“I think it’s worth a try, too. I want you to be careful, though. No wandering around to the front or back of the boat by yourself. You stick close to large crowds when you’re taking photos.”
Rowan balked. “You think I’m a target?”
“I think I don’t want you becoming a target so you’d better stay safe.” Quinn smacked a loud kiss against the corner of her mouth. “Be good. Be safe. Keep in touch.”
“Sir, yes, sir.” Rowan mock saluted, causing Quinn to grin.
“I’ll take you to a romantic dinner tonight to make up for last night … and, er, the night before.”
Rowan’s expression softened. “That sounds like a plan.”
“Good.” This time the kiss they shared was softer and full of promise. “I’ll be in touch. Stay safe.”
ANTHONY FOLLOWED QUINN through the labyrinth of hallways that led to the medical ward. Even though the silence that descended over the men was friendly, Quinn wasn’t an idiot and knew the security guru was barely refraining from asking questions.
“You might as well get out what you want to get out,” Quinn suggested, slowing his pace. “It’s going to be a long day if you spend the entire afternoon biting your tongue.”
Anthony’s expression was sheepish. “I’m sorry. I’m just … it’s just … well … your relationship with Rowan intrigues me.”
That wasn’t the response Quinn was expecting. “And why is that?”
“I would think a man in your position wouldn’t want to be tied down,” Anthony noted. “You’re on a ship surrounded by women in bikinis all day. You could have a different woman in every port.”
“I could,” Quinn agreed. “That’s not what I want, though.”
“And what do you want?”
“Before Rowan arrived on the ship, I wanted to be left alone. I was something of a loner, although I had friends, and I was more interested in brooding and reading than anything else.”
“You sound like a geek.”
Quinn snorted. “Believe it or not, you’re not the first person to tell me that this week.”
“So she changed things for you?”
“She did.” Quinn scratched at his cheek as he held open the door that led to the medical bay. “She’s interesting … and funny … and she has a smile that lights up a room. That changed things for me.”
“And you really don’t want to have a woman in every port?” Anthony challenged. “I mean, to me, that would be the biggest benefit of this job.”
“And to me that sounds like the worst way to spend my time ever. I honestly don’t want a girl in every port. I’m fine with my one girl.”
“She’s great,” Anthony offered. “Don’t get me wrong, I find her intriguing. If she wasn’t very obviously gone for you, I would totally try to make her my girl for this port.”
Quinn scowled. “Don’t say things like that. You’re going to force me to pick a fight with you and I’m sure I’ll lose.”
Anthony chuckled. “That might work out to your benefit. If I beat you up, she’ll dress up like a nurse to take care of you.”
“I’ll file that away for later.” Quinn strode into the medical bay and fixed the doctor, Jordan Cooper, with a pointed look. “How is our patient?”
Jordan, who started out as a plastic surgeon in Los Angeles before deciding he was destined to be a cruise liner healer, was relaxed and happy as he sipped a green tea concoction. “She’s perfectly fine. I honestly don’t think she needed to spend the night here.”
“She was an emotional wreck last night,” Quinn countered. “I thought it was best if you drugged her so she could sleep.”
“I gave her a mild tranquilizer. She made it through the night without any nightmares, at least as far as the reports I got. Your men didn’t allow anyone in or out, so she was the only one here.”
“Is she up now?”
“She is, and she’s making noise about wanting to leave,” Jordan replied. “I figured you would want to talk to her first so I put her off.”
“You figured right.” Quinn offered up a nod in thanks before moving past Jordan and walking into Selena’s room. She sat on her bed, a blank expression on her face, and the look she shot Quinn when she realized she wasn’t alone was nothing short of adoring.
“It’s you.”
“It’s me.” Quinn felt mildly uncomfortable when Selena grabbed his hand and pressed it to the spot between her breasts. “Um … how are you feeling?”
Anthony’s eyes flashed with amusement as he moved to the other side of the bed. “Do you remember what happened last night?”
Selena furrowed her brow when Quinn managed to extricate his hand, giving him a pointed look before turning her full attention to Anthony. “I remember everything that happened last night. I was almost killed … and this man saved me.” Her voice was almost a soft coo.
Even though it was a serious situation, it took everything Quinn had not to burst out laughing at Selena’s overacting. “Yes, well, that’s my job.”
“It’s both our jobs,” Anthony corrected. “That’s why we’re here, Selena. We need to know what happened yesterday.”
“I don’t know what to tell you.” Selena was much more in control than she had been the previous evening. “I spent the afternoon hanging out with people from my team. We had a few drinks, although nothing major. Mostly piña coladas and margaritas.
“We were going to head in and get changed for dinner when I remembered I forgot my flip flops by my chair so I headed back. I wasn’t even back to the chair when that guy approached me.”
“Did you see his face?” Quinn asked. “I know he was wearing a hoodie, but you must have seen something.”
“Nothing more than a flash of eyes.”
“What color eyes?”
“Brown.”
“Could you tell his skin color?” Anthony asked. “I know you saw very little, but what about his skin color?”
“And eyebrow color,” Quinn added. “Did you see a hint of facial hair?”
