looking at her with concern.
„Yes. Thank you.“ Even as Janna spoke, more memories came. She had been so cold she could barely feel the deck beneath her feet. She had been unable to stand, to swim, even to breathe. „I… if it hadn’t been for you…“
With a shrug of massive shoulders, Raven said, „I’ve always been bigger than the people around me. It’s good to know that I’m useful for more than pulling nets and scaring children.“
Janna blinked, sensing the loneliness beneath the matter-of-fact words. For all his rough looks and overwhelming male power, Raven was not an insensitive man. Impulsively she put her hand on the bunched strength of his shoulder. „I’ll bet the children run toward you, not away,“ she said softly.
„They know they’ll be safe with you. I knew it,“ she added, gray-green eyes searching his. „Raven, I don’t know how to thank – “
„You must be thirsty,“ he said, cutting off her words.
Janna suddenly realized two things: Raven didn’t want her thanks, and she was thirsty. Her throat felt as though it were lined with sandpaper. „Yes,“ she said, hearing the rasp in her own voice.
„Swallowing saltwater will do it to you every time. I’ve got tea, coffee, water or soup.“
„Tea. Please.“
Janna tried not to watch as Raven rolled out of the bunk in a single coordinated movement, taking the sheet with him. She tried, but not looking at him was impossible. He was so big that he filled the cabin. On him, the navy blue cloth he wrapped casually around his hips looked the size of a beach towel rather than a bed sheet. She had come from a family of big men, and at five feet nine inches wasn’t exactly small herself; but the man called Raven was a giant.
He was also compelling in the same wild, primitive way that the surrounding land was compelling. The naked strength and endurance in him tugged at her senses, as did the laughter and solitude that gleamed deep within his black eyes. Potent, vital, alone, Raven called to her at levels she hadn’t even known she had until she had awakened with his life’s heat radiating through her.
What a pity she didn’t call to him in the same way.
Janna’s mouth curved down in a sad smile. She had awakened naked in bed with the most intriguing man she had ever met, and he had treated her like a sister even after her hand had blundered into such intimate contact with his body. She was used to being treated like a sister. After all, she was one. Sister to three strapping brothers. That didn’t bother her. Being treated like a sister by her ex-husband – that
Wryly Janna conceded that she shouldn’t be surprised that Raven hadn’t been physically intrigued by her. She blew a limp, damp string of hair away from her nose and sighed. She had no illusions as to how she looked under the best of circumstances. Striking was what her family said. Privately, Janna had decided that was what people told tall women they liked who didn’t possess the soft, blond, kittenish looks that men invariably preferred. Having just been fished from the sea half-drowned and blue with cold, Janna knew she must look about as appealing as a beached jellyfish.
No wonder Raven hadn’t wanted her gratitude. The poor man must have been terrified that she would offer to pay him off in bed. Again Janna smiled wryly. He had reason to worry. He wouldn’t have gotten any great bargain from accepting her offer. Experienced she was not. She could count on one hand the number of times her husband had made love to her during their short „marriage.“
„Such sad eyes,“ Raven said. „Worrying about what happened? Don’t. You’re safe now. I’ll take you back to civilization as soon as the storm blows over. As for your boat…“ he shrugged. „I’ll see that you get a new one. And a decent engine to go with it.“
Janna’s eyelashes swept down, concealing her emotions. Then the comment about the engine penetrated. Her eyes opened wide as she looked up at Raven. „How did you know that the engine gave me trouble?“
„Nobody rows the west side of the islands in a storm for the sheer joy of it,“ Raven said dryly. „One lump or two?“
„I feel like I’ve already taken fifty,“ Janna said, rubbing her left arm. „Two lumps, please. How did you know I liked sugar in my tea?“
„You look like a woman who enjoys her senses,“ he said matter-of-factly. „Is your arm still cramped?“
„Was it cramped?“ asked Janna, looking at her left arm with new interest and wondering what Raven had meant about her enjoying her senses.
„Don’t you remember?“
Janna frowned, drawing dark cinnamon eyebrows down in soft, twin curves. „I remember that damned engine quitting and starting and quitting until finally it went dead. I remember rowing.“ She looked at her hands. They were red, chafed and blistered here and there from the rough oar handles. „I remember being cold.“
„Do you remember bailing?“
„Sure. Every chance I got.“ She grimaced. „It wasn’t often enough, though.“
„What do you remember after you saw the
Janna looked around at the beautifully finished interior of the boat. „Is this the
Raven nodded. With an effort of will he kept from staring at the corner of the blanket, where one nipple peeked invitingly from beneath the silver folds. The blush that had risen up Janna’s clear, flawless skin when she had realized that she was naked and in bed with a stranger had told Raven that she wasn’t accustomed to waking up that way. Her curious, incendiary touch as she explored his rapidly hardening flesh had told him that she wasn’t accustomed to men, period. Nor was she a child. He guessed that she was in her early twenties. Most women her age would have known instantly what that particular part of a man’s anatomy felt like between the sheets. She hadn’t.
That had been all that had kept Raven from returning the favor, running his hand down her warm, supple body to discover the heat deep inside her. He was sure that sensual heat was there, and he was sure that she would give it to him if he asked. She was so damned grateful for being fished out of the inlet.
Raven’s mouth turned down in a hard curve. He wasn’t that kind of predator, despite his name and his looks. He wouldn’t take advantage of her gratitude. The woman with the sad eyes and brave smile wasn’t a predator, either. Once the emotions of the instant wore off, she would regret having given in gratitude what she had been born to give in love.
But not to him. Experience had taught Raven that he just wasn’t the kind of man that women loved. He was too big. Too hard. Too rough. Too Indian. To make it worse, he was invariably attracted to his opposite – like the deliriously soft, wonderfully supple woman he had found fighting the sea. Usually such women proved to be disappointing in other ways, lacking the core of humor and courage that he valued far more than he valued mere looks.
Angel had been different. She had discovered in herself enough raw courage for ten people. And so had the woman he had pulled from the sea, the woman watching him now with clear, silver- green eyes. Trusting him.
Gently Raven tucked the blanket in around Janna’s shoulders, concealing the tempting pink nipple from sight. „Do you feel like breakfast?“ he asked.
„Gee, I don’t know. Do I look like breakfast?“ she shot back, embarrassed to realize that she had been hanging out of the blanket like a ripe raspberry and all he could think of was covering her up. Then she heard her own words all but demanding that Raven notice her nakedness. She groaned at the flush climbing up her cheeks once more. „You saved the body, but I’m afraid you left the brains at the bottom of the inlet.“
