Actually, what he wanted was to scoop her onto his lap and hold her indefinitely. He wanted to soothe those bruises away, make her feel safe and warm, yell at her for being such a numbskull for climbing the stairs.
He could hardly do any of those things-particularly when she took another sip from her mug, and spouted further gross, effusive insults about his inability to make coffee.
“We could kill rats with this, I guess. But…I don’t think we have any. Possibly we could clean all the sinks? I’m pretty sure this swill would kill even the most optimistic germ nature ever created-”
“Sheesh. You think that’s enough ribbing?” Harm played up that his feelings were hurt. Maybe they even were, a little.
“I don’t know, guys. You think that’s enough ribbing?”
Of course the guys didn’t think it was enough ribbing. They’d never teased him before. Cate was egging them on. And in the meantime, Hans was edging into the dock at Baranof Springs. At which time, Ivan announced orders to all passengers to bring a towel and their bathing suits.
“Right,” was the standard incredulous response.
Ivan said, “I mean it. Follow the road through town, up the hill. On the right side of the waterfalls-which are colder than a witch’s tit in a brass bra, pardon my French, Cate-are hot springs. All bigger than hot tubs. Think we’d all benefit from an hour’s soak. And that sure includes Cate.”
“Sounds great,” Cate said.
She looked him straight in the eye when she said it. Harm let out an internal sigh of relief. At least one thing was going right. She’d get off at the Springs, get the medic to check her out, and at least he could know she was physically all right before dealing with the next crisis.
Cate barely made it back below deck before collapsing on her bunk. For the first time, the cabin didn’t strike her as claustrophobic. She just plain didn’t care. Her head hurt. Her hip hurt. She felt whipped and battered and weak as a baby bird.
It was intolerable. But she was pretty sure she’d put on a good show for the guys-especially for Harm-and if they’d all just get off the damned boat, she could get some rest and peace. Yes, of course, she expected they’d notice she didn’t join the shore group…but she also suspected none of them particularly wanted to infringe on her female bastion/boudoir.
She should have known that wouldn’t work for Harm. Heaven knew how much time had passed before she heard his knuckles rapping on her cabin door.
“I’m sleeping,” she called out.
“You’re going to get checked out.”
“All I need is rest. Go on with the group.”
“I could tear down the door, but that seems awkward. It looks to be made of steel. That won’t stop me, but I’m afraid it’ll make a lot of damage-”
She hurtled off the bunk, across the cabin, and yanked open the door with one hand on her head. “Go away.”
“You are such a faker. Making everybody believe you’re just fine, just a little bruised. Did you think you were going to fool me, too?” He entered the cabin, which meant there wasn’t enough oxygen for one, much less for two people trying to move around. She sank back on the bunk, since Mr. Busybody seemed determined to paw around, locate her jacket and shoes. “You’re not only seeing this medic, but if I don’t like the medic, I’m getting a plane in here and getting you to a hospital on the mainland.”
“You and what army?”
“I don’t need an army.”
She opened her mouth to give him what for-and it was a what for that was going to include a blistering set down-when his tone softened to rough gravel.
“Cate, if you need me to carry you, I can and will.”
Damn him. It was that tone that made her want to melt. And she wasn’t the melting type. “I really want to just sleep. And this is a great chance for you to be alone with the men. Push their limits. Dig until you find out stuff.”
“Yup, it would be. But there’s a time to worry about murder and larceny. And a time when a guy needs to take care of his girl. It’s a no-brainer which counts more.”
He didn’t actually carry her. She climbed to the main deck, walked strong as an ox off the boarding ramp. The air was brisk, eagles perched on high spruce boughs, watching the fish in the harbor. A dozen other yachts and fishing boats were docked close by. The yachts looked as if they cost millions and millions. The fishing boats looked as if they’d survived two world wars and then some. A slope of land showed a scattering of buildings stretched on what was clearly the only road. And a silver-diamond waterfall bounded down a rock crevice. All of it took her attention…at least until she caved.
Harm caught her before she fell, swooped her up in his arms as if she were a damned baby. And she held on, head snugged against his neck, as if she’d have fallen if she hadn’t.
“I’m not your girl,” she said.
“No?”
“We haven’t even slept together.”
“Yeah, we did.”
“We haven’t made love. That kind of sleeping.”
“That isn’t sleeping. Trust me, if you didn’t know that before, you will after I get through with you.”
“Harm. Get serious.” She couldn’t seem to keep her eyes open, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t fully serious. “We’re not a pair. Can’t possibly be. You’re a conservative guy. You need a wife who’s into a house in the suburbs, commitment, an intrepid Volvo for the kids, responsibility. I could live out of a carpet bag and have space left over. I don’t have a clue how to be a wife. I don’t even like money. I wouldn’t work for you. Trust me.”
“I probably wouldn’t work for you, either. I’ve had two divorces. Don’t be forgetting that.”
She frowned, confused. “I haven’t forgotten that. But like I told you, it’s irrelevant. I don’t doubt you married women who couldn’t handle you. You’re a complete pain.”
“So that’s settled,” he said, with such a tone of satisfaction that she was confused.
“What’s settled?”
“That you’re my girl. And that we seem to be at the, um, clinic now.”
Clinic? When Cate turned her head, she saw a cedar door open, and a small boy emerge with his dog. The kid was a scrapper, skinny, ragged cap, but healthy-looking. The dog looked like a sled dog, beautiful and elegant and soft-eyed, with a giant white bandage on his left paw.
“You’re taking me to a vet?” she asked disbelievingly.
Harm didn’t look any happier. “Beats me. Captain said it was the third building, go upstairs to the second floor. That’s where we are.”
The place seemed to be an apartment, not a clinic, where a big bear of a man lumbered through a living room to greet them. Toys littered the floor. A toddler was pulling a noisy push toy. The big bearded guy scooped up the squirt and bellowed for his wife, who showed up in the doorway, wiping her hands on a dish towel.
“So you’re the one who had the fall on the boat?” she said. “Come on in. Let’s have a look.”
The laundry room had a stretcher, which apparently doubled as an exam table. Harm came in with her-not that she asked him-but he clearly didn’t think much of the setup. She did. Cate could see intelligence and common sense in the woman’s eyes, her whole no-nonsense demeanor. “We usually have a doctor around here, retired from Anchorage, but in the summer, he’s hit or miss, off on a fishing trip anytime he can find someone to go with him.”
“I hear there’s a lot of that going around,” Cate said.
The woman chuckled. “Anyway, I’m what’s left over. Used to be a surgical nurse on the mainland, picked up credentials as a P.A. No fancy degrees, nothing extra, but I know enough to get you flown out of here if we think there’s a reason.”
“I just took a fall,” Cate said. “I’m fine. Just going to be bruised up and sore for a little while.”
“It was a serious fall,” Harm interjected. “From one deck down to the next.”
“But I was asleep. And covered with blankets, really cushioned.”
“Aha. You two are doing a lot of talking. How about if I do a lot of looking?” Ten minutes later, she said, “You took a good fall and you’re going to be bruised and sore for a little while.”
