His thoughts turned back to Claire. She was definitely the wedding type. She had “wife and mother” written all over her. What she needed was some nice banker or another teacher. Someone who would share her love of all things domestic. Car pools, PTA, daffodils lined up along a white picket fence with a scruffy dog lying on the front porch. The works. She was built for it, and he never would be. She was everything he knew he didn’t want. So why was it that every time he saw her he found himself aching to touch her? What was it about her that made him want to take her into his arms and give her something really exciting to carry back to her boring little small town life? He suspected that an ever better question might be why he felt so damned certain that if he ever did take her to his bed, she wouldn’t be the only one carrying the memory around for a long, long time.
By the time evening rolled around Claire was well aware of just how mistaken she’d been to assume that her sunscreen would prevent her from burning. She had an obvious pink tint everywhere her swimsuit hadn’t covered and though it wasn’t particularly painful, it certainly was uncomfortable. It wasn’t all that difficult to decide that dinner would be better spent alone. Her tablemates hadn’t ever paid her any attention, but even they would be unlikely to overlook her condition. It was pretty much impossible to miss. So she ordered something to be brought to her room and ate alone. She spent the entire meal trying and failing to refrain from wondering exactly what Colin was doing that night. Had he missed her or did he even notice she wasn’t there? She’d watched him enough to know that he had no trouble finding female companionship. He had that charming nature that drew women like flies. Garret was far more flamboyant, but Claire realized that if he’d wanted to, Colin could easily have stolen all Garret’s thunder. Garret was attractive and obviously accustomed to being the center of attention. But he would never match Colin’s inherent magnetism.
She felt herself blush as she realized she wasn’t just thinking about his ability to be a charming conversationalist. Colin had the sort of charisma that inspired all sorts of erotic thoughts. From his head to his toes, he was a poster boy for pure sex appeal. Claire knew she wasn’t the only woman who’d noticed it. Cathy might give Garret most of her attention, but she hadn’t missed what Colin had to offer. She’d shown him more than a little interest in the first few days. She didn’t turn her focus to Garret until it became evident that Colin wasn’t going to return her attentions. Claire had wondered why Colin had rejected her. Cathy certainly appeared to be the kind of woman a man like Colin would want. She was attractive and flirtatious, fun and exciting. Claire was positive that Colin had noticed all those things. He seemed to notice everything. She’d even seen him giving Cathy the sort of interested look that left little doubt that he found her appealing as a potential bed partner. But that had only lasted for the first couple of days on board. By the third night, Colin was pretending Cathy wasn’t of any interest at all. He still smiled at her and talked to her, but there was no hint of sexual attraction. And Claire knew she wasn’t imagining it. She’d had a good fifteen years of experience watching the way men acted around a woman they wanted. They might all react differently, but there was no mistaking the interest in their eyes. Colin simply wasn’t interested in Cathy any longer.
Claire couldn’t help wondering if that might be because he’d already had her. Had they become lovers so quickly after meeting? She didn’t want to think so. She wanted Colin to be different than that. But the truth was, she didn’t really know Colin at all. He might be every bit the Casanova that Garret was, and Cathy might simply have been his first conquest on the cruise. Which meant there had been and would be more. So why did that thought make her feel so miserable?
Colin swore he wasn’t looking for Claire when he drug himself out of bed at six the next morning and headed up on deck. He’d been out late the night before, sharing drinks with Garret and a pair of dancers from the floorshow. They were the kind of women who had bra cups larger than their IQs. Basically, they were exactly what Garret tended to favor. Colin had played his part to the limit. He helped Garret encourage the women to put away copious amounts of liquor then dutifully participated in the public groping that Garret was too much of a pig to be disgusted by. The pair of women were well on their way to being drunk by the time Garret suggested they find some privacy. Every fiber of Colin’s being demanded that he find a way to stop Garret from taking his chosen partner back to his room for the night. She was too inebriated to think clearly about what she was consenting to. But there was no way for Colin to interfere without blowing the cover he was so meticulously working to build. So he followed Garret out of the club and resolutely watched the pair disappear in the general direction of Garret’s room. The moment they were out of sight, he escorted his “date” to her room and left her there. She was barely staying on her feet by the time he opened her door with the key she’d given him. Once they got inside she plastered herself to him, and he avoided having to do something abhorrent by suggesting they have another drink before getting down to business. He poured a couple of shots of tequila down her, then led her to the bed and helped her take off her clothes. She was passed out by the time he got her out of her bra. He spent a couple of minutes messing up the bed around her before flinging the covers over her and slipping out of her room.
He had no doubt that she’d wake up this morning with one bitch of a hangover and absolutely no memory of what had happened after they got to her room. She’d assume they’d had sex. She was, after all, naked and the bed was a mess. She’d figure he’d gotten what he wanted from her and bailed before she woke up. She’d make the obvious leap to thinking he was a bastard and probably never tell a soul what had happened. Or if she did complain to her friend, she’d only be saying things that would shore up the lie Colin was living. If, by some miracle, Garret ever ran into either woman and they bothered to speak to him, they’d both have nothing nice to say about Colin. It was exactly what he was hoping for.
