Baited (9 page)

Will…right in front of her for the taking…

Almost losing him had torn her apart. It made all the doubts that had broken their relationship in the first place seem so petty, just like rocks that couldn’t stop the mad flow of a stream.

He cleared his throat. Was she watching him too intensely? Did he have any idea of how badly she’d been rattled by this storm, of how much it had changed her outlook about him?

“Now, where’s your camp?” he asked.

Right. He probably thought she still didn’t want anything to do with him.

She stepped closer. “We’re just over that rock ridge out there.” She told him about how the weather had washed away most of their SOS sign, so she and Larry had been forced to correct that and the arrows leading to the cave.

“Only a hundred feet more and you would’ve found us.”

“I only stumbled over this place this morning.” His eyes went dark. “It seems like days ago, doesn’t it?”

All those months of being with him had given her a type of Will sonar. She could plumb the depths of his sorrow in those troubled eyes. She’d been so much a part of him that she knew just what he needed.

“Don’t feel guilty,” she said. “You didn’t get us into this situation.”

“Then who did?”

“Stop it, Will.”

“I…” He swallowed, gesturing at the knife on her belt. “That’s Shaw’s custom-made Bowie. I found him washed ashore and had to bury him. Are any of my other crew…?”

“Larry and Tink are the only ones who made it. God, I’m sorry. I’m
so
sorry, but it’s not your fault. Stop thinking that way.”

He looked crestfallen at the loss of his comrades, so she ventured even nearer to him, needing so much to make him feel better. He smelled of seawater and sharp musk. Vitality. The tang of his skin triggered something primal in the core of her—a sublime cry that celebrated being alive in the throes of death.

Dammit, she needed proof of their still being really alive. Needed to feel again, to remind herself of what it was like to wallow in utter ecstasy instead of sadness.

She knew her eyes were telling him everything because he couldn’t glance away. And even though he’d been abused by the water, his mouth swollen with cuts, his skin sliced and chafed, his bones bruised, Kat knew none of it mattered.

Unable to stop herself, she tilted her face upward, standing on her toes. She pressed her mouth against his,
softly at first, testing. It was almost like she wanted to reassure herself that he was really here.

His lips were wet, salty. The taste of his blood from the cuts on his mouth washed through her, warming her, rushing around her own veins. A shiver wracked her body.

She hated that he was hurt.

“When I thought you were dead,” she whispered over his lips, “nothing could make the pain go away.”

He breathed against her, almost like he also couldn’t believe she was with him, that she was inviting him. With effort, he raised his hands, took her own sensitive face in his palms and rubbed his thumbs over her cheekbones.

She knew it was agonizing for him—his ribs sore, his skin tender—but she didn’t stop him. Couldn’t.

“I’m not about to leave you for anything, Kat,” he said, voice low and tortured. “Not when we could finally get what we deserve out of life.”

She was beyond wondering exactly what he meant by that, if he was talking about the five percent of Duke’s fortune she could be inheriting or if he was genuinely wishing they could be together again. But who cared right now?
Why
care?

Beyond control, she kissed him again. Her head spun with the power of their reunion, with the burgeoning affection she was opening herself to again.

But what if this emotion had only been brought on by all the terror, all the uncertainty, all the…

He kissed her back, ending her doubts, burying his hands in her hair and opening his mouth to suck on her lips in erotic rhythm. Nipping, nibbling, his tongue
easing past her lips and tangling with hers until she felt her chest nearly collapse from want of breath.

As they slid to the sand, a thrust of hunger pounded Kat. It’d been so long since she’d
felt
, since she’d sighed under Will’s muscles against her own skin, their bodies slick with friction and sweat.

Blood pooled and heated in her belly, between her legs, making her swollen and stiff, in need of a touch, a hard caress. Ignoring her own bruises, she took his hand, guided it down there, breaking their kiss only to moan at the contact. While he stroked his thumb across the denim of her shorts, she bit his neck lightly, craving more.

Her hands traveled up his arms, into his hair, restlessly exploring, encouraging.

