Her First Vacation

by Leigh, Jennie

  Claire peeled off her clothes and carefully packed the dress along with all the other new clothes she’d bought on this trip. She wanted to be ready to go as soon as the ship docked in the morning. And she was ready, except for the small bag of toiletries in the bathroom and the nightclothes she changed into tonight. She stood in the bathroom, studying her hair for a few moments before reaching up to begin freeing it from all the pins Tom had used to keep it up. She’d watched him carefully today and thought that she just might be able to manage a reasonable copy of the style on her own. Not that she could imagine any occasion that would call for it. But who knew? Maybe she’d finally take her co-workers up on their invitations to holiday parties this year. Now that she knew how to dress and had proved to herself that she could stand up to just about anything.

  She paused with one hand hovering by her head as she remembered the expression in Colin’s eyes as he’d stared at her tonight. She’d seen hunger, but then that wasn’t unexpected. There’d been more, though. Something else besides the sizzle of attraction she’d had to steel herself against. For just a moment, she’d imagined that the hunger in his eyes wasn’t purely sexual. She’d thought she saw a deep, yawning need there, a longing that had made her want to go straight to him and pull him into her arms. But she’d known it couldn’t be real. He didn’t want her, not like that. He might still want her body. Maybe he always would. That wasn’t enough, though. She wanted a man to want her body and soul. So she’d turned her eyes away from him and refused to meet his gaze for the rest of the night. When she’d walked out, she’d known she’d never see him again. It had taken a tremendous amount of strength to keep from looking at him then, but she’d managed it somehow and now, it was over. She’d leave the ship tomorrow, as would he, and they would never see each other again. She went back to letting down her hair, ignoring the ache of sadness in her chest and the burning in her eyes.

  It was almost one AM, but Claire still couldn’t seem to make herself shut down enough to sleep. Her mind was whirling, her heart beating too quickly to allow her body to relax. She kept telling herself that she needed to get some rest. If she didn’t, she would certainly not look her best when she got home tomorrow. She’d even opened the sliding glass door so she could hear the sound of the ship moving through the water, but sleep still wouldn’t come. Her brain wouldn’t stop dwelling on what she was giving up if she walked away from Colin without at least telling him how she felt. She knew, rationally, that he didn’t care about her feelings. He wouldn’t be interested in hearing that she’d fallen in love with him. In fact, it would probably just embarrass him. Worse, it might amuse him. Her chest clutched as she imagined how much it would hurt to have him laugh at her. At the same time, though, she knew that it wouldn’t destroy her. Spending the rest of her life wondering if she’d given up too easily on the only man she’d ever loved would cause her immeasurably more pain. How could she tell him what she felt, though? She certainly couldn’t stop him right in the middle of the chaos of docking and disembarking tomorrow and start bearing her soul to him. No, what she needed to say to him required privacy. Finally, she threw back the covers and climbed out of bed. She’d have to go to him now, tonight.

  She was already dressed and in the bathroom brushing out her hair when it suddenly occurred to her that he might not be alone. It was the last night aboard the ship. It was entirely possible that he’d taken a woman to his room or that he might be spending the night in her room. The brush faltered as she tried to quell the vaguely queasy sensation that crawled through her belly. Risking having him laugh at her or reject her outright was one thing. Facing the evidence of precisely how little the night they’d spent together meant to him was something else entirely. After a few seconds of hesitation, she resumed stroking the brush through her hair. She needed to know, whatever the risk to her heart.

  She was just putting down the brush when she heard a click inside her bedroom. She turned to look out of the bathroom door, her gaze going straight to the bedroom door. She’d left the light off in the bedroom, but there was enough spilling out of the bathroom to give her a clear view of the doorknob as it turned. It was odd, the dichotomy of feelings that swept through her. She stood there, unnaturally calm as the door began to inch inward. But her heart was beating wildly against her chest, fluttering like the wings of a panicked bird, screaming at her to run even though she knew there wasn’t anywhere to go. There was a safety latch on the door, and she always kept it secured when she was inside. It would stop whoever was out there, trying to get in. But even as she repeated that assurance in her mind, she saw something slip through the miniscule crack in the door. A second later the safety latch had been pushed aside and the door swung fully open. Claire lifted her gaze to stare into Garret’s face. The smile she saw there was pure evil.

