Lisa gulped and answered, “You.”
Natalia nodded. “Good. I think Duff can help you climb up on this board. Would you like that?”
Lisa nodded though her hands tightened on Duff’s arm.
Natalia held out a hand and smiled encouragingly. “Take my hand, Lisa. The man behind you will help you onto the board and stay right beside you all the way back to shore. Won’t you?” Natalia prompted Duff.
“I will.” Between them, they hoisted the woman onto the board.
Duff took a moment to breathe normally before starting back to shore.
Natalia had Lisa lie on her stomach and then she did the same, lying over the woman’s back. She started paddling. “Paddle, Lisa. The more you paddle, the faster we get to shore.”
Lisa paddled, weakly flailing her arms, her face turned toward the shore.
Duff circled behind them and pushed the surfboard. With all three of them working it and cutting at an angle, they eventually made it to the beach, the lifeguard following. A group of young women met them, helped Lisa out of the water and enveloped her in a half dozen hugs.
Duff stood beside Natalia, propping the surfboard in the sand. “Thanks.”
She responded in her pretty English accent without looking up. “You’re quite welcome.”
Duff held out a hand. “Name’s Duff.”
Natalia glanced at his hand and hesitated. Finally she shook it. “I’m Natalia. Lisa was lucky you were on the beach today.”
He shrugged. “I’m glad I could help. Look, we didn’t get much of a start back there. Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”
She didn’t even bat an eyelash before responding. “No, thank you.”
“Duff!” Sawyer approached, his arm around a woman wrapped in a beach towel. “Glad you made it back to shore. Wouldn’t be the same diving without you tomorrow.”
Duff snorted. “Nice to know you missed me.”
Lisa broke free of her group of friends and wrapped her arms around Duff’s neck. “Thank you so much for saving my life. I hate to think what would have happened if you hadn’t gotten to me when you did.”
“I’m sure someone else would have helped.”
Lisa turned to Natalia and hugged her, too. “You two are my heroes. After the horrible past two days, I needed you.”
Natalia hugged the woman. “Horrible? Did you get caught in the current yesterday?”
Lisa shook her head, her eyes tearing. “No, I lost one of my sisters.” The rest of the young women gathered around her, all hugging each other.
“What do you mean?” Natalia asked.
Lisa sniffed. “We were on a diving excursion. She was my dive buddy. I turned away for a moment to see a moray eel in the coral. When I turned back, she was gone.”
Natalia’s face paled.
“Are you telling me she wasn’t found?” Duff asked.
Lisa and her friends all shook their heads as one.
Natalia reached for Lisa’s hands, her own shaking slightly. “What a horrible experience.”
“If we could have a do-over, we never would have gone diving.” Lisa dashed away a tear. “Melody was one of the nicest people I know.”
“Didn’t the dive master look for her?” Natalia asked.
A brunette in a pale pink bikini nodded. “He spent the next two hours searching.”
A sandy-blonde added, “They radioed to shore and the shore patrol came out and helped in the search.”
“Nothing.” Lisa sniffed again. “I don’t know why we came out to the beach today. I don’t think I’ll ever go in the water again.”
The young lady wrapped in the towel, standing in the circle of Sawyer’s arm, stepped away from him and slipped an arm around Lisa. “We can’t leave Cancun until our scheduled flights. Lisa and I thought we’d look around in the water, even though Melody disappeared a long way from here. We kind of hoped the current would have carried her back this way. That’s why we were out so far.”
“It was stupid,” Lisa said.
“At least you two are okay,” Duff said.
Natalia nodded. “You should go back to your rooms and rest.”
Lisa and her friends thanked them again and left the beach to return to the resort hotel.
“Wow, what rotten luck,” Sawyer said. “To lose your friend and almost lose your life all in the space of two days. Not my idea of a great vacation.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go lie down, as well,” Natalia said.
“If you won’t have dinner with me,” Duff persisted, “will you let me buy you a drink later?”
She gave him a half smile. “We’ll see.”
He watched as the gorgeous blonde left, walking up the beach in her sexy black swimsuit, her long hair drying in soft curls around her shoulders. Beautiful and strong. What other woman would have jumped in to help in such a dangerous situation?
Sawyer made a diving motion with his hand followed by the sound of an explosion. “Turned you down, did she?”
Duff nodded, his gaze on the sway of Natalia’s hips. “The battle’s not over.”
His friend clapped his hand onto Duff’s shoulder. “That’s my man. We’re on vacation here. What’s a vacation without a beautiful woman to keep you company?”
Indeed. And Natalia had captured his interest in more ways than one.
He headed back to the hotel, Sawyer walking alongside him. “Didn’t you say Quentin and Montana were looking into a diving excursion?”
Sawyer nodded. “I hope it wasn’t with the crew who lost the girl yesterday.”
Duff almost hoped they went with the same crew and to the same spot where the girl disappeared. Something wasn’t right about losing a diver and not finding anything to indicate what had happened.
* * *
NATALIE HURRIED BACK to the hotel, grateful she and the two muscular men had been there to help save Lisa and her friend from the strong current. Not only was she glad the girls were still alive, she was also happy it had served as an introduction to hang out with them without arousing suspicion. She’d make it a point to find them at dinner or at the bar that evening. Perhaps someone had seen something they didn’t realize might be a clue to what had happened to Melody.
Deep inside, Natalie believed her sister was alive. Finding her would be the challenge.
She stopped at the excursion planner’s desk and asked about dive trips for the next day. She let the planner, Maria Sanchez, go through the different options and dive companies. When Maria didn’t mention Scuba Cancun, Natalie made it a point to ask.
“Friends of mine came last month and went on a dive with Scuba Cancun. They said if I came to Cancun, I had to book with them. Do you book trips with them?” Natalie blinked her eyes, trying for young, sweet and innocent, when all she wanted to do was to jerk the binder out of the lovely Maria’s hands and make her own arrangements.
“Yes, we do book Scuba Cancun, but the last time I looked, they were full for tomorrow. Let me check and see if they’ve had any cancellations.” She clicked her keyboard and stared at the screen, her brows puckered. Then they smoothed and she smiled up at Natalie.