Her First Vacation

by Leigh, Jennie

  She watched as he uncorked the bottle of wine. “Nothing but the best for you, darling.”

  It wasn’t the first time he’d used the endearment, and just like before, Claire felt a twinge of discomfort. Garret hadn’t pressured her in any way, but it was evident that he was putting a lot of work into their dates. The private dinner he’d arranged last night had been nothing short of spectacular. And now this sumptuous picnic at a location that was inherently romantic. She couldn’t help feeling like things were somehow progressing steadily in a direction she’d made very clear she didn’t want to go. She watched as he poured the wine into a pair of goblets that were at least plastic. She could almost have expected them to be crystal. He offered her a glass with a warm smile. She took it, and he held his up in a toast.

  “To beautiful places.” She clinked her glass with his, then dropped her gaze when something in his eyes made her inexplicably nervous. They ate in silence, and she eventually convinced herself that she was making something out of nothing. He still hadn’t pressured her in any way or even suggested that he was wanting more from her than what she’d agreed to give him. Maybe all the attention was going to her head so that she was starting to think men couldn’t possibly be around her without wanting to try to get her into bed. The thought was so laughable that she couldn’t help chuckling. Garret lifted his eyes to her.

  “What’s so funny?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing special. I was just laughing at myself.”

  “And what is it about yourself that you find so amusing?”

  “It’s nothing, really. I was just wondering how long it takes for flattering attention to start going to someone’s head.”

  He’d stretched out on his back after finishing his dessert, but he rolled onto his side and propped his head on his arm as he frowned at her. “Why would you be thinking something like that?”

  “Well, I’ve been an ugly duckling my whole life. Now that people are suddenly telling me I’m really a swan, I can’t help wondering if I’ll ever start believing it.”

  “In my experience, there’s no point arguing with the truth. You’re beautiful, and you might as well accept it.”

  She could feel a blush creeping into her face. “That’s easier said than done. I still feel like the homely school teacher no one even noticed.”

  His expression turned intensely serious with a swiftness that was startling. He rose until he was sitting, which brought him so close to her that he had no trouble reaching out to touch her face.

  “You know, there’s something I think I need to say to you.” He cupped her face with his hand, letting his fingers barely slip into her hair while his thumb stroked her cheek. “I’ve learned a lot about myself over the past few days, and I’ve got to admit that I haven’t liked everything I’ve learned. I’ve been a self-serving bastard, and I’ve got you to thank for making me see it.”

  She tried to shake her head. “Garret-“

  He wouldn’t let her finish. “I just want you to understand that I appreciate you as you are. I think you’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever known. You’ve made me re-evaluate my own priorities, and that’s a good thing, believe me. You make me be honest, even with myself. No one else has ever done that.”

  The way he was stroking her cheek was incredibly distracting, but she managed to focus her thoughts enough to speak. “Honesty is important, especially with yourself. It’s a cliché, but being true to yourself is the only way to be content in life. It’s taken me a long time to finally understand that. Don’t feel bad that you didn’t get it right off, either.”

  His lips curved upward as he stared down into her eyes. “I think I’m going to spend the rest of my life regretting that I didn’t see you for the treasure you are the moment I met you.”

  Before she even realized what he was doing, he leaned forward and touched his lips to hers. It was a quick caress, lingering only for a moment. When he pulled away from her, his expression was utterly serious. “I know you’ve got no reason to trust me, Claire. I’ve certainly proven myself to be no fan of fidelity. But I’m realizing that I’d be a fool to just walk away from you, and I’ve never been foolish. I want you. You the woman. I want your intelligence, your gentleness, your passion for your work. I want to know everything about you and have you know everything about me.” His gaze darkened. “And when you’re ready, if you’re ever ready, I want to love you.” He rushed on when she started to shake her head.

  “I’m not trying to pressure you. I know you’re not looking for a fling. I just want to be completely honest with you.” The corner of his mouth curved up into a self-mocking grin. “Open honesty with a woman is pretty much a first for me. I’m sorry if I’ve handled it badly.”

