Hunter sped down the channel, motor wide-open. Blake was just ahead of him, their speeds matched. The Cedar Key Fire rescue boat had overtaken them both and was in the lead. God, please let us get there in time.
He tightened his grip on the throttle and offered up another desperate prayer, pleas for Meagan’s protection. And prayers for his own state of mind.
Because ever since he’d barged into that bathroom and found it empty, he’d been half crazy with worry. If he didn’t get a grip on his emotions, he wasn’t going to be any good to Meagan or anyone else. He drew in a deep breath.
Maybe Blake was right. Maybe there was more between him and Meagan than he was willing to admit.
A vise clamped down on his heart. He didn’t want to care for her in that way. He didn’t want to care for anyone like that. His life was full and satisfying. And it was safe. At least in the way that mattered.
Career risks he could handle. Although Cedar Key was a low-crime town, there were dangers inherent to anyone who wore a uniform and carried a weapon. But he faced those dangers without flinching.
It was the other risks he wasn’t willing to face—the possibility that he might give his heart to someone and find he had fallen for a con. Or that he might allow his whole life to become wrapped up in another person, then have everything they had built snatched away in an instant.
He pushed the thoughts from his mind and squinted into the darkness. Seahorse Key was up ahead and to the right, a dark, stationary shape against the ever-moving surface of the sea. Beyond that... His pulse quickened and hope surged through him. Something sat a short distance off the key, a distinct shape, visible in the moonlight.
He strained to make it out. Yes, it was a boat, a small one, probably the size of Meagan’s johnboat. There should be two people on board. But there were no shapes breaking the smooth profile. The boat appeared to be empty.
Which meant Meagan and Sally were already in the water.
His chest clenched. Knowing Meagan’s past and her fear of drowning only made it worse. God, help her to keep her cool. Help us to get there in time. He pushed the throttle harder, but it was already at top speed.
As they drew closer, a small figure became visible, someone in a life jacket bobbing in the waves. He searched for a second person, his heart pounding. But there was only one. Sally Ferguson. Frantic prayers circled through his mind as he willed Meagan to surface.
The fire rescue boat was close now, its spotlights bathing the whole scene in sharp white light. Sally’s head was tilted forward, her arms submerged. She didn’t acknowledge their approach. She either didn’t notice or was determined that nothing would stop her quest for revenge.
Despair showered down on him, hopelessness tinged with desperation. Meagan didn’t even seem to be struggling. Maybe they were already too late.
The rescue boat slowed, and although Sally’s head pivoted their direction, she didn’t release her hold. Joe jumped into the water. Wade followed him moments later. Bobby and Gary remained on the boat. Bobby was in uniform, Gary wasn’t, but both officers had their weapons drawn. Blake dropped to an idle, and Hunter did, too.
“Freeze!” It was Bobby who gave the order. “Hands in the air.”
But Sally didn’t move. When Joe grasped her arms, she struggled for several seconds, then tipped her head back and let out a bellow of rage-filled agony. Without warning, she swung a fist, catching Joe across the jaw.
Hunter stood, ready to take action. But he didn’t need to. Bobby laid down his weapon and jumped in, removing the cuffs from his belt without pausing. He reached her within moments and soon had her restrained.
But Hunter’s focus was on Wade. Joe had joined him, and they were lifting Meagan over the open back of the boat. Her eyes were closed, and she wasn’t moving. She probably wasn’t breathing, either. If only they could have gotten there three or four minutes sooner.
No, he wouldn’t think like that. Joe and Wade were trained EMTs. They would revive her.
While they did CPR on Meagan, he tried to tune out Sally’s screams of protest. Couldn’t Bobby shut her up? He cast a glance that direction. Blake had pulled up alongside the rescue boat, and Gary had stepped aboard. Now they were loading a twisting and bucking Sally Ferguson aboard Blake’s boat.
Hunter’s eyes shifted back to Meagan, and he continued to send up prayers, alternating between pleading with God to save her and willing her to start breathing again. He longed to go to her, if for nothing more than to hold her hand, but he needed to stay back, to give Joe and Wade room to do their work.
In the background, his colleague’s Southern drawl registered at the edge of his thoughts. Bobby was reading Sally her rights.
Finally, Meagan heaved, and water poured out onto the deck. Wade rolled her onto her side, and coughing spasms overtook her, expelling more water from her lungs. Then Joe covered her with a blanket.
Relief washed through Hunter, so intense he almost collapsed back onto the seat. Thank You, thank You, thank You. His prayers were answered. She was going to be all right. He shifted the motor into forward and pulled up alongside the rescue boat. Nothing was going to keep him away from her now.
