Summer Reads Box Set: Volume 1

by Freethy, Barbara

  His eyes flew open, and he sat up. "Why would you think that?" he asked, genuinely surprised at her conclusion.

  "You both show up here unexpectedly. You want information about the race. You're going to sail with my father. It all adds up."

  "That adds up? How far did you go in math?”

  "You didn't answer my question."

  "No, I'm not connected to K.C." He was glad he could tell the truth.

  "Good." She put her arms around her knees and stared out at the water. "What do you want to do now?"

  "Believe me, you don't want to know the answer to that question."

  She turned her head to look at him, her gaze drifting down to his mouth. "I really want to kiss you again.”

  "Then come here," he said softly.

  "I can't. I seem to go up in smoke every time you touch me."

  "It's one of your most appealing qualities."

  She scrambled to her feet. "I need to walk."

  "Walk? You need to walk? Now?"

  "Exercise would be good.”

  "I can think of a more interesting form of exercise than walking."

  "Come with me," she said. "There's a cave on the other side of those rocks. I'll show it to you."

  "Now you're talking." He held out his hand. "Help me up."

  A smile curved her lips. "Do you think I'm going to fall for that?"

  "Please."

  "Fine."

  She slipped her hand into his, and, for a moment, he was tempted to pull her back down on the sand and kiss her senseless. But two young children chose that moment to run by him, kicking up sand with their bare feet, and he knew this wasn't the time nor the place.

  Once on his feet, he didn't let go of her hand, and, after a momentary resistance, she relaxed, and they walked along the water's edge together. Tyler had never been so aware of the details of his existence than he was at this moment with Kate. All of his senses were engaged. The sand was cool beneath his bare feet, the sun was warm on his head and the woman beside him was soft, feminine, desirable—and he was as hard as a rock. He needed to relax, too, he told himself, but the tension wouldn't go away. All he could think about was how easy it would be to lean over and kiss her again. He picked up the pace.

  "Hey, what's the hurry?" Kate asked as she jogged to keep up with him.

  "I'll race you to the cave."

  "You don't know where it is," she called after him, but he didn't care. He needed to run along the shoreline. He needed to burn off the sexual energy that was making him crazy.

  He heard her footsteps behind him, then felt her draw alongside. Damn, she was fast. She flung him a smile and passed him by.

  "What the hell was that?" he asked breathlessly when he caught up to her.

  "That was a sprint. I beat you."

  "I let you win."

  "Liar."

  He could think of only one way to shut her up. He tackled her. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't coordinated, but it was effective. Because her soft, squirming body was now under his, exactly where he wanted it.

  "Tyler, I can't breathe," she gasped.

  "I'll have to give you mouth-to-mouth," he said, moving his weight off of her at the same time his mouth came down on hers.

  So much for burning off the tension. It was back with a vengeance, and now he was acutely aware of her legs and her thighs and her hips moving beneath his. He wanted to get closer. He wanted to touch her bare skin. He wanted—

  "Oh, my God!" he yelled as a blast of cold water hit his legs. He rolled to the side abruptly, realizing his pants were now soaking wet.

  Kate laughed. "That's what we call a rogue wave.”

  "That's what I call bad timing."

  "Better than a cold shower."

  "You can say that again." The water had definitely cooled off a very important part of his body.

  Kate got to her feet. "We'll dry off as we walk. The cave is just up ahead."

  He followed her down the beach, now very much aware of how cold and wet he was. But Kate didn't seem bothered at all—probably due to all those years of living on a boat. The cold and wet were second nature to her. A moment later they rounded a curve, and he followed her pointed finger to a cave set into the rocks.

  "There it is," she said. "When the tide comes all the way in, it fills completely with water. My mother used to warn me over and over again not to get caught here."

  "Did you listen to her warnings?"

  "Absolutely. I'm the cautious one, remember?" She walked over to the rocks. "It's still here." She traced the carving of two names.

