Romancing the Crown: Kate & Lucas: Under the King's Command / The Prince's Wedding

“It’s gold, all right. That’s why it isn’t corroded.”

“It almost looks like…” She shook her head. “I’ve only seen pictures of them, but it couldn’t be a Spanish doubloon. Not here.”

“Why not? Doubloons were common currency in the seventeenth century, and this area was always a major trade route.”

“But the chances of you finding this—”

“Were slim but not impossible,” he said. “Like I told you, there are some weird currents near the bottom. They could have shifted the sand enough to expose the coin today and then bury it again tomorrow.”

“I suppose so.”

“There’s probably more down there. I could go take another look and—”

“Don’t you dare do another dive.”

He kicked his feet lazily to keep himself upright in the water. His gaze gleamed like the gold in her palm. “Why not?”

Because you worried me, she thought. Because I want you with me… even though I don’t want you with me. “Because our mission doesn’t include a salvage operation,” she replied. “We can tell the people at the Royal Montebellan Museum about this find. They’ll take it from there.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“You’re the one who always has to go after the next adventure, not me,” she said, her tone harsher than she had intended.

His smile disappeared. “I’m sorry about upsetting you earlier, Kate.”

“It’s all right. Let’s just forget it, okay?”

“No, we can’t forget it. That’s the whole point. We’ve been trying to pretend that our past didn’t happen, and it’s not working.”

He was right, she thought. It wasn’t working. But that only meant they had to try harder. “We’re on a mission, and you’re in the water. I don’t think this is the time or place for a discussion, Sam.”

“Then what is?”

“Would you just get in the dinghy now, Lieutenant Coburn?”

He watched her in silence for a moment before he clamped his hands over the gunwale. “Better lean back.”

Just as she’d done when he went in, Kate leaned over the opposite side to help balance his weight. He kicked hard to heave his upper body out of the water, then hooked one knee over the side of the boat and rolled smoothly inside.

The dinghy was designed to accommodate two people easily, but it suddenly seemed too small. Kate returned to her seat in the stern and tried to do what she’d done for a week. She tried to ignore the six feet two of ruggedly handsome male in front of her.

But as Sam had said moments ago, it wasn’t working.

“Kate…”

She held up a palm. “Please, Sam. We’ve said more than enough. Let’s just get back to the boat.”

This time he didn’t argue. He slicked the water from his chest and arms with his palms, completely unselfconscious about being half-naked. Without another word he took the oars, spun the dinghy around to point out of the cavern and rowed across the cove to their anchored sloop.

The moment they had secured the lifeboat over the stern and stowed their gear, Kate headed for the cabin. But before she could reach the cockpit Sam stopped her with a firm hand on her arm. “Wait,” he said.

“I need to get on the radio and check in,” she said almost desperately. She had to establish distance between them. She had to focus on her duty to keep the memories—and the doubts—at bay. They had to get back to the base before they dug up more things better left buried.

“This will only take a minute.” Sam transferred his grip to her shoulders and gently turned her to face away from him. There was the click of an opening stud and the rasp of a zipper.

“Sam! What are you doing?”

“Trying to get my hand into my pocket.” He grunted. “This wet denim is like glue. Couldn’t get my hand inside unless I opened my fly, and I didn’t want to try this on the dinghy or you might have tried to jump overboard again.”

She felt her breath stop. He was already half-naked. Now he was unfastening the only garment he wore. And he was standing right behind her, close enough for her to sense every whisper of motion. She closed her eyes, but she could all too easily picture how the sun would be gleaming off his moist skin, how each ridged muscle would tighten with his movements, how pale and slim her hand would look as she caressed his body…

No. It was over. Gone. She could control this. She had to.

“Got it. Hang on a minute.” The zipper rasped closed. A moment later he turned her around to face him and held out his hand.

A fine gold chain was draped between his fingers. A gold butterfly glinted in the center of his palm.

Kate’s heart was pounding so hard it took her a moment to realize what he was showing her. When she did, she felt a surge of warmth that had nothing to do with sexual awareness. “Oh, Sam.” She reached out to touch her fingertip to one of the butterfly wings. “You found it, after all.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry about the broken chain, but I think it can be fixed.”

She couldn’t move, caught by the image of his large, strong hand holding her delicate necklace. Her throat grew tight with a sudden lump of emotion. This was too much. The man who had created a baby with her, a precious and fleeting life, now held the symbol of it.

He ducked his head to catch her gaze. “I thought you’d be happy.”

She didn’t know what she was. Right now, she was too mixed up to analyze it. She clasped her hand over his and lifted her face. “Thank you, Sam.”

“You’re welcome, Kate.”

And then, as naturally as drawing her next breath, she stretched up and kissed him.

Chapter 8

It was like coming home. Something familiar, something treasured but left behind. Something she hadn’t known was precious until it was gone.

Only Kate had never really had a home. There had been a neat split-level house in the Miami suburbs that her mother had kept spotless and tastefully decorated. Her father had worked himself into a heart attack to avoid spending time in it. A home should have been warm and welcoming, but that house wasn’t. It had been brittle, the atmosphere charged with the tension of impending arguments. Eventually the arguments had ceased altogether, not because things got better but because her parents had simply given up and stopped talking.

Kate had grown up with one ambition—to leave. She wanted to leave that house and that life as far behind as she could. And so the Navy had become her family. Each time she packed her bags to move to another base, she left that soulless split-level further behind and proved she would never be trapped in a marriage like her parents.

No, she’d never really known a home.

Then why did Sam’s kiss make her think of one?

She pulled back her head to look at him.

He smiled slowly, his eyes sparkling in a way that was achingly familiar. Treasured. Left behind.

Kate trembled. Now was the time to stop. She could claim the kiss was just from gratitude. It wasn’t too late. She could pretend—