Gillian’s Island (5 page)

“I can’t think right now. Sorry. I worked at a marina
every summer during high school and college. I’ve docked
hundreds of boats, but I’ve never been out in a storm. What the
hell? It’s not supposed to be storm season. No one predicted a
freaking typhoon this week.”

“Actually, it’s a hurricane. Typhoons are storms
occurring west of 180 degrees longitude.” The look Rob shot him
stopped Jamie mid explanation. “Never mind. Listen, I’ll
go down and see what I can do with the engine. If I can get it
running, we’ll see if navigating in this shit seems better with
or without the motor running. Meanwhile, someone below should look
for a safety manual or something. They wouldn’t give you this
boat without leaving some sort of instructions.”

“The girls are useless. They’re all hysterical, and
Brandon and Reilly went below with them to calm them down.”

Jamie was sure they had. Who better to play the hero with than a
hysterical, scantily clad girl? At least he knew of one woman on this
boat who wouldn’t be useless. Gillian.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.” About to
go below, Jamie spotted a life vest. He thrust it at Rob. “Put
this on.”

Another wave hit and almost knocked them both to the deck as Rob
struggled to don the vest while holding on.

Jamie grabbed at a wet railing with slippery hands. “I don’t
like leaving you up here alone.”

“I’ll be fine,” Rob shouted back.

That proclamation didn’t make Jamie feel any better. Looking
around, he spotted the long, coiled rope tied to a nearby life
preserver. “You should probably lash yourself to the rail.”

The look of fear on Rob’s face didn’t instill much
confidence in Jamie either. He needed to get below and see to the
engine and Gillian.

After rifling through the rest of the bins on deck, he gathered
enough vests for them all, then strapped one on himself. He hoped to
God they wouldn’t need them.

Downstairs, he found his cabin empty and panic hit. Where was
Gillian? With his heart in his throat, he tore down the dark, narrow
hall, hindered by the life jackets he carried. He crashed into
Gillian as she came toward him. She’d changed into shorts, a
T-shirt and deck shoes.

“Sorry. I went back to my room to change. If we’re going
to be in a storm, I didn’t want to be wearing nothing but a
bathing suit.”

“Good idea. Put this on.” She gave him the same
wide-eyed, doom-filled look Rob had. “It’s only a
precaution. Just in case.”

Gillian nodded and did what she was told. Fear was a great motivator.

Jamie braced himself against the wall while the boat rocked him
nearly off his feet. “Listen, I have to ask you to do
something. Can you look around for some sort of instruction or safety
manual? Something that will tell us procedures for a storm.”

“Rob doesn’t know?” Her voice rose into the panic
zone.

“Um, again, it’s just a precaution.” Withholding
the truth couldn’t hurt. Right?

Her throat worked as she swallowed nervously. “All right. I’ll
see what I can find.”

An impulse had him leaning over the remaining vests in his arms and
catching her lips in one last kiss. Just in case.

She kissed him back with enough urgency to ramp up his already strong
will to survive.

“
I promise you, Gillian,
come hell or high water,” literally, “you and I are going
to live to see Rob and Julie married.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m going to hold you to that, James
Foster.”

Silently, Jamie vowed to keep that promise or die trying.

Chapter Five

Feeling utterly alone, Gillian pawed through the boat’s drawers
looking for something, anything that may help them.

Jamie was below deck unsuccessfully trying to get the motor running
when what she really wanted him to do was hold her and tell her it
would all be okay. Rob had his hands full, running back and forth
between Julie and the top deck. Julie had been so hysterical, one of
the bridesmaids gave her something that knocked her out. Now she was
passed out in the stateroom she and Gillian were supposed to be
sharing. The other two women wouldn’t be able to help at all
between the crying and screaming every time a wave hit, and Gillian
would rather die than turn to Brandon or Reilly for support.

Finally, Gillian’s hand hit upon a small booklet and she pulled
it out. A U.S. Coast Guard manual. Thank God. This would tell her
what to do.

Using
the dim light filtering through the porthole, Gillian flipped through
it. Page by page, the book provided no information that would calm
her. After it advised small watercraft never be out on the water
during a storm, ever, it went on to specify what to do if your boat
went down with you on it.