“I want you to come inside me. Now.”

I want you to keep me feeling alive.

“Kat…”

“Do it, Will. Come on.”

He didn’t hesitate. Pressure built deep within her, packed by all the fantasies she’d let expand.

Had he suffered through the same yearnings this past year? Had he dreamt of her, too, driving himself to distraction as he counted the minutes of an alarm clock in the dark?

As he worked off her shorts and the knife, her sex pulsed second by second, long and maddening beats of time, just like that clock. Her body was counting down to an explosion, a final betrayal of all the mental battles she’d fought against Will. Looming above her, he eased off his wet top, groaning because of his ribs. But he
didn’t seem to care. Next came his ragged pants, and then he slid the life jacket under her head.

His body…She’d forgotten how it made her skin hum with electric currents. Wide shoulders, strong arms, a lean and tanned work of nature, like the beautiful cut of a wave. His right-hand ribs were a dark ménage of bruises. Sparse hair sanded down his chest. His flat belly led to…

When she saw how ready he was for her, she felt herself go wet, slippery with heat.

Alive. Next to me. Skin on skin.

She moved to take off her T-shirt, but he stopped her.

“Let me…”

He exhaled, his gaze filled with a longing so profound that it swept her under, pinning her until she was almost clutching for breath.

His eyes…a mirror of her own desperation for him.

Reverently, he traced the outline of her small breasts against the dark T-shirt. She hadn’t been wearing a bra when the boat wrecked, and with the play of his fingers, her nipples hardened, strained against the cotton.

He circled them with his thumbs, bent down and took one into his mouth. Sucking, he slipped his hands to the small of her back, urging her hips upward against his belly but away from his bruised ribs. She rubbed up next to him, demanding more.

“Wait,” he whispered, pushing her shirt up so his lips could find bare skin.

He coasted his mouth down, up, tonguing, teasing, latching on to her other nipple.

Kat winced, digging her heels into the sand. Her
body was thudding toward a big bang. Pounding. Pumping.

Enough. She wiggled, seeking to position him between her legs, dragging over his erection. Her undies were the only barrier between them, his stiffness prodding her, making her crazy.

With a harsh laugh, he stripped off that barrier, wasting no time in coaxing his fingers between her bare, drenched folds. There, he caressed her, expertly nudged her until she was ready to scream.

This was really happening, she thought. Together. We’re together.

Alive.

As he entered her, moaning with pain and pleasure, filling every last empty space she’d guarded against him, Kat locked her legs around him, rocking in cadence to a faint alarm signal that was growing louder, louder…

Danger. Danger. Danger…

Like starving creatures, they consumed each other. He drove into her, and she moved with every hammering thrust.

Hungry. So hungry.

Danger…danger…

The alarm was getting faster, blinding her, searing her head until she became dizzy.

When she reached the breaking point, her sight went red, warning lights flashing through her bloodstream like embers flying from a burst of fire.

Danger, danger…

He climaxed first, breath leaving him, body tensing then shuddering to closure.

But Kat was still going, fed by pure euphoria. Will helped her along with his mouth, his expertise, his knowledge of what would make her implode.

Out of time, her body pulled itself apart, blasting into a shower of flame. Sparks dug into her skin, hot, cold, spiking her. Hurting her in such a good way.

Then, while the dying sparks echoed the sound of falling rain, Kat opened her eyes.

Cleansed, she thought, catching her breath, holding Will against her as their heartbeats slowed. A second chance with the man she’d never stopped wanting.

E
piphany or not, it’d ended up being a little awkward—and wonderful—after the sex. Not having any with your ex-boyfriend for a year did that to a girl. So did wondering if skipping the pill—which she’d been taking only to regulate her erratic periods—for a day would matter in the scheme of things. Still, it was beautiful, lying against him, not having to say a word, yet.

After reclining next to each other in the sand, stroking and caressing, Will whispered to her that, if they didn’t get back to camp soon, their privacy would end anyway: someone would probably come looking for them.

