Her First Vacation (3 page)

“You’re a teacher, right?”

She nodded once more. “Yes.
Second
grade.”

“Unless things have changed since I was in school, don’t
you get the whole summer off? That’s a heck of a vacation.
Plenty
of time to travel pretty much anywhere in the world.”

She shot him a sidelong glance. “As I said, I have
obligations. I tutor during the summers. A few times I’ve even taught summer
school. There just hasn’t been time for me to go gallivanting across the
country.”

“Yet, here you are.”

She turned away from him again. “Yes, here I am.”

“You don’t sound all that pleased about it.”

She sighed. “I guess it just isn’t what I thought it would
be.”

“And what did you think it would be?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it again when she
realized there was no way to explain that without going into a lot of personal
history that was far too intimate to discuss with a stranger. She considered
for a minute,
then
finally shrugged. “I don’t know.”

That couldn’t be true. She’d been about to say something
and had stopped herself. For some unfathomable reason, Colin wanted desperately
to know what she’d been about to say. Unfortunately, his ever vigilant work
ethic flared at precisely that moment, reminding him that he wasn’t there on
vacation, despite appearances otherwise. He swung his gaze around to search for
his target and felt a momentary flash of alarm as he didn’t immediately spot
him. Then he relaxed as he caught sight of the man. He was in the line waiting
to go ashore and he wasn’t alone, of course. The man didn’t appear to go
anywhere without female companionship. Thus far Colin had seen him with no less
than five different women. Obviously he considered himself to be a Casanova,
and it seemed that he might just be if his penchant for keeping a woman on his
arm was any indication. Colin wondered if any of the women had the first clue
what the man really was.

He watched for a moment as the line began to move,
then
reluctantly turned back to Claire. He was going to have
to leave her. He couldn’t afford to let his target out of his sight. Not while
he was off the ship. He gave Claire an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to go. The boat is
getting ready to leave.”

She swung her gaze around to glance at the line of people,
then
nodded. “Sure.”

“I’ll see you tonight at dinner.”

She nodded,
then
watched as he
turned to walk away. Her gaze seemed to take on a life of its own as it slid
from the back of his head to his broad back and then down to his narrow waist
before coming to rest on the tight muscles of his rear end. He wore shorts and
sandals, hardly the kind of clothes she’d expect to find attractive on a man.
Yet as she stared at the way the cotton fabric pulled taught when he walked she
felt a definite flare of heat in her core that instantly turned to a raging
blush. She jerked her eyes away, spinning around to turn her back to him before
he glanced back and caught her staring. What was wrong with her? He was a
complete stranger. Just because he was gorgeous didn’t mean she had the right
to ogle him like some hormone crazed nymphomaniac.

She closed her eyes and instantly envisioned his face.
More precisely, his mouth.
It was strong and firm and she
knew with some inborn instinct that had no name that he knew how to use it for
much more than consuming food and forming words. He’d be a skilled kisser. For
a brief instant she imagined what it might feel like to have him pull her into
his arms and put that mouth on hers. The shiver that swept through her was
shocking enough to make her reach out and grasp the railing. It took several
seconds for her to gain control over her rampant imagination. She took several
breaths and concentrated on making her pulse and breathing slow. When she
finally succeeded, she turned to cast one final glance at the line of people
waiting to catch a ride to the shore. Colin was gone, already on the boat and
out of her sight. But he wasn’t completely out of mind. Not yet. He would be,
though. Because she absolutely did not intend to let herself start fantasizing
about a man who was so clearly out of her reach. He might be kind enough to
engage her in casual conversation, but she knew better than to even imagine for
an instant that he wanted anything more from her. Men like him never wanted
anything from her.

Dinner that night was much like the one the night before.
Everyone talked about the things they’d seen and done onshore.
Everyone except Claire.
Like every night before, she was
practically ignored, which left her free to watch the others unhindered. She
was annoyed when her gaze kept straying in Colin’s direction. He’d walked into
the dining room with Janine, one of the other women at their table, and Claire
had felt inexorably irritated by that. She kept telling herself it was none of
her
business, that
she had no right whatsoever to care
who he spent his time with. But the irritation lingered and her unruly eyes
kept wandering toward him.

