Free Shipwrecked with Mr. Wrong by Nikki Logan

steered
The Player
around to the south of the island and lined up with the memorialon shore. Honor had no idea how the outer reefs were shaped, so she hoped his boating skill was a match for the treacherous waters. Still, she could see shore in the distance and knew she could swim the three hundred metres in if she had to. Scant comfort.
    She reached one hand over the side into the ocean as he slowed the boat. Let him think it was the saltwater that made her hands damp and cold. He moved to the bow and tossed both anchors out. Honor cringed once again on behalf of the coral far below as metres of coiled chain unravelled. Reef was tough, but not indestructible, and every human contact had the potential to damage it. The anchors snagged and
The Player
stretched with the tide against them, its stern swinging towards shore.
    That was probably good. That way, she could keep her eye on land.
    It took Rob no time to gather his dive gear and pull it on. He’d done this a million times, judging by his quick efficiency getting into the sleeveless dive skin and shrugging on the air-tank, regulator, weight belt and fins. He pushed his dive mask up onto his head. She wasn’t so terrified that she didn’t notice how the rubber suit moulded to every bulge andripple in his body. But she was too frightened to appreciate it.
    He showed Honor a couple of dials on a small digital screen.
    ‘This is a wireless monitoring feed,’ he explained. ‘It gives you a GPS readout of my location and air levels. It also shows my depth. I’ll ping you every so often so that you know I’m okay.’
    ‘What do I do if you’re not?’ She had never dived; knew she’d be useless to him up here in an emergency.
    He took her icy fingers and placed them on a blue button. ‘This will ping me back. Ping three times if you think there’s a problem. I’ll surface.’
    If you can.
‘What kind of problem?’
    ‘Air. Shark. Monsoon.’ He smiled reassuringly. ‘These waters are relatively shallow so even if there is a problem I can offload my gear and swim up on lung-air alone.’
    That was good news and settled a few of Honor’s nerves. Having a job to do also helped her focus and ignore where she was. Bobbing out on open ocean.
    Rob stood and moved to the edge of the boat. She looked over at the dark shadows deep below. His voice brought her eyes back to his. They were warm and intense.
    ‘Thank you, Honor. This means …’ Heseemed lost for words. ‘Thank you. See you soon.’
    He pulled the mask down over his face, fitted the regulator into his mouth, sucked in a few test breaths and tumbled backwards over
The Player
‘s starboard side. Honor looked over the edge and watched him descend. There was a flurry of splashing and bubbles and then …
    Silence.
    The last thing Rob saw as he hit the water was Honor’s pale face watching him drop. He didn’t understand how a woman who studied marine creatures for a living could have an aversion to boats, but her nerves were obvious on their short trip around to the south-east corner of the island.
    Maybe that was why she had a thing for
terrestrial
marine creatures, he thought as he descended slowly into the colder water below the surface.
    He checked all his gauges and straps and then looked around him. He could see the looming darkness of the drop-off towards shore, the outer edge of the same coral band he’d first met Honor on. But it was wider on the south side of the island and the drop-off was sheer. That was how the
Emden
‘s besieged captain had been able to scuttle his own ship. He’d quite literally sailed from deepwater right onto the reef two feet below the surface. As the
Emden
had broken apart in rough weather, the densest parts had slid off the drop-off and sank away out to sea before coming to rest on the sea floor.
    He approached that floor now and the water turned from indigo to a richer, less earthly colour. The
Emden
didn’t lie so deep that natural light couldn’t filter down to