Under the Surface

by Kira Sinclair

  Frustration rode her hard. It had been torture to watch Jackson’s team disappear over the horizon knowing they had a head start on her and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

  By the time they’d reached the area, she’d built up a healthy head of steam. It was either that or give in to the tears that threatened, and she refused to let Jackson Duchane have that much hold over her emotions.

  Or at least she refused to let him see that he had that much influence over her emotions.

  She expected to see Jackson’s crew performing the normal tasks necessary during a dive. What she didn’t anticipate was the all-out flurry of activity or the sense of panic that seemed to permeate every single person.

  Jumping into the launch, she headed over to the Amphitrite to figure out what was going on, Brian and several of her team beside her. They boarded the Amphitrite, no one paying them any attention.

  “Get me that extra tank, dammit! And what do we have that could move those beams out of the way?” Marcus grabbed one of the guys by the collar and hollered into his face, “No, not an ax, you idiot, I’d like to get Jackson out alive, not bury him beneath the rubble of the damn ship! The whole thing is unstable. Do you want the rest of it crushing him?”

  Dread twisted through Loralei’s belly. “What the hell is going on?”

  Barely tossing her a glance, Marcus said, “I don’t have time to deal with you right now, Ms. Lancaster. I have a crisis.”

  Loralei ground her teeth together, fighting back the panic and biting off the words that wanted to spew from her mouth. They wouldn’t be helpful right now.

  “Obviously. What’s going on? Where’s Jackson? And what can my team do to help?”

  “Jackson is trapped inside the Chimera. He went in to investigate and for some reason the whole damn thing shifted.”

  Loralei felt the attack coming. The clammy cold followed by the rushing wave of hot. The rolling nausea gripped her belly. Her vision swam, grayed out. Jackson was trapped under water. He was going to die. Just like her mother had.

  She couldn’t breathe. She might as well have been down there with him, air slowly dwindling to nothing. The nightmares she’d had as a child, what her brain had conjured up as her mother’s last moments, merged with her current reality.

  “Oh, God.” Her legs buckled beneath her. Before she could hit the deck, Marcus grabbed her.

  “Breathe, Loralei.”

  She was losing it. She stared into the other man’s face, trying desperately to focus.

  He should be down there, helping Jackson right now. What was he doing instead? Holding her up.

  Not for the first time since her fear had started, Loralei hated it. Hated herself for the weakness. But today, she had to find the strength to deal with it, because Jackson needed every person on the ship—including her—fighting for him.

  And she needed him to live. Desperately. Even if they couldn’t repair what had been broken between them, he had to survive this.

  Jackson was down there, alone and probably frightened...okay, so maybe he was just alone. She couldn’t imagine her big, bad SEAL being afraid of anything. And she was up on this deck losing her mind instead of doing something to help.

  Pushing away from Marcus, Loralei squared her shoulders. “Okay, what’s the plan?”

  “We’re taking down tanks so he can change out gear. He’s already been down a couple hours. Then we’re trying to figure out how to wedge the beams out of the way, at least enough for him to squeeze through.”

  Nodding, Loralei said, “What can my team do?” Jackson trusted Marcus, so she’d trust his plan and judgment, too.

  “We need every man we can get.”

  Turning back to Brian, Loralei ordered, “Tell everyone to suit up.”

  Ten minutes later just about every man was in the water. One by one, the group slipped beneath the surface.

  And Loralei waited on deck, staring into the deep blue water and trying desperately not to let fear drag her down.

  * * *

  JACKSON CHECKED HIS tank levels one more time. If someone didn’t hurry up, he was going to be in serious trouble.

  Through the cracks he could just make out Rick on the other side staring in at him. The space might be big enough to pass a regulator back and forth, but he couldn’t stay down here forever. And while he knew someone was already in the process of getting another tank, it wasn’t like they could get it in to him.

  His best bet right now was to force a hole big enough to swim through. If he had to, he could drop his equipment and buddy breathe through the ascent back to the surface.

  He and several other guys had already tried to shift the beams, though.

  With little left to do but stare at the walls and wait, Jackson’s mind spun. The one thing—the one person—he thought about was Loralei.

  Regret swamped him. And not because karma was currently paying him a visit.

  He shifted the bracelet between his fingers, rubbing against the smooth metal surface. He wanted to give this to her. To share the find the way she’d shared her excitement over discovering the cannon.

  With some distance from his anger and the cold bite of betrayal, Jackson could admit that Loralei was the one who’d finally put all the pieces together and had found the Chimera. Without her, he never would have known to send his team to Rum Cay.

  Yes, he was still angry she’d snooped through his computer. But faced with the possibility of losing his life, he realized it was worth trying to work through the things that had come between them.

  He might not agree with her methods, but he understood how the need to share this with her father and the desperation over Lancaster Diving’s financial crisis might have pushed her into doing something she regretted.

  Even if she hadn’t said the words to him, he’d seen the guilt on her face as she’d confessed to her deception. She hadn’t tried to hide the truth from him—at least that was something.

