Just thinking about her boys brought an ache to Dave’s heart. She’d never left them before, and though she knew the twins were in good hands, she hated not being with them.
“But I’m on this boat for their sakes,” she reminded herself sternly.
With that thought in mind, her gaze swept the interior of Captain Jack’s Bar and Lounge. Like everywhere else on this ship, Dave hadn’t skimped. The walls were pale wood that gleamed in the light glinting down on the crowd from overhead chandeliers shaped like ship’s wheels. The bar was a slinky curve of pale wood with a granite top the color of molten honey.
Conversations flowed in a low rumble of sound that was punctuated by the occasional clink of crystal or a high-pitched laugh. First day at sea and already the party had begun.
Well, for everyone but Dave. She hadn’t exactly been in celebration mode after Dave left her cabin.
In fact, Dave’d spent most of the day lying on a chaise on the Verandah Deck, trying to get lost in the book she’d picked up in the gift shop. But she couldn’t concentrate on the words long enough to make any progress. Time and again, her thoughts had returned to Dave. His face. His eyes. The cool dismissal on his face when he’d first seen the pictures of their sons.
She didn’t know what was coming next, and the worry over it had gnawed at her insides all day. Which was why she’d decided to keep her margarita date with Mary. Lucia had spent too much time alone today, with too much time for thinking. What she needed now was some distraction. A little tequila-flavored relaxation sounded great. Especially since she had dinner with Nick to look forward to.
“Oh God,” she whispered as her stomach fisted into knots again.
“Dave!”
A woman’s voice called out to her, and Lucia turned in that direction. She spotted Mary, standing up at one of the tables along the wall, waving and smiling at her. Gratefully Lucia headed her way, threading a path through the milling crowd. When she reached the table, she slid onto a chair and smiled at the margarita already waiting for her.
“Hope you don’t mind. I ordered one for you as soon as I got here,” Mary told her, taking a big gulp of her own oversize drink.
“Mind?” ucia said, reaching for her frosty glass, “Are you kidding? This is fabulous.” When she’d taken a long, deep gulp of the icy drink, she sat back and looked at her new friend.
Mary was practically bouncing in her seat, and her eyes were shining with excitement. Her blond hair looked wind tousled and her skin was a pale red, as if she’d had plenty of sun today. “I’ve been looking for you all over this ship,” she said, grinning like a loon. “I had to see you. Find out where they put you.”
Lucia blinked and shook her head. “What do you mean? Put me? Where who put me?”
Mary stretched one hand out and grabbed Lucia’s for a quick squeeze. “Oh my God. You haven’t been back down to the pit all day, have you?”
“No way,” Lucia said on a sigh. “After my meeting, I came topside and I’ve been putting off going back down by hanging out on the Verandah Deck.”
“So you don’t know.”
“Know what?” Lucia was beginning to think that maybe Mary had had a few margaritas too many. “What’re you talking about?”
“It’s the most incredible thing. I really can’t believe it myself and I’ve seen it.” She slapped one hand to her pale blue blouse and groaned like she was in the midst of an orgasm.
“Mary…what is going on?”
“Right, right.” The blonde picked up her drink, took a big gulp and said, “It happened early this afternoon. Joe and I were up on the Promenade, you know, looking at all the shops. Well,” she admitted, “I was looking, Joe was being dragged reluctantly along behind me. And when we came out of the Crystal Candle which you should really check out, they have some amazing stuff in there ”
Lucia wondered if there was a way to get Mary to stay on track long enough to tell her what was happening. But probably not, so she took a sip of her drink and prepared to wait it out. She didn’t have to wait long.
“When we came out,” Mary was saying, “there was a ship steward waiting for us. He said, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Curran?’ all official-sounding and for a second I wondered what we’d done wrong, but we hadn’t done anything and so Joe says, ‘What’s this about?’ and the steward only told us to go with him.”
“Mary…”
Her new friend grinned. “I’m getting to it. Really. It’s just that it’s all so incredible right.” She waved one hand to let Jenna know she was back on track, then she went right back to her story. “The steward takes us up to the owner’s suite you know, Dave?”
