Stormy Vows - Iris Johansen [126]
Jake shot him a quelling glance and took the water and tablets. He sat back down on the bed and cradled Jane's shoulders in one arm while he fed her the pills and water. She took them like an obedient child, and as he laid her carefully back on the pillow he observed with anxiety the dark circles beneath her eyes and the pale, pinched cheeks. “She's too damn docile,” he said thickly. “Where's the tea?”
“She won't need it,” Benjamin answered laconically. “She'll be out in a few minutes. That sedative is fairly strong.”
Already Jane could feel the fuzziness that dulled the edges of their voices above her head and lessened the nameless urgency that drove her to keep Jake within constant reach of her hand. She could see Marc Benjamin's speculative gray gaze as if from far away.
“You know, I would never have thought that she would fall apart like this,” she heard the captain say thoughtfully. “She's really a very strong personality.”
Jake turned on him savagely. “She was almost eaten alive by a shark!” he said explosively. “How the hell do you expect her to react?”
Benjamin shook his head. “Take it easy. I'm not impugning the courage of your little lamb,” he drawled. “We both know that she's got plenty of it. It was just a comment.” He moved forward to put a hand on Jake's shoulder. “You'd better come along and let me tend to that graze.”
“In a minute,” Jake said absently, putting the glass on the bedside table and brushing the red ringlets away from Jane's forehead. “I don't want to leave her like this.”
She could dimly see his concerned face hovering over her, before her lids closed unexpectedly and there was only the darkness.
Jane awoke several times that day, only to fall back into that cocoon of sleep. She was conscious of Jake's presence several times, and of the sound of voices reverberating as if from the bottom of a well, but she could make no sense of the words. Once Simon was there with a luncheon tray, a worried expression on his handsome young face, but she couldn't rouse herself from her lethargy enough to obey his plea to eat something. She only wanted to return to the healing darkness.
It was late afternoon when the sedative finally wore off. She was alone in the cabin when she opened her eyes and looked around sluggishly. Her mouth felt dry and sour, she had a dull, throbbing ache in her head. That sedative must have had the force of a blackjack, she thought blearily, as she struggled to her feet on legs made of rubber. She dropped the gold blanket on the bed and then snatched it up again as she remembered that she was naked and her tiny cabin had recently resembled a Cecil B. De Mille crowd scene.
She vaguely remembered Jake's removing her tiny bikini, but she felt no embarrassment at the thought. Holding the blanket around her, she stumbled to the chest of drawers and drew out the gauzy green polka-dot shorty pajamas. She put them on hurriedly and ducked into the bath to brush her teeth and wash her face.
She was feeling ridiculously weak as she tottered back to the bed and slipped between the sheets. On the bedside table she discovered a thermos of rich beef broth, but she had only a scant cup before she was overcome with the lethargy that she seemed unable to conquer. She barely managed to pull the cover up about her before she was asleep once again.
Probably because the principal effect of the drug had worn off, her sleep was much lighter and more restless. She was plagued by hideous nightmares in which she was being chased by a giant shark with horrible sharp teeth, and each time she was about to be savaged, Jake Dominic swam in front of the monster and was devoured in her place.
Over and over the dream replayed in her subconscious, until she awoke with a shrill scream of pure agony on her lips.
Jake's face was above her, his face drawn with anxiety. He was shaking her roughly. “Damn it, wake up,” he said harshly. “For God's sake, it's only a dream. Come out of it, baby!”
She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him convulsively while the