  “Hello, darling.”

  Colin jerked out of sleep, panting hard. He rolled over onto his back, lifting a hand to wipe the sweat off his brow. He was drenched in it. The sheets were soaked. But it wasn’t a nightmare that had his heart beating like crazy. He glanced down at himself, then flopped his head back against the pillows. He was hard as a rock and trembling like a schoolboy who’d had his first wet dream. Claire had done this to him. Or he was doing it to himself. Maybe the dreams were some kind of self-induced torture, punishment for the way he’d lived his life, all the people he’d manipulated through the years. He’d made some damned bad choices along the way, tainted himself irrevocably. It didn’t seem to matter how many times he reminded himself of why he shouldn’t even think about loving Claire, though. His body and soul simply refused to let her go.

  He threw back the tangle of sheets around his legs and got out of bed. He’d take a cold shower and get dressed. He sure as hell wasn’t going to be doing any more sleeping tonight. One more graphic dream like the one he’d been embroiled in when he woke, and he just might do something incredibly stupid, like march to Claire’s room and tell her he couldn’t bear the thought of going through the rest of his life without her.

  Colin spent a while beneath the cold shower spray, long enough to at least take the edge off his full-blown arousal. Then he dried and dressed and went through his morning routine in spite of the fact that it was barely a quarter after one. He could just imagine how soundly Garret would be sleeping right now. He always slept like the dead once he’d finished with his women. Colin intended to enjoy waking him. He picked up the weapon he’d been forced to keep concealed in his room during his time onboard the ship. It was damned difficult to carry a 9mm handgun when you were wearing shorts and sandals. Tonight there would be no reason to hide the weapon, though. Or his real identification. He slipped that into his pocket, along with a set of handcuffs, then turned to glance at the surveillance equipment sitting on the small desk across the room. One look was all it took to tell him something was wrong.

  Claire cursed herself for not running to the phone to call for help the moment she realized someone had managed to unlock her door. What had she been thinking to just stand there and watch him break in? He saw her gaze flit to the phone sitting beside the bed, and she heard him laugh. Her gaze shot back to him as he stepped further into the room and swung the door closed behind himself. Then he calmly bent and jerked the phone line out of the wall. He straightened and gave her another of those twisted smiles.

  “Now, you won’t have to worry about being tempted to do something that will just tick me off.” His gaze slid over her insolently. “On your way out, I see.” His eyes locked onto hers again. “That’s hardly as seductive as the little black scrap you had on earlier, but then I doubt Colin gives a rat’s ass what you’re wearing. The only thing he’ll be interested in is how quickly he can get you out of the clothes.” The ugly smile slid off his face as he narrowed his gaze at her. “Tell me, when was the first time you parted your legs for him?”

  She didn’t even bother to pretend to answer. She just reached out and grabbed the bathroom door. She swung it closed and fumbled with
the lock, turning it home almost at the same instant that Garret hit the door. She jumped back as it shuddered in the frame, and she knew she was wasting her time. That door wasn’t going to stop him. It wasn’t even going to do much to slow him down. She grabbed her bag of toiletries, frantically searching for something, anything to use as a weapon.

  Colin hit the switch to raise the volume on the transmitter he’d planted in Garret’s room. He got exactly what he’d known he would. Nothing. Total silence. Not even the sound of breathing. He’d known the moment he saw the absence of movement on the small audio monitor that the room was empty. Even with the sound off, the monitor registered the sounds it heard with strings of light like the equalizer on a stereo. But there was nothing. For a moment, he considered that the transmitter had malfunctioned. He switched to the backup and felt his gut clench tighter when he saw that it, too was picking up nothing.

  Garret was gone. The question was, where had he gone to and how long ago? Colin started backing through the past seconds and minutes until he heard the high-pitched whine of sound on the recording. He hit the play button and listened as Garret shouted at a crying woman.

