Chapter 1

Picking up the binoculars Peter made another sweep of his designated half a mile of beach. About an hour ago a fifty-foot Criss Craft cabin cruiser had anchored about a quarter nautical mile off shore. A half hour ago two men left the yacht in a motorized rubber raft and headed to a point on the other side of the jetty about a mile up the coast line. They had to be headed to the dock of Ralph's Fishing Camp for supplies of some type. When he had turned his attention back to the boat he noticed a woman with blood red hair in a one piece black bathing suit still on board lounging on the bow of the yacht.

It was another fifteen minutes before Peter could check out the yacht again. Mrs. Johnston had stopped by and introduced her grand-daughter. The girl was too young but apparently the grandmother had not thought so. Peter knew he looked younger than his 27 years, which made it no surprise he was getting introduced to someone barely 18. Maybe. Why mothers and grandmothers thought he was a nice young man he had no idea. Maybe he should ride his bike onto the sand. No that wasn't happening. Or maybe he should grow a beard and scowl more. No that would not work with dancing at the club. He was just going to have to put up with the whole mess. Maybe someday he would meet someone, fall in love, have a family and settle down. But if he had anything to say about it, that scenario would not take place in the near future.

The girl was not sitting on the bow of the boat anymore. She must have gone inside. That was probably a good idea. She didn't have much of a tan, only the normal Floridian tan you got by just living in the State. She was pretty though. Not skinny like a lot of the girls who congregated around him at the beach and at the Club. She had a body you could hold onto and not worry you were going to snap every bone in her body when you delivered a good solid hug. Peter put his glasses down and picked up his bottle of water. His relief should be there in about an hour.

BOOM!!!!

Peter stared for only a couple of heart beats before he grabbed his floatation  and ran to the water. The yacht had just exploded. People were screaming and running out of the water. Peter dove in and started to swim with all the energy he could pull from his mussels. Using every speck of his Life Guard training he pulled at the water, reaching the first pieces of wreckage within a few minutes. He treaded water and scanned the surface for the woman. She had to be alive he kept telling himself knowing full well if she had been on the boat, she was dead and probably out to sea by now. Come on sweetheart where are you?

Annie was hot. Her boss had told her to stay on the boat but the water looked so inviting. She didn't get to come to the beach very often. Her file clerk job, cleaning three houses and her volunteer work at the library on Saturday mornings for the children story hour, didn't leave much room for having fun at the beach. When her co-workers had entered her name in the drawing and she had won a day on the company yacht, cruising the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, she jumped at the chance. Well she jumped at the chance after she had tried to talk herself out of going and probably making a fool of herself.

They had started out at 9:00 that morning and cruised slowly along the shore about a half-mile out. The Captain had anchored about an hour ago so they could swim and have some lunch. Her boss had remembered something he had forgotten and half an hour ago. He and the Captain took off to what they had told her was a small Fishing Camp with a dock, about a mile up the shore on the other side of the jetty. She had watched them go around the jetty and then sat on the bow watching the people on the shore. She spied a Life Guard chair and squinted until she could make out the man sitting in the chair. Not bad. If she had been thinking of dating anyone again after the fiasco with Clark, last year, the man on the chair would be nice. But that was not happening again for a very long time.

Wow, it was hot! The water looked so inviting she decided to take a quick dip. Mr. Tone had told her to stay on the boat, but Annie was a good swimmer so she decided to take a little dip. She would be able to see them return. It would give her plenty of time to get back on board and dry off. Annie dove off the aft platform and started to swim. The water felt marvelous. She started stroking parallel to the shore. She would just swim a hundred or so yards, turn and then swim back. Making a mental note to find time to do this more often, she concentrated on her form.

BOOM!!!

Annie froze. She felt a wave of heat and then something hard hit her on the top of her head, making her momentarily forget to stay afloat, causing her to sink below the surface. When she remembered to tread water and surfaced, she found wood scattered along the surface. There were several pieces of galley equipment floating, including the sink and counter top. Annie turned and looked to where the boat should have been. There was no boat just more wreckage. She looked toward the shore and saw people trying frantically to get out of the water. She wondered why she could not hear the screaming. She realized she couldn't hear anything, including her own voice as she opened her mouth to yell for help. No sound only a slight buzz.

