Her Reluctant Hero: A Romantic Suspense Boxed Set

by MJ Fredrick

  “They’re fine, not even a drop got to them,” Adrian said. The prof had had some of these books for decades and they were valuable. Surely that was what had him nervous. Adrian shut the case and walked out of the tent to see Mallory with her head bent, one hand holding her hair back, the other holding the phone as she spoke to her fiancé.

  Jonathan answered on the second ring. “Mallory! Are you calling from the airport? What time will you be home?”

  Guilt flushed through her at the sound of his voice. She battled the emotion. She’d done nothing to feel guilty about.

  “Um, no.”

  Walking a short way out of camp, she explained to him what had happened last night, leaving out that she’d spent the night in the car with Adrian and had almost let him kiss her in the ocean. The whole time she spoke tension wound inside her, and she wondered at it. This was something beyond her control. She shouldn’t be worried about disappointing Jonathan when she couldn’t change anything.

  “I’ll be home in plenty of time for the wedding, don’t worry.” She laughed, but he didn’t.

  “Adrian seems awfully hospitable considering you came down there to serve him with papers. He did sign though, didn’t he?”

  “They’re signed. Once we present them in court, I’ll be legally free.”

  “And you’re happy about that.”

  It was so unlike Jonathan to need reassurance. She wasn’t even sure how to offer it. “Of course I’m happy about that. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Seeing Adrian hasn’t brought back old feelings?”

  At that moment, Adrian stepped out of Dr. Vigil’s tent and their gazes locked. “Is that what you’re worried about?” she managed.

  “You didn’t fall out of love with him, Mallory.”

  Of course. He’d been there, seen every stage of her grief. “I don’t love him anymore, Jonathan. I promise. I better go,” she added quickly, wondering why she couldn’t say she loved him with Adrian listening. “The phone is for emergencies only. I’ll let you know when I’m coming home. Bye!”

  She hung up and swung on Adrian. “Are you eavesdropping?”

  He snorted. “Didn’t hear anything good.”

  “What did you expect to hear?”

  He turned away. “Something that makes me think you love him and aren’t just making excuses not to go home. Look, I’m too tired to fight tonight. I’m going to turn in. Tomorrow I want to go check on the ship.”

  “How can you? We have no boat.” She flushed at the slip. It wasn’t her boat. Of course it was too much to hope he’d missed it. Adrian cocked a brow.

  “We have a skiff with a motor. Not big enough to get you to the city, but big enough to get out to the site.” One corner of his mouth lifted. “You want to go with me?”

  She hefted the phone in her hand. She was stuck here anyway, right? Might as well. She nodded, trying to hide her anticipation.

  The sun glowed over the glassy surface of the cove as Mallory and Adrian readied the rubber skiff to enter the water the following morning. His muscles ached, both from pulling Mallory up the hill yesterday and cleaning up the camp. The place had been a disaster. Even with everyone helping, the task had consumed the day. And yet everyone had been in a good humor about it, Mallory too.

  “When will the rest of your crew come?” she asked.

  He hesitated. He’d always been able to talk to Mallory, but they were divorced, after all. And there was so much he needed to share with her. “This is my crew.”

  She straightened and braced her hands on her hips. “Adrian, you can’t do this with five people.”

  “It’s all I can afford. Get that end, would you?”

  She bent to lift a corner of the skiff, not taking her eyes from him. “You’re funding this yourself?”

  He shrugged, hating dredging up this memory, especially with her. “After Tunisia, I was the treasure hunter, not the archaeologist. No one believed I didn’t steal that casket. So between me and the professor, we funded this trip ourselves.”

  She dropped her end of the boat and stared in shock. “Where did you get the money?”

  He shook his head. “Robert took out a trust fund I never knew he had, and I approached a publisher, told them what I’d found, just not where. They gave me a hefty advance to write the book.”

  “And you used it to fund the excavation.” Her voice sounded hollow with disbelief. “You aren’t going to be able to do much with only four divers.”

