Page 47 of Buck (Diver Downeast #2)

“I love you, too,” Bobbie whispered under her breath, her heart pounding with excitement.

Buck was here!

She wished she could say the words out loud; shout it to the heavens, but her brothers were lurking.

Right. But fuck them. Her brothers might be skulking about, but the man to whom she’d been denying those special words had followed her out to sea. Dogged her in a freaking submarine.

Who did that?

Buck, apparently.

Something within Bobbie began slowly cracking with that realization, and without warning, the enormous walls she’d spent so long erecting, simply exploded; blew wide open, allowing her to finally see.

Buck was exactly who he’d always purported to be. She’d known it, logically, but it had taken this long to make it through to her reluctant brain.

And now, just like that, all the caution and misgivings she’d had about allowing the man back into her life, crumbled.

Holy shit .

Buck loved her. He really, really loved her, and she’d been such an idiot. He’d been trying to prove it to her over and over again by not running from her myriad of problems, but she’d been too armored, too insulated to listen. And now…?

He was actually here to help her face her troubles, head on. If that didn’t say commitment and loyalty, she didn’t know what did.

Bobbie grinned. Buck was sooo going to get lucky tonight; served up a feast between the sheets, for sure, but with a heaping side of love-confessions that he probably never expected to grace his plate.

“What are you smiling at, bitch?”

Drew’s ugly voice broke her happy spell and she turned to face him as he poked his head out of the hatch, albeit feeling far more confidence than she had all morning.

“It’s a beautiful day,” she countered, this time with a bold smile. “What’s not to enjoy?”

Drew grumbled, enumerating. “Fucking boat, fucking ocean, and you. You’re fucking crazy. There’s nothing good about being out here. I can’t even see land,” he grumbled, squinting at the vast expanse of blue surrounding them.

Bobbie was pleased to see his face drain of color as he said it.

“And you won’t spot any for another couple hours,” she told him almost gleefully, holding back that he shouldn’t be concerned about that.

Seeing the sub, she figured they’d probably be boarded and he’d be arrested long before he got his feet on terra firma again.

That development would color his perception of sailing for the rest of his sorry days as his ass rotted in prison.

Bobbie needled him some more. “This is the best part of the trip; where it’s just us, the sun, and the sea.”

Drew grimaced and without another word, went back below.

Bobbie smirked, then dared glance in the direction of her tail, where once again the mast poked up just above the surface. They’d been trailing her, letting their presence be seen every now and then.

But even when she spotted nothing, she gloried in the fact that Buck was only a short distance away. Now, at least, when Border Patrol stopped her, she’d have back-up for whatever Drew and Jeff might try to pull.

She was still worried over what her brothers would attempt, because she was certain they weren’t going down without a fight. But she also knew that as soon as the Coast Guard and Border Patrol officers had her heaving to, Buck and company would surface and let their presence also be known.

The day took on more of a sparkle. Her body relaxed into the cadence of the waves as a couple of happy thoughts crossed her mind.

The first? She wasn’t going back to Monsieur Provard’s.

Ever. As much as she’d enjoyed her weekly sails, the slimy man had become increasingly overbearing and obnoxious.

She wasn’t going to miss his autocratic and secretive quirks.

Not at all. Sure, the money had been good.

Really good. But if what Tex had told her was true, Bobbie wouldn’t have to worry about finances for very much longer.

It seemed she owned a house, a barn, and twenty acres of prime real estate. Amazing .

Then there was reason number two to be pumped, she reminded herself, adding a pinch to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Next time she was intimately entwined with Buck, she was damned well going to tell him she loved him. They both deserved that.

Imagine. After fifteen years of unhappiness apart, they were about to make their dreams come true.

“Hey. What have you got for food?” Drew’s demanding voice came from below, interrupting her daydreams.

Bobbie snorted to herself. She couldn’t tell him that he could have any or all of the stuff she’d brought along for Provard, because it wasn’t actually going all the way to New Brunswick, so she steered him to her personal stash, instead.

“I have bread and cold cuts in the fridge under the cooktop, as well as water and sodas. Help yourself.”

She was a bit surprised that the pair wanted to eat since their stomachs were obviously sour from sailing, but she wasn’t completely shocked.

Back when she’d first bought the boat—and thought that her siblings had been magnanimous for helping her with finances—she’d coerced them out with her a couple times.

They hadn’t enjoyed it, but she’d coached them that if they had a little food in their guts, their interior acids wouldn’t roil around so much.

They’d found her advice to be helpful, and even though after two short trips they’d never sailed with her again, they must have remembered her lessons.

A few minutes passed, and her brothers came out on deck, sandwiches in hand. Clearly, they were also remembering that if they had their eyes on the horizon, they wouldn’t feel so queasy.

“Where’s mine?” Bobbie asked sarcastically, knowing full well that neither of them would have bothered thinking about her well-being.

“You didn’t say you wanted one,” Jeff snarked, nibbling cautiously at his bread. Of the two, he was the most susceptible to puking.

“Never mind.” She gave a huge, mock sigh, because yeah , she hadn’t expected them to think of her. “I’ll get my own.”

“Whoa,” Drew spat out a bite, holding up his hand as if he could stop her. “If you do that, who’ll sail the boat?”

He was so freaking clueless.

“Dude. I have a wheel pilot,” she told him with a roll of her eyes. “How else would I be able to leave the helm to eat or use the head when I’m sailing alone?”

Drew didn’t look happy, but he didn’t call her out on her assertion. “Just don’t be gone too long,” he ordered.

