by Cat Schield
“Maybe once.” She spun away from him, gliding toward the open glass doors that led to the semi-circular couch off the back of the boat. “I’m not sure I believe that anymore.”
Asher trailed after her. “What’s changing your mind? Am I wearing you down with my incessant claims of innocence?”
Suddenly he saw the clever trap he’d made for himself. Although it was in his best interest to convince her that he hadn’t stolen the money, as soon as he stopped being a suspect, she’d be off chasing new leads. And he wasn’t ready to let her walk out of his life just yet.
“Never mind.” She rubbed her temple. “I must be tired. I don’t know what I’m saying anymore.” Still, she gave him a long searching look before speaking again. “Should we be going?”
“Don’t you want a tour of the yacht first?”
“It’s a boat. I’m sure I can find my way around if I need to.”
“There’s two state rooms,” he narrated as if she hadn’t already shut him down. “You can have your pick, although I have to say the views from the one in the stern are much better.”
She looked surprised, and then worried. “This is a day trip. Out and back. We’re not staying here overnight.”
“I thought it’d be fun.” His smile was all innocence. “For old times’ sake.”
Bright color burned in her cheeks at his words even as outrage made her eyes snap in irritation. Her spine stiffened as she seemed to gather breath to deliver whatever scathing rebuttal she hoped would shut him down. His remark hadn’t been the least bit suggestive, but she certainly took it that way. Interesting. Obviously she was remembering how things had been between them all those years before.
“Is there a problem?” He continued before she could argue. “I mean we’re living in close quarters at the ranch. It’s not different if you’re alone with me here, is it?”
“Of course not,” she shot back. “I just thought we’d head to the festival site and then go back to Royal. I wasn’t planning on making a night of it.”
“It was a long drive. Let’s just spend the night and head back tomorrow.”
“I didn’t pack for an overnight stay,” she reminded him.
“Not to worry, Gina always keeps an assortment of clothes on board. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if you borrowed something.”
“I guess we can spend the night.” She gave in with a grimace, looking less sure of herself by the minute.
“Great.” Asher didn’t put too much energy into his voice, not wanting her to realize how delighted he was to have won this standoff. “I’ll start the engine and then cast off the lines.”
“I’ve got it.”
Five years earlier they’d spent a lot of time together on the previous yacht and she was familiar with the routine. Still, Asher was surprised when she headed for the mooring lines and began removing each one from the cleats. He’d been out on a variety of boats with a lot of women, but none of them lifted a finger to help. They believed their contribution was to parade around in bikinis, providing eye candy. While he wasn’t opposed to beautiful, scantily clad women, he’d always appreciated Lani’s helpfulness. Just another way she stood out in his mind.
To his surprise, she came up to the bridge as he reversed the yacht out of the slip. One level above the lounge, the fly bridge came equipped with top-of-the-line electronics and offered impressive views. Asher registered disappointment as Lani settled into the spacious seating area to his left. Seriously, what had he expected? She wasn’t about to come snuggle beside him the way she used to back in the day. Forcibly tamping down his emotions, he navigated out of the marina and pointed the sixty-foot yacht into the bay.
The distance from the marina to the festival site on Appaloosa Island was a quick fifteen-minute trip. They’d chosen to locate the event on the undeveloped side of the island, far from the resort where Asher and Lani had met for the first time and away from the expensive homes that lined the waterfront.
Despite his initial excitement over the festival, after the preliminary idea generation and brainstorming sessions, he’d left the organizing to others and focused on the vendors. He’d been involved in several charity events during his years of playing polo and endorsements were a big part of that. Plus, his family had rejected many of the suggestions he’d made about the location and vision for the festival, leaving him feeling less and less connected to the nuts-and-bolts aspect of organizing the event. When he’d stopped attending board meetings, no doubt his family had chalked it up to yet another time that Asher failed to follow through on something. But he had a hard time sticking with anything when his heart wasn’t in it.
As the boat neared the festival grounds, his gaze swept over the ruin of what had been the hopes and dreams of so many. His stomach gave a sickening wrench. No wonder everyone hated him.
Five
As the boat idled past the festival site’s devastation, Lani kept her attention fixed on Asher’s face. Convinced she’d glimpse something that would establish he’d been guilty all along, her righteous triumph faded as his shock and horror never wavered. The torment in his eyes as he gazed over buildings wrecked by the tornado made her throat tighten.
The dock had been spared, but Asher made no attempt to head that way. Instead he moved parallel to shore and pushed a button on the control panel. A muffled thunk reached her ears and then the floor beneath her feet began to vibrate as the anchor chain emptied from the hold.
“What are you doing?” she asked, shivering at the grim set of his expression.
“Anchoring,” came his clipped answer.
When they’d first met, she’d viewed Asher as a charming libertine, engaged in an unending pursuit of entertainment. And watching him now as he skillfully maneuvered the giant yacht, she was reminded of how in the early days of getting to know him, his easy confidence with everything he did had won her over. She was a woman whose self-reliance had been encouraged by her parents. And was used to doing things for herself. So, sitting back and relying on someone else for a change had been a unique and thrilling experience and one she still struggled with.
