Must Be Magic (Spellbound) (21 page)

Darby was the only one with answers, and right now she wasn’t talking to him. And he wasn’t entirely sure he could blame her.

She’d left countless messages with his roommate, messages he’d ignored. It had been safer for both him and his relationship with his father to believe Darby was screwing with his head. That way he didn’t have to call her back, didn’t have to get his hopes up, only to have her crush them all over again.

So he’d ignored the calls, the messages…until they finally stopped.

Because she’d lost the baby?

Although questions continued to swirl through his mind until he was almost dizzy, his anger at Darby began to fade, only to be redirected at himself. If it was true, and she’d tried to tell him she was pregnant and he’d ignored her when she’d needed him most…

No wonder she thought he was an asshole. He should have been there for her, for their baby. It would have only taken one call to find out what she wanted.
One
phone call, and it might have changed everything.

Bryce didn’t think it was possible to feel any more miserable than he already was. The sick twisting in his stomach disagreed.

He stumbled over the ground, going down to one knee.

Son of a bitch.

He wiped at the sweat running into his eyes. The sun had drifted behind some clouds a while ago but it felt like the heat had only increased.

By the time he hobbled the rest of the way around the point, the pain in his leg kept him from going any farther.

“You can’t stay there.” Darby came from the direction of the camp area, the backpack he’d found in the plane slung over her good shoulder.

What was she up to?

He watched as she dumped the bag on the sand close to the water. She was getting cleaned up.

Apparently the pain in his leg had picked a good time to kick up.

She stared at him. “I mean it, Bryce.”

“You usually do.”

There wasn’t much ground left to cover when she strode toward him. “Why are you so determined to be a pain in the ass?”

“I’ve been told it’s a family trait.”

She blew out a breath. “All I want is to get cleaned up and maybe feel halfway normal, given the circumstances. A little privacy is not too much to ask.”

“That’s the problem with your case.”

A slim brow caked in mud arched over her eye. “Still playing the lawyer?”

He ignored the dig. “Sometimes winning over the jury is just as important as how you present the facts.”

“We’re talking about a stupid bath, not whether it was Colonel Mustard in the library with a candlestick.”

He tried not to grin.

“If you even think about laughing at me again,” she warned, her amulet brightening.

He held his hands up. “Whoa. I’m not the one assuming that I’m standing here just because I want to see you naked.”

Her eyes narrowed, then her gaze softened as her attention fell to his leg, that adorable frown sliding back into place. “You’re hurting.”

He nodded. That part definitely wasn’t a lie. Hurting was even an understatement when he was half-convinced his leg might crumple beneath him if he took one more step.

But Darby—looking at her, talking to her, remembering her—made the pain a little more bearable.

“I didn’t realize. You shouldn’t have followed me.”

“I was worried.”

She didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t argue either. He took that as a good sign.

Confused, annoyed, mildly exasperated—all of it was preferable to her anger.

She tipped her head, and he realized there might have been a small, practically nonexistent smile on his face.

“You
do
want to see me naked.”

Well, when she put it that way. “I wouldn’t want to miss the show.”

“We’re not talking about a wet T-shirt contest.”

He tugged at the bottom of her mud-crusted shirt. “You’re a bit too dirty for that.”

Darby rolled her eyes.

“And I hate to point out the obvious, but it’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Unless you’ve forgotten.”

The way her breathing quickened for just a beat told him she was definitely remembering it now.

Either she didn’t realize or she didn’t care that he still had a hold of her shirt. He used that little bit of leverage to coax her another inch closer.

“I’m putting another deal on the table.”

“After the way the last one turned out, Councilor?”

“I’ll leave you to your bath…” Not until the word left his mouth did he remember they’d only showered together. He’d never watched her sink into the water, taking her time soaping her entire body…

“And in exchange you want what?” Darby prompted when he trailed off.

God, the heat was scrambling his brain a little too much. “You and I will talk about what happened ten years ago.”

“One condition.”

“It wouldn’t be a deal if there wasn’t one.”

“Two then,” she amended, that mischievous glint back in her eye. “I’ll tell you everything as long as you let me finish and don’t jump to conclusions halfway through.”

“Okay,” he agreed, more than a little curious.

“And you’ll accept that I’ve got just as much to contribute here as you do.”

Ah, so she was still thinking about his comment about sleeping in then.

He offered a hand, but right before she took it to shake, she paused.

“One more thing.”

He shook his head.

She shrugged. “Like you said, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. Why should I care if you want to watch?” As though she was calling his bluff, she tugged her shirt over her head and let it drop to the sand.

He had to work hard—really, really hard—not to look away from her face. His leg might be busted and his internal temperature on the fritz, but every other part of him was running on all systems go.

Turns out their complicated history didn’t count for much when she was half-naked and he was half-convinced he was still in love with her. With everything else that had happened, it wasn’t surprising that little detail had slipped under the radar, sneaking up on him at the most unexpected moment.

But hadn’t he known it for a while, felt it the night before the crash when she’d been back in his arms?

“Bryce?” she prompted.

He’d been fully prepared to negotiate, but somewhere in the middle she’d gone and pulled the equivalent to a surprise witness out of her hat, and he was left struggling to get his case back on track.