  He started to pull away from her, but Claire reached out to touch his arm.

  “Garret?”

  He turned face her once more as she smiled. “Thank you.”

  She leaned forward and touched her lips to his. He didn’t move, clearly caught off guard by the act. Then his hand slid around her neck to cup the back of her head, and he took charge of the kiss. Claire hadn’t quite expected it, but she didn’t pull away or try to stop him. He’d bared his soul to her, and the last thing she wanted was to hurt him by rejecting him when he was vulnerable. So she let him kiss her, and she even kissed him back. He was very good at it; no doubt he’d had a lot of practice. But though she felt the pleasure of the kiss on some level, it didn’t leave her craving more. When he finally let her go she felt no urge to cling to him. He stared down into her eyes, and she felt nothing more than an appreciation of his obvious skill and God-given aesthetic attributes. He was handsome and charming and fun to be around, but he wasn’t ever going to be the love of her life. He wasn’t even going to be a great passion. She did her best to keep her thoughts from showing on her face.

  She apparently did too good a job of it because he started to lean forward to kiss her again, and she was caught trying to figure out a way to tell him no without hurting his feelings. Nature intervened at that precise moment, however, saving her the trouble. He jerked, then slapped a hand at the back of his neck. He muttered an oath, then pulled his hand away and she could see the tiny smear of blood on his palm. She frowned up at him.

  “Are you all right?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, something just stung me, that’s all.”

  “You’re not allergic to bees are you?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not allergic to anything. It’ll be fine.” He turned to reach for her again. “Now, where were we?”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Claire opened her mouth to tell him she didn’t think it would be a good idea to pick up where they’d left off, but he suddenly blanched white. A few seconds later he was scrambling away from her and emptying his stomach into the grass. She went to kneel at his side. He’d barely stopped heaving when it hit him again, and he retched a second time.

  “I think we need to get you to a doctor.”

  He didn’t argue. The truth was, he couldn’t stop trying to vomit long enough to do more than mumble a few words. She gathered up their things, then helped him stumble back to the boat. The hike had been pleasurably taxing on the way in, but it was sheer agony for Garret on the way out. He kept heaving every few minutes even though there was nothing left in his stomach to come up. Claire had never seen anyone have such a violent reaction to a bee sting. She’d had kids in her classes that were allergic, some severe enough to require immediate administration of epinephrine to keep them from going into anaphylactic shock if they were to be stung. But Garret wasn’t having any trouble breathing. He was just horribly ill. As soon as they were close enough that she felt it was safe to leave him for a few minutes, she ran straight to the dock and found help. When they reached Garret, he was still lying on the bench where she’d left him. But he wasn’t alone. Colin was there, and he helped the people from the dock get Garret back to the launch. Once they reached the ship, Garret was taken straight to the infirmar
y. The doctor there looked at the bite on his neck, checked to make sure he wasn’t having any difficulty breathing, then gave him something to help with the nausea that also made him sleepy. Claire finally left him there and went back to her room to shower and change for dinner.

  Colin pulled the razor across his cheek and worked hard not to grin like a fool. He couldn’t stop thinking about the sound of Garret’s moans as he endured the involuntary spasms of his stomach. It was a long way from the justice Colin wanted to see brought to him, but it was an amusing little punishment for what he’d been trying to do to Claire. The smile faded from Colin’s face. He’d been close enough to get a good look at the two of them while they ate and talked and laughed. He hadn’t been able to hear what Garret was saying to Claire, but he’d seen the expression on her face, and it had made Colin want to “accidentally” show himself. He knew Garret was skilled at being supremely charming when it suited him, and he must have been laying it on thick because Claire not only let him kiss her, she kissed him back.

