her boss’s position.
The last time she’d seen Nick he was headed down the beach toward the dolphin research and rehabilitation facility to check on the pod. But Annie was positive that the dolphins would be safe in their lagoon.
One of the team members who had volunteered to stay with them through the storm was a former Navy SEAL. The other was a woman who had scientific credentials from seven international universities. It was rumored she could talk to the dolphins in their own language.
Annie smiled at the thought. She liked the dolphins. The few times she’d been able to go down to the research center had been wonderful fun. The dolphins seemed happy to be playing with the handlers.
Easing out of the doorway, she almost lost her balance. The winds were so strong they nearly knocked her to the ground. She set her feet and held herself erect the same way she would’ve done back on the high school gymnastic team’s balance beams.
She faced the wind and thought it was exhilarating, pitting herself against nature. The salty air and the roar of the winds and ocean made her feel so alive. The only problem Annie had with the winds now was keeping her unruly hair out of her eyes long enough to see where she was going.
She hadn’t had the darn mass of curls trimmed for the whole six months she’d been Nick’s personal trainer. This was as long as her hair had grown since she was ten—when her mother cut off her braids because she kept getting them caught in things. Things like the kitchen door as she was heading outside at a dead run.
As Annie made her way to the edge of the enormous patio, she held back her hair and squinted out toward the ocean. Moving her gaze past the shallow cliff where she stood, she searched the wide, white sand beach.
She saw him, standing on a spit of sand at the ocean’s edge with his back to her. Nick faced into the wind as he stared out at the water.
Trying to call out to him, her voice was lost in the roaring winds. He needed to come back to the main house. The storm must be very close, and she had given her promise to his mother that she would watch out for him. She took that duty very seriously.
The longer she stayed in his employ, though, the stronger her reactions to the sight of him. As usual, today he was a solitary figure surveying his kingdom.
She flew down the steps to the beach and ran headlong into the wind to reach him. “Nick! Come inside now.”
He must’ve heard her, or perhaps just sensed her presence, because he turned around. “What do you want? Dammit! You should be in the main house,” he said tightly.
His voice was thunderous, his face distorted in a scowl. But he was still so handsome and such a masculine presence, standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, that her breath caught in her throat.
It was bad enough that he lived in an enchanted castle, high on a cliff overlooking the ocean. But he’d always reminded Annie of a bewitched fairy-tale figure, one who pinned away for a lost lover to come break the spell that he had been put under by an evil witch.
Except that this fairy-tale figure could sometimes be the most infuriating person on earth. He was aloof and demanding. She’d given him a lot of leeway when they’d first begun training because of his circumstances and because she knew he was in pain.
But many times recently she had been ready to call it a day and walk out on him. At this point in his recovery he was nearly healed and his pains were nothing but echoes.
Only two things had kept her here on his island, putting up with his irritating manner. First was her promise to his mother to try to bring him out of his shell. The damn man fought her at every turn on that score. It was like he enjoyed wallowing in his misery.
And secondly, Nick was just plain hauntingly gorgeous. That probably shouldn’t matter, but it certainly did. His hair, a mixed shade of golden blond with silver streaks, had grown slightly too long, like hers, and brushed his collar. He had a slender build, and at six foot two he towered over her five foot four inch frame.
Nick usually wore boring but expensive gray or navy clothes, even to work out in. But even in dull-colored clothes, the spectacular blue of his eyes always fascinated her. Just as it was doing now, while he shot her a forbidden look that blazed with anger at her interruption.
It couldn’t be helped. Irritating as he may be, it was her job to stick with him and make sure he took care of himself. She was nothing if not loyal and trustworthy. But heaven help her, this was a man who stirred her senses like no man had ever done before.
“I’ll go indoors if you will,” she told him when she got close enough to be heard. “The storm is almost here. It’s too dangerous to be outside.”
The waves had grown tall all of a sudden, she noted. Ever since she’d come to the island, Annie had loved the quiet easy way the surf here rolled in, baby-soft against the beach. The waves were usually like a child, tenderly caressing its mother’s hair with long smooth strokes.
But today the adult waves crashed and thundered against the shallow depths of their sheltered cove. Angry white caps rose up to impossible heights and smacked down with fury against the bottom. The beautiful blues and greens she’d grown accustomed to seeing when she looked out at the ocean had disappeared—replaced by tan-colored water that boiled and stirred, and resembled her grandmother’s chicken gravy.
Despite the heat and humidity, Annie shivered.
“The dolphins will be all right, won’t they?” she asked, holding out her hand to him.
“I’m concerned about Sultana,” Nick said roughly. “She is expected to give birth within days and it will be our first live birth at the center. But every precaution that could be taken seems to have been completed.” He didn’t accept her hand, but clasped his own hands behind his back instead.
The storm was in his eyes today, and it made him seem so much more human. And at the moment, much more annoying.
Nick desperately wanted a few more minutes by himself. It was bad enough that the storm had ruined his plans for the day—this day of all days. The thought of being helpless to assist the research team during the storm also made him remember too clearly another time when he had not been able to help.
Absently rubbing his temple, he felt the familiar ache of memories.
But the worst thing about this storm was knowing he had to spend the rest of the day…and night…alone with Annie. Damn the storm. And damn her.
She got under his skin and he didn’t like it one bit. He was a one-woman man and his woman had been violently taken from him. Other women, no matter how inviting, were distractions he just didn’t need.
He needed to remain frozen and apart. Distance let him maintain his emotional balance. Cold hearts didn’t feel guilt. Being numb meant keeping the pain at bay.
Nick had spent two long years keeping his distance from life, and damned if Annie didn’t bring that tempting heat right onto the island with her. Heat and wanting.
Hell, he just hated these emotions. But he knew his mother would have a fit if he fired Annie. She thought Annie was good for him. Another few weeks of Annie’s perky helpfulness, however, and he might just explode.
His only hope tonight was if he could talk Annie into remaining in her room at the back
