Found at Sea - By Anne Marie Duquette Page 0,24
to see Donna approaching.
“Neil would like a second cup of coffee,” Donna announced, handing over the empty mug.
“Neil always did like his coffee.” Aurora prepared to refill it. “Would you mind taking this up, just in case Jordan hasn’t finished his lecture yet?”
“Getting on your nerves so soon? You’ve only been business partners for a day,” Donna observed.
“To modify an old saying, business makes for strange bedfellows.”
“Which he’s not. Interested?” Donna asked with the familiarity of old friends.
“Well, my hormones are...”
“Oh?”
“But my hormones don’t run my life. He’s awfully serious...and very traditional.”
“You’d be serious, too, if someone nearly killed you. And traditional’s not all bad.”
Rory opened her eyes wide. “I sure didn’t expect to hear that coming from you!”
“Still...” Donna said with a grin.
“I’m certainly not going to date a man who disapproves of me. He’s far too judgmental, and I—” Aurora suddenly broke off. “Just whose side are you on anyway?”
“Yours, of course.” Donna took Neil’s full mug of coffee and snapped on the non-spill lid. “But I wouldn’t stay down here too long. Might make you look like you’re hiding—or afraid.”
Aurora watched Donna leave the galley. She’s right. I’ve been afraid ever since Tanya turned the family vacation into this nightmare. And I’ve been hiding since the day I had to entrust their lives to a stranger.
She joined Jordan back on the main deck, her ingrained honesty forcing her to speak. “Sorry about laughing at you earlier. And walking off. It’s just that I hate being told what to do, and I hate being lectured even more. Especially when someone’s right.”
“You admit it?” Jordan swiveled toward her, surprised.
“Bribing prison officials is wrong, no question about that. But the alternative is so much worse. I can’t let my sister die in jail because her daughter’s a liar. I won’t let it happen. From the time I left my parents’ home, I’ve done what I believed was right, regardless of anyone else’s opinions. And that’s what I’m doing in this situation, too. It’s more important to get Dorian and her family out of jail than to worry about breaking a few laws.”
“Your feelings about your sister’s problem I can understand. But what I don’t understand is... I know this is personal...but why did you leave home so early?”
Aurora toyed with one of the mooring lines. “I could have stayed home living the life my parents wanted for me—and gone stark raving mad. I wanted to—had to—leave. I make no excuses for myself, Jordan. I take the good with the bad. I did then, and I will now. I’m not asking you to help me rescue them. I’m not even asking you to approve. All I ask is that we salvage the San Rafael, and you stand aside where my personal life is concerned. Deal?”
Jordan set down his mug. “I can’t make any blanket promises, but I can say that I don’t want your family to suffer. Okay?”
Aurora exhaled in relief and gave him a sudden kiss on the cheek. “Come on, let’s check out the diving gear. We’ll be coming up on the coordinates soon. The San Rafael is waiting.”
* * *
CLAD IN A WET SUIT to protect himself from the cold Pacific, Jordan glanced toward his dive partner. “Where are we?” he asked Aurora, taking in the jagged rocks, different water colors indicative of treacherous currents and the general instability of the area now navigated by the Dealer Ship. All four of them were on the flying bridge.
“We’re just outside U.S. waters,” she said, “and just north of Mexican waters.”
“A nasty-looking patch. How deep are we?” Jordan asked.
“Seventy to ninety feet in the shallows, dropping down to one hundred and thirty away from the rocks,” Neil said, delicately adjusting the boat’s dual engines to maintain his position against the currents.
“That’s too deep for any long-term dive. We have no decompression chamber,” Jordan said. “And you won’t be able to set anchor in this chop. It’ll tear the boat apart.”
“Oh, we’ll manage.” Aurora grinned. “Trust me.”
Jordan noticed that her curves were only slightly flattened by the thick wet suit, then forced his mind back to business. “When it comes to my life, I trust no one. You know the rules. Plan the dive, and dive the plan.”
“I know. I’m prepared.”
“I’m not!”
“That’s because I want to surprise you. Neil and Donna have checked my dive plan.”
“Not good enough.”
“Trust her,” Donna urged.
“Come on, Neil, help me out,” Jordan demanded. “I don’t like going underwater blind.”
“It’s a tethered dive—the lines are already in