He stepped aboard, and when Meagan sat up, Sally emitted a howl of rage. “No, it’s not fair! She doesn’t deserve to live! She killed him. She could have saved him, but didn’t.”
Bobby tried to calm her, but she wouldn’t stop the flow of words.
“She saved the senator, because he was someone important. But she let my brother die.”
Sally dropped her head and started to sob. “It’s not fair. She’s still alive, and he’s gone. He’s all I had. I loved him. And I know he loved me. For the first time, I was happy.”
For the first time? What was she talking about? She had lived with her brother for the past ten years.
She sobbed even harder. “He was going to take me away. He promised. And she ruined it.”
Take her away? On a trip? She was making less and less sense.
She drew in some jagged breaths and continued. “I always had a hard time finding someone. And finally Jarrod came along.”
Jarrod? Who was Jarrod? Her brother’s name was Bruce.
“She could have had any guy she wanted. But she had to go after Jarrod. She took him away from me.”
Sally suddenly grew calm. Hunter watched the wildness flee her eyes, and though she turned toward him and the others aboard the rescue boat, her gaze didn’t really settle there. Her focus seemed to be somewhere far beyond them. Or in the distant past.
When she continued, her tone was flat, without emotion. “I can’t have him, but she can’t, either.”
Hunter’s eyes widened as realization stuck him. This was no longer about the pilot. Or even about Meagan. It was about the incident when she was sixteen years old. The fight over a guy. And her friend’s suspicious death.
Bobby leaned toward her, his voice low. “Why can’t she have him?”
Hunter watched her slowly shift her gaze. When she spoke, her words, and the coldness behind them, sent a chill all the way to his core.
“Because I killed her.”
Hunter dropped to his knees next to Meagan and took her hands in his. Her grip was surprisingly strong. She would need to go to the hospital to be checked out, and he would follow her there. Then, if she would let him, he would sleep on her couch. He didn’t want her to be alone when she woke up screaming from a nightmare, as he was sure she would.
Blake motioned toward the channel. “I’ll take these guys back, and they can get her booked in.”
Meagan sat up straighter. “Wait. Check my boat. Sally had a gun.”
Blake eased up to it, and Bobby reached in with a cloth and retrieved a 9 mm with a suppressor. “This baby could have done some damage, and nobody would have known.” He eased back into his seat. “So how are we getting Meagan’s boat back?”
Hunter held up a hand. “I’ll tow it.” Once he returned it to the beach at the Tucker place, he would take care of his own boat, then head for the hospital.
As Blake sped away with his three passengers, Wade knelt next to Meagan. “We need to take you to the ER. You’ve been through quite an ordeal and should be checked out.”
Meagan’s hand tightened on his, as if it was her lifeline to safety. “No.” She shook her head. “I want to stay with Hunter.”
Both Wade and Joe looked at him with raised brows, and one corner of Wade’s mouth cocked up. No, it wasn’t like that, regardless of the emotion exploding in his heart at the moment. It was just that Meagan knew him better than any of the others. She had reached a level of comfort with him, maybe even trusted him.
Wade again grew serious. “Meagan, you need to be treated. You’ve got water in your lungs.”
“No, I coughed it up. I’m breathing fine.”
“You’re breathing fine now, but even a little bit of fluid could be dangerous.”
She shook her head, jaw set. Her stubbornness could be exasperating. Tonight it was understandable. After all she had been through, spending several hours in a hospital emergency room was probably the last thing she felt like doing. But he wasn’t willing to take chances with her life.
“Will you go if I take you and stay with you?”
Several moments passed while she pondered his question. Finally she nodded.
After he helped her onto his boat, she settled into the seat opposite his and drew in a shaky breath. “It’s all over.”
“Yes, it is. You’re safe now.”
He accelerated, but set the throttle at about half the speed he had used coming out. If she wanted to talk, he wouldn’t make her shout over the roar of the motor.
“How did you know where to find me?”
He eased the throttle back further. Her voice was soft. He had heard her, but just barely. “I talked to a couple who saw you headed down Third toward the water.”
She nodded, still staring straight ahead. “I remember them. I thought about trying to signal them, to let them know I needed help. But Sally said if I did, she’d kill them.” Meagan turned to look at him. “I couldn’t risk anyone else’s life to save my own.”
He reached across and patted her shoulder. “You did good.”
She sighed and pulled the blanket more tightly around her. “The pilot drowned.”
A hollow emptiness spread through him. Obviously, Sally had gotten ahold of the autopsy report and had told Meagan what it said.
“I’m sorry.”
