Vortex (Cutter Cay)

by Cherry Adair

“He usually is right. He’s sensible and to the point.”

  “And hardheaded,” Daniela interpreted as she bunched up colorful bikini panties and stuck them in the drawer. What Logan was was immaterial to her.

  Wes grinned. “He loves his family to distraction. He’ll do anything for his brothers, Zane and Nick. Absolutely anything.”

  Wes had bought three more bras. Delicate confections of pastel lace and sheer fabric that made them almost more revealing than concealing. She tucked them in with her new underwear. “What a man.”

  “There’s only one thing he hates—”

  Daniela straightened, turning to shoot him an amused glance. “Anyone who doesn’t toe the line?”

  “Liars.” Wes sobered. “No joke. He’s pretty much inflexible about people lying to him. He’d rather hear the unpalatable, unvarnished truth than people’s lies. He’s axed multibillion—that’s billion—dollar deals because the investor shaved the truth a little.”

  A chill skittered up her back. “Wow, must be nice to be so perfect.”

  “He’s not by a long shot. He hates failing. So not finding the Nuestra Señora de Garza treasure really fried his cookies. When’s your birthday?”

  “I’m sorry, this is relevant how? We went from listing all of Cutter’s sterling attributes, to his pet peeve, to my birthday?”

  “Logan is a Taurus.”

  “A bull? That figures. My birthday is November second.”

  “This should be interesting.”

  “Do Scorpios and Tauruses get along?” Not according to her friend Zazoo, who insisted on telling her what her moons and stars were doing all the time. And just look how accurate those cheerful horoscopes had been.

  “Absolutely. His brother Nick is a Scorpio. Get on like bacon and eggs.”

  Daniela shook her head at his BS. “High in fat and bad for the heart. Got it.” A bell chimed. “What’s that? Lunch or a fire drill?” Either way, saved by the bell.

  “Means Logan and Jed are out of the water. Let’s go hear all about their find.”

  She stuck her key card into the front pocket of her shorts. “Maybe they didn’t find anything at all.”

  Wes smiled. “Nah. Can’t you feel the excitement on board? They found something. Let’s go!”

  She hesitated. “I’m not that hungry, I think I’ll stay and put away m—”

  He opened the door. “Cluck-cluck-cluck.”

  “Of what? Cutter?! Oh, please!”

  * * *

  His dive team could barely contain themselves. Logan thought about the countless salvages they’d done together, and he had rarely seen them this excited. The minute he and Jed had surfaced, he’d pulled off his mask, his gaze going to the table where everyone gathered. Most of the guys were there, but Annie was nowhere to be seen.

  “My God, how long would we have searched the original area before we called it a day?” Jed asked, grinning from ear to ear as he shrugged off his tanks.

  “Well?” Galt and Horner hung over the short railing near the ladder, as eager to be the first to hear the good news as two enthusiastic puppies.

  Logan had been about ready to throw in the towel. And that was something he rarely did. So no matter the who or the why, he had his uninvited guest to thank for what might very well be the salvage of the decade, giving him a one-up on the current contest he had going with his brothers. “Couple more weeks at most,” he told Jed as he, too, removed his equipment, taking his time. They had baskets of goodies to show the others. All in good time.

  “You’re killing us!” Cooper joined the other men at the top of the ladder, followed by Vanek. Missing was Wesley Roan. And Annie. And his damn dog, who’d switched allegiance as soon as he’d seen a pretty face.

  “Lunch on the table?” Logan asked, stripping off his suit.

  “Not yet,” Galt said impatiently. “I can call Hip—”

  Logan and Jed each grabbed a mesh basket and, one-handed, scaled the ladder up to the deck. “Good,” Logan cut him off as he gained the deck ahead of Jed. The others backed up to give him room. “Because this’ll take up all the real estate.” He dumped his basket upside down on the table, as did Jed.

  “Oh, man, is that pretty or what?” Cooper said reverently, staring at the pile of doubloons, several gold bars, and a mess of gold chains piled haphazardly on the table. It wasn’t the value of what he and Jed had brought to the surface right now. It was the implication that there was plenty more where that came from.

