She yanked on the motor cord again. It sprang to life but sputtered out. What was she forgetting? The choke thing had helped her start it, but was it just for starting?
Water splashed against the boat, and she could’ve sworn something smacked the side. She glanced around nervously, but it was too dark to see anything. Sharks? Eels? She had to get out of here.
Maddie’s hands were slick with sweat as she pulled the starter one more time and then quickly pushed the choke lever forward. The motor stayed alive. Yes! She fumbled around with other levers until she must’ve put it into gear, because the boat sprang forward. Directing the rudder on the motor, she aimed away from where the yacht had gone and started praying. Help me find land and someone nice who will help me. She wasn’t sure that she trusted anyone her father had arranged to get her to safety and set up a new identity. Why should she change her whole life because of her father or Bello? Maybe she could just appeal to Homeland Security, the FBI, or whatever governmental department dealt with pirates. They could catch Bello and the other pirate captains, and then she’d be safe. First, she needed to get through this huge ocean and find some help.
The wind started picking up, and Maddie’s terror increased right along with it. The Caribbean was generally calmer than the Pacific or the Atlantic, but storms could come through and cover entire islands with waves. Her little boat wouldn’t have a prayer in a real storm. Please keep me safe. Please let the storm calm down.
Her prayers didn’t seem to be working. The wind whipped her hair out of its updo and tugged at the delicate lace overlay of her dress. Water splashed over the sides of the boat. She went up and down, wave after wave. The little boat barely stayed afloat, not seeming to make any progress.
She fumbled around with her left hand, but couldn’t find a life jacket. Her dress clinging to her, Maddie shook from cold and wet as much as from fear. Everything around her was dark, and she wondered if she should have stayed on the yacht and taken her chances with Bello and his henchmen. No. Drowning was preferable to being in Bello’s clutches without her father around to protect her. Her father. She could only imagine what Bello would do to him. What a horrible way to die.
A huge wave rocked her boat and soaked her clear through. Her heart clutched before picking up to staccato speed. She was going to die. This was it. She’d see her dad up in heaven a lot sooner than she’d planned. Well, maybe not. He definitely wasn’t going to heaven, and she might’ve ruined her chances this past week when she’d regularly cursed all those men behind their backs. A valiant missionary she was not.
Maddie squinted through the darkness, searching, praying. She saw nothing. The water in the boat was up to her ankles. The little motor kept chugging along, but it seemed to be going slower. Please, a little help, she begged. She’d always communed with the good Lord, but never quite so frequently.
She wondered if she should stop and scoop water out of the boat, but then she’d have to release her hold on the lever directing her, and the boat might just spin in circles. She shoved heavy, wet hair from her face. Not that she knew what direction she was going in now. She instinctively reached for her cell phone, but it sat on her nightstand in the yacht. Since she didn’t have an international plan, she’d stopped carrying it everywhere with her, but she could’ve at least used it as a compass.
Rain started pelting her from above as the waves splashed over her boat and hit her from below. “Really?” She tossed the words to the sky. “Hasn’t my life been hard enough? Now I have to die in complete misery.”
Truthfully, her life hadn’t been too awful. Her mom was a professor at Montana State University, and they’d had a good life together in the small, beautiful mountain valley, loved and helped by friends and church members. Things only looked down when her father stole her mother away on some exotic vacation and left Maddie behind at her friend Abby’s. Not that she didn’t enjoy being with Abby, but she’d always dreamed of going with them on their trips. Now she’d finally gotten a taste of one of those vacations, and she couldn’t believe her competent, smart mother had never divorced the louse.
Both her parents had lied to her throughout her life. “Papa’s away on important business,” her mother would always say. Ridiculous.
“Focus,” Maddie muttered to herself. Blaming her parents wouldn’t get her out of this predicament.
She scanned the darkness, praying, hoping. Blinking twice, she couldn’t be sure if she’d really seen some lights, or if she was just getting delusional and desperate. But no … or actually, yes. Yes! There were some dots of light to her left. She jerked the handle too hard in her excitement and almost capsized the boat. Yelping, she straightened it out and tried again more slowly.
A tingle of uncertainty lurked in her mind. What if it was the pirates coming back for her? But she really had no hope but to try for the lights. If it started to look like a ship, she’d change course. A full-size cruise ship would take her boat under, and a yacht had too much risk of being Bello.
As she slowly drew closer, she squinted to make out the shape of whatever she was approaching. The arrangement of lights looked too spread out to be a ship. It had to be an island. Letting out a squeal of joy, she leaned forward as if she could help the little boat go faster.
The island grew larger on the horizon. She could see lights down by the beach, and a cluster of windows were lit up on the hill. Details came into focus. It was one huge house—or maybe hotel—on the hilltop, and there was an inlet/harbor kind of thing. She could just make out the outline of a yacht in the harbor. There were some tiki torches on the beach a couple hundred yards away from the harbor and a fabulous long dock, stretching out into the ocean.