He longed to reach out to her, to offer comfort. But there was nothing he could say that would erase what she now knew. Although he didn’t take his eyes off the course ahead, he could feel her watching him.
“You knew, didn’t you?”
He couldn’t lie. It would be so much easier if he could.
“You knew and didn’t tell me.”
“I’m sorry. I knew how much it would upset you.”
“So instead of finding it out from you, I learned it from her.” Meagan’s anger came through in her tone, infusing her voice with strength that hadn’t been there moments earlier.
“Meagan, please don’t be angry with me. I was trying to protect you.”
“It’s not your place to protect me.” She crossed her arms inside the blanket and twisted in the seat so she was angled away from him.
He backed off the throttle until the engine was just idling. “I saw how much it bothered you that you weren’t able to get the pilot out of the plane. That was when you thought he was already dead. When I found out that he was alive when the plane sank, I knew that would cause you even more grief. Unnecessary grief. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
He reached up to touch the side of her face, and she flinched, almost imperceptibly. He dropped his hand. “You don’t need to be afraid of me, Meagan. I would never hurt you.” He lifted his hand again and traced the line of her jaw with one finger, his touch featherlight. “Not all men are abusive. In fact, most men aren’t. There’s someone out there who is going to appreciate you for all that you are—your talent, your spunk, your gentleness, your care for others. He’s going to show you what it’s like to feel loved and cared for and cherished above all else.”
Her eyes fluttered closed, and she rested her cheek against the palm of his hand. She looked secure. At peace. Two things she hadn’t experienced much in recent months, probably in over a year.
And she was beautiful.
“Show me.” Her words came out in the softest whisper.
His pulse rate tripled, and his stomach went into a free fall.
Show me. Did she know what she was asking? That if he showed her what it was like to feel loved and cared for and cherished, he couldn’t do it without putting his heart and soul into it? That doing so would fan to life embers he had let die years ago? That the very thought filled him with his own brand of fear?
A droplet of water fell from her bangs and caught in her lashes before breaking loose to run down her cheek. It stopped when it reached her mouth. His thumb traced its path, lingering on her lips. The silence of the night wrapped around them, and moonlight bathed them in its silvery glow.
Something stirred within him, a long-suppressed force awakening. Her eyes drifted open, and her gaze locked with his. There was no tension there, no fear. Her eyes held only longing, mirroring his own.
He slid from his seat to kneel next to her, then leaned toward her, drawn by invisible cords. But she didn’t pull away. Instead, her eyes closed and her lips parted, inviting him closer still.
He kissed her, the brush of his lips as soft as his other touch had been. But there was nothing gentle about the effect she had on him. Fire coursed all the way to his toes, and he fought the urge to crush her to him.
Despite the firestorm of emotion swirling through him, he held back. Beneath the strength and resourcefulness that she showed to the world was a fragility that spoke to everything masculine in him. Tenderness shot through him, followed by determination. He would show her that other men weren’t like Edmund and her father. He would treat her with gentleness and care and respect.
And she would know what it felt like to be loved.
The thought was like a dash of cold water thrown into his face. He backed away and returned to his seat. He was offering her something that wasn’t his to give, making promises he would never be able to keep.
The boat moved with a gentle rocking motion, mocking the turmoil within him.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what? That you kissed me?” Her eyes held sadness. And loss. As if she had touched something wonderful for the briefest moment before it slipped through her hands.
Or maybe that was what he felt.
She frowned over at him. “Why do you do it? Why do you pour yourself into work and church and volunteer activities, to the exclusion of relationships?”
“I don’t exclude relationships. I have a lot of close friendships.”
“During the four years you’ve lived on Cedar Key, no one has known you to have a girlfriend or even go on a date. And it’s not because no one is interested. Half the town’s female population would kill for a chance to be with the elusive Hunter Kingston.”
“I think someone’s doing a lot of exaggerating.” He laughed, but it sounded hollow, even to his own ears.
“What happened? Why are you afraid?”
“I’m not afraid.” The argument flowed out with no forethought.
Meagan untangled her arm from the blanket and put a hand on his shoulder. “Tell me. What happened to you? Did someone leave you?”
He drew in a deep breath, preparing to speak the sentence that he always avoided vocalizing aloud. In fact, he tried to avoid thinking about it, too. “She was killed by a drunk driver three weeks before our wedding.”
“I’m so sorry.” Meagan dropped her arm.
Four years ago, he had vowed that he would never open himself up to that kind of pain again. He had never been willing to break that vow.
Until now.
What he was feeling was a mistake. He didn’t want to fall in love again. And he didn’t want to fall in love with Meagan. She had deceived everyone on Cedar Key. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand, because he did. He could justify everything she had done. But she was a good liar. Too good. Like his brother. How would he ever be able to fully trust her?
