past behind us. I know it’s not easy to do, but if we’re going to work together, we need to forgive each other. It’s a lot to ask, but I hope we can.”
“All right then.” He swiveled, then looked over his shoulder at her. “Are you ready to go?”
“All right then? That’s all you have to say?”
“It means I’ve put it behind me. That’s what you want, right, not to talk it to death?”
Okay, her own fault for bringing it up before diving. His mind wasn’t on her apology. She squared her shoulders. Maybe her words would sink in later. Regardless, she would keep the past in the past and not linger on the bad or the good. Resolved, she followed him onto the boat.
Adrian laced his fingers behind his head and stared at the ceiling of his tent that night, Mallory’s words replaying in his head, the despair in her eyes burned into his memory. She really hadn’t thought she’d done anything wrong, and Toney’s words seemed to have hit her like a blow. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t resented her for her actions at the time, but his own sins had been far worse than the ones he attributed to her.
He understood wanting to leave the past behind them, but for him it was impossible. It was a weight he needed to bear, to remember so he could never repeat that mistake.
Mallory sensed Adrian’s growing frustration as the days passed, felt it herself. Archaeology was not a job for the impatient, but the lack of funds hung over their heads. Because of the fragile nature of the ancient wood, they couldn’t remove the sand with a blower, so they had to sweep it away by hand. Because of the depth, they couldn’t stay on the bottom too long and were only able to dive twice a day. Four divers couldn’t make too much difference with those limitations.
Excavating the wood was going to be next to impossible. Even with the gentlest of movements, the ancient wood dissolved into splinters, especially from the starboard side, which had been exposed longer. They’d be lucky to be able to salvage one timber, and that would have to be from the port side. Along with the buckle, they’d found some coins and part of a crucifix, celebrated when they were able to pinpoint them as Byzantine. But they couldn’t celebrate long—there was more work to be done.
Jeff hadn’t contacted Adrian about sending more divers and that weighed on Adrian. He worried Jeff had lost faith in him too, but wouldn’t risk sending the artifacts they’d found to him. He couldn’t spare any of them to go to Jeff personally.
So they dove as often as possible and learned as much as they could about their ship, sitting around Dr. Vigil’s tent night after night, studying his books.
Mallory waved her brush farther to the left as they continued excavating what they now had decided was the captain’s quarters, since they’d discovered an inkwell and erasing knife. Even then, that was presuming the captain had that level of education. Still, the quarters were at the stern of the ship, which was clue enough. She left Adrian and Toney to continue excavating the quarters while she pursued her hunch.
Her body clock reminded her that her bottom time was running out and Adrian would be coming to get her. She didn’t let that pressure her to hurry, though. She wanted to save as much of this ship as possible so there was no doubt in anyone’s mind where it had come from.
No more wood. She fanned again and found the ship was curving upward.
She’d found the bow.
Her heart thudding, her breath coming faster than was wise through her regulator, she swam laterally, following the line of the ship with her eyes before lowering herself to sweep again.
It would be here if it still existed. Please God, let it still be here.
The alarm on her watch sounded. Two minutes. Damn it. She forced herself to keep steady. Whatever was under the sand would be fragile. She couldn’t let the time pressure or her excitement rush her. Just a glimpse was all she wanted for today.
Adrian swam by on his way to the line, carrying tools to send to the surface. He stopped to motion her along, so she waved him over and pointed at the sand beneath them.
She didn’t have to tell him what she was looking for; the fact that she was looking was enough. He tapped his watch and sent her a warning look before he went to work beside her.
There. A glint, something under the sand. She dropped her brush and began digging with her hands around the edges of the metal to uncover it, knowing she needed to surface, but needing to see this first. Adrian must have sensed her desperation and worked hurriedly too. Toney and Jacob swam over to remind them it was time to surface, but seeing Mallory’s focus convinced them to join in.
More of the metal came to light. It was huge, and as they uncovered it, Mallory could see the carvings, the sinew of a lion’s neck, the point of a tooth in an open mouth, the wave of a mane.
Again, her watch alarm sounded. They were overdue on their ascent. They had to go now or risk their health. Mallory held up a finger when Jacob tried to pull her away. One thing she wanted to see before she returned tomorrow. She followed the sand up, gauging the scale with her eyes, and swept away sand.
