Page 44 of Doyle

Doyle.Of courseit was Doyle. He met her eyes with that same crazy, determined, fierce look he’d given her at the camp. And at the medical clinic, and even at the harbor, andshoot—he just keptshowing up.

Stein turned back to his work, bubbles releasing from his mouth, and cut another chunk free. Doyle fed him air again, and then Stein finally broke her free, the netting still tangled around her legs.

Doyle took a breath, handed his reg to Stein, and then faced her as he grabbed her arms and kicked, dragging her toward the downline.

Stein kept up, feeding him the reg for a breath, and then himself, bubbles rising. They reached the downline, and as Doyle held on to her, he and Stein pulled themselves up the line, kicking, sharing the breath of life.

They stopped fifteen feet from the bottom for their safety stop, still trading, and Stein’s watch counted down the required five minutes as they hung in the water, the current stirring them. Doyle handed Stein the reg and then looked at her, smiled, winked, and gave her the okay sign before taking it back.

Who was this man?“I was called to be a missionary. Being a doctor was how I was going to get there.”

He wasn’t a doctor, but he did seem to qualify for the other. Brave, creative, a healer.

Dangerous.Terribly, perfectly treacherous for her heart.

She had not come to Mariposa to fall in love. And she certainly couldn’t do it with someone who was already taken—she’d already made that mistake.

She spotted the boat, bobbing some thirty feet away.

A splash, and suddenly Austen was in the water, swimming fast. She wore a fresh tank and handed Stein her secondary.

Doyle grabbed his air back, and when Stein’s watch beeped, Doyle pulled Tia to himself and kicked to the surface.

Stein and Austen surfaced too.

Tia made to spit out her reg, but Doyle shook his head, and Austen kept her air in too as she grabbed Tia’s BCD and helped Doyle haul her to the boat. Stein had gone ahead, taken off his tank and vest and handed it up to Declan. Then he climbed the ladder, turned, and sat, holding out his arms for their rescue package.

A.k.a., Tia.

She removed her regulator, her arms over Stein’s knees as Doyle and Austen submerged, cut away the last of the netting, and removed her fins. Then they threw the fins onto the boat and handed up the netting.

Stein unbuckled her BCD, and Tia shrugged it off. He handed her rig up to Declan.

She didn’t know what to say as Doyle and Austen surfaced, removed their air.

“You all right?” Doyle asked, breathing hard.

Don’t cry. Don’t?—

Aw.Her eyes welled up and she nodded. Then Stein let her go.

“Hold on to the ladder.”

She did, her entire body trembling as he climbed up, then reached down and grabbed her hands. The man pulled her out of the water, then her feet found the deck, and Stein moved her to a bench. Knelt in front of her, checking her over, his hands on her legs.

He thought he’d cut her.

Austen handed up her fins to Declan and then climbed up, ripping off her mask, unzipping her BCD. “Are you okay?”

Tia nodded, andoh no,tears burned her eyes. “I’m fine. I can’t believe you did that—Austen, you could havedied.”

Doyle had followed them and stood behind Stein, dripping, shaking a little. He looked at Tia, then Austen. “You good?”

Austen nodded. And then Doyle pulled her into a hug, so much relief in his gesture it turned Tia’s heart. Now that was love, the real kind, no lying.

Sheesh,she should have realized a guy like Doyle would be taken. Not that it mattered.

It didn’t matter?—

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