Night Diver: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

having been added to and built up over decades. A huge metallic arm dominated the stern deck. Grease and hydraulic fluid leaked out in rusty brown streaks from every joint, announcing that the Golden Bough was a hardworking, seagoing pack mule. Like her captain, she was salty and pragmatic, and she refused to be consigned to history.
    Nothing to be afraid of, Kate assured herself . Nothing at all.
    “She hardly looks a day over sixty,” Holden said, his voice dry.
    “The Golden Bough was purchased in 1966, built in 1959 in Providence by Cooper Shipping Works,” she said absently. “When its most recent owner went bankrupt, Grandpa bought the ship.”
    Holden made an appreciative noises. The builder had a reputation on both sides of the Atlantic for making exceptionally sound, affordable ships.
    “It’s difficult to get that kind of quality anymore,” he said.
    “So Grandpa always says.”
    She eased back on the throttles as they approached the starboard side, where part of the gunwale on the lowest deck was hinged to open inward. Deckhands or divers off rotation popped their heads over the rails, looking down curiously. She waved to them as she brought the tender around to the side opening.
    Holden assessed the dive boat in his mind. Despite its lack of flash and polish, the ship could take about anything the sea felt like dishing up—so long as the engines had been cared for regularly and competently. Sometimes the appearance of clean and shipshape was just a pretty wrapping on a rotten package.
    “There’s Larry,” Kate said, cutting the throttles to idle as the tender bumped gently against the larger boat. “He’ll be down in a moment. Throw your duffels aboard. I’ll keep you close enough to step up on the gunwale and then onto the lower deck of the ship.”
    “Shall I take a line?”
    “I’m leaving,” she said. She heard her own clipped voice edged with fear and winced. Way to win friends. Think of his sexy exterior and not the robot inside. “My work is ashore, thank you. I’ll wait here until the crew unloads the supplies.”
    No sooner had she finished speaking than her brother was calling to her.
    “Hurry up, sis, and get a line up here. I haven’t seen you since Christmas before last!”
    She looked up at all the faces peering down, shades of skin from ebony to brown to the sun-reddened, freckled face of her brother. Wisps of orange-red hair stuck out from the hat he wore.
    For an instant she was five again, looking up into the face of her father. Tears stung.
    Damn you, Larry. You know I don’t want to come aboard again. And you know I should.
    So do I, now.
    But I won’t dive. There isn’t enough treasure in all the Caribbean to make me go underwater again.
    Holden threw the line to Larry, who tied it off quickly, giving Holden time to watch his beautiful pilot go pale, flush, go pale again, and then turn off the engines. Her mouth was a grim line of determination, a difficult feat with her full lips. They usually made a man think of kissing and nibbling. Everywhere. All inappropriate, of course. This was an assignment, not a holiday with a side of sex.
    Too bad his mind and body kept pointing that way.
    “After you,” he said politely.
    Holden watched while Kate went from the tender to the ship with the speed and temper of a scalded cat. The man who was apparently her brother swept her up into a big hug. For a moment or two, she was stiff. Then she hugged him in turn.
    Holden envied the brother even as he wondered about the family dynamics. The murmuring of the crew reminded him to pull his mind away from the woman and concentrate on his job.
    According to the briefing he had received, Larry was captain of the ship and head of the dive operation but always deferred to the elder Donnelly. Patrick Donnelly was at best a rapscallion, and at worst a thief. He was also a legendary treasure hunter who had lost his son and daughter-in-law during a dive to find a pirate’s hoard. Like all