Kara Lennox: Reluctant Partners

Cooper took a long sip of his coffee as he contemplated the gentle waves lapping at the beach below. “He wouldn’t have changed his will.”

“Why not? None of us have seen him in years.”

“Maybe not. But I sent him a Christmas present every year. Sometimes he sent me a card. I wonder why he didn’t tell anyone he had cancer?”

“Would you have rushed down here to take care of him if you’d known?” Reece asked. “Would any of us? Last I heard, my dad and Johnny weren’t speaking.”

“I’m not sure what the beef was between Uncle Johnny and the rest of the family, but he wasn’t mad at you or me or Max. He wouldn’t have disinherited us without a damn good reason.”

“Maybe he wanted to take care of Allie.”

“And maybe Allie took advantage of a sick old man and conned him into changing his will.”

The waitress chose then to bring out their breakfasts. Reece frowned at his bowl of oatmeal, then picked the raisins out one by one, replacing them with strawberries. Cooper dug into his bacon and eggs.

“Not all women are Heather, you know,” Reece said, almost absently.

Cooper gritted his teeth. “Don’t bring her into this.”

A few moments later Max joined them, his face carefully turned away. He pulled out one of the wooden chairs and swiveled it around so he could straddle it.

“Good God, man, what happened to you?” Cooper demanded when he spotted the plastic bag of ice Max held against his face.

Max didn’t seem to be suffering much. He grinned. “Remember Allie’s neighbor Jane? Well, the woman has a jealous husband with a mean left hook.”

Reece looked up, horrified, but Cooper took it in stride. “Max, when are you going to learn to ask first? Someday a jealous husband is going to do more than blacken your eye.”

Max sighed. “She’s gorgeous. The guy said he’d kill me if I so much as looked at her again. How am I going to not look at her if she’s on the boat next to ours?”

“You’ll be too busy,” Cooper replied. “We need to launch a massive advertising and marketing campaign for Remington Charters. Sure you’re up to it?”

Max perked up. “Absolutely. When do we start?”

“As soon as I can evict one redhead, we’re good to go.”

“You’re not just going to pitch her out in the street, are you?” Reece asked. “What if she doesn’t have anywhere else to go?”

“Not my problem.”

Max didn’t look happy. “I thought you were tired of being a ruthless SOB. What happened to the kinder, gentler Cooper?”

“He’s waiting for his damned boat.”

“Your account is overdue, Miss Allie.” Dino the grocer said this pleasantly enough as he rang up her current purchases early Monday morning, but a thread of worry underlay his reminder.

A lot of people had voiced doubts that she could continue to run the charter service by herself. When Johnny had been strong and vibrant-until as recently as a couple of years ago, in fact-Remington Charters had made plenty of money, enough that Johnny could cover his bills and pay Allie a decent salary. He’d also allowed her to sleep in the V-berth, which meant she had socked away savings instead of spending all her salary on rent.

But as Johnny had weakened, so had the finances. Johnny had urged her to find another job where she could earn what she was worth, but she hadn’t even considered leaving him, not when he had no family to take care of him. Pat, his only love, had died many years ago. They’d never had kids, and he’d never remarried.

So she’d stuck by him, took care of him and buried him. Once a decent interval had passed, she’d started taking on charter trips again, after spending more than she could afford to have both engines rebuilt. But business was sparse, and she couldn’t take on the large parties like before-she couldn’t coach more than four fishermen and serve snacks and captain the boat.

Still, the busy tourist season was about to begin and she was optimistic that she could turn a financial corner soon. Once she cleared the most immediate debts and did some maintenance on the boat, she could hire an assistant, get the Web site back up, do some advertising.

If she still had a boat.

“I’ve got a lucrative charter this afternoon,” she told Dino as she signed her name for today’s groceries. “You’re next on my list to pay.”

Dino smiled and didn’t question her further about the bill. She was as good as her word, and he knew it. “You’re a brave girl, running that boat all by yourself. Why don’t you get a husband to help you out?”

She rolled her eyes. Lots of well-meaning friends and acquaintances had voiced similar suggestions. “You send me a good-looking guy who knows how to sail-or an average-looking one who can cook and clean-I’ll consider marrying him.” As if guys were standing in line.

She wondered if Cooper Remington knew how to sail. He at least had the good-looking part down.

Dino bagged her fruit so as not to bruise it. “I hear some of Johnny’s family showed up. They checked into Miss Greer’s place.”

Miss Greer ran the nicest B and B in town, the Sunsetter, located in one of the few Victorians that time and hurricanes hadn’t obliterated. And, yes, Allie had heard that the trio of nephews hadn’t been at all intimidated by her brave words from Friday morning. Though she hadn’t heard another peep out of them over the weekend, it looked as if they were hunkering down, ready for a fight.

She’d made an appointment with Arlen Caldwell, her attorney, for tomorrow morning just to be sure her legal ducks were in a row, and to shore up any possible defenses against Cooper Remington’s tricks.

“They aren’t giving you any trouble, are they, Miss Allie? ’Cause if they are, I’ll send Robert to talk to them.” Robert was Dino’s Goliath-sized son, who usually had a job as a bouncer in one or another of the bars in Port Clara.

“They’re definitely here to give me trouble.” She gathered up her bags of groceries. “But it’s the kind that fists and strong words won’t solve. So I appreciate the offer, but we better hold off siccing Robert on them.”

“The offer holds. Any time.” Dino made a fist and punched the air.

If Cooper and his gang succeeded in taking her boat away from her, maybe she’d unleash Robert. The fantasy gave her little comfort as she loaded her modest grocery purchase into the back of her Isuzu Rodeo.

Once upon a time, she and Johnny had offered all-day cruises including a gourmet lunch with wine. Nowadays her customers got tasty snacks-fresh fruit, bagels and cream cheese, bakery cookies and soft drinks.

She made another stop at the Quicky Mart for ice and drinks. The convenience store didn’t offer her credit, so she had to pay cash from her dwindling reserves. She tried not to worry; she had several charters scheduled over the next couple of weeks, which would pull her fanny out of the fire.

She parked her Rodeo in her regular spot at the marina and grabbed the ice first, so she could get it to the ice chest where she would store drinks and snacks. The fishermen could help themselves that way. But as she made her way down the dock in her flip-flops toward the Dragonfly, she spotted Deputy Thom Casey leaning casually against a pylon near her slip, and her heart went into overdrive.

This wasn’t good. Not good at all.

Thom had asked her out once. She’d turned him down-not because he wasn’t a handsome or nice enough guy, but because he didn’t sail and she couldn’t afford the distraction of an actual social life.

She hoped he wouldn’t hold that against her.

He saw her coming and stood up straighter, looking decidedly uncomfortable. So this wasn’t a chance encounter.