Never be below deck on a sinking ship
. Gillian’s stomach
turned. They weren’t sinking. Were they? Julie was in bed,
knocked out by the pill she’d taken. What the hell would they
do with her in the ocean unconscious if they sunk?

The yacht listed sharply to the side. As she stumbled and grabbed
onto the edge of the cabinet to remain upright, Gillian figured it
was more likely they’d flip over than sink. Or perhaps they
would both flip over and sink. Regaining her balance, she read
frantically, hoping for a section on capsizing.

She came upon a part describing procedures for if someone fell
overboard. Rob kept going up top. Even considering the possibility of
her sister’s future husband being lost at sea had her heart
palpitating. Her eyes scanned the explanation of the EPIRB, an
electronic locating device that gets thrown overboard or attached to
a life jacket. Did they have one of those? Should she look and strap
it onto Rob? And even if they had one, then what? The motor was dead.
Locator signal or not, how could they even look for him?

All of her thoughts threw Gillian into a state nearly as bad as Julie
had been in before they drugged her. She ended up crawling fully
clothed, life preserver and all, onto Jamie’s bed where she
finally let herself break down and cry.

The storm raged past nightfall. Why did things always seem so much
worse in the dark? Gillian didn’t know the answer to that. By
some grace of good fortune, the storm subsided enough that Gillian,
exhausted from worry and the late hour, fell into a fitful sleep.

She woke to a grinding crash followed by silence.

When her eyes flew open, she found daylight streaming through the
porthole and Jamie, fully clothed, leaping off the mattress. At some
point during the night, he must have crawled into bed with her. She
couldn’t have been more grateful to have him there with her
now.

“What’s happening?”

He peered out the glass. “I think we ran aground.”

Gillian sat up. “That’s bad.”

“Actually since I couldn’t get the engine working I think
it’s good. At least we’ll stay in one place instead of
drifting.”

She added the words
farther out to sea
in her own head and
felt sick to her stomach at the thought.

Jamie came back to her, an expression of concern on his face. “I
need to go up top and see where we are. Do you want to stay here or
come with me?”

A special kind of man took a woman’s feelings into
consideration, even in the face of possible disaster. She reached for
her shoes on the floor. “I’ll come.”

The rest of the group was already upstairs by the time Gillian and
Jamie arrived.

Julie, dark shadows under her eyes and hair falling out of a
ponytail, looked the worse for wear as she asked, “Where are
we?”

Rob pulled her against him. “I have no idea, baby. I’m
sorry. I wish I did.”

“What about the radio? Can we call for help?”

Rob’s expression answered Jamie’s question even before he
spoke. “It’s dead.”

“The way that wind was blowing, we could be anywhere.”
Reilly’s comment didn’t help the mood.

Adrienne and Ronni, who both somehow managed to look like they were
on their way to a beach party even in this situation, clung to each
other, wide eyed. She predicted mass panic if someone didn’t
shut up Reilly with his negative comments.

Jamie squinted out over the landscape. “There will be clues to
where we are. We have to explore.”

“Explore what? There’s nothing here.” Brandon
frowned at him.

Gillian glanced around them. She hated to admit it, but Brandon was
right.

Jamie shook his head. “There’s plenty here. Native
vegetation. Animal life. It will all give us an indication of where
we are.”

“And then what? Say we know where we are. What are we going to
do then? The radio isn’t working. The engine is dead.”
Brandon folded his arms across his chest. “You couldn’t
get it running last night. Remember?”

“I’ll try again. Maybe once it dries out—”

“James, you can’t do everything.” Brandon cut Jamie
off mid sentence. “Yeah, you’re brilliant. You’re a
frigging genius, but what we need right now is a good old dumb
mechanic, not a valedictorian.”

Gillian felt Jamie stiffen next to her. She dropped her voice low.
“He’s an idiot.”

He glanced down at her and sighed. “It’s okay. He’s
right.”

