In Deep Waters (11 page)

Figures,
Ka la shouldn't have asked in the first place, but Ben brought out both the best and the worst in her. She wasn't normally so in-your-face. She was quiet and boring. Like her father, she preferred the company of books, charts and old journals to people. Maybe too much of Ben was rubbing off on her. Or perhaps something about him rubbed her the wrong way. His swagger, his self-assuredness, his arrogance? It could be a number of things. She studied the monitor. More mud.

"You didn't play fair," Ben said finally.

"I played by the rules you set."

"What rules?"

"Exactly." She glanced at him, his eyes sharp and assessing. "I've said it before. This isn't about you or me. The
Isabella
is bigger than both of us. Bigger than ego and pride."

He didn't reply and she didn't care.

"I don't understand why you're so upset," she admitted. "You finished your search. Examined the targets. It was time to move on."

"We could have expanded the search area."

"Again?" She caught his glare in the reflection of one of the digital displays. "The
Isabella
is here." She sounded more confident than she felt, but her research was correct. It had to be. "She's here."

"Is that your instinct or your psychic talking?"

"It's the research."

"Ah, yes." He sat in the chair next to her and studied the monitors. "Your brilliant research that reads more like a novel with swashbuckling pirates, forbidden love and mermaids."

His words stung, but she understood. She hadn't shared any of her research with him, but he wasn't alone. Not even the museum knew how much she'd discovered about the
Isabella.

The recorders sparked to life. Kayla jumped out of her chair and ran. An image was being drawn on the paper. "Sonar action. Lots of sonar action."

"Talk to me," Ben said.

"Contact off port 120 meters." She called out targets while she wrote the time of contact in the margin of the strip chart and in the logbook. Ben radioed the bridge, asking for the ship's speed and position. The altitude of the sled, the gain on the signal, the length of towline all had to be recorded, too. Stuff happened so fast, Kayla didn't have time to blink.

"Monk, get in here," Ben yelled into the walkie-talkie. "Now."

Kayla called out more targets and noted the times on the strip chart. If they didn't get all the information, it would be difficult if not impossible to find the target again. Her fingers cramped from writing so fast, but she didn't stop.

Monk burst into the control room. "Do you see what I see, boss?"

Kayla knew Monk wouldn't tell her what he saw. Ben had an important rule in the control room. No one could say out loud what was seen on the screen. That way no one person's perception influenced another's. Everything was written down and compared later.

"Major action. Contact 150 meters port." Kayla stared at the recorders. Adrenaline rushed through her veins. "Something big is out there. We're talking big."

The
Isabella?
Was it the
Isabella?

Kayla's heart pounded. She could barely breathe.

"Be ready to take this thing up, Monk," Ben said. "We don't want to hit anything."

She couldn't believe how calm he sounded. The man had nerves of steel. She was sweating, and it was less than sixty-eight degrees in here. Kayla unzipped her jacket.

Monk sat at the controls. "I'm ready, boss."

"Get it up now," Ben ordered.

Kayla saw something. A ridge. An outcropping of rock in the sediment. No, it wasn't geological. It was...a ship.

The
Isabella.

She knew it had to be the ship. Excitement coursed through her. She enjoyed the moment for about two seconds and went back to work recording information.

''We're past it." Her voice sounded much calmer than she felt. But the work continued. Gathering all the information, recording it in the logbook, breathing again. Finally, they finished.

Monk yelped. He grabbed Kayla and gave her a quick hug. "You did it, darlin'."

"We did do it." She felt like such a member of a
team, one of the crew. For once, she belonged, and Kayla loved the feeling. They had worked so well together, even she and Ben.

He shook Monk's hand and walked over to Kayla. "Good job."

"Thanks." Her cheeks warmed. Ben's compliment meant more than it should, but she was too happy to worry about that now. "You weren't so bad yourself."

Kayla hugged him. An impulsive gesture, as Monk's had been to her. She didn't expect a hug back. But she got one. A good one.

Ben pulled her closer, enveloping her in his warmth. His soap-and-water scent was an intoxicating elixir. Blood roared through her veins. Her temperature soared. She didn't want to let go of Ben so she didn't.

She relished being in his arms. A warm glow flowed through her. Kayla felt as if she'd come home. And it was a place she didn't want to leave. Not anytime soon.

Was he feeling the same thing? She didn't want to know.

Kayla waited for him to let go of her.

But he didn't.

Her heart hammered against her chest, against his. The intensity of attraction surprised her.

Attraction?

They didn't get along. It couldn't be attraction.

Yet he continued holding her. And she still liked it.

But this wasn't right. No matter how wonderful hugging him felt, it wasn't the right time for either one of them.

Kayla pulled away, but Ben held on to her. A rash of power raced through her. She'd never felt so feminine and strong. She wanted him to find her desirable. She'd never cared about that in the past, but with Ben...

She pulled away again. This time he released her.

"I know what I saw." Monk brought up targets on the monitors. He filtered images and magnified them. The colors on the screen changed. "We all saw the same thing."

"But is it the right one?" Ben asked.

