Sea Swept (33 page)

“You’re next,” she warned Seth, who was so stunned at the idea of an adult playing with him that she caught him easily and wrestled him under.

He struggled, spat out water, swallowed more when he laughed. “Hey, I didn’t do anything.”

“You laughed. Besides, as I see it, you guys work as a team. It was probably your idea.”

“No way.” He wiggled free, then got the bright idea to dive and pull her under the surface by the ankle.

It was a pitched battle, and when they were exhausted, they agreed to call it a draw. It was only then that they noticed Cam was no longer in the water but sitting comfortably on the side of the boat eating a sandwich.

“What are you doing up there?” Anna called out while she pushed her sopping-wet hair back.

“Watching the show.” He washed the ham and cheese down with Pepsi. “A couple of goons.”

“Goons?” She slid her eyes toward Seth, and in tacit agreement the foes became a unit. “I only see one goon around here, how about you?”

“Just one,” he agreed as they swam slowly toward the boat.

Any idiot could have seen what they had in mind. Cam nearly lifted his legs out of reach, then he decided what the hell and let them pull him back into the water with an impressive splash.

It would be hours before it occurred to Seth that Anna and Cam had both had their hands on him. And he hadn’t been scared at all.

A
FTER THE BOAT was docked, the sails dropped, the decks swabbed, Anna rolled up her metaphorical sleeves and got to work in the kitchen. It was her mission to give the Quinn men a meal they wouldn’t soon forget. She might have been a novice sailor, but here she was an expert.

“It smells like glory,” Phillip told her when he wandered in.

“It’ll taste better.” She built the layers of her lasagna with an artist’s flair. “Old family recipe.”

“They’re the best,” he agreed. “We’ve got my father’s
secret waffle batter recipe. I’ll have to whip you up some in the morning.”

“I’d like that.” She glanced up to smile at him and noted what she thought was worry in his eyes. “Everything all right?”

“Sure. Just some leftover tangles from work.” It had nothing to do with work, but with the latest report from the private investigator he’d hired. Seth’s mother had been spotted in Norfolk—and that was entirely too close. “Need any help in here?”

“Everything’s under control.” She finished off her casserole with a thin layer of mozzarella before popping it in the oven. “You might want to try the wine.”

Absently Phillip picked up the bottle breathing on the counter. And instantly his interest was piqued. “Nebbiolo, the best of the Italian reds.”

“I think so, and I can promise my lasagna’s a match for it.”

Phillip grinned as he poured two glasses. His eyes were a golden brown that for some reason made Anna think of archangels. “Anna, my love, why don’t you toss Cam over and run away with me?”

“Because I’d hunt you both down and kill you,” Cam stated as he stepped into the kitchen. “Back off from my woman, bro, before I hurt you.” Though it was said lightly, Cam wasn’t entirely sure he was joking. And he wasn’t entirely pleased to feel the hot little spurt of jealousy.

He wasn’t the jealous type.

“He doesn’t know a Barolo from a Chianti,” Phillip told her as he got down another glass. “You’re better off with me.”

“Goodness,” she said in a passable imitation of their below-the-Mason-Dixon-line drawl, “I just love being fought over by strong men. And here comes one more,” she added as Ethan stepped through the back door. “You want to duel for me too, Ethan?”

He blinked and scratched his head. Women confused
him, but he was pretty sure there was a joke coming on. “Did you make whatever’s cooking in there?”

“With my own little hands,” she assured him.

“I’ll go get my gun.”

When she laughed, he shot her a quick smile, then ducked out of the room to shower off the day’s work.

“Jesus, Ethan nearly flirted with a woman.” Amazed, Phillip lifted his glass in a toast. “We’re going to have to keep you around, Anna.”

“If someone will set the table while I put the salad together, I might hang around long enough to let you sample my cannoli.”

Cam and Phillip eyed each other. “Whose turn is it?” Cam demanded.

“Not mine. It must be yours.”

“No way. I did it yesterday.” They studied each other another moment, then both turned to the door and yelled for Seth.

Anna only shook her head. Younger brothers, she supposed, were meant to be abused in such matters.