There it was. The lion’s eye, in glinting stone. The stone was difficult to identify in this light, but it was intact. She gave Adrian a triumphant look, before she helped him cover the find with the heavy rubber tarp.
Elation rose in her chest. She spiraled up through the water as they ascended to the first decompression stop. She couldn’t bear the wait, wanted to rip her regulator out and scream her joy to the whole crew. She wished she could dance and sing and laugh. The last thing she needed to do was dangle on a rope above the site, unable to do more work on it for hours.
She looked at Adrian hanging across from her and saw the glow of righteousness behind his mask tempering his own excitement.
When Adrian surfaced, he could tell by the vibrations coming off Toney and Jacob that they hadn’t revealed the find below. Good. Mallory had found it. She’d earned the right to make the announcement. Adrian turned to help her out of the water and she ripped off her mask with a squeal.
“God, can you believe it? It’s perfect!”
Adrian swung her into his arms, absorbing her joy to balance out the relief thrumming through him. She looked up, her eyes bright, her smile brilliant, staggering him more than the find below them. Not one ounce of wariness shadowed her eyes, so he didn’t hesitate. He dropped his mouth to hers.
He tasted the salt on her skin, the slight chemical taste of the Heliox, and her taste, hot and familiar.
Just as he felt she was about to soften against him, he became aware of the sudden silence around them. He released Mallory and stepped away.
She didn’t take her eyes from him and looked a little off balance as she raised the back of her hand to her nose and pulled it away clean. No nose bleed.
“Well, what is it?” Dr. Vigil demanded, breaking the silence. “What did you find?”
Mallory hadn’t looked away from Adrian. He nodded to signal her to go on.
“You did it, Adrian,” she said, her voice husky. He’d like to think the kiss had something to do with that and with the dark shine in her eyes. “This is it. It’s the one.”
“But you found it. Tell them.”
A smile spread across her face as she turned to the professor. “We located the figurehead. We didn’t get to uncover it all, but it looks to be intact.”
Adrian shifted his attention to his mentor in time to watch him pale, then turn bright red with joy. Now he embraced Mallory, released her to embrace Adrian, before he hugged them both together, blubbering something about being glad they were both here for this.
Adrian wouldn’t have wanted to share this with anyone else.
The party on the beach that night would have been wilder if Adrian had let his divers drink some of the champagne Dr. Vigil broke out. But drinking increased the risk of the bends, so Adrian insisted they abstain. He wanted to uncover the rest of the figurehead tomorrow, photograph it and perhaps bring it up the following day.
He’d have something tangible to show for his sacrifice.
The celebration was getting to be a bit much. Besides, he needed to go write all this down for his book. That responsibility wasn’t something he wanted to think about, but always hung in the back of his mind. He’d written magazine articles throughout his career, but writing a book was overwhelming.
He’d barely set out his notebook when Mallory pushed her way into his tent without preamble, a plastic cup of diet soda in her hand. “It seems a real shame that you can’t have a little drink to celebrate.”
He didn’t have the energy to try to figure out why she’d followed him. “I want to get that figurehead out of the water more than I want a glass of champagne. There’ll be plenty of time for that later.”
She acknowledged the fact silently and sat across from him, again uninvited. She had an agenda. He didn’t expect to wait long to find out what it was.
“You and Toney seem to have made peace,” he remarked.
She shrugged. “There’s a truce. I’m sure we’ll get along just fine the more I leave him alone and the more I leave you alone.” She set the cup on his table. “Have you thought about how you’re going to get the wood up?”
“It’s looking pretty hopeless. I just want a few good photographs, then we can start removing it. We should have enough to carbon date, and maybe if we’re lucky we’ll find something intact on the underside.”
“You don’t seem very excited.”
He folded his arms on the notebook. “Sad, I know. The biggest find of my life, and all I can think about is how long can we afford to stay out here, even with your contribution.”
“We could get corporate sponsorship. We wouldn’t have to give details—”
Aha. There it was. Now she wanted to bring in the big guns. He turned to the papers in front of him. “No. I’m doing this myself. We can’t risk anyone else knowing what we have here. I won’t lose it again.”
