In Too Deep Read Free

smooth wood of the deck, she didn't bother opening her eyes when she felt a tug on the preserver. Straightening her fingers was all she could manage, and even that, shakily. Her lungs filled with the scent of varnish, salt, and the oily smell of smoke.
    "Were you burned?" the man asked in a rough voice.
    Tally lifted her upper body off the deck, feeling as if she weighed two tons. She coughed. "I—uh—don't know. I don't think so."
    She looked up.
    Up long, hairy, tanned, muscular legs, past ragged Hawaiian shorts, past a flat, bare belly to skim a broad, tanned, hairy chest. Good God. No wonder he could pull her out of the water with a single tug. The man was a giant.
    Ignoring her, he braced against the roll of the waves and walked a few feet to stow the rope and life preserver in a locker aft, then turned and came back. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
    Tally coughed up seawater. "I don't think so," she repeated. Frankly, she had no idea. She was just happy to be out of the water.
    "Then rise and shine. There's a category-three monsoon bearing down on us. We're clearing out."
    Tally staggered to her feet and spread her legs for balance. "Lord, yes, let's," she said to his back. "Thank heavens you were out here. I don't think I could've kept on swimming much longer."
    "Fortunately for you I was catching my supper before the storm hit."
    "My lucky day." Tally rubbed her frozen upper arms with her equally cold hands. "I'll never turn my nose up at a fish dinner again. You saved my life." She grabbed the railing to steady herself as the yacht rocked and rolled with the waves. Spray soaked her already sopping wet clothes. She shivered.
    "Don't start the French fries, honey. It's not saved yet," he told her with a quick glance at the darkening sky.
    He turned to fully face her, and Tally sucked in a sharp breath and took an involuntary step backward. For a split second her heart almost stopped beating, then lurched into a heavy rhythm that made her entire body feel hot and prickly.
    Ye gods and little fishes!
    A pirate!
    A black patch covered her rescuer's left eye. The elastic holding it in place drew a thin line between his dark brows and across his forehead. His dark hair was wet, and slicked back off his lean face. His strong jaw was hazed with dark bristle. His face bore the austere lines of a man hounded by demons and comfortable with danger. He looked scruffy, unkempt, and strangely appealing. Tally attributed her reaction to being delirious with shock.
    "Seen enough?" he asked dryly as she continued to stare. "Or do you want me to turn around?"
    By all means, do . "Sorry. I wasn't really looking looking —I zoned out there for a second." Very smooth, Tallulah. "I wasn't looking looking"? Oh, brother . She blew out a sigh.
    He wasn't quite a giant, but he was solidly built, and towered over her own not insubstantial five foot nine by a good five or six inches. Six foot four of sheer power, hard muscle, and sex appeal. His broad, darkly tanned shoulders gleamed with moisture. Salt water glittered like tiny diamonds in the hair on his chest and on the silky dark hair on his thickly muscled legs. His hands and feet were enormous.
    "Understandable." His mocking and enigmatic gaze took in her clinging clothes, bare feet, and grim hold on the railing as his boat rode the swells.
    There wasn't a thing she could do about her appearance, so she didn't bother fiddling. Besides, she didn't want to draw attention to the wet transparency of her blouse. Not that he looked the type to be crazed by lust. Especially for a woman like her. Perversely disappointed, she realized that far from being crazed with lust at the sight of her size A boobs, the pirate hadn't even noticed he could see right through her shirt.
    That one, piercing, whiskey-colored eye locked onto her, and Tally's stomach did a weird little somersault. Adrenaline still raced through her body at a furious clip.
    She took a deep, shuddering breath. "Tally Cruise." Pleased she