A Woman's Heart by Gael Morrison Read Free Book Online

buoy on her left and she could see it was Peter.
    She reached for him, thinking to catch hold of his arm and pull him to the surface, but his hand shot out and grasped her wrist instead. Despite the cold water, his fingers burned. With a sharp tug, he very quickly had her skimming upwards.
    "What the hell did you think you were doing?" he demanded, the moment their heads broke the surface. He glared at her, his eyes dark and fierce.
    "Are you hurt?" she asked.
    "No," he yelled. "No thanks to you!"
    "You were crowding me!" Even here, in the middle of the ocean, he was crowding her. He shook his head to clear wet black hair from his eyes and water sprayed over her. His legs tangled with hers as they paddled to keep afloat.
    "I was helping you," he growled.
    "I didn't need any help."
    "So you thought you'd dump me overboard?"
    "Next time maybe you'll listen."
    "Is that what you intend to do to Alexander if he doesn't do what you tell him? Push him overboard?"
    "No, I..." She bit her lip.
    "And what do you mean jumping in after me and leaving Alexander alone?"
    She shot a swift glance toward her boat. She couldn't see Alex from where she floated but she could hear his happy babbling.
    "Alex is fine," she said firmly.
    "Funny place for a swim," John called from above, peering over the side of Jann's boat and grinning down at them.
    "Just cooling off," Peter said grimly.
    "It was hot," Jann said evasively, then looked toward Peter and saw his eyes weren't as angry as they'd been before. In fact, if she didn't know better, she could have sworn there was laughter lurking in their depths.
    "Let's get out," Peter said, giving her arm a gentle tug. His lips stretched into a full-fledged grin. "I've had enough swimming for one day."
    * * *
    "Isn't summer off-season for the big surf?" Peter asked, pulling back his arm then casting a pebble far out into the oncoming breakers.
    "Yes," she answered, struggling to keep her voice matter-of-fact while screwing the telephoto lens onto her camera. "There's been some bad weather around the islands lately." She stared past Peter to the ocean. "Which is unusual for this time of year."
    "Hand me that film, would you?" She glanced back at him and held out her hand. He touched her palm as he gave it to her, his fingers scoring her skin with warmth.
    "Thanks," she said swiftly, snatching her hand away.
    "It's been interesting," he said.
    "What has?" Jann asked. She fit the film into its slot before looking at him again.
    "Watching you work," he replied, with a lazy smile.
    "I'm supposed to be supervising you," she said, uncomfortably aware at how easily his smile warmed her, "not the other way around."
    "I thought we agreed to keep an eye on each other."
    "I didn't agree to anything." Heat spread up her neck, and she was irritated anew at her inability to forget how his skin felt on hers.
    Claire had said her brother was clever and controlling. He was also trying to take Alex away. She'd be a fool to forget that.
    Jann glanced down the broad sweep of beach glistening in the sunlight. The surf, as usual, pulled her gaze.
    "The Bonsai Pipeline," she said slowly, determined to put Peter into a different place, to make him into something he wasn't, a tourist, nothing more. "It lures surfers from all over the world. It's a God to some. To others..." She stared at the enormous breakers and couldn't stop the shiver skittering across her shoulders. "...a killer."
    Then she raised her camera to her eye and scanned the water, finding, at long last, the surfer she'd been watching most of the afternoon.
    The young man's face was contorted with the effort of concentration as he lay on his board paddling furiously before a gigantic wave. At just the right moment he scrambled to his feet, then, his body bending like a sapling in the wind, he balanced on the wave's crest and clung to the crashing water.
    Again and again, Jann pressed the camera's shutter, excitement buoying her up as she caught the very moment the