Donovans 01 - Amber Beach

herself on the bulkhead. After a few moments, swell from the wake surged beneath the boat, making it roll a bit. If Jake noticed what the boat was doing, it didn’t bother him.
    It bothered her.
    “What are you doing?” she asked frantically.
    “Laying out a few ground rules. Number one. You’re damned attractive and you know it, so unless you’re planning to follow up on all the lip-licking and sideways looks, save them for a boy who cares.”
    Her eyes widened. “What are you talking—”
    “Rule number two,” he continued without pause. “Refer back to rule number one. Got that, honey?”
    “The problem exists in your mind,” she shot back. “If I lick my lips it’s because I’m nervous. Ditto for sideways looks. Got that, honey? ”
    Jake admired her brilliant, narrowed eyes. Anger had flushed her cheeks, taking away the pallor of fear. He smiled slowly.
    “That’s more like it,” he said.
    Her jaw dropped open. “Hello? Are we having the same argument?”
    “Discussion.”
    Honor realized her mouth was still open. She closed it.
    “Discussion?” she asked cautiously.
    “Right. We were discussing how to get your mind off being afraid of the water. Simple. We give you something else to think about.”
    A dizzying combination of anger, laughter, and disappointment swept through Honor. The first two emotions she understood. The third she ignored.
    “Ready?” he asked.
    “To strangle you? Any time.”
    He laughed quietly. “You’ll do, Honor Donovan.”
    “Promises, promises.”
    She let out a shaky breath, started to lick her lips, and forced herself not to.
    “Okay?” he asked.
    She nodded, surprised to realize that she meant it. “Your methods are crude but effective.”
    His smile turned down at the corners. “That’s me. All the finesse of a neutron bomb and twice the fun.”
    “I didn’t mean it as an insult.”
    “I’m used to it. Charm never was one of my virtues. I leave that for the con men of the world.”
    Like Kyle Donovan, Jake thought grimly. And his family. Don’t forget them. They’re the folks who gave orders that shut every door in your face that might have led to the truth.
    And when all was said and done, Honor was a Donovan. He had to remember that.
    He applied power, turned the boat, and accelerated. Very quickly he brought the SeaSport up on plane so that it skimmed over the water, balanced between speed and fuel efficiency. He adjusted the trim tabs the same way he did the throttle, unconsciously. The controls were as familiar to him as breathing.
    That left him plenty of time to look around. He saw pretty much what he had expected to see but had hoped he wouldn’t: as the Tomorrow raced back out into the strait, three other boats changed course and poured on the power to follow him.
    Two of the boats had appeared shortly after the Tomorrow left its little dock. The third one was new, a big Coast Guard Zodiac in high-visibility orange. It was on an interception course with the Tomorrow . As the Zodiac got closer, one of the four men aboard began signaling for the SeaSport to stop.
    “So much for fishing the tide change,” Jake said.
    “Did we miss it?”
    “Not yet, but we will.”
    “Why?”
    “See that orange Zodiac?”
    There was only one orange craft on the water, so identifying it wasn’t hard.
    “It’s more a raft than a real boat,” Honor said.
    “It can go ashore without a dock and catch anything on the water it’s likely to chase.”
    Jake brought down the power to idle, but he did it slowly enough not to alarm Honor.
    “Is something wrong with our boat?” she asked warily.
    “I hope not. We’re about to have a ‘random’ Coast Guard inspection.”
    The brightly colored Zodiac was closing rapidly with them now that the Tomorrow was floating dead in the water.
    “Do they inspect every boat?” she asked.
    “Nope.”
    “Most boats?”
    “Nope.”
    “A quarter of the boats?”
    “Nope.”
    “One in ten?”
    “I doubt if they stop one in a hundred.”
    “Then why are they bothering us?”
    “Just lucky, I guess.”
    The cynical tone of his voice was echoed in her answering smile.
    “Cops on land and cops at sea,” Honor said. “Gosh, am I ever protected.”
    “Yeah. Makes you feel all warm and squishy, doesn’t it?”
    “So would a full diaper.”
    Jake was still laughing when he grabbed the Tomorrow’s papers from the drawer and went out to the stern to give the Coast Guard “permission” to board.
    They