  He cursed as his razor took off a piece of skin along with the hair. Seeing Claire with another man’s hands on her body had damn near killed him. Knowing that she might soon be flat on her back with Garret on top of her had been more than he could take. Colin had been a breath away from doing something stupid when things had turned. He’d spent a sizeable portion of the night trying to come up with some way to protect Claire from Garret without totally blowing his cover and the job he was there to do. Openly screwing up Garret’s plans for Claire, even by supposed accident, would likely be enough to sour Garret on him. So Colin knew he had to come up with something else. Something that couldn’t be tied back to him in any way. It had hit him while he was pacing the floor of his room. Garret didn’t do anything half-way. He’d said he was planning a picnic for Claire. Colin knew that it wouldn’t be anything as common as sandwiches. He’d want to impress her, so he’d have something a lot more elegant. Sure enough, a bit of snooping led him to the special meal Garret had ordered for them. Colin had no doubt that the grin on his face was evil as he scanned the menu. Cold chicken and potato salad, along with wine and dessert. Only Colin knew Claire didn’t like potato salad. It was one of those random things that had come up in one of the breakfast conversations. Garret, on the other hand, did like it. Colin had seen him eat it more than once while on the cruise. It was a simple matter to intercept the meal before it got to Garret and lace the potato salad with something that would knock Garret for a nasty loop. Colin was starting to worry about the length of time that it was taking for it to kick in as he was forced to watch Garret make a move on Claire. She hadn’t put up any resistance to Garret’s advances. Maybe she’d wanted him to lay her back on that blanket and strip her naked. Colin didn’t want to believe she was that gullible, but he had no way of knowing what was running through her mind. The bug bite or sting must have sent an adrenaline surge through Garret, though, because the vomiting kicked in right after that. Colin would have laughed at Garret’s obvious misery if watching Claire fret over him hadn’t been so damned frustrating.

  But Garret was going to be out of the picture for at least twelve hours. The compound worked fast and faded fast. By morning he’d be over the worst of it. Which meant Colin only had tonight to try to convince Claire that staying away from Garret would be in her best interest. He met his own gaze in the mirror. No problem.

  Claire walked into the dining room and immediately spotted Colin. He was at the table with Janine was so close to him that she was practically sitting in his lap. Normally, Colin appeared to enjoy her obvious interest. Tonight he was leaned back in his chair, putting as much distance between them as he could manage. When she reached out to lay a hand on his arm, Claire clearly saw the way his jaw tensed as if he wanted to pull away from her but was forcing himself not to. That wasn’t like him. In the two weeks that she’d known him, she’d never seen him look remotely uncomfortable with a woman’s attention or touch. Just about then his head jerked around, and his gaze seemed to zero in on hers instantly. Janine was still talking, but he pushed back his chair, got to his feet, and started walking toward her. For some reason she felt butterflies burst into frantic movement in her belly. There was a look in his eyes tonight that she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen before. It was primal and vaguely predatory, and it made her feel trapped, somehow. Before she could make herself turn and run, he’d reached her and was speaking.

  “You look beautiful, as always.”

  It was a line, but it didn’t sound like one. In fact, if she hadn’t known better, she would have believed it was the utter truth. Oh, she might be attractive now, but she’d never been truly beautiful, and she never would be. The way he looked at her made her want to believe him, though. The intensity of his gaze made her want to believe anything was possible. She cleared her throat and jerked herself out of whatever daze she was falling into. This was Colin, and she already knew how skilled he was at portraying whatever image he chose to invoke.

  “Thank you.”

  She stepped around him, continuing on her path toward the table. He somehow managed to get there first, without looking like he’d had to hurry. He pulled out her chair, and she dropped into it with another murmur of thanks. He leaned over so that she was forced to look up into his eyes.

  “No problem.”