He eased the throttle forward. He needed to get a grip on his emotions. But that would take keeping his distance from Meagan.
The problem was, he didn’t want to keep his distance. In fact, he wanted to wrap her in his arms and kiss her until all the raw places in his heart healed over.
And every bad experience she had ever had was nothing but a distant memory.
* * *
The sun shone from high in a cloudless sky, its heat tempered by the cool breeze blowing off the Gulf. Meagan drew in a cleansing breath and let it out slowly. Two days had passed since Sally’s capture. Two whole days of living without fear. Two days of freedom.
She smiled over at Blake’s wife, Allison. Blake had left them in search of something to drink. They currently stood in the park, enjoying the sunshine and mild temperatures, along with dozens of...pirates. On the beach, a bunch of them had formed two rows and squared off. Musket fire boomed, and smoke rose. Between them, two pirates lay dead next to a treasure chest.
But it was all in good fun. It was the weekend of the annual Cedar Key Pirate Invasion. The day had started with pirates invading the city park, then sauntering through the streets in full garb, singing pirate songs. Now was the epic Battle for Cedar Key, wherein Jean Lafitte’s men tried to remove his treasure from the island, while pirates from all over tried to take it. The Spanish Garrison was there to keep the peace.
“Hey, ladies.”
Meagan turned to see Hunter approach, handsome as always in his police uniform. He smiled, and her heart gave an answering flutter.
She had spent Thursday night and part of yesterday in the hospital. Then Hunter had brought her home. He had offered to sleep on her couch so she wouldn’t have to be alone, at least that first night, but she had declined the offer. Knowing he was lying twenty feet away would have kept her awake until the wee hours of the morning.
Especially after that kiss. No one had ever kissed her like that. Or made her feel the way Hunter had. She kept reminding herself that it didn’t mean anything. She had, in so many words, asked him to kiss her. She had wanted him to show her what it was like to feel loved and cherished.
And he had. So well that she didn’t want it to end. But it wasn’t real. At least it wasn’t personal. That was just the way Hunter was—gentle, caring, concerned for others.
And as long as he kept his heart closed, he wouldn’t let it be real. With anyone. But that didn’t stop her pulse from skipping a beat every time he approached, or keep her from longing for what she could never have.
She shook off the thoughts and returned Hunter’s smile. “Hey, yourself.”
“I thought you were supposed to be at the store today.”
“I was, but Darci gave me the day off. She didn’t want me to miss the activities.”
Meagan had taken yesterday off, too. It had been so late when she got in Thursday night, and when Darci heard what had happened, she was adamant—Meagan needed time for some rest and relaxation. Darci promised she could make up the hours next week.
Blake returned with three bottles of water. After some casual conversation, Hunter turned to go back to his duties, most of which involved roaming the crowds and making sure the only thieving and rabble-rousing going on were part of the planned activities. Hunter’s shift would end at six. Then he would meet Blake and Allison and Meagan for dinner. If it weren’t for the fact that Darci and Jayden would be joining them, it would feel a lot like a double date. Except Hunter didn’t date.
As Meagan watched him walk away, a sigh escaped her mouth. She had come to Cedar Key determined that no man would ever again charm his way into her life. But Hunter had a way of blowing holes through barricades without even trying.
“Don’t give up on him.”
Blake’s words cut across her thoughts. “What?”
“Don’t give up on him. Right now, he doesn’t know what he wants. But I’m working on him.”
Was she that obvious? “He might not appreciate you playing matchmaker.”
“I’m just returning the favor.” Blake put his arm around his wife and pulled her close. “He put us together.”
“Well,” Allison interjected, “not exactly put us together. More like knocked some sense into him when he was going to leave Cedar Key and go back to Texas.”
Meagan laughed. “That’s a story I want to hear sometime.” She loved happy endings. They just always seemed to belong to someone else.
As the sun sank low, the three of them made their way down Dock Street to the Seabreeze. When Hunter, Darci and Jayden arrived, they had just been seated.
Allison smiled up at the newcomers. “Perfect timing. Are you hungry?”
“Hungry and thankful to get off my feet for an hour or so.” Hunter sank into one of the two empty chairs. The third was a high chair.
By the time their meals arrived, the final remnants of daylight were fading to dusk. Pirates still roamed the streets, along with residents and visitors who had just come to observe. The table where Meagan and her friends were sitting was on the side. Large windows offered an unbroken view of the park. This weekend, it was home to an authentic pirate encampment, as well as Thieves Row, a dozen or so pirate-themed vendors.