All she had to do was make it to the dock. She might crash into it due to her lack of boating skills, but she could grab the packet and swim for it if she had to. Hopefully, someone in that house or hotel would be trustworthy and willing to help. Pathetic that she’d rather take her chances with strangers than trust her dad’s people. Not that her dad had ever put her in serious danger before.
Wait, that’s all this trip had been: danger. Why had he brought her here now? Just to tell her he was dying, say goodbye, and have her clear his name? Couldn’t he have done that without yucky Bello around?
Maddie saw movement on the long dock. A large man was waving his arms and yelling at her, but she couldn’t make out his words.
The boat slammed into something. Maddie had no time to think or react as she flew over the front of the boat and plunged into the water.
2
Zack Tyndale heard the wind howling and hurried around the sprawling one-story mansion, closing windows and doors. The house had been built to withstand hurricanes, so he knew he’d be safe in a normal storm, but he liked to be prepared. He rushed outside to make sure his small yacht was secure in the harbor and nothing was lying around that would be blown away. Thankfully, the previous owner had been prepared for these gales. Everything from the patio furniture to the grill was secured to the concrete, and all outside tools and toys were stored nicely in the convenient storage containers.
Zack loved his island and the local flair to his mansion. Such a nice break to be here in the usually calm Caribbean after the hell his life had become in America. He missed his mom and his niece, Chalise, but there was no other reason for him to stay and deal with his father and the constant attention for his failed Olympic hopes.
His satellite phone rang, and he smiled. “Hi, Mom.”
“Son. It’s about time you came back to work.”
Zack’s body stiffened. So his father was using his mom’s phone to try to make his demands now. No way was he going back. The damage had been done, the barriers erected, and he wasn’t ready to forgive and forget. “I’m not coming back to work for you. Ever.”
“I need you, son, and your mother and Chalise need you. Stop being selfish and come home.”
Selfish? His father dared call him selfish? “The world doesn’t revolve around you, Dad.�
�� He knew his father would hate that casual term. “I’m happy here. I don’t need your money or your company.”
“But think of the time you could spend with Chalise.”
Of course his father would hit him with the one thing that tore him apart: not being with his niece. “I should have custody of her; you know that’s what Anne would want.”
A heavy sigh came across the line. “I’ll pay you anything to have you here with your family.”
It always came back to money. His father wanted him because Zack had proven himself brilliant with business and was able to charm even their toughest associates. He couldn’t be the pawn of a man like his father, not even for Chalise. “I’ll never work for you again.” He hung up the phone and stormed onto the patio.
Zack watched the wind whip through his trees. The solar lights the original owner had set up on the docks and near the beach swayed. The energy of the storm and fury at his father raced through him, making him want to go run for a while. Rain started to splatter onto the pool deck and landscaped flowerbeds and grass. Protected under the large overhang, he stretched for a minute. Maybe he’d go inside and cook or clean something, since he couldn’t run. When the weather was bad, it wasn’t as easy to keep busy, and being bored meant thinking about what had happened to his life. Thinking wasn’t something he liked to do.
A few steps from the French doors, he heard the high whine of a motor. Zack whipped around and searched the ocean beyond. There were no lights, but the motor sound was unmistakable. What kind of an idiot would be out on the water with no lights and in what sounded like a small boat?
Zack raced past his pool and gardens and took the steps to the beach two at a time. He could just make out a small boat hurtling through the water. He didn’t even have time to be angry that someone was invading his sanctuary as he saw the angle they traveled toward the island. “No, not that way!” he yelled, though they couldn’t possibly hear him.
Zack sprinted through the sand and onto his dock. He kept one eye on the boat as he ran the length of the dock, waving his arms and yelling, “Turn! Turn!” Large boulders and a former shipwreck resided just under the water, exactly where that boat was heading. Any other angle into the harbor was deep and safe to take even in his yacht, but this idiot was coming straight for the shallow waters of the dock instead. Why weren’t they slowing even though they were within a hundred feet of the dock?
“Stop!” he screamed. “Turn!”
The sickening crunch was louder than the howling wind and rain. The rear of the boat flung into the air, and the lone passenger flew forward and disappeared into the water. Zack dove off the dock, surfacing quickly, and used strong strokes to cross the distance. Water from the uneven waves splashed into his face, making it hard to see. The person bobbed up out of the water and started swimming in his direction. That was a relief. From the hair streaming around her, he assumed it was a woman.
They came within a few feet of each other, and Zack slowed and treaded water. “Are you okay?”
“I-I think so.”
“Can you make it to the dock?” Lights reflecting from the beach showed a mop of dark hair and a beautiful face.
In answer, she started slowly swimming that direction, but she hadn’t gone four strokes before she swayed and rolled over onto her back. That’s when Zack noticed the cut on her head. The sea turned the blood a watery pink. She’d definitely hit her head on one of the rocks or maybe the old shipwreck.
“You’re not okay.”
“I can make it.” She started to kick. A wave rolled over her face and she jerked up, coughing and spluttering, but bravely kept trying to stay afloat, beating at the water with her arms and legs.
She was tough and not a complainer. Nice.