  He smirked. “I’m hoping once I start uncovering artifacts, I can get more funding, though it will be tricky to ask for money and keep the find a secret at the same time.” He grinned. “You could come back for your honeymoon.”

  “Oh, yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “Jonathan would love that.”

  Glad to get off the subject of his financial difficulties—which were never out of his head but never appealing to think about, he jumped on the new topic. “You don’t mind that you won’t scuba dive anymore, or snorkel or hike?”

  “There’s more to a marriage than that.”

  He climbed in the boat and reached for the tanks. She was so careful not to touch him, which only made him want to touch her, to see what would happen. He didn’t want to encourage her to cheat on her fiancé, but he wanted her to know she was making the right decision about divorcing him. The way she’d looked at him earlier, almost letting him kiss her, he was pretty sure she wasn’t.

  “It seems like you need to have something in common.”

  This time she snorted as she turned to grab more gear from the dock to load into the skiff. “We had tons in common and it didn’t do us any good. All Jonathan and I need is a common goal.”

  “Which is?”

  She did look at him then. “A family.”

  The idea of her carrying another man’s child was like a punch in the gut. Well, hell, he’d asked for it. He turned to regain his balance. If he hadn’t been so selfish, so focused on his career, he could have given her the children, the home she wanted. He could have watched her grow heavy with his child and felt the pride of it.

  He scrubbed a hand over his hair and looked away. Who the hell was he kidding? He’d make a terrible father. What did he know about being a dad? He sure as hell hadn’t learned good parenting skills from his family.

  So he’d taken the easy way out and given up the woman he loved so he wouldn’t have to face the challenge, wouldn’t have to risk failing something as important as a child. And now he was paying the price.

  Okay, the skiff was just too damn small. Once their dive gear was loaded on it, Mallory and Adrian barely had room to sit across from each other, and with the first swell, they’d be bumping into each other. Why had she said yes?

  Because there was a centuries-old shipwreck just yards away, that was why.

  The motor made conversation impossible, thank God. She used motion sickness as an excuse to face forward, away from him, but felt his gaze as he guided the boat out of the cove toward the barge. If only she could filter out how much of her anticipation and excitement was for the dive, and how much was from being with Adrian again.

  If only she resented not being able to go home.

  They bumped up against the barge, which had weathered the storm well. Mallory jumped out to secure the skiff, eager to put distance between them. He lifted the diving equipment to her and climbed out at a more leisurely pace, smiling, like he knew why she was in such a damn hurry.

  After all, once they were in the water, there was no danger of conversation.

  “So. What do you and Johnny do for fun?” Adrian asked, zipping his wetsuit up over his chest.

  Mallory didn’t watch him dress this time. She was too busy wondering at the sarcasm in his tone. “What do you mean?” she asked coolly.

  “Well, you said you hadn’t been diving in a couple years, and I know how much you love it. I was just wondering what Johnny considers a good time.”

  “His name is Jonathan and we have a lot of fun together.�
� She hated that he was making her defensive.

  “I’m sure you do. I’m asking how.”

  “Um.” She shifted. “We go to museums and galleries and parties. We watch a lot of plays and movies.” She smiled. “He likes karaoke.”

  “Why are you changing who you are for him?”

  She turned away, digging in her bag for a band to secure her braid, scared to look at him, to let him know he spoke her own concerns. “I’m not, and I resent the implication.”

  “Yeah?” He leaned closer. “Does he go hiking with you? Swimming? Any of the things you love to do?”

  Jonathan didn’t, not saying that an active lifestyle was too tomboyish, but reacting with disapproval whenever she suggested they go diving or camping. Mallory would never admit it to Adrian. Yes, Jonathan was a touch old-fashioned, but they had the same goals and that was important.

  “What has he done for you?” Adrian pressed.

  “He let me come here and get this out of my system.” She picked up Jacob’s suit, wished she didn’t have to strip to get into it. Being around Adrian made her vulnerable enough. “What about you and Linda? She doesn’t dive, right? What do you do for fun besides the obvious?”