“Geez, you guys ask a lot of questions,” Selena complained. “As for answers, I didn’t see any facial hair. He had darker eyebrows … at least I think. He was white. That’s all I know. It happened really fast and I was so intent on fighting him off I didn’t even think to look at his face.
“Then, when he threw me over the edge, all I could think was that I was going to die,” she continued, her expression angelic when she turned back to Quinn. “Then you showed up and saved me. It was … glorious.”
Quinn touched the tip of his tongue to his top lip, dumbfounded. “Oh, well … um … hmm.”
Anthony was beyond entertained, although he interjected himself into the conversation to save Quinn from further embarrassment. “I believe Mr. Davenport is uncomfortable being heralded as a hero.”
“He is a hero, though,” Selena stressed. “He’s my hero.”
“I didn’t do it alone,” Quinn reminded her. “I had help.”
“You did?” Selena knit her eyebrows. “Who?”
“My girlfriend.” Quinn hated dropping the “girlfriend” card, but it was obvious it was necessary to nip Selena’s mild infatuation in the bud. “She held on to me so I could have the leverage to grab you. Without her, neither one of us would be here.”
“I don’t remember anyone else being there,” Selena mused. “How odd.”
“Yeah, totally.” Quinn rolled his eyes until they landed on Anthony. “I think our next step should be going over the video footage again – and there are gaps that our guy managed to exploit, so it won’t be easy. I don’t know what else to do.”
“You could walk me back to my room,” Selena suggested hopefully.
“My men will do that.” Quinn kept his smile in place even though his skin was crawling. “I have two security officers waiting for you on the other side of the door. They would be happy to walk you to your room.”
Selena made a face. “They’re not you.”
“They’re not, no,” Quinn agreed.
“I have other things to focus on, though. I’m afraid that’s the best I can do.”
“Whatever.” Selena’s irritation was evident as she crossed her arms over her chest. “This is turning into a sucky morning.”
“Take heart,” Anthony prodded. “We’ll be at our destination by nightfall. By this time tomorrow, we’ll be wet and looking for treasure. That’s got to make you feel better, right?”
Selena brightened considerably. “Absolutely.”
“That’s what I thought.”
11
Eleven
Rowan snapped photos of everyone she could find. She made sure to stay out in the open – more for Quinn’s sake than her own – and she sat down in the shade next to the tiki bar shortly before lunch to load the images on to her computer so she could study them up close.
She couldn’t find the omen in any photos.
That was a good thing. At least that’s what she kept telling herself. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was missing something.
That’s where Selena found her an hour into her photo search.
“Um … are you busy?”
“Oh, hey.” Rowan moved to shut her computer, as if she had something on the screen she shouldn’t, but ultimately thought better of it. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better, thank you.” Selena took the open seat across from Rowan and offered up a wan smile. “Your boyfriend came to see me a few hours ago.”
“Yeah. He said he was going to. Did you give him any information that can help us catch this guy?”
Selena shook her head. “I can’t remember a lot of it. I know that sounds weird, but my memory is all jumbled up. I didn’t even remember you were there until he told me.”
Rowan didn’t know what to make of that information. “Oh … um … .”
“It’s not a dig at you,” Selena offered. “Quinn said he wouldn’t have been able to save me if you didn’t help. I’m grateful.”
“I’m not sure how true that is. He provided all the muscle. I basically sat on his feet to make sure he didn’t accidentally fall over.”
Selena snickered, genuinely amused. “He says it was more than that.”
“Well, he’s sweet on me so he says things like that even when they’re not true.”
Selena’s smile flickered, but just barely. “Yes, well, I believe I should be thankful for your help. I also believe I should probably apologize.”
Rowan’s eyebrows flew up her forehead. “Apologize?”
“I kind of hit on your boyfriend … several times … when he came to interview me. I was just so thankful and he’s kind of hot. He had to put me in my place a little bit. I didn’t even realize what I was doing until I stepped back and thought about it.”
Even though she knew she should probably be offended, Rowan was amused. “That’s okay. It was a trying situation for you. I think it’s called transference when a life-changing ordeal makes you attracted to the person you deem your hero after a traumatic event.”
Selena chuckled, the sound low and throaty. “Oh, I would’ve been attracted to him no matter what. He’s extremely handsome. I simply think I took it a step too far. He looked … uncomfortable.”
“He’ll survive. You wouldn’t believe how many people hit on him during a normal cruise. He’s extremely popular.”
Selena relaxed a bit as she leaned back in her chair. “Well, thank you anyway. So … what are you doing?”
“Trying to pretend my boss isn’t paying me for nothing on this particular trip. Generally I’m busy from breakfast to dinner taking photos, but since you guys aren’t here on a vacation … it’s been something of an odd fit for me.”
“I can see that. Still, it’s exciting. Do you dive?”
Rowan shook her head. “I grew up in Michigan. We don’t dive there.”
“Actually, that’s not true. A lot of people dive in the Great Lakes. Still, I get what you’re saying. Hopefully you’ll get to see the site, though.”
“You must be excited,” Rowan noted. “You get to go down with the first group, right?”
