the water and back into the boat.
“Daisy,” he cried, unable to keep the alarm out of his voice. “Dear God in heaven, are you all right?”
With her long hair dripping mercilessly onto her face and algae clinging to her clothing, Daisy tried to sit upright. Needing to know she hadn’t been injured, Asher ran his hands down the length of her arms and then her legs until she slapped him away.
“I’m fine,” she choked out, coughing up a mouthful of river water.
Asher slapped her back several times, hoping that would help.
“I swear I swallowed half the Amazon,” she muttered, once she’d caught her breath. Using both hands, she brushed the hair away from her face and started trembling violently.
Then, to his horror, Daisy started to cry, big gulping sobs that shook her shoulders.
“Daisy, please, talk to me.”
Her shoulders shook as she opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again.
Not knowing what to do, Asher looked to Janice Brown, hoping the older woman would have an inkling of what was the matter. Daisy didn’t appear to have been injured. The worst that had happened was swallowing the river water.
Janice Brown scooted close to Daisy and placed her arm around her shoulders, not seeming to care that she was getting soaked herself. “It’s all right, Daisy, let it out.”
“You don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand?” the sympathetic older woman cooed.
“I’m not like this. I’m capable and strong…yet from the moment I stepped on board this cruise I have made a fool of myself,” she blubbered between sobs. “I’m a complete klutz!”
“What you don’t see, Daisy,” Janice said, her words comforting and gentle, “is that you have endeared yourself to all of us. The things that have happened to you could have happened to any one of us.”
“Maybe, but they happened to me.”
Daisy sniffled several times and looked at Asher as if to tell him how sorry she was. Janice scooted back to join her husband.
Unable to resist, Asher gathered her in his arms, holding her against him as if he never intended to let her go. With the life jacket it was hard to get as close as he wanted to. Not that Asher cared if comforting her soaked his own clothes. Nothing was going to keep her out of his arms.
With his forehead braced against hers, he said, “I lost ten years off my life seeing you go overboard.”
Daisy wiped her forearm under her nose. “Where’s the snake?”
“Gone.”
“Good thing, or I’d go back into the water,” she said between sniffles, and made a gallant effort to smile.
He had to assume she was joking. It was hard to release her, but he needed to get her back to the ship. She was wet and miserable, and seeing her so uncomfortable made him even more eager to see her safely back to where she could shower and change.
Asher kept close watch over her as they zoomed at full speed across the river. Daisy shivered with shock and cold. She was a pitiful sight, sitting on the bottom of the Zodiac with her arms wrapped around her knees, water still dripping and pooling all around her.
Asher knew that piranha had a bad reputation, no thanks to Hollywood. The facts said differently. The fish rarely attacked humans. Furthermore, this area on the Amazon where they’d been fishing had an abundant supply of insects, crustaceans, worms, and seeds, which was their common diet, so Daisy was never in any real danger. Instinctively, he knew all that, and still, seeing her fall out of the Zodiac had panicked him.
Janice patted Daisy’s hand and talked soothingly to her until they reached the ship. Asher radioed ahead to be sure there were towels waiting.
Daisy held back and was the last one off the Zodiac, and Asher personally helped her disembark and then walked her to her stateroom.
“Take a shower and then meet me,” he said, finding it difficult to leave her.
With the towel wrapped around her shoulders, she sniffled. “I’ve already taken my allotted two showers for this week.”
“It’s fine, these are extenuating circumstances.” He would never say it aloud, but Daisy looked like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Although he was likely to be seen by both passenger and crew, he leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “I’ll be waiting.”
“I…I won’t be long.”
Surprising him, she leaned forward and pressed her head against his chest. “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to look anyone in the eye.”
“What makes you say