In Too Deep (2 page)

His instincts told him it was the latter, he just couldn’t prove it. Yet.

Cocking her head, she said, “In a few hours we’ll be in the middle of the Caribbean. I don’t think you can change the status quo by then, especially considering you lost that fight the first time around, but feel free to try.”

* * *

I
NSIDE
, A
VERY
WAS
a quaking mess. She was bluffing, but then most of her life had been a bluff.

The problem was, this time someone was waiting to call her on it.

Anderson McNair had her trapped and there was nothing she could do about it.

Almost six weeks ago he’d walked into her office and informed her that he knew her little secret and if she wanted it to stay just between the two of them she was going to help him. Remembering that day made her stomach churn with anxiety and guilt.

Anxiety and guilt she’d been fighting for years.

It didn’t help that Knox McLemore intimidated the hell out of her. Not to mention that he could set her body on fire with nothing more than a scorching gaze.

From the moment he’d nearly run her over with his shiny black speed demon of a car—in the Trident Diving parking lot, no less—she’d wanted to hate him. But she’d needed to win the job more, and not simply because working on the
Chimera
was the kind of project she lived for.

If she failed and they hired someone else, Anderson McNair would ruin her reputation and sink her business.

Part of her had hoped Trident would award the project to someone else. Then the years of wondering and worrying would have been over.

But her life wasn’t the only one poised to be ruined. Her sister, innocent in the entire situation, would suffer as well. And Avery couldn’t stomach that.

McNair expected her to sabotage the assignment...to torpedo her integrity and announce that the wreckage wasn’t the
Chimera
, no matter what the evidence proved.

Her only hope was that Jackson Duchane was wrong and the ship they were heading toward really wasn’t the
Chimera
.

Best-case scenario—but her life never worked that way.

Avery couldn’t worry about that right now, though. She needed to concentrate on getting through the next five minutes without Knox McLemore realizing how vulnerable to him she really was.

A feral smile crossed his face. “Let’s get one thing clear, doc.”

She hated that word. And not simply because Knox seemed to delight in shortening her professional title. That got under her skin plenty, but she preferred no one use it...because she hadn’t actually earned the damn thing.

“You’re on my ship. I make the rules.”

Knox studied her with a slow, lazy perusal that had lightning shooting beneath her skin. She’d already been sweltering under the pounding tropical sun, but suddenly sweat slicked every pulse point on her body.

She wanted to reach up, unbutton her blazer and sling it off. The only thing that stopped her was knowing the layer of linen was all that kept her tight nipples from Knox McLemore’s sharp gaze.

McLemore was the kind of man she stayed far away from—mellow, confident, purposely provocative. Because despite the persona she’d developed for business, inside she was still the shy, quiet girl who’d spent years moving from place to place and never quite fitting in anywhere.

Just standing in front of him left her edgy. She wanted to take a step back, but her feet were frozen in place.

She couldn’t seem to tear her eyes from Knox’s faded, ripped jeans and the T-shirt clinging to his powerful muscles. His dark brown hair was too damn long, flopping into his eyes in a way that both frustrated and enticed her.

She wanted to take a pair of scissors to it at the same time her fingers itched to pull it back so she could see his eyes. When it was in the way, it was difficult to know what he was thinking. Something that made her even more nervous.

Her skin itched. Her body throbbed. He was in her personal space and she wanted to break the connection, but her limbs simply wouldn’t respond.

Asher cleared his throat, finally breaking the spell. Relief rushed in when he said, “Why don’t I show you to your quarters, Firecracker?”

Avery graced him with a tight, grateful smile.

“Thanks.”

She was hot, tired and sticky. Getting out of her travel-stained clothes sounded like heaven.

She turned to follow Asher, but unfortunately Knox kept pace behind them. She could feel the heat of his hot caramel eyes sweeping up her back.

“You know these allegations are bullshit,” Knox said from behind her.

This was even ground, arguing with him about the job. “No, I don’t know that, Mr. McLemore. And I’m fairly certain you don’t either. There’s enough doubt that the judge was ready to rule against your request for diving rights.”