  “What’d we miss?” Wes slipped between Cooper and Horner, put out his arm, and eased Annie in front of him so she could see what was going on.

  She looked pretty in a bright green T-shirt, her long legs displayed to perfection in well-fitting white shorts. But it was her shining eyes, turned up to meet his, that took Logan’s breath. “The bowl was real.” She sounded breathless, and almost as surprised as he was.

  Suspecting this was the first time he was seeing the real Annie Ross, Logan felt a weirdly unfamiliar clutch to his chest. “Apparently,” he told her mildly. “Hold out your hand.”

  The others shifted so he could get closer to her as she obeyed. He brought out the hand he was holding behind his back. “The treasure of Nuestra Señora de Graza.” Trying not to fall into the amber pools of her eyes, he dropped a raw emerald the size of his fist into her waiting palm.

  Seven

  It had been a crazy day. La Daniela was already giving up a fortune, and they’d barely started. They worked in teams, hauling up baskets full of treasure. Logan spent his off-diving time filling plastic tubs and lugging them down to storage. Salt water was added to preserve their finds until they got everything back to the Counting House on Cutter Cay. There, resident bean counter Brian and his team would sort and catalogue to their hearts’ content.

  The Sea Witch showed up in the late afternoon, adhering to the one-mile-away rule. Her captain must have a homing device or a Vulcan tractor beam to always find a Cutter ship so quickly. It had barely been a day, and she was waiting in the wings like a bird of prey, ready to sneak in and swipe part of the treasure.

  Logan indicated the small, sleek black shape hovering on the horizon to Jed and Cooper as the blower spurted out a muddy jet stream of sand and water over the bow.

  Jed wanted to take the launch and go over right away. For years he’d been trying to get Logan to agree to a face-to-face with the redhead who was apparently the captain. “I’m telling you, talk to her, and she’ll be on her merry way.”

  Listening to Jed gripe with ten percent of his brain, Logan cupped the back of his head as he watched the blower. He had a lot on his plate. He always did. Not only did he run his ship, but he ran the entire Cutter Cay Salvage business. On a daily basis he dealt with investors, public relations people, the press, their fleet of accountants, government regulators and departments governing discovered sites, and all the archaeologists who catalogued and cleaned the salvage of a dozen Cutter Salvage ships.

  They donated some artifacts to museums, sold some to others, and while the nitty-gritty of micromanaging was left up to their department heads, it was Logan who held every string for their vast and far-reaching empire. Zane had his charm and now Teal, Nick had his secret life and his princess.

  Logan had Cutter Salvage.

  The irony was, none of them gave a rat’s ass about the money. He wondered if the newly acquired brother, Jonah did.

  “There’s absolutely no use talking to you when you aren’t listening to a word I’m saying,” Jed pointed out, his volume decreasing as the blower shut off.

  “Mano a mano,” Logan repeated. “Sea Bitch. Merry way. If she wanted to jump your bones she would’ve done it the last time you threatened to tear her limb from limb,” he told his friend dryly. “I guess your shtick just isn’t good enough.”

  “You’re the big boss. You should go.”

  “Ah, but you see, I don’t give a shit.” Logan dropped his hands and reached for a bottle of ice-cold water. “She only steals the l
owest growing fruit, she doesn’t take much, and she doesn’t stay long.” He chugged and shrugged at the same time. “She’s a pest, but no threat to us.”

  “Aren’t you even mildly curious as to why she dogs our every move?”

  “Nope.” She had her reasons, they were apparently important to her. She didn’t steal enough to be a flyspeck in their lives.

  “She’s stunning, right?” Cooper asked, leaning his forearms on the table. He’d seen her ship dozens of times, but had never seen the woman on board.

  “You’ve seen her,” Jed said as he adjusted the binocs for a better view. “Mile-long screaming red hair, Jessica Rabbit body…”

  “No, I haven’t—”

  “Not that Jed has the hots for her or anything.” Logan’s smile went unnoticed since the other two had their eyes glued to the Sea Witch in the distance. “Go over and ask her on a date.”

  “I’d plan something sexy and romantic if I had a mermaid on board and within easy reach,” Jed told him, handing the binoculars to Cooper.