She drew her lower lip between her teeth as if considering what to say next. “But we need more people. If someone gets sick or hurt, it’s going to slow everything down.”
He leaned back in his camp chair and laced his fingers over his stomach. “Look at it this way. The fewer people in camp, the fewer I can drive nuts.”
She accepted his attempt at humor with a half smile of her own. “Too late.”
“Look, I appreciate your concern, but really, I don’t want you to worry.” He sat forward, shuffled his papers.
She frowned. “I’m part of this dive, Adrian. Of course I’m going to worry.”
“But it’s not your dive.” He watched the pain flash across her face and swallowed the regret that washed through him. But he had to be sure she knew he was calling the shots, to remind her he couldn’t give up that much control. “You dissolved our partnership when you asked me to sign those papers, Mal, no matter how much money you contribute.”
Mallory squared her shoulders, unwilling to show how much his words hurt. She’d done her best to be a part of this team. Now he was claiming she didn’t have a voice. Like Dr. Vigil said, she was accustomed to being his equal. Apparently he no longer saw her as such.
She held his gaze as she stood. “I was only trying to help. I won’t forget my place again.”
She turned blindly out of his tent and went to find Dr. Vigil. He was in his tent, and three sheets to the wind, though he still pored over the books she’d brought.
“You doing okay in here?” she asked, ducking under the flap. She’d watched him age over the course of the dive. Something else that worried Adrian, no doubt.
“Do you know that the masthead has a pipe running through its mouth?” he asked, eyes bright when she entered. “The marines would use that to shoot fire at their enemies, terrifying them with the sight of an animal spitting fire.”
“It’s the proof he needs,” Mallory murmured, sinking to the chest containing the professor’s books, her knees weak with the realization that Adrian’s dream was coming true.
“You don’t have to come and keep me company,” he said. “Go party with the other ones.”
“I’m not much in the partying mood.”
He lifted a white eyebrow. “Fought with Adrian, huh?”
She didn’t deny it but couldn’t admit it.
“You’d always come talk to me after you fought with him and always pretended it didn’t bother you.” He stepped behind the privacy screen to change.
She flushed. “Surely that wasn’t the only time I talked to you.”
“No, of course not. But I would know when you’d had a fight.”
She sat on one of the camp chairs and ran her fingers over the top of the waterproof chest. “Nothing’s changed.”
“You still love him.”
Great, he would take her comment to mean that. She’d barely admitted to herself she still loved Adrian. She wasn’t ready to admit it to her mentor.
“He still loves you. I haven’t seen him so relaxed in three years.” He came from behind the screen in old-fashioned cotton paisley pajamas. She hid her smile, not hard to do after his next words. “He needs you. You’re good for him.”
“He couldn’t think I’m coming back to him just because I joined the dig.”
“Of course he thought it,” he replied gruffly. “Why wouldn’t he? You break up with your fiancé over diving? What kind of fool reason is that? You and I both know you’re still in love with Adrian.”
As much as she wanted to prove him wrong, she couldn’t. “All the reasons for me leaving are still there.”
“And those are?” He hobbled stiffly to the table with its decanter of whiskey. She’d always thought he’d watched too many old archaeology movies, the way his tent was set up with its rough comforts, almost Hemingway-esque.
He offered her a drink. She accepted, sipped, savored the punishing burn. “He’s emotionally unavailable. He gets so wrapped up in his work, I don’t matter—no one else matters. I need to matter.”
Dr. Vigil made his way to his cot and sat down heavily. “Mallory, when two people like you, people with such strong personalities, get together, there are going to be fights. But look at the two of you now. You’re together, you block out everything else in the room. You bring out the best in each other.”
She took another sip. “And the worst.”
“Maybe.” He conceded the point with a lift of his glass. “But no matter what you were fighting about, you had respect for one another. You respected the job and you respected the intelligence.”
“It didn’t stop us from saying hurtful things.” Even the memories of the words made her heart squeeze. She’d never talked to anyone like that in her life. But she’d said them to the man she loved.
“No, but you’re older now. You’ve learned control. I’d like to think that I made the two of you the archaeologists you are today, but the truth is, you made each other, with your competition and your drives. You can’t deny it.”
