Touch Me and Tango (13 page)

But she sure knew how to test his limits.

He parked his truck along the crescent drive, admiring the
sight of the newly clipped lawn. The trees and garden still needed work, but at
least it wasn’t an eyesore anymore.

Before his finger hit the front door bell, the door swung
open.

“Parker?”

“Morning, Mrs. G.”

“Stop calling me that. Lord knows you’re not a boy anymore.”
She held the door wide. “Thank you for sending those men to cut our lawn. Just
add it to what I’ll owe you for the search.”

“Nope. That was a little thank you for all those secret
gifts you used to sneak out to me in the old days.” He wiped his feet on the
mat and entered the foyer.

Eva gave him a kiss on the cheek. She looked out the door.
“Where’s Tanya?”

His mouth tightened in a somewhat self-conscious smile. Had she
told her mother about their argument? Then it dawned. “She’s not here?”

“No.” A puzzled worry crossed her face. “She left over an
hour ago. I assumed she was meeting you.”

His protective instincts clicked into gear. He pulled out
his cell and hit Tanya’s number. The phone rang several times. Voice mail came
on. “Tanya, please call me. Right away.” He looked at Eva. “She probably won’t
answer because it’s my number. We had a little sparring session yesterday.”

Eva waved him off. “It’s not you. She hardly knows you. I’m
the one who upset her last night. She always used to run off to be with her
friends when she got angry. I’ll bet she’s meeting that Julio guy at the dance
school. I think he’s going to be her new ballroom partner.”

Although the green-eyed monster usually roared to life any
time Parker thought of Tanya with another man, this morning he felt certain she
was alone. And at the island preserve. “I doubt she’s at the studio. She was
bound and determined to find that trunk yesterday. I have a feeling she went to
Rubikoff Island on her own. You know how determined she can be.”

“But how? Victor sold his boat years ago. And even so, she
never learned the first thing about using it.”

“Must have rented one. Bad day for it. Wind is picking up
already.”

“Who’d give a boat to someone like her? Wouldn’t she need a
license or something?”

“Dennis McNulty. He’d rent a surf board to a kangaroo.”

Eva stepped into the living room. She picked up the cordless
phone and dialed. “Are you at Rubikoff Preserve?… Yes, Parker’s here with me.
We don’t think you should… I know, I know. You’re very capable, but it’s going
to… Tanya, don’t hang up. Tanya? Tanya!”

She put down the phone and turned to Parker. “You’re right.
She went to the preserve.”

He gave Eva a quick nod and jogged out the door.

***

Tanya paused to adjust her backpack. Compass in one hand,
shovel in the other, she clumped her way over rocks, fallen trees and even an
old beer cooler that looked like a relic from the eighties. She’d
underestimated the emotional impact of wandering all alone on a desolate
island. A rustling in the trees made her jump.
Just the local critters
.

Jittery and unsure of where she was going, a part of her
yearned for Parker’s confident, grounded presence.

Today had been all about choices from the get-go. Beginning
with whether or not to cancel plans for going to the island. She’d contemplated
staying home after hearing conflicting forecasts. One weather report said rain
all day, another only possible scattered showers. She gambled and went with the
second.

Especially since the argument with Parker was still fresh in
her mind. The things he’d said only stoked her determination to prove she
wasn’t just some rich and spoiled man-eating princess. Tanya wasn’t about to
let a little rain get in the way of making her point. However, there could also
be no denying the quiet voice of wisdom reminding her that Mother Nature mercilessly
doled out painful lessons to stubborn fools.

An ear splitting clap of thunder that practically lifted her
onto her toes convinced her to listen. She absolutely had to head back. If she
by chance got stuck on this island, her mother would no doubt send out a party
led by guess who? The last thing she needed was the humiliating experience of
being found cold, shivering and hungry beneath some flimsy lean-to by Parker
“Dudley Do-Right” Richardson.

Tanya gazed at the sky that had darkened with low hanging
clouds. The wind had tree branches overhead going wild. She must have gotten so
caught up in the task at hand that she failed to notice the drastic shift in
the weather.

