The blare of the SUV’s horn nearly made her drop the camera as she leaped backward. The darned dog must have slipped and put his paw on the horn. “Don’t do that!” she said to the dog as she edged away, glancing around to see if anybody had noticed.
The dog continued to press the horn. As Kate backed toward her Miata, she began to suspect the dog was trained to honk the horn if anybody came too close. “Okay! I’m leaving!” she called to the dog. “Cut that out!”
Shoving her camera back in her purse, she jumped into the car.
Harry was laughing his head off.
“We’re so outta here,” she muttered, starting the car. “Who trains their dog to honk horns, anyway? Doesn’t anybody use good old car alarms anymore?”
“Guess not,” he said, grinning at her. “So, you’re a photographer, like Kim?”
“Yep.” She backed out and drove toward the exit.
“Freelance?”
“Technically I’m a studio photographer, like Kim. I handle the glamour shots and she’s into kids and pets.”
“What do you mean, technically?”
She hesitated, realizing she’d slipped up by qualifying her statement. When their dad had retired and left his two daughters in charge of the portrait studio he’d built into a fine business, they’d both been thrilled and honored. Kate was still thrilled and honored, except…except she wasn’t having fun with the glamour shots anymore. Been there, done that. Taking the picture of the Great Dane, even with the horn-honking added in, had been fun.
“I guess I meant that’s my main thing,” she said. “But, I’ve started taking candid pictures for the heck of it.”
“Where things aren’t quite so predictable?”
“Right. But studio photography’s rewarding, too. Very rewarding.”
“I’m sure it is.”
She had the oddest feeling that he understood her inner conflict perfectly, yet they barely knew each other. Intrigued by the thought, she glanced over at him. Damn, he was really shoe-horned into her car.
“Is the seat all the way back?” she asked.
He reached for the adjustment. “Uh-huh.”
“Sorry the car’s so small.” She’d been so intent on driving her zippy little convertible on this warm June day that she hadn’t stopped to think about how uncomfortable the car might be for a man who was at least six-three. Kim would have thought of that. Kim wasn’t so focused on pizzazz, which was why she liked family photography so much.
“Kate, after what I’ve been through, it’s minor.”
“I’ll get you to the inn as quick as I can.” While they waited in a line of cars to get past the ticket booth, she switched off the radio. He might like to sleep on the way to Newport, if he could possibly sleep crammed into the seat like that.
As they reached the booth, Harry lifted up slightly from the seat and took his wallet from his hip pocket. “Let me get the parking fee.”
“Absolutely not! It’s bad enough that I was late picking you up.” But in fumbling behind her seat for her purse, she nudged against his very solid body and discovered the close proximity made her breathless, and as uncoordinated as she’d ever been in her life. She should have taken the money out before she’d started the car. Kim would have done that.
The parking attendant cleared her throat.
While Kate was still twisted around digging in her purse for her wallet, Harry reached across her and handed a bill to the attendant.
“Thank you, sir.” The attendant gave him his change.
Kate abandoned the struggle for her wallet and glanced over at him. “Thank you for paying, but you’re making me feel extremely guilty. Let me buy you a drink sometime this weekend.”
He smiled. “I’d like that.”
She pulled away from the booth and slid the car smoothly into traffic, which was a small blessing. As jittery as she was feeling, she didn’t trust her reaction time. The best man had quite a smile on him. Kim and Stuart had said he was a really nice guy. They hadn’t said one word about him being a lady-killer.
That could be explained, of course. Stuart might not say something like that anyway, being a guy, and Kim was so crazy about Stuart she was likely oblivious to every other man on the planet. Still, Kate would have appreciated a warning from someone. The snapshot she’d carried to ID him didn’t begin to capture his animal magnetism.
A more trained photographer—like her, for example—would have nailed it. She’d love to have a chance to try, but she doubted there’d be any time for a formal sitting. Still, she’d become pretty good at getting shots on the fly.
He leaned back, his neck supported by the headrest. “The sun feels great. Sure beats the heck out of swimming through cold water for six hours.”