She knew he was right. It wasn’t like this island was some Club Med where they had all the time in the world to mend themselves together again. There was
food to be gotten, people to be taken care of. Responsibilities.

Still, while they got dressed and traded shy smiles that promised more to come, Kat couldn’t help floating on air. There was an animating glow lifting her up from the inside out.

They carried Will’s belongings and held hands while dodging the raindrops melting from the trees. Thunder rumbled the sky, sounding like a contented animal to Kat.

An animal just blinking its eyes awake.

Will was limping, but he was too proud to ask her to slow down. Embarrassed by her flighty loss of common sense, Kat eased up, slipping his arm over her shoulders so he could lean on her without making an issue of it. Still, she loved carrying his weight, feeling him sink against her.

“This should be real fun,” he said, “seeing the old crowd again. Is Louis still as feisty as ever?”

Kat paused. “No, Will, Duffy died.”

Will seemed to lose his balance, stopping for a moment, stiffening. But then he began walking again, unreadable.

His reaction…Kat tightened her grip on Will, silent, unwilling to give credit to a growing suspicion that maybe he’d overreacted for her benefit. Ridiculous, right?

Instead, she prattled on about everything that had happened in his absence.

“You know Harrington’s going to be worried about you being gone so long,” Will said, voice tight. “Your man will be upset—”

Kat ground to a halt. “My man?”

Slowly, Will dropped his arm from around her shoulders.

“What do you mean, ‘my man?’” The way he’d said it held all sorts of derogatory meanings for a woman who took such honor in caring for herself.

Will paused, ran a hand through his sandy hair. “I…Okay, dammit, I have to ask before we get back because it’s been gnawing at me. What is Duke Harrington to you?”

Excellent question.

“I don’t sleep with him, if that’s what you mean, like he’s my sugar daddy or something. Is
that
it?”

“I don’t know, Kat. The way he looks at you…”

She didn’t want to hear this. “You don’t think a man and a woman can be friends, Will? Is that so hard to imagine?”

A knowing grin covered his mouth, as steamy as the kisses they’d just shared. The Will Ashton charm. Kat almost wilted.

“There isn’t a guy on earth,” he said, “who’d pass up a chance to be with you.”

Heat bolted into her, and her face flushed under its sheen of rain. He’d always known just what to say.

“Duke’s not that way,” she said, putting his arm over her shoulders again and resuming the walk.

Will’s only answer was a strained laugh.

“What?”

“He’s got you snowed, Kat, if you can’t see what’s really going on.”

Jealous?

It was the official end of the afterglow. Slowly, as they continued to make their way to the shelter, reality crept back into Kat’s pores, taking her over bit by bit.

“We’re just friends,” she said. “And that’s it.”

Will’s silence ate at her.

“Don’t you believe me?”

He waited a beat too long to answer, making whatever he said next irrelevant. It’d been the same kind of heart-crushing hesitation that had marked her with doubts about Will in the first place, the harsh pause of a man who, deep inside, really hadn’t wanted a family with her. A man who would lie to her.

No amount of explanation or apology could erase such a revelationary reaction.

It also couldn’t blot out all the doubts she’d had about him on the boat, after Alexandra, the shark cage, the accusations about Captain Macintosh.

We could finally get what we deserve out of life.

Idiot, she thought. You fell right into Will’s trap again, didn’t you? How stupid were you to think that sex could chase away all the problems you two had?

But…dammit, what about everything she’d told herself when she’d thought he was dead? Where had all her I’d-never-let-him-go-again spunk disappeared to?

Soul-sick, Kat ducked out from under Will’s arm as they came upon a bevy of colorful shirts amongst the foliage. Their party. Holding makeshift umbrellas of bags and life jackets over their bowed heads to ward off the rain, as they stood over Duffy’s body.

As she and Will approached, she heard Alexandra
speaking kind words about her brother in a eulogy. Louis and Eloise were propped against each other, weeping. Off to the side, Larry stood back but neither Dr. Hopkins nor Tink were around. Duke was on his knees, wiping dark red moisture from his mouth as Chris hovered over him. It looked like Duke had been vomiting into the bushes.