Two men moved down the sidewalk toward her, navigating the curve where A Street became Dock. They were dressed in full pirate garb, their tricorne hats casting their faces in shadow. One was tall and slender, the other shorter and stocky.
Meagan tensed, unease trickling through her. Based on their sizes, they could be Edmund and Lou. Of course, they could also be any number of other men on Cedar Key that day. She silently scolded herself. If she was going to have any semblance of a happy life, she was going to have to stop looking for the devil under every rock.
Then the taller pirate tipped back his head, and for a brief moment, his eyes locked with hers. Actually, it was just one eye—the other was covered with a black patch.
She let out a gasp. All conversation at the table stopped, and every head except Jayden’s turned to her.
Meagan tightened her hand around her fork. “I think I just saw Edmund.” She had nothing to hide. Darci knew her past. So did Blake. Allison likely didn’t, but Blake could explain later.
Allison’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
Okay, so she knew, too. Meagan didn’t mind. Allison had experienced her own terror.
“I—I think so.” The eye contact had been brief, not more than a second or two. But he had looked right at her. And projected hatred—cold and lethal.
Or maybe it was her imagination. Maybe it wasn’t Edmund at all.
“It looked just like him. And he was with someone Lou’s size. But I could be wrong. The lighting isn’t good.”
She tried to push the concerns from her mind, determined to enjoy her dinner. But later, as people gathered in front of the Seabreeze and formed a large circle to watch the fire performers, she found herself scanning the faces of the crowd. Then the music started, and within moments, she was mesmerized.
Flames lit up the darkness as the dancers stepped and turned and twisted to a rock beat. One performer held what looked like a long baton, lit at both ends. He twirled it in front, overhead and behind his back, at times so quickly that there almost seemed to be an unbroken circle of fire. A female performer had a flame trailing from each arm. She dropped to her knees, then eased herself backward until she was lying faceup, with the flames dipping and twirling over her body.
As the first song ended and the second one began, Meagan cast a glance at Hunter. She started to return her attention to the performers, but one of the observers caught her gaze and held it. It was the tall pirate. The flickering light cast dancing shadows across his face, but she had no doubt he was watching her.
She grasped Hunter’s forearm and held it in a viselike grip. “There he is.”
“Where?”
She pointed almost straight across the circle. “Over there, in the tricorne hat and eye patch.”
Hunter looked at her askance. “You just described several dozen people.”
The crowd shifted, and the tall pirate fell back. Maybe it wasn’t Edmund. But maybe it was. Either way, she had to know.
She grabbed Hunter’s hand and pulled him around the back of the circle. Then she stood on her tiptoes, searching.
Just as she caught a glimpse of him, a heavyset man moved to the side and blocked her view. By the time she was able to slip around him, she had lost the tall pirate.
At the end of Dock Street, she broke from the crowd and looked up A Street toward the park. There they were. The pair she had seen from the window of the Seabreeze.
She charged off in that direction, Hunter right on her heels. They caught up to the two men between the boat ramp and the park.
“Hey, you. Stop.” Hunter’s voice held undeniable authority. He still wore the uniform to back it up.
The men spun around. Neither had an eye patch and neither was Edmund or Lou. They had followed the wrong men.
Or maybe they hadn’t. Maybe the men she’d seen from the Seabreeze were just ordinary people, in Cedar Key for a good time.
Hunter looked at her, clearly waiting for direction.
She offered the men a weak smile. “I’m sorry. We mistook you for someone else.”
Hunter held up a hand. “Sorry to bother you. Go about your evening.”
She dropped her gaze to the sidewalk, embarrassment washing over her. “I’m sorry. I just led you on a wild-goose chase.”
Hunter hooked a finger under her chin and gently tilted her face upward until she was looking at him.
“Don’t ever apologize for letting me know you feel threatened. And don’t ever feel like you can’t come to me with any concerns. I don’t care how small they seem.”
He stared down at her, his gaze tender. It was the same gentleness she had felt in his kiss. And longed to experience again, but refused to ask.
She cleared her throat and shifted her weight. “Thanks. I’ll probably be doing a lot of that.”
Chances were good that she was worrying for nothing, that Edmund never saw the report about the plane crash. A month and a half had passed. There was the possibility that Lou had visited Nature’s Landing, but other than that, Edmund hadn’t attempted to come after her.
He was patient, though—cold and calculating. And he was careful. He wouldn’t risk getting caught.
The pirate festival offered the perfect opportunity. What better time to come looking for her than during an event that drew hundreds of people?
An event one could attend in costume and slip in and out of the crowd undetected.
Then strike when least expected.