“I’ve got you.” Zack looped his arm under her armpit and over her chest and tugged her back to the dock. She had a small build, but her clothes must’ve been waterlogged because she seemed to weigh a ton. Zack was in shape, but he tired quickly.
Finally, they made it to the dock and the woman clung to the edge. Zack grabbed hold and heaved himself out of the water then helped lift her up. She collapsed onto her back and released a loud breath. “Oh, thank you. I thought it was time to reacquaint myself with Saint Peter.”
“Saint Peter?” She’d hit her head hard, or she was crazy. He looked over her fancy, waterlogged dress and the diamonds sparkling at her throat. She’d been out in the ocean like that, without a lifejacket? Crazy it might be or with quite a good story to tell.
“You know—the angel at the pearly gates.”
Zack let out a surprised laugh. “Glad you put that off for a little while.”
“Me, too.” She sat up and touched the small gash in her head. Blood trickled between her fingertips. “Ouch.”
“I bet.” Zack pushed his way to his feet and offered her a hand. The wind whipped his wet T-shirt around him. He was glad he shaved his head and didn’t have hair whipping in his face like she did. “Let’s get you up to the house and cleaned up.”
She placed her hand in his but wavered as he helped her up. Zack wrapped his other arm around her waist and lifted her onto her feet. She swayed.
“Can you walk?”
Her eyes filled with stubborn pride. “Of course I can walk.”
She pulled away from him, took one step, teetered off the dock, and splashed back into the water.
“Oh, boy.” Zack shook his head. He hadn’t smelled alcohol on her breath, but that had to be the explanation. Fancy dress, alone on a boat in the ocean at night. He’d have to help her tonight, then load her onto his yacht tomorrow and get her to Belize. If she had any money, it was probably sunk with her little boat. He’d get her to where she needed to go and be done with this mess. Oddly enough, he didn’t mind the excitement. It was a good contrast to his normally sedate lifestyle.
She came up to the surface sputtering and flailing. Zack knelt down, put his hands under her armpits, and hefted her back onto the dock. He stood slowly, supporting both of them, then swung her off her feet and into his arms. Despite himself, he noticed how nicely she fit against him. It had been a long while since he’d been around an attractive, unrelated woman. “Shall we try this again?”
“Good plan.” Her voice rumbled against his chest, and he kind of liked it. “I must’ve thumped my head harder than I thought.”
“Or something,” he muttered.
Her head whipped up, her brown eyes full of fire. “I’m not drunk, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m …” She quickly looked down again, not meeting his gaze.
“You’re …” he encouraged. He’d like to hear her story, and he did believe her that she wasn’t drunk. Her speech was too lucid and her breath smelled too clean.
“I can’t. I don’t know who to trust.” She grabbed on to his arm. “Oh, holy monkey balls!”
Zack jerked in surprise and almost dropped her as she squirmed in his arms. “What are you doing now? You want to fall in the water again?” They’d reached the end of the dock, but she could still fall in the shallow water.
“I’ve got to find something. Please. Can you help me look in the water? Back where my boat is?” Her eyes were wide and frantic.
“Right now?” Zack gestured to the waves building as the storm increased in intensity. “No! You’re hurt. It’s dark. And there’s a storm.” His four-year-old niece had more common sense than this woman, and Chalise hadn’t spoken a word in two years.
The woman deflated and burrowed herself into his arms. Zack liked this quite a bit better than her struggling. He tightened his hold on her. Hmm, her shape was really … shapely.
“In the morning?” she asked.
“What?”
“Could you help me find something that was in my boat in the morning?”
Zack plunged off the dock and into the sand. He paused to readjust his grip on her. She wrapped her bare arms around his neck and glanced up at him with liquid brown eyes. Those eyes were big and pretty. He’d prob
ably do about anything she asked, pressed against him like she was and arousing feelings he’d denied himself the past two years in his self-induced exile.
“Um, sure. If the storm’s gone.” The boat and everything in it would probably be pummeled and scattered by the wind and waves.
“Oh, thank you.” She tightened her hold on him and cuddled up against his chest.
Zack trudged through the sand and up the stairs. He should’ve been tired from the effort of the night, but his heart was pumping quickly, and he felt like he could run miles with her cuddled up to him.
They made it to the pool deck, and he set her on her feet by the outside shower, keeping her close to his side. He rinsed off his feet quickly and then hefted her up again.
“I think I can walk now,” she protested.
“At least there’s no water you can fall into here.”
She laughed softly, and he kept her in his arms. He didn’t want to let her walk just yet. They reached the patio door, and he had to set her down again. He opened the box of beach towels and handed a couple to her. She wrapped one around her shoulders, then proceeded to try to dry her dress.
“It’s okay,” Zack said. “The floor’s slate. A little water won’t hurt it.” It would actually be good to get his house a little dirty. He dusted and cleaned, but there wasn’t much dirt that accumulated with one person.
He picked her up and carried her through the door and into the great room.
She glanced around and whistled. “I like your house.”
“Thanks.”
Caribbean Rescue (Destination Billionaire Romance) Page 2