Bobbie smiled cheerfully and sarcastically. “If you’re worried we might crash into a whale or something, you can always go back down and get food for me,” she proposed.

Drew grunted. “Get it yourself, cunt.”

Nice. If she didn’t know better, she’d say Drew was even more abrasive today, since he wasn’t in full control.

Nah. He was an asshole all the time.

Bobbie set her autopilot, and with one quick glance to her starboard side to see if Buck was peeking at her again—he wasn’t—she hustled below to make some food with one thought in mind.

It shouldn’t be long before she was in Buck’s arms again.

Once her food was prepared, for which she took her sweet time, Bobbie thought about possible weapons, and remembered the wrench she’d stored in an overhead compartment in the forward berth.

She swiftly retrieved it, tucked it into her waistband, and pulling her t-shirt over it, she headed back up the companionway.

As nonchalantly as possible, she settled again behind the helm to watch the horizon while she ate, enjoying her food immensely.

Ten minutes later, with her sandwich gone—because she could down food as fast as she wanted without fear of it coming back up—the sun glinted on something up ahead. She knew immediately that it was the authorities, hanging out in international waters, waiting for her to arrive.

Dammit. The sandwich suddenly felt like lead in her stomach.

This was it. And she had no idea how things would play out from here.

Bobbie was certain that Buck—and whoever was in the sub with him—had probably already been in touch with the US Coast Guard and Canadian authorities, so they’d know boarding was imminent and they’d be readying to surface.

She wiped her sweaty palms on her pants and tried to affect a neutral attitude so as not to give things away. At least not before Drew and Jeff noticed for themselves that they weren’t alone on their little slice of the ocean any more.

Five minutes passed, then eight, and finally the hum of the engines and the churn of the propellers on the larger vessels couldn’t be ignored any longer as they approached off her bow.

“What the…?” Drew turned his head toward the sound and his mouth fell open. “Who the hell are they?”

Bobbie tried to play it cool. “Oh, no worries. It’s just the Canadian Border Patrol and the US Coast Guard.

” She lifted a hand and waved as gaily as possible at the oncoming ships.

“One out of every six or seven trips they come aboard for a quick inspection. It’s no big deal.

” She hoped her words came out sounding natural.

In reality, she’d never been boarded. She’d rendezvoused with the authorities every now and then, sharing a quick meal or a simple friendly visit, and she’d met some wonderful people that way.

But by her registering with Nexus, along with her preemptory calls to the CBSA, that had always taken care of legalities.

This welcome party today, however, was just for her brothers.

The call came over her marine radio, on VHF Channel 16. “ Small Dream , welcome back to Canadian waters. This is First Officer Randolph. We’d like to board for a routine inspection.”

“Shit,” Drew swore, throwing the remains of his sandwich over the rail. “Turn around,” he demanded of Bobbie. “Outrun them,” he spluttered.

“Outrun them?” Bobbie laughed, pretending not to see his panic. “Are you kidding me? Those cutters can do twenty-eight knots. I’m lucky if I can pull eight under full sail.”

“Well…well…” He regrouped to find his words. “Wave them off. Call them on your…thingy and tell them you’re all set,” he stammered.

“Drew. Chill. This is really not a huge problem. They have a quick look around, we shoot the shit, then they leave,” she assured him, tongue-in-cheek. “Now, I have to answer them, or they’ll think something’s wrong.”

She picked up her mic. “Ahoy, Steve.” She knew this particular Coastie, and immediately felt more comfortable that she wasn’t dealing with strangers. “You know I always love it when you throw me a good welcoming party. I’ll be heaving to for your inspection.”

She hung up her mic.

Drew growled at her ineffectually, then abruptly stood and snapped at her brother. “Jeff. Get off your ass. Those crates need to go overboard. Now.”

“What?” Bobbie attempted to look shocked as she turned the Small Dream about and luffed her sails. “What crates? Why?”

“None of your fucking business,” Drew snarled. He was already in motion.

He and Jeff charged below, then wrestled the first crate up the companionway. Hefting it high over the starboard rail, they aggressively shoved it into the drink.

Bobbie watched the damned thing sink.

Shit. Now what? How many boxes had her brothers brought this time? And would they have the opportunity to ditch them all?

She looked over and saw the cutter, closing in, but feared they weren’t going to be on her fast enough.

The pair worked surprisingly quickly, and before the cutter powered down and lowered its first RHIB, or rigid hull inflatable boat into the drink, five cases had gone over the side.

Her brothers looked, if not pleased, at least relieved.

Fuck.

No evidence…no arrests. No arrests…no reprieve from completing the journey to Canada.

Then once at the mansion, Canadian authorities would have zero reasons to issue a search warrant for Provard’s property, which meant she’d be right back in the man’s slimy grips again, this time without a viable excuse like the weather that would make it easy for her to disappear.

Then there was the added dilemma of her brothers.

Back home in Maine, the chief’s hands would be tied and the agencies he’d amassed wouldn’t be able to do a legal search of the barn.

Not only that, but Bobbie would be stuck with the pair in an increasing unstable environment, both here and at home once they knew she was challenging them for her rightful ownership of the house.

Bobbie truly feared for her future safety in both countries.

She knew her brothers wouldn’t keep her away from Provard’s evil intentions if he should try to pull her into his slimy web again.

She also understood that once they were apprised that she’d discovered she owned the house they lived in, they’d try to make her disappear. In a bad way.

Bobbie shivered.

Things weren’t looking good.

Smug now, her brothers settled back down onto the comfort of her cushioned benches and waited.

How had everything gone to hell so quickly?