The light of dawn was quiet as Ky added the finishing touches to the lettering on his sailboat. For most of the night, he’d worked in the shed, giving Kate her time alone, and himself the time to think. Now that the night was over, only one thing remained clear. He loved her. But it had come home to him that it might not be enough. Though impatience continued to push at him, he reined it in. Perhaps he had to leave it to her to show him what would be.

For the next few days, they would concentrate on excavating the cargo that had sunk two centuries before. The longer they searched, the more the treasure became a symbol for him. If he could give it to her, it would be the end of the quest for both of them. Once it was over, they’d both have what they wanted. She, the fulfillment of her father’s dream, and he, the satisfaction of seeing her freed from it.

Ky closed the shed doors behind him and headed back for the house. In a few days, he thought with a glance over his shoulder, he’d have something else to give her. Something else to ask her.

He was still some feet away from the house when he smelled the morning scents of bacon and coffee drifting through the kitchen windows. When he entered, Kate was standing at the stove, a long T-shirt over her tank suit, her feet bare, her hair loose. He could see the light dusting of freckles over the bridge of her nose, and the pale soft curve of her lips.

His need to gather her close rammed into him with such power, he had to stop and catch his breath. “Kate—”

“I thought since we’d be putting in a long day we should have a full breakfast.” She’d heard him come in, sensed it. Because it made her knees weak, she spoke briskly. “I’d like to get an early start.”

He watched her drop eggs into the skillet where the white began to sizzle and solidify around the edges.

“Kate, I’d like to talk to you.”

“I’ve been thinking we might consider renting a salvage ship after all,” she interrupted, “and perhaps hiring another couple of divers. Excavating the cargo’s going to be very slow work with just the two of us. It’s certainly time we looked into lifting bags and lines.”

Long days in the sun had lightened her hair. There were shades upon shades of variation so that as it flowed it reminded him of the smooth soft pelt of a deer. “I don’t want to talk business now.”