  "Kate and Jeremy," he murmured. "Hard to compete with that."

  She looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

  "Jeremy is still very much a presence in your life. You go to his grave. You can see your names carved into rocks, probably all over this island. How can anyone compete with that?”

  "Do you want to?"

  He should say no. His life wasn't going to take place on this island, that was for sure. Once he found Amelia's mother, he'd be gone. Kate would be just a memory. He'd probably forget her in a week. And she'd forget him, too. It wouldn't be like their names would be carved into a rock anywhere.

  "Never mind," she said quickly. "I don't know why I asked you that. Anyway, this is the only place that we carved our names." She walked farther down the rocks. "There are lots of other names, as you can see."

  "Sean and Ashley, Mark and Connie, Paul and Rita," he murmured. "I guess this was kind of lover's lane, huh?"

  "It was a good place to get a kiss. And once you'd gotten one, you carved your name into the rock." She put her hand up as he started to speak. "But we're not going to do that. That kind of permanence probably terrifies you. Let's go back to our picnic. I've worked up another appetite."

  So had he, but it wasn't for food. And it wasn't even for a kiss. He cast a somewhat wistful look at the names and hearts scratched into the rocks next to him. For some damn stupid reason, he wanted to put his name there, too. His name right next to Kate's. Something that would last forever.

  * * *

  "That was fun," Kate said, as Tyler took her bike and handed it back to the manager of Bill's Bicycles. "I can't remember when I've spent such a lazy Monday. I feel guilty."

  "It's good to play hooky once in a while."

  "But now it's back to reality. Unless...”

  "Yes?" he asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

  "The world's best ice cream parlor is just down the street."

  "You can't possibly still be hungry."

  "You've found out my biggest secret. I'm a pig."

  He laughed. "I'd love some ice cream from the world's best ice cream parlor. Although I think that might be an exaggeration."

  "Wait until you taste it. You'll see I'm right." She didn't resist when he took her hand. In fact, she liked it. She liked it all, the kissing, the touching, the laughing. She hadn't had such a good time in years. And, with Tyler, she felt free to be herself. It was nice to be with a man who didn't know everything about her. They didn't have a history, only a present, and the future wasn't important. Tyler would eventually leave, and she would stay. But today they were together.

  Maybe that was enough. Maybe she could stop planning, worrying, analyzing for five seconds and just let it all be. It had been working pretty well so far, so well she didn't want it to end. She didn't really care if she had ice cream or not; she just wanted more time with Tyler. Now that he'd agreed to drop the article, she could relax even more. The fact that he'd made that agreement niggled a bit at her brain. It didn't seem entirely logical or probable that a man who had such determined purpose a few days earlier could so quickly change his mind, but she was reluctant to bring the subject back up.

  They walked down the street, stopping at the corner as the light in front of the ferry terminal turned red.

  "Doesn't it bother you that you can only get off this island at certain times of the day?" Tyler asked.

  "Not at all."
/>   "I live ten minutes from an airport that can get me to any country in the world about as fast as I can buy a ticket and board a plane."

  "And you find that comforting?"

  "I guess I do," he admitted. "I used to feel trapped as a kid. I couldn't get away from my father, couldn't get back to my mother. I spent a lot of time looking desperately at exit signs. Old habits die hard."

  "You really had a terrible childhood, didn't you?" She couldn't imagine what he'd gone through.

  "Not completely. My father didn't abuse me. He just wanted me with him in the most selfish way possible." He cleared his throat. "But we don't need to talk about him. Hey, isn't that Caroline?"

  She followed his gaze to where the ferry was loading. Her sister was with Mike Stanaway. Kate tensed, not liking the way Mike had his hand on Caroline's arm. "What is she doing with him?" Worry gripped her as she watched them board the ferry. "I don't like the look of that. We need to stop her."

  "What?"