Selena bobbed her head. “It’s exciting. It’s a little daunting. I’ve been on discovery dives before, but this one is being touted as a huge deal. I’ve been looking at maps and everything, which I generally don’t do. I found a unique one for that particular part of the ocean on eBay of all places, if you can believe that.”
Rowan cocked an eyebrow. “On eBay?”
Selena shrugged. “Hey, you take these things where you can find them. This is supposed to be a tricky spot and I don’t want to be the one to screw things up.”
“Plus the water is supposed to be dangerous. Does that worry you?”
“Nah. I know what I’m doing in the water. We dive with partners and keep an eye on each other. It’s when I’m out of the water that I tend to make my mistakes. I rarely make them when I’m in the water.”
“Still, I can’t wait to see what you guys find,” Rowan enthused. “I’m betting it’s going to be some unique stuff.”
“I’m a little excited, too. It would be more fun if we got to keep what we find, but this could be a historic discovery so we had to sign explicit contracts saying we wouldn’t pocket any of the goods.”
“Still, you’ll get to see them. That would be enough for me.”
“I would prefer the money but seeing the wreck will still be exhilarating.”
“Quinn loves history,” Rowan supplied. “He’s been reading up on The Conqueror. I hope he has a chance to at least go out there and see the ship, although I’m not sure what he’ll be able to see from the surface.”
“We’re going to have submersibles, too,” Selena offered. “I’m sure he’ll be able to get on one of those.”
“That sounds like fun. I hope that works out for him.”
The two women chatted for a bit longer, Selena making nice and promising to refrain from flirting with Quinn before departing. Rowan took the opportunity to return to her photographs, although her heart wasn’t in the search. She was positive the omen wasn’t there. That should have made her happy. Instead it made her uneasy.
“You look lost in thought.”
Rowan jerked her head to the left at the sound of the voice, working overtime to hide her distaste when Nick floated into view. “I was merely debating what to do with these photographs. No one seems excited about them … and I doubt I’ll sell many. I figure I should probably still load them to the online portal to be on the safe side.”
“It couldn’t hurt.” Nick was all smiles when he sat across from her. He had an unerring ability to make Rowan feel as if she was the only person in the room – er, more like the world – when he focused on her. “And how are you today?”
“What do you mean by that?” Rowan didn’t intend to come off as suspicious, but the words were out of her mouth before she could think better about uttering them.
“I mean that you had a very eventful night.” Nick’s expression was bland, although his eyes gleamed when they locked with Rowan’s. “You saved a life, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Oh, that.” Rowan let loose with a cross between a sigh and a giggle. “I didn’t save a life. I held on to a pair of legs. Quinn saved a life.”
“That’s not how I heard it. I heard you ran toward danger and helped save one of our divers from certain death.”
“Certain death?” Rowan tilted her head to the side. “That’s a little … dramatic.”
“So, you’re saying if you and Mr. Davenport hadn’t been there, Selena would have been perfectly fine?”
“Well, no,” Rowan hedged. “She definitely needed help.”
“So you are, indeed, a hero.”
“Yeah, this conversation is making me uncomfortable.” Rowan shifted on her chair. “What about you? You must be upset to know one of your employees was almost killed. That can’t be something you want to hear.”
“Certainly not,” Nick agreed. “I’ve had a long talk with Anthony and
he assures me that he believes our team is safe and secure. That’s the most important thing.”
“I don’t know how he can say that,” Rowan argued. “Selena almost died last night. That’s pretty far from safe.”
“Yes, but the individual who attacked her was from your crew, not ours.”
Rowan wrinkled her nose. “No, the attacker stole a key card from one of our crew members,” she corrected. “We have no idea if the attacker was one of your people or ours. Given the nature of the attack, though, it doesn’t make much sense for it to be someone from our side of the aisle.”
Nick steepled his fingers as he rested his elbows on the table and leaned back in his chair. “What do you mean by that?”
“It wasn’t a sexual attack,” Rowan explained. “It was something else.”
“But Anthony said he believed it was a sexual attack. Why would he lie?”
Rowan was uncomfortable with the question. “Maybe he didn’t lie. Maybe he thought he was telling the truth. He said the same thing last night, although Quinn didn’t happen to agree with him.
“The thing is, whoever attacked Selena tried to throw her over the side of the ship,” she continued. “That doesn’t seem like a good way to get sexual gratification to me.”
“I hadn’t even considered that.” Nick looked lost in thought. “Why do you think the attack occurred?”
Rowan shrugged. “I honestly have no idea. I don’t think it was a sexual attack, though. I think it was something else. What is anyone’s guess.”
“You make a very good point.” Nick’s smile brightened as he returned to the here and now. “You’re a very interesting woman. I read your file – and went back over it again after our previous conversation – and it seems you were left to your own devices at a young age. How did that work out for you?”
The question threw Rowan for a loop. “I’m not sure what you mean by that.”
“Your mother died when you were barely into your teens and then your father disappeared when you were eighteen. You were essentially abandoned. That couldn’t have been easy for you.”
Rowan’s agitation threatened to overwhelm her. “I don’t really think that’s any of your concern.”
“I’m merely curious.”
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