Forever My Love (10 page)

“McQueen!” By then David's father, Justin Brennan, had appeared on the deck, a coffee cup in his hand, a broad grin on his face. Brent had hit it off with Justin from the first time they had met, right after their kids had started dating. Justin was a tall, husky guy with white-blond hair and the look of a Viking. He had also served in the army, joined the Dade County Police Force, been shot up badly, then retired. He'd taken to writing police novels, which had gained a steady following. He had reached a point where he always made the best-seller lists. He'd made a small fortune, remained entirely unpretentious and liked nothing more than a day with his family out on his one new toy—the
Cary-Anne
.

Justin walked across the deck, his hand extended in pleasure. “McQueen, what the hell are you doing here? I'd heard you had some meetings this weekend about a new album.”

“Well, those didn't quite come off,” Brent explained briefly. Justin's wife, Reba, was coming up the steps. She was a short, cute woman with dark curls, a beautiful smile and lots of ample curves. “More to love,” her husband always told her affectionately when she worried about her weight.

“Brent!” she said with pleasure, taking his hand. “We hadn't thought you could make it! How nice to see you. But you're all wet! Where on earth did you come from?”

Brent grinned. Explaining this situation wasn't going to be easy. “There's been some trouble, and I have to take Shanna with me. And yes, Reba, I'm wet, I swam over.”

“From where?”

“From Kathy's boat.” He started to point to the
Sweet Eden
, but when he turned his voice died and he forgot what he was saying.

Kathy was just coming out of the water. She had decided to swim over, too. And she had dressed for the occasion.

She was wearing a black-and-teal bikini, a two-piece concoction that seemed to enhance the perfect roundness of her breasts and maybe display just a little too much of them. The bottoms of the suit had those high-cut thighs, and despite her diminutive height, her legs seemed to go on forever beneath them. Her belly was flat and her waist slim, and the little string tie that held the suit together seemed to enhance everything on her body.

He'd liked her naked last night. He'd known then that she was still uncannily perfect and sensual, and he loved the silky feel of her flesh. The suit shouldn't have had any surprises for him, except that…

She shouldn't be wearing it. That was it. She shouldn't be that close to naked in front of strangers.

She climbed out of the water, pulling herself up the ladder, a near replica of her teenage daughter. Or Shanna was the replica of her. Something like that.

“Kathy!” Reba seemed even more delighted.

“Mom!”

“Isn't this just wonderful!” Reba said.

Justin was walking over to help Kathy up the ladder. Brent almost brushed past him to do so himself, then managed to control the urge at the last minute. He didn't want anyone else touching her.

It was that damned suit.

She was on the deck, dripping wet, smoothing back her hair, flashing her warm smile at Justin and Reba.

“I can't believe the two of you are here together!” Shanna said.

“We're not,” Brent and Kathy said simultaneously. They cast each other a quick glance.

“Did your father get a chance to explain yet?” Kathy asked Shanna anxiously.

There was a pile of towels on a deck chair next to the Brennans' scuba equipment. Brent grabbed a towel and practically threw it over Kathy's shoulders, his fingers taut as he stood behind her, trying very hard to smile and not snarl.

“I haven't had a chance, Kathy. Justin, Reba, I think we'd better sit and I'll try to explain.”

A few minutes later they were all in the cabin at the round booth to the starboard side of the very impressive galley. Justin listened in silence, nodding when Brent started with the Harry Robertson case, frowning intently when he heard about Larry's death, then knitting his brows still more tightly when he heard about the explosion. Shanna gasped in horror, realizing that her father should have been there.

“It's all right,” Brent assured her gently. It was good to focus on his daughter. Kathy was sitting beside him, and she wouldn't hold on to the towel. It had slipped down her back. And her thigh was touching his. They were all sipping coffee, and her fingers kept brushing his.

He should have hog-tied her and left her on the
Sweet Eden
. He'd be making more sense now.

“I'm all right, and everything is going to be all right,” he added, smiling at the anxiety in his daughter's eyes. God, she was precious to him. “But I want you and your mother gone.”