She knew the meal was a success when Seth gobbled up a third helping. He’d lost that alley-cat boniness, she noted. And the pallor. Perhaps his eyes were still occasionally wary, peeking out under his lashes as if searching for the blow that he’d learned too young to expect. But more often, Anna thought, there was humor in his eyes. He was a bright boy who was discovering how to be amused by people.

His language was rough, and she didn’t expect there would be a great deal of improvement in it as long as he lived in a household of men. Though she did see that Cam booted him lightly under the table now and again when he swore too often.

They were making it work. She’d had strong doubts in the beginning that three grown men, well set in their ways, would find a way of adjusting, of making room. And especially of opening their hearts to a boy who had been thrust upon them.

But they were making it work. When she wrote her report on the Quinn case the following week, she was going to state that Seth DeLauter was home, exactly where he belonged.

It would take time for the guardianship to move from temporary to permanent, but she would add her weight. Nothing warmed her heart quite so deeply as seeing the way Seth looked over at Cam after another under-the-table kick and grinned exactly like a ten-year-old boy caught sinning.

He would make a terrific father, she thought. Just rough enough around the edges to make it fun. He’d be the type to cart a child around on his shoulders, to wrestle in the yard. She could almost see it—the handsome dark-haired little boy, the pretty rosy-cheeked girl.

“You’re in the wrong business,” Phillip told her as he pushed back from the table and considered loosening his belt.

She blinked, caught daydreaming, and very nearly flushed. “I am?”

“You should own a restaurant. Any time you want to shift gears in that direction, I’ll be the first in line to invest.” He rose, intending to make use of his cappuccino maker to complement her dessert, and answered the phone on the first ring.

At the sound of the husky female voice with a sexy Italian accent, he raised his eyebrows. “He’s right here.” Phillip ran his tongue over his teeth and held out the phone to Cam. “It’s for you, pal.”

Cam took the phone, and after one purring sentence in his ear, almost placed the voice. “Hi, sugar,” he said, searching for a name.
“Come va?”

Because he did indeed love his brother, Phillip tried his best to distract Anna. “I just picked up this machine about six months ago,” he told her, holding her chair so she would rise—and perhaps move out of earshot. “It’s a beaut.”

“Really?” She wasn’t the least bit interested in the
working of some fancy coffee machine. Not when she’d heard just how smoothly Cam had greeted his obviously female caller. When she heard him laugh, her teeth went on edge.

It didn’t occur to Cam to muffle his voice or censor the content. He’d finally put a name with the voice—Sophia of the curvy body and bedroom eyes—and was chatting lightly about mutual acquaintances. She liked racing—all manner of racing—and was a hot, sleek bullet in bed.

“No, I had to take a pass on the rest of the season this year,” he told her. “I don’t know when I’ll get back to Rome. You’ll be the first,
bella
,” he answered when she asked if he would call her when he did. “Sure, I remember—the little trattoria near the Trevi Fountain. Absolutely.”

He leaned back against the counter. Her voice brought back memories. Not of her particularly, as he could barely get a clear image of her face in his head. But of Rome itself, the busy, narrow streets, the smells, the sounds, the rush.

The races.

“What?” Her question about his Porsche jerked him back to the present time and place. “Yeah, I’ve got it garaged in Nice until . . .”

He trailed off, his thoughts scattering as she asked him if he would consider selling it. She had a friend, she told him. Carlo. He remembered Carlo, didn’t he? Carlo wondered if Cam would be interested in selling the car, since he was staying so long in the States.

“I haven’t thought about it.” Sell the car? A little lance of panic stabbed him. It would be like admitting he wasn’t going back. Not just to Europe but to his life.

She was speaking quickly, persuasively, her Italian and English mixing and confusing him. He had her number,
si?
And could call her anytime. She would tell Carlo he was thinking about it. They were all missing Cam. Rome was so
noioso
without him. She had heard he had said no to a big race in Australia and was afraid it must be a
woman holding him. Had he finally fallen for a woman?

“Yes, no—” His head was spinning. “It’s complicated, sweetie. But I’ll be in touch.” Then she made him laugh one more time when she whispered a suggestion on how they might spend his first night back in Rome. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Darling, how could I forget? Yeah.
Ciao
.”

Phillip was busily foaming milk and trying with the air of a desperate man to engage Anna in conversation about types of coffee beans. Ethan, with the instinct of a survivor, had already deserted the kitchen. And Seth simply sat, crumbling a heel of garlic bread for Foolish, who hid under the table.

