Her Sworn Enemy (Men of the Zodiac) (4 page)

Then the doorknob rattled and turned, and the door, which she knew without a doubt she’d locked, burst open. Bella turned and stared at the tanned man who filled the doorway to her cabin. “You’re late for the all-hands meeting, Doctor Dupré.”

“And you opened my door without permission.”

He tossed a brass key up into the air and caught it in his hand. “Master key. It lets me in every door on this ship.”

“But you can’t do that.”

“Actually, since I’m the captain, and it’s my ship, I can.” He slipped the key into the pocket of his shorts and leaned his muscular body against the doorjamb. “I’ve come to get you. You aren’t always late to meetings, are you? It might send the wrong message to the crew.”

Bella didn’t care for his accusatory tone. She wasn’t part of his crew to be commanded as he pleased. She was in charge of this operation. He just hadn’t acknowledged it yet. And as of five minutes ago, she’d decided not to attend the all-hands meeting because she had no intention of working with him if he wasn’t going to recognize her as the lead on this operation.

The first chance she got, she’d radio back to the mainland and have them send out the chopper. Surely she could talk some sense into Harry, and he could talk some sense into the financial backer. McCormack needed to be advised of his role in this operation and accept it or be replaced.

“Guess you’ll have to carry on without me, since, as you so clearly indicated earlier, I’m not really that important to what we’re doing here.”

A muscle in his jawline ticked. “We can’t have the meeting to plan the first research dive without you, and you damn well know it.”

“That doesn’t sound like an apology.”

“Maybe because it isn’t.”

She shrugged and tried to shut the door on him. Tucker’s large hand splayed on the dark teak door stopping the movement, his dark tan looking pale against the even darker wood.

“There’s no point in shutting it. I’ve got the key, remember?”

Bella pinched her lips together.

“What’s your game plan?” he said, his tone mocking. “If you think you can run back to your boss and ask him for another dive and recovery crew, you’re bound to be disappointed.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Really. And you would know this, how?”

“As I said before, I’m a close personal friend of the financial backer for this project. You don’t include me in on it, then he’ll pull your funding, and no more dive. We’re a package deal.”

“We’ll see about that.”

He crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder on the doorframe again, still blocking her only exit out of the tiny but well-supplied cabin. She had nothing to complain about as far as the accommodations.

The smooth wood floors had fluffy area rugs in soft blues, which matched the blue and white nautical theme of the cabin, and there was a porthole window large enough to open and lean out, taking in the beautiful view of endless sea. She had a queen-size bed that she’d discovered was pillow soft when she’d flung herself down on it earlier and a bathroom of her own with marble counters, a radiant-heated floor, and an oversize shower that looked heavenly.

But that angular jaw, those clear blue eyes under dark intense brows, and most of all, that arrogant, smug smile made her do a double take. “Go ahead. Feel free to use the satellite phone. It’s over on your dresser,” he said.

She would—later. But she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of watching her do exactly what he said. She’d do it in her own good time. The air seemed to instantly be sucked out of the room by his mere presence. She had no intention of letting him see he’d gotten the advantage over her. Or confirming his suspicions that she found him attractive.

And absolutely, under no uncertain terms, did she plan to jeopardize this operation by getting too friendly with McCormack. She’d been fooled once by Phillip, letting her carefully constructed barriers down around a man from that family, and had paid the price. No, getting involved with another McCormack wasn’t worth it. Besides, he may have had that roguish air about him that marked him as different from Phillip, who was more of a corporate type, but that didn’t make him good dating material.

He was too laid-back, too much of an adventurer, to ever settle down in one place with one woman, at least that’s what she suspected. The McCormacks weren’t men to be tied down to anyone for very long. Even his own father and half brother couldn’t make do with just one woman. In fact, the only thing she could say that recommended this McCormack over his half brother was the fact that at least Tucker kept his word. He’d said he’d open her door, and he had. That gave her pause. What if he promised other things? Would he keep his word then as well? Just contemplating it made her squeeze her thighs together.

