Or maybe not. She found herself jamming her finger at him. “Don’t even think I’ll go all Stockholm syndrome. You got that?”
“God save me,” he returned. “But if you don’t want a man to look, then don’t bounce up and down in front of him. Not that yours are big enough to do much bouncing, but they do wobble a little.”
“What they do is none of your business. Just keep your eyes north.” There didn’t seem to be any way she could drive that point any further, so she went on to a different subject. “I’m going to take a shower and wash my hair, so I’ll be awhile.”
“Don’t take too long,” he advised, glancing at his watch. “You have forty minutes.”
That ticked her off, because she hadn’t put a limit on his bathroom time. Her shoulders stiff, she marched to the closet and got out the clothes she was wearing that day. She couldn’t find her toiletries, though, and began going through all the built-in drawers in frustration.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for my shampoo and stuff.”
“Everything’s already in the bathroom. Didn’t you notice last night when you washed your face?”
Last night she’d been practically comatose, so, no, she hadn’t noticed anything. She’d even brushed her teeth without wondering how her toothbrush and toothpaste got in the bathroom. Wheeling, she took her things into the bathroom and jerked the door shut. Everything was there, from perfumed lotion to hair spray. Her shampoo was sitting on one of the shelves under the sink.
Forty minutes, huh? She thought about locking the door, but didn’t want to provoke him—he might retaliate by making her leave the door open at all times, and she didn’t want that. When she was in the bathroom was probably the only time she’d be alone. The time limit meant she couldn’t have a long soak in the whirlpool tub, not that she was the soaking type anyway. Her normal routine was to jump in the shower and jump out again as quickly as possible, so that was what she did. She’d been issued a challenge, and she met it head-on.
The bathroom came furnished with a hairdryer, a good one. Her hair was fairly short, so drying it didn’t take long, and her current style was more windblown than sleek. Her makeup during the day was no big deal, just eye shadow, mascara, and lip gloss, so that didn’t take a lot of time. She was out of the bathroom well within his time limit.
He raised one eyebrow, which was damn annoying because she couldn’t control her own eyebrows that way, and took a leisurely sip of coffee.
Coffee. Her attention zeroed in on it like a bear on honey. She had the beginnings of a headache that said she’d better get some caffeine soon, in any form. “Is there any more coffee?”
Coffee might mean food, too. She hadn’t eaten much the night before, and they were several time zones past her normal breakfast hour. A glance at the clock told her they’d even gone past her normal lunchtime.
“You might have time for a cup,” he said, getting up. He glanced at the surveillance equipment, evidently assuring himself it was still working, then escorted her into the living room. The small dining alcove was to the right, tucked in a nook close to the door. A tray bearing a coffee carafe, another cup, and a variety of sweeteners and creamers was in the middle of the round table. “Sit,” he said, and when she did he deftly handcuffed her to the table leg.
Mentally she rolled her eyes, but the coffee carafe had the lion’s share of her attention. There wasn’t any food in sight, but right now coffee was her number one priority. At least this time he’d handcuffed her left hand, instead of her right. Setting the clean cup upright, she poured the coffee and gratefully took her first sip.
She’d had exactly four sips when there was a knock on the door, and a half-second later Bridget unlocked it and stepped into the suite, crisply announcing herself as she shut the door. “Lifeboat drill, five minutes,” she added.
So that was why he’d given her the time limit, though he could have explained. Jenner glared at him as he removed the handcuff key from his pocket and freed her from the restraints. “Less than half a cup of coffee. Was that worth the trouble of the cuffs?” she snapped.
“Keeping you under control is worth any amount of trouble. Now behave,” he ordered, giving her a look that said he meant business.
“Bite me,” she returned as she got to her feet.
Bridget coughed, but the sound was suspiciously like a laugh.
His eyes narrowed. “If I were you, I wouldn’t mention the word ‘bite,’” he advised as he took her arm.
Bridget went into the bedroom, and returned with a pair of orange life jackets that had been stored in the closet. She said, “When the alarm sounds, take the PFDs and report to Muster Station Three. Directions are on the back of the door.”
Jenner hadn’t had enough coffee, and she was starving. She would much rather call room service and get some food, instead of reporting to any Muster Station. “We can’t play hooky?”
“No,” Bridget replied. “Lifeboat drills at sea are a serious matter. They have to take place within twenty-four hours of sailing. Roll will be called, and anyone missing will be tracked down and instructed to report to the appropriate Muster Station.”
“And we aren’t going to do anything to draw attention to this suite, are we?” Cael asked in the insufferable tone of an adult dictating to a wayward child.
“What if someone comes in to clean the suite and finds all your toys?” she taunted.
“They won’t,” said Bridget. “This suite is my responsibility. Pay attention to what you’re doing, and leave my job to me.” Cael caught her eye, she nodded briefly, and left.
“What was that about?” Jenner asked.
“Nothing you need to know.”
“Do I need to know what a PFD is? It sounds sexually transmitted.”
“Personal Flotation Device.” He nodded toward the orange life vests. “When the drill starts, don’t get any ideas … about anything. All rules still apply and they will until we get back to San Diego. You do exactly as I say when I say it.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said.
