"Si," he agreed. "But how do we get that information to him?"
Sarita shrugged. "There is a phone in the big house. If there isn't one in the little house, then we can sneak into the big house and use that one. We could call your uncle, give him the location and all the pertinent info, and coordinate with him."
"Coordinate?" Domitian asked with alarm.
"Yes. Find out what time he expects to attack the island so we can help. We can even try to get in and free the kidnapped immortals so they can help from on the island," she added thoughtfully.
"No," Domitian said firmly. "You will wait somewhere safe while I-"
"Domitian," Sarita interrupted patiently.
"Si?" he asked warily.
"Please don't go all Ramsay on me."
"Ramsey?" he squawked, seriously insulted. "I am nothing like Dressler."
"Gordon Ramsay, not Ramsey Dressler," she said dryly. "I know you're a chef, but that doesn't give you leave to go all Gordon Ramsay and start trying to boss me around," she explained. "I'm a police officer, trained for confrontation, and I've also studied martial arts since I was thirteen. As I mentioned, that was the first thing Dad signed me up for in Canada. Of the two of us, I'm more equipped to deal with this."
"I am more than a chef," he said indignantly. "I have been a warrior, a knight, a pirate. I can handle myself in battle, Sarita," he finished stiffly.
"Oh yeah. I guess you can help then," she said, turning to head for the stairs. "Come on, we should get as much sleep as we can today so we're well rested tonight."
Domitian turned, but didn't start moving right away. Instead, he stared after her with suspicion, wondering how his trying to protect her had somehow turned into his having to justify his involvement in the battle that would come.
She'd turned the tables on him, he realized. And quite neatly too. And was now prancing off thinking he was going to let her risk herself by helping on the island.
"Sarita," Domitian said sharply. "We need to-" He'd meant to say they needed to discuss this further, but his voice died in his throat when she reached back to undo the top of her bikini and let it drop into the water as she mounted the stairs.
Turning once she stood on the terrace, Sarita faced him. Her hands were on her hips and her head was held high and proud, he noted before his gaze fell to her beautiful bare breasts. God, he loved her body.
"Hurry, Domitian. You need to make love to me so I can sleep," she said huskily. "I think we should stay in bed all day to be sure we are well rested for later."
He was across the pool and out, scooping her into his arms before she quite finished the last word.
"As you wish," Domitian growled as he strode toward the house.
Eleven
Eyes narrowing, Sarita scanned the island in the distance, looking for any movement that might tell her someone was patrolling the beach and might notice their approach when they got closer. In truth, she wasn't worried about Domitian being seen, he was mostly under water with only his head bobbing up once in a while as he took in air.
Sarita, however, was presently lying on her stomach on an inflatable pool lounger and was much more visible. She knew they'd have to pop the mattress and let it sink soon, but that was okay with her. She hadn't really wanted to bring it anyway. She would have taken it willingly if she'd been trying to reach the island alone, just for safety's sake. But with Domitian to help her, she hadn't expected to need it. She'd insisted she could alternate swimming and floating and make the distance without the air mattress when he'd brought it up as they ate their last meal on the island in the cocooned bed. He'd insisted they bring it, however, arguing that her resting would slow them down and they needed to reach the island before dawn. With the lounger, she could rest on it when she wearied and he could tow her as he swam.
Sarita had given in and retrieved the air mattress from the wicker chest where she'd seen it earlier. Leaving Domitian to blow it up by the pool, she'd gone to collect scissors, and had taken them with her to the bedroom. She'd made the rope to pull the air mattress in the privacy of the cocooned bed in the hopes of not giving away what they were up to any earlier than necessary. It was the sheets actually on the bed she'd used, cutting thin strips that she'd then braided together. Fortunately, it hadn't taken too long. Still it had been later than they'd wanted when they'd taken the mattress and rope and headed for the beach.
Unfortunately, as Sarita had feared, she'd spent a good portion of the trip on the air mattress. Oh, she'd swum more than half the distance under her own steam, but Domitian was a much faster swimmer than her and she'd found herself having to climb onto the mattress to rest more often than she'd liked. It was humiliating each time he'd noticed her flagging and had relegated her to the mattress to be towed along like a sick whale pulled out to deeper water by a boat.