  He choked out a laugh. “You think I’m sleeping with Linda? She’s just a girl.”

  Mallory stiffened, even more defensive. God, she hated that feeling. “She’s old enough. And she seems to adore you.”

  He shook his head with a wry grin. “She’s in love with Jacob. Are you blind?”

  Apparently. She’d never even seen the two of them together, other than that night in the back of the Land Cruiser. “Then why was she coming out of your tent before dawn?”

  “I don’t—” His mouth twisted, incredulous. “She was cutting my hair. She cuts my hair once a week. I don’t sleep with students. What kind of person do you think I am?” He looked at her, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “You were jealous.”

  The taunt in his voice only inflamed her temper. “Please. I’m engaged.”

  “To a man who doesn’t sleep with you.”

  “I don’t sleep with him.” Why did she feel the need to clarify?

  “Because of me.” His tone was smug.

  “God, your ego!” She tugged at the suit and staggered, off balance. Adrian caught her arm, not hard, just enough to have her stumbling. She breathed in his scent, her body responding to his proximity. Her pulse pounded with anticipation as she forced herself not to look at his mouth.

  “It’s still there. Do you feel it?” His voice was a low rumble and his breath caressed her skin.

  Her nerves jumped with longing to feel his mouth against hers. “It was never our problem.” Her own voice trembled, to her shame.

  “No, faithfulness was.”

  She looked up at him, her temper spiking. “I was never unfaithful to you.”

  “Not with your body.” He flicked his gaze over her. “But you were with your heart, where it counted.” He motioned with his finger for her to turn.

  Silently, he hoisted her tanks onto her shoulders, double-checked them, and she did the same for him. It was a trick to perform the task without touching him, but she managed. Even the wetsuit wasn’t barrier enough.

  She understood what he meant about her being unfaithful and wished she didn’t. But she hadn’t stayed by him when the Tunisia dive dissolved, damaging Adrian’s reputation in the field. Their marriage had already been hanging by a thread at that point, and everything she’d done to help Adrian had been met with bitterness and resentment. He’d been angry she’d gone to Valentine Smoller. But she didn’t know who else to turn to for help when Adrian had been arrested for the theft of the casket no one could find. She should have listened to him when he insisted that Valentine had taken the artifact. Every time she’d gone to the jail on Adrian’s behalf, he’d berated her and accused her of wanting Valentine and his money, so she had finally taken what was left of her pride and gone home. He’d followed soon after and almost seemed disappointed when he didn’t find her cheating on him with his former partner. They’d fought, and he’d left for good.

  She should keep that in mind. Remembering the good times when she was with him was too easy. And too dangerous.

  He straightened, adjusting his tanks while he studied her. Her nerves were about to snap. Mistake, mistake, mistake. She should not be out here alone with him.

  “What?” she snarled.

  He grinned. “You never could handle the silent treatment.”

  “You never were much for giving it.” Their fights had been raucous and hurtful. And frequent there towards the end. “Let’s check the site.” She took the regulator between her teeth and went into the water.

  Chapter Six

  Mallory knew she was in trouble when she couldn’t flex her fingers. She glanced around the ocean floor, searching for Adrian.

  Nitrogen narcosis wasn’t causing her numbness—she’d experienced that once in Greece. This was something else, cold, maybe, but she had to go up, now. Even though she’d been down such a short time, she still had to make the decompression stops on the way up.

  Why would the cold affect her today when it hadn’t yesterday? Jacob’s suit was too big, yes, and allowed so much water into the suit that her body couldn’t warm, but she hadn’t had the same weakness on her other dive. The water was colder since the storm but shouldn’t have this much of an effect.