  There it was again. That mad fluttering in the pit of her stomach. It was his eyes, she knew. The way they locked onto her made it feel like everyone and everything else in the world had dropped away. As if the two of them were completely alone in the universe. The heat that hit her at the thought of being completely alone with Colin was shockingly intense. She felt her eyes widen just a fraction and saw that he noticed. What was worse, she felt positive that he knew exactly what had caused the reaction. She felt herself blushing and dropped her gaze from his. He moved to his own chair, though not without touching her first. It was the tiniest brush of his knuckles across the back of her neck. She’d worn her hair up tonight, and the sweep of his fingers against her nape could easily have been nothing more than an incidental contact as he moved behind her. It didn’t feel incidental, though. It felt unbearably erotic. She felt a hot little shiver and reached out to pick up her water glass with a hand that was shaking. She used the glass as a cover while she waited for the flush to fade from her face.

  What was wrong with her? She knew what Colin wanted from her, what he apparently wanted from all women. The kind of sex he’d so glibly described to her was hardly something she hadn’t known existed. But it definitely was something she knew she wanted no part of. Passion was all fine and well. No doubt it could be incredibly stimulating. She wasn’t looking for strictly physical stimulation, however. Even in an affair, she knew she would need more. There would have to be some kind of emotional connection, some measure of feeling between herself and the man. She wasn’t capable of anything less. Which was why she ought to feel nothing at all when she looked at Colin or when he touched her. He wanted her body, nothing more. And she knew she’d never want to be used like that. Not again. So why was it that she couldn’t quite manage to quell the trembling in her hands?

  Colin watched Claire as she fiddled with her water glass, her napkin, her silverware, just about everything in reach. She was looking for anything at all that would keep her from looking at him. He felt a smile touch his lips. She didn’t want to be attracted to him, but she couldn’t help it, and it was scaring her to death. Scared was good. It would make her even more aware of him. By the time the night was over, she’d be so conscious of him that she wouldn’t be able to stand it. That was when he’d push her over the edge.

  Claire barely managed to make a pretense of actually eating. She did her best to take part in the conversation, but every time she tried she found that Colin monopolized her attention. He was very good at managing the group, and he always succeeded in somehow stirring them to a point where he and she were doing all the talking. It forced her to focus on him, to meet his gaze, and every
time she did, she felt that fluttering in her stomach increase exponentially. Even when she wasn’t looking at him, she could feel his eyes on her. His focus was relentless. He virtually ignored everyone else at the table, yet somehow managed to keep them from realizing what he was doing. Even Janine didn’t appear to notice that he had eyes only for Claire. Desert had barely been served when she finally had more of it than she could stand. She dropped her spoon and backed her chair away from the table.

  “If you all will excuse me, it’s been a long day, and I think I’ll turn in early.”

  She expected Colin to try to stop her. She refused to meet his gaze as she left the table, though she could feel his eyes follow her out of the dining room. She was running again, and she knew it, but this time she couldn’t make herself stop. There was something different about Colin tonight, and she couldn’t help the fact that it scared her to the core. She’d never felt the kind of nervousness his attention generated. Nor had she ever felt her body respond like it had tonight. He’d barely touched her once, yet she was aching to have him do it again. And not just a tiny brush of his fingers. She wanted to feel his hands on her body, she wanted to feel him touching her in places that she could barely stand to name even in her own mind. Her breasts felt heavy and swollen, and there was definitely more moisture between her legs than was typical. She might not be greatly experienced when it came to the art of lovemaking, but she knew very well that everything she felt was her body’s way of letting her know it very much wanted Colin’s touch.

  She hurried down the hallways, telling herself that there was no reason to be embarrassed by something that was merely a physiological response. It didn’t mean anything. But there was a little voice in the back of her mind that argued with her. She’d made a point of insisting that she didn’t want a strictly physical relationship with Colin or anyone else. What she was feeling now was entirely physical, however. There was no emotion involved. Her body wanted his, pure and simple, and that was almost too shocking to bear. She reached her room, and slipped her key into the door. She hadn’t even turned the handle when she felt him behind her. She gasped as she spun around. He stood barely five feet away. The look in his eyes made her flatten herself against her door.