Ryshia Kennie - Sheikh Defence

He had to get her into the helicopter and to the hospital as quickly as possible. The mysteries of why she was here and where her father was would have to remain just that. The US Coast Guard, the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association and a swarm of volunteers were searching the waters for the yacht. Hopefully Dan Adams was still on board and there’d be answers. If they found the yacht without him, despite having found Ava, the chances of succeeding twice were slim. The Atlantic was a big place and even now the waves were rough with weather reports saying it wasn’t going to get any better. His focus returned to where Ava Adams lay unmoving with nothing but six square feet of air-inflated rubber to protect her from the elements. She wasn’t even wearing a life jacket. That reality horrified him as he thought of all the possibilities and of how lucky she’d been. The Ava he knew was a poor swimmer. If she’d ended up in the water, she would have drowned in waves like this. She’d been lucky he’d arrived when he had.

It was five minutes before he had her harnessed and buckled against him. It had been awkward trying to balance on the dinghy and maneuver her into the harness. Now, he held her tight against his chest, his arm around her, her breasts pressed against his chest. It seemed inappropriate and wrong. And yet all he could do was hold one arm over the harness that held her and the other a safe distance away as he held the winch line. He looked up and signaled Sam to take them up. The roar of the helicopter blades and the crash of the waves below them made communicating impossible. The line twisted, and they turned, facing away from the empty life raft as the line slowly took them up.

She moaned and it was odd hearing her voice for the first time in so long. She opened her eyes. He hadn’t expected that nor her unseeing gaze. It was as unexpected as the first time. This time her eyes held nothing but desperation and panic.

“Find my father.” Her words were so low and breathy. It was like it took all her energy just to breathe.

“We will,” he said. He held her tighter, her body damp and cold, and her curves pressed into him, teasing him in ways that he could not ignore.

His thoughts were blown away with her next words.

“He’ll kill him.”

Chapter Five

He’ll kill him.

With Ava safely in the helicopter, her words still echoed in his mind. Unfortunately, after that cryptic statement, she’d passed out. There was no clue as to who she might be referring to. The yacht had officially held two passengers, Dan Adams and Ava. Did someone want them dead? And if so, who?

They hadn’t arrived a moment too soon.

Getting her into the helicopter was difficult, getting her on the stretcher, no easier. She’d been limp, and because of that, dead weight. She’d floated back into unconsciousness for a while after he’d gotten her into the helicopter and before he’d pulled up the rescue gear. A few minutes, not a whole lot more.

She grimaced and then squinted as if she couldn’t focus. She wasn’t looking at anything; in fact, her eyes were half-closed and hidden by long dark lashes. Her eyes opened a little wider but again remained unfocused on either him or anything else.

He remembered those eyes so full of intelligence and passion. He remembered the vivid blue piercing challenge of them and he remembered the vulnerability behind her shrewd intellect. Despite what he’d told himself over the years, he’d forgotten nothing about her. He pushed the thoughts from his mind. Irrelevant. He needed to keep her safe, get her warm and get her to the hospital.

The only assessment he could make was that she didn’t seem to be seeing him. She wasn’t looking at him or around him—instead it was as if she didn’t see him or anything else at all. It was like she was asleep with her eyes open.

“What happened, Ava?” he asked in an undertone. Sam had moved from the winch just behind him up to the copilot seat beside Jer. Faisal was alone with Ava. Her misty blue gaze seemed to float past him, not taking him in or even her surroundings. She seemed to slip in and out of awareness. Her moments of lucidity were sometimes just moments of opening her eyes. She was unfocused as if nothing was part of her reality. He didn’t expect an answer. He wasn’t sure why he had asked the question. She was in a fragile state but at least now she had a chance. He hoped that they could say the same about her father, Dan Adams.

“Dad,” she whispered as she closed her eyes. But that one word wasn’t an answer, it only raised more questions.

“No, Ava. It’s me, Faisal.” He looked at the face that he remembered so well. The high cheekbones were pale, taut over the bones of her face. A few freckles that he hadn’t known she had seemed to stand out against her pale skin. There was so little that had changed and yet so much. She’d been twenty the last time he’d seen her and he’d been twenty-two. For the majority of the years since then, he’d headed the Wyoming branch of Nassar Security. He hadn’t forgotten Ava. He’d gone one way and she’d gone another. She’d continued with her schooling. He’d heard from Emir only weeks ago that she’d graduated with a PhD in psychology. Life had happened to them and their friendship had slipped under the radar for a time.

There had always been the promise of something more. But she’d been too young and he’d been with someone else. They’d been friends but always there had been the hint of something more. In another time, if he had been wiser things might have been different.

Seconds later, she opened her eyes. He was startled, for it looked like she had been crying. As if she knew, even in her half-conscious state, that she’d been the sole survivor. She closed her eyes again without having focused on him or on anything else in the chopper. It was like she was there and yet wasn’t.

“How’s she doing?” Jer asked.

“In and out of consciousness,” he said.

“He killed him,” she murmured a few minutes later as she opened and then again closed her eyes.

There was no point asking who. Sooner or later she would come to and then she would remember and be able to tell him what had happened. If it was too much later, they would find the information by other means.

He pulled another blanket over her. He reached for a third, rolled it and put it under her calves, thus elevating her legs. At least the fact that she’d shivered was evidence that she hadn’t fallen too far into her unconscious state.

He needed to get some heat on her. More important, he knew that he had to get her out of the wet clothes that clung to her skin. The wet material was only chilling her even further and making the blanket useless. He pulled the blankets back, using one of them to shield what he could of her body. He peeled away the flimsy material. Her skin was damp. He tried to preserve her modesty. But there was only so much he could do. He left her panties on. They were damp too but what he’d done had been enough. At least she wouldn’t arrive in the emergency room completely naked. Not that it mattered, but yet it did matter and he wasn’t sure why. He tucked another blanket around her.

He put a hand on Ava’s forehead. The contact sent a tingle through his hand as if there were still a connection between them. But there was nothing, all of that was over. It was stupid of him to think of that. Silly to remember something that had been nothing but a flirtatious friendship despite what he had wanted. It had been a long time ago. They were different people. He was sure she’d changed, much as he had. He regretted not following up with her. If he had then he’d know who she’d become, what had happened to the happy girl with the quick wit. He took his attention to the immediate. She was warm. There was a sheen to her forehead, like a fever might be developing. Her forehead was moist and not, he knew, from her time in the dinghy. He hoped she didn’t have a fever but the heat he was feeling didn’t bode well. It didn’t matter. They would get her to the hospital and she’d be fine. It was the location of her father that was more disconcerting. For his fate was unknown.