The Reef

covering her worktable.
    “What is the issue, Red?”
    “I’m not going to waste my time discussing that with you, but there is something we need to talk about.” She shifted, angling herself so that she could face him and still keep a fair distance.
    “We could talk about it over dinner.” He trailed a fingertip down her shoulder. “We haven’t taken a break in more than two weeks. Why don’t we take another run over to Nevis tonight?”
    “Let’s not cloud business with your libido, Lassiter.”
    “I can manage both.” He picked up her hand, kissed her fingers, then the small scar the moray had given her. “Can you?”
    “I believe I have been.” But she drew her hand free, just to be safe. “I’ve given this a lot of thought,” shebegan. “We missed our chance to preserve the Marguerite. The Isabella is badly broken up, but we still have the opportunity to salvage some of her.”
    “Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
    “I don’t mean just her cargo, I mean her. There are treatments to preserve ships’ timbers, prevent their shrinking in open air. She can even be partially reconstructed. I need polyethylene glycol.”
    “I don’t happen to have any on hand.”
    “Don’t be cute, Matthew. Planks immersed in a bath of that solution are permeated with it. Even wood riddled with marine borers can be preserved. I want to call Hayden, ask him to get what’s needed, and to come and help me salvage the ship.”
    “Forget it.”
    “What do you mean forget it? She’s an important find, Matthew.”
    “She’s our find,” he tossed back. “No way in hell I’m sharing her with some college professor.”
    “He’s not some college professor. Hayden Deel is a brilliant marine archaeologist. One who’s dedicated himself to study and preservation.”
    “I don’t give a damn what he’s dedicated to, he’s not coming in on this deal.”
    “That’s the bottom line, isn’t it? The deal.” Disgusted, she shoved away so that she could scoot around the worktable and stand. “I’m not asking for him to have a share of your all-important booty. He wouldn’t expect it. Some of us don’t measure everything in dollars.”
    “Easy for you to say when you’ve never had to scrape one together. You always had Mom and Dad to fall back on, a nice cozy home with supper on the stove.”
    Anger paled her cheeks. “I made my way, Lassiter. On my own. If you’d ever bothered to think past the next wreck, you might have more than the loose change rattling around in your pocket. Now all you can think about is cashing in and living the good life. There’s more to this expedition than auctioning artifacts.”
    “Fine, when we’ve auctioned those artifacts, you can do whatever the hell you want, with whoever you want.”He’d damn well kill anyone who touched her. “But until then, you don’t contact anyone.”
    “That’s all it is to you, isn’t it?” She slapped her palms on the table, leaning forward until her angry eyes were level with his. “Just the money matters.”
    “You don’t know what matters to me. You never did.”
    “I thought you’d changed, just a little. I thought finding the Isabella meant more to you than what you could take from her.” Straightening again, Tate shook her head. “I can’t believe I could be so wrong about you twice.”
    “Looks like you can.” He pushed away from the table. “You always accuse me of being self-involved, Tate, but what about you? You’re so wrapped up in what you want, the way you want it, even if it blocks off what you feel.”
    Driven, he grabbed her arms, dragged her against him. “What do you feel? Damn it, what do you feel?” he repeated and closed his mouth over hers.
    Too much, she thought as her heart went spinning. Too painfully much. “That isn’t the answer,” she managed.
    “It’s one of them. Forget the Isabella, the amulet, your goddamn Hayden.” His eyes were dark and fierce. “Answer that one question. How do you feel?”
    “Hurt!” she shouted over quick, useless tears. “Confused. Needy. Yes, I have feelings, damn you, Matthew, and you stir them up every time you touch me. Is that what you want to hear?”
    “It’ll do. Pack a bag.”
    He released her so suddenly, she stumbled. “What?”
    “Pack a bag. You’re coming with me.”
    “I—what? Where?”
    “The hell with the bag.” She’d told him what he’d wanted to hear, and he wasn’t going to let her rethink it. Not this time. He grabbed