Finally, he shook his head, then turned and disappeared up the steps. And alone, Maren dropped onto her chair and rested her head in her hands.
Too close. Too damn close. She had to be careful. Everything was hinging on her keeping Isabel out of the picture. She couldn’t let Thad know about her now. Not when she was so close to getting their lives back.
When it was done.
She lifted her head to look out at the shimmering water, and promised herself she’d tell him when it was all over.
She’d just have to be a lot more meticulous about what she said and did around him. And not fall for the man all over again in the process.
CHAPTER SIX
“Missed you this morning, gorgeous.” From the edge of the dock, Drummer handed Maren a box of supplies, then climbed on board the Escapade.
Maren dragged her gaze away from something she’d been staring at onshore and glanced Drummer’s way. “First dive in quite a while. I decided not to run and dive on the same day.” She took the box of supplies from his hands and turned toward the cabin. “Once I get back into the groove of things, I’ll be kicking your butt out on the sand, don’t worry.”
“Can’t wait,” Drummer said, watching her go.
More irritated than he liked, Thad glared down from the flybridge, where he was standing, toward the horndog masquerading as his photographer. “Keep your eyes in your head, Sideshow Bob.”
Drummer chuckled and squinted up at him. “How did you know Sideshow Bob’s my favorite Simpsons character? He sure the hell has the most fun. Though Krusty gets all the babes.”
“Blondie’s afraid of clowns.” Thad looked out over the docks, wondering what the hell Maren had been staring at. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“Afraid of clowns?” Drummer mumbled. “No way. You’re awfully funny looking. Maybe I should go hold her hand or something.”
Lisa stepped out of the salon and slapped Drummer on the shoulder. “You might lose it if you try. She’s been fighting with a new cataloging program on her laptop all morning. She’s in a bitchy mood.”
So that explained the look. Shaking off the strange sense of foreboding that had been sliding over him, Thad refocused on the boat’s instruments.
“Software?” Drummer asked from below. “Finally, something I know a thing or two about, besides sex.”
Jesus, the guy was worse than a fifteen-year-old boy. As Thad maneuvered the boat out of the marina, he yelled, “Don’t piss her off, Bob!”
Laughter drifted up to Thad’s ears.
Moments later, Lisa climbed the ladder and sat in the seat next to him, her short red hair rustling in the breeze. She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Now this is the life.”
Feeling more relaxed the farther they got from land, Thad looked at her, not for the first time amazed at the transformation. In her red halter bikini top and a pair of low-cut denim shorts, Thad could see the muscle tone in her arms and legs, but that wasn’t what had changed most about her. She’d always been in good shape. No, the last time he’d seen her—after they’d lost Colin—she’d been a mess, barely able to keep it together. Now, she looked…happy. Really happy, actually. There was a glow about her he didn’t remember, even before Colin’s death. Granted, a lot could change in nine years, but Thad knew for certain he’d never been that happy. Except, maybe once.
“What?” she asked, opening her eyes and smiling his way.
“Nothing. You just look good, Maxwell.”
She grinned wider and leaned her shoulder into his. “Since I know you think of me as a sister, I won’t read anything into that. But I wouldn’t let Drummer hear you say it. He’ll think Maren’s fair game.”
Thad looked ahead at the sea of blue and frowned. “What are you talking about? Maren’s free to do whatever she wants.”
One corner of Lisa’s lips curled in amusement. “Mm-hmm.”
Thad’s frown deepened at the way she was watching him. “Problem?”
“No, no problem at all.” Her smile widened. “Rafe’s coming down in a couple of days. I can’t wait for you to meet him.”
The way her face lit up when she mentioned her husband brought a smile back to Thad’s lips. “If he got you to give up your playgirl ways, then he must be quite a guy.”
Lisa laughed. “He’ll be thrilled to hear you say that.” Her expression sobered as she looked out at the water. “Do you trust him?”
Thad checked their location on the GPS. “Who? Drummer?” When she glanced his way and nodded, he shrugged. “I’ve got no reason not to. Why, don’t you?”
