Lack of confidence is a killer when it comes to design. The fear inside makes us wonder if we can really combine lavender and pale green.
—HAMMER GIRL BLOG
It was a beautiful evening for a seafood boil aboard ship, but Ellie was too on edge to enjoy it. The thought of an impending terrorist attack made her want to crawl out of her skin. She glanced at Gray, who sat on the deck chatting with Jason, and she forced her attention back on preparing the food. He drew her in ways she couldn’t even name.
It was silly, though. He wasn’t going to look at her any special way. Not when he could have any woman on the planet.
She got the outside gas burner going and went to fill the big pot from the water hose Mac had connected to the potable water source. When it was half full, she started to lug the pot back to the flame, but Gray leaped up.
“That’s too heavy for you. Let me carry it.” He hefted it away from her and carried it back to the burner.
With any other man she might have been offended at the insinuation that she couldn’t do something, but he made her feel cherished. Cherish was a word she hadn’t thought much about, but she liked the sound of it.
“Is it seated on the burner okay?” he asked.
She checked the level and nodded. “Neanderthals are good to have around on occasion.”
“I like being here for you. For anything.”
She couldn’t bring herself to look into his eyes. He surely didn’t mean it the way her heart took it. She swallowed and turned up the heat, then sprinkled in Chesapeake Bay seasoning, a few cloves of garlic, and some sliced lemon. “It shouldn’t take long for dinner to be ready. Maybe forty-five minutes. If you’re hungry, there’s a veggie platter and dip in the galley fridge.”
“I wouldn’t say no to it. I’ll get it.” He ducked down the ladder.
Out of his presence she was able to catch her breath. Being around him was like riding a roller coaster of emotions that left her exhausted. The water started boiling, and she dropped in fingerling potatoes, carrots, sausage, and corn. The seafood would go in once the vegetables were almost done. Individual butter warmers waited along with fresh bread on the folding tables they’d set up. He wouldn’t leave hungry.
Her gaze strayed to the ladder as Gray emerged with the veggie tray in one hand and the kitten in the other. Good grief, he was handsome. Such a big guy but so gentle and kind. Most of the big men she’d met liked to throw their size around, but he seemed to understand how intimidating he could be and made allowances. She hadn’t even known him a full two weeks, and she was already smitten.
Danger, danger.
He set the tray on the table in front of Jason. “Eat up before my sister gets here with Zach and Alex or you may be out of luck.” The kitten snuggled against him. “Mia was meowing at the ladder, and I couldn’t bring myself to ignore her. I think she was afraid to try to climb it.”
“You’re a pushover just like Ellie.” Jason snagged a couple of carrots.
The lights on a small boat bobbed in the water offshore, and Ellie tensed until she recognized Shauna.
Shauna waved. “You guys up there?”
“We’re waiting on you,” Ellie called.
Shauna, pink-cheeked and smiling, climbed the ship’s ladder with Zach behind her. “I asked my mother-in-law to keep Alex for a while. He’s not fond of seafood, and I wanted a chance for us to compose a letter to Brenna. I’ve got my part done.”
Zach carried a plate of brownies, and he put them on the table by the veggies, then grabbed a couple of cucumbers as he lowered himself into a chair beside Jason and Grayson.
Shauna joined them and set down the computer she carried. “See what you think about the first part of the email I composed.”
Ellie went to join them for a few minutes while the vegetables cooked. “This has to be exciting, Shauna. I’m so happy for you!”
“I’m thrilled. Let me read it to you since there are so many of us.” She cleared her throat. “‘My name is Shauna Bannister. My maiden name was Duval, and I have reason to believe you are my baby sister, Brenna, who disappeared twenty-five years ago after being born during an earthquake in Lavender Tides, Washington. I know this has to be a shock since you likely have never heard any of this. Your mother was the paramedic who assisted our mother in your birth, and she helped save your life. However, I believe she took you out of the collapsed grocery store and made you her own. There was never any record of you after the earthquake, and she has refused to talk to me. I think you can see from my attached picture that the two of us look very much alike.’”
Shauna stopped and looked up. “Do you think she will even read this? I’m not sure I would after the baby-sister thing.” She sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Maybe this is the wrong thing to do.”
