His hands gripped her with an urgency that made her moan from the sheer strength in them. She wanted his strength now—mindless strength that would carry them both to a place they’d never gone before. And she was leading. The knowledge made her laugh aloud as she tasted his skin, his lips, his tongue.

She slid down his body, feeling each jolt of pleasure as it shot through him. There could be no slow, lingering loving now. They’d pushed each other beyond reason. The air here was dark and thin and whirling with sound. Kate drank it in.

When he found her moist, hot and ready she let him take her over peak after shuddering peak, knowing as he drove her, she drove him. Her body was filled with sensations that came and went like comets, slipped away and burst on her again, and again. Through the thunder in her head she heard herself say his name, clear and quick.

On the sound, she took him into her and welcomed the madness.

CHAPTER 10

She was wrong.

Kate had thought she’d be ready, even anxious to dive again. There hadn’t been a day during her recuperation that she hadn’t thought of going down. Every time Ky had brought back an artifact, she was thrilled with the discovery and frustrated with her own lack of participation. Like a schoolgirl approaching summer, she’d begun to count the days.

Now, a week after the accident, Kate stood on the deck of the Vortex with her mouth dry and her hands trembling as she pulled on her wet suit. She could only be grateful that Ky was already over the side, hooking up his home-rigged prop-wash to the boat’s propeller. Drafted to the crew, Marsh stood at the stern watching his brother. With Linda’s eager support, he’d agreed to give Ky a few hours a day of his precious free time while he was needed.

Kate took the moment she had alone to gather her thoughts and her nerve.

It was only natural to be anxious about diving after the experience she’d had. Kate told herself that was logical. But it didn’t stop her hands from trembling as she zipped up her suit. She could equate it with falling off a horse and having to mount again. It was psychological. But it didn’t ease the painful tension in her stomach.

Trembling hands and nerves. With or without them she told herself as she hooked on her weight belt, she was going down. Nothing, not even her own fears, was going to stop her from finishing what she’d begun.

“He’s got it,” Marsh called out when Ky signaled him.

“I’ll be ready.” Kate picked up the cloth bag she’d use to bring up small artifacts. With luck, and if the prop-wash did its job, she knew they’d soon need more sophisticated methods to bring up the salvage.

“Kate.”