Kate did a mental double take. “Why were you doing that?”
“I had to pull six people out of a partially submerged sailboat. It took most of the night.”
Her jaw dropped. “That’s…incredible.” It was more than incredible. Not only had he spent the night rescuing people from a shipwreck, he spoke about it as if it were all in a day’s work. A chill ran down her spine. Had she finally found her hero?
“At least it went well. But the helicopter kept getting too low and churning up the water even worse, which made everything tougher. But hey, it’s over. And I made it to Stuart and Kim’s wedding, after all.”
“I’m sure they’re going to really, really appreciate that.” A certified hero was going to be the best man at Kim’s wedding. Hours ago he’d risked his life to save six people, and now he was riding in her car and would be spending the next four days in Providence. She could hardly believe this was happening, but she knew one thing for sure. She planned to make the most of this opportunity.
“I’m glad I could come,” he said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to close my eyes and relax for a little while. I tried to sleep on the plane, but my seat-mate kept trying to have a conversation.”
“I’ll be quiet as a mouse.” Kate was so glad she’d turned off the radio. Taking her foot off the gas, she allowed the car to ease back within the speed limit. She’d drive all the way to Newport in the right lane, letting cars whiz past her. No way was she taking a chance on jostling such precious cargo. “Just rest,” she said to her hero. “I’ll let you know when we get there.”
HUGH ARMSTRONG closed his eyes and gave thanks for this little bit of heaven—riding under a warm sun while sitting next to the prettiest redhead he’d seen in quite a while. Since he was surrounded by glamour every day, that was saying something.
Maybe part of Kate’s appeal was that she wasn’t in the business. She wasn’t trying to parlay her beauty into a starring role, so she could afford to be more casual about her traffic-stopping looks. Or maybe he’d been swept away by the animation on her face and she wasn’t all that gorgeous.
Opening his eyes a fraction, he studied her again. Yeah, she was one-hundred-ten-percent babe. Probably used sunscreen to protect that flawless complexion, especially if she made a habit of driving with the top down. These days he couldn’t tell if a woman’s hair color was real, but in this case he’d guess that it was. She’d adopted the short, breezy style that was so popular, and she had just enough curl to turn those locks into tongues of flame whipped by the wind.
A white knit T-shirt, cropped at the waist, fit like a second skin. Hugh happened to love that look for obvious girl-watching reasons. Her hip-hugger jeans showed off a slice of midriff that made his mouth water. She wore open-toed mules. He couldn’t see them now that her feet were tucked under the dash, but he remembered that her toenails matched her fingernails—both painted a wicked shade of red.
Five gold bracelets jingled on her right arm whenever she turned the wheel, and her hoop earrings were gold, too. She wore several rings, but her left ring finger was conspicuously bare. Good. Soon he’d find out whether or not she was in a relationship. If not, this could be one fine weekend. He closed his eyes again.
Usually he could sleep anywhere, but her sexy perfume kept him on the edge of wakefulness. She hadn’t mentioned Harry. He wondered if sending Kate to the airport had been Harry’s doing. Hugh had left a quick voice mail for Harry right before takeoff, not sure when his brother planned to leave Chicago.
Maybe Harry had picked up the voice mail and relayed Hugh’s arrival time to the Coopers. He might even have suggested Kate for the pickup. Harry knew Hugh’s weakness for green-eyed redheads. So did Stuart, for that matter. They could easily have cooked this up together as a fun surprise.
Hugh thought Harry was supposed to get in today, too, but he could easily have been delayed. That happened a lot with him, because women never seemed to have their babies when they were supposed to.
Hugh understood that kind of topsy-turvy life. If the James Cameron wanna-be had decided the sequence wasn’t good enough, Hugh would have been back in the water tonight getting wrinkled up like a prune again.
Instead he might be able to spend time with Kate Cooper, twin sister of the bride. He sure could use an in-room massage, though, and the inn might not offer that kind of service. He’d seriously overtaxed his muscles retrieving those folks from the boat, and he’d had no time to stretch and recover before heading to the airport. Five hours on a plane had left him stiff and sore.
