Chapter 27 #2
While Liam made a meal out of looping the rope through the mooring ring and tying it off, Jack squatted down at my side, his gaze as dispassionate as a paramedic’s as he quickly glanced over me, checking for injuries.
I knew I should sit up and act like a normal person, but I was transfixed by the drips from his wet hair winding their way down his neck and pooling in the hollow of his collarbone.
I’d never considered that particular part of the male body as being especially erotic, but an unexpected image of my fingers tracing along it flashed into my mind.
I rubbed my eyes again, trying to pull myself together.
‘Let’s stay here for a second while you get your breath back,’ Jack suggested. ‘Once you’ve recovered, we can secure both ropes more tightly and you can check them out for yourself. But first things first, are you alright, sweetheart?’
I registered several things about this statement, although it took my brain a little while to process them given its water-soaked/Mr Darcy delusional state.
First, Jack had thrown himself into the canal without hesitation to save my boat.
Second, he’d picked up an impressive amount of boating lingo with his talk of bowlines and the like, so he must have been paying attention to some of what I’d been saying to him over the last few weeks.
And third, he’d called me sweetheart. It was this third thing which I found myself fixating on.
I mean sweetheart was a common enough term of endearment.
Heck, I’d encountered more than a few tradespeople who dished it out like jelly babies to marathon runners.
But Jack wasn’t the type of person to use such a word lightly.
And it wasn’t just the use of the word which had struck me.
It was the way he’d delivered it, tentatively, and …
tender? I must have caught something from the canal water because I was seriously confused now.
‘Why?’ I asked.
Thankfully Jack took my choked question at face value.
‘I heard you shout as I was walking back along the towpath and saw the Oxford Bookship drifting,’ said Jack.
‘I ran as fast as I could. Liam arrived from the other direction only moments later.’ He nodded towards Liam, scrupulously fair in making sure he got the credit for helping me as well.
‘How on earth do you think the boat came free? It can’t have been an accident.
I know how meticulous you are when it comes to checking your mooring ropes. ’
I managed a spluttered ‘Thanks’ in response to his compliment of my boat-sense, before I succumbed to another bout of coughing.
‘Do you think you can sit up a bit?’ suggested Jack. ‘That might help get some more air into your lungs.’
‘I’m fine, honestly I am,’ I choked as I moved into more of a curled-up crouch position.
Jack patted me between the shoulder blades.
‘You’ve not swallowed any water, have you?
Do you think we should call a doctor?’ he asked Liam who seemed to have finally finished fiddling around with the stern rope.
Unfortunately, the length of time he’d spent faffing with it didn’t reassure me about how secure it might be.
‘Thanks for your concern, but I’m okay, I promise. Plus, there isn’t a doctor in Oxford who would come out here on a call, especially on a Saturday. I’d have to be at death’s door, and I can assure you that I’m not. I’m absolutely fine.’
As if to prove it, I tried to push myself up to standing, realising too late that I should have taken it more steadily.
For a couple of moments, there was a roaring in my ears and the world darkened around me as shock and my recent exertion conspired to send a wave of dizziness over me.
Then I felt a strong grip on each elbow and realised that I had a man on each arm holding me steady.
Flick would be green with envy, I thought, and giggled as I imagined her expression.
‘Come and sit back down,’ said Jack slowly and gently.
‘Don’t worry, Darcy, I’m not going to swoon,’ I responded. Shit. Had I just called him Darcy? I feigned more coughing to cover my embarrassment.
‘Better out than in,’ said Jack, patting me lightly on the back again. ‘You’re shivering like mad. We need to get you warm. Perhaps you’d like to offer Molly your jacket, Liam? My clothes are unfortunately soaking.’
My befuddled brain didn’t quite agree with all of that statement.
There was nothing unfortunate about Jack being in a wet shirt which clung to every contour of his chest. I realised there was a double standard at play in me lusting after Jack and being offended by Liam checking me out because of a similar wet clothing predicament, but I hoped I was being more subtle about it.
Besides, Jack still had proper clothes on whereas I was much more vulnerable in my underwear, plus I had just nearly drowned.
Kind of. Actually, that was probably why my mind was acting so frisky.
That sort of experience was bound to make a person seek out something to make them feel alive again.
I shivered again, although my overactive brain was doing a good job of warming me up.
Jack didn’t wait for Liam to do as he’d asked. He quickly scooped up my pile of clothing and passed it across to me.