Blood, Kat thought, dreading the return of his symptoms, knowing there wasn’t a thing she could do to stop this.

Louis saw Kat first, his eyes going wide and hopeful. “Nestor?”

But as soon as he said it, he clamped his mouth shut. Eloise started crying even harder when she realized that her son really wasn’t with them.

When Duke focused on Kat, she couldn’t help thinking that he’d aged ten years in the last few hours. He tried to smile through his anguish, and she remembered what Will had said about the way Duke looked at her.

Gaze soft, yearning, as if he’d do anything for her.

Kat glanced away, wishing everything was simpler.

When Duke turned his attention to Will, the change in the air couldn’t have been more obvious.

Shock, hurt, puzzlement.

It didn’t take a genius to see that Duke suspected what had gone down between her and her ex-boyfriend.

The older man squeezed his eyes shut, pressed his palms to his temples. Immediately, Alexandra ended her praise of Duffy and bent down to her grandfather.

“My pills,” he said.

No one had an answer for that. There were no pills.
There wouldn’t be any until the party was rescued. And, unless the weather let up, that wouldn’t be happening soon.

The sky flashed lightning at them, kind of like a punk giving them all the middle finger.

Duke groaned. “That damned smell is still here.”

“What smell?” Kat asked, coming to kneel next to Duke, too.

Alexandra patted her grandfather’s arm, her eyes red. She held her shoulders just as if the weight of the world was pushing down on them. Much to Kat’s surprise, she felt sorry for her. Kat knew what it was like to be a protector, too.

Another taut rumble shook the sky.

Alexandra heaved a shaky breath, rising. Then she gave her parents an odd, accusatory look and walked away. Weeping, Louis and Eloise followed at a distance, stumbling as they held each other. Will and Larry stood still, obviously not knowing what to do with themselves. Trembling, Chris plopped down in the mud, facing a tree, his dark shirt clinging to his body, his back turned to Duffy’s waiting corpse.

I’ll be here for you, Chris, Kat thought, her own hackles rising for him.

She glanced at the body, shivering. “Let’s bury him.”

Will and Larry nodded and picked up big, flat sticks, trying to conquer the mud. It didn’t go over too well, especially with Will’s injuries, but they continued to do their damndest.

Duke slowly rose to his feet, and Kat rushed over to help him.

“A word?” His voice was hoarse, his body slouched and quivering.

She walked him to a spot nearby, where there’d be enough distance for privacy. The rain splattered over the life jacket he was trying valiantly to hold over their heads, but she took over the job for him, unable to endure the noble, failing gesture.

When he began to pant, she stopped their progress, waiting for him to recover.

“So you found him alive,” Duke finally said.

Even now, as Kat fended off all the old doubts about Will, happiness rushed back. She’d never forget how it’d felt to see him running down the beach toward her.

“By some miracle,” she said, voice quivering from an excess of emotion, “he’s back.”

Smiling sadly, Duke seemed to note her change in attitude, her obvious affection. “You still want him.”

Kat searched for a response. What she felt for Will couldn’t be described with a yes or no answer. She wanted to love him so badly, but her street sense told her to back off, to shield herself.

“When I arranged this trip,” Duke said, “I was hoping you’d find an answer one way or another. But…Hell, who knows if I’ll get a chance to say this to you again.”

He leaned against the bole of a pine tree. Water slithered down the bark of it, splashing over his bald head and his withered, slumped body, but Duke didn’t seem to care.

“The last thing you probably want to hear,” he said, “is sentimentality. But balancing on a line between life and death makes everything else seem a little…”

“Unimportant,” she finished for him. Who knew better than her? Her pulse was pattering, dreading what he wanted to tell her. “You need rest and—”

“I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you, Kat,” he said gently.

Oh, God.

She closed her eyes against the sudden, naked admission.