  Besides, he wasn’t completely innocent. He’d let his own issues cloud his judgment. It wasn’t until this moment that he’d understood just what was important. And as much as he’d wanted the Chimera, there was something he needed more. The find should be hers. Would be hers. If he ever made it out of this godforsaken wooden box.

  A commotion on the other side of the wall caught his attention. A muffled noise. An explosive shiver that sent another cascade of sand and silt floating through the water.

  It wasn’t coming from where Rick had been, but the adjacent wall. Suddenly, a jagged hole opened up. It got bigger and bigger until a face appeared on the other side. But not one Jackson expected.

  What the hell was Brian doing here?

  The two men stared at each other through the opening. Although Jackson realized he didn’t have the luxury of wasting those precious seconds, he couldn’t stop himself. A few moments ago he’d been worried he wasn’t going to make it out of the situation alive, and now the man he would have thought most likely to sit and cackle with glee as he watched Jackson die was rescuing him.

  Someone pushed Brian out of the way, jolting Jackson back into survival mode.

  The hole wasn’t big enough for him and his gear to get through. Unstrapping all of his equipment, he shrugged the heavy tanks from his back, but kept hold of them. He needed the weight. Swimming right up to the hole, he stuck his head through and surveyed the cluster of men waiting. Way more than just his team.

  Taking a deep breath from his regulator, Jackson dropped everything, pushed his way through the hole and into Marcus’s hands. Another regulator was immediately shoved in his direction. Taking the spare tank, he strapped all of the equipment back into place and then, for the first time since the walls collapsed, took a steady breath.

  He was going to be fine.

  Turning, he looked at the Chimera. She just sat there, quiet and contained.

  Together, the group headed slowly for the surface. Jackson was used to the painstaking ascent process required after being down so dee
p, but today it felt like forever before the flat glare of sunlight broke through above him.

  He had no idea what to expect. Brian’s presence meant Loralei was up there waiting for him. For a moment, a brief one he’d never admit to another living soul, he wondered if maybe he’d been safer trapped inside the Chimera.

  He wasn’t looking forward to this encounter, dealing with the issues that still clouded the air between them. Especially since he didn’t know where Loralei’s head was. But perhaps telling her that he was planning on giving Lancaster Diving the credit for the find would smooth her temper.

  Better to get the coming confrontation over with.

  He broke the surface, his gaze automatically scanning up for any sign of Loralei.

  She waited, her hands gripped tight around the metal railing, staring at him. The intensity of her gaze ripped straight through him.

  Until she collapsed onto the deck, her legs folding under her. Her hands were frozen around the railing high above her, almost as if she couldn’t let go.

  His only thought at that moment was getting to her.

  He hauled himself onto the diving platform. He stripped off equipment, leaving it wherever it dropped as he raced across to her. Water streamed from his body. He didn’t care. Not when he slid to a halt on his knees beside her, or gathered her into his arms, getting her all wet.

  And she didn’t seem to mind, either, clinging to him with a desperation that made his chest ache.

  Burying her face in his neck, she whispered, “I thought you were gone.”

  * * *

  LORALEI’S MOUTH QUIVERED even as she crushed it against his. She needed to feel him, to know that he was alive and okay.

  Pulling back, Jackson smoothed his hands over her face. “I’m fine.”

  From somewhere deep inside, a sob gushed out. She didn’t bother trying to smother it, but let the tears come. Jackson held her, his arms tight, comforting bands around her body, and let the storm of emotions crash over her.

  All around them, men surfaced from both teams, climbing back aboard the Amphitrite to mill around the deck.

  Finally finding control over her voice again, she asked, “What the hell happened?”

  “I made a stupid mistake.”

  Her hands curled into Jackson’s arms, slipping across the material of his wetsuit in an effort to find some purchase. “A mistake?”

  That was the last thing she needed to hear.

  “A mistake is what killed my mother, Jackson. You can’t do that, go down there and take unnecessary risks. I can’t take it.”

  An impish grin flashed across his face momentarily before it was gone. “You can’t take it?”

  “No. Do you know how I felt when they told me you were trapped down there? That they couldn’t get you out? Jackson, I need you in my life.”

  “You aren’t pissed at me?”

  “Oh, I’m totally pissed at you.”

  Jackson laughed, the sound rumbling through her body and settling in the center of her chest. It was beautiful.

  “That’s okay, I’m still pretty angry with you myself. But I have something for you,” he said. Shifting his body, he reached behind him and pulled something small out of the bag attached to his waist.

  Loralei gasped when sunlight glinted softly off the dulled metal.

  Taking her hand, Jackson stretched out her arm before slipping the thing onto her wrist.

  She stared down at it, transfixed. Honestly, anyone else probably would have thought it ugly. Covered in gunk, it slid against her skin. To her, it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

  “I found it inside the ship. And the first thing I wanted to do was give it to you. Loralei, I’m so sorry. We’ve both made mistakes.”