“There’s no way we can tie up to that dock.” His attention appeared fixed on the process of making sure the anchor latched onto the floor of the bay, but a frown appeared as he shot glances toward the island. “Even if I trusted that the storm hadn’t damaged the dock, it wasn’t built for boats this size. What happened to the one that could accommodate twenty or more yachts?”
The answer was so obvious that Lani just stared at Asher in bemusement. She couldn’t process how genuinely baffled he looked. Her instincts told her he was utterly mystified, but how was that possible? He would’ve been involved with the festival organization from the start. Didn’t he know what had been going on here?
“Or did they manage to build it and it was destroyed by the tornado?” He continued to voice his troubled thoughts out loud.
At moments like these, moments like when he lavished his attention on his string of polo horses, dedicating himself to their health and welfare, she questioned if he was as irresponsible as he seemed.
“As far as I know, this was the only dock that was ever built,” Lani said, her voice gentler than she’d meant it to be.
Once he seemed satisfied that the anchor was secure, he shut off the motor and remained where he was, staring at the shore. “So many people were counting on the festival,” he murmured. “We’d promised to fund Valencia Donovan’s horse rescue charity with a portion of the proceeds from the festival ticket sales. She was going to expand her property and start an equine therapy program. And I know Rafe Cortez-Williams took out a second mortgage on his restaurant to invest in the festival.” He screwed his eyes shut and rubbed his face. “With all the losses they’re facing, it’s selfish of me to think only about my problems. But someone set me up. Someone close to me. I feel so betrayed.” The anguish in his voice tore at
her.
“I’m sorry this is happening to you,” she said, the words coming before she’d considered them.
Asher’s dismay was getting to her. And that couldn’t be allowed to happen. Feeling sorry for him was the wrong way to go. This was his fault, after all. He caused this problem when he stole the money. Which meant he didn’t deserve her sympathy or support. He’d done a terrible thing and ruined countless lives.
Yet if this were true, why did she keep falling for his denials? If she was so convinced of his guilt, shouldn’t she be able to see right through his excuses? Granted, it had been ages since she’d last seen him, but why would he have done something so obvious? He had to know he was going to get caught. Asher might be reckless, but he wasn’t an idiot. What was his endgame? She recalled his reaction when she told him about the house in the Maldives. He’d genuinely looked clueless as to where that was.
“Come on.”
“How are we going to get over there?” She looked at the thirty or so feet of open water between the boat and the dock.
“We could swim.”
“I don’t have a suit.”
“I’m sure one of Gina’s bikinis would fit you.”
His gaze drifted down her body, a slow, lazy leer that made her skin pebble at the thought of his hands trailing over her flesh. Despite the afternoon’s humidity, she shivered. It wasn’t fair that the man could turn her on with a mere look. But the heat moving into her cheeks wasn’t fired by irritation. It kindled as she recalled other afternoons when they’d swum together off these waters while golden sunlight sparkled on the blue surface. And she’d never forget that one night when they’d gone skinny-dipping, clad in nothing but moonlight. Asher had licked the cool salty water droplets off her naked breasts as he’d dipped his fingers into the slippery heat between her legs. The memory of that encounter hit her like a freight train and Lani’s hands began to shake.
Coming here had been a bad idea. She’d brought him to the island to face reality. To show him the damage he’d caused. Instead, he’d reacted in a way that made him seem more victim than villain. She’d lost control of the situation and the only person learning a lesson here was her.
He was dangerous. To the people around him who he’d stolen from, and to her own peace of mind. She’d spent years telling herself that she’d been a fool to be taken in by Asher Edmond. Time and distance had allowed her to believe that she’d never be misled by him again. Yet here she was lost in the past, remembering only the good times and doubting what she knew to be true. That Asher had a knack for telling people what they wanted to hear and making them believe he was a better man than he actually was. Or was that just her wounded heart talking?
“Isn’t there some sort of a dinghy we can take over to the island? I don’t feel like swimming.”
Asher regarded her silently for a moment. The lush sweep of his lashes shadowed his brown eyes, making his expression hard to read. Lani tried not to think about how much she loved that soft fringe tickling her skin or how the raspy glide of his stubble over the sensitive area where her shoulder and neck connected had driven her mad with desire. She’d been so weak back then, so susceptible to every sensation Asher visited upon her inexperienced body. Was it any wonder she’d fallen head over heels for him when he given her such pleasure? When every grace of his fingertips or the heat of his gaze could set off a maelstrom of unquenchable yearning.
“The dinghy it is,” he said, his matter-of-fact tone at odds with the questing weight of his gaze.
When he turned away toward the ladder that descended from the fly deck to the main level, Lani sagged. Only as he disappeared below did she realize she’d been using all her strength to withstand the pull of longing he evoked.
Asher used a crane mounted on the bow to lower the dinghy into the water. As he worked, the wind caught the edges of his unbuttoned shirt and spread it wide. Lani ogled his lean, muscular torso, all too aware that the familiar surroundings were triggering long-buried emotions. Fighting to quell her rioting hormones, she joined Asher at the back of the boat where a swim platform extended off the stern. He’d maneuvered the small inflatable there and tied it to the structure.
