Part 43 (2/2)

”How could I have been that stupid, that wrong?” she asked in a soft, plaintive voice. ”What's wrong with me?”

Kerry put her arms around Dar's neck, and kissed the top of her head. ”There's nothing wrong with you,” she said. ”We're just way out of our league, Dar.”

Dar blinked a few times. ”Are we?”

”Well, I can't speak for you, but they never taught megalomaniacal fruitcake avoidance in my IT cla.s.ses at Michigan,”

Kerry said, taking a deep breath. ”Sorry I freaked out.”

The dark head tipped back and pale blue eyes searched her face. ”Don't be. You were right; it's justified,” Dar said. ”I put someone's life in danger with my own arrogant stupidity.”

”Hey.” Kerry slid around the console and sat down next to Dar.

”Someone I know once told me when you make mistake, know it, then move on and get it fixed.” She took Dar's hand. ”We made a mistake. Let's just go figure out how to fix it.”

Dar stared at the console morosely. ”What if we can't?”

”Dar, if anyone can, it's you,” Kerry murmured. ”We'll find a way, somehow.” She rubbed Dar's shoulder, worried at the pained, lost expression on her lover's face. ”C'mon.”

Dar visibly pulled herself together, rubbing her face with one hand and straightening. ”Okay,” she sighed. ”We'll see what we can come up with to fix this cl.u.s.ter.” She shook her head. ”G.o.d knows it could have been worse.” She moved to stand up.

Kerry moved with her. ”How's that?”

One hand on the console, Dar paused, and then she looked at Kerry. ”He could have taken you.” She eased past her lover and pulled her head close as she did, kissing it. ”Let's go.”*255 Jesus. As she turned to follow Dar mechanically, Kerry sucked in a shocked breath. She's right. She stopped me from coming down here alone to check the boat.

She tried to imagine what that would have been like, a flash of her time in the mental hospital appearing stark and vivid in her mind's eye. How angry she'd been. How ashamed at being taken like that, by her own father. What would Dar have done if it had been her? Kerry watched Dar carefully lock the cabin door. ”Hey, Dar?”

Dar turned, apparently having recovered her composure for the time being. ”Yes?”

Kerry took her arm as they crossed onto the dock and started the long uphill walk to the hospital. ”I was just thinking about what you said.” She folded her fingers around Dar's. ”I was thinking about what I would have done, if it'd been you DeSalliers took instead of poor Bud.”

Dar looked at her. ”And?”

”And I think I would have gone after his ugly a.s.s with that shotgun,” Kerry admitted with a wry, brief smile. ”I can see me doing a Rambo and getting my fool head blown off.”

Dar squeezed her hand. ”Nah.”

”Yeah,” Kerry said seriously. ”So, I know this really sucks, and it's going to be tough on both of us, but I'm selfish enough to be glad I don't have to be thinking about you locked up someplace in that guy's clutches.”

”Well,” Dar kicked a pebble out of the way, watching it skitter down the docks past two men working near one of the boats, ”I think you know that goes double for me.” She squared her shoulders. ”I guess we need to figure out what our a.s.sets are, what advantages we have, and decide what to do.”

Kerry felt a tiny sense of relief. ”Right.”

They walked along in silence, pa.s.sing the other boats and collecting a few curious glances from the men working on them.

They left the dock and headed up the road. ”Kerry?” Dar finally said when they'd pa.s.sed the marina and mounted the first of the steps up the hill.

”Mm?”

Dar paused and put a hand on Kerry's shoulder. ”I wouldn't have gone after him with that shotgun.”

”Oh?” Green eyes searched her face.

”I would have just used my bare hands.” Dar spoke the words with eerie calm. ”And ripped his heart out of his chest.”

”Ah.”

They resumed walking.

”We'll find a way to fix this,” Kerry stated firmly. ”I know we will.”

256*

Dar grunted softly in response, her eyes fastened on the hospital on the slope above.

CHARLIE REMAINED SILENT for a while after Kerry finished speaking, a look of shock on his face. His eyes slowly went from her to Dar, who was sitting in the chair on one side of the hospital room.

The dark-haired woman had her elbows resting on her knees, her clasped hands resting against her chin. She lowered her gaze to the floor, tacitly accepting responsibility for the situation in which they found themselves. ”So, our plan was to get you out of here, then figure out what the h.e.l.l we're going to do.”

”Son of a b.i.t.c.h.” Charlie sighed deeply.

Dar's shoulders hunched just slightly. This was a failure of self that was eating a hole inside her, and she knew it. There had been very few times in her life when she'd known down deep that she'd committed an unfixable error, but this surely seemed to be one of them. Even Kerry's gentle rea.s.surance wasn't helping.

She heard Kerry's footsteps approach and then felt a hand come to rest on her back. Between her shoulder blades, Kerry's thumb moved slightly, giving her a comforting rub. She would never blame Dar, but she also knew the truth about what had caused Bud's abduction, and knowing that Kerry knew, that made Dar feel hollow inside. Hollow and empty and sick to her stomach.

Dar could hear Kerry continuing to speak, but the words just seemed to slip past her and without really realizing it, she rested her head against Kerry's hip and let her eyes close, shutting out the sight of all that disappointment.

”I know this is pretty tough to hear,” Kerry said. ”Believe me, I wish I wasn't here saying it.”

Charlie glanced at the silent figure next to Kerry. His lips twitched slightly. ”Y'know, I told that d.a.m.n fool he shoulda listened to you in the first place, Dar,” he said, with a sigh. ”Too d.a.m.n stubborn, that's what his problem is; always was.”

Kerry could feel Dar's breath warm against the skin of her leg.

”About the loan, you mean?”

Charlie nodded. ”Don't blame yourself, Dar. We got ourselves into this mess. We went after that kid's offer instead of doing the smart thing and accepting the hand of a friend,” he said. ”We never'da been here otherwise.”

Kerry scratched Dar's back, running her fingertips over the tense surface. She could almost feel how upset Dar was. It was like a gray baseball sitting in the pit of her stomach, and she really wanted her lover to shake off the darkness so obviously clouding her mind. ”Honey?”*257 The truth was too much to shrug off. Dar looked up reluctantly and inhaled. ”I know,” she muttered. ”What ifs, what ifs. What if Kerry and I had just gone to another island, or picked a different d.a.m.n wreck to dive...”

”Look.” Charlie collected himself and eased off the edge of the bed onto his newly restored prosthesis. ”Bud's a big boy. I ain't sure they don't have themselves a bigger problem than they started out with, grabbing him.”

”Mm.” Dar straightened up a little. ”They ready to cut you loose?” she asked. ”We figured we'd head on back to the boat and regroup.”

”Good idea.” Charlie nodded. ”After what you told me about what happened at that inn, I don't trust them people further than I can pitch 'em off the cliff.”

Dar stood up, feeling very tired. ”All right. I'll go downstairs and get us a cab.” She gave Kerry a simple, brief hug, then left them to collect Charlie's things.

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