small one, anyway. They probably won’t even notice it’s gone.’
‘I’m not sure—’ Zoey broke off abruptly as another voice filled the air. David’s.
‘Zoey? Are you out here?’
‘Boat?’ Ash whispered.
Zoey nodded. ‘Boat.’
And then they ran.
* * *
As if she wasn’t feeling guilty enough already, now she had boat theft to add to her weighty conscience.
Ash had commandeered a small yacht with surprisingly little trouble—one that had been hired, she had a feeling, by David’s boss—which made Zoey wonder if he’d actually done this before. Funny, if she’d been asked this morning she’d have said that she knew everything there was to know about Ash Carmichael. After all, Grace had talked about him incessantly since the moment they met, so it was hard not to. And that was even before Grace died, and suddenly all they had was each other.
A tragedy like that brought people together. Made them close. Helped them know and understand each other in a way they never would have done, otherwise.
But somehow she still hadn’t known that he’d worked in a hotel kitchen, or that he knew how to hotwire a boat, or whatever it was he’d done to steal this one.
It was a nice boat, Zoey decided, standing by the rail looking out at the rapidly receding island hotel where she wouldn’t be getting married tomorrow. Stretching out from the main island itself was the long wooden bridge out over the water that led to twenty or so individual hotel suites on stilts, looking as if they almost floated on the waves.
It was an incredible place, Zoey had to admit. Under other circumstances, she’d be sorry to leave.
As it was...
She sighed and turned away, back to where Ash was steering the boat. And frowning. A lot.
‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, drawing closer. ‘Having second thoughts?’
He flashed her a smile. ‘I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be asking you that.’
Zoey considered, taking a reading on her internal feelings. A lot of guilt, as usual—and, really, who had a ‘usual’ for a situation like this?—but no regrets. No second thoughts.
She might regret letting her relationship with David reach this point, but not walking away. Her whole body sang with the rightness of that decision.
But that didn’t explain Ash’s frown.
‘I’m absolutely fine. What’s up with you?’
‘Not me,’ Ash said shortly. ‘The weather.’
Zoey looked up and saw the sky ahead was a different colour to the sky behind. And, from Ash’s expression, it wasn’t just the usual gradients of colour of sunset in paradise.
‘A storm?’ she asked.
He gave a short nod. ‘A squall, at least. Basically, out of the frying pan...’
‘Into the dangerous weather systems.’ Hadn’t someone at the hotel said something about incoming weather that morning? Yes! They’d been talking about possibly having to bring the ceremony in from the beach into the hotel itself. David had been furious. She’d been so caught up in her own doubts and concerns she hadn’t listened. She’d tuned out the way she always did when David was rude to someone he considered less important than himself. Which was basically everyone except his father. And her own parents, actually, which was probably why they liked him.
For someone who could be so sweet when it was just the two of them, he didn’t go over so well with other people. Something else she should have considered sooner.
Maybe she was just an incredibly lousy judge of character. That would explain a lot.
But personal revelations didn’t change the past. Or the squall in their future.
‘I knew it was coming,’ Zoey berated herself. ‘I had a conversation with the wedding planner about it this morning—well, David did. But I was there. I should have remembered.’
‘You’ve had a lot on your mind,’ Ash said drily, but Zoey could feel the wind lifting her hair, and saw the way Ash gripped the boat’s controls.
It was coming.
Looking over the side, Zoey could see the waves rising higher, crashing against the side of their boat. How on earth was she going to explain to David that she’d not only run out on their wedding but also destroyed his boss’s boat in the process?
Maybe this was divine retribution. Fate taking its revenge for her messing up other people’s lives and plans one time too many; taking control of her future for her, since she couldn’t ever seem to stick to any of the decisions she made herself.
Maybe she deserved it.
‘I should have checked the forecast before bringing you out here.’ Ash’s knuckles were white, Zoey realised, and his face pinched. Strain, fear or both? ‘You should get down in the cabin. There’s not much space down there, but it’s a lot safer than up on deck.’
Or maybe fate was a load of bunk, and the future was hers to control.
‘I’ll stay here with you.’ Zoey grabbed a hold of the railing beside Ash, planting her feet firmly on the deck. ‘I mean, I have no idea how to drive a boat, so you’ll have to tell me what to do so I can actually help you. But it’s my fault we’re out here. I’m not leaving you up here alone.’
Ash looked at her, his gaze steady despite whatever fear he was feeling. Zoey gazed back just as evenly, so he’d know she meant it.
Then the wind kicked up again and a wave crashed into their side, making them both stumble a little.
‘Okay,’ Ash said, his eyes back on the water, his hands firm on the controls. ‘We’re not far from the island. Let’s see if we can get there before this storm gets any worse.’
‘We’ll get there,’ Zoey said with a confidence she wasn’t sure she truly felt.
Fate could go hang.
* * *
What kind of idiot took a random boat out in these waters at night without checking the forecast? Ash berated himself mentally as he clung to his tenuous control of the boat. The waves crashed against the sides and Ash tried desperately to focus on the task in hand and not get distracted by images of his late wife giving him hell in the afterlife for getting her best friend killed.
With Grace gone, he was responsible for Zoey. It wasn’t as if her parents had ever been able to let their own issues go long enough to care about her, and since the odds of her actually finding true love and settling down—at least long enough to get through a wedding reception—seemed to be getting slimmer, he was it. He was all the support she had left—and he was doing a lousy job of it so far.
The sky was growing blacker, the kind of doomed darkness that foretold of disaster to come. Maybe he should just have let her marry David after all. Sure, he’d probably have been throwing her a divorce party within six months, but at least she’d be alive to celebrate it, instead of dead at the bottom of the ocean.
He glanced to his left. Zoey was holding on tight to the rail beside him, obviously determined to stand by him—as much as he wished she’d just get to safety below. The waves weren’t too big yet, but they were going to get bigger...
Then, suddenly, he got a glimpse of what he was looking for. Refuge. Safety. A fully stocked drinks cabinet, he hoped.
‘There!’ He risked raising one hand from the controls to point. ‘Do you see that?’
Zoey leant forward over the rail, squinting into the distance and almost giving Ash a heart attack at the same time. ‘Is that the island?’
‘I