Undertow (2 page)

Fortunately, Zane had decided to explore the area anyway, and it ended up being one of the best decisions of his life. Now he wanted no distractions for the duration of the salvage.

There was a fortune in gold, silver, and emeralds a hundred feet under, and he was determined to return home with the
Decrepit
groaning under the weight of his treasures.

With
her
. Teal Wil iams. Mechanic. Certified diver. Undesirable female.

It was crucial to his focus that she didn·t turn him on, although he usual y
did
like them long and lean. Hel , he liked them short and round, and everything in between. He liked women.

A lot. He liked the way they smel ed. He liked the way they walked. He liked how their convoluted brains worked. He fel in love frequently, but never for longer than two weeks.

Now al he wanted from this particular woman was a month. One stinking damned month.

Was that too much to ask? With the hurricane season fast approaching, and forecast to be a bad one, he couldn·t afford to spend weeks searching for a different mechanic, not one with her level of experience and qualifications.

She was a woman. He·d dazzle her with wit and charm if necessary. Ćan you cook?µ That would be a bonus.

Ńo.µ

On second thought, that was probably a good thing. The way she was looking at him made Zane decide to make her sample everything before he ate it anyway.

Í know you·re a certified diver.µ Which was an enormous plus. Í just hope you can at least make decent coffee.µ

Áre you kid³µ

He held up a hand. Í·l pay you a percentage of the profits from the
Vrijheid
salvage. It·s got emeralds as big as this.µ He made a fist.

She stared at him for several beats. It seemed to Zane that everyone else at the table held their col ective breath as they waited to see who blinked first. She c hewed her lower lip, giving her thumbnail a break. Óver and above my salary?µ

Which was more than generous already. Śure.µ It was SOP to share the profits with one·s crew.

She leaned forward, resting her forearms on the scarred table so she could see around Nick.

The shirt swal owed her hands, and Zane was tempted to go over there and rol them up for her, but then he·d want to straighten her col ar and hand her a damned comb. However, he suspected if he so much as came close, let alone touched her, he·d find himself with a broken hand.

Something mysterious flashed in her eyes before she asked, ´How much of a percentage?µ

Bingo.
He bit back a smile. So, she did have a price, it was just a matter of negotiation. ´We can draw up a new contract right after the meeting.µ

Ńo thanks.µ

She was just jerking his chain. He raised a brow. She was perfect³perfectly
annoying
. If they didn·t kil each other before the salvage was through, it would be a miracle. If he kil ed her beforehand, there was the entire Caribbean ocean to dispose of the body. ´You don·t trust me?µ

´Guilty until proven innocent.µ She gave him an unfriendly look that just piqued his curiosity. He·d interacted with her maybe four or five times over the years. He didn·t remember her ever being this openly hostile before.

´Wow, you·re cynical. Look,µ he said reasonably. Ćutter Salvage pays
damn
wel . We had our pick of a hundred excel ent mechanics³µ

´There you go, then. Have at it.µ

´But it was
Sam
who asked us to hire you.µ Zane turned the screw. Íf you·re serious about not coming with me, your cal . But you have to go explain to a dying man why you·re throwing his good name back in his face.µ

Źane³µ Logan cautioned as Teal·s cheeks drained of color.

´Wanna tel your father that you have better things to do?µ It was a low blow and he felt like a shit for doing it. But Sam hadn·t asked. He·d begged them to bring his daughter to the island. The plea had been unnecessary. She was good and she was experienced. And Sam had been an integral part of the Cutter brothers· lives for as long as Zane could remember. If her father wanted Teal nearby, then that·s where she·d be. End of story.

She glared bel igerently, her eyes so hot he was surprised his hair wasn·t on fire. ´Fine.µ

´Fine?µ

Í·l go with you. Happy now?µ

´Yeah, as a matter of fact,µ he said cheerful y. Í am.µ

Pleased to have gotten his way, he wondered what she·d do if he up and kissed her with gratitude. Probably bite. Then there·d be rabies shots «

´Great,µ Logan inserted. ´You two stay after class and iron out the details so we can get to business before midnight. Brian has prelim info after checking out some of Nick·s haul «

Sorry, Diego.µ Logan·s lips quirked. ´We have an embarrassment of riches today, you·l have to wait your turn.µ

´
No hay problema,
amigo. I·m happy to sit here with the sun on my face, and a pretty girl by my side.µ

Brian rushed in, clearly eager to get to his report. ´
Prelim
being the operative word. Two such enormous finds coming in at the same time³We·ve had less than twelve hours, but³µ

Outnumbered by al the testosterone in the room, Teal quietly gave in to exhaustion.
Sam
had wanted her here? She couldn·t even wrap her tired brain around the concept. She was physical y, emotional y wrung dry. In no way had she been prepared to meet with Zane and the Cutter crew the moment she arrived.