Was this part of his “refurbishment” ritual with every female “project”? But he sounded very sincere. Or was he just so overcome by the past day’s trials that he was getting dramatic, romanticizing his fondness for her?

Just like she might’ve done with Will….

When she opened her eyes, she caught the hopefulness, then the gradual devastation on his face.

“Duke…” She didn’t know what to say next.

“Don’t answer. I surprised you, I know. And I had to say it before I die, just like I had to go on this one last ill-advised fandango with my family. I only wanted to leave this place knowing everything is set to rights. That’s all.”

But why had he told her this now, after she and Will had finally taken a step forward? She chided herself for the cynicism. If Duffy hadn’t ruined her with his “project” comments, those kinds of thoughts would’ve never entered her mind.

“I mean it, Kat,” he said. “Just having you near me does a world of good.” He managed to stand again. “Not that I can compete with the dashing Captain Ashton. But I only hoped that we…”

Flushing, he staggered away, stranding her in mortified silence.

And aching in regret for not being able to love him in return.

Needing some alone time, she waited for Duke to go back to Chris, then wandered over to where Duffy’s body was laid out. When she got there, Larry was on another one of his rich-people rants, which, Kat thought thankfully, let her concentrate on something other than Duke’s confession.

“Captain, I’ll take orders from you,” the crew member was saying as rain dampened his face, “but not from them.”

He pointed to Chris, who glanced at Kat, confused. Still huddled into himself, he was coping with tragedy in the only way he probably knew—by fleeing from it, planting himself on the outside, where, like Kat, he was the most comfortable.

“All I did,” the teen said, “was tell him to hurry.”

She could see that Duffy’s grave was a slosh of mud, courtesy of the rain.

Will tugged on Larry’s shirt, defusing the situation only a little. “We’re going to have to bury Duffy in a drier place. The shelter I found this morning could work. Or those caves in the back of your shelter that Kat told me about.”

Chris’s eyes filled with tears. “Gramps…?”

Kat responded right away, scooping the terrified boy into her arms and bringing him to Duke. The older man led Chris away. In their wake, a blast of wind
wailed through the trees, shaking branches. Thunder grumbled like some muttered curse as Duke cast one more heartsick glance back, then disappeared.

Larry threw down his stick. “So I’m that boy’s slave to order around? I hate to point out the news flash, but I’m not exactly serving drinks on the boat anymore.”

“Larry, that family’s hurting.” Will glanced at Duffy, like he was figuring out how to move the body. “They’re acting out.”

“That excuse is getting real old,” Larry said.

Distracted, Kat kept silent, going over to Duffy.

“He looks so undignified. No one should go out like this. Not even Duffy.”

Not even the guy who might’ve messed with the cage…?

She dismissed that line of thought, not wanting to return to all the suspicions she’d also had about Will.

Telling herself that this was the right thing to do, Kat took a large leaf that had gathered water, then poured the moisture on Duffy’s face. She cleaned him. Hell, she would’ve done the same for anyone—her dad, her mom…Duke.

Will and Larry respectfully waited, turning their backs as she wiped away the mud, the blood. Soon, she was down to his ripped skin and…

She gagged.

Was everything getting to her or were these cuts a little too…

Precise?

She cleaned some more. Was she wrong about this? No…precise. That was a good description.

Duffy had been mutilated, and it wasn’t in a random slammed-against-the-rocks way. His lips had been cut to make his mouth hang down, and his eyes had rings around them. Someone had taken their time carving him up.

Feverishly, she pushed aside his ripped clothing, wiping away dirt and blood there, too.

Stab marks in his chest?

“Guys,” she said, “I think I’ve found something—”

And before she could regret sharing her findings with two men she didn’t entirely trust, they were at her side, witnesses to Duffy’s freakishly odd wounds.

Even though Kat and Will had wanted to keep mum about the upsetting information until they could figure out how to handle this, Larry spilled the news the minute they got back. He “didn’t want no one murdering him, too,” so he thought honesty might flush out a guilty face from the crowd right away. There was no stopping him.