“I don’t have to tell you how quickly things can change out there if the storm picks up speed or the front expands. We might be looking at hours instead of days.”

“I’m aware,” Claudia said, “just as I’m aware that you and your team will be out on the seas through all of it.”

“We’re trained for it.”

“The crews on the rigs are trained for emergencies too. And I promise, I’m no swashbuckler.” Claudia lightly touched Alex’s hand to relay her appreciation. “I’ll get to land in plenty of time.”

“I’ll take you at your word,” Alex said.

“Good. Now I need to get back to work.” Claudia stood. “I hope I see you again under less hectic conditions.”

“I hope so too.”

❖

Gem walked out through the front door into a dank gray morning, with no trace of sun and a cold wet wind blowing in from the sea. A morning not unlike many others this time of year, but today the ominous atmosphere settled heavily in her heart. She strode a few steps into the parking lot and stopped, taking a deep breath to settle her nerves and regroup. Of all the scenarios she’d fabricated between Austin’s late-night call and this early-morning meeting, the truth had been nowhere on her radar. Austin Germaine wasn’t Ace Gardner, the graphic artist who had sketched a superhero with bold unerring strokes on the back of a place mat in some small coastal restaurant while a storm lashed the windows and they shared intimacies of their lives. She wasn’t the woman who’d knelt in the rain changing a tire, or poured a glass of wine while listening to Gem talk about some of her most private experiences. Austin was a troubleshooter for an oil company, a fixer of some kind, undoubtedly very intelligent, and a spinner of webs.

“Gem,” Austin said from behind her.

“I don’t think this is a good time to talk,” Gem said without turning around.

“There isn’t going to be a better time,” Austin said. “I couldn’t tell you earlier.”

“I kept thinking we weren’t strangers, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I knew I was not myself, but I somehow talked myself into believing I was acting so out of character because something unique had happened between us.” She shook her head and laughed brutally. “I thought I had gotten over telling myself lies a long time ago.”

“Gem,” Austin said wearily. She wanted to touch her, wanted to reach out and stroke the stiff anger from her back, ease the disillusionment from her jaw. “It wasn’t a lie. It was real.”

Gem turned, her eyes glacially cold. “No, it wasn’t real. It was a fantasy. I didn’t know you. I still don’t know you. And you know what? I don’t want to.”

Austin couldn’t argue that Gem’s feelings weren’t valid. She had every right to be hurt and angry. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know the situation here, and I couldn’t—”

Gem shook her head. “We have nothing to discuss except what needs to be done to prevent the destruction of this sanctuary. If the oil reaches the shore, I can’t even begin to calculate the enormity of the loss. I don’t care what it takes, we can’t let that happen.”

“We won’t. I promise.”

Gem smiled bitterly. “I don’t want your promises. Or your assurances. But you must be good, very good, at what you do, or you wouldn’t be here. So the only thing I want from you, Dr. Germaine, is your expertise. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

“We have work to do.” Austin reached for her arm to keep her near and drew back at the last instant. Her touch would not be welcome and knowing that was a knife in her depths. “I want to go over the site maps with you before we deploy the booms. You can tell me where we need to concentrate them.”

“Fine. How soon?”

“An hour ago.”

Gem’s smile was brittle. “Don’t you really mean three days ago?”

Austin sighed. “I didn’t—”

“Never mind. I understand you can’t implicate GOP in any way. That’s your real job, isn’t it? To protect GOP at any cost?”

Austin reined in her temper. She’d heard these accusations before too. Coming from Gem it hurt, but attempting to explain there were limits to the lengths she would go for the company would only make the situation worse now. She’d have to prove she cared what happened to the environment. “Where would you like to meet to review the topos?”

“I have an office next to the lab I showed you yesterday. I’ll meet you there in thirty minutes. Right now I’m going for a walk.”

Austin stuffed her hands in her pockets and watched her walk away. She’d known this was coming, known she would lose, but she hadn’t imagined how much it would hurt. Not even close.