‘I realise there’s no point in suggesting you dry off properly. I know you’ll want to make sure that the Oxford Bookship is okay before you do anything else,’ he said.
Jack turned away as I pulled my clothes back on, a pointless courtesy given the state of undress I’d been in for a while, but one I appreciated.
Liam meanwhile seemed to have malfunctioned somewhere along the way and was staring at me as if he’d never seen a woman in mismatched underwear before.
His jacket had fallen back in place so I couldn’t see whether he’d stuck to his word and turned the camera off, but I still felt uncomfortable under his gaze, and got dressed as quickly as I could.
Feeling slightly more dignified now that I was at less of a disadvantage on the clothing front, I pulled my shoes on then hurried to check the ropes at both ends of the boat. The one which Jack had sorted needed no adjustment, but I refastened Liam’s messy knot to be on the safe side.
‘Good bowline,’ I complimented Jack when I returned to his side.
He looked surprised at my comment, and then to my astonishment his cheeks reddened as he smiled back at me. Had my praise made him blush?
‘I’ve been practising,’ he admitted. ‘In fact, this will probably make you think I’m a complete geek, but I’ve discovered that I find learning different nautical knots rather relaxing.’
‘Well, for someone living on the water, that’s a very good thing. Anyway, geeks make the world go round. We’re people who care passionately about what we do. What’s not to like about that? It’s time we reclaimed the word and celebrated it rather than using it to dismiss ourselves.’
‘You’re not wrong,’ said Jack, looking somewhat surprised at my impassioned lecture.
‘In fact, I have exactly the book on board which will help you expand your nautical knot knowledge even further,’ I said. ‘It’s actually got over three thousand knots to learn in it, which will keep you going for a while.’
‘Sounds fascinating, I’d love to buy that,’ he said without hesitation.
I replied equally as quickly. ‘Out of the question. I’m hoping you’ll accept it as a gift to thank you for your help in saving my home and business today.’
‘Anyone would have done it,’ he said. ‘But I’m touched by the gesture, thank you.’ The sincerity in his voice was more effective at warming me up than putting my clothes back on.
Liam cleared his throat. ‘It looks like you’ve got everything in hand, so I guess I’d better be off. Unless you’d like me to stay that is, Molls?’ He glanced significantly at Jack and then raised a questioning eyebrow at me, signalling his opinion that I should be on my guard.
‘Thanks for your help, Liam. We’ve got it from here,’ I said. A shadow passed his face at my use of the word ‘we’ rather than ‘I’. He hesitated, as if trying to come up with an excuse to hang around longer, but then he shrugged and turned on his heel.
‘You know where to find me if you need me,’ he called over his shoulder before stomping down the path and out of sight.
Now I was confident the Oxford Bookship was moored securely again, my attention turned to my next concern.
‘Time to check on Hilda,’ I said. ‘She’ll be wondering what on earth was going on. In fact, I’m surprised she didn’t even bark. Perhaps she slept through the whole thing. And then I need to get the food and see how much of it survived its bad treatment.’
‘I guess I’d better…’ Jack gestured towards the Jericho Wine Barge.
I wracked my brains for an excuse to ask him to stay, but the guy was soaking wet. He’d probably agree to help me bring the food in were I to ask, but it wasn’t fair to make him hang around when he was still dripping.
‘Thanks again for your help, I don’t know what I’d have done without it,’ I said.
He smiled. ‘I’m sure you’d have managed fine. But I’m glad I was there to do what I could.’
He started heading back towards the Jericho Wine Barge, but before he climbed on board he turned towards me again.
‘By the way, I’m truly honoured.’
I frowned in confusion.
‘You called me Darcy earlier. I know that’s the highest of praise coming from you.’ His expression was mischievous, but there was something slightly different about his tone, which I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
I pulled a face. The only way I could style this out was by making a joke of it. ‘I was half drowning. I have no idea what I said.’
Jack winced in an exaggerated fashion. ‘Ouch. That’s put me in my place. But whatever you claim, you can’t take that memory away from me.’ He tapped the side of his head. ‘I’ll stow it up here for the next time you have a go at me about something.’ He winked at me.
‘Me? Have a go? I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ I said with a laugh, allowing him the dig.
I was still laughing as I climbed on the stern deck of the Oxford Bookship. But as soon as I saw the cabin door, the laughter died, and my stomach turned over as a shot of panic surged through me.