“Why?”

He inhaled and exhaled. Damn, but she sounded like her mother!

“Because I don't want you hurt or killed by someone trying very hard to get to me. Shanna, weren't you listening, don't you understand? I tried to disappear the second I saw what had happened to Johnny because I knew I had to get the two of you away before they came looking for me. I called a friend in Washington and I managed to get everything arranged for the two of you.”

“Washington! I don't want to go away. I want to stay near you!”

“Shanna, you can't—”

“You're going to go back! You're going to try to be some kind of bait—”

“Shanna—”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Justin interrupted. Brent looked at him. Justin knew he had to go back, that he didn't have a choice in the world.

He also seemed to understand how concerned Brent was for his wife and daughter.
Ex
-wife and daughter.

“What you want is absolute safety for Shanna and Kathy,” he said.

“Right,” Brent agreed.

“Okay, then listen to this. And you listen real good, young lady,” he advised Shanna. “We've got a little place on a private island. Walled in, electric gates, a fine pack of trained shepherds, security guards, the works.”

Kathy and Brent were staring at him. Justin flushed, his cheeks going very red. “I have a publisher friend who was in real trouble. Lost his job and everything, and we're always in the islands, so I bought the place from him. The people I've kept on I trust implicitly. I can take care of Shanna and Kathy. We'll still be real near just in case you need us, and Shanna will be a lot happier with David around, and I think Kathy will be happier with us than she would be with strangers, right?”

Brent hesitated. He didn't know what to say. “Justin, I can't put you in this position.”

“Hell, Brent, I was a cop for years!”

“But your own family—”

“I'm telling you, this place is like Fort Knox!”

“We'd be delighted to have Kathy and Shanna. Honestly!” Reba said.

David looked at Brent. “Sir, please, we wouldn't have it any other way.” He hesitated. “I can't let you take her otherwise, Mr. McQueen.”

“Oh, you can't?” Brent said, his temper rising.

“Daddy!” Shanna pleaded. “I won't go unless I go with David.”

Brent smiled. She'd been going to fight him the whole way. Then she'd jumped to David's defense, and now she was stuck.

“So you will go with the Brennans.”

“You tricked me!” she wailed. “I still don't like this, I don't like it one bit. I want to be with you.”

“Shanna,” he said, sighing impatiently, “you can't be with me!”

“You could take the boat back and they could be waiting for you.”

“I won't take the boat to your mother's place. I'll dock her somewhere else. Shanna, I'll be all right. As long as I'm not worried about you and your mother, I'll be fine.”

“Then it's settled!” Justin announced, pleased.

Brent felt Kathy shift beside him. He looked into her eyes, ready for the biggest argument of them all.

“Is it settled?” he asked her tensely.

She smiled. “If this is what you want,” she said sweetly.

Her smile was absolutely beautiful, totally innocent. Her eyes were wide and very blue, and her hair was just beginning to dry. It was framing her face with soft, near platinum tendrils.

She was being too agreeable. Maybe she just wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible.

“It's not so much a matter of what I want,” he told her. “It's what's necessary.”

“All right.”

She'd never said “all right” to him in all the years he had known her. Still, he couldn't argue with her because she wasn't arguing with him.

“Maybe we should all start moving,” Justin said. He rose. “I want to get these two there as soon as possible.”

Brent nodded, rising. He offered Justin his hand. “Thanks.”

Justin nodded. “You be careful. Real careful.”

“I will be.”

He started up the stairs to the deck with the others behind him. “Do you need to get your things?” Reba asked Kathy.

“No, I don't think I need anything at all,” Kathy said. Brent narrowed his eyes at her. She smiled at him again. “Really. Shanna and I wear the same size, and I'm sure she has plenty of clothing with her. Do you, Shanna?”

“Of course, Mom,” Shanna answered, barely glancing her way. Her eyes were all for her father. “Oh, Dad!” she cried softly, and she threw herself into his arms.