Thunder rolled. Lightning flashed and a big tree branch fell
to the ground in her path. She jumped, then scolded herself for being a wuss.

Another crack of lightning, loud thunder, and the sky opened
up, dumping sheets of rain on her, soaking her within seconds. Sending a
message from the universe that read:
You
suck. Now beat it loser
.

She hated to admit defeat. But at this point she was more
than ready to leave. She hurried back toward beach. Halfway there, she tripped
and fell on her face. Tears joined the rain wetting her cheeks as she gathered
her things and trudged onward. Once her feet met the sand she bolted for the
small dock where she’d tied her rented boat.

She tossed her gear inside it and carefully lowered herself
into the rocking boat. With eager hands she unhitched the mooring line and
started the engine. The Sound looked choppy, but she told herself she’d just
make a direct path across to the marina and be on the road home in no time.
Maybe even warm herself up with some soup and hot coffee at that Coffee Cove
diner.

Tanya thought she’d cleared a group of boulders that jutted
from the coast of the island when she felt a jolt and heard an ear splitting
scraping sound. The nose of the boat lurched upward, sending Tanya flying.

“No!” She reached out, but it was too late. She hit the
water with a stinging splat.

Disoriented, she struggled to regain her bearings as the
rolling swells bounced her about like a toy. The currents dragged her farther
and farther from the shoreline, while the cold water sent chills through her
muscles, weakening her and making it harder for her to find the strength to
stay afloat. A wave caught her blindside, filling her lungs with water, and
plunging her downward.

It was hard to figure which way was up, but Tanya finally
broke through the surface, coughing out salt water. Her eyes scanned from
side-to-side for the boat, but she couldn’t find it. Then she didn’t need to.
It found her.

WONK
.

The back of her head cracked against the boat’s underbelly
as it came riding down on top of her. Everything went black.

Parker muttered obscenities at the weather that had suddenly
turned nasty. First the wind picked up, then the sky turned heavy and exploded
into an operatic mix of lightning, thunder and pounding rain. He usually liked
watching these displays from his glass-covered greenhouse, but right now all he
could think of was Tanya. He hoped she would just take cover somewhere on the
preserve and wait it out. But knowing her impatient tendencies, he guessed
she’d race for the boat and try navigating through this.

Between the rough water and the downpour, he was soaked
through. Visibility was so bad he checked his dash mount compass repeatedly to
make sure he was heading toward Rubikoff. A wave lifted his boat and he held
the steering wheel steady, fighting to control the angle where it met the
swell.

Then he saw the blue and white Runabout—the same kind
McNulty rented. It was bobbing in the water way too far from the Rubikoff dock.
With nobody in it.

Panic gripped his chest, squeezing air from his lungs. He
told himself to calm down, that she’d probably tied the boat so poorly it came
free in the squall. That she’d be huddling under some trees, happy to see him.

But his eyes anxiously scanned the water, an ominous feeling
in his gut. He could barely breathe. Was his heart even beating or had it
stopped?

He saw a pale form about a hundred yards away. Was it Tanya?
Was she alive? Before leaping into the turbulent water he killed the engine,
set anchor and secured a nylon safety line around his waist. He’d witnessed too
many marine tragedies in his day to flaunt caution. He just prayed this wasn’t
already one.

He yanked off his sneakers and dove in. Being a strong
swimmer, Parker shortened the distance in no time. Yes, it was Tanya. She was
flailing in waves that kept taking her under. But, thank God, she looked very
much alive.

“Tanya!” He motored toward her and wrapped one arm around
her waist. Coughing and gagging, she gave him a dazed, but grateful look. The
noise of the water, rain and wind made it impossible to hear what she said to
him. But her arms reached around his neck and held tight.

Parker used his other arm to take hold of the nylon safety
line and pull Tanya and himself back to the boat. She weighed little, and he
easily hefted the two of them on board. The rain beating down on them, he sat
on the back bench, clutching Tanya on his lap, fighting the horrible, sick
feeling brought on by coming so close to losing her. He knew he should get them
out of here, but he was unwilling to let go of her.

