The Pregnancy Plot (Brothers In Arms: Retribution Book 2) Read Free Page B

kicked the side of the boat. When she’d checked out the boat a few days ago, she thought she’d found one thing at Moonstones that still worked.
    The boat limped several more yards toward Break Island, and Nina climbed onto the seat cushions and waved her arms above her head. Did she even have a beacon on this thing?
    In the distance, across the water, two boats seemed to be charging hard toward her. One had come straight from the boat docks on her side of the island and the other had rounded the bend from the town side of the island. Had they actually seen her or were they just out for a boat ride across the bay?
    She flapped her arms to her sides like a giant bird and jumped—bad idea. The water in the belly of the boat sloshed and the outboard motor swung to one side, lifting the other side of the boat out of the water.
    She stepped off the seat and shuffled to the leeward side of the boat. A loud crack resounded and the whooshing sound of water pushing through a small opening had her grabbing the bin where Dad had stored life jackets.
    Why hadn’t she thought of that before? Gripping the edge of the lid, she paused, lifting her head to check on the progress of those two boats. The one from the docks by the B and B was still making a beeline toward her, while the other seemed to have disappeared. Maybe that one never saw her.
    She grabbed an orange life jacket and slipped it over her head. She knew how to swim, but the flotation device would keep her afloat until her cavalry came to the rescue in case the cold water made her cramp up or her heavy clothes dragged her down into the murky water of the sound.
    The boat rocked and she planted her feet on the deck beneath the water to steady herself, but the little fiberglass boat couldn’t take it. One side of the boat went under and the force flung her into the icy embrace of the bay.
    The cold sucked the air from her lungs for a moment, paralyzing her, and then she made a grab for the side of the capsized boat. Her hands clawed against the slippery fiberglass until she found a hold.
    The hum of an outboard motor got louder and louder, and she would’ve yelled out to make sure the boat was going to stop but her teeth were chattering so much she couldn’t get a sound past her lips.
    She didn’t need to. The other boat’s motor cut out as it drew next to her incapacitated vessel. It floated around to her side, and a strong hand reached for her.
    “Oh, my God. Are you all right, Nina?”
    Tossing wet strands of hair back from her face, she looked into the dark eyes of Jase Buckley—her savior, or was he?

Chapter Three
    His grip tightened around her wrists. “Are you ready? I’m going to haul you up.”
    With her teeth chattering, she nodded and braced her feet against the side of the boat.
    Jase lifted her into the boat with ease, despite the eight extra pounds she’d packed on during her pregnancy. She glanced over her shoulder at her boat, now heavy with water, and shivered. She could’ve clung to the side, but she might’ve been there awhile if Jase and that other boat hadn’t been on the sound.
    “What the hell happened?” Jase shrugged out of his flannel shirt, draped it over her shoulders and tucked it around her body.
    “There was a hole in the bottom and it started taking on water.”
    “Should we try to tow it back in?” He crouched next to a bin on the deck of the boat and tugged at the padlock securing the lid.
    “I’ll call the Harbor Patrol when we get back to shore. They patrol the sound and they’ll bring it in for me.”
    “If it hasn’t sunk to the bottom of the sound by then.”
    She hunched her shoulders against the chill snaking through her body. “It’s insured if it does. Do you think we can get my purse off the boat? It’s hooked onto the side.”
    “I’ll try.” He brought his boat abreast of hers, planted one foot on the ailing boat and snagged the purse. “Got it.”
    Safely back in her neighbors’ boat, he handed the