The alarm brought an end to that particular exchange, and was followed by a calm voice over the shipwide intercom. Cael picked up the life jackets—PFDs—that Bridget had placed over a chair, and tossed one to Jenner. He paused to take a quick look at the map on the back of the door, where there were simple directions to Muster Station Three.
“Smile, sweetheart,” he said as he took Jenner’s arm and ushered her into the passageway, where they immediately ran into two older ladies who were grinning as they exited the stateroom across from them. Evidently a lifeboat drill was a lot of fun to some people, Jenner thought. Personally, she’d rather be cozied up to breakfast—or lunch. She was so hungry she didn’t care which.
The ladies were dressed in casual cruise wear, including straw hats, walking shorts, deck shoes, and their bright orange PFDs. One was tall and slim to the point of being bony; the other was short and stocky. Together, they were wearing enough diamonds to open their own jewelry store.
“We’re going to Muster Station Three,” the tall one said. “I assume you two are headed in the same direction?”
“We are,” said Cael, smiling at them. Jenner wanted to kick him, because that smile was warm and genuine and made him look entirely too human.
“I’m Linda Vale,” said the tall lady.
“Nyna Phillips,” the other lady added, her smile a little shy. She had a really sweet face.
“I’m Cael Traylor, and this is my friend, Jenner Redwine.”
“Pleased to meet you,” said Linda Vale. “We were in the Fog Bank bar last night. That must have been very distressing for you. I’m glad things worked out.”
Nyna winked at Jenner. “If I were twenty years younger, I’d have been bumping you out of the way.”
“Bump away,” said Jenner cheerfully.
The two ladies laughed, thinking she was joking. Cael squeezed her arm, giving her the silent message to behave, or else.
/> She gave him a smile as dazzling as she could make it. “Just kidding. He’s a gem, a man among men, a real prize. He stepped into my trap, and he’s mine now. There’s no escape.”
All three women laughed. Cael slanted a look down at her that promised retribution.
“We should have dinner together one night,” suggested Linda.
“I’d love to,” Jenner said, too enthusiastically. Cael gave her arm another squeeze, one she interpreted to mean that she wasn’t here to make new friends or do a lot of socializing. As far as he was concerned, she was here for one thing and one thing only, and that was to provide cover for him. If he thought he could keep her locked in the suite for the entire time, then he was in for a rude awakening.
“Ladies, we should be moving,” Cael prompted, because neither Jenner nor the two older women seemed inclined to do anything other than stand there and talk.
“Do we take a left?” Linda asked, her expression confused as she looked first one way and then the other down the passageway.
“Yes, ma’am, you do,” he said, holding out his hand to indicate they precede him.
“I’ll take your word for it,” she said as they began walking down the passageway. “I usually have a good sense of direction, but so far this ship has me completely confounded. If we really needed to get on a lifeboat, then I’d better have an angel on my shoulder whispering in my ear and telling me how to get there, or I’ll never make it.”
Behind them another door opened. Cael glanced briefly over his shoulder at the sound, and Jenner did likewise, driven by nothing more than simple curiosity. Two men exited the suite with the double doors, PFDs in hand, and followed them down the hallway. It only made sense that they would all be at the same Muster Station.
One of the men behind them had the look of a sentient tank. He was just medium height, but so powerfully built he looked almost as wide as he was tall. His hair was so blond it was almost cotton white, and cropped very close to his head. He had restless eyes that continuously swept forward and back, noting anything and everything around him. Hired muscle, Jenner thought, but smart hired muscle.
So the target of Cael’s surveillance must be the other man. He looked fiftyish, with graying hair, but toned and fit, with a tan of the particular hue that said it was the best tan money could buy. She didn’t have time to see more than that, because Cael hustled her forward with more speed than grace.
“Hurry,” he said. “We shouldn’t be late.” Linda Vale and Nyna Phillips obediently picked up their paces, too, though Jenner was pretty sure he hadn’t been talking to the older ladies.
He didn’t want her anywhere near the man, Jenner realized. She still didn’t know who he was, but at least she knew what he looked like.
“So,” she whispered conversationally, “that’s him?”
“Not your concern.”
“You made it my concern, numb-nuts.”
He slanted a glittering blue glance down at her. “It’ll be a miracle if we make it to Hawaii without you getting tossed overboard.”
—
THE LIFEBOAT DRILL WAS UNEXCITING. All Jenner learned about escaping from a sinking ship was how to put on her PFD, and where to go in case of an emergency, though she supposed that was basically all she needed to know. She’d have liked to see a lifeboat actually launched, but when she thought about it realized the difficulty involved in getting the lifeboat back in place, considering they were secured to the ship at least two stories up from the water line, maybe even more, and the ship was cutting through the ocean at a pretty fast clip. Being inside one of those suckers when it was launched was probably a trip, too, one she hoped she never took.
The man who had come out of the double-door suite was sitting two tables over from them at the Muster Station, which was actually one of the indoor cafes. Cael tried to position his chair so he was blocking her view, but he was thwarted by Nyna Phillips, who pointed toward the man and said, “That’s one of the co-owners of the ship. He’s hosting the Cruise for Charity, so we’ll probably see more of him than we will of the captain.”