  “Get out, you stupid bitch!”

  She mumbled something and Colin heard the sound of a slap. Silence reigned for a few seconds as the woman clearly struggled to recover from her shock.

  “Now get the hell out before you tick me off more than you already have.”

  A few seconds later, the door slammed. Colin could hear Garret moving around in his room. Then, Colin heard the door open again and Garret spoke, obviously to himself.

  “Okay, Claire, now it’s your turn.”

  Colin could have sworn that his heart actually stopped in his chest. The sound of Garret’s door closing echoed in the room, but for a few seconds, Colin couldn’t move. Claire. Garret was going after Claire. He had already gone after her. He jerked, reaching out to check the time on the recording. Then he glanced at his watch and felt his blood run even colder. Twenty minutes. While he’d been showering and shaving and congratulating himself on what a great job he’d done, Garret had been with Claire. Colin was running out the door a moment later.

  The only thing Claire could come up with as a potential weapon was the can of hairspray sitting on the sink. She snatched it up and backed up just as the doorframe splintered. The door swung open, and Garret stepped into the small room. He paused long enough to lock his gaze on her, then he started forward. She lifted the can and sprayed him in the face. He yelped and threw up his hands, backing up just as she’d hoped he would. She ran forward, shoving hard against his chest so that he lost his balance and fell backwards out of the doorway. Her heart was beating like mad, and she was shaking so badly that she dropped the can of hairspray, but she knew she couldn’t give in to the fear. She had to get to the door, to get out. She jumped over him and ran for the door. He hadn’t reengaged the security latch. All she had to do was get the door open and keep running.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Claire’s fingertips were just brushing the knob when he caught her. His hand tangled in her hair and he jerked, bringing her up short. Pain ripped through her, and she finally screamed. She’d barely begun to make any sound, though, when he spun her around and slapped her full across the face. She stumbled backwards, drawing breath to scream again. Before she could make any sound at all, he closed his hand around her throat and squeezed. Claire immediately began to choke. She tried to push him away, to claw at him, to fight any way she could. He responded by bringing his other hand to her throat and squeezing harder. He shoved her up against the door and gave her a hard glare as he spoke through clenched teeth.

  “You could have blinded me, you bitch!”

  Claire could feel her lungs burning for air. She tried to scratch at his face, but he easily dodged her efforts. She tried to kick him and he pulled her forward, then slammed her back against the door again. Pain exploded through her head as it connected with the door. The room was starting to spin around her. She could feel her arms getting heavy. Garret was going to kill her. He was going to keep strangling her until she passed out, then stopped breathing altogether. She dropped her arms to her sides because she couldn’t find the strength to resist him any longer. Just as she felt darkness beginning to close in on her, he eased the pressure on her throat. Air rushed out, then into her lungs. She coughed uncontrollably as he tangled his hand in her hair again and dragged her toward the bed. He shoved her down onto the mattress, then climbed on top of her. She started to fight him again, but he used his weight to hold her down as he gripped her chin to force her to meet his gaze.

  “Listen very carefully, Claire. If you fight me or try to scream, I’ll kill you. But I won’t make it easy on you. I’ll drag you to your balcony and pitch you right over the side. The fall itself will be bad enough. Hitting that water will feel like hitting cement. But you’re smart enough to know that, right, so you’ll make sure you hit the water the right way. That won’t help you, though. Because just when you think you’ve survived, the current will grab you and pull you under. Down and down, along the bottom of the ship. And you’ll be dying to breathe but you’ll know you can’t because the only thing that would do is drown you. Sooner or later your body won’t be able to help it. You’ll open your mouth and pull in nothing but water. It’ll burn as it pours into your lungs, and you’ll wish you could scream. Then, right before you fade you’ll hit the propellers, and they’ll turn you into mush. There won’t be anything at all left. Believe me, I’ve seen it. Remember, I told the story about the man who died that way on the last cruise I took. He was a hell of a lot stronger than you, and he was pulled under as soon as he hit the water. I never dreamed it could be so easy to get rid of someone until I pushed that man over the rail. In the blink of an eye, he was gone. You’ll go even faster, and no one will even know it. By the time anyone realizes you’re even missing, there won’t be any trace of what happened to you. They’ll search, but no one will find anything, and you’ll just cease to exist. Is that the way you want it? I can make it happen right now.”

