Kara Lennox - Reluctant Partners

When Cooper returned to the B and B he found Allie exactly where he’d left her, but looking more tense.

“Is there a problem?”

“Not exactly.”

“Did someone give you a hard time?”

“No, nothing like that. In fact, I got four more bookings and several people who said they’d call back after they firmed up their vacation plans.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Not a problem,” she said, jumping to her feet. “It’s just that you never mentioned your brother Derek.”

Cooper went very still. “I don’t know that I’ve talked much about my family to you. How do you know about Derek?”

“He left several messages on your phone. He’s coming to visit and he wants to go fishing.”

“Fishing?” Derek had never fished in his life.

“He said he wants to go fishing,” she said again. “I scheduled him and Sylvia-his wife?”

Cooper nodded numbly.

“I scheduled them for Wednesday afternoon and reserved a room for them here. I hope that’s okay.”

“Derek. Fishing.” Why did Cooper find that a bit hard to believe? Cooper’s older brother was the least outdoorsy person he’d ever known. Even as a kid, Derek hadn’t been interested in any sport but hockey, always at an indoor arena.

And Sylvia. He’d never seen her out of high heels. She couldn’t even sit at an outdoor café without complaining about the heat or the glare or the wind. How would she handle several hours on a boat?

He’d like to think his brother was extending the olive branch by coming to visit and supporting Cooper’s new venture. But given how he’d sneered at the idea of Cooper running a fishing business, that didn’t seem likely.

In fact, he was pretty sure he knew what was behind Derek’s sudden desire to vacation in Port Clara. Their mother’s fingerprints were all over it. She was sending Derek to check up on Cooper and find the weaknesses in this situation, so he could exploit them and convince Cooper to return home properly chastised.

If he tried to convince Derek not to come, it would only make him more determined to get on a plane.

“Did I do the wrong thing?” Allie asked. “I thought you would want me to be nice to your family.”

Of course Allie wouldn’t know of the rivalry between him and his brother because he’d never mentioned it. “I really would have preferred that my brother visit another time,” he said carefully as he made his way to a Victorian love seat and sank into it. “My family was against the idea of me moving down here to run Remington Charters. They thought we should sell the Dragonfly and be done with it.”

Allie sat on the other end of the love seat. “So you didn’t leave New York on the best of terms with them?”

“They’d have done just about anything to stop me,” he admitted. “My father believes there’s strength in numbers. He thinks of the Remington family as some modern-day dynasty, and if I’m not a hundred percent with him, I’m against him.”

“Don’t tell me-he’s a lawyer, too.”

Cooper nodded. “So is my brother.”

“I could call Derek back and tell him I made a mistake, that I don’t have any openings. I could suggest he reschedule for another day-sometime after our court date.”

Cooper was frankly surprised Allie would make such a concession. “Who did you say you were when you talked to him?”

“I just said I was with Remington Charters. I didn’t say I was your partner or co-owner, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

The tightness in his stomach eased. That was exactly what he’d worried about. How would he explain a partner to Derek?

“Will the Dragonfly be ready by Wednesday?”

“Otis said tomorrow at noon.” He cleared his throat. “Listen, Allie, I know you don’t owe me, but I need to ask you a favor. When Derek and Sylvia get here, could you…could you maybe not mention Johnny’s other will?”

“How will you explain my presence?” She wanted to know. Clearly she wasn’t prepared to disappear for two days. Not that he could ask her to do that. He wasn’t ready to run the boat by himself yet.

He didn’t suppose she would pretend to be his girlfriend. “You could be my navigator.”

She laughed at that. “Navigator?”

“Derek knows nothing about fishing. We could tell him you’re my official fish-finder, and he probably wouldn’t question it.”

Cooper held his breath. If Allie was looking for a weakness she could exploit, this was it. One word to his brother about the Dragonfly ’s disputed ownership, and Derek would probably throw every resource he had toward helping Allie win. Not that the elderly lawyer she’d hired wasn’t doing a decent job, but neither he nor Allie had the resources of the Remingtons.

“You’re asking me to lie,” she said.

He could have tried to sugarcoat it, but with Allie it was no use. “Yes.” He resisted adding that he could make it worth her while. His tendency to break everything down to dollars and cents was one reason Allie mistrusted him.

“Tell you what,” she said. “I’ll decide after I meet him how much he ought to know.”

“Fair enough.” Cooper felt a sliver of optimism. He could predict with ninety-nine percent certainty that Allie would dislike and distrust Derek on sight. He was arrogant, controlling, and wore a sense of entitlement like a crown prince wore ermine-all of which were qualities Cooper shared, though Cooper liked to think his were balanced by a sense of humor and a shred of compassion for his fellow human beings.

Seeing that Allie had softened her angry stance toward him-and he’d mellowed a bit, too-he almost tried to talk to her again about their weekend together. If he could convince her he hadn’t cooked up some plot to defraud her, would she let him get close again?

Fortunately, the timely arrival of the UPS man prevented him from opening his mouth and doing something stupid.

“Two packages for Cooper Remington,” the deliveryman said.

“That’s me.” Cooper signed for the packages, one small, one very large. As he brought them inside, he saw Allie watching him with undisguised curiosity. “What’s that?”

“Find a box cutter, and you can open it yourself,” he said with a hint of teasing in his voice. He couldn’t wait to see what she thought.

Allie disappeared, but a few moments later she came back with a butcher knife.

Cooper took a step back from the box and held up his hands. “I’ll do better, I promise. Just don’t hurt me with the knife.”

“Ha ha. I couldn’t find a box cutter.” She sliced into the carton. Piles of packing peanuts overflowed onto the carpet as she pulled back the lid, and she yanked more of the messy stuff out by the handful until she saw the contents. “A telescope?”

“For the Champagne Stargazer cruises.”

“Stargazer?”

“I got a brainstorm, and Max changed it on the brochure at the last minute.”

“Ah. No wonder so many families have been interested. I’ve never seen a telescope this big before.” She struggled to lift it out of the box.

He grabbed on to it and she pulled the box and the rest of the clinging foam peanuts off the gleaming black instrument. It was a thing of beauty.

“Will it work on a boat?” she asked. “I mean, it’s not like we can hold the boat still, even in calm water.”

“It’s equipped with an image stabilizer,” Cooper explained. “But I’ve also ordered some smaller, handheld telescopes-since only one person at a time can look through the big one. And check these out.” He used the knife to open the smaller package, extracting the contents and holding them out for Allie’s inspection.

“Glow-in-the-dark star charts. Cool. I think I had one of these when I was a kid.”