“And enough evidence that they agreed to wait for further verification,” he said, each word lazy and sure. She didn’t know which she hated worse, when he was intentionally antagonistic or when he seemed smugly certain her presence here was a waste of everyone’s time.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t wrong. She’d read the research presented by the Trident team. She’d followed the detailed information on just how Jackson Duchane and Loralei Lancaster had come to find the wreckage. She had to admit their case was strong, but whatever evidence McNair had provided was enough to cast doubt...not that she necessarily thought it valid.

But Knox didn’t need to know that.

“She’s the
Chimera
, doc.”

Avery gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to correct Knox again about the damn nickname. He was doing it on purpose now, which drove her insane. But she wasn’t willing to play his game.

“That’s what I’m here to find out, Knox.” In the cramped hallway, she stopped, turning to face him. Better to deal with this now than later. “This whole process will go much smoother if you get out of my way and let me do my job. We both want the same outcome.”

Knox reached out, as if he was going to touch her arm, but stopped just short of actually doing it. They both stared at his fingers just hanging there in the empty space between them.

“I’m not entirely certain that’s true.”

She tried not to let his distrust panic her. “Why do you say that?”

Knox pressed closer, invading her personal space without actually touching her. The pressure of anxiety and awareness weighed on her chest, making it difficult to pull in a full breath while she waited for his answer.

Only he never gave her one. Instead, his lips pulled up into a smile that wasn’t real.

“I’ll have your bags sent down, doc.”

2

S
EVERAL
HOURS
LATER
they were finally underway, heading for the open sea. Later than Knox had wanted because of a few logistical snags...including hauling all six of Dr. Walsh’s suitcases onto the ship.

Had the woman packed her entire wardrobe? What did she expect to need on a ship in the middle of the Caribbean?

He’d thought about opening every one of her bags and rifling through—with the intent to toss any heels, pearls or matching pantsuits he found along the way—but had decided his blood pressure probably couldn’t take the exercise.

Besides, he’d figured his time would be better spent looking for something that would tell him what she was hiding. Although, he didn’t do that either.

Avery had disappeared into the cabin she’d been assigned, which she had to herself despite their already cramped quarters since the only other woman on the ship, their cook, had quarters right off the galley. So far, she hadn’t resurfaced. Not even for dinner or to meet the crew.

They were all going to be working together for the next few weeks. The least she could have done was introduce herself and pass around a smile.

Trident had been open for a little over two years, but even though they were a relatively new business, and quite a few of the crew had only recently been hired on, they were a tight-knit group.

Maybe it was a legacy from their time in the Teams, but Asher, Jackson and Knox had worked hard at building camaraderie and a sense of family with their employees. As soldiers, they’d depended on each other for their lives. While they no longer worked with bullets flying, you had to trust that the guy beside you knew what he was doing and could competently and quickly complete his job, freeing you up to do the same.

They worked hard, and they played hard. When jobs required 24/7 commitment and living in tight quarters, it was sometimes just as important to blow off steam together.

Rather than wallow in irritation, Knox had come up on deck to try and calm down. The quiet shush against the hull as the
Amphitrite
cut through the water would normally have been enough to accomplish that. But not tonight. What he really needed was a spin behind the wheel of his Shelby, but that wasn’t in the cards.

Tonight he was restless, the first time he’d felt that way since leaving the Teams. Somehow, after living through more life-and-death situations than he cared to count, not even the stress of owning his own business made him uneasy.

There was something about this whole adventure, though, that didn’t sit right with him. Not just having Avery aboard. But the allegations McNair was making.

In his gut, Knox knew this was an attempt to grab their work. This had to be McNair’s play to claim the wreckage and treasure for himself. When Trident had announced that the
Chimera
had been found, there was a frenzy of interest, rumors of gold heading for the Confederate States a huge media draw.

They’d already been approached by a documentary crew from a major science channel interested in recording the process of salvaging and preserving the wreckage. Kennedy was currently working to get the details for that project in place.

McNair was simply one of the sharks that had swum out of the depths.

But unlike the others, he was causing serious problems.

Knox wasn’t going to let McNair’s claims derail their plans for the
Chimera
. And, unfortunately, Avery Walsh was a major part of solving the issues plaguing them. So he needed to take Asher’s advice—bite his tongue around the maddening woman and let her do her job.

While keeping a sharp eye on everything she did.

