Hotshot P.i.. B.J. Daniels
sprinted down the weathered dock to the end as the person emerged once again—yards beyond his reach. Having no time to consider the consequences, he dove in. The sudden shock of the cold water brought him wide awake; he surfaced, gasping for breath. Just ahead of him he could see the swimmer start to disappear under the dark water again. He swam hard and reached out to grab the only thing he could. Hair. It was long enough he could bury his hand in it.
But to his surprise, the swimmer pulled him under with a force that almost made him lose his grip. Immediately he realized his mistake. The silly fool was struggling, fighting him, and he remembered why he’d never considered the lifeguarding profession. Too dangerous. At least in the private eye business you knew who you were dealing with: murderers, crooks, cheaters and liars. Not some novice in over her head in deep water, panicked to senseless desperation and determined to take you down with her.
Jake got a tighter hold on the hair and a grip on one flaying arm, and with all his strength kicked toward the moonlit surface. At first nothing happened, then they both rose in a rush, the swimmer choking and coughing as they surfaced. Jake used a no-nonsense half nelson to drag the person to the dock and, none too gently, hoisted the obviously feminine body onto the worn boards. He felt a moment of relief. This woman, whoever she was, wasn’t Clancy. Not with that body. Her wet clothing molded to her curves—dangerously enticing, fully developed curves.
She leaned over the edge of the dock, fighting for breath, her dripping shoulder-length hair in her face. Slowly, she raised her gaze, sending a shock wave through him.
Clancy? Even under the wet mop of blond hair, even in the shimmering silver of the moonlight, there was no doubt about that face. Her hair was longer. Not quite as blond. But that face. That cute little nose. That slightly puckered, almost pouty mouth. That wide-eyed, curious deep brown gaze. If anything, she was more beautiful than he remembered. And certainly more…filled out. And in all the right places. That adorable seventeen-year-old tomboy he’d known was now one hell of a good-looking woman.
But he wasn’t sure what shocked him the most. Seeing the change in her after all these years. Or realizing she was the swimmer he’d had to rescue. What had happened to the Clancy he used to know, the one who was much too smart to swim alone in the middle of the night?
“What the hell were you doing swimming at this hour?” he demanded, anger following his relief that Clancy was all right. He needed her alive, he told himself. His relief had nothing to do with any old feelings from their past, he assured himself, ignoring the flashes of memories of the two of them as kids. They’d been so close—best pals. More than that. Kindred spirits. The truth was, he’d thought he was in love with her.
“Swimming?” she said, choking. “You think I was swimming?” She coughed, then leaned back, her gaze settling on him with suspicion. “Someone tried to drown me.”
“Wait a minute,” he said, holding up his hands. “I was the one who fished you out of the drink.” He felt something cold sprint up his spine as he looked into her eyes.
“Someone grabbed me and—” Clancy glanced around in obvious confusion, her eyes wild with fear. “You dragged me out?”
“Yeah.” Jake studied her for a moment, wondering how long it would take her to acknowledge that she knew him. “About this someone who tried to drown you.you might notice there seems to be just the two of us on this whole side of the island.” He glanced toward the still water, then at the empty shoreline, then at her again.
“Thank you for helping me,” she whispered, still looking disoriented. And more than a little scared.
He’d known seeing her again was going to trigger a lot of old emotions, emotions he couldn’t afford. He quickly reminded himself that Clancy hadn’t only perjured herself on the witness stand and helped send his father to prison ten years ago, now she was facing a murder rap of her own. Forget that cute kid he used to build sand castles with on the beach and catch trout with off the end of this dock. Someone had bludgeoned Dex Westfall to death, and from what Kiki had told him, the police thought that someone was Dex’s girlfriend, Clancy Jones.
“So what were you doing out here on the dock at this time of the night?” he asked, unable to keep the reproach out of his voice. He was wet and tired and didn’t appreciate being awakened in the middle of the night. Especially by this woman.
“I heard someone…calling me.” She sounded dubious.
Welcome to the club. “Someone calling you?” He glanced at the still water beyond the dock. The pines etched a dark, ragged line against the night sky. Then he looked over at her again. “Someone called you, so you walked down to see what they wanted in the middle of the night?” Perfectly logical.
He saw her look toward her lodge, her eyes widening. He followed her gaze, surprised to see that not a single lamp glowed in any of the windows. She hadn’t turned on a light before coming down to the dock?
“I suppose you didn’t recognize the voice calling you or see the person who pulled you into the water?” he asked, not even trying to hide his disbelief. He could read most people as easily as he could the cover of a tabloid from across the floor of a good-sized minimart. Clancy Jones was lying through her teeth, but for the life of him, he couldn’t imagine why. He reminded himself that lying seemed to come easy for her.
“Whether you believe it or not, someone tried to drown me,” she said, her voice breaking. She didn’t sound any more convinced than he was, but she was scared. He could see it in her movements as she got to her feet, nervously tugging her wet clothing away from her body.
For the first time, he realized she wasn’t dressed for a night swim. She wore a T-shirt and a pair of leggings. Both were wet and molded to her body. An amazing body, Jake grudgingly admitted. Her feet were bare, and she still wore her watch and a single gold bracelet. Both looked expensive. He ignored the voice of reason that questioned why she would have gone swimming wearing an expensive watch, why Jake had had to pull so hard to bring her to the surface. The questions wedged themselves in the back of his brain, a reluctant sliver of doubt.
“Right,” Jake said. “And where is that someone now?”
When he raised his gaze to her face, he saw that she was staring at him again. Squinting, actually, as if the moonlight was too bright.
“Who are you, anyway, and what are you doing here?” she demanded.
He tried not to let it hurt his feelings. Why should she recognize him or even remember him? She’d only spent the first seventeen years of her life living right next door to him, spending most every waking moment with him from the time she could walk. And it wasn’t as if he wanted to believe he’d made an impression on her just because she had on him. True, there’d been that kiss, the first for both of them, on this very dock, and she’d said she loved him, but hey”Jake Hawkins,” he said, surprised at the hurt and anger he heard in his tone. And the bitterness. “Not that there’s any reason you should remember me. But perhaps you haven’t forgotten my father. Surely you recall that your testimony sent him to prison ten years ago.”
“Jake.” It came out a whisper. She seemed to wobble a little as she squinted harder at him. “It’s been so long…you sound so different…and—”
He rolled his eyes. “Forget it.” For a moment, he just glared at her, mad, irritable and just plain out of sorts. He shifted his gaze to the lake. Lights flickered on the mainland. The air smelled of fish and pines. He should have been at sea, drifting with the night clouds, catching stripers and sailfish. He should have been at peace, breathing salt air, not standing on a dock in the wee hours of the morning with a woman who’d forced him to remember things he’d only wanted to forget. A woman, who unlike him, seemed to have put at least some of that past behind her.
“Why now?” she asked quietly. “After all this time?”
Fueled on a mixture of hurt and anger, he answered, “Your Aunt Kiki sent me to save your butt.”
“What?” The surprise on Clancy’s