In Deep Waters (6 page)

This had to be a setup. Kayla sounded sincere, but he'd been mistaken about a person's sincerity before and wouldn't fall into that trap again. Still, he couldn't figure her out. She was either full of principle or stubborn,
determined to get her way no matter what. Or maybe, he realized, a little of both.

"We need to work together."

Ben wasn't about to commit to anything except wanting her off his ship. "You want to work with me?"

"And the crew." Her eager smile made her look younger. "We're in this together."

She sounded like a high school cheerleader. All she needed were the pom-poms and a short little skirt. Ben liked the image forming in his head. But this wasn't a football game. No "rah-rahs" or "go team, go" cheers necessary. She wasn't part of his team. "We'll be done with this search soon."

Hope glimmered in her eyes. "And then?"

A beat passed. "We'll see."

Kayla didn't want to see. She wanted action.

Unfortunately, all she could do was wait. Wait for Ben to return from helping Madison in the bathroom. Wait for Ben to make a decision about the search coordinates.

"Hey, Kayla." Monk, the best-looking of the crew, with sun-bleached blond hair, clear baby-blue eyes and a sexy Southern drawl, sauntered over to the pool. He Pulled his T-shirt over his head and winked. "Your turn, darlin'."

"You've got to be kidding."

"Fitz makes jokes around here." Monk's eyes twin-kled. "I make love."

Kayla managed not to burst out laughing. She felt like the housemother of a fraternity, but somebody had to rein these fellows in for Madison's sake. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Anything, darlin'."

"Do you consider your behavior acceptable for a three-year-old to witness?" He glanced around. "Madison isn't here." "She's in the bathroom with Ben so she might be able to hear you. But that isn't the point. I'm sorry to lecture you, but do you want Madison to grow up believing this--" she pointed to his shirt on the deck and to him "--is how a woman should be treated by a man?"

"Hell, no." Monk grimaced. He picked up his T-shirt and put it on. "Aw, Kayla. I never thought about it that way. I'll do better. Really."

As Monk left the "beach," Kayla paced in the small pool. The saltwater made her legs feel better. A way they hadn't felt since coming on board. She must have hit the rail harder than she realized. But a few aches and pains were nothing to worry about when the expedition was on the line.

No question about it. Ben had to change course. It was her responsibility, her duty, to make that happen. She was going to tell Ben her true position at the museum and order him to go to her coordinates. Madison ran back to the pool. "I went potty." Kayla hadn't spent much time with children and didn't know the proper response. Clapping, cheering, a standing ovation? She decided on words. "You're such a big girl."

"Daddy had to help me wash my hands." "You did most of the work," Ben said. Madison grinned. "Because I'm a big girl." Kayla glanced over at Ben and sucked in a breath. She'd experienced the same reaction when she climbed the small staircase to the bow and saw him sans shirt playing with Madison. Seeing his bare chest shouldn't be such a big deal. He was only a man. But her on-alert
hormones and zinging nerve endings failed to appreciate that small detail.

Not that she blamed them.

The sun had deepened the color of his skin, and water from Madison's splashes glistened on his chest, arms and legs. He had more of a swimmer's than a bodybuilder's physique, without an ounce of flab. At least none she could see. And she'd been looking. Hard.

He picked his daughter up out of the pool. "You're my big girl, Madison."

His voice softened as he spoke Madison's name. Kayla wondered what it would feel like to have someone say her name like that. Her father used to, but to have a man like Ben say it with such unconditional love...she sighed. Not going to happen. At least not in the near future. She had too many questions about her past that needed answers before she could open her heart to love and family.

Ben spun Madison around. The little girl's giggles tickled Kayla's ears and made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. Children saw such joy in the littlest things. The idea of having a child of her own appealed to Kayla more than it ever had, but it still wasn't time.

She stepped out of the pool. A part of her wanted to join in on the fun. But the other part knew she didn't belong.

Ben stopped spinning and set Madison down. Kayla noticed a large scar on his back and a smaller one near his left shoulder. Ugly white gashes contrasted against Ben's dark skin. She couldn't imagine what had caused such terrible scarring.

"Come here, princess." Wolf appeared and called for Madison. Kayla noticed he'd tucked in his shirt and
shaved. Maybe not all the crew was as uncivilized as she thought. "It's time for school."

"School. School. I love school." She skipped into the big man's arms. "Can I send an e-mail to Grandma and Grandpa?"

"Yes, and I bet they sent one to you." Wolf picked her up, not caring she was dripping wet. "See you at lunch, boss."

"Thanks." Ben watched Madison leave, his eyes filled with love. "We set up a daily preschool for Madison. The crew takes turns watching her, too."

"She's a lucky little girl to have all of you who love her so much."

"I'm the lucky one. Between Madison and my crew, I've got it made." He pointed at the water. "Did you see the dolphins?"

A pair of dolphins swam next to the ship. Jumping alongside the bow, the two put on an entertaining show. She envied their ability to swim so freely amid the waves and wondered what it would be like. She stood at the rail. "I've never seen a dolphin this close."

"It's an amazing sight." Ben approached her. "When I was a kid all I ever wanted to do was swim."

"I've never swum in the ocean." Another dolphin joined the pair and Kayla smiled. "My mother drowned in the water, and Dad worried about the same thing happening to me."