  Kate began walking rapidly down the street, breaking into a run when she realized that the ferry had finished loading and would no doubt pull away any second. Sure enough, it was fifteen feet into the harbor by the time she arrived at the dock. "Damn."

  Tyler caught up with her a second later. "What were you going to do, Kate? Pull Caroline off the boat? Isn't she a grown woman? Aren't you being a little overprotective?"

  She turned to face him. "Caroline has dark purple bruises all over her arm. I saw them earlier today. She said she banged her arm, but I think she was lying. Rumor has it that Mike's wife left him because of abuse. I'm afraid he might have hurt Caroline."

  "Did you ask her about it?"

  "She said he didn't do it."

  "Maybe you should believe her."

  She ignored that. He didn't know Caroline as well as she did. He didn't know how many lies Caroline had told in the past.

  She pulled out her cell phone and called Caroline, hoping she had her phone with her.

  "Hello?" Caroline said a moment later.

  "It's Kate. I just saw you get on the ferry with Mike."

  "Are you spying on me?"

  Kate ignored the outrage in her sister's voice. "Where are you going?"

  "None of your business, Kate. I'm hanging up now.”

  "When will you be back?"

  "When I feel like it."

  "But—" Kate's words were met with a click. "She hung up on me."

  "I can't say I'm surprised. Are you going to call her back?"

  "She'll probably just hang up again. If I tell Caroline not to jump, the first thing she wants to do is jump. I should know that by now." Kate stared after the rapidly disappearing ferry. "I just hope she'll be all right."

  "I saw them together yesterday," Tyler said. "They were arguing, but he backed off when I approached them."

  "Why didn't you tell me?"

  "Because Caroline wasn't upset, Kate. She wasn't scared. She didn't act like she was in trouble."

  "Maybe she didn't want you to know." She frowned, hating feeling so out of control. Caroline might be an adult, but she was still her baby sister. "I wish they hadn't left the island. I'd feel better if she was within shouting distance."

  "She has her cell phone. She can call you if she needs help."

  Kate let out a sigh. "I guess there's nothing more to do."

  "Except have some ice cream."

  "Except that. Then I really have to get to work. What are you going to do with the rest of the day?"

  "I'll probably wander down to the marina, talk to some sailors, figure out a new angle for my story. Unless you have another idea, one that might involve your house, your bedroom, maybe some candles?"

  "I don't think so," she said with a smile, knowing he was only teasing. And she was glad that he wasn't serious, because if he had asked her seriously... In fact, if he'd kissed her instead of asking, they might be on the way to her house right now. Talk about acting crazy; apparently Caroline wasn't the only one making foolish decisions right now.

  "Well, tomorrow is another day." Tyler put his arm around her shoulders. "You never know what the future will bring."

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tuesday was far too quiet, Kate thought, as she checked her watch for the sixth time in an hour. It was almost five thirty, and she hadn't heard from anyone—not Caroline, not Ashley, not Duncan, and not even Tyler, who had been her constant shadow the last few days. She wondered if he'd gone sailing with her father. Tyler would love being on the water. She knew that, even if he didn't. The wind rushing, the waves rolling, the boat flying. He'd be hooked. He'd never again be able to say he wasn't a boat person. She almost regretted that fact. It had been nice to know someone different, someone who didn't eat, sleep and breathe sailing.

  "I'm leaving," Theresa said, stopping in front of the counter with purse in hand. "I know it's early, but everyone is down at the square for the annual clam chowder cook-off."

  "It's fine." Kate smiled at her assistant. "You must be eager to see how well you'll do against your mother-in-law's clam chowder."

  "I doubt I'll beat her this year, but one of these days I will. She still doesn't think I cook as well as she does."

  "She's wrong. You're a terrific cook."

  "But not good enough for her little boy. Just wait till you get married, Kate. Pray for a good mother-in-law, preferably a non-cook, non-homemaker type, who doesn't criticize or interfere. And make sure you also pick a husband who stands up for you and doesn't become Mommy's little boy as soon as she steps into the room."

