Shannon and Rafe invited her to the ranch every weekend. She didn’t know what she would have done without them.
“How long was your husband ill?”
When she hesitated, Blake frowned. “Jenna, I’m a security expert. This is information I can access easily.”
“You can access medical records? I thought they were supposed to be confidential.”
“Any computer specialist can find out exactly what he wants to know. Most private investigators can now, too.”
“Because you can do it yourself, you wouldn’t have to resort to hiring one of those, though. Right?”
Her temper had a terrifically long fuse, but Blake had just activated it. Maybe everything Rafe Pierson had suspected about him was true. “In fact,” she added, “I bet you already know all about me and you just want to see how honest I am with what I tell you. Maybe this little ride is a mistake. Maybe we should turn back right now.”
Finally Blake said, “I do know a few things about you. I’d like to know more, including what kind of mother you’d be. I won’t find that out by doing a background check.”
“Why do I suddenly feel as if I have to pass some kind of test?”
Without another word, Blake pressed his foot to the brake and pulled his car to the side of the road. “If we go back now, our lawyers are going to fight this out, probably in court. Is that what you want?”
She finally realized why Blake had suggested this drive. If they went about this with lawyers and paperwork, they’d do it mechanically, seeing facts and figures, not the person they were dealing with. What good would that do either of them?
“No, that’s not what I want,” she murmured.
“Does that mean I shouldn’t turn around?”
Looking into his gray eyes, she sensed what a ruthless man he could be. In her case, though, he was making her face what was best for both of them. “I don’t want you to turn around, but I don’t know if I’m too thrilled about going out on your boat, either.”
His gaze was still locked to hers when he nodded. “Fair enough. We can get supper from the marina’s deli and eat on the deck. Afterward, you can decide if you want to venture onto the water.”
“Fair enough,” she repeated, knowing she’d have to stand her ground with this man, knowing she’d have to be careful what she did, what she said and what she felt.
When they stopped at the deli, Blake insisted on buying everything. Since she wasn’t really hungry and her stomach was tied up in knots, she simply pointed to a turkey sandwich and let him purchase that for her. He didn’t stop with the sandwich order, though, but added fruit salad, rice pudding and an assortment of cookies for dessert. A few minutes later, she followed him to his covered berth and saw immediately that his cabin cruiser, the Suncatcher, was much more than a boat to take out on weekends. He could easily live on it.
Blake boarded first, and the step down was a large one.
“I could lift you down,” he said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
“If you just give me your hand, I think I’ll be fine.” She didn’t know any other way to do it safely, and she wasn’t about to let him scoop her up into his arms—as if a man would do that in this day and age.
He was standing close to the step. “Use my shoulder to lean on, too.”
Dismay coursed through her when she realized that would help. She wasn’t about to take a chance on falling. When she clasped his shoulder, she could feel the strength there, the hard muscles beneath his knit shirt. This little excursion seemed suddenly altogether too intimate. Still, it was too late to back out now.
When she seemed at a loss for a moment, Blake took her hand and she quickly made the descent into the boat. Hoping to put distance between them again, she moved across the deck, examining its cushioned captain’s chairs, burled walnut fittings, and conveniences she’d only imagined could be on a boat. Suddenly she realized she wasn’t going to get much distance from Blake here.
Although he’d released her hand moments before, she still felt the tautness of his skin. His heat seemed to be part of her now.
He motioned to one of the chairs. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll get plates and silverware and cups in the galley.” Then he disappeared down the stairs before she could tell him she could drink her lemonade out of the carton.
“You’ve really never been on a boat before?” Blake asked her fifteen minutes later as they shared supper and gazed out over the water.
She found herself watching him as he ate. He was obviously hungry, as he downed a twelve-inch sub. When he licked mayonnaise from a finger, she found herself watching his lips. They were sensual, mobile, as fascinating as the gray of his eyes.
Giving herself a mental shake, she realized he’d asked her a question. “No, I’ve never been on a boat.”
“So…what do you think?” he asked with a half smile.
“It’s nice,” she said. “Sort of like an outdoor restaurant.”
After he laughed out loud at that, he said, “I’ve never heard it put quite that way before. Would you like a tour? There are two bedrooms, a galley and the head downstairs. That’s the bathroom.”
“That term I’m familiar with. I’ve never been on a boat, but I’ve read about them. Still, I don’t think I’ll need a tour. It doesn’t sound as if I’d get lost using the bathroom.”
“Afraid to go below with me?”
He was much too perceptive for her own good. These quarters were close enough. “Of course not. But I imagine it’s hot down there…”
“I have air-conditioning I can flip on.” Finished with his sandwich now, he leaned forward, his knees almost touching hers. “I’m sorry if I make you nervous.”
She was sure she was blushing now. “It’s just this whole situation,” she said honestly.
“Help me understand,” he requested quietly.
Not sure he could understand, she still attempted to explain. “Discussing artificial insemination with someone other than my husband and doctor isn’t something I’ve done before. Now a whole gaggle of people are talking about it. I’m a minister’s daughter, for heaven’s sake. I still don’t swear in front of my father or anyone who would carry stories to him. I have to talk to him about all of this, and I don’t know how I’m going to do it. On top of that, I’ve driven off with a strange man against my lawyer’s advice. There isn’t anyone here within shouting distance and…” She trailed off, not knowing how to explain the rest. She certainly wasn’t going to tell him she felt things when she looked at him, especially when he got too close.
After studying her for a full two heartbeats, Blake leaned back as if to give her a little space.
“Why would it be so hard to explain all this to your father even if he is a minister?”
“Dad’s very…conservative. He didn’t agree with my decision to become artificially inseminated. He insists that if I was supposed to be pregnant with B.J.’s child, it would have happened before he died.”
“From the background info I read on you, I saw that your mother died when your brother was a year old. You were nine then?”
It bothered her to think he’d accessed information about her so easily. But now she had to make it more than mere words to him. “Yes, I was nine. So I’ve always been more like a mother to Gary than a sister.”
“Did you take care of your father, too?”
“No. We always had a full-time housekeeper-secretary who cooked and baby-sat.”
“I imagine being a minister’s daughter