Born Ready (7 page)

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

“Now is not the time for flippancy. You’re in a lot of trouble.”

“For what?”

“This for one thing.” He waggled the cylinder under her nose.

“Stop it,” she spat through clenched teeth. “You’ve messed up everything. I’m going to have to start all over.”

“What is it?” he pressured.

“The ADVOcean-Hydra.”

“What does it do?”

She rolled her eyes. “It uses Doppler technology to measure 3-D water velocity in a wide range of environments including surf zone, open ocean, rivers, lakes and estuaries. Know any more than you did before you asked?”

Scott studied her in the light from his boat’s headlamps. Either she was telling the truth or she was a superb liar. “Just who are you, Jackie Birch?”

She pulled herself up straight. She glowered as if she wanted to deck him. He was glad he’d tied her hands. “I’m a college student.”

“You seem a little old to be a college student. Slow learner?” Okay, so he was baiting her.

“PhD candidate, Skippee.”

Skippee?
He suppressed a smile. He had no right being intrigued by her. For all he knew she was DeCristo’s drug mule. “PhD in what?”

“Marine biology. Not that it’s any of your business.” She wriggled against her restraints. “What am I being charged with? I have a right to know.”

“I’m the one asking the questions.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

“Who are you calling?”

“Running a background check. Got your driver’s license on you?”

She pressed her lips into a thin line. “No.”

He clicked his tongue. “Tsk, tsk. You should carry ID on you at all times. Do you know your license number off the top of your head?”

She huffed out a breath. “I’ve got a confession.”

Confession? His gut tightened. She was going to admit she was working for DeCristo. “Let me guess, you’re not really a marine biologist wannabe.”

“My name’s not really Birch.”

“Aha, now we’re getting somewhere.” An exquisite sadness washed over him thinking that this woman had gotten entangled with scum like DeCristo.
Don’t cut her any slack. She’s old enough to know what she’s doing.

“Yeah, down a freakin’ rabbit hole, Alice,” she snapped.

“Not really proficient in people skills, are you?”

“As if
you’re
a regular Benjamin Franklin.”

“Cacti have friendlier personalities than you.”

“Ouch,” she said sarcastically. “You are so mean. How will I ever survive a cut like that? There’s a reason people give cactus a wide birth.”

Scott leaned forward. This was bad. He liked her spunk. “What’s your real name?”

“Jacqueline Birchard.”

“What?”

She repeated her name.

An odd relief pushed out his sadness. She wasn’t working for DeCristo? Why did he so want to believe that was the case?

“Any kin to Jack Birchard?” he asked hopefully.

She sighed. “He’s my father.”

“Seriously?”

“Yup. Happy now? You’ve discovered my big dark secret.” Her nostrils flared.

This was the renowned oceanographer’s daughter? Chagrin poked at Scott. His desire to stop DeCristo had led to a grave error in judgment.

“Wow,” he said, “I’m a big admirer of your father’s work.”

Her sigh deepened. “Yes, yes, he hung the moon and milked the stars. Your fan worship is adorable.”

“Don’t get along with the old man?”

“My, you are astute. The Coast Guard must be so proud.”

“It’s gotta be tough living in Jack Birchard’s shadow.”

“You know just how to make a girl feel special. I bet women fall all over themselves to see you in your BVDs.”

Scott ran a palm over his head, blew out his breath. “We got off on the wrong foot.”

“Through no fault of mine.”

He let the sarcasm pass. He deserved it. He’d jumped to conclusions. He wasn’t normally so trigger-happy, but DeCristo’s latest exploits had hot-wired his emotions. “What are you doing out here alone?”

“I was trying to find out who was messing around with my data recording instruments. Imagine my surprise to find a vacationing Coast Guard in his underwear who then chased me down and tied me up. It might be sexy if I was into bondage, but since I’m not…” She stood up, turned around. “Untie me.”

Feeling foolish but not wanting her to know it, Scott tugged on the rope and it fell free, but in the process, his hand brushed lightly against her fanny and triggered another unwanted physical reaction in him. Pathetic.

He sat back, placed her monitoring device in his lap to cover what popped up.

She pivoted to face him again, brought her hands up to rub her wrists.

“So,” she said, standing over him. “Who did you think I was?”

He wasn’t at liberty to discuss DeCristo, but he wanted her warned. “We’ve had reports that drug smugglers have been using the mangrove channels to transport contraband with attractive young women as drug mules.”

“You thought I was a drug mule?” She sounded amused.

“You ran from me.”

“Because I thought perhaps you were a drug smuggler or pervert rapist.”

“We had our wires crossed.”

“To say the least.”

“I regret that.”

“Are you saying you’re sorry?” A smug expression played over her mouth.

“No,” he said, “I wouldn’t have chased you if you hadn’t run.”

