Page 23 of Austen

“The shark got my tank, and it filled with water, was dragging me down, so I had to ditch it.The PLB was in the pocket of my BCD.”She’d pulled her legs up under the bathrobe.“Good thing I still had my safety sausage.”

“Hunter saw the sun on your tank a couple miles out—or thought he did.It matched up with your PLB, and then...”He blew out a breath.“I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Understatement, but things had sort of reverted to a reasonable distance between them.

“You hungry?”

“I could eat a whale.”

He chuckled.Okay then.“I asked Camille to make us burgers.”

“How did you know I was lost?”She set her hot lemon water down and combed back her hair with her fingers, then braided it into a thick rope.She wore a hair band on her wrist and affixed it to the end.

“I ran into Stein in Key West when I was picking up the Jamesons.”

“Oh, right.”She made a face.“I should probably tell him I’m okay.”

“Already done,” he said.

“Thanks.”

“How did?—”

“I end up in the middle of the Caribbean, miles from shore, like a buoy?”

“Yes.”

“I was diving.Alone.”She held up a hand.“Save it.Stein will already murder me.”

“He did seem...angry when I saw him.”Huh.Maybe that accounted for the great chill.But Stein had been ghosting him before that, so...“How is he, by the way?He almost seemed like he didn’t want to talk to me.”

She swallowed.Then, “Um, I guess he’s fine.Healing.I don’t know, Declan.”Then she looked away and sighed.Frowned.

Huh.That felt a little weird.As if a squall had blown in between them.

“So, you were diving and then what?”

She met his eyes with a wry twist to her face.“I came up, and my boat had floated away.”She wrinkled her nose, as inoops!Maybe he’d imagined the tension.“I thought I’d secured the anchor, but...I can’t believe it.I came up from my dive and the boat had just...vanished.”

“I’ll have my captain put out a BOLO for it—see if any ships have spotted it.”

“It’s like having my home swept away in a hurricane.Everything I have is in that trawler, so...”She sighed.“But she’s survived worse, I guess.I bought her for a hundred dollars after Hurricane Irma.Fixed her up myself.”

“We’ll find her, Austen.”He didn’t know why he said that, but the urge to reassure her, to reach out and touch her hand, just swept over him.

Jermaine came into the salon.“Dinner is in the sky lounge, sir.”

Declan stood up.“Our chef is French.Her fries are amazing.”And then he held out his hand.More of a reflex than purposeful, but she took it and got up.

She looked at him, an emotion in her eyes that he couldn’t place.“I can’t believe you found me.I just...”She swallowed and her eyes filled.“Thank you for looking.”

“Of course.”His chest tightened a little, and he squeezed her hand.You mean something to me.

Just hold your horses, man.He offered a smile and gestured to the stairs to the sky lounge.

The squall had cleared the clouds from the sky, the night canopy a wash of brilliant white light, the moon shining on the water.Jermaine had set the shiny teak table with dinner, candlelight, and jazz playing on the speakers.

Good man.

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