Emeralds as big as her fist? That would cover Sam·s medical costs, which were bound to be high, not that he·d discussed it with her. Nope, sh e·d had to pry the truth of his il ness from him after Logan cal ed to ask her if she wanted to fil in for Sam while he recuperated. Teal rubbed at her eyes.

This meeting with Zane hadn·t been the cool, professional encounter she·d rehearsed in her mirror for the last few weeks. He pressed al her buttons and then some. He·d always been good at that.

Zane. Ace.
Or better yet,
Casanova of the Caribbean.
She gave a mental snort. He·d probably given himself the nicknames. She wished she were in China right no w. She·d made a huge freaking mistake coming here.

Brian waved a paper around as he talked, which took Zane·s focus away from her and gave her some thinking time. Logan, damn him too, hadn·t even given her a chance to take a shower and drag a brush through her hair before he·d brought her to the Counting House an hour ago. None of them was familiar with the word no.

Fighting the lure of sleep, she studied Brian Donahue. Skinny. About forty. He was the resident archeologist who cataloged and sorted the found treasure. He talked as if words were about to be rationed at any second. He had thinning red hair, thick black -rimmed glasses, and waved his hands excitedly to describe the haul they·d just brought in. She·d give anything for some of his energy.

To Teal·s right sat a hot guy who looked like Antonio Banderas in his day.

Diego Zamora apparently worked for, or was partner with, the brothers in their vast salvage operations around the world. She knew from various vacations on the island that the Cutters owned a dozen or more salvage boats.

This guy had apparently returned to the island the night before from a successful salvage near Greece. Same as Nick, who·d been gone for a year, Logan had told her. He·d just returned from a salvage in the waters off Vietnam, the
Scorpion,
his magnificent megayacht, loaded with a fortune in ceramics and china from a wreck in Ca Mau province.

Brian discussed Nick·s treasure, his voice rising and fal ing with enthusiasm. It was al ámazing examples of eighteenth-century chinaµ and the ´definitive ceramic find of the century.µ

Śaw it earlier,µ Zane told his brother as Brian paused to drink from his soda can. Ít·s great.

And of course, Brian cal ed the investors the second he got a look at what you brought in.

Gave them just a taste, so they·re already going ape-shit.µ

Zane had the kind of smile people responded to without realizing they were smiling back. A shark·s smile. Teal bit her lower lip as Zane broke into one of his trademark lazy, cocky grins and caught her eye by accident as he was looking at Nick.

´
Spectacular
pottery and chinaware,µ he toasted his brother with his Coke, his smile slipping a bit when she gave him a blank look in return.

´Yeah. Stunning.µ Nick·s smile was white and self-satisfied. But it didn·t make her pulse skip like Zane·s did. ´Made at the kilns in Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces in China during the Qing dynasty, around 1723 to 1735.µ His blue eyes glittered with triumph. Éven after giving the Vietnam History Museum their share, our cut is estimated at³what did you guesstimate, Bri? Two point five mil?µ

Ńice.µ Everyone around the table grinned in perfect unison.

Teal thought the brothers al looked as dark, swarthy, and uncivilized as their Spanish ancestors, which made their startling blue eyes that much more of a shock. Modern-day pirates.
I need a freaking nap
.

Golden sunlight inched into the room as the sun moved toward a spectacular sunset. A couple of dark wood paddle fans turned lazily, high on the beamed ceiling. Teal could tel by the way one of them wobbled that the capacitor had drifted out of value and needed replacing.

The surf lapping with a soft rhythmic shush at the piling of the marina just a few yards from the building soothed her jagged emotions. She blinked her heavy lid s.

