now…
Here she was, cute as a button. No, not just cute. Sexy, provocative, petite and yet voluptuous. Her fingers rested on his chest. Stupidly he said, “Show you mine?”
“We’ve taken a look at Hank’s yacht. I’d love another look at yours.”
“She’s actually Lee’s,” he reminded her.
“But I’m sure you have all the rights of ownership,” she teased. “You don’t mean to tell me that you can’t ask me aboard? Your friends are gone for the night, right?”
How did she know that? It seemed important to know what this woman was all about. And with both of the others gone, it was his job to watch the yacht. “You want to go to my place?” he queried.
She pressed against him. “I do.”
He wasn’t a fool, he reminded himself. He could hold his own when he needed to. But…sometimes work and pleasure could collide.
She must have known that he was hesitating, because she grew even bolder. She ran her hand straight down his chest to his genitals. “I like risk and excitement,” she whispered, standing on tiptoe to breathe the words straight into his ear.
“They, uh, they could return,” he stuttered, testing her. “I can get a room.”
“But I like boats,” she insisted, pouting.
She didn’t want him. She just wanted to get on the yacht. She thought she’d found a patsy. Well, two could play the game.
“Sure, the tender is right over there,” he told her.
BETH LEANED AGAINST THE DOOR, shaking. She had nearly hurt her brother. Badly.
She let out a deep sigh, knowing she had to get a grip.
There was a firm knock on the door. She jumped, then caught herself.
Ben. What had he forgotten?
She threw the door open.
There was a man at the door. He seemed huge, looming in the darkness beyond the pool of light where she stood.
It wasn’t Ben.
And she no longer had her pepper spray.
A scream rose in her throat as he stepped forward.
She screamed and tried to push the door shut. It met an immovable obstacle and stalled. Then she heard her name.
“Beth. Dammit, Beth. You told me to come!”
She went dead still, only then recognizing the towering form in the doorway.
She just hadn’t been expecting him.
She stepped back in shock. She’d spent the first part of the week praying he would call.
The second half of the week, she’d simply been mad.
“May I?” he asked, still standing on the porch.
He was everything she had remembered and more. Dark eyes, a startling contrast to the sun-bleached lightness of his hair. Bronzed. In form-hugging jeans and a tailored shirt, open at the throat.
For a minute she couldn’t find speech.
Then she was angry with herself, because she was being worse than Amber and her friends, gawking, letting herself be thrown off-kilter by any man.
“What do you mean, I told you to come?” she inquired curtly.
He cocked his head slightly, a smile curving his lips.
“May I come in? The neighbors will be out soon, if they haven’t called the police already,” he teased.
She stepped outside, looking around.
She couldn’t help but look over to the tree, then back at Keith.
Had he been stalking her? Hiding behind the tree while her brother was there?
Why on earth would he do such a thing?
Maybe he wanted her alone. All alone.
She lowered her head for a moment. To be frank, she wanted to be alone with him, too.
“Beth, are you all right?”
She stepped back and repeated, “I told you to come?”
He let out a sigh. “Today.”
“I asked you to come today?”
“In your e-mail. Remember?”
Her brows arched; her mouth formed an O.
“I’m going to throttle her!” she said.
“Who?” he demanded, confused.
“Come in,” she murmured.
He stepped into the house, frowning and looking around curiously. Then he turned to her, a half smile on his lips. “Great place. Amber, I take it?”
“What?”
“The one you’re going to kill. Somehow she got on your computer and flirted with me, pretending to be you.”
“I think so. The little rat tried to scare me, too.”
“I see.” He was silent a moment, surveying her place once more. Then he turned to her again. “Maybe you should be a little scared.”
“Why?”
He hesitated again. Then he shrugged. “It’s a scary world.”
“Do you ever just answer a question?”
“When I can.”
“You’re a liar. You can answer right now. I should be scared…why?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Because I did see a skull on the island?”
“I don’t know what you saw on the island, Beth. But everyone there knew you saw something. And it’s obvious that you’re scared. Though if you are scared of something, it’s not really all that bright to go ahead and just answer the door. Actually, you should never just open a door. That’s why most of them have peepholes, you know.”
“Yes, thank you for the lecture. I answered the door like that because I thought you were my brother.”
“You scream when your brother arrives?”
She was glad when the phone began to ring then. She excused herself and went to pick up the kitchen extension.
It was Ashley.
“Hey,” Beth murmured, watching Keith Henson in her living room as she spoke.
“I wanted you to know, there’s an APB out for those people you met on the island.”
She nearly choked. “Which ones?”
“That couple. Brad and Sandy.”
She almost gasped in relief. “Um…why?”
“They’re wanted for questioning. There’s no proof of anything against them, and I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but I happen to know that the nameplate from the Retired! was discovered in the water just off Calliope Key. I thought you should know. I mean, I doubt they’ll show up around here, and hopefully they have no idea they’re under suspicion, but…well, you might have found the remains of one of the Monocos. The powers that be don’t want that news getting out yet, because they don’t want to scare them off if there’s a chance of bringing them in for questioning.”
Keith was still standing in the living room. She had the feeling that he could describe the place in detail if he was asked to do so later.
“Um…” She turned away, not wanting Keith to hear her. “Why do they suspect those two?”
“There’s a reason,” Ashley assured