Coughing and shivering, she broke into sobs and pressed her
face into his neck. “You were right, Parker. I’m such a jerk.”

He stroked her back. “Well, you probably could use to get
your head examined.” But then he saw it was no joke. He noticed blood in her
hair and a nasty cut on the back of her head that was still streaming red.
Knowing it could be a concussion, he began asking her what happened, relieved
when she sounded lucid.

Keeping hold of Tanya, he bent forward and dug into a
storage compartment under the seat. He removed a large gauze pad from the First
Aid kit and gently pressed it against the wound. Then he shook an instant cold
pack and laid it on top. He carried her forward, tucked her into the passenger seat
with a blanket from the front storage and headed for the hospital’s dock. He knew
it well, since he and Marshall were the two main volunteer marine ambulance
drivers.

While Tanya was taken in for a CT scan ordered by the
emergency room doctor, Parker reported the accident and arranged for a Sea Tow
of McNulty’s boat. He also called Eva to let her know her daughter was safe. He
changed into a dry set of jeans and tee that he always kept in his truck in the
event of a gardening accident.

Then he sat in the waiting room blaming himself. This never would’ve
happened if he’d kept a lid on his anger yesterday. He thought about the strange
and distant look on
 
Tanya’s face as she told
him about being thrown from the boat. And clobbered by it. He’d never seen her look
so vulnerable. Or so soft. And innocent. Her voice had been a tiny mew barely
audible beneath the noise of the rain and wind. Had she actually said what he
thought he’d heard through her tears?
I
need you, Parker.

A nurse came walking toward him, Tanya at her side, her
creamy smooth shoulders and dancer legs making even a blue hospital gown look
sexy. He hoped for one of those special smiles of hers, for her to complain
about them cutting off a patch of her hair where they bandaged the back of her
head. But she seemed exhausted and dazed.

While Tanya dressed, the nurse explained that they found no
serious damage, but she did have a concussion and needed to rest. “And delayed
symptoms can occur. Can you stay close to her for the next twenty-four hours?”

“Of course,” he said. Twenty-four hours was nothing. What he
really wanted was to stay close to her for the rest of both their lives.

***

Tanya awoke in the middle of the night, her head throbbing
and her heart racing from a dream of being pulled under murky water by an octopus-like
monster. But when she opened her eyes she saw Parker Richardson sitting in a
chair by her bed, his handsome face shadowed in the soft light.

He saved my life today
.

His hand reached out and touched her cheek. “Bad dream?”

“Yeah.” She wanted so badly to crawl into his lap and be
held in his arms again.

“Thirsty?”

“No. Aren’t you tired?” His eyelids drooped, which only made
him look sexier. She knew his days began early.

“I’m fine.” He’d been so attentive and sweet since the
accident. She just couldn’t figure out if it was that responsible caretaker
side of him or if he still loved her.

Was that what she really wanted? Was that the real reason
she ran away when Mark asked her to marry him?

She thought about Parker’s younger sister Jenna saying that
Tanya sounded like she was in love with the pain-in-the-butt ex-boyfriend. Was
she?

She’d heard him on the phone to Jenna earlier, asking her to
go feed his dogs, telling her he was staying with a friend who’d had a
concussion. Tanya smiled, wondering how his sister would react if she knew who
that friend was.

He returned her smile, his mouth so kissable. “You want to
sit up for a while. Everybody’s got a theory, but some say you shouldn’t sleep
too long after a concussion.”

As Tanya pushed up on her elbows, Parker stood and helped
her, adjusting her pillows. Her body reacted to his touch as it always had.
Wanting more. Wanting all of him. She had to stop herself from tugging him down
on top of her now that they were alone here in her room. Eva was a flight down
on the other end of the house. “Is my mom okay?”

“Sure. Checked on her. Sleeping like a baby.”

“I felt bad that she said this was her fault.” Her mother
had gone into a remorseful lament over upsetting her daughter with the latest
bad news on her debts.

“She’ll be all right.” He smoothed a hand over her forehead.
“Need an icepack?”