Dane hesitated. His mind went blank. He couldn't think how to explain.
"I pulled it out of the sea," he said at last.
"It washed ashore?" Mira went down to one knee and opened the case to pull out the plastic bag inside. "This is my overnight bag. Look, it stayed dry." She laughed out loud. "Underwear, some T-shirts, even my, er—oooh."
She hastily slapped a small case closed, but not before Dane glimpsed condoms inside. He looked away, feeling his cheeks heat.
"But this is fantastic," Mira said, and he had to look at her again. She was gorgeous in the afternoon light, her eyes bright and interested, and her long brown and gray hair, dried now to fluffy wisps and ringlets, framing her strong-jawed face with its wide, expressive mouth. "I can't believe it washed up here. You'd think the odds against it would be incredible."
Dane cleared his throat. "The wreck isn't too far away."
She gave him a surprised look. "How do you know?"
"I went diving," Dane said, and hesitated again. He just didn't know how to explain, or how much of an explanation she would accept.
"Diving in the sea?" Mira said, shocked. "Oh, no, you shouldn't. It's far too dangerous, and I'm sure the wreck is too far down to retrieve anything from it."
"It isn't, actually," Dane said, warming to the topic. "I got that, and I might be able to get more things for you later."
"You really found it?" Mira asked, gazing up at him with wondering eyes. "MyMerrylegs?"
"Yes, I did. It's on the seafloor on its side."
"But ..." Mira shook her head. "Unless conditions are very different around this island than on the rest of the continental shelf, it's simplygotto be too far down to safely free-dive to. You shouldn't take unnecessary risks to get my things."
"It's not dangerous at all. I can take another trip tomorrow. Or this evening, if you like," he added. He wanted to put that look of wonder and delight on her face again.
Mira shook her head again, her strong jaw firming up. "No, not tonight. Tomorrow, you can take me to the shore and show me where it is, and then we can decide together if it's worth trying to salvage anything."
"All right," Dane said, not really sure what else to say. It was clear that there was no arguing with her when she made up her mind about something. He would have from now until tomorrow to figure out how to explain the orca thing to her.
Somehow.
MIRA
Mira wokein the morning with her head resting on a comfortable pillow that was already starting to feel slightly familiar, and a bed that was rock steady instead of gently rolling underneath her like her berth inMerrylegs. With her eyes half closed, she drifted on pleasant smells of male musk, of wood smoke, of ocean breeze and freshly chopped wood.
Dane, she thought.
She blinked and opened her eyes.
Last night came back to her in a blur of exhaustion. She had eaten again—it seemed she had hardly done anythingbuteat since waking up in Dane's cabin—and then found herself wobbling back to bed. Her sleepy protests about stealing his bed had been met with a firm insistence that he was just as comfortable sleeping on the floor, which she had doubts about, but she had been too tired to object.
Now, finally, she felt as if her energy had fully recharged. She sat up and stretched luxuriously.
There was a neatly folded blanket draped over the back of the room's one chair, but Dane was nowhere to be found. The window was open, letting in the sea-scented breeze along with morning sunlight. On the table, there was a plate of leftover biscuits and a jar of jam, and a full coffeepot was pushed to the cooler back of the stove, all of it forming an unspoken invitation to breakfast.
"Dane?" Mira called softly. Her voice echoed off the cabin's walls and got no response. Perhaps, she thought, he was out working in his garden, or doing other chores around the island.
Her washed and dried clothing had been folded at the foot of the bed. Her overnight bag was there as well. With a little sigh of relief, Mira quickly changed into a comfortable bra and put her own clothes on. She brushed out her hair and rebraided it with deft fingers.
Feeling much better, she poured herself a cup of coffee and spread jam on a split biscuit. Alternating bites with sips of the powerfully strong coffee, she went out into the warm, sunny morning.
"Dane?"
The yard had been cleaned up a bit since she had last seen it. Loose branches had been dragged to the side to make a neat pile, and a start had been made on fixing the woodshed roof. She found this appealing. Lots of people living alone in the wilderness could be slobs, but it touched her how clearly Dane wanted to make his cabin and its surrounding environment look nice. Some of it was probably on her account, which was touching in a different way, but she could tell from the general state of the yard and cabin that he kept it clean all the time, when he was able to.
Wherewashe, though?