Once she caught him staring at Garret, and the expression
on his face was strangely intense. Garret was regaling the table with a tale
about a previous cruise he’d taken on which a passenger had been killed. Claire
thought it was in very poor taste to describe the incident with such obvious
delight, but then the passenger who’d died had been a stranger to Garret, and
she was quickly realizing that Garret was nothing if not flamboyant. He, like
Cathy, enjoyed being the center of attention. As he replayed the gory details
of the death, Claire noticed the way Colin was watching him. His eyes never
once left Garret’s face. He was so still that he might have been carved from
stone. And though he wasn’t looking in her direction, Claire could see enough
of his eyes to recognize the emotion in them as something very close to hatred.

She felt a shiver work through her and blinked as if the
action might somehow alleviate the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. In
the instant that her eyes were closed, everything changed. When she once again
focused on Colin he was nodding, seeming to be as enthralled as everyone else
at the table. Claire stared at him, trying to figure out if she’d imagined the
things she’d seen in his eyes. Surely, she must have. She couldn’t imagine why
Colin would hate Garret. As far as she knew, the two men had never met before
the first night they’d all gathered around the table. She tore her gaze away
from Colin as Garret finished his story. The conversation soon turned to less
morbid topics, and Claire saw Colin laugh at something Garret said. The laugh
sounded entirely genuine. She must have imagined the hatred she’d seen in his
eyes. If she hadn’t, then either Colin Montgomery was the best actor in the
world, or he was suffering from dissociative identity disorder.

Claire was up just after dawn the next morning. She’d gone
to bed early because she hadn’t had anything else to do. She’d always been an
early riser, though, and rarely slept past six in the morning. She decided to
take a walk around the deck, just to enjoy the relative solitude of the early
hour. She was again leaning against the railing, watching the sun as it rose
over the water when a familiar voice intruded on her thoughts.

“We’re going to have to stop meeting like this.”

She didn’t jump out of her skin this time, though her heart
did do a stuttering shuffle before leaping into overdrive. She turned to face
Colin.

“You’re up early.”

He shook his head. “I’ve always been an early riser. I like
the quiet of the morning. Plus I learned a long time ago that I simply get more
done if I’m not getting up sometime between breakfast and lunch.”

She shot him an amused look. “You just said you’d
always
been an early riser.” She
stressed the word “always” and he gave her a comically guilty look.

“I flirted with sleeping in a few times when I was in
college. I couldn’t bear the shame of it, though, and I swore to never do it
again.”

Claire couldn’t help herself. She laughed out loud. He said
it with such conviction.

Colin felt his breath catch in his chest as she laughed.
Like any other man, he had a natural tendency to be drawn to women he
considered attractive. He wasn’t some shallow lecher, but he was honest enough
to admit that he liked pretty women. The first time he’d seen Claire Abernathy
he’d thought her anything but pretty. The first impression was not a
particularly flattering one. She kept her hair, which was obviously very long
and very thick, pulled away from her face in a severe bun. She wore clothes
that hung on her like feed sacks and evidently didn’t believe in wearing
makeup. The first thought that had popped into his head was that she was from one
of those religions with strict rules about the style and dress of women. But
the information he’d received when he did a background check on her had made no
mention of any particular religious affiliation, and he knew it would have been
included if any such connection existed.
Which meant she
either didn’t like wearing makeup or just didn’t bother.
Now that he
knew her a little, he was betting it was the latter.