"I don't blame him."

His gaze caught hers. Time stopped. The noise from the engines faded into the background. In that instant, he wasn't a pirate. He wasn't a salvor. He wasn't a father. He was just Ben.

He looked away.

She was happy he did. He might be attractive--drop-
dead gorgeous, to tell the truth--but that didn't matter. She wasn't here to find a boyfriend; she was here to find a ship.

And some answers.

Kayla scratched her feet. The sun had dried her skin, and her feet itched again. Her legs felt weird, too. Tight. Hot. She clutched the railing.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine."

As Ben leaned toward her, she caught a whiff of his scent--sea and soap with a little sunscreen mixed in. Nothing exotic or expensive. It was all Ben, and she liked it. A little too much.

Kayla sat in one of the plastic deck chairs. She needed to rest her legs. Maybe she'd gotten too much sun. Or too much Ben.

He kneeled at her side. "Do you need anything?"

You.
Her stomach felt like a whirlpool, swirling around and around. She took a breath and exhaled slowly. "No, thanks."

"Your face is pale."

She shrugged it off, ignoring the concern in his voice. She didn't know which Ben--pirate or father--cared. For all she knew, he wanted to find a way to get rid of her.

Give the man a break. He's not that bad.

At least she hoped not.

She was having a hard enough time dealing with him. No matter how hard she tried, she didn't get him. She understood his love for his daughter, but the rest was a mystery. She had enough mysteries in her own life. She didn't need another one.

Kayla noticed the jagged scars on Ben's back again.

Whatever had happened to him must have been painful. "How did you hurt your back?"

"An injury."

The way he shrugged off her question told Kayla he didn't want to discuss it.

A minute of silence passed. She wished she could see the dolphins and not Ben. An unfamiliar ache squeezed her heart. Kayla reminded herself he was a pirate. He would take what he wanted, then sail after the next prize. She didn't want to care. But for some reason, she did.

"I was in the navy."

His voice was so quiet it took her by surprise. "Is that how you got interested in salvage?"

"It got me started. I was a navy diver." He spoke with a detached, almost eerie tone. "I got injured during a dive."

"You don't have to--"

"There was an explosion."

"Those scars are...shrapnel?" The thought of Ben underwater and injured made her nauseous. Her stomach constricted. Kayla was relieved she was sitting.

"The hull collapsed. I'm not sure what got me. Probably a combination." His eyes clouded, and he looked down at the water. "Took two surgeries to fix. One of my buddies wasn't so lucky. He didn't make it out."

Regret laced his words. Kayla touched his arm. His skin felt warm, his muscles hard beneath her palm. "I'm sorry."

"It was a long time ago," he said.

Ben was solid, strong. Yet in his eyes she saw a softer man, a gentler man. A father, a lover. She felt his shoulder tense. "It still hurts, doesn't it."

He didn't say anything. He didn't have to.

Her hand lingered longer than it should. She pulled
away and missed the contact. Missed his warmth. Missed him. Kayla ignored the impulse to touch him again. What was going on? Giving comfort was one thing. Simply liking the way he felt was another. "Did you leave the navy because of your injury?"

"No." A wry grin graced his lips. "It might not look pretty, but the docs repaired the damage. I could have re-upped, but I was ready to get out."

"Do you miss the navy?" she asked.

"No."

"That bad?"

He shrugged. "If duty called, I'd go back. But I prefer the civilian life. Taking orders is for the dogs."

Kayla wasn't surprised, but that wouldn't make her job any easier. She shifted in her chair. "You like being in charge?"

"Damn straight." His lips eased into a smile. "Being the boss is the only way to go. You know what you need to know, and if you don't, it's your own fault."

Uh-oh. He didn't know who she was or who really was in charge out here. Tell him, a voice screamed. But Kayla couldn't. Not yet. She knew the answer but asked, anyway. "So you never take orders?"

"Unless the orders come from Madison." His grin widened. "She's a better boss than the navy ever was. And a whole lot cuter, too. Though if she ever found that out..."

He stared directly into Kayla's eyes, and she felt lightheaded. She cleared her dry throat. "Your secret is safe with me."

If only hers was as safe from him...

Chapter Four

Sitting in the ship's lounge, Kayla stared at the rolls of sonar printouts spread out on the table. No targets with "cultural value" had been located yesterday, so they were reviewing old data rather than discussing what targets to reexamine. She was a researcher, not a sonar expert, but maybe she could see something the others had missed. Whatever the results, she needed to be doing something more productive than sunning herself on the "beach."

"Look at this one," Vance, an archeologist, said. "A debris field surrounds the center mass. We thought this was a geographic formation, but it was a ship."

Kayla studied the image. With thousands of shipwrecks littering the ocean bottom, Ben had stumbled on a few during his search. She wished one of them had turned out to be the
Isabella.
That would have made her life so much easier.

"See the hull." Gray, a sonar specialist with a dimpled smile, outlined the shape. "We sent the ROV down
for a closer look. The wreck was too long. Not to mention steel."

She glanced up at the two men. Kayla liked being part of the target discussion group. It made her feel as if she fit in and was a real member of the crew. "Do you think the
Isabella's
buried in sand where we can't see her?"