CHAPTER FOUR
Colin paused as he stepped out onto the deck and lifted a hand to rub at his temple. He’d done enough drinking himself to leave him with a definite ache this morning. He could hold a hell of a lot of liquor, but Garret put it away like it was water, and he liked everyone around him to drink with the same enthusiasm. Colin would have thought the man was an alcoholic if he hadn’t already figured out that control was something Garret prided himself on maintaining. He boozed and partied with the best of them, but he never let himself lose control. That’s what made him such a tough man to target. He wasn’t going to get drunk and start babbling about details that would put his ass in prison. Nor was he going to trust anyone he didn’t know or at least have damn good reason to trust. Colin knew that the only reason Garret had anything to do with him was because he enjoyed having another man around to be impressed by his prowess with the women. Colin gave him what he wanted. He was Garret’s audience, and he made all the appropriate sounds of appreciation. That was good enough for now. Eventually, Colin would up the ante. The plan was already made. He’d give Garret graphic evidence of his utter lack of moral fiber and with any luck at all, Garret would decide that his skill with women wasn’t the only thing he’d enjoy having admired. Garret Palmer had only one weakness that Colin could find, and he was going to use it to destroy him. There was a reason that pride was one of the seven deadly sins. It was going to be Garret’s downfall.
Colin shoved thoughts about Garret Palmer away as he spotted Claire in her usual spot. She was leaning against the rail, and the wind was playing with the single tendril of hair that had somehow managed to escape her bun and was flittering around her face. She kept tucking it behind her ear and it kept working free. She wore another one of her long, shapeless dresses today. This one wasn’t made of denim, however, which he’d already guessed was her favorite fabric. This one was made from something a hell of a lot lighter than denim, which meant the breeze had no trouble at all molding the fabric to her body. His gaze slid over her of its ow
n accord. She was every bit as slender as he’d guessed, but her body had more curves than he’d suspected. It was hard to tell exactly what she looked like beneath the tents she evidently favored. His gaze strayed to her breasts and he quickly decided that they weren’t nearly as flat as he’d first thought. They weren’t huge, but they were big enough that he guessed they would fill his palms nicely. His fingers twitched at the thought, and he immediately tore his eyes off her.
What the hell was he doing? He couldn’t use her in his plans to get to Garret, and he sure as hell knew he didn’t have any business wanting her for anything else. So what if she was the most intriguing woman he’d ever met? She was not the kind of woman he got involved with. He kept telling himself that as his feet started carrying him toward her.
“Been spending some time in the sun, I see.”
Claire cursed the leap of her heart as his voice washed over her. She cast him a quick sideways glance.
“Too much time, as it turns out.”
“It doesn’t look too bad. By tomorrow I’ll bet it will be already turning brown.”
“Yeah, then it’ll all peel off.”
“Aloe.”
She focused on him. “What?”
“Aloe Vera. Get some lotion with Aloe in it and keep your skin moisturized. That’ll stop the worst of the peeling, if not all of it.”
She shot him a frown. “Somehow, I can’t quite manage to make myself believe that’s a piece of information you came up with all on your own.”
He shrugged. “You’re right. I dated a dermatologist once. She tended to give out all kinds of advice on the proper techniques for maintaining the perfect complexion. She also insisted that I take way better care of my skin than I felt was strictly masculine. I think it was right about the time she started trying to convince me to try out a mask made of seaweed that I decided our relationship was over.”
She was trying not to smile. He could see it in the twitch at the corner of her mouth. He felt an inordinately strong desire to see that smile break free.
“Of course, it didn’t help that she also wanted me to go to family therapy with her and her cat. Apparently the little darling was having ‘issues’ over my invasion of his space, and his therapist believed we should all work through the problem together.”
She stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. Colin felt his heart do that odd little skip in his chest. God she was beautiful when she laughed like that. He was shocked by how good it felt to know he was the one responsible for the laugh. It made him want to make her laugh again. It made him want to do a lot of things that would be better off forgotten.
“I think you were right to get out when you did. Otherwise you might still be in therapy.”
“That’s exactly what I was afraid of. I mean, it was clear the cat had some serious problems, and I just don’t think I would have been the best one to help him deal with them.”
She shook her head as her mouth widened in another heartfelt smile. “Just how bad was this cat?”
“Let’s just say he had a longstanding prescription for kitty Prozac and leave it at that.” She laughed again and Colin reached out to catch the stray strand of hair and tuck it behind her ear when it once again slipped free. The moment his fingers brushed her skin he felt a jolt of awareness. The instant death of her laughter was all the proof he needed to know she’d felt it too. He forced himself to pull away from her after only that brief touch. She was staring up at him out of those wide, innocent eyes of hers, and he cursed himself for acting without thinking. He should know better than to touch her. He should know better than to get anywhere near her. It was becoming abundantly apparent that his common sense went right out the window when he was close to her. If he had any sense at all he’d turn around and walk away and never even look at her again. Unfortunately, it was also apparent that his normally reliable common sense had gone on some kind of hiatus. Because he didn’t walk away. Instead, he gave her a warm smile.