The sooner she completed her task, the sooner she could be off his ship. And the sooner they could get back to business as usual. He could return to the uncomplicated existence he’d enjoyed for the past two years.

That was what he wanted.

Uncomplicated. Unhurried. A life doing what he’d come to love—spending his time in warm, tropical waters—with two of his best friends.

After the turmoil of the past sixteen years, he deserved a break.

Knox stared out across the vast expanse of open water. It was calm, smooth this far from any shore. It always managed to make him feel small and insignificant. For some people that might be frightening, but for Knox it was reassuring. Knowing that he was one teeny, tiny piece in a gigantic whole helped to take some of the pressure away. Not everything was his fault or responsibility.

Sometimes that lesson was difficult to remember.

As he usually did whenever the stars winked on for the first time at night and he happened to be in a position to see them, he looked up. Picking one out, he closed his eyes and murmured a few words to his big brother. About his life, his day—good and bad.

He was so caught up in the moment that he didn’t hear anyone approach until a soft voice murmured beside him.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”

Jerking his gaze down, Knox stared for several seconds at Avery.

She wasn’t close. There was at least three feet of railing between them. Although it didn’t matter. His body reacted as if she’d whispered those words straight into his ear, as if the warmth of her breath had tickled across his skin.

Knox tamped down his reaction, controlling it as he’d learned to ruthlessly control everything else. Desire, just like pain, could be ignored.

And he had every intention of ignoring any reaction Dr. Walsh stirred within him.

At some point she’d changed clothes, probably into what she considered casual wear. Sure, she was in shorts, but they were linen and looked damned expensive. She’d paired them with a gauzy top in fading shades of blue and fussy sandals with straps that crisscrossed up her calves. And the damn pearls—although this strand was longer than the ones earlier, and swayed between her breasts.

She’d pulled her flame-red hair up into some kind of bun thing at the back of her head that managed to look both sophisticated and complicated. Not to mention tight enough to give her a headache. Knox just wanted to mess it up.

For the briefest moment, he contemplated whether or not to tell her a few strands had escaped the tight confines and were curling to trail down her neck and face. He decided not to, mostly because he knew she’d immediately try to tame them back.

As far as he was concerned, those wisps of red were the best thing about her outfit.

“What?” he finally asked when he realized he’d been staring at her a little too long.

“The stars, they’re gorgeous. It’s one of the best things about being on the open water. So bright. No matter where my family was, or how foreign our home felt, the stars were always the same. I could look up into the sky, and even from our first night in a new city or village, I’d feel centered.”

Her statement struck him as sad, wistful in a way that tugged at him. And curious.

“You moved a lot?”

She laughed, the sound soft and uneasy. “Every few months. My dad was an archaeologist but my parents liked having the family together, no matter how remote the location.”

Shifting her hips against the railing, Avery rested her weight there. She stared out across the quiet water.

Knox didn’t quite know what to do with this contemplative version of the woman he’d met. So he stayed silent and simply listened.

“My sister and I were homeschooled. My parents wanted the world to be our classroom, and I have to admit there were things about the experience I wouldn’t trade. But for someone who tended toward shyness, it became very difficult to dredge up the energy to make friends in each new place.”

Knox studied her, wary instincts clanging a warning deep inside his head. What was her angle? Was she playing him? Doling out information he hadn’t asked for in the hopes of tugging on his heartstrings—assuming he had any, of course?

Like any good intelligence officer, he let her continue in the hopes of discovering the answer to some or all of those questions.

“My sister and I would often wish on the first star of the night. But I suppose that would be too foolish for a big, bad Navy SEAL, huh?”

“Doc, I think you’ve got the wrong impression of me. There have been plenty of times in my life I would have prayed to wood nymphs, Aztec gods or, hell, Martians, if it meant saving lives. I believe in my training. I respect the brothers who fought beside me. And I’m wise enough to realize there are forces at work outside our control every single day. I value life and understand what’s important—people, not things.”

Her pale blue eyes jerked to his. “Interesting.”

“What?”

She shrugged. “Just not what I expected.”

Knox felt his lips curve down into a frown.

Slowly she cleared her throat, turning and folding her arms over the railing so she could stare down at the water churning beneath them. “Look, I think maybe we got off on the wrong foot.”