“Everybody relax. Jamie’s right. We have to get off the
boat and take a look around.” Rob’s voice held an air of
authority, which calmed Gillian’s panic a bit. “There
could be a five-star resort just around the bend. Wouldn’t that
be nice, baby?”

Julie nodded as Rob hugged her closer.

Jamie laughed sadly. “God, I hope so. Rob, did you drop the
anchor?”

Gillian hadn’t thought of that. Had she been in charge of this
floating nightmare, they’d all be in even bigger trouble.

“Did it the minute I got up here. I didn’t want her
drifting away if the tide comes in while we’re ashore. We may
have a dead boat, but it’s better than no boat at all.”
Rob managed a grin.

Jamie smiled too. “My sentiments exactly. All right, we can
cover more ground if we split up. One group should cover the
shoreline to the left, another the shoreline to the right. I’ve
got a compass on my watch…”

Brandon snorted. “Of course you do.”

Jamie ignored him. “So, I’ll head straight, and we’ll
all meet back here in, let’s say an hour?”

Rob nodded. “Sounds good.”

“Ready?” Jamie paused, waiting for her answer.

Relieved that question implied she was going with him, Gillian
nodded. “Yes.”

“We’re going to get a little wet I’m afraid.”

There was land on the other side of that water. After the hell she’d
lived through the night before, she’d deal with wet feet.
“That’s fine. I won’t melt.”

He squeezed her arm, encouraging her, and they were off on their big
adventure.

Jamie helped her through the shallow water to shore, and then
released his hold on her hand. She missed the contact immediately.

He glanced at the group as they dispersed in different directions to
search for clues, then down at her face. “There’s
something I wanted to say before we start off.”

Gillian nodded, though the tone in his voice told her something bad
was coming. “Okay.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way. Last night was great, but
I know we’re stuck here together and if it was just a one-time
thing, I totally understand.”

She tried to maintain a neutral expression even as she failed and
felt her face fall. “Oh, sure. No. You’re right. Of
course.”

He laughed and she frowned in response. “You really should
never play poker.” Jamie took her face in both hands and
smiled. “I don’t want what happened to be a one-night
stand, Gillian. I was giving you an out in case you did.”

“Why would I want an out?”

“I know smart, beautiful women like you don’t end up with
men like me.”

How could a man be so perfect? He was too good to be true. Her heart
warmed as Gillian covered Jamie’s hands with hers and squeezed.
“If they were really so smart, they would.”

He smiled. “Guess it’s a good thing you’re smart
then, huh?”

“I’m not as smart as you, but I’m smart enough.”
Much as Gillian would like to go back to the yacht and crawl into bed
with Jamie, she wrestled her racing heart and mind back to the
situation at hand. “Do you really think we can figure out where
we are?”

“I do.”

Not believing for one minute there was a five-star spa on the other
side of this island, Gillian gathered her nerve and asked the
question she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to.
“What do we do if we can figure out where we are and it turns
out to be somewhere we don’t want to be?”

“I suspect we’re not as far off course as Brandon thinks,
but if we are, I’ll fix that engine even if I have to rebuild
the damn thing to do it. If we’re still as close to California
as I hope, we may not have to do a thing. A ship or a plane will see
us. Besides, that is one expensive yacht we just beached. I’m
sure the owner will be looking for it, not to mention for us.”

Gillian’s brain flew to every shipwreck movie she’d ever
seen. They all had one thing in common. “Maybe we should build
a signal fire.”

He grinned. “Good idea. We’ll pick up whatever wood we
see. It’ll be wet from the storm, but in this sun, it should
dry fast. I bet there’s some sort of lighter back on the yacht
too, so I won’t even have to use my Eagle Scout skills and
start a fire with two sticks.”

Gillian’s insides calmed from just listening to him. “How
can you make me feel so much better in even this situation?”

He shrugged. “Nerd gift?”

“Maybe. See. That explains my geek fetish.”

They walked along, hand in hand until they began picking up firewood
and couldn’t hold hands any longer. Soon, they had nearly more
than they could both carry for any distance.

Jamie glanced at the bundle she balanced on both arms. “I think
we better head back. It’s been thirty minutes.”