“Had breakfast yet?”
She shook her head and he offered her his arm.
“Shall we, then?”
Claire told herself to tell him no. Colin was too appealing a man by far. She knew he was out of her league and she knew she was in danger of letting herself start forgetting that fact. He was too good at making her feel at ease. And when he’d tucked her hair behind her ear the look in his eyes had made her feel downright shaky. He was looking at her the way a man looked at a woman he wanted. The expression was unmistakable, yet it had to be a mistake. She knew he couldn’t want her. Which meant she was fooling herself into seeing things that weren’t there. She ought to run as far and as fast as she could. But she wasn’t going to. As she lifted her hand and slipped it into the crook of his arm, she felt an inner voice warn her that she was playing with fire and that she would most certainly get burned. Because as much as she wished it were possible, she knew fairy tales didn’t happen in real life. There was no prince waiting to tell her she was actually the princess he’d been searching for his whole life, and even if there was, Colin Montgomery certainly wouldn’t be him. If the day ever came that he decided he wanted a woman in his life permanently, it would not be a woman like her. Sooner or later he’d get bored with her, and he’d walk away without a second thought. It was going to hurt like hell when it happened, but at the moment she decided she didn’t care. She had no idea why Colin was bothering to give her his attention. She wasn’t sure she truly wanted to know. She just wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. So she forced herself to relax and tried her best to think of him as just a person instead of the gorgeous man he was.
Surprisingly, the tactic worked and their breakfast that morning was far less strained than the first they’d shared had been. He didn’t say he’d meet her the next morning, and she didn’t ask him to. It was safer that way. By mutual unspoken consent they chose to just let things happen or not. It kept them both from feeling any pressure, which was exactly what each of them wanted.
Three days later Colin knew he was in deep trouble. He’d met Claire on the deck every morning, and they would talk for a while, then have breakfast together and talk some more. Every morning he got up and told himself he wasn’t going to meet her, and every morning he did it anyway. He knew the odds of Garret ever spotting them together were virtually nonexistent. The man partied into the wee hours every night and slept until at least nine-thirty every day. Some days he didn’t drag himself out of his room until almost noon. And the rest of the bunch that shared their dinner table was pretty much the same. Still, it went against every professional instinct he possessed to keep meeting her when he knew it might jeopardize his mission. She didn’t fit his cover. She would never fit his cover. There was no way in hell that he would ever be able to make Garret believe the man he was supposed to be would so much as look twice at Claire. But he couldn’t make himself stay away from her and that was starting to make him more than a little nervous.
They’d talked about everything under the sun and nothing whatsoever that bordered on truly personal. She mentioned her mother and sister occasionally but never so much as hinted at what her problem was with them. He made a concerted effort to not slip up the way he had the first time they’d had breakfast together, which meant he kept strictly to the background story that went with his cover. Yet for all their avoidance of their pasts, they seemed to cover every topic that most people would have strayed away from. Colin realized just how far things had gone when he heard himself telling her that he thought she was born to be a mother. The depth of longing in her eyes when she met his gaze after the comment sent a ripple of something indescribable through him. For about twenty seconds he got lost in imagining her body swollen with a baby, and then he was thinking about that baby in her arms and there was no doubt at all that it had his hair and her eyes. He’d damn near jumped up and run from the room then and there. Instead he’d managed to keep himself still for another fifteen minutes while they finished up their coffee.
Fiv
e hours later, sitting in a hole in the wall local bar well off the beaten path, Colin was still reeling from the content of that single fantasy. Never, in his entire life, had he felt even the slightest urge to be a father. He didn’t want a wife, much less a kid. Which didn’t explain why he’d let himself imagine Claire holding their child. He shook his head and muttered a curse as he ran his hand over his face and through his hair. It had to be exhaustion or stress or something. Almost every night he partied with Garret, then he was up at dawn the next morning to meet Claire. He’d always been able to run for extended periods of time on little or no sleep, but maybe his age was finally catching up to him. It had to be some kind of stress related glitch that was responsible for the wild ramblings of his mind that morning. Because there was no way in hell that he was ever going to turn into the kind of man to give Claire the life he knew she dreamed of.
He glanced up when he felt someone slap him on the back.
“What’s wrong, buddy? You’re looking damned depressed for a man who has at least one woman in this joint panting after him.”
Colin forced his features into an easy smile as Garret dropped into the chair beside him. Colin knew very well who Garret was referring to. There was a dark haired, dark eyed native girl working behind the bar who hadn’t stopped making eyes at him since he’d walked in the door. She looked to be just about fourteen, though it was sometimes tough to judge physical age in places like this. There was a definite innocence in her eyes, however, that suggested she was inexperienced whatever her age. Unfortunately it reminded him a little too much of the way Claire looked at him sometimes. Even if it hadn’t, there was no chance that he’d go after the girl. He’d never been into robbing cradles and that was one line he wasn’t going to cross even for the sake of the role he was playing for Garret. He shook his head.
Her First Vacation Page 5