Page 60 of Priceless
“What I’ve done?” No one could know his great sin—unless Laira had figured it out and had told her.
“Aye,Jocko,I ken.”
He wanted to grab her, to put his hand over her mouth, but he wouldn’t. Instead, he moved close so he could shout over the noise of the wake, but not too loudly. Thankfully, the rush of air kept their voices downwind.
“Haud yer wheesht, woman! She’ll hear ye.” His breakfast threatened to come up again. “Does she know?”
Jess shook her head, and he could have wept for the relief of it.
“Then how could ye?—”
“She told me about theScotsmanwho helped her plan her trip. An online friend. And it didn’t take much to realize whoheis.” She clicked her tongue. “Recommendin’ yer own place for lunch?”
He shook his head slowly. “It’s worse than that. She doesnae think Jocko is a man. She thinks he’s an AI program. If she believed he was real, she would have figured me out, just as ye have. She’s not a stupid woman.”
Then he told her how their relationship got started, that he wondered if Fate had played a hand, as it had with Banner and her.
Jess got teary, but she shook her head. “Ye’ll have to tell her.”
“Aye, I ken it. I’ve tried. But the moment must be right…or I’ll lose her.”
Jess chewed on her lip, then nodded. “I won’t say a thing. As long as ye promise?—”
“I will. I will. But now is clearly not the time.”
“True. By the way, I must rule out a sit in the hot tub, after this. She’ll need to rest. Let’s take her to the house.”
He was horrified. “With Ellie?”
She rolled her eyes. “Ourhouse, ye numpty. Bring her to our house.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Ifelt like such an idiot when I woke up and realized what had happened. But I was still on that boat, and those killer whales might still be?—
“Easy, lass. They’re long gone.” Banner sat by my feet, nothing but sympathy in his eyes. “Just a couple of locals lookin’ for breakfast. But I promise they wouldnae bother samplin’ the likes of us.” He went on, his voice pulling me back from a full-on panic attack. “We’re headed in now. Another fifteen minutes should do.”
“Headed back? I’m sorry it’s on my account. But I won’t beg you to reconsider.”
He chuckled. “There’s no shame in faintin’. Do ye ken, the moment I met my Jessica, standin’ outside her father’s shop, I fainted at her feet?”
“Really?”
“Aye. I have no stomach for the sight of blood, ye see. Caught sight of some and down I went. When it happened the next time, right out here on Moray Firth, it didn’t end so well for me. Luckily, my lass knew just what to do and got me to hospital.” He waved his hand in front of his face. “Long story. Ye’ll have to hear it from her.”
It sounded like the romance that Jocko had sent me, only the character that fainted was named Brodie and was supposedly a ghost that had been brought back to life.
“Here she is.” He jumped up, probably relieved he was done babysitting. “Jess, I was just tellin’ Laira about the time ye saved my life.”
Jacob came up behind Jess, then moved around her to get to me. “Ye can tell her another time. We need a moment.” He sank to one knee and shooed them both away.
I tried to stand up, but he put two fingers on my sternum and pushed me down again. I hated it when he pulled them away.
“Ye’ll lie right here until we reach the dock, do ye hear? And the doctor has forbidden any hot tub sittin’ for the time bein’—”
“Doctor?” I looked around, but there was no one new on the boat.
“That’d be my wife,” Banner called over his shoulder as he and Jessica shuffled toward the front of the boat.