The allure of a bad boy and unlimited freedom to do whatever she pleased was a strong aphrodisiac to Dupré women, but Bella resisted for one simple reason: her family. The small part she had left had to come first. She’d mortgaged everything to make the salvage of the
Rapid
happen, and she owed them the security and respect the find would bring.

“Are you going to make the call and stop stalling this operation, or are you going to hole up in your cabin being self-righteous until your funding runs out? We’re on a tight schedule. Hurricane season is coming.”

Her hands bunched into fists as she fantasized about punching that smug smile right off his chiseled chin. She hated feeling forced into anything, worse still hated feeling helpless. “I’d be happy to come talk to the crew, once you apologize and they realize that I’m in charge of this operation.”

“But I’m not apologizing, you’re not in charge, and we both know it.”

She took a step forward, challenging him. “You wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me.”

He gave her a devilish grin. “Ditto, sweetheart. You wouldn’t be on my ship, the closest you’ve ever been to getting your hands on the treasure, if it weren’t for me,” he shot back.

Everything in her vision seemed to take on a reddish tinge. She hadn’t been this upset by a man since Phillip had flipped her world upside down. And in her mind that meant one, and only one, thing. Tucker McCormack was dangerous. “You’re wrong about not being like your family.” She shook her head. “You’re
just
like them.”

With that she stormed right by him out of the cabin.

M
aybe he was. God knew he had his old man’s chin and cheekbones. What else had he inherited that he didn’t realize since he’d never really been around his half siblings? Tuck pounded the edge of his fist on the cabin’s doorframe. Damn it. He’d overplayed his hand and lost the match.

Bella was not a woman to take orders. It only made her dig her heels in harder like a swordfish fighting on a line. The only saving grace in this situation was she couldn’t go very far. No matter how often she walked away, or which direction, there was no way for her to get off the ship unless she swam or had a helicopter pick her up.

“Cap?” Tuck turned to see Toneau peeking around the corner from the staircase.

“We’ll be starting the meeting in five.”

“Is the doctor coming?”

“That’s up to her.”

Humor sparked in Toneau’s dark eyes. “Is she giving you a run for your money, Cap?”

“Let’s just say she’s not making it easy.”

“Sometimes the hardest fish to catch are the sweetest to eat,” he said and winked.

“Not on this ship. Remind the crew of the protocols. I don’t give a damn how attractive the doctor is, there’s no fraternizing. Are we clear?”

“Aye, Cap.”

He could hear Toneau’s heavy footsteps thumping up the staircase to the deck above as he left her cabin and followed Toneau back up to the conference room where he knew his crew was waiting for him. Once Doctor Dupré had time to calm down, perhaps talk to her boss again, then realize she was well and truly stuck with him, she’d come around, and they could get this project underway.

He walked in the conference room, and the laughing and chatter among his crew members died down as he moved to the head of the table and the big screen mounted to the wall. “Okay, we’ve got a big day ahead of us. We’re going to send out the ROV again to look for a debris field to narrow our search pattern down. We’re also going to send out two teams to cover more area. Many of you know this could be a potentially big haul for us.”

“What exactly are looking for?”

“That’s—” He stopped mid sentence as Bella opened the outside doors and came walking in, backlit by sunlight shining off the water. He coughed to cover the sudden tightness in his throat.

“That’s what Doctor Dupré is here to explain to you.”

All heads turned as she walked toward him, and for good reason. He’d never seen a doctor who looked this good. And he wasn’t alone. He noticed some of the more obvious stares and made a mental note to reinforce with the crew that she was off-limits. Then made another to remind himself a time or two.

Any woman on his crew needed to feel as if she were completely safe, especially when they were working and living together in such a confined space for weeks and possibly months on end. Having a no-fraternization policy just made the boundaries clear and easy for everyone to follow.

“But before we get started, let’s do a few introductions. Garvis Barclay, our ROV driver.” He looked like a cross between military, with his buzz cut and big frame, and a New Jersey bodybuilder with his deep tan and the carat diamond studs in each ear. “Next to him is Jake Williams, who’s our backup ROV driver and sonar tech.” Williams and Barclay were like the odd couple. Williams, with his thick-rimmed dark glasses, bald head, and ZZ Top-style brown beard down to nearly his navel, didn’t look anything like Barclay, let alone like he could work with him.