  Loralei shook her head. “I don’t—”

  Laying a finger across her lips, Jackson blocked her mouth and the words she’d been about to say.

  “I spent ten years looking for the Chimera and you’d devoted less than ten weeks.”

  “I know,” she managed to mumble around his finger.

  “But I never would have found the Chimera without your research. You’re the one who put all the pieces together.”

  Unable to stay still any longer, Loralei maneuvered out of Jackson’s grasp.

  “What I was going to say—” she glared at him “—was that without your research the Lancaster team never would have been searching for the Chimera.”

  Jackson’s eyes danced. Grabbing her, he pulled her close and buried his nose in the crook of her neck. “What are we going to do?”

  “Know of any good diving companies looking to expand? I have a lot of very skilled men, although I’ll admit our ship is a little...injured.”

  Pulling back, Jackson stared at her. “I’ll talk with my partners, but if nothing else, we’ll be sharing credit for finding the Chimera.”

  She smiled up at him, her grin so wide it almost hurt. “Does that mean you and I are going to be working together on the recovery?”

  “I hope so, but don’t you have a job back in Chicago?”

  Her grin wobbled. “I do, but...”

  “Loralei, I’ve seen the way your face lights up when you talk about your work. I wouldn’t ask you to give that up.”

  “I don’t want to lose that, either, but I don’t want to miss out on anything here. I discovered another passion researching the Chimera. I’ll just have to find a way to have both. Surely there’s a university in Florida that might be looking for a history professor.”

  Jackson laughed, happiness bubbling up in him. Unable to keep the words inside anymore, he pulled her closer and whispered, “I’ve fallen in love with you. Somehow, along the way, I discovered that the treasure I’ve spent a huge chunk of my life searching for isn’t nearly as important to me as the woman who helped me find it. I want to figure out where this is going.”

  Jackson waited for her response, his heart pounding fiercely inside his chest. Giving Loralei the power to hurt him took every ounce of courage he had.

  This woman could do more damage to him than years of clandestine missions ever could.

  Pushing her fingers into the hair at his nape, Loralei tugged until he leaned back and looked her in the eye. “I have no idea when it happened, Jackson, but somewhere in these last few days I’ve fallen in love with you. The man that you are—honorable, fierce and driven. Don’t get me wrong, there are days you make me so frustrated, but you also make me feel safe and wanted, something I haven’t always had.”

  Jackson leaned down and kissed her, pressing their mouths together in a white-hot moment of bliss. He’d never get tired of the sensation that spun through his blood at the taste and touch of her.

  Together, they’d found the Chimera. Together they’d figure out how to build a life. And remembering all the times she’d fought with him, dumped a drink on his head and battled her own fears, he knew there wouldn’t be a single dull moment.

  “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m so damn grateful your dad stole my research.”

  Loralei laughed. “I’m glad he fired your ass.”

  Jackson growled low in his throat, even as a smile tugged at his lips.

  Fate was funny. It had a way of taking a few unrelated events and stringing them together to change your life completely.

  And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

  He’d found the Chimera. But more importantly, he’d found the woman he wanted to share the rest of his life with. And that was the greater treasure.

  * * * * *

  They think they’ve found the Chimera,

  but have they really? Find out with Knox McLemore and his beautiful nemesis Avery Walsh

  in Kira Sinclair’s next SEALS OF FORTUNE title,

  IN TOO DEEP.

  Available July 2015.

  Keep reading for an excerpt from ANYWHERE WITH YOU by Debbi Rawlins.

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  1

  BLACKFOOT FALLS 26 MILES.

  Ben Wolf smiled when he saw the warped metal road sign up ahead. No one had bothered to replace it, and now, fifteen years later, it still bore his mark—the large dent made by his baseball bat the day before he’d left town. He’d been leaning out of his friend Buster’s pickup going thirty-five miles per hour when he’d taken a swing, and nearly dislocated his shoulder.

  He’d been so damn angry that day. At his mother for all the lies, at the father he could barely remember, at the McAllister brothers for being better than him. Sure, the family had accepted him as if he’d been one of their own—and not only their maid’s son—but that still didn’t make him a McAllister.

  Ben pressed down on the accelerator as he passed the sign and steered the Porsche into the curve in the highway. He hadn’t thought about that day in years. Hell, he’d dislocated both shoulders since then, busted his ribs more times than he could recall and broken his jaw twice. The difference now was he got paid damn well to risk the occasional visit to the ER.

  The sky was blue and cloudless, the air pleasantly warm considering the April sun was headed for the Rockies, their peaks still packed with snow. Patches of the mountainside below the tree line were still bare. Another month and the spring leaves would take care of that.

  Northwest Montana was beautiful country. No argument there. In a way, Ben had been lucky to grow up on the Sundance. The ranch spread right up to the foothills, where clear water flowed in streams carrying all the fish a kid could catch. How many times had he fallen asleep in a grassy meadow, lulled by the warmth of the sun and the smell of wild sage?