That could cramp his style, and he wanted to be in top shape, just in case Kate happened to be available and willing to have fun this weekend. If Kim was even half as foxy as Kate, Stuart had done himself proud. Hugh was happy for him, if that’s what Stuart wanted.
Personally, Hugh thought getting married was just asking for trouble. He’d once heard that creating a family meant providing hostages to fate. He couldn’t agree more, and he didn’t want to give fate that kind of power.
Worrying about a wife would be scary enough, but if he ever had kids, somebody might as well shoot him and get it over with. He’d be a mass of nerves if he ever had kids, considering all the dangers they faced these days.
No, he preferred staying free of those kinds of entanglements. Besides, he had a risky job, and he didn’t think a wife and kids should have to live with the knowledge that he might not come home someday.
But the risk was all-important for him. For a few seconds after finishing a stunt, he felt invincible, and the addictive nature of that feeling kept him coming back for more and taking even greater chances. Because of that he was in demand. He’d done a few jobs others had refused.
That didn’t mean he was foolhardy. He kept in shape, and he always expected to come through unscathed. But accidents happened. Timing wasn’t always perfect. Everyone connected to a picture tried to be careful, but they all knew that the danger couldn’t be eliminated. If it could, they’d let the stars perform the stunts themselves.
All in all, he loved his life. It was a glamorous world filled with excitement and beautiful women. Many of them sought the same brief, thrilling affairs that suited his lifestyle and personality. He wasn’t sure about the rules back here in Rhode Island, but he meant to find out. He was free at the moment. If luck was with him, Kate might be, too.
2
KATE TURNED INTO THE parking area adjacent to Townsend House, the renovated Colonial inn that had opened a bare two weeks ago. Eagle-eyed Kim had spotted it when she and Kate were searching frantically for accommodations for the out-of-towners attending the wedding. By June most places were booked, but this place was not only available, it offered them grand opening discounts.
The wedding itself had been put together inside of a month, a speed that had left even Kate breathless. A few tongues had wagged, saying that anyone who got engaged in May and married in June must have a reason, nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Kate thought Stuart and Kim had the best reason of all for a speedy ceremony. They were crazy about each other and couldn’t wait to make it official. Such reckless abandon was unusual for Kim, but it was exactly the kind of drama Kate loved.
Townsend House had started life as an inn back in 1702, and evidence existed that Benjamin Franklin had slept there. Now the building had been returned to its original grandeur, and its narrow clapboard siding gleamed with fresh white paint. Wedgwood blue shutters and window boxes filled with pansies satisfied both Kim’s and Kate’s finely tuned aesthetic sense. Rooms on the front of the house faced the harbor, while rooms on the back looked out on a flourishing rose garden and the luxurious honeymoon cottage.
Stuart and Kim weren’t staying there after the wedding, however, not when such a gaggle of wedding guests would still be in the main house. Kate could understand the need for more privacy, but after touring the honeymoon cottage with Kim, she wondered if the newlyweds would find anything quite as gorgeous.
And speaking of gorgeous, Kate glanced over to check on her passenger. Still in dreamland. She shut off the motor and leaned toward him. He’d somehow managed to slouch down deeper into the seat, although he didn’t look particularly comfortable. The fact that he’d fallen asleep squashed into the car testified to his exhaustion.
As a photographer she appreciated the classic structure of his high cheekbones, straight nose and firm jaw. As a woman she was drawn to his thick, dark lashes and sensuous mouth. She could have a field day with her camera, but taking pictures wasn’t all she thought about when she looked at this man.
A sea breeze ruffled his hair and she noticed an angry red scratch on his forehead close to the hairline. No doubt that had happened last night during the rescue. He needed to put disinfectant on it. He might have other untended injuries, too. She would ask about that and make sure he took care of himself. Men like this often didn’t bother about their own welfare. They were too self-sacrificing.