Oblivious, Cam raised a suspicious eyebrow at the cappuccino machine. “I’ll stick with regular coffee,” he began and smiled when Anna walked up to him. “I remember your cannoli from—” And the air whooshed out of his lungs as she plowed a fist into his gut. Before he could suck it back in, she strode past him and outside with a slap of the screen door.

“What?” Rubbing his stomach, Cam goggled at Phillip. “Jesus, what did you say to her?”

“You’re such a jerk,” Phillip muttered and deftly poured the first cup.

“She looked really pissed,” Seth commented and sniffed the air. “Can I try some of that junk you’re making?”

“Sure.” Phillip made up a latte, heavy on the milk, while Cam headed outside.

Cam caught up to Anna on the dock, where she stood fuming, her arms folded over her chest. “What the hell was that for?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Cam. For the hell of it.” She whirled around to face him, her eyes blazing in the starlight. “Women are peculiar creatures. They get annoyed when the man they’re supposed to be with flirts over the phone, right in their damn face, with some Italian bimbo.”

The light dawned, but to his credit he barely winced. “Come on, sugar—”

He broke off, unsure whether he was amused or frightened when she lifted a fist. “Don’t you call me sugar. You use my name. Do you think I’m an idiot? Sugar, sweetie, honey pie—that’s what you say when you can’t even remember the name of the woman who’s underneath you in bed.”

“Wait a damn minute.”

“No,
you
wait a damn minute. Do you have any idea how
insulting
it is to stand there and hear you make a date to meet your Italian squeeze in Rome when my lasagna’s barely settled in your stomach?”

Worse, she thought, much, much worse, he’d done it seconds after she’d been building foolish castles in the air of him with children. Their children. Oh, it was mortifying. Infuriating.

“I wasn’t making a date,” he began, then paused, fascinated, while a stream of impressive Italian curses poured out of her mouth. “You didn’t learn those from your grandparents.” When she bared her teeth and hissed, he couldn’t stop the smile. “You’re jealous.”

“It’s not a matter of jealousy. It’s a matter of courtesy.” She tossed her head and tried to calm down. She was only embarrassing herself more with the outburst, she realized. But by damn, she wasn’t finished yet. “You’re a free agent, Cameron, and so am I. No pretenses, no promises, fine. But I won’t tolerate you having phone sex while I’m standing in the same room.”

“It wasn’t phone sex, it was a conversation.”

“The little trattoria by the Trevi Fountain?” she said, coolly now. “How could I forget? You’ll be the first? You want to have some Italian
zucchero
, Cam, that’s your business. But don’t you ever do it in my face again.”

She took a breath, then held up a hand before he could speak. “I’m sorry I hit you.”

He gauged her mood. Ruffled, but calming. “No, you’re not.”

“Okay, I’m not. You deserved it.”

“It didn’t mean anything, Anna.”

Yes, she thought wearily, it did. To her it meant a great deal. And that was her own fault, her own small disaster. “It was rude.”

“Manners never were my strong point. I’m not interested in her. I can’t even remember her face.”

Anna angled her head. “Do you honestly think a statement like that goes to your credit?”

What the hell did she want him to say? he wondered with a quick, impatient hiss of breath. Sometimes, he supposed, the truth was best. “It’s your face, Anna, that I can’t get out of my mind.”

She sighed. “Now you’re trying to distract me.”

“Is it working?”

“Maybe.” Her emotions, she reminded herself, her problem. “Let’s just agree that even casual relationships have lines that shouldn’t be crossed.”

He wasn’t sure “casual” was the word to describe what was between them. But at the moment whatever made her happy suited him. “Okay. Starting now you’re the only Italian bimbo I flirt with.” Her bland, unsmiling stare made him grin. “It was terrific lasagna. None of my other bimbos could cook.”

She slid her gaze to the water, back to his face. Then cocked her head consideringly. Cam was pretty sure he saw the beginnings of humor in her eyes. “We’d both end up in there,” he told her. “But I don’t mind if you don’t.”

“I suppose, all in all, I’d rather stay dry.” She glanced toward the house when music slipped through the windows and into the air. “Who plays the violin?”