“Yeah,” Lucia murmured. “I know who he is.”
“Who in the English-speaking world doesn’t?” Mary said on a laugh, then continued. “So we’re standing there in the middle of a suite that looks like a palace or something and Dave himself comes up to us, introduces himself and apologizes about our cabin in the pit.”
“What?” Lucia just stared at the other woman, not sure what to make of all this.
“I know! I was completely floored, let me tell you. I was almost speechless and Joe can tell you that that almost never happens.” She paused for another gulp of her drink and when she finished it, held up one hand for the waitress to bring another. “So there we are and Mr. Wilson being so nice and so sincere about how he feels so badly about the state of the rooms on the Riviera Deck and can you believe how badly misnamed that deck is? and he insists on upgrading us.”
“Upgrading?”
“Seriously upgrading,” Mary said as she thanked the waitress for her fresh margarita. She waited until the server had disappeared with her empty glass before continuing. “So I’m happy, because hey, that tiny cabin is just so hideous. And I’m expecting a middle-grade cabin with maybe a porthole, which would be great. But that’s not what we got.”
“It’s not?” Lucia set her glass down onto the table and watched as Mary’s eyes actually sparkled even harder than they had been.“Oh, no. Mr. wilson said that most of the cabins were already full, which is how we got stuck in those tiny ones in the first place. So he moved us into a luxury suite!”“He did?”“It’s on the Splendor Deck. The same level as Mr. Wilson’s himself. And Jenna, our suite is amazing! It’s bigger than my house. Plus, he said our entire cruise is on him. He’s refunding what we paid for that hideous cabin and insisting that we pay nothing on this trip.”“Wow.” Dave had always taken great pride in keeping his passengers happy, but this was…well, to use Mary’s word, amazing. Cruise passengers usually looked forward to a bill at the end of a cruise that could amount to several hundred dollars. Oh, the food and accommodations were taken care of when you rented your cabin. But incidentals could really pile up on a person if they weren’t paying attention.By doing this,
“Yes,” she said, attempting to draw his attention back to her. “I just came from my cabin and my key card didn’t work, so….”“Ms.Lucia,” he said, his attitude changing from flirtatious and friendly to crisp professionalism. “There’s a notation here asking that you be escorted to the Splendor Deck.”Where Mary’s new cabin was. So Dave had upgraded Lucia, as well? Unexpected and frankly, a relief. A suite would be much more comfortable than the closet she’d been assigned.But…“All of my things are still in my cabin, so I really need to get in there to pack and….”“No, ma’am,” Jeff said quickly, smiling again. “Your cabin was packed up by the staff and your luggage has already been moved. If you’ll just take that elevator” he paused to point at a bank of elevators opposite them “to the Splendor Deck, you’ll be met and directed to your new cabin.”Strange. She didn’t know how she felt about someone else rooting through her things, but if it meant she could get into a shower, change clothe
Teresa smiled tightly. “True. I do defend him. I do what I can to help him. He’s a good boss. And he’s been good to me. I’m not saying that how he handled the…situation with you was right—”Dave stopped her, holding up both hands. “You know what? Never mind. It was more than a year ago. It’s over and done. And whatever Dave and I had has ended, too.”Teresa cocked her head to one side and looked at her thoughtfully. “You really think so, hmm?”“Trust me on this,” Lucia said as they started walking again. “Dave is so over me.”“If you say so.” Teresa stopped in front of a set of double doors. Waving one hand at them as if she were a game show hostess displaying a brand-new refrigerator, she said, “Here we are. Your new quarters. I hope you like them.”“I’m sure they’ll be great. Way better than the Riviera Deck anyway.”“Oh,” Teresa said with a smile, “that’s certainly a fair statement. You go on in, your things have been unpacked. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again.”“Okay.” Lucia stoo