The men focused on Brian, and as she was practical y hidden by Nick·s broad shoulders, she slid a little lower in her seat, discreetly resting her head on the back of the chair. It was a struggle to keep her eyes open, but since no one was paying any a ttention to her, she let her lids stay closed to ease the dry burn of too many sleepless nights.

Brian·s voice rose and fel . She jerked when she realized she couldn·t keep track of what he was saying. Sitting up a bit, she rubbed a finger over one eye an d tried to look engaged.

On her left, Nick slouched in his chair, twisting a pen between long, elegant fingers as he listened. He wore jeans and a wrinkled red T-shirt. His bare feet were crossed at the ankles and propped on the chair beside him so that T eal saw him in profile. He was a nice solid wal between Zane·s line of sight and her own.

They cal ed Nick Śpockµ for some reason she didn·t much care about. His dark hair hung wel below his shoulders, and his handsome features were al but indistinguisha ble due to his thick black beard. The middle Cutter looked like a blue -eyed caveman. He·d given her a hug when she·d walked in and said he was happy to see her again. Teal doubted he remembered her at al , but it was a kind gesture.

Logan sat across the table. He·d cal ed her out of the blue two weeks ago and hired her over the phone. He hadn·t bothered to ask for references, said that Sam·s referral was good enough for him. While the reasons for accepting the job sucked, Logan·s timing couldn·t have been better.

Unlike Nick, Logan was wel groomed, his hair barbered, his face clean -shaven, his jeans and dark T-shirt immaculate. His brothers referred to him as Wolf. Control ed. Intent. He listened to Brian, holding up a hand now and then to ask questions, o r jotting notes into a black notebook.

Which brought Teal·s gaze back to the head of the table and Zane. Their eyes met in a shocking clash that caused her breath to snag in her lungs. A smal smile played on his lips, but there was zero recognition in his eyes. Good. Excel ent.

Fantastic. If he thought that smile would charm her, he was sadly mistaken. She was charm-proof. Especial y
Zane
charm-proof. She gave him a cool look back.

This time she didn·t turn away, just stared him down until he had to return his attention to Logan.

He wore jeans and his aqua blue T-shirt matched his eyes. A move, she was sure, calculated to enhance the color. Vain bastard. His deeply tanned, muscular forearms were stacked on the scarred wood table in front of him, a big -faced, multifunctional dive watch strapped to his strong wrist. His father had given him that watch for his sixteenth birthday. Teal had a faint scar on her inner arm where the band had scratched her.

She repressed a shiver looking at his large hands, which were surprisingly elegant f or such an outdoorsy guy. The cal uses at the base of his fingers had felt as abrasive as cat tongues on her skin when he·d shaken her hand earlier.

Everything about him irritated her. She resisted fidgeting. This would be over soon enough.

Until then, she·d stick to her guns and try her damnedest not to leap down the length of table, grab him by his ears, and shout, Ŕemember me?µ

If Nick·s hair was too long, and Logan·s too neat, Zane·s dark hair was in between. Thick and glossy, the strands brushed his jaw and had a bit of a wave, which softened the hard planes of his face. In one ear, he wore a smal gold hoop earring, just like a freaking pirate.

Teal bet his women just loved the stupid earring.

She·d once thought it the sexiest, most romantic thing she·d ever seen. His skin was very tanned, which made the shocking blue of his eyes that much more startling. As usual, he needed a shave.

And she needed to get a grip. The only positive thing to come out of this meeting was that she was over the crush she·d had on him for years. The only reason her heart was pounding so hard was pure aggravation.

Looking at the glittering sheet of water beyond the windows, she blanked out the drone of conversation as the archeologist rattled off facts and dates and superlatives.

She chewed the jagged edge off her thumbnail.
Sam
had asked them to hire her. Stunning.

Zane Cutter was like a tap resetting the grooves to fit himself, then expecting everyone else to fal into line. She refused to al ow him to deter her. She had her own agenda for accepting the job.

But, oh God. She did
not
want to go with him out to sea. First, she didn·t want to be anywhere
near
him, day in and day out. That was just asking for trouble.

Second, she real y, real y didn·t want to go on his piece of crap it·s-a-miracle-it·s-stil -afloat boat. The thing looked like a moth -eaten junk heap and about a rust hole in the hul away from sinking.