Brent held her long and close, then set her down. “I'll be all right.”

She nodded. There were tears in her eyes.

He looked beyond his daughter to his wife.
Ex-
wife. She was standing silently several feet behind Shanna. At long last she'd wrapped the towel around herself. Her eyes met his.

He wanted to sweep her into his arms, to hold her just as he had held his daughter. He couldn't. Not anymore. He lifted a hand to her.

“Take care.”

She nodded, her blue gaze haunting him. She didn't say a word.

Justin moved to Brent and handed him a card. “This is the name of the guy who used to own the place. The phone and address are still right, in case you want to reach us.”

Brent thanked him and stuck the card in his pocket. As soon as he returned to the
Sweet Eden
, he would memorize the numbers and destroy the card. “I'll call from a phone booth and make sure you all got there okay,” he said. Shanna was going to start to cry, he thought, if he didn't leave quickly. He kissed her one last time, waved to the others, then felt Kathy's eyes.

She was still staring at him steadily, betraying no emotion whatsoever.

He turned, smiled and dived from the boat into the water.

The second he was gone Kathy dropped her towel and spun her daughter around to face her. “I'm not letting him go back alone, Shanna. I'm going to get on the
Sweet Eden
.”

“Kathy, you can't!” Justin protested.

“You can't stop me. And if you waste any more time, you might be risking Shanna.” She smiled at him and Reba. “Thank you both so much. For Shanna and for me. Now, I'm awfully sorry, but I have to move fast. He's a stronger swimmer than I am.”

She pulled her daughter into her arms and hugged her, then hugged David impulsively while she listened to her daughter's protests.

“Hang around for just a minute, will you?” Kathy asked wryly. “Just in case he has a chance to pull out before I can sneak aboard!”

“I'll stay around,” Justin assured her. “I should warn him—”

“Please, don't!” Kathy whispered.

“But, Mother!” Shanna wailed. “Now I'm going to have to worry about both of you.”

“Serves you right,” Kathy retorted. “Now you'll know how I feel when you ignore the time I tell you to be in at night!”

She couldn't waste any more time. She crawled over the side, not wanting to alert Brent with a splash. She smiled at her daughter. “I love you. We both love you.”

“I love you, too!” Shanna cried.

The last sight Kathy had of her daughter then was bittersweet. David stepped up behind her and put a supporting hand around her. They were both very young and very beautiful, and maybe it was just as it should be. There was so much caring between them already.

I'm losing her! Kathy thought, but she wasn't really. Shanna was loving and would always care for her, just as she would always worry about her daughter. But she was going to have to hand her over to David Brennan, it seemed. Maybe much sooner than she had expected.

The water closed around her. Kathy didn't look back. She swam as hard as she could for the
Sweet Eden
.

Brent climbed aboard the
Sweet Eden
, anxious to move as quickly as possible should anyone have tried to follow him and recognized the boat as one belonging to his ex-wife. He wanted to make sure the boat was far, far away from his ex-wife and his daughter.

He was worried. He trusted Justin Brennan, he had a lot of faith in the man, but he would be happier once he placed the call and found they had all reached the island and were behind the gates and walls and protected by the pack of shepherds.

Still, he didn't pull the anchor right away. He took the wet card from his pocket and read the address and phone number, closed his eyes and committed both to memory. Then he ripped the card into tiny shreds and let them fall into the ocean. He walked into the cabin for a towel, then came up and pulled in the anchor.

The
Cary-Anne
had not started out yet. He saw Shanna on deck, watching him, and he waved. She waved in return. David was with her.

He didn't see Kathy anywhere.

He sat, turned the key and listened to the motor rev. Then he slightly angled the tiller and waved again as he headed the
Sweet Eden
toward Miami.

Well, it was over now. Their time together. He didn't have to burn inside and hope he could refrain from grabbing her and demanding to know what the hell she was doing in that bathing suit. He didn't have to worry about the overwhelming desire to touch her, to hold her, to make love to her.