  Claire fought the nausea rising in her throat and the tears that gathered in her eyes. Her sense of hearing had locked onto the sound of the water just outside the open balcony door the moment he’d begun explaining what he’d do to her, and she couldn’t seem to shut the roaring in her ears out, now. How could she have been so blind to the truth of what he was? It only made the tears come faster as she remembered Colin’s warning. He’d told her Garret wasn’t what he appeared to be. Somehow, he’d known the truth, and he’d tried to protect her. Surely that meant he cared for her, at least a little. But she’d never know for certain unless she found a way to survive this. Because she didn’t doubt Garret would follow through on his threat. So she forced herself to shake her head as much as his grip on her chin would allow. He smiled.

  “I didn’t think so.” He let go of her chin, though he kept his body over hers. “You really had me fooled, you know. Here I thought you were frigid and all the while you were just saving your heat for Colin. I should have known that little prick would go behind my back to get at you. I knew he wanted you for himself, but I didn’t figure you’d be that easy to get. So what did he say to get you to open for him? I know you don’t buy into all the standard lies. If you did you’d have been fucking me instead of him.”

  He studied her for a moment, then gave her a smile as if he’d figured out the answer to his own question.

  “Maybe it was his style you went for. Was he rough with you? I know he likes it rough, and maybe you do, too.” He grabbed a handful of her hair and shifted his weight so that he could press a leg between hers. He jammed his leg against her, dropping his free hand to grasp her breast. He gripped her tight enough to make her whimper, then smiled even wider. “Yeah, I think that must be it. You get off on being forced.” He rocked his hips against her, and she could feel the hard length of his erection beneath his pants. His grip on her breast tightened again. “As you can see, I’
m more than ready to give you what you want.”

  Claire couldn’t stop the tears from spilling free. He saw them and leaned forward to run his tongue across the trails. He smiled down at her. “Keep crying, honey. I like it.”

  Claire knew she couldn’t just lay there and let him rape her. He’d threatened to kill her if she fought him, but she suspected he’d kill her anyway once he’d finished with her. He was insane or psychotic or just plain evil. Whatever the explanation for his behavior, she could see in his eyes that he enjoyed her fear and expected her to be overcome by it. So she played along. She held herself rigidly still as he bent to cover her mouth with his. She let him kiss her, let him force her mouth open with his tongue. She let him put his hand on her breast while he rubbed his erection against her hip. She even let him grab the hem of her shirt and push it up, exposing her bra. She didn’t move at all until he let go of her hair so he could rise above her and lower his face to her chest. The moment he rose onto his knees, however, she acted.

  She brought her knee up, slamming it into his groin. He sucked in a sharp breath as she scrambled backwards before he could recover enough to grab her or collapse on top of her again. She fell off the far side of the bed, landing on the floor hard enough to knock the wind out of herself. She groaned, but forced herself to get up. She reached for the only weapon she could find. The telephone sat on the table beside the bed. She lifted it, turning around just in time to see Garret stumbling to his feet. The fury in his eyes sent a chill sweeping through her. She forced herself to wait until he rounded the end of the bed before throwing the phone at his head and leaping onto the bed. She was going for the door again. Garret anticipated her move, though. He ducked the phone by diving onto the bed. He caught Claire’s ankle and jerked her feet out from under her. The bed made the fall and easy one, but at that point she wasn’t worried about getting a few bruises. She kicked in an effort to break Garret’s hold on her ankle and for a moment she thought it had worked. But a second after he let go of her ankle he grabbed her leg and jerked her toward him. The loose bedspread made it easy for him to drag her across the mattress. He bent and grabbed her hair, twisting his hand in it until she thought he’d pull half of it out by the roots. She released a short scream as he jerked her to her feet. Claire was so busy fighting the pain and the panic that she never even heard the door crash open. She didn’t know anything until she heard Colin speak.