“Maybe?” There was no question they’d gotten off on the wrong foot.

“Hey, you’re the one who almost ran me over with that little car.”

“Doc, that wasn’t just any car. And she might be small, but she’s damn powerful.”

“And fast.”

Knox grinned. “And fast.”

He mirrored her position, sliding closer and folding his own arms over the railing.

“What’s so special about the car...aside from the fact that it came inches away from wearing me as a hood ornament?”

He could have rattled off a bunch of statistics, talked about the car’s racing history. Instead, Knox found himself saying, “First of all, like I told you that day, I was in complete control the entire time. You were never in any danger.”

“Excuse me if I don’t trust your judgment on that.”

Knox’s lips flashed up into a self-deprecating grin, the kind that acknowledged her statement and then immediately dismissed it. Because she was absolutely wrong. However, he was intelligent enough to realize that having this argument again wasn’t going to get either of them anywhere.

“But, more importantly, it’s my brother’s.”

Which wasn’t true since Kyle had never owned it, but Knox always thought of the car as his. It should have been his.

Kyle had talked about that car incessantly. Had put posters of the Shelby on his wall. Together, the two of them had planned to fix one up. His brother had even started saving.

Since Kyle hadn’t been able to follow through on the dream, in his spare time Knox had done it for him. It had been a labor of love, and of atonement. It was the least he could do since Kyle’s death had been his fault. That car was Knox’s single most prized possession.

The familiar guilt snaked through his chest, tightening everything to the point that he couldn’t breathe. It was a battle he’d fought for the past sixteen years. A battle that never seemed to get easier.

It didn’t matter that no one else blamed him for the accident that had killed his brother, his brother’s girlfriend and his best friend. He blamed himself and always would.

He should have done more. Not swerved to miss the deer that had jumped out onto the dark country road late that night. He should have been able to recover from the skid the car went into. Should have prevented the car from slamming into the guardrail at sixty miles an hour.

Everyone told him it was a miracle he’d walked away from the crash. And they weren’t wrong. He’d had several broken bones, a concussion and various cuts and bruises.

Bethany had died on impact. Chase minutes later on the side of the road. Kyle...he’d survived for several hours.

Knox would never forget standing beside his brother, watching EMTs try to save his life. The most helpless Knox had ever been. A sensation he never wanted to experience again.

“Your brother needs better taste in cars.”

Pushing away from the railing, Knox let his gaze sweep across Avery. “My brother’s dead,” he said, his words blunt and infused with every drop of remembered pain, even if he hadn’t meant to unleash it on her.

Avery’s pale eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open.

He should feel...something for pulling that kind of reaction. Satisfaction, at least. It was what he’d been going for with the stark statement.

Instead, he simply wanted away—from her and the unpleasant memories she’d unwittingly called up.

Turning, he walked in the opposite direction, leaving her with the pod of dolphins that had decided to ghost through the water with the ship.

* * *

K
NOX
’
S
WORDS
RANG
through her head. Okay, more like clanged. But how was she to know his brother was dead? Or that her question could cause that haunted, hunted look in his eyes?

She felt like crap, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. Apologize, but she’d really done nothing wrong. And something told her saying anything else would make the situation worse. It was obvious he didn’t want to talk about it.

She’d seen Knox standing at the railing looking up at the stars and had wanted to get things on track. She really needed Knox to...if not like her then at least leave her alone enough to do her job. Or not do her job.

At the thought, a heavy pit settled into her stomach. It made her sick. Instead of making things better, somehow she’d managed to irritate him more.

It was clearly time to regroup.

Avery headed back to her cabin. She’d been surprised to be assigned her own considering the lack of space, but it would make things easier. She was exhausted from traveling and her body was starting to crash from the ups and downs of the day.

She forced herself to unpack—the cases with her supplies and equipment had already been unloaded—putting all of her clothes away before beginning her nightly ritual. There was something about getting her space in order that always soothed her.

Maybe it was from all the years living out of suitcases. Or a holdover from trying to find a sense of security when the only thing she’d been able to control was her immediate environment.

Her father’s work had taken them to some amazing places—Africa, Egypt, Thailand, South America, Australia. She’d experienced different cultures. Could understand five languages, though she wasn’t fluent in all of them.