“I don’t.” There had been a time when she’d been so happy. She’d thought no one deserved to be so happy. “I just don’t want to forget the way he hurt me.”
“I know you must feel that way, but Adrian loved you more than anything in his life.”
“Loved. Past tense.” She edged toward the tent opening. If she didn’t remind herself of that, she might be tempted to fall into old patterns, no matter what lessons she’d learned last time. She couldn’t bear that pain again.
Something was off, something was wrong. Adrian realized it the minute the ship came into view the following day. It wasn’t covered, for one thing. Had the currents shifted in the past twenty-four hours, had they pushed the rubber sheet off the ship? He scanned the site and saw the tarp flipped back, not rolled as if it had been pushed by water.
As a result of being uncovered, much of the ancient wood had dissolved into the water. His stomach clenched. The more wood he lost, the more the integrity of the site was compromised. He couldn’t afford that.
He finned over to a curved shape rising out of the ocean floor. That hadn’t been there yesterday, had it? Or in their excitement over finding the figurehead, had they missed it? His heart rate picked up when he realized it was an amphora, and he reached for it.
A slender shape shot out of the mouth of the amphora. Shock blended with the sharp pain in his arm and he dropped the amphora as he jolted backwards.
Shit. Shit. Fucking moray eel had made its home in the ceramic vase. Adrian had been too distracted to notice. Hell and damn.
Before he could turn to inspect the damage, Mallory was beside him, squeezing the wound closed. His blood drifted into the water in a dark cloud. Mallory’s brow furrowed in concern as she realized they were in danger.
Sharks.
With his free arm, he motioned to Toney and Jacob, then to Mallory, and pointed up. They needed to get out of the water in case a nosy shark came to investigate. Mallory looked at him a moment before she took his other hand and clamped it over the wound on his triceps. He didn’t dare look to see how bad the damage was; he couldn’t risk letting more blood into the water.
Mallory swam to the others, signaled what had happened and motioned them to go up. The two men exchanged a glance, then nodded before ascending to the first decompression stop.
And Mallory swam to him. What the hell was she doing? He gave her his worst scowl, but she merely pushed his hand away and covered the wound with her own. So she squeezed a little harder than she should have—her way of getting revenge?
She gave him a questioning look and mimed swimming. He nodded. With her hand firmly on his arm, they swam up to where Toney and Jacob dangled near the decompression line. Mallory scanned the water, before looking at him again. He made a half-assed okay sign and her frown deepened.
He hated to admit he was getting weaker. His arms felt like lead and he could barely keep his eyes open. But whether it was from loss of blood or the poison moray eels were said to have, he didn’t know. He did know that Mallory’s grip kept him focused.
She tugged and they swam up the line to the next stop. He shook his head, as if that would erase the effects of the bite. Mallory hung on, scanning the water. The good thing about the Caribbean at this depth—clear as a bell. They could see sharks coming from a long way off.
He lost his grip on the line. She caught him with her legs, wrapping them around his, holding him to her. He tried to give her a leering grin as his hips nestled intimately against hers, but couldn’t manage an effective one with his regulator in his mouth and the muscles in his face refusing to obey his command.
Finally they reached the barge. The three of them worked together to haul Adrian up on the platform. Mallory shed her gear with amazing efficiency before she tugged at his torn sleeve to see the damage.
Her face paled above her bloodied nose, and he turned to look. The skin over his triceps was shredded. Blood oozed down his arm, coating his skin.
“He took quite the chunk out of me, yeah?” he asked and blacked out.
He came to with a start when Mallory spilled some liquid fire on the wound, and he sat up with a scream.
“I’m sorry.”
Her tone was unapologetic. She’d stripped her wetsuit down to her waist and leaned over him in a bright bikini top. That could do for some distraction from his present pain. Someone had peeled his suit off as well. “The bacteria in those eels’ mouths are bad. We have to kill the germs.”
“I am not a germ.” The slur in his voice surprised him.
Mallory ignored him and took a syringe from Robert. Adrian barely opened his mouth to protest when she jammed it into his arm.
He swore. “Is this payback? Geez, Mal, I didn’t know you had a vindictive streak.”
