He got a grip on his hormones, took two steps until he was at the side of a bed built for a sixth-grader, then turned around to glare at her. God, the cabin was so small it felt as though the walls were closing in on him and, truth to tell, they wouldn’t have far to move. He felt as if he should be slouching to avoid skimming the top of his head along the ceiling. Every light in the cabin was on and it still looked like twilight.
But Dave wasn’t here for the ambience and there was nothing he could do about the rooms at the moment. Now all he wanted was an explanation. He waited for her to shut the door, sealing the two of them into the tiny cracker box of a room before he said, “You left without telling me, so what’s the game this time, Lucia?”
“This isn’t a game, Dave,” she said, folding her arms over her chest. “It wasn’t a game then, either.”
“Right.” He laughed and tried not to breathe deep. The scent of her was already inside him, the tiny room making him even more aware of it than he would have been ordinarily. “You didn’t want to lie to me. You had no choice.”
Her features tightened. “Do we really have to go over the old argument again?”
He thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. He didn’t want to look at the past. Hell. He didn’t want to be here now. “No, we don’t. So why don’t you just say what it is you have to say so we can be done.”
“Always the charmer,” she quipped.
He shifted from one foot to the other and banged his elbow on the wall. “Lucia…”
“Fine. You got my note?”
He reached into the pocket of his shirt, pulled out the card, glanced at the pictures of the babies, then handed it to her. “Yeah. I got it. Now how about you explain it?”
She looked down at those two tiny faces and he saw her lips curve slightly even as her eyes warmed. But that moment passed quickly as she lifted her gaze to him and skewered him with it. “I would have thought the word daddy was fairly self-explanatory.”
“Explain, anyway.”
“Fine.” Lucia walked across the tiny room, bumped Dave out of her way with a nudge from her hip that had him hitting the wall and then bent down to drag a suitcase out from under her bed. The fact that she could actually feel his gaze on her butt while she did it only annoyed her.
She would not pay any attention to the rush of heat she felt just being close to him again. She would certainly not acknowledge the jump and stutter of her heartbeat, and if certain other of her body parts were warm and tingling, she wasn’t going to admit to that, either.
Dragging the suitcase out, she went to lift it, but Dave was there first, pushing her fingers aside to hoist the bag onto the bed. If her skin was humming from that one idle touch, he didn’t have to know it, did he?
She unzipped the bag, pulled out a blue leather scrapbook and handed it to him. “Here. Take a look. Then we’ll talk more.”
The book seemed tiny in his big, tanned hands. He barely glanced at it before shooting a hard look at her again. “What’s this about?”
“Look at it, Dave.”
He did. The moment she’d been waiting so long for stretched out as the seconds ticked past. She held her breath and watched his face, the changing expressions written there as he flipped through the pages of pictures she’d scrapbooked specifically for this purpose. It was a chronicle of sorts. Of her life since losing her job, discovering she was pregnant and then the birth of the twins. In twenty hand-decorated pages, she’d brought him up to speed on the last year and a half of her life.
Up to speed on his sons. The children he’d created and had never met.
The only reason she was here, visiting a man who’d shattered her heart without a backward glance.
When he was finished, his gaze lifted to hers and she could have sworn she saw icicles in his eyes.
“I’m supposed to believe that I’m the father of your babies?”
“Take another look at them, Dave. They both look just like you.”
He did, but his features remained twisted into a cynical expression even while his eyes flashed with banked emotion. “Lots of people have black hair and blue eyes.”
“Not all of them have dimples in their left cheek.” She reached out, flipped to a specific page and pointed. “Both of your sons do. Just like yours.”
He ran one finger over the picture of the boys as if he could somehow touch them with the motion, and that small action touched something in Jenna. For one brief instant, Dave looked almost…vulnerable.
It didn’t last long, though. His mouth worked as if he were trying to bite back words fighting desperately to get out. Finally, as if coming to some inner decision, he nodded, blew out a breath and said, “For the sake of argument, let’s say they are mine.”
“They are.”
“So why didn’t you tell me before? Why the hell would you wait until they’re, what…?”
“Four months old.”
He looked at the pictures again, closed the book and held on to it in one tight fist. “Four months old and you didn’t think I should know?”
So much for the tiny kernel of warmth she’d almost experienced.
“You’re amazing. Your never treated me well before our divorce and I had to leave because your girlfriend and now you’re upset that I didn’t contact you?”
“What’re you talking about?”
Lucia shook her head and silently thanked heaven that she’d been smart enough to not only keep a log of every e-mail she’d ever sent him, but had thought to print them all out and bring them along. Dipping back into the suitcase, she whipped a thick manila envelope out and laid it atop the scrapbook he was still holding. “There. E-mails. Every one I sent you. They’re all dated. You can see that I sent one at least once a week. Sometimes twice. I’ve been trying to get hold of you for more than a year, Dave.”
He opened the envelope as she talked, and flipped quickly through the printouts.
“I—” He frowned down at the stack of papers.She took advantage of his momentary speechlessness. “I’ve been trying to reach you since I first found out I was pregnant, Dave.”“How was I supposed to know that this is what you were trying to tell me?”“You might have read one or two of them,” Lucia pointed out and managed to hide the hurt in her voice.He scowled at her. “How the hell could I have guessed you were trying to tell me I was a father? I just thought you were wanted money instead of us.”She hissed in a breath as the insult of that slapped at her. Bubbling with fury, Lucia really had to fight the urge to give him a swift kick. How like Dave to assume that any woman who was with him was only in it for what she could get from him. But then, he’d spent most of the past ten years surrounding himself with the very users he’d suspected her of being. People who wanted to be seen with him because he was one of the world’s most eligible billionaires. Those hangers-on wanted to be in
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 pic
“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