She needed to get him out of the car. Then she’d make sure he had something to eat, and after that she should probably leave him alone to sleep. Selfishly, she didn’t want to do that. She wanted to hear more about his adventures. She had him to herself now, but tomorrow the dynamics would change and he’d belong to everyone.
“We’re here,” she said softly.
He opened his eyes. At first he seemed disoriented, but as the drowsiness cleared from those blue eyes, they took on a lazy, sexual warmth that curled her toes. With a soft groan, her superhero eased upright and unfastened his seat belt.
“Take it slow.” Once again Kate wished she’d brought a bigger car. “You may be a little stiff from the ride.”
“No problem,” he said. “I’ve had sore muscles before.” Nevertheless he grimaced in pain as he climbed out of the car. “Nothing a couple of shots of bourbon won’t cure.” His jaw tightened as he stood upright.
Kate popped the trunk open and exited her side. Then she couldn’t help pausing to watch him take off his jacket and gingerly roll his broad shoulders. He had an amazingly toned body for someone who spent his days in the office or at the hospital. But now that his jacket was off she noticed a purple bruise on his left biceps and a long scratch on his right forearm.
Then she mentally smacked her forehead. She shouldn’t be standing here admiring his body when he was in pain from his ordeal. “Let’s get you checked in.” She lifted her purse strap over her head and secured it across her chest. “I’m so glad you have tonight to recuperate before you get into the whole wedding deal.” Then she opened the trunk and reached for his garment bag.
“Oh, no, you don’t.” He nudged her gently aside and pulled the garment bag out of the trunk. “I can certainly carry my own luggage.”
“I’m sure you can. I just think you need to relax.” The brush of his body had set off quite a reaction within her. She hadn’t responded to a man with this much enthusiasm since…never.
He smiled at her as he shouldered the bag. “I will.” Then he glanced at the other small suitcase. “Are you taking this in?”
“Eventually. I’ll have them store it for me until tomorrow. No need to mess with it now, though. I can come back and get it later.” She started to close the trunk.
He put a hand on the trunk lid, hold
ing it open. “Ah, let’s take it now.” He hefted the small suitcase. “For that matter, you can leave it in my room if you want.”
She wasn’t about to argue with an idea that would throw her into closer contact with him. “That would be great, if you don’t mind.” She led the way along a sidewalk leading to the inn’s front door. Traffic on the street was heavy with people starting to search out a place to have dinner. She’d need to make sure he had a decent meal tonight.
Still, she didn’t want to embarrass him by hovering. Naturally he would minimize the toll his heroics had taken on him, but a guy like him deserved lots of TLC. “Those six people from the sailboat, are they all okay?” she asked.
Tucking his jacket through the straps of his garmet bag, he walked beside her up to the front door, which had been painted a glossy black and accented with brass hinges, knob and knocker. “They were water-logged and chilled, but yeah, I think they’re fine. I worried about little Dustin, because he’s only eight. He’s a trouper though. Just grinned and drank his hot chocolate afterward.”
“Amazing.” To think that one of the people he’d rescued had been a child. Kate could only imagine how grateful the parents must be.
She opened the door into a hallway that was painted the same Wedgwood blue as the outside shutters, while the surrounding woodwork had been done in creamy white. The buffed oak flooring glowed in the soft light. Immediately to her left, a gilded oval mirror reflected a mixed bouquet of flowers sitting on an antique table that hugged the wall. Thank goodness she and Kim had been able to reserve rooms in such a classy place, fitting accommodations for a hero like Harry.
“But enough about that.” He glanced around in obvious appreciation. “This is great. I want to forget about that whole ordeal and enjoy this weekend.”
“All right. Check-in is over here.” She stepped through a door on their right into a small sitting room. So he didn’t want to discuss his rescue anymore, she thought as she rang the little brass bell that would bring someone to take care of the paperwork. Well, then she wouldn’t mention the subject again. She could hardly blame him if he didn’t want to relive such a nightmare.
Double Exposure Page 2