She gave a small smile, her attention still on the wound. “I can’t say I’m not enjoying this a little. But you’ll be glad for the shot. I’m going to stitch you up.”
“Why don’t you give that job to someone I wasn’t married to?” He glanced around the barge and saw Jacob and Robert back away. He cast Toney a pleading glance before turning his attention to Mallory.
Her eyes sparkled as she threaded the blunt-looking needle with coarse black thread. “Why, don’t you want it to be pretty?”
“I’m afraid you’ll make me look like Frankenstein’s monster.”
She smoothed her hand over his skin. “I’m very proud of my work. Don’t worry.” She prodded his skin near the injection. “Numb yet?”
“No. Look, I don’t know how good of an idea this is,” he added as she edged closer, parting her legs around his hips as she inspected the wound. Okay, maybe not such a bad idea.
“It’s a four-hour drive to get to a hospital. And I let you stitch me up when I fell and split my chin in Mexico.” Tilting her head back, she showed off the thin white scar.
He brushed his thumb over the scar and sighed. “All right. I’m ready.”
Sucking her lower lip between her teeth, she placed a damp palm on his arm, pulling the skin taut. “Hold still.”
She scooted closer, surrounding him with the smell of ocean and sunshine beneath the coconut scent of her sunscreen. He would focus on that and not on the effect of her body wrapped around his as she tried to get a good angle to stitch his wound.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” she said, and stuck the needle in his arm. Yeow.
The thread tugged at his skin and he winced, but the pain wasn’t enough to kill his growing desire. Soon the whole crew would know it.
“Mal.” A lump rose in his throat and he swallowed. “Maybe there’s a better way?” When she looked up at him, he flicked his eyes to his lap.
She followed his gaze and scowled. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I can’t help it my body doesn’t know we’re divorced.” Hell, part of the reason he was aroused was because he hadn’t been with anyone since he left their house in Pensacola.
She wasn’t looking at him anymore, but he could see her blush along the part in her hair. “Your body should know you just got bitten by a moray eel.”
“My body prefers pleasanter sensations.”
She jabbed the needle in a little sharper than he cared for. “Tell your body to get control. We have a long way to go here,” she said through her teeth.
Forty-two stitches. Mallory flexed her cramped hand against the rail of the boat and glanced at Adrian, who rested with his head against the pilothouse and his eyes closed, his skin pale beneath his tan. He needed to get into town, to a real doctor, though she hoped her stitches wouldn’t have to come out. She didn’t want him to endure that pain again.
Part of her had relished the revenge of sticking a needle repeatedly into the man who had hurt her, kind of a direct voodoo effect. Part of her—the part that she wasn’t ready to set free—wanted to bury her face in his chest and take a deep breath, feel his arms around her while he assured her he was all right.
Funny how easily her old instincts kicked in. All of them, especially the ones she felt around Adrian.
But now Adrian wouldn’t be able to dive for a few days; the muscle in his arm was damaged. He’d be short a diver and they’d fall behind schedule. They couldn’t afford to do that, either time-wise or budget-wise.
“We need to go into town, today. Get you checked out by a doctor and get those divers.”
He opened one eye. “Afraid you might lose your investment?”
She drew back. “That’s a pretty awful thing to say.”
He groaned and twisted away, keeping his arm still at his side. “Yeah, I’m an asshole. I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”
“No, I didn’t. And if you weren’t in so much pain, I’d pop you in the arm.”
He sucked in his breath through his teeth. “By the time we get to the city, it will be too late. The doctor’s office will be closed.”
“It’s barely ten in the morning.”
“I can’t drive standard, not with this arm.”
“I think I can find the way.” Whoa. Had she just volunteered to take him? To be alone with him not only for the eight-hour round-trip drive, but overnight as well? They couldn’t go and come back in one day. Driving back through the jungle tonight would just be foolish. “Or Toney could go with you. Or Linda.”
“Linda gets lost the minute she steps out of camp.” His voice was slurred, either with exhaustion or the poison. Mallory knew that no matter her protests, she would be the one to go with him. “And I need Toney here to watch the site. It won’t be so terrible, you and me. Like the old days.”