  "Are we talking about me or you?"

  Kate gave her a compassionate smile. Theresa's battles with her mother-in-law were nothing new.

  "By the way," Theresa continued. "I saw the Moon Dancer when I had lunch at the marina today. She's a beauty. Everyone in town is talking about the boat and your family, wondering how you all feel about it.”

  Kate hated to hear that, but she'd expected as much. It was one of the reasons why she'd brought a turkey sandwich from home and had her lunch in the back room instead of going into town. "It will all be over on Saturday. I just keep telling myself that."

  "Why don't you put out the closed sign and come have some clam chowder with me? We haven't had a customer in more than an hour."

  "I'll be down in a bit."

  The door shut behind Theresa, and the silence was suddenly deafening. Her cozy store of fantasy felt empty and lonely. Kate sat down at the desk in front of her computer. She clicked on her inventory program first, checking on upcoming releases and pre-orders. She supposed she could have gone through all the titles, but she just didn't feel like it at the moment. In fact, she hadn't felt like working all day. Switching from inventory to the Internet, she pulled up one of her favorite gardening sites and read through the headlines for the latest articles involving introducing toads into your garden, getting rid of unwanted pests, and growing the best vegetables. The toad idea was a new one on her. She was just getting into the article when the door opened.

  Her heart jumped into her throat when she saw Tyler. She'd known he would come. In reality, she'd been waiting all day for him. And here he was. But she wouldn't tell him that. She forced herself to stand up slowly and casually, as if she had her mind on other things, as if she hadn't expected him.

  "Hi," Tyler said. His voice was low, intimate, as was the look he gave her.

  She cleared her throat. "I thought you were out on the water today," she said. She was grateful to have the counter between them. It provided a much needed barrier, as she fought the urge to throw herself in his arms and kiss him until she forgot why getting involved with him was not a good idea.

  "Your father begged off," Tyler said. "Apparently he's busy interviewing potential crew members. He said Thursday would work better."

  "I wouldn't set my heart on it," she told him. "My father isn't known for keeping his promises."

  "So what have you been doing all day?"

  "Working. What about you? Have you
found a new angle for your article?"

  "No. Are you sure you won't reconsider? Don't you trust me enough yet to tell me your story? I'm not a bad guy. I won't crucify you."

  It wouldn't be up to him, she could have answered. Telling her story would affect far too many lives, and at this point there was nothing to be gained and everything to be lost. She was moving forward with her life. She was making positive changes. Discussing the past with Tyler would not be in any way productive.

  "I should introduce you to Mitchell Haley. He competed in the Whitbread ten years ago. I'm sure he has a lot of stories to tell. He actually lives in Seattle, but he usually comes to Castleton for race week. If he's here, I'm sure my father will know where to find him. They're old friends."

  "I'll keep that in mind." He took a step closer, resting his arms on the counter between them. "You look good."

  "I—uh, thanks." She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, feeling distinctly uncomfortable with his intimate perusal. She was suddenly very aware of how empty the store was.

  "Kate," he said in a husky voice.

  "What?" She looked into his eyes and saw them darken with desire. "Tyler. We can't start that all over again."

  "Why not?"

  She couldn't think of an answer. And it didn't seem like she really needed one. Words were passing back and forth between them, and yet not a one was spoken aloud.

  "I was sent here to get you," Tyler said, surprising her.

  "By whom?"

  "Caroline. She was setting up a clam chowder booth down by the marina."

  "Oh." Her baby sister's name brought her back to reality. "I can't believe she sent you. She's been avoiding my calls all day."

  "Maybe sent wasn't the right word."

  "I didn't think so. What did she say, exactly?"

  "That you should stay out of her business or she won't tell you which of the clam chowders Mrs. Rayburn made. Whatever that means."

  "Mrs. Rayburn sent ten people to the clinic last year for using bad clams."

  He nodded. "Your sister doesn't pull her punches.”