Zach squeezed her hand. “I don’t know any other way to handle it, Fly Girl. There’s no easy way to do it.”
“Let’s pray for her to be receptive,” Gray said. “Let’s wait a bit to send it, then if there’s no answer from her, I can fly there after things are over here. Maybe I can even talk to her mom and ask for her to tell the truth.”
Ellie took his statement for what it was—a wake-up call for her to guard her heart. He wasn’t going to be here long.
The ship swayed and clanged with the tide. Grayson’s belly was pleasantly full from the crab boil, but all his senses were on high alert as he watched out over the waves for any boats headed their way. He couldn’t remember when he’d last enjoyed himself so much. Shauna and Zach were good people, the kind who immediately put you at ease and made you feel ten feet tall.
And Ellie. His gaze cut to where she slept on a bunk mattress under the stars. She lay on her side, her right cheek turned sweetly up for the kiss of a moonbeam. A fanciful, almost poetic thought. He used to read poetry in high school but had given it up for dry subjects like math and social studies.
Her lips pursed as though she were kissing someone in her sleep, and he wished he was the lucky one. Long lashes cast shadows on her cheeks, and even her ears were cute. He liked everything about her.
She’d blush if she awoke and saw him staring. He rose from his seat against the mast and went to the railing. Though it was nearly two, he wasn’t tired enough to awaken Jason who was sleeping on the deck in the bow. The shapes of townspeople watching the ship moved along the beach, and he spotted a bonfire.
A whisper of sound lifted on the salt-laden breeze, and he cocked his head. Just the wind or the creak of the ship? A sixth sense told him it was more than that. The noise seemed stealthy yet purposeful. He stood as quietly as he could and tried to get a fix on where it was originating from. He caught a whiff of gasoline. From the generator or something more sinister?
He went on full alert and hurried on bare feet to rouse Jason, who awakened in two seconds. Grayson held his finger to his lips and motioned for the other man to follow him. He gestured for Jason to move to the starboard side while he went to the port side. Access by ropes was available on both sides, and he didn’t want to be surprised. He shot off a quick text to the sheriff asking for backup, then sank to his knees at the railing.
He wanted to get Ellie belowdeck, but he needed to surprise their unexpected visitor. Or visitors. Gun in hand, he crouched at the rail by the ladder and listened. Someone was climbing up. They had to have put in from one of the offshore islands or their sentries on shore would have seen them and alerted him.
He’d rigged floodlights to illuminate the ship’s hull, so he reached over and plugged them in. Someone cursed, and Grayson popped up his head and looked over the side. Two men, one holding a can of what had to be gasoline, swung on the rope ladder like ugly spiders.
He pointed his gun at them. “Hands up!”
In that instant gunfire broke out on the starboard side, and he turned to see Jason grappling with a figure dressed in black. An ambush. Jason thumped the guy over the head with the butt of his rifle, and the man tumbled back into the water.
A bullet zinged by Grayson’s head from one of the men on the port side, and he returned fire. He heard Ellie moving on her mattress.
“Stay down!” He shot off a volley of bullets at the figures, and one shouted and fell into the water. The one with the gas can still clung to the rope.
The guy looked up at him, his face covered in a black ski mask. He dropped the gas can into the water and pulled a gun from his belt. Grayson shot his wrist, and the gun went flying into the bay. He wanted to catch one of these guys alive. They might be persuaded to talk.
He gestured with the gun. “Climb up here. Slowly.”
The guy looked at the gun, then let go of the rope and fell into the water. Grayson slung his leg over the railing and began to clamber down the rope. He needed to haul one of the assailants in, but by the time he reached their inflatable, there was no sign of them.
He returned to the deck to make sure everyone was okay. Ellie rushed to him as soon as he stepped aboard, and he embraced her. “I’m not hurt.” He looked over her head at Jason, who was clambering over the rail too. “I couldn’t catch one either. You okay?”
“Yeah, just disgusted,” Jason said.
Sirens blared from the shore, and two sheriff’s cars careened to a halt at the pier. “There’s an inflatable at the bottom of the rope. You mind going after the sheriff?” he asked Jason.
“Nope.” Jason’s mouth was grim as he went past them and climbed over the railing.
Grayson didn’t want to tell Ellie they’d come to burn up the boat—and them.