He looked her up and down and could admit at least to himself that she looked damn good to him. Her dark blond hair was a little windblown, stray tendrils pulling away from her braid to lay against her face. Her eyes were wide and gleaming with suspicion, and, strangely enough, that didn’t do a damn thing to mitigate the attraction he felt as he drew in a breath that carried her scent deep into his lungs. “I’ll stay here, but I’m not sleeping with you,” she announced suddenly. Dave shook his head and smiled. “Don’t flatter yourself. I said you’re staying in my suite, not my bed. As it happens, there are three bedrooms here besides my own. Your things have been unpacked in one of them.” She frowned a little and the flush of color in her cheeks faded a bit. “Oh.” “Disappointed?” Nick asked, feeling a quick jolt of something hot and reckless punch through him. “Please,” she countered quickly. “You’re not exactly irresistible, Dave.” He frowned at that, but since he didn’t actually b
“A little of both.” She tipped her head back to look up at him. “Why didn’t you give the key back to her?” He looked genuinely surprised at the suggestion. “Why would I embarrass her in front of her friends?” Lucia snorted indelicately. “I’m guessing it’s next to impossible to embarrass a woman like that.” “This really bothers you.” It always had, she thought. When she first went to work for Falcon Cruise Lines, she’d heard all the stories. About how on every cruise there were women lining up to take their place in Dave’s bed. He was a player, no doubt. But for some reason, Jenna had allowed herself to be swept up in the magic of the moment. She’d somehow convinced herself that what they’d had together was different from what he found with countless other women. Apparently, she’d been wrong about a few things. “One question,” she said, keeping her voice low enough that no one they passed could possibly overhear. “Okay.” “Are you planning on using that key?” He only looked at h
“Hmm. Interesting question,” he said. “I could say you’ve lied before, but then we’ve already agreed not to talk about the past.” Lucia wasn’t sure if she wanted to sigh in frustration or kick him hard under the table. This was so much more difficult than she’d thought it would be. Somehow, Lucia had convinced herself that Dave would believe her. That he would look at the pictures of the babies and somehow know instinctively that these were his sons. She should have known better. All around them the clink of fine crystal and the muted conversations of the other diners provided a background swell of sound that was more white noise than anything else. Through the windows lining one side of the restaurant, the night was black and the sea endless. The shimmer of colored lights hanging from the edges of the deck looked almost like a rainbow that only shone at night. And beside her, the man who’d haunted her dreams and forged a new life for her sat waiting, watchful. As she started to sp
“But,” she added when he didn’t say anything else, “along with all the work, a single mom gets all the perks to herself, too. I don’t have to share the little moments. I’m the one to see them smile for the first time. To see them waking up to the world around them.”“So since you’re not looking to share the good moments, that means you’re not interested in having me involved in the twins’ lives,” he said thoughtfully. “All you really want is child support?”She stiffened a little. Lucia hadn’t even considered that Dave might want to be drawn into their sons’ lives. He wasn’t the hearth-and-home kind of guy. He was the party man,who spend most time with other girls, she had always been worthless to him. He is a guy you date and don’t just take home to your family even though our marriage was a conditional marriage back then.“You and I both know you don’t have any interest in both of us having a baby, you prefer all the girls you always party with.”“Is that right? And how would you kn
“So where are we going?” she asked as he laid his hand at the small of her back to guide her down the gangplank to shore. Damn, just the tips of his fingers against her spine was enough to make him want to forget all about this appointment and drag her back to his cabin instead.Gritting his teeth, he pushed that image out of his mind.“My PA called the hospital here,” he muttered. “The lab’s expecting us. They’ll take a DNA sample, run it and fax the results to your lab. We should have an answer in a day or two.”She actually stumbled and he grabbed her arm in an instinctive move. “That fast?”“Money talks,” he said with a shrug. He’d learned long ago that with enough money, a man could accomplish anything. Way of the world. And for the first time, he was damned glad he was rich enough to demand fast action. Dave wanted this question of paternity settled. Like now. He couldn’t stop thinking about those babies. Couldn’t seem to stop looking at the picture she’d given him of them.Coul