Annie realized she had to get to shore. Her head hurt and she was feeling weaker than she would have liked to feel. Shore seemed to be much farther away than it should be. She knew she was floating in the water, but the beach seemed to be floating up and down on its own. Annie started to doggy-paddle toward the white ribbon of sand. Running into a piece of floating wood, she grabbed hold of it and used it to help her stay afloat, something which was getting harder and harder to do. She opened her mouth to scream again, but still no sound came out. The buzzing in her ears had turned to more of a roar and her head was pounding. Just let me reach a sandbar or something, please. I'm so tired.

Peter finally saw her and started stroking toward her moving body. She was headed toward the shore. When he called out she didn't turn toward him. She didn't even realize he was there. When she grabbed the piece of wood he realized she was at least thinking on some scale. Thank the heavens above she hadn't been on the yacht. Moments later he reached her and grabbed her arm. She just kept paddling toward shore, not moving anywhere because of the hold he had on her. "Sweetheart. Sweetheart look at me. Can you hear me?"

Her head turned toward him. Her eyes were unfocused. She was in shock.

Annie stared at the man floating next to her. His mouth was moving but he was making no sound. She zeroed in on his eyes. They were the marvelous shade of light brown, the color of an amethyst ring she had at home. Her head hurt. She was still trying to figure out exactly what had happened.

Peter gave up trying to get her to hear him. He carefully pried her fingers off the piece of wood she was clinging to and wrapped her arms around the red flotation log he had brought with him. Turning her on her back, he put his arm over her chest and gripped her under her arm. Getting her comfortably in position he started to paddle toward shore. Looking up he saw one of the other life guards paddling toward them on one of the surf boards they kept for bring people into shore. They would be meeting about half way. Peter knew he was going to have to put the woman on the board but he didn't want to let go of her. She felt like she belonged in his arms.

Getting the sweet thing on the board, the three of them started for shore. The woman had never taken her eyes off of him. Even swimming beside the board she still had her head turned in his direction.

Annie mentally glued her eyes to the man who had rescued her. There was a need to know where he was. Everything inside of her told her to not lose track of him. As long as he was there everything was going to be fine. She was going to be fine.

As they reached a point, close enough to shore for Peter to stand he grabbed the edge of the board and helped pull it closer to shore. Two other men came into the water and between the four of them, they carried the board to some towels someone had laid out. Peter scooped her up and gently laid her down. He knelt down beside her and started to check her out. He wished he had some of his paramedic equipment, but he never brought it to the beach. As he checked her pulse, he saw the ambulance, police cars and a fire truck pull up out of the corner of his eye. He smiled at the small woman who still had not broken eye contact with him. She gave him a small smile in return.

Two of his fellow paramedics came up and Peter told them what information he had been able to gather, then stood and backed away. The woman became agitated and started to sit up. She was gently pushed back. Peter got back into her line of site and she settled immediately. One of the paramedics wrote in large letters on his clipboard, "What is your name?" The girl answered Annie. "Good Annie, you have a nasty bump on the head, so we are going to take you to the hospital, ok?"

Annie looked at the man now standing beside her. "Can't hear you," she said, at least she thought she said the words. Her eyes were again glued on the man.

Jesse, the paramedic wrote the message on his clipboard and held it up in front of her. Annie glanced at the clipboard long enough to read the message then turned her eyes back to the anchore to her world. "Ok," she said.

Peter looked at the woman he now knew as Annie. She was beautiful, petite with just enough curves to make him want to hold her close. He helped to lift her on the gurney when it finally arrived. She was strapped in and they started for the ambulance. When he lost eye contact he noticed she was again moving, fighting the restraints. "Hold on a moment Jesse." He walked to the side of the gurney, put his hand on her cheek and mouthed, "It is ok, I will see you in a little while." She blinked a couple of times then closed her eyes.

When they had her loaded up and were pulling away, Peter looked around. The firemen had nothing to do, because the burning wreckage was almost totally out. Two men, the two men he had seen earlier leaving the boat, were talking with the police. One of them looked very familiar, but Peter could not place him. Jarred his replacement had arrived, so he could leave after he talked with the police. They wouldn't be letting anyone back in the water for the rest of the day anyway, with the floating debris. He needed to get to the hospital.

Annie!