  Logan stopped the water bottle halfway to his mouth. “Two issues with that. One, she’s under my protection. Two, I don’t know if you noticed, but she came wrapped in electrified barbed wire with a flashing neon sign stating KEEP OUT.”

  “Seriously? I don’t see any of that. Maybe that’s just in place to keep you out, maybe I sho—”

  Logan set the water bottle down with enough force that some of it sloshed out onto the table top. “One back-off wasn’t enough for you, Jones?”

  “See, now that’s just unreasonable. If you don’t want to play, doesn’t mean you have the right to shut the toy box lid.”

  “Not only shut it, preferably with your fingers in the way, but lock it and nail it shut.” Logan shoved his chair away from the table, got up and stalked inside, then stopped dead in the middle of the great room and shook his head. “What the hell?” There was only one explanation for his behavior.

  He’d lost his damn mind.

  * * *

  With his hands stacked beneath his head, Logan lay naked on his wide bed staring out at the stars twinkling in the black sky beyond the open sliders. The doors to his small balcony stood open, letting in the faint briny scent of the ocean and the tung oil Dell used on the brightwork.

  No lights were on in the cabin, but moonlight cast a milky wash across the polished wood floor, and made the white sheets around him glow in the darkness.

  The Sea Witch was still anchored a mile away. The redhead hadn’t made any moves to pilfer his treasure. Yet. She would soon enough.

  A soft warm breeze tickled the hair on his body, sliding erotically like silk across his skin. Annie had avoided him all day. Not that hard on a ship the size of a small hotel. So be it. Tomorrow was another day.

  He’d made a complete ass of himself this afternoon, and knew Jed well enough that it would be a while before he lived it down. A damn good thing that he could laugh at himself, Logan thought, staring out over the blackness beyond the open window where the long sheer drapes lifted and fell as if moved by the breath of some giant beast.

  What was it about Annie he found so damned compelling? She wasn’t the most beautiful woman he’d ever been attracted to. Nor the most witty. The sum of her parts was pretty damn ordinary. But taken all together … Something indiscernible about her made his heart race, made everything around him seem sharper. Better. He shook his head. He really had lost it.

  The sound of the ocean, the gentle slap of wavelets against the hull, were his lullaby. No matter what happened in his life, the sea was always there. Lover and friend. Confidant in the cold, lonely hours before dawn when his ship slept and a new day had yet to unfold.

  Yeah. The whole bowl thing had paid off. And paid off big. The story about the cousins almost rang true … Almost. He knew Annie was still lying to him. With nowhere to go, she might open up and tell him what was really going on. The fact that he was willing to give her that chance floored him, and he prodded the notion like a tongue to an aching tooth.

  He wasn’t an inquisitive guy. If a person wanted to hide something, he figured it was important to them, and he didn’t pry. He walked away. Sea Witch being a case in point. Unless that omission directly impacted him or his family in a dangerous way, he left well enough alone.

  Lies were a whole other issue.

  His brothers told him repeatedly that his zero-tolerance policy made him a hard-ass. Logan didn’t give a damn. People could take him or leave him, and what they thought of him didn’t matter.

  If someone chose to lie to him, he cut them off at the knees. Done. Done. And done. He wasn’t curious enough to dig deeper. None of his business. He washed his hands and moved on.

  It was the only aspect of his life where there was no gray.

  Black or white. Lie or truth.

  And then there was Annie—

  Over the sound of the ocean and the ship settling for the night, he thought he heard Dog whine, and swung his legs over the mattress. Annie must’ve let him out of her cabin and shut the door. Sometimes Dog liked company when he went topside to do his business in the area designated Dog’s dog-a-loo.

  Logan pulled on shorts. He wouldn’t mind a run around the decks himself. He snagged his running shoes as Dog howled. Damn, he’d wake everyone. As Logan neared the door, he heard a hard thump.

  “Okay, okay, I’m hurryi—” He yanked open the door. Dog fell limply across his feet.

  Logan scooped up the inert form, kicking the cabin door closed as he raced over to the bed. He laid the dog down on his side on the rumpled sheets. “What is it, boy? Ate something bad?” Really bad, since Dog was clearly unconscious. But not dead, thank God. The animal’s chest moved with his breathing, which seemed strained.

