“She remembers you,” Eva said. She stared at Bane while she twisted a lock of her hair. “Where did you go? I missed you.”
Leia busied herself in her first-aid kit so she didn’t have to look in Bane’s face. How was he going to explain his absence to Eva? Her sister had pestered her with questions since Bane quit coming around. Leia hadn’t been able to tell her she’d sent him away with a lie and an attitude that hurt him. Still, the truth would have hurt him more in the end.
“Where did you go?” Eva said again.
Bane cleared his throat, and Leia decided to take pity on him. There would be time for questions later. She plucked Hina from his chest and handed the cat to her sister. “Take care of Hina for me, Eva.” She opened Bane’s flight suit and slipped the stethoscope inside to listen to his heart. Her finger touched the warm flesh of his chest, and she nearly jerked her hand back. Her cheeks burned, and she avoided his gaze. Her own pulse shot up. The thump-thump of his heartbeat in her ears rattled her.
Checking his reflexes, she finally stood and held out her hand to help him to his feet. “You seem to be okay. Other than smelling like a fish.”
“I could have told you that ten minutes ago,” he grumbled. He stood but continued to hang on to her hand. His gaze examined every inch of her face. “How have you been, Leia?”
“What are you doing here?” Bane had the power to disrupt her life. Even now, she could almost sense the vibrations around her, a warning that her life was about to change.
“It sounds like you’re not glad to see me. I thought when I took this assignment—” He dropped her hand and straightened his shoulders.
She didn’t answer. Even Eva seemed to sense the tension between them, because she backed away and began to hum to the cat. Leia pointed. “The radio is over there. You’d better call in your accident.”
“If it was an accident. I’d say there’s something screwy going on.” Bane stalked to the VHP radio and grabbed the mic.
She listened as he called the Coast Guard, who patched him through to his boss. Bane had been with the Coast Guard, and she’d heard he resigned his commission and was doing civilian research as an oceanographer. She hoped he hadn’t come here planning a reconciliation, because it wasn’t going to happen. It couldn’t, no matter how much she might want it.
“The controls just weren’t responding, Ron,” Bane was saying into the mic. “There was a bang like a small bomb, and the plane wallowed like a whale. We need to recover it and see if it was sabotaged.” He listened then nodded. “I’ll get right on it.” When he hung up the radio, his eyes were shadowed with fatigue. “I don’t suppose you’ve overcome your dislike for cell phones?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
He grinned. “I didn’t think so. I need to call Kaia and see if she and her dolphin can come sooner than she planned.”
“Her dolphin?”
“Yeah, Nani. I’ve got to recover that plane. I didn’t work for months on that equipment to lose it now.”
“What are you working on?”
He grinned. “Tony talked me into his pet project. He found a financial backer and roped me into it. So I’m working for his investor, Ron Pimental. He’s got a small fleet of research and salvage vessels. I was ready to do something a little different. The thought of seeing you again sweetened the offer.”
Tony Romero and Bane had been tight for years. Bane worked at Tony’s dive shop before joining the Coast Guard, and the two men were more like brothers than friends. She’d been their younger “sister” until the first time Bane kissed her. She dropped her gaze and began to put her medical kit away. “It doesn’t seem your type of job. I never expected you to resign your commission.”
“Why? I get to continue mapping the ocean floor, plus I get to dive sunken ships and see the new coral forming. Life doesn’t get much better than that.”
Life had been better for her before he came back to disrupt it. She looked back at the water half expecting to see his dog’s shaggy head. “Where’s Ajax? You two are usually joined at the hip.”
“He’s coming on the ship with Ron.”
“Tony has been obsessed with finding that Spanish galleon for years. Who was fool enough to put up good money on this project?”
He grinned. “Your cynicism is showing. I think we have a shot at it. Pimental Salvage has state-of-the-art equipment, and he’s got a knack for finding ships. It’s a good combo. He should be here in a few hours.” He stretched his long legs out in front of him and folded his arms over his chest. “How’s your ‘ohana?”
“They’re good. I was just visiting with T?t? when I saw your plane go down.” She didn’t want to make small talk with him. The boat suddenly seemed claustrophobic. “I’m living there now, treating the residents with natural meds.”
His dark eyes raked her. “Still hiding?”