“I don’t know yet. But anytime Patrick brings on someone new, I get antsy.”
Yeah, Thad did too. That had been Patrick’s mistake the last time. As the water lapped against the boat, he thought about what little they really knew about Drummer.
Which, admittedly, wasn’t a lot.
“From what Drummer told Maren,” Lisa went on, “it sounds like he has no love for Declan, which is a good thing as far as I’m concerned.” She glanced over the railing toward the deck below. “But I can’t stop feeling that he’s hiding something. Be careful there.”
Thad had learned long ago not to question Lisa’s first instinct. His stomach was already a hot ball of nerves as they finally got this project underway. “I will. You watch yours too.”
“I’m a shark underwater. He’ll never see me coming.” She pushed to her feet. “I’m heading down to get the gear ready.”
Thad slowed the boat roughly twelve miles out from shore and cut the engine. Climbing down the ladder, he hollered, “All hands on deck!”
“Geez,” Drummer mumbled as he headed toward the back of the boat. “Please tell me we don’t have to salute him and all that shit.”
Maren chuckled from inside the salon.
Thad headed into the pilothouse, just below the flybridge. A splash echoed, and moments later, Drummer joined him. “Magnetometer’s in the water.”
If Patrick’s research was right, they had to be pretty close to the remains of the Conquistador.
Maren and Lisa joined them, eager to watch the screen and see what the magnetometer picked up. But as soon as Maren stepped into the small room, the scent of pomegranates filled Thad’s nostrils, followed by a wave of heat he felt roll all over his skin, distracting him from his job at the helm.
“Go slow,” Maren said, eyes locked on the screen.
Go slow. Great. Thad remembered her saying that once before. The first time they’d made love. That heat shot to his belly and slinked lower. Now he was gonna be thinking about sex the entire afternoon.
With one hand on the throttle and the other on the wheel, he tried to focus on why they were here, but he kept getting distracted. Every time the girls thought they saw something, Maren’s face would light up like a kid in a candy shop, and the sweet sound of her excited voice was enough to make Thad’s blood pump fast in a way it hadn’t pumped in years.
They trolled through the area Patrick had marked for a good two hours. Lisa and Maren watched the screen and made notes of variances below the surface. By the time Thad cut the engine, they had a cluster of anomalies to investigate before the sun went down, and Thad had a hard-on that wasn’t going anywhere unless he got away from Maren.
Lisa and Drummer were already in their wet suits when he made his way to the deck. Keeping his eyes—and thoughts—off Maren, he double-checked the tanks and helped Lisa strap hers on. “You got cameras?”
“That’s like asking Krusty if he’s got condoms,” Drummer replied as he munched on a handful of chips.
Thad shook his head and tightened Lisa’s straps.
“Really, Drummer?” Lisa said, glancing Drummer’s way. “Can’t you wait to eat? I don’t want to have to haul your ass back to the boat because you got a side ache.”
Drummer popped the rest of his chips in his mouth, dusted off his hands, and grinned. “Who? Me?” he asked around a mouthful.
Lisa frowned. From her spot on th
e other side of the deck, Maren laughed. And the sound was like tinkling bells, easing the tightness in Thad’s chest and the nerves growing in his belly over what they’d find below.
A ding sounded, and Maren turned for the salon. “I’ll be right back.”
Lisa sat on the edge of the boat and slipped on her fins and mask. With one look at Thad, she said, “If he dies out there, it’s not my fault.”
“Go,” Thad said, pushing lightly on her shoulder. She grinned up at him, then popped the regulator in her mouth and barrel-rolled backward. “And don’t purposely kill him even though he deserves it!” he called after her.
A tiny splash echoed. Drummer looked down at her curvy body already gliding through the water and cocked his head. “How big is her husband? Is he like Rambo big or just average?”
“I don’t know,” Thad answered. “Why?”
“Because I’m trying to decide if she and I should have our hot love affair before or after he gets here.”