“Opposite him is Kylen Scott, our other sonar tech. He’ll be handling mapping out the wreck and recording everything we do to satisfy the authorities and historians we’re not screwing anything up.” Scott looked like he was maybe eighteen, with his farm-boy grin, white-blond hair and blue eyes, despite the fact he was in his thirties. He gave Doctor Dupré a big smile, and she nodded at him.

“The redhead next to him is Rory Guereaux. He’ll be your lab assistant and will be in charge of making sure all the artifacts are cataloged out of the storage pods when they come up, photographed, and treated however you see fit.” The stocky man, whose freckled skin was burned nearly the same color as his hair, smiled.

“I’m half Irish, half Cajun, so if you need me to tell anyone off for you on this boat, let me know,” Guereaux added.

Bella blushed slightly. “Thanks, I’ll remember that.”

“You’ve already met our first mate, Toneau. And next to him is Tom Reeves who handles our magnetometer.” Tom’s dark hair and even darker eyes were his most distinguishing features. He was thin and pale, almost like a Goth throwback. Tuck assumed the guy lived on energy drinks and rarely ventured out of the control room.

“Doctor Dupré is an expert on this particular wreck. She’s our antiquities and preservation specialist and will be handling any of the material or data you bring back up with you from our surveys and dives.” He took a step back and let her have the limelight.

She glanced at him, her fingers fidgeting nervously with the hem of her T-shirt. He’d never thought of her as the nervous type. For the short time he’d known her she’d always seemed to know precisely what she wanted. Then again, this was important to her. Hell, if what she’d said was true, she’d wrapped her whole life around trying to bring up this wreck. She pinched the small mermaid pendant on her necklace and ran it back and forth along the delicate gold chain around her neck.

B
ella swallowed hard, let go of the necklace, and tried to focus on the back of the room, rather than the sea of faces looking expectantly at her, or at the distracting presence of McCormack to her right.

Speaking in public wasn’t one of her strong suits. It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it, just that she preferred not to since she had so little filter to begin with. Whatever was on her mind generally came out of her mouth resulting in a lot of moments where she wished she could take back what she said, rewind it, fix it, and then replay the edited version.

She forced her hands to her sides and lifted her chin.
Deep breath. You can do this.
“Good afternoon. I’m sure that Captain McCormack has explained to you that our project is a historic shipwreck. A brig, one hundred and fifty feet in length with two main masts, an extended gaff off the bow, and a copper-sheeted hull. I’ve got some images that might help.”

Bella pulled the USB drive from her shorts pocket and glanced back to see if there was a video unit attached to the screen so she could show them some of the data and images she’d collected. McCormack took the USB from her hand, the contact of his skin on hers rolling straight through her like a warm beverage on a cold day. Her knees wobbled a bit. The plain royal blue screen behind her transitioned to a black and white ink drawing of the ship she’d found in an archive of early-American naval vessels.

“This is approximately the shape of the ship we’re searching for. Prior to the War of 1812 it was used as a merchant vessel but was turned privateer by the captain, looting English, French, and Spanish vessels in the Gulf during the war. From the research I’ve done, it was said to have a good deal of Spanish silver aboard, as well as several cannons, so a magnetometer survey may be of use in locating the main body of the wreck once we find any outlying debris.”

A rumble of excited male voices filled the conference room, and it was only then that she realized she might very well be the only female on board. Her heart pounded a little harder.

Tucker stepped closer to her, and she reactively stepped two steps to the right to avoid having him brush up against her. He leaned forward, his hands spread flat on the conference table in front of him. “Now that you’ve seen what we’re looking for, we need to get a recon dive in before dinner. We’ve already seen on the prelim side-scan sonar survey that we’re still looking for the outlying debris field. Today we’ve got Scott and Williams on the ROV team, Lupopo and Barclay on sonar 1, and Reeves and Guereaux on magnetometer. Everyone else is on support. Get your stations prepped after lunch and ready to go. I want everyone on point in an hour.”