Dangerous Waters Read Online Free Page A

didn't look very old. Clearly, this near drowning wasn't the first time he had come close to death.
    At last she lifted her gaze to his face, meeting his gray eyes. He was watching her with an awareness that tightened her stomach, as though he knew what she was thinking, knew her, on an altogether too intimate level. His appraisal wasn't sexual in nature; it was more personal than that. Yet there was a sort of hunger to it, as though he had been waiting for hours just to see her.
    Megan shifted uneasily. "Uh, hi. I'm Megan Lovell."
    His voice was a little rough, like sandpaper. "I know."
    "I wanted to find out how you were feeling. Does your head hurt?"
    "Like the devil." He gave a crooked smile. "That's apropos, isn't it? How the hell did your lake get a name like that?"
    "It's very cold, and very deep. The Indians had stories about it. They thought something lived here, down in those depths. Maybe it did, once upon a time. At any rate, they avoided it. Devil's Lake is a rough translation of their name for it."
    "I came damned close to meeting the devil face-to-face," he said wryly.
    She met his gaze. "I think you had already met the devil, in his human form."
    His gray eyes narrowed, seemed to search hers. "What about you? Did you meet the devil, too?"
    She drew back a little from his intensity. "You asked me that last night. If I had seen them. Does it matter?"
    "I don't know. I hope you didn't."
    "If I hadn't seen them at all, you'd be dead."
    The intensity seemed suddenly to drain out of him, leaving him looking tired. "Yeah." His half-smile was rueful. "You had the guts to put your life on the line for a total stranger's, and I haven't even thanked you, have I?"
    "You don't have to. Really. It wasn't a big deal. I'm just glad..."
    "I must outweigh you by sixty pounds," he said roughly.
    "I didn't know that, when I dove in," Megan admitted. "But I've been a lifeguard for years. I knew what I was doing. Well, sort of. To tell you the truth, I just...reacted. I'm not sure that's being brave. Some people would call it stupid."
    His slow smile transformed his hard face, deepening the creases that were carved from nose to mouth. "You can call it whatever you want. Most people don't react that way."
    She shrugged uncomfortably. "It's over. I don't want you to feel..."
    He made a noncommittal noise, then patted the bed beside him. "Will you sit down? Talk to me for a few minutes?"
    "Uh...sure. Why not?" But she had no intention of sitting on the bed. Instead, she pulled a chair over from beside the window. As she sat down, his mouth quirked with faint amusement.
    When neither spoke immediately, the silence felt awkward. "You know, nobody has even told me your name," Megan said abruptly.
    He looked disconcerted, seeming to hesitate. "Ross," he said at last. "Ross McKenzie. My friends call me Mac."
    Again they sat looking at each other, wordless. Megan tried to make him fit with her mental picture of the man she had rescued. She had known, in the back of her mind, that he might be attractive, even handsome, that he had a distinctive face. She had unhesitatingly told Pete Tevis that she would have known if she'd ever seen him before. She'd been right.
    He had strong cheekbones, a patrician nose, a hard mouth that was still sensuous. His dark blond hair was a little long, curling on his neck and above the white bandage. The shadow of a beard showed that he hadn't shaved today, and it made him look rakish, even dangerous. Appearances were all too often deceptive; in his case, she had a feeling they were accurate.
    She wanted to ask how he had come by the scar. Instead, in a polite voice, she inquired, "Do you live around here?"
    "Temporarily. I've been doing some construction work. For Jim Kellerman."
    "Oh. I don't think I've ever seen you."
    "Or I you."
    Another pause as they eyed each other. They weren't getting anywhere, Megan thought. So she said straight out, "Do you remember what happened?"
    He didn't move a muscle or change