Donovans 01 - Amber Beach

part. Getting the Zodiac down to the boat in this wind was a lot of fun.”
    “You should have let me help you.”
    Jake agreed, but he wasn’t about to admit it. “I still think you should call Ellen. You would be safe.”
    “I would go crazy worrying about Kyle and you.”
    “You trust me with your body but not your brother, is that it?”
    “No. That’s not it.”
    He looked at Honor’s stubborn profile. “I don’t believe you.”
    “I can’t help that.” She stuffed sandwiches into plastic bags and ignored him.
    Jake bit back a savage comment. No matter what she said now about trusting him not to hurt Kyle, she hadn’t mentioned love in all of the wild, windswept hours they had spent in bed waiting for full darkness to come . . . and wishing it never would.
    “What if I just bundle you up and drop you on Ellen?” he asked roughly.
    “I’d tell her where you were.”
    “You won’t know.”
    “Seal Rock.”
    His head turned swiftly toward Honor. “When did you learn how to read the chart plotter?”
    “Watching you. Seal Rock is the only route Kyle entered that we haven’t tried.”
    “There’s no guarantee he’s anywhere near there.”
    “I know.”
    “Then why are you going?”
    “I told you.”
    “If you trusted me, you would stay on land.”
    “Typical male logic—wrong.” Honor picked up the food bags and met Jake’s glance squarely. “You’re wasting time.”
    “What if something happens to you?”
    “What if it happens to you?”
    His mouth flattened. He went through the arguments in his mind again. He had tried all of them twice, some of them three times. Honor wasn’t buying any of them. He had all but come right out and said he was looking for Kyle’s corpse and he didn’t need her for that. The heavy hints had seemed to go right over her head.
    Then he had seen the fear and grief in her eyes and felt like a murderer.
    “Stay here,” Jake said gently. “Believe me, it will be easier on you.”
    “No.”
    “You’re not being reasonable!”
    “Takes one to know one.”
    He dropped the duffel on the table and began cramming in supplies. “If you get seasick and scared, don’t come to me for sympathy.”
    “I figured that out already.”
    Jake didn’t doubt it. With a muttered word he hit the light switch, throwing the kitchen into the same darkness that filled every room but the bedroom. He stood impatiently, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the moonless night.
    “What about the bedroom light?” Honor asked after a few moments.
    “Leave it on.”
    “Why?”
    “If the spy thinks we’re wrestling in the sheets, he won’t wonder why the rest of the place stays dark.”
    “Don’t people turn out the lights to make love?”
    “Did we?”
    “I didn’t notice. Did we?”
    Despite his irritation, Jake couldn’t help smiling as he thought of Honor all flushed and passionate, then sated and sleepy, then her curious mouth arousing him all over again while he watched and wondered how he had gotten so lucky and unlucky at once: Honor was a lover who matched his own hungry sexuality; she was a woman who didn’t really trust him.
    He had a bad feeling that she was planning on ending their affair after he found Kyle.
    “Any darkness that came was due to sunset creeping up on us,” Jake said. “I was enjoying every bit of the view. Especially the look on your face when you came that last time.”
    “Jake!”
    “What? Don’t tell me you didn’t like it.”
    Honor hated the blush she knew was staining her cheeks right then. It made her feel like a schoolgirl. Jake’s slow smile gleaming in reflected light told her that he liked teasing her. He also liked satisfying her.
    “You’re trying to get my mind off going out on the water, aren’t you?” she asked.
    “Is that what I’m doing?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Is it working?” he asked.
    “Sometimes.”
    But there was a catch in her voice that told Jake this wasn’t one of the times. He put an arm around her and pulled her close, comforting her even though he had sworn he wouldn’t.
    “Last chance,” he said softly. “Stay with Ellen.”
    “No.”
    For an instant his lips brushed Honor’s hair. Then he released her and headed out the back door. Together they hurried down the path and into the strong wind. For part of the way, forest screened them from any watchers. For the rest of the path, they would have to depend on darkness and luck.
    “The dock will be slippery,” Jake warned her in a