Chapter Twenty

Gem took the first trail she came to behind the visitors’ center and strode rapidly away from the building, the parking lot, the people, civilization. If she could, she’d keep walking until the wild grasses swallowed her, absorbing her inconsequential existence into the natural ebb and flow of life as it had persisted for eons, governed by nothing beyond the laws of nature. Not passion, not desire, not fantasy. No illusion, no delusions, only the beauty and violence of unadorned life. After ten mindless minutes, she slowed enough to look at the darkening sky, register the impact of the rising wind on her neck, and note the heavy weight of moisture in the air. The storm—no, the hurricane—was reality too, and she had choices to make.

She could tell her team to evacuate, get into her rental car, and be off the island and back to the safety of the mainland before it hit, leaving the fate of the sanctuary to the whims of nature as she had just imagined she preferred for herself. But she wouldn’t leave, couldn’t leave, and believed without doubt she was as much a part of the natural cycle as the coming storm. If she could save the habitat and creatures of the sanctuary, she must. And to do that, she needed to work with Austin Germaine.

Austin. Still so hard to absorb that the woman she’d spent days with, dreamed of, slept with, was so much a part of this and she hadn’t known. Gem tried to step back, to imagine what her impression would have been if today had been the first moment she’d met Austin. Would she work with her? Of course. She’d have to. Would she trust her? Unknown. Austin seemed forthright, concerned, and knowledgeable. But there was no mistaking her allegiance, either. She worked for GOP, and while Gem didn’t doubt the company and, by extension, Austin, cared what happened to the coastal environment, they undoubtedly cared a great deal more about the image and financial status of the company. Would she like her? In all likelihood, she wouldn’t have given Austin more than professional attention, and that did not require liking or disliking.

None of that mattered now. She couldn’t be objective. Anger at being forced into a powerless position resurfaced. Austin had lied to her. All right, not exactly, but close enough to make Gem feel discounted and manipulated, something she’d sworn she’d never be again. Austin had kept something back, something enormous, something she knew would have a major impact on Gem’s work, on her responsibilities, and on her relationship with Austin.

So many questions she couldn’t answer after the fact. Would she have slept with Austin if she had known Austin’s real purpose for traveling to the island? Would she have gotten involved with her if she’d known she’d have to work with her in a matter of days?

Gem thought the answer to both questions was no. She would have kept her distance. She would have maintained professional boundaries. She would never have looked at Austin and seen the intense, focused, attentive woman who had drawn her out and set her on fire.

And damn it, she couldn’t quite bring herself to be sorry for that.

Frustrated and confused, Gem checked her watch. She’d been gone at least fifteen minutes and she needed to return to the sanctuary. She couldn’t, wouldn’t, run from Austin or her responsibilities. She’d work with her and relegate the intimate moments they’d spent together to the past, where those moments belonged and where they would stay. The ache of loss would eventually disappear. She knew that from experience.

As she crossed the parking lot, Alex called her name. She slowed as Alex jogged over.

“Hey,” Alex said, “I’ve been looking for you. I’m headed back to the station and then out to patrol. Are you sure you want to stay here?”

“You know I have to,” Gem said. “It won’t be my first storm, and I’m the logical one to assess the damage and coordinate recovery.”

“You’re not looking at just a storm,” Alex said. “You might be looking at a major oil spill too.”

“God, I hope not.” Gem balled her fists in the pockets of her windbreaker. “Even more reason for me to stay and organize the various crews. FEMA and the GOP people don’t know this environment the way I do.”

“Germaine and the rest of them seem to know what they’re doing.”

“You were out there on the rig, weren’t you? How did things look?”

“Yeah.” Alex grimaced. “And I didn’t see anything amiss, but I probably should have questioned why there were so few people on the rig. They’d already pulled some of their crew.”

Gem’s stomach plummeted. “So Austin knew there was a spill—”

“No, I think Germaine was telling it to us straight. There’s nothing out there, at least visibly, that points to a major spill. Leaks happen a lot more often than you’d realize.”

“I’m glad of that,” Gem said. “Do you think we’ll be all right, then?”

Alex sighed. “We have only their reports as to how bad things are in the deep. Currents can carry underwater oil accumulations for hundreds, thousands of miles. And if the hurricane hits here? Who knows.”

“We don’t have much time.”

“No.” Alex studied her, frown lines creasing her brow. “You know her, right? Before this, I mean.”