Thad couldn’t help it, he laughed. Regardless of what Lisa thought, Drummer was harmless. An equal-opportunity flirt, but harmless. And, Thad realized, much-needed comic relief on a day like this. “God, you’re a piece of work. Go already, horndog.”
Drummer smiled, popped his regulator in his mouth, and stepped off the boat. His fins hit the water with a slap, as loud and obnoxious as Lisa’s barrel roll had been smooth and graceful.
Maren walked out on deck just as Drummer disappeared into the water. She handed Thad a mug of coffee and took a sip of her own. “Darn, I missed the big send-off.”
“Thanks.” Thad took the mug as they watched the two swim away, his skin already warming with Maren so close again. He really needed to get in control of his body’s reactions to her. “Trust me, it wasn’t that big a send-off. Right now I’ll just be happy if Drummer makes it back in one piece.”
“He is quite a character.”
Thad sipped the hot brew. He couldn’t even see them anymore. They were already diving deep. But he could feel Maren. And God, she smelled good. “Time will tell.”
She didn’t answer, and the silence stretched between them like a taut rope. Since he and Maren were alone on the boat for at least the next hour, he figured he needed to do something to put her—and himself—at ease. “You could have partnered with Drummer. I wouldn’t have cared.”
“Lisa doesn’t like to dive with you. Says you cramp her style.”
Thad feigned shock as Maren turned back for the cabin. “What exactly does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” Maren said, moving down the steps into the salon. “Something about bossing her around, mothering her to death. I think she chose to dive with Drummer because he’s still a little afraid of her at this point.”
“Doubt it’ll last,” Thad huffed, following. “Sideshow Bob’s obviously warmed up to her.”
Maren smiled over her shoulder, and the look was so sexy, Thad’s pulse sped up, and he had another insane urge to drag her close and feel those lips of hers against his own. “Drummer’s all talk. But Lisa’s not the hard-ass she used to be either.”
Thad had noticed that about Lisa as well. He leaned against the counter in the salon. “She’s softened considerably.”
“Yeah, she has.” Maren set her mug on the counter and pulled out a chart from underneath, then moved to the large table in the middle of the room and unrolled it. “I guess falling in love will do that to a person.”
Her words hung in the air, and Thad remembered when she’d first shown up at that dig nine years ago. He’d thought she was window dressing, only there because of Patrick. She’d set him straight right away. And they’d gone toe-to-toe more than once before she’d softened too. Before she’d fallen for him.
He watched as she slipped on her glasses and leaned over to study the coordinates. A silky lock of hair slipped free, and she reached up to tuck the blonde strand behind her ear in a graceful little move. And in the silence, he had a quick flash of her standing in the small kitchen of her hut nine years ago, doing the same thing. When he’d gone to talk to her about something she’d done wrong on a dive. When she’d been swaying to Bruce Springsteen’s rugged voice coming out of the stereo. When his heart had lurched hard in his chest, just as it was doing now.
Man, the woman was a looker. Today she was wearing denim cutoff shorts and a black ribbed tank over what looked like a black bikini top, the thin straps just visible at her neckline. He couldn’t wait to see what that bikini looked like up close. Nine years ago, she’d had the body of a girl. Today she was curves and toned muscles and all woman. And just being close to her like this again, every inch of his body was hot and hard.
“Besides,” she added without looking up, “I don’t mind diving with you. We work well enough together. Or, at least, we used to.”
Had they ever. They’d worked really well together on that beach. Another image flashed in Thad’s brain. This one filled with sweaty skin, wandering hands, hungry mouths, and arms and legs tangling together in the warm sand.
He cleared his throat to get his brain—and body—back online. “When was the last time you dove?”
The look she sent him was half annoyance, half amusement. And it was even sexier than the smile she’d shot over her shoulder. His groin tightened even more, and a burst of blood rushed south. “Now why does that sound so familiar?”
He smiled. He’d asked her that exact same question when she’d first arrived at the dig nine years ago. She’d been young and more than a little green, and he’d been skeptical of her abilities until he’d seen how skilled she was beneath the surface. Then he’d been more than awed.
She looked back at her charts. “A year ago, off the coast of Greece.”