It only took him a few minutes of watching her, though, to
realize that beneath the unstylish appearance lay a woman with the potential to
be a true beauty. She was tall and slender with legs that he suspected would go
on forever. Her face was as slender as the rest of her, with the kind of
cheekbones any model would envy. Her mouth was almost too large for her face,
her lips full enough to be enticing. And her eyes were the most amazing shade
of blue-gray-green he’d ever seen. She moved with unconscious grace that Colin
knew wasn’t something that could be learned. For whatever reason, she’d chosen
not to exploit her obvious assets. If anything, she appeared to be making an
effort to disguise them. Colin was intrigued by it. Why would she go to such
great lengths to make herself plain? Why would any woman?

It was a mystery, and he’d never been able to resist
solving puzzles. Perhaps that was why he’d found himself thinking about her so
much, especially since their brief conversation the morning before. He hadn’t
anticipated running into her today, but now that he had, he was glad of it. He
was especially thankful that he’d seen her laugh.
Because at
this moment, nothing could hide her beauty.
It was so profound that it
took his breath away. He felt a tug deep within him, a sizzle of attraction
that not only caught him by surprise but displeased him as well. Okay, so she
was a Cinderella just waiting for her fairy god mother to come along and
transform her into a princess. He sure as hell was no Prince Charming. And even
if he were, the last thing he needed was the complication of a woman. He was
working. He couldn’t afford to be distracted, especially by a woman like
Claire. He knew she wouldn’t be a one-night-stand. She was a relationship, not
an affair. The smart thing to do would be to just walk away now. He had no
interest in a long-term involvement. The only thing he cared about was nailing
Garret Palmer so hard that he’d spend the rest of his life recovering. He
wanted the bastard in prison, preferably on death row for the murder he’d so
gleefully described to everyone the night before. Colin had listened intently,
hoping he’d reveal some detail that might implicate him legally, but Garret was
apparently smart enough to keep his relation of the story simple. He talked
about nothing other than the commonly known details. Which meant Colin would
just have to stick to his original plan and catch the man in the act of
committing the crimes everyone knew he was guilty of. Knowing and proving were
two different things, though, and that was why Colin was going to be Garret’s
shadow for as long as it took.

He started to tell Claire that he had to go, but the moment
he looked into her still smiling eyes he couldn’t make himself say the words.
He knew Garret was still in bed and that he wasn’t alone. He’d taken a perky
little blonde to his room late last night, and she didn’t come out again.
Garret would sleep in after the night he’d had. The young blonde had been
extremely energetic. Colin grimaced inside as he remembered the way he’d felt
as he’d sat and listened to the noises the two of them made. He’d turned the
volume down once he was certain they would be in the room for a while. When
he’d turned the surveillance equipment back up two hours later, they were still
going at it. Yeah, Garret would sleep in this morning.

Colin gave Claire an inviting smile.

“Have you had breakfast?”

She shook her head. “I haven’t even had coffee.”

“How about we go grab some, then?”

Claire was surprised by the invitation. Some part of her
actually wondered if it was another figment of her imagination. For a moment she
felt panicked as she struggled to determine if she ought to accept. What if it
was just wishful thinking? She’d look like a fool if she accepted an invitation
he hadn’t even issued. Then he lifted his arm, offering it to her the way a
gentleman might to a lady, and she suddenly felt as if the entire world was
spinning at warp speed. He truly was asking her to have breakfast with him. It
seemed too incredible to be real, and she reached out to grab it before it
could vanish like the dream it surely must be. She slipped her hand into the
crook of his arm, praying he wouldn’t feel the trembling in her fingers.

“I’d love to.”

CHAPTER TWO

Colin turned to lead her away and silently cursed himself
for a fool. This woman was much too fragile. He’d seen the surprise and then
the joy in her eyes as she accepted what he’d meant to be a simple invitation
to share some company at the breakfast table. He could feel the miniscule
vibration in her fingers where they rested on his arm. She was acting like he
was the prince to her Cinderella and that he’d just asked her to go to the
ball. He’d never met a woman so eager for acceptance, so desperate to be
wanted. What the hell had happened to her to make her like this? And what was
he going to do to keep her from making more out of his casual interest than he
ever intended?