“In a minute.” He released her, holding his hand palm out in a gesture of truce. “I wasn’t lying when I said I was leaving this morning because I thought it was best for you.”

She believed him. And she hated herself because he could so easily make her believe. “Will you tell me what kind of trouble you’re in?”

“Yes.” Because he couldn’t resist, he trailed a fingertip across her damp cheek. “After we’ve found the—where I went down—I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

“No more evasions or ridiculous stories?”

“I’ll tell you everything.” He lifted her hand, then pressed his palm to hers. “You have my word. Libby . . .” He linked his fingers with hers. “What do I make you feel?”

She drew her hand away to grip the wheel. “I don’t know, and I don’t want to think about it.”

“I’d like you to know that I’ve never had the same feelings for another woman as I have for you. I wish things could be different.”

He was already saying goodbye, she realized. A rippling ache spread in her chest. “Don’t. Let’s just concentrate on what needs to be done.” While she stared straight ahead, he slipped the key back into the ignition. “You were right up there,” she told him as she switched it on. “At the curve. The best I could say is that you were coming from that direction. I got the impression when I saw you crash that you went down along that ridge somewhere.” With a frown, she lifted a hand to shield her eyes. “Strange . . . it looks like there’s a break in that bank of trees up there.”

Not strange, Cal thought, when you considered that a ship over seventy meters long and thirty across had come down in them. “Why don’t we take a look?”

Libby turned off the road and started up the rocky slope. The part of her that was still annoyed hoped the jostling ride gave Cal the willies. But when she glanced at him, he was grinning.

“This is great!” he shouted. “I haven’t done anything like this since I was a kid.”

“Glad you’re having fun.” She turned her attention back to driving and didn’t notice when Cal pushed a series of buttons on his watch. Excitement began to drum in him as he studied the directional beam on one of the dials.

“Twenty-five degrees north.”

“What?”

“That way.” He used his other hand to gesture with. “It’s that way. Two point five kilometers.”

“How do you know?”

He sent her a brilliant smile. “Trust me.”

They climbed the ridge to where the line of pines thickened. The scattered dogwoods were budded but not yet ready to bloom. Libby shivered once in the cool air before she shut the engine off. “I can’t drive through this. We’ll have to walk.”