“Open-water diving?”
She nodded. “Don’t get all parental on me.”
“I’m not. I know you’re a good diver.”
He settled onto a stool, rested his elbow back against the counter, and sipped his coffee, hoping the caffeine would take the focus off his tightening jeans. It felt good to talk to her without friction in the air. He wanted to make it last. “Patrick told me you’ve been working at your mother’s hotel.”
“Hmm?” Surprise lit her eyes when she glanced up. “I’m not sure whether I should be irritated or grateful he filled you in.” She let out a deep breath and straightened. “Yes, I was. My mother had a heart attack when I was in Greece. I flew home to help out, and she took the opportunity to escape to Europe to recuperate for the year.”
“You don’t sound happy about that scenario.”
She bit her lip, and, as she looked down at the chart in front of her, he found himself hoping she’d open up to him as she used to.
“It wasn’t exactly my first choice. I never planned on running the hotel.” She sat on a stool across from him and reached for her coffee. “You’ve never been there, so you wouldn’t understand, but the hotel is a great place. It’s beautiful, historic, all old wood and stone with the most amazing view of the Sound. It’s home for me. I didn’t have a problem taking over and helping out. It was just bad timing. The last thing I planned on doing at this point in my life was running the hotel.”
He did understand. He had been there. Listening to her, he wondered why she was acting like she didn’t know. Part of him wanted to ask, but another part didn’t want to risk opening up old wounds when she was just starting to seem comfortable around him. “I bet your mother appreciated your help.”
She frowned over her glasses. And the expression was so damn sexy, he fought the growing urge to haul her over the counter toward him. “She figured it was my duty to take over the hotel. Some part of her hoped I’d love it and toss everything I’ve worked for aside. She never wanted me to be an archaeologist.”
“But you didn’t toss it aside.”
“Nope. The dirt’s in my blood.”
He smiled. “Mine too.”
He caught that unmistakable gleam in her eye he’d seen so many times before. She mas
ked it quickly, looked away, and rose, heading for the galley with her cup, but for the first time since she’d come back into his life, Thad saw a glimpse of the girl she used to be.
And he didn’t know what the hell to do with that information.
The Conquistador had been a big ship. A thousand tons of wood and metal that would have carried her crew around the tip of Tierra del Fuego and into the Orient had she survived Atticus’s wrath. Each hour, Maren’s excitement over the project grew. Not just because of La Malinche, but because of everything else hidden down below. Especially the history.
The first few dives were exploratory in nature and designed to give them a feel for the area. Unfortunately, Drummer and Lisa returned with little useful information. If the Conquistador was down there, she was hidden below layers of sand, mud, and coral.
That didn’t dampen Maren’s enthusiasm any. Fighting the excitement at finally getting started, she strapped on her tanks, checked her gauges, and slid on her mask. Seeing it all on video was one thing. Seeing it up close and personal was something else entirely. As she climbed over the edge of the boat, she gave Thad the thumbs-up sign. She didn’t wait for directions or his last-minute safety checks. Today she just wanted to dive.
Silence descended as soon as she submerged beneath the surface, the only sound the rhythmic hiss of her regulator as she breathed. A sense of calm swept through her the deeper she swam. Underwater, she didn’t have to pretend, didn’t have to talk, didn’t have to worry about anyone interrupting her thoughts or pressuring her to open up.
She paused to watch as Thad checked his compass, gave her the direction, and headed off in front of her. His movements were smooth, only the slightest bubble trail in his wake, like a black shadow slicing through the water. He was long and lean in his wet suit, the tight garment accentuating the roped muscles, chiseled angles, and well-defined planes of his strong body.
In the safety of the water, she was able to observe him without fear of his seeing. And watching, she couldn’t stop the memories from rushing through her mind. The first time she’d laid eyes on him, those long, muscular legs sticking out from beneath that broken-down Jeep he’d been fixing when she’d arrived in camp. The first time he’d smiled at her in the sweltering jungle heat. The first time she’d followed him through the tight passages of the underwater cave they’d been excavating.