“This is all my fault. I fell asleep.” His shoulders slumped. “I failed her too.”
She stood and helped him up. “We didn’t fail. Heidi is sleeping on the deck.” She led him to where his niece lay under the towel.
They watched the rise and fall of her chest. “You’re sure she’s okay?” he asked.
Kaia nodded. “I need to try to get Bane awake. He was drugged too.” She knelt and scooped Heidi into her arms.
“I’ll take her,” Jesse said. He staggered as he lurched forward with his arms outstretched.
“You’re too weak. Go first down the ladder, and I’ll hand her to you.”
She could see the protest in his eyes, but he shrugged then did as she suggested. Kaia dropped Heidi into his waiting arms then went down the ladder into the galley. “I’ll be down to put dry pajamas on her,” she called after him.
He nodded, and she went to try to rouse her brother. He didn’t move when she shook him, though she could see his chest move up and down. He might have to sleep it off. She tried again, but Bane was like a dead weight in the bed. She could try the smelling salts, but maybe it would be better to let him sleep.
Jesse came back into the galley. He looked terrible with the blood black and caked in his blond hair. Like a Frankenstein monster. “She woke up enough to say she could change into dry pajamas.”
Kaia nodded. “Let me wash that out of your hair,” she said. “I want to see your wounds in the light.”
“My head is throbbing like this engine at full bore,” he admitted. He went to the nearest chair and sank into it. Dark circles cupped his eyes, and he was pasty under his tan.
Kaia got out some Tylenol and gave it to him with water. He downed it and closed his eyes while she probed his hair.
“You’ve got another cut back here,” she said.
“He clocked me with something from behind,” he murmured, his eyes still closed.
“I wonder why he didn’t drug you?”
“I think he was going to, but I woke up before he had the chance.”
Kaia cleaned the cuts she could see. She got a cloth and washed as much of the blood from his hair as she could without dunking him in the sink.
“That will have to do for now.” She stepped back and regarded him critically. “You’re getting a little more color to your face.”
“Your torture would make anyone red-faced,” he said. He opened his eyes and grinned.
Kaia found herself smiling back. Before she could react, he had pulled her down onto his lap. The shock held her still.
He put his arms around her waist and leaned his head against her neck. “Um, you smell better than chloroform any day, my little mermaid.”
She smiled and smoothed his stiff hair. He must be concussed. “You’d better not go to sleep until we get you checked out by the doctor.”
“I’m fine, Kaia. Even my headache is getting better.”
He sounded better. Stronger and more like himself. But he was still holding her, and she was still liking it. She moved to free herself, and he immediately released her. She wasn’t sure what to say.
“I’m not a shark,” he said, his grin forming like a wave. “I won’t bite. Well, except for maybe a nibble.”
“Maybe a killer whale?” she suggested.
“Nope. Not even a beluga. I’m your plain, ordinary, garden-variety tang. Yellow and all.” He rubbed his blond head. “I’m totally harmless.”
“I’m not so sure about that.” Not if her racing pulse was any indication. She felt like she’d just swum across the ocean to Ni`ihau.
“You’re way more dangerous than me,” he said. His gaze lingered on her face then sank to her lips.
If he kept looking at her like that, she’d be back in his lap in no time. She backed away. “I should go clean up the blood on deck. You need to call someone to tell them about this kidnapping attempt.”
His smile faded. “You’re right. I get way too distracted by you.” His smile surged back. “But it’s a welcome distraction.”
Even more flustered, she grabbed some paper towels and went to the ladder.
“Don’t clean that up yet,” he called after her. “We might need some evidence.”
She rushed up the steps to get away from him. In school and later in college, she’d never had much time for guys. Her work was too important to risk messing up her plans for a man. Now she found herself questioning that decision.
Jesse was hard-headed and opinionated, but gentle with his niece and his family and a rock in times of trouble. She found herself leaning on him and didn’t like that dependency.
He followed her up the ladder and examined the pool of red on the deck. “I bled enough to have been the lu’au pig,” he said. He grabbed the ship-to-shore radio and called in the attack to the Coast Guard.
“I thought you might call it in to the captain,” she said.
“I thought about it. But I think our patrol out here is going to yield more results than trolling navy waters. Better to leave things alone with the navy for now.”