Dangerous Desire

19

“Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m not speaking another word to you unless you come back with food, clean clothes, and antibiotics. Whatever gave me that fever probably isn’t done with me yet, and I need medicine, nourishment, and rest. In the meantime, you’re going to figure out how you want to handle our situation. If I end up overboard again, I’ll consider that my answer.”

He just keeps staring at me as if picturing me swinging from a tree branch with a noose around my neck.

Fine. Let him be angry. I’ve leaped off higher bridges than this and survived.

I tiredly wave a hand toward the door. “That’s it. Piss off.”

Then I hobble back into the bathroom, lock the door behind me, curl up in the tub, and promptly fall asleep.

EIGHT

EVA

Sometime later, a thunderous banging noise wakes me.

“Come out,” orders Killian through the door after he’s finished punishing it with his fist.

He sounds calm. That either means he’s brought what I’ve asked for and we’re going to talk, or he’s standing there holding a machete and my head will soon be separated from my body.

“Give me a minute.”

I lift my head, wincing at the crick in my neck and the soreness in my limbs. Slowly, I climb out of the tub, rolling my head when I stand, stretching my arms toward the ceiling and hearing my spine crack. All my muscles groan in protest. I don’t look at myself in the mirror—I’m not that much of a masochist—but spend several moments mentally gathering myself and making sure the knot in the towel over my breasts is snug. I have no idea where the yellow dress or the white one I wore when I came aboard went, but this is the only thing I have to wear, so it will have to do.

I open the door to find Killian standing right beside it. Startled he’s standing so close, I jerk back a step.

“Hullo.”

His pleasant expression and cordial tone immediately make me suspicious. “Hi.”

He takes a moment to examine me. I can only imagine the unholy mess I look like, but except for a slight narrowing of his eyes, he doesn’t react. “You slept on the floor?”

“The tub.”

He repeats slowly, “The tub.”

I lift a shoulder. “It seemed like the thing to do. Are you going to throw me overboard?”

The faintest hint of a smile lifts his lips, there and then swiftly gone. “You don’t have a talent for small talk. That’s unusual for a woman.”

His words make my chest ache with a sudden, violent longing for Naz. He’d told me the same thing several times, lovingly teasing me about how hopeless I was with making light conversation and how abruptly I changed subjects, two random aspects of my personality he found charming.

Naz. God how I miss you. I look at my feet and moisten my lips. “My life hasn’t been one where small talk was necessary. Or encouraged.”

After a moment that feels charged, Killian says, “Mine either.”

I glance up. He’s looking at me with a new expression, one of piercing curiosity and focus, his hazel eyes almost glowing they’re so intense. It rattles my nerves.

“What do you want from Dimitri that you kidnapped me to get?”

Now his smile really comes on, widening across his face to reveal a dimple in one cheek and a slew of straight white teeth. Whatever circle of hell he emerged from, they obviously had a good dental plan.

But that dimple is damn disturbing. On a ruthless face like his, with all its hard angles and straight edges, it adds a touch of softness that seems completely out of place yet all the more compelling because of it.

“There are fresh clothes on the bed for you. Come up to the main deck after you’ve dressed and we’ll eat.”

“So I’m not going overboard. Good to know.”

“Not yet.”

When I scowl, the dimple flashes as if it’s winking at me. I find it so irritating my next words are laced with acid. “What about the antibiotics?”

He says drily, “Did you think there was a pharmacy on board?”

“I thought there might be a medical kit, or maybe one of the crew . . . never mind.”

His expression turns sly, which makes me even more suspicious than when it was tranquil. Oh, who am I kidding? Every one of his expressions makes me suspicious as hell. The shady bastard!

Then, from the back pocket of his jeans, he pulls out a small white bottle and holds it up. He shakes it, rattling the contents. There’s a yellow prescription label on the side that tells me those pills aren’t aspirin.

When I meet his gaze, his is the smug look of a man who enjoys surprising people.

“Wow. If you were any more pleased with yourself, we’d have to get a priest so you and your ego could get married. Where did those come from?”

“The captain.”

“Oh. I’ll have to thank him.”

“Nice thought, but you can’t.”

I sharpen my look at the edge in his voice. “Why’s that?”

“I broke his neck.”

I go cold with horror and stare at Killian with wide eyes. He smiles blandly, turns away, and says over his shoulder, “See you above deck.”