than the broad expanse of dark skin. Wow, the man had way too much going for him in the looks department. Not that she was interested. Once bitten...and all that.
Creed bent to unzip his bag.
Emma tore her gaze from his attributes, glancing at the bag’s contents, hoping she wouldn’t have to waste valuable time fitting him out in skins and breathing apparatus.
After moving another step away from the man, Emma pulled her sundress up over her head, remembering too late that she should have untied the string in the back first. With her arms caught and the dress over her face, she struggled to find the string.
“Here, let me.” Large warm hands gripped the strap around her back, loosening the tie. The back of his knuckles brushed across her bare midriff as he pulled the dress up and over her head.
Standing in nothing but her bikini and feeling more than a little exposed, Emma glanced up at Creed to offer her thanks. Her words died on her lips as she gazed up at the dangerously handsome man standing so close she could almost smell the sunshine on his tanned skin.
Dark hair hung in loose waves over his ears and neck. Deep brown eyes smiled down at her.
Emma blinked once, then swallowed hard and backed up a step. Unfortunately, she backed right into a bench seat and would have fallen if Creed hadn’t reached out and snagged her around the waist, pulling her hard against his naked chest.
“Er...thanks.” She extricated herself from his grip, careful not to fall on the bench again.
“My pleasure.” His deep voice washed over her like warm butter melting into every pore.
Off balance, Emma nodded toward his bag. “Do you have all the gear you’ll need? Namely, a wet suit suitable for these cold waters?”
He grinned. “For the record, I’ve been diving a time or two. I believe I have all I need.” He pulled from his bag the same type of equipment Emma had amassed for the underwater expedition to explore the barrier reef on the outer edges of Cape Churn.
Emma mentally ticked off all that he would need, and then nodded to Dave. “Let’s go.”
“On it.” Dave fired up the engines while Emma unhooked the rope from the dock at the bow. Creed freed the stern rope, and Dave backed the forty-seven-foot boat away from the dock and out into the choppy waters of the bay. As he pulled away from the marina, a warm steady breeze lifted Emma’s hair from her face. She entered the passenger cabin and tucked her sundress into a cubby.
While Dave steered the boat toward the coordinates Emma had instructed him to, she sat on a bench and pulled her wet suit up over her legs, then stood and tugged them up to her hips.
Creed pulled a handheld GPS tracking device from his bag.
“You put a tracking device on all the yachts you insure?” she asked.
“Only the ones we think are at risk of disappearing.”
“From poor handling or theft?” Emma asked.
“Either.”
“And which one was this?” Emma glanced up.
He shrugged one gorgeous shoulder, making Emma catch her bottom lip between her teeth. “Both.”
“Let’s compare your coordinates to mine. Hopefully, they’re nearby and we can swim between the two.” And she wouldn’t waste too much time. She had only one week to find the Anna Maria. One week to change the hospital board of directors’ minds on scrapping the children’s wing. If she could find a treasure worth salvaging, they might reconsider.
Creed followed Emma up the steps to the helm, entering behind her, making the small space feel even smaller, filled with his large, overpowering presence. Having trouble concentrating on coordinates, Emma forced herself to compare the two sets of numbers.
For once her luck held. Creed’s coordinates were within the same vicinity. Considering it was the most likely place on the reef for ships to go down, Emma wasn’t terribly surprised. “Good, we’re going the same way.”
“Are you looking for another boat that got lost in the fog?” he asked.
“You bet,” she answered.
Dave grinned over his shoulder. “Emma’s ship got lost in the Devil’s Shroud over two hundred years ago.”
Creed’s brow rose. “Going for the historical value or treasure hunting?”
Her lips twitched, and she gave him his own answer. “Both.”
“Interesting.” He studied her for a long moment, his gaze lingering on her mouth. Then, clutching his GPS tracking device, Creed exited the cabin, made his way to the lower level and out onto the bow where he stared out over the bay. He leaned against the railing, his jaw tight, gaze glued to the rocky outcropping ahead.
From her perch above, Emma studied the man. He had the build of an athlete. Maybe he did know a little about diving, enough that she didn’t have to babysit him while she explored a particularly treacherous area.
She climbed down the ladder and continued gearing up for the dive. Leaving the suit’s torso hanging around her waist, she slipped her feet into the diving boots and zipped them. The cold Pacific Ocean didn’t allow divers to go without the wet suit. Too long in the chill waters led to hypothermia and death. A dry suit was even better, but today was sunny and warm enough that Emma would risk the cold with the thickest wet suit she owned.
Booties on, wet suit halfway there, Emma joined her dive buddy at the rail. “Maybe we should get a few things straight before we go under.”
He turned, his gaze passing over her, eyes narrowing slightly, assessing her. “Like?”
“I haven’t seen you around Cape Churn. Since I’m familiar with the area and its dangers, I’m in charge.”
Creed nodded. “Fair enough.”
“In fact, if you aren’t a master diver, tell me now. Where we are going isn’t for amateurs.”
His brows rose. “As I said before, I can hold my own.”
“That doesn’t tell me much.”
“I’ve logged over a hundred hours diving.”
She studied him, looking for a crack in his shield, the lie behind the handsome face, and found nothing. “Okay, then. Dave is going to drop us as close as he can, and we’ll swim in closer beneath the surface to avoid the waves. Once we’re in the water, Dave will move farther out to keep his boat from banging up against any submerged rocks. There’s a significant riptide and undercurrent that might cause us some issue.”
“If it’s so dangerous, why are you going out there?”
“I’m a wreck diver, and I’ve been doing it for years. The Devil’s Shroud and the cape have claimed its share of ships over the years. If you want to get to them, you have to get into the shallows around the submerged rocks off the cape’s point.” She stared hard at him. “Still interested?”
He nodded.