“Give me your hand,” he said. “The dinghy is a little unsteady.”
She waved him off. “I’ve got this.”
“You know,” he began, his tone tight and impatient, “you could let me take care of you.”
To her dismay, Lani’s skin flushed. The first time they’d made love Asher had calmed her nerves by whispering, Let me care of you. And then he proceeded to do just that. She’d had a half-dozen orgasms that night, mind-blowing explosions of pleasure that he’d given her. Afterward, she’d been grateful to have been initiated into the physical act of love with that level of expertise. Unfortunately starting off with such an outstanding lover had its downside. Since then, numerous disappointing sexual experiences had followed with men who were not Asher.
Lani stiffened her spine, refusing to let him get to her again. How could she claim to be a professional if spending two days with her ex-lover turned her into a pile of needy mush?
Determined to avoid touching him again and risk revisiting the longing for still more physical contact, Lani ignored Asher’s hand, choosing to board the dinghy unassisted. What began as an inelegant clamber onto the inflatable’s unstable surface ended in a scene out of a rom-com when the wobbly craft shifted as she stood with one foot in it and one on the swim platform. The next thing Lani knew, she was off balance and pitching sideways. Her shoulder hit the edge of the structure. Pain shot through her as cold water closed over her head. Shock held her in its grasp for several immobilizing seconds before the need for air awakened in her lungs. Lani swept her arms out and down, wincing as the movement sent a sharp twinge through her bruised shoulder.
She surfaced, gasping and splashing, only to be hauled unceremoniously out of the water by big strong hands. Her butt settled onto the swim platform with a thump. She blinked water from her eyes and became aware that Asher cupped her head with one hand while the fingers of his other whisked drops from her cheeks.
“Are you okay?” His deep voice held an unexpected hint of panic that warmed her faster than the hot August sun.
The urge to cry rose up in her so fast that she gasped in dismay. She hated that Asher’s concern for her made her feel weak and fragile. She was a street-smart private investigator, prepared for any and all emergencies. Not some silly female who needed a man to take care of her. Yet damned if she didn’t appreciate being rescued by Asher. Even if it was his fault in the first place that she’d fallen in.
Scowling, she pushed Asher’s hands away. “Leave me alone. I’m fine.”
He opened his mouth as if to argue, but then the corners of his eyes crinkled as mirth replaced worry. He pressed his lips together as his shoulders began to shake with suppressed laughter. Lani glared at him in rapidly escalating indignation as she sat in her sopping wet clothes, overcome by embarrassment.
“It isn’t funny,” she snapped, shoving her palm into his shoulder, taking her discomfort out on him. “And it was all your fault that I fell in.”
“Not true. If you’d let me help you into the boat, none of this would’ve happened.” His amusement dimmed. Beneath bold dark eyebrows, his gaze became somber and intense. “Too bad you’re always so determined to reject assistance.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing that I rely on myself.”
“It’s not a bad thing to rely on yourself, but when you can’t let yourself count on anyone else, then it stops being something positive.”
Stung, she jumped on offense. “I don’t think you’re the best person to give advice on how I should act.”
His face wore a mask of bland indifference. “You’re probably right.” He held out his hand. “Want to try again?”
“You go. I’m going to dry off.”
&nbs
p; With a brief shrug, he nimbly stepped into the dinghy and untied it. Lani huddled in her wet clothes and shivered, watching as Asher started the outboard and steered the inflatable toward the island.
* * *
Asher roamed the festival site for an hour, barely able to process how the whole damned thing had gone so wrong. Even without the tornado damage, the missing funds meant a lot of people had been ruined. If not for the storm, it wouldn’t have come out that no payment had been made to the insurance company that was supposed to protect them against such a tragedy. Yet even before the winds had ripped apart buildings and uprooted trees, the festival had been sabotaged. How could things have gotten so bad?
And who in the hell had set him up for stealing the money?
It had to be someone close to him, or someone actively involved in the festival organization. He just couldn’t imagine anyone he knew doing something so nefarious. Or who might have been opportunistic enough to embezzle. Obviously Lani was an expert at these sorts of investigations, but with her gaze focused directly on him, how hard would she look at anyone else?
In a grim mood, Asher returned to the boat. Lani was nowhere to be found so he headed into the lounge, poured himself two fingers of whiskey and shot back the alcohol. As the spirits seared his chest, warming his whole body, he closed his eyes and reviewed the day’s events.
Lani so clearly believed he was the villain. And frankly, after looking at everything that had been done and scrutinizing the financials, he was starting to see why everyone thought he’d stolen the money. Nor did his current situation inspire anyone to give him the benefit of the doubt. He was living at his father’s estate, working in a job that had been handed to him because of his connection to Rusty. He had little that he hadn’t been given. It didn’t cast him in the most flattering light. One thing was for sure, his current predicament was a major wake-up call. He’d given Rusty two years at The Edmond Organization. Time to make a new plan and dive into his future.