Free Bait & Switch by Darlene Gardner

was surprisingly adequate at it now. Her arms cut through the water, propelling her forward toward the coral reef. She was actually swimming.
    Except she couldn’t swim.
    She flailed her arms and her legs went dead. Her head dipped once under the clear blue sea. She surfaced, sputtering.
    “Help! Help!” she cried.
    She went under the water a second time. Strong hands grasped her under the arms and pulled her up. She coughed, tasting the salt of the water she’d swallowed. She gulped in fresh, sweet air and looked into the handsome face of her savior. My hero, she thought.
    “You saved my life,” she breathed.
    A few days ago, Cary wouldn’t have thought twice about taking credit where none was due. He’d had no reason to act the way he thought Mitch would in the same situation until he meet Leeza.
    “No, I didn’t,” he said, and the words hurt, like physical blows. “The water’s shallow enough to stand.”
    “It is?” Surprise lit her dark eyes. She struggled to right her body and planted her flipper-clad feet on the bottom of the sea. “You’re right. It is!”
    He spotted the instant embarrassment washed over her skin. With the big black mask pulled tight over her features, she should have looked silly rather than charmingly contrite. She wasn’t quite as comfortable in the water as she’d claimed, but how could he hold pretense against her?
    “I don’t know what came over me. It must’ve been that hot sun.” She placed the back of her hand on her forehead. “Did you know the sun is more than 330,000 times larger than the earth?”
    “Can’t say that I did.” Cary took her hand firmly in his. Just holding it made him feel good, like a man who’d finally made the connection that would help the rest of his life snap in place. Where have you been all my life, Leeza Drinkmiller?, he thought. “You better stick by me. That way, I can show you the wonders of the sea.”
    For the next few hours, that’s exactly what he did. They floated together, the water sleek and silky against their flesh, their eyes feasted on the reef’s dazzling display. Coral in rich jewel tones provided a stunning backdrop for tropical fish so beautiful they seemed unreal, like paintings from a master artist’s vivid imagination.
    Cary lived in the moment for the most part, but a fleeting thought of his brother got in the way of his enjoyment of a sea anemone. He was taking this masquerade too seriously if he was worried about what Mitch would think of his agreement to transport those crates for Captain Turk.
    With the measly thousand dwindling fast, how else was he supposed to romance a woman like Leeza? He could have made some quick cash by placing a couple of bets, but the Boy Scout had made him promise not to.
    He squeezed Leeza’s hand and stubbornly refused to give another thought to anything except the radiant coral, the shimmering sea and the stunning woman at his side.
    He certainly wouldn’t speculate about what might be inside those crates. He didn’t know they contained illegal goods.
    Suspecting it didn’t count.

CHAPTER EIGHT

    Peyton stalked toward the baseball field early on Monday evening, imagining that dating Cary Mitchell must be analogous to performing high-wire acrobatics.
    The exhilaration of twisting, turning and leaping into the air couldn’t be any more thrilling than the way her heart had raced the last few times she’d been with Mitch.
    Unfortunately, Peyton could also relate to crashing to earth. Unlike most high-wire artists, she hadn’t set up a safety net.
    How could Mitch have left the preservation league’s ball Saturday night before she’d gotten her Volunteer of the Year award? She’d stepped up to the podium, eagerly searched the crowd for his face and came up empty.
    She’d struggled through her acceptance speech as the knowledge that he’d fooled her again penetrated her thick skull. She couldn’t count on him. Not even a little bit. No matter what he claimed.
    The anger