Drake Sisters 04 - Dangerous Tides

wild fury. They walked along the beach while the waves rushed at them, foaming and frothing, rolling over and over.

    "Maybe not, Libby, but there were signs. If I'd been a different person—more attentive to people rather than to my work, I could have gotten him help. I should have seen it. He was gambling like crazy, using the credit cards at first, then dipping into the cash we kept at the house and eventually even the bank. He began embezzling, probably out of desperation."

    Libby wrapped her arm around his waist, tucking herself beneath his shoulder in a gesture of solidarity.
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    diagnosis of Sam. Tyson didn't need to hear it. He needed to talk—and she let him.

    "There were signs all along. As I became aware of his gambling problems, I decided it was unfair of me to put more temptation in his way by having him handle all the financial responsibilities for me. It was laziness on my part, letting him attend all the details, so I tried to pull it back over these last few months. I hired a full-time accountant to put us both on a budget. Sam didn't like it, but he went along with it."

    "He must have been growing more desperate, afraid you'd find out the extent of his misappropriation of your money."

    Tyson sighed heavily. "When I came back home this time, I told him I was planning to get married. As long as I was single, he had access to the money and no one else would inherit it. It was right after that the harness failed during the rescue."

    Tyson turned his face away from her, toward the roaring sea, his expression bleak. He bent and picked up a piece of driftwood, hurling it out to sea with pent-up fury, watching the turbulent waves toss it around. He lifted his face to the sky and roared out his grief and rage, the sound tearing through him, a stark, raw agony that clawed and twisted until he thought he might go mad.

    She couldn't bear his pain. Libby wrapped her arms around his neck a little desperately, turning her face up to his, willing him to kiss her. She couldn't heal a broken heart with the well of energy deep inside her, but love could do it. And she had more than enough love for him.

    Tyson bent his head to hers. He watched her looking at him. He needed to see her eyes, be able to read what she was feeling. There were tears swimming in her eyes, but the love shone through. It was there just for him. She looked only at him that way. It was the one thing he had left to count on. He kissed her gently, tenderly, trying to convey without words what was inside of him.

    His feelings for her were far more than just need. He knew that, but right now, when he was so empty, it was all he could focus on.

    "You're all I need," she whispered, almost as if she could read his mind. Her hands fluttered to his throat, his raw, burning, torn throat and almost at once the pain was gone with just her touch. She slid her hands under his shirt, over his chest to find his wildly beating heart. "I love you so much, Ty. If you can't hold on to anything else right now, hold on to that with both hands."

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    "I wish I could tell you how much you mean to me, how much I love you, Libby."

    "I feel your love for me, Ty."

    Tyson kissed her again, his arms enfolding her closer, even while her body tried to shelter his. He realized she was attempting to protect him from the elements, her healing warmth already running through his body and her tenderness easing the pain in his heart. His hands found her hair, the hair he was so fond of and he inhaled the familiar scent. Midnight black, her hair was wild, the way he loved it, the strands soft and silky. He buried his face in it, tightening his arms, simply holding her while the wind blew around them. Holding her brought him a semblance of peace, easing the tight constriction in his chest.

    "Come on, baby, let's get you out of the cold," he said.

    "Abbey said the whales were coming. We can watch them from the cliffs if you'd like," she suggested, as they began walking again.

    "Why is the sea so soothing?" he asked, as a sense of serenity began to tame the wild anger and unrelenting grief. He knew it wasn't the sea. It was the woman walking beside him. He felt the heat of her body reaching into the cold of his and slowly