“I wouldn’t have run if you hadn’t pulled a gun.”

“This circuitous conversation isn’t getting us anywhere.”

“Nope.”

“I’ll escort you home,” he said.

“No need.” She tossed her head.

“I’m not leaving you alone in the dark.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“With your imaginary gun? What if I
had
been a drug smuggler?”

“But you weren’t.”

Honestly, she had to be the most stubborn woman he’d ever met. “I’m escorting you back to where you’re staying,” he said, brooking no more argument.

“Fine.” She heaved in a deep breath and plopped down behind the wheel. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Scott stood. Now he was the one looming over her. “Also, I’m going to recommend that in the future you do not come out here alone.”

She gripped the steering wheel. Did not meet his gaze. “Whatever.”

He knew that meant that she was not going to heed his advice. “Don’t take this lightly, Miss Birchard.”

“Don’t worry. You scared the pants off me. I won’t come out here alone in the dark ever again.”

It bothered him that he had frightened her, but if it had taught her a lesson, maybe it was for the best.

FRUSTRATION MIXED WITH irritation and stirred with a strong jigger of attraction.

Why did Jackie find this man sexy? She should not find him sexy. He had chased her, tied her up, accused her of being a drug mule. She should be furious. Incensed. She should have threatened to contact his superiors. She should have pulled strings. Slung around the Birchard name. He’d had no call to treat her this way. Never mind that he’d pulled up her recording equipment, tampered with her monitoring setup. And he hadn’t been the least bit apologetic about it.

Would you have apologized?

No. Probably not. She had a hard time admitting when she was wrong. Her father had taught her to never apologize. That apologies put you in an inferior position.

Had she been wrong? She’d told him she had a gun when she didn’t. That had been stupid, but wrong? No. She’d been trying to protect her property. Okay, maybe she could have handled the whole thing better. She could have identified herself initially. But hey, he could have been a drug smuggler.

So, in conclusion, she had not done anything wrong and she did not owe him an apology.

He probably figured the same thing.

All right. Fine. They were both right and everything had simply been a misunderstanding.

A misunderstanding that left her breathless, nipples beaded hard and a strange stirring below the waist. The kind of stirring she normally ignored.

She was ignoring it now, too. There was no point indulging a passing, inappropriate sexual desire. It would fade away. He wasn’t anything special.

I beg to differ,
argued her libido.
Did you see the package on him? He’s got the goods.

Pfft. And the ego to match. She had had enough of arrogant men.

Jackie glanced in her rearview mirror. He was following right behind her. Standing up at the helm of his boat. Of course he was standing up. Men with giant egos couldn’t just sit. They had to make themselves as big as possible.

The wind rushed over her skin. She toyed with trying to outdistance him, but she knew he would just catch up with her and those cat-and-mouse games had already aroused dangerous feelings. She did not want to cheer on more of those feelings. Nor encourage him in any way. She just wanted to get back to her apartment, fall into bed, then get up at the crack of dawn to get back out here and put her equipment into play.

So much extra work for no damned reason. It would put her a couple of days behind in her data collecting.

She gritted her teeth. To hell with Scott Everly and his sexy smile.

He stayed right on her tail all the way to the dock. He waited while she tied up the boat. She tucked the ADVOcean-Hydra under her arm and climbed up onto the pier. He bobbed alongside the wharf. His eagle eyes turned on her. Jackie’s skin warmed. God, was she blushing? She never blushed. She was thankful for the darkness. The last thing she wanted was for him to know that he’d made her blush with his hard-edged ogling.

“Here I am, safe and sound. You can leave now.”

“I’m waiting right here until you get to your apartment.”

“Afraid I’m going to sneak back out in the dark?”

“You’re not going to do that,” he said firmly.

“How do you know?”

“You’re not
that
stupid. Now that you’re fully aware of the dangers in that mangrove channel you’re going to be more cautious.” He said it like his proclamation was a forgone conclusion. Like he knew her.

A fresh round of irritation washed over her. Turkey.

She was tempted to go out in her boat the minute he left just to prove him wrong, but she had a sneaking suspicion he was going to hang around for a while to make sure she didn’t do just that.

Spinning on her heel, she stalked away up the wooden dock. It swayed beneath her stomping feet.

Behind her, he laughed low and easy.

Jackie curled her lip. She’d never met a more infuriating man in her life.

“Good night, Jackie Birchard,” he called.

She raised a finger in a crude gesture.

He laughed even louder. “Mermaid, I wouldn’t shoot that particular gun unless you can back up the message.”

The blush that had started in her cheeks became a full-body flush as she took all kinds of innuendo from that comment.

You asked for it. You flipped him off.

Bad move. She’d keep her hands coiled tightly into fists from now on whenever she was around him.

What? You’re not going to be around him ever again! I can’t believe you even let that sliver of thought slip into your brain.