Complicated. Were commitments complicated, the future, promises? She looked down at her plate knowing she simply didn’t have the strength to ask or to answer. Not now. “In a way I feel as though I’m slipping back—to that summer four years ago. And yet…”

“It’s like a step forward.”

Kate looked at him again, but this time reached out. He’d always understood. Though he said little, though his way was sometimes rough, he’d always understood. “Yes. Either way it’s a little unnerving.”

“I’ve never liked smooth water. You get a better ride with a few waves.”

“Perhaps.” She shook her head. Slipping back, stepping forward, it hardly mattered. Either way, she was moving toward him. “Ky, I can’t eat any more.”

“I figured.” Easily, he picked up an extra fork from the tray and began eating the cooling eggs himself. “It’s still probably more than you eat for breakfast in a week.”

“Probably,” she agreed in a murmur, realizing just how well he’d maneuvered her. Kate lay back against the propped-up pillows, annoyed that she was growing sleepy again. No more medication, she decided silently as Ky polished off their joint breakfast. If she could just avoid that, and go out for a little while, she’d be fine. The trick would be to convince Ky.

Kate looked toward the window, and the sunshine. “I don’t want to lose a week’s time going over the wreck.”

He didn’t have to follow the direction of her gaze to follow the direction of her thoughts. “I’ll be going down,” he said easily. “Tomorrow, the next day anyway.” Sooner, he thought to himself, depending on how Kate mended.

“Alone?”

He caught the tone as he bit into the last piece of bacon. “I’ve gone down alone before.”

She would have protested, stating how dangerous it was, if she’d believed it would have done any good. Ky did a great deal alone because that was how he preferred it. Instead, Kate chose another route.

“We’re looking for the Liberty together, Ky. It isn’t a one-man operation.”

He sent her a long, quiet look before he picked up the coffee she hadn’t touched. “Afraid I’ll take off with the treasure?”

“Of course not.” She wouldn’t allow her emotions to get in the way. “If I hadn’t trusted your integrity,” she said evenly, “I wouldn’t have shown you the chart in the first place.”

“Fair enough,” he allowed with a nod. “So if I continue to dive while you’re recuperating, we won’t lose time.”

“I don’t want to lose you either.” It was out before she could stop it. Swearing lightly, Kate looked toward the window again. The sky was the pale blue sometimes seen on summer mornings.

Ky merely sat for a moment while the pleasure of her words rippled through him. “You’d worry about me?”