“One more,” he managed, his throat more than a little raspy. Fuck, he might need a cold shower after this.

“When you leave me to my bath,” she stepped an inch closer, and only a breath separated them.

His world got even hotter.

“Be sure not to peek,” she tacked on with a smirk, then turned and walked away as though she hadn’t been half a second from being hauled into his arms.

And if he’d thought for a second that he could have pulled it off without his leg taking them both to the ground, he would have tried.

He still hadn’t moved by the time Darby reached the stuff she’d brought with her to get cleaned up. The drying mud was itching like crazy and she wanted it off. She wanted a whole lot of things, mainly not be stuck on an island in the South Atlantic with an ex who might end up hating her more than he already did.

His improved mood gave her hope that maybe they could talk about it without him blaming her. She’d tried to tell him about the baby, but thinking about it forced her to wonder if she really had tried hard enough.

Her twenty-one-year-old former self had been convinced that she’d done everything right and she’d still ended up alone when she’d needed him the most. Now…if she could do it all over again, would she do anything differently?

“Need me to find you a wheelchair, Captain Dan?”

“I’m good.”

She glanced at him, watching as he lowered himself to the sand, keeping his back to her.

“I won’t peek,” he said before she could get her mouth open. “I need to rest my leg for a bit.”

If she hadn’t heard the pain in his voice, she would have thought he was just screwing with her. She almost wished he was. It was impossible to miss how much he was limping and she would bet the cut had started to bleed again.

It wouldn’t be hurting him so badly if she hadn’t gone off on her own. He hadn’t wanted her around, but maybe she should have told him where she was headed so he wouldn’t have worried.

Not that she’d expected him to.

Pushing her guilt aside, she stripped off the rest of her muddy clothes and snagged the soap. With one more glance over her shoulder to make sure he wasn’t looking, she walked to the water, testing the calm surface with her toes.

It was warmer than she’d expected.

Wading in past her knees, she watched where she was stepping. The last thing she needed was to step on some kind of coral or shellfish and injure herself further. Lowering herself to her shoulders, she made quick work of scrubbing the mud away. It took a little more work to clean the dried blood and grit from her hair.

As far as she could tell, Bryce hadn’t turned around. Probably didn’t want her to renege on their deal. She dried off without him making a comment and pulled on a clean shirt and shorts.

After rinsing off her muddy clothes and repacking the bag, she walked to where Bryce sat.

Pale and sweating more than he should have been given the temperature, he shook his head. “I’m not sure I can get back up without help, Darby.”

Dropping the bag, she crouched next to him, waving him off when he tried to stop her from looking at his leg.

She peeled back the bandage as gently as she could. Although the cut didn’t appear to be deep, it was red and puss had started to pool in two spots. Her pulse spiked. “It’s infected.”

He nodded as though he’d already suspected as much.

“We need to clean it out and get you something for the fever.” She did a mental check, trying to remember how many caplets were in the container she’d brought with her. Enough to see him through a fever?

And if his condition deteriorated?

Bryce gripped her hand, his palm damp. “We’ll be okay.”

“I know.” Pretty sure he could see right through the confidence she was determined to project, she moved to his other side, sliding her good arm under his and around his back.

The heat rolling off his body could have warmed a small house. How had he remained on his feet so long?

“Stubborn ass,” he muttered as though he’d read her mind.

“Which one of us are you talking about?” She braced herself to take as much weight as she could as he tried to stand.

He didn’t answer her, his eyes closed, the lines around his mouth tight with concentration. He shifted his balance and Darby bit her lip as they staggered, the movement jarring her arm still in a sling.

“Just one step at a time,” she advised, but she wasn’t sure which of them she was trying to convince.

They were both panting by the time they reached the raft shelter. There was no easy way to lower him to the ground, and Bryce—realizing that too—let go of her and let himself drop.

“Fuck.” He clenched his jaw, his upper body trembling.

“Stubborn ass is right.” She should have insisted on checking his leg earlier.

When he was positioned with his back against the tree and opened his eyes, she peeled back the bandage for another look.

She dug into her bag for a pen. Feeling his gaze on her, she drew a line above and below the redness surrounding the cut. What happened if the infection spread before help arrived?

Don’t think about it.

“I was joking before.”

He gave her a blank look.

“The whole Captain Dan thing. It was a bad joke. Awful.” Before she started to ramble, she grabbed the Tylenol and the water. “Take these.” She held out the medicine and the bottle of water that was half-gone.

He only took enough of a drink to wash the pills down.

“More.”

If he thought about arguing, the look on her face probably changed his mind. “Fine.” He took another drink.

“I have to wash the puss away.”

“Sounds like a good time.”

Not wanting to waste any more of their water than she had to, she hunted through her suitcase until she found something that would allow her to rinse the wound more slowly.

“Jackpot.” She withdrew the small stack of zippered sandwich bags tucked at the bottom of her suitcase. She always brought along extra when she traveled, so her toiletries didn’t leak on anything.

“Let’s reserve that word for when a boat goes by.”

She nearly grinned. Using one of the alcohol wipes in the first aid kit, she wiped off the back of her earring then used it to make three small holes in the corner of the sandwich bag.

“I’ll try to make this as quick as I can.” Once she poured some water into the bag, she used it to gently rinse out the wound on Bryce’s leg.