“Really?” asked Jenner, delighted by this opening. “I had no idea that’s who he is. What’s his name?”
Nyna thought for a moment. “I’m sure I heard, but I can’t recall. Memory’s the second thing to go, you know.”
“What’s the first?” Linda Vale asked, leaning forward with a grin that said she expected something salacious.
“I don’t remember,” said Nyna, completely deadpan, and they both burst into laughter.
As soon as the drill was concluded, the gray-haired man and his bodyguard disappeared. Jenner forestalled being hustled back to the suite and handcuffed to a table or chair by exclaiming how hungry she was, and inviting both Linda and Nyna to eat lunch with them on the Lido deck, in one of the outdoor cafes. The two women accepted with pleasure, and Cael had no choice but to go along, though the look he gave Jenner when the other two weren’t looking said he wasn’t taking this lightly. He fished his cell phone out of his pocket, called someone, and spoke very briefly before closing the phone.
The outdoor cafes were buffet-style so lunch was very casual. Jenner sucked down some more coffee, ate enough to make up for not having had breakfast, and in general did everything she could to postpone going back to the suite. Linda and Nyna, however, soon excused themselves because of some classes they’d signed up for. Jenner watched them walk away, giving a little sigh of regret. She wished they could have stayed longer. Not only did they seem genuinely good-hearted, now she was once again alone with Cael.
Despite his reluctance to have lunch, now that it was over he didn’t seem to be in any great hurry to return to the suite. He lounged in his chair, somehow managing to look elegant, indolent, and dangerous all at the same time. For all his surface sophistication, there was something predatory about him that lingered just below that layer of gloss. He was the type of man women noticed, she thought again, but not just women. She caught several men, perhaps more aware than others, giving him slightly wary, sidelong glances as if they wanted to make certain they knew exactly where he was.
Suddenly she got it. He wanted to be seen. Specifically, he wanted to be seen with her. He was cementing the idea of them as a couple, and she had promised to cooperate fully.
“Let’s go for a walk,” she said, standing and holding out her hand to him. “I could use the exercise after being so tied up this morning.”
That blue gaze lashed her as he took her hand and stood, then slid his other hand around her waist and turned her toward the railing. “You’re living dangerously, Redwine,” he murmured, just loud enough for her to hear.
She smiled, turning her face up to him as if he was flirting with her. “Relax, big boy.” She kept her voice as low as his. “You still hold all the cards, except for one. We’ll go for a simple walk, and you can use the opportunity to show everyone how nuts we are for each other.”
His arm remained around her waist as they strolled along the railing. Jenner lifted her face to the sun, trying to will herself to turn her mind off and relax for a moment. This is the first full day of a two-week cruise; she would be with Cael, under his control, for another thirteen days, and if she didn’t find some way of dealing with the stress she’d crack under the strain. She would talk to Syd every day and that way they would both be reassured that the other was still alive, but she also needed some respite from constantly worrying at the situation like a dog going at a bone.
She forced herself to look around at the ship. From the moment she’d first set foot onboard yesterday afternoon, she’d been too preoccupied to pay much attention to her surroundings. The Silver Mist was supposed to be something special, as far as ships go, and she wanted to take a look at her.
As Bridget had said, the Lido deck was the fun deck. People clustered around and in the pools, and teak deck chairs seemed to cover every square inch. Some sort of game was going on by one of the pools, and the sound system boosted the emcee’s voice
to an almost painful volume. Cael winced and turned Jenner in the opposite direction, and for once she was glad to follow his unspoken instructions.
If it hadn’t been for Cael’s presence, she thought, Syd would have been right: She’d have enjoyed the cruise. She did love the ocean. She’d become accustomed to its presence over the past seven years, but the gray-green Atlantic was nothing like the vibrant colors of the Pacific. The deep water was a gorgeous navy blue, but every so often the light would change and she’d catch a glimpse of aqua and turquoise. With no land in sight, the sensation was of being alone in the world—if being with about a thousand other people could be called “alone”—on a bright and pristine floating city.
She could smell the newness of the ship, she realized. It was everything: the paint, the carpet, the upholstery, even the wood of the deck. Everything was new and fresh, and under different circumstances she’d have loved it.
Cael’s arm remained around her waist, the heavy weight a constant reminder to behave. To anyone watching, of course, they would look like new lovers, enthralled with exploring this strange and exciting connection they’d found. Only Jenner knew that his grip was a bit too tight, and she blew out a small sigh of frustration. Where the hell did he think she was going to go if she ran? They were on a ship, for God’s sake. It wasn’t as if she could jack a car and escape. Besides, as he so often reminded her, there was Syd.
He probably heard the sigh, because he snuggled her closer and bent his head to kiss her temple, then settled his mouth close to her ear. “Make it look good.”
She turned her head, dipped her chin. “I’m too scared,” she said, putting a little whine in her voice and managing not to snort. She had been terrified … but she wasn’t now. Odd. Maybe the body and mind could handle terror for only so long, then some sort of coping mechanism kicked in and held the terror at a distance.