dive wasn’t really dangerous. She shouldn’t be feeling so very… alone.
She glanced around the cavern. Without Sam’s presence, the grandeur of the place seemed to dim. It was like that with many of the things they’d experienced together. After the night they met, she’d never been able to listen to saxophone music without thinking about him and the dance they’d shared. And that first kiss.
Unbidden, the memory returned. She braced herself for the pain that would follow, but this time it didn’t come. She remembered the pleasure. And the power that had sparked between them. He hadn’t been sweet then. He’d been hot, hard and sexy enough to steal her breath.
There was a splash behind her. She pivoted quickly and saw Sam’s head break the surface ten yards away. She grasped the oars and propelled the dinghy toward him.
He treaded water, tipping back his head as he inhaled in deep gulps. “Sorry. Couldn’t spot it.”
“It doesn’t matter, Sam,” she said.
“There are some weird currents near the bottom. It must have drifted on the way down.” He turned to get his bearings, then took a deep breath, swept his arms to the side and jackknifed under the water.
“Sam!”
Of course, he didn’t pay any attention to her protest. That’s the way he was, stubborn and determined to get his way.
Only, in this case, she couldn’t find anything wrong with that. Maybe those weren’t such bad qualities in a man. Maybe things could have worked out if she’d given him a chance….
Oh, God, no. She couldn’t think like that. It was only because of this mission. They’d been together for practically all their waking hours. It was only natural that the old feelings would begin to reawaken. As soon as the mission was over, they would go their separate ways, and everything would get back to normal. Yes, it would.
He surfaced and dove twice more, each time working closer to the mouth of the cave. Kate followed him with the rowboat until, finally, he came up right beside her.
“Sam, that’s enough,” she said immediately before he could go under again. “Get in the boat.”
He shook his head quickly to flick the water from his hair, then grinned and tossed something shiny toward her.
Kate caught it in the air. It wasn’t her necklace. It was a flat disk, about two inches in diameter, and it was shaped like a… “This looks like a coin!”
“Yeah. I told you there must have been pirates here.”
“Oh, my God.” She rubbed the coin on her shirt and studied it more closely. “This is gold.”
“It’s gold, all right. That’s why it isn’t corroded.”
“It almost looks like…” She shook her head. “I’ve only seen pictures of them, but it couldn’t be a Spanish doubloon. Not here.”
“Why not? Doubloons were common currency in the seventeenth century, and this area was always a major trade route.”
“But the chances of you finding this—”
“Were slim but not impossible,” he said. “Like I told you, there are some weird currents near the bottom. They could have shifted the sand enough to expose the coin today and then bury it again tomorrow.”
“I suppose so.”
“There’s probably more down there. I could go take another look and—”
“Don’t you dare do another dive.”
He kicked his feet lazily to keep himself upright in the water. His gaze gleamed like the gold in her palm. “Why not?”
Because you worried me, she thought. Because I want you with me… even though I don’t want you with me. “Because our mission doesn’t include a salvage operation,” she replied. “We can tell the people at the Royal Montebellan Museum about this find. They’ll take it from there.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“You’re the one who always has to go after the next adventure, not me,” she said, her tone harsher than she had intended.
His smile disappeared. “I’m sorry about upsetting you earlier, Kate.”
“It’s all right. Let’s just forget it, okay?”
“No, we can’t forget it. That’s the whole point. We’ve been trying to pretend that our past didn’t happen, and it’s not working.”
He was right, she thought. It wasn’t working. But that only meant they had to try harder. “We’re on a mission, and you’re in the water. I don’t think this is the time or place for a discussion, Sam.”
“Then what is?”
“Would you just get in the dinghy now, Lieutenant Coburn?”
He watched her in silence for a moment before he clamped his hands over the gunwale. “Better lean back.”
Just as she’d done when he went in, Kate leaned over the opposite side to help balance his weight. He kicked hard to heave his upper body out of the water, then hooked one knee over the side of the boat and rolled smoothly inside.
The dinghy was designed to accommodate two people easily, but it suddenly seemed too small. Kate returned to her seat in the stern and tried to do what she’d done for a week. She tried to ignore the six feet two of ruggedly handsome male in front of her.
But as Sam had said moments ago, it wasn’t working.
“Kate…”
She held up a palm. “Please, Sam. We’ve said more than enough. Let’s just get back to the boat.”
This time he didn’t argue. He slicked the water from his chest and arms with his palms, completely unselfconscious about being half-naked. Without another word he took the oars, spun the dinghy around to point out of the cavern and rowed across the cove to their anchored sloop.
The moment they had secured the lifeboat over the stern and stowed their gear, Kate headed for the cabin. But before she could reach the cockpit Sam stopped her with a firm hand on her arm. “Wait,” he said.
“I need to get on the radio and check in,” she said almost desperately. She had to establish distance between them. She had to focus on her duty to keep the memories—and the doubts—at bay. They had to get back to the base before they dug up more things better left buried.
“This will only take a minute.” Sam transferred his grip to her shoulders and gently turned her to face away from him. There was the click of an opening stud and the rasp of a zipper.
“Sam! What are you doing?”
“Trying to get my hand into my pocket.” He grunted. “This wet denim is like glue. Couldn’t get my hand inside unless I opened my fly, and I didn’t want to try this on the dinghy or you might have tried to jump overboard again.”