It had to be the right one. Kayla glanced at his profile, silhouetted against the glow from the monitors, and sucked in a breath. He looked more like a pirate than ever. Dark, dangerous, desirable. Tingly sensations raced along her nerve endings. From the top of her head all the way to her toes.

She should be paying attention to what Monk was doing, but she couldn't stop staring at Ben. She didn't want to look away. It was as if she were seeing him for the first time, which made zero sense. She'd seen him plenty of times before, but each time his pull was stronger. This time more than the rest combined.

"It's the right one." Monk typed on the keyboard and measured the images. "Come on."

The impatience in his voice was enough to get her focused. Kayla studied the monitor and bit her lip. The
Isabella
was her priority. Not Ben.

"Damn. It's long." Monk continued typing. Another image appeared on the screen. A cylinder. Most likely an exhaust stack.

Kayla's heart sank to her feet. She wouldn't be surprised if her heart kept going until it hit the ocean floor and buried itself in the mud.

It wasn't the
Isabella.

Monk cursed. She'd never heard some of the words spewing from his mouth. "Sorry, Kayla," he said after his tirade.

"It's okay." She forced the words from her dry throat.

She understood what Monk was feeling. Total devastation. Kayla slumped into a chair.

A vein on Ben's neck throbbed. He pressed his lips together and squeezed her shoulder. "This happens all the time."

Knowing that tidbit of information didn't make her feel better. Her emotions had gone from an all-time high to lower than low. She wanted to look away from the monitor so the exhaust stack would stop taunting her, but she couldn't. The image hypnotized her. It wasn't supposed to be turning out this way. It wasn't supposed to be this difficult. "I thought we'd find the
Isabella
on the first pass."

Ben removed his hand, and a part of her wished he was still touching her. "Do you know the odds--"

"Anything's possible. "

"Let me guess," he said. "You buy lotto tickets?"

"Not funny."

"I'm sorry, Kayla." His voice softened when he said her name, and she felt a little catch inside. He turned her chair away from the monitor so she couldn't see it. "The
Izzy
is out there. We didn't find her tonight, but we will."

Conviction laced each of his words. He smiled, and she felt a tiny bit better. Enough to smile back. "I do buy lotto tickets if the jackpot gets really big."

"Knew it."

"You?"

"Never." His gaze held hers. "My dad's spent too much money trying to hit the big one. He's been searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for as long as I can remember."

"Is he a treasure hunter?"

"He wants to be a treasure finder. He's always been
a big dreamer, but things never progress past the dream stage once he realizes how much work is involved."

"Does he come out on jobs with you?"

"No. He'd rather follow a rumor or wait for a hot tip and let instinct lead him to the buried treasure."

Things were starting to make sense to Kayla. But she wanted--no, needed--to know more. "What about your mom?"

"She's wonderful." Ben's smile spoke volumes about his love for his mother. "She supports my dad's get-rich-quick schemes. Spoils Madison and me rotten. And holds everything together. She deserves...so much more."

This was the most open he'd been with Kayla. And she liked it. A lot. "After we find the
Isabella,
you can give her all she deserves."

He nodded. "It's been a busy night. We're almost at the end of the line. It'll take hours to turn the ship around and start on the next pass. There won't be anything for you to see. Why don't you get some sleep?"

"Okay."

Ben looked surprised she'd agreed with him.

Kayla didn't know whether it was his hug or his belief in finding the
Isabella
or hearing about his father, but Ben had made her feel better. They had started out on the wrong foot, and it was worth a second try. She would make things right between them.

"See you later," he said.

She smiled. "You can count on it."

Counting sheep hadn't worked. Neither had reading a publication from UNESCO on international salvage rights. Alcohol wasn't allowed on board except for a
couple of bottles of celebratory champagne, so a shot of whiskey was out of the question.

Ben lay in his bed. Physically, he was tired. Mentally, he couldn't shut off his brain. He couldn't stop thinking about Kayla. The way she'd handled the pressure in the control room, the way she'd felt in his arms.

So soft, so warm, so perfect.

One whiff of her citrus-smelling hair and he'd been goner. Not even Monk's presence had made Ben end th hug when he should have. But holding Kayla's body in his arms had felt so good. He hadn't wanted to let go.

Somehow he'd controlled his impulses, dammed up the testosterone, kept the blood from rushing to places he didn't want it to go. But now he was paying the price.

He wanted to touch her. Kiss her.

More than that, Ben wanted an explanation. A reason for what he was feeling. Yes, she was gorgeous. But he'd been around beautiful women before. He'd married and divorced one. His attraction to Kayla made no sense; his attraction to her broke every rule.

Kayla Waterton was here not only as a representative of the museum and investors, but as a member of his crew. He couldn't think of her as anything but one of the guys. But he wasn't doing that.

Hell, he'd told her about his father. Ben never opened up like that, but the look of disappointment on her face when she saw the exhaust stack had nearly ripped out his heart. He'd needed something, anything to take her mind off the wreck not being the
Izzy.
He'd punted. And scored.