  She signaled to Adrian, motioned up. His brow furrowed behind his mask. She mimed a shiver and swam toward the guideline Adrian had created last night, marked with decompression stops. She tried to grasp it, but her fingers were too stiff. Hesitating, she decided not to hang on, instead finning her way to the first stop. When she treaded water, she only floated away from the line. She paddled back to wrap her arms around the rope but drifted up. Damn. She couldn’t stabilize herself. An experienced diver should be able to control her movements.

  And then Adrian was there, swimming in front of her, closing his hands around hers on the knot in the line, his eyes dark with concern.

  She waved him off, urging him down, but he shook his head. As her shivers became uncontrollable, he guided her to the next decompression stop and wrapped his arms around her to warm her. Tension only made the shivers worse, so she tried to relax, but relaxing meant snuggling against Adrian’s body, something she couldn’t do for her own sanity.

  That didn’t mean she didn’t want to. But she couldn’t.

  By the time they reached the last decompression stop, she was so stiff her joints ached. This was the longest stop, twenty minutes that felt like twenty years. She had to relax in Adrian’s arms or she’d never make it to the surface. Hesitantly, she eased forward until her mask bumped his arm. He read her intentions, as he always had, and gently folded his arms around her, giving her one last chance to back away before he tightened his hold. His embrace didn’t make much difference in temperature but made her feel safe. Her breathing evened, her shivers subsided.

  She’d forgotten how Adrian used to make her feel safe.

  He guided her to the surface, helped her out of her gear. Her jaw was clenched so tight he could barely get the regulator out of her mouth. Once he unzipped her wetsuit and the wind hit her, her shivers became uncontrollable. He grabbed a big towel from the bench, wrapped it around her for modesty, then tugged her wet clothes off. She was too cold to protest. He pressed her arms to her sides to hold the towel in place, before he stripped off his own gear with less finesse than usual.

  He opened up the towel and stepped closer. Against her. Naked skin to naked skin.

  And they were alone in the middle of the ocean.

  His skin was cool too, but heated quickly against hers. He’d always been so warm to the touch, and she burrowed into his chest without thinking as he chafed the towel against her back, blocking the breeze with the thick terry.

  Slowly she became aware of the swell of her breasts teased by his chest hair, her belly pressed against the hardness of him, and she could
feel his awareness as well. She turned her head and her lips brushed his chest. God, she wanted…

  He jumped back as if burned. She snatched the towel just in time, lifting her eyes to his. His eyes were hot with something indefinable—anger? Pain? He swung away and snatched up his clothes before climbing into the skiff, leaving her cold, confused and naked.

  Linda stood at the dock when they pulled in. Great. On top of being confused over her feelings for Adrian, Mallory had to deal with someone the minute she got off the boat, though at least she’d learned the truth about her relationship with Adrian. She started past the girl without a word, ignoring Adrian as he tied off the skiff, needing distance.

  “Mallory, there’s someone here to see you.” Linda turned to follow her.

  “What?” Mallory pivoted, her mind yanking back to the present and not to the scene on the boat, the heat of Adrian’s body.

  Linda pointed, and Mallory whirled to see a man standing on the rise overlooking the beach, watching her.

  Jonathan, neat and tidy in a tropical shirt and creased khaki shorts.

  Holy hell. This curse thing was making more and more sense. She smoothed her hair, knowing the ponytail was in all sorts of disarray, hoping Jonathan wouldn’t glean why. She wiped her palms down her shorts and realized they were Adrian’s trunks. Would Jonathan see in her face that she’d just been in Adrian’s arms, skin to skin?

  Before Jonathan could see her hesitation, she gathered herself and charged up the hill toward him, all too aware of Linda’s—and Adrian’s—open curiosity.

  Halfway up the rise, she remembered she wasn’t wearing her ring. Shit. He would notice. She reached in the neck of her T-shirt—Adrian’s T-shirt, damn it—and pulled the chain free, letting the ring dangle.

  She stood before her fiancé, awkward, ill at ease in her own skin and her ex-husband’s clothes, her body still humming from Adrian’s embrace.

  Jonathan gave her a soft kiss before looking past her to the boat.