  Logan felt for a heartbeat and was relieved to find it slow, but steady. “Okay, Dog. What happened?” He extended the dog’s head, and lifted his upper lip. The animal’s gums were bright red, and although he was struggling slightly to breathe, he didn’t appear to be in shock, which would’ve indicated internal bleeding.

  Logan yelled, “Annie!” as he pulled Dog’s tongue out to keep his airway open, elevated his hindquarters on his own pillow, and tucked the light blanket around him.

  Logan strode to the connecting door, and banged on it. She must be awake, Dog had only just left her cabin. When there was no answer, he frowned. She might’ve let Dog out, then just presumed he wouldn’t be back, and gone to bed. He pounded on the door with his fist. “Wake up. Dog’s sick. I need to know if you fed him anything.” He pounded again.

  Nobody could sleep through the racket. He unlocked the door from his side, hoping she hadn’t locked it from hers. She hadn’t and the door slid open soundlessly.

  “Annie?” He didn’t want to scare the crap out of her by suddenly materializing beside her bed out of the darkness, but he needed answers. The light from his cabin filtered through the darkness, and he could make out her form on the far bunk.

  “Annie. It’s Logan. Wake up.” He spoke in a normal voice, but she didn’t move.

  “What the hell’s going on?” He scooped her up in his arms, blanket and all, and carried her through to his cabin. Her head lolled against his shoulder as he moved swiftly to the bed. She was limp and unresponsive as he laid her out beside Dog.

  Food poisoning? Jesus, what if other people on board had eaten the same thing? Except food poisoning wasn’t likely to render a person unconscious. Unless the food had been deliberately poisoned.

  Or there was some sort of gas leak on board. Possible …

  Logan glanced over at his dog as he straightened Annie’s limbs. The animal’s eyes were open, and he looked confused and disoriented. Logan leaned over the woman to rub the dog’s muzzle. “It’s okay, boy. Everything’s okay.” But it wasn’t.

  He checked Annie’s vitals. She was unconscious, but her pulse and respiration seemed all right. Reaching for the phone with one hand, Logan tapped her cool cheek. “Annie, wake up.”

&nbs
p; He managed to hit the right buttons to sound the general alarm. All the lights throughout the ship automatically turned on as the first of a series of seven short rings followed by one long ring sounded. Deafening, as it should be in an emergency.

  Annie’s lashes fluttered, and she lifted her hand weakly to push at his chest. “Don’t—”

  Logan covered her fingers with his. “I’m not going to hurt you. I think we have a gas leak. I’m going to carry you out onto the balcony, all right?” He spoke calmly, but his mind was racing as, not waiting for an answer, he scooped her up again, and pushed his way through the billowing drapes. Gently he placed her on one of the chaises on the small curved balcony.

  Giving him a dazed, helpless look, she swallowed convulsively and tried to swing her feet to the floor, but was too weak to manage it.

  “Want to throw up?” he yelled over the sound of the alarms.

  She shook her head no, but her panicked eyes told another story. Logan reached inside the cabin and grabbed the Murano glass shell from the small table beside the doors. He got it under her chin just in time, then braced her forehead in his palm as she hurled.

  * * *

  “Carbon monoxide. Great, just freaking great,” Daniela told Dog. Somehow he’d managed to stretch his big body alongside hers on the chaise. They were like two drunks together. Disoriented and wobbly. The alarm bells had gone silent a few seconds before, but her ears were still ringing. Daniela wanted to get up and go help. But Logan, autocrat that he was, had instructed her not to leave the cabin. And frankly, the clear glass railing looked low enough to topple over in her shaky state.

  “So we’ll stay right here, and listen to that racket and wonder what’s really going on.” She had her fingers buried in Dog’s ruff. “I’m sure Logan will figure out that it’s my cousins. But I’m going to have to tell him myself. Oh yay. I can’t wait to see his expression for this news.”

  She still felt a little sick to her stomach, and Logan had left the glass bowl for her. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. She was dying for some water, but she wasn’t sure her wobbly legs would carry her, so she stayed put.