Heather Graham - Protector, Lover...Husband?

“Summer is always slower than winter. Northerners stay home and sweat in their own states during the summer,” she reminded him.

He grinned. “Maybe, but we usually get a bigger Florida crowd around here than we’ve been getting lately.”

She glanced at the TV above the bar. “Is something going on now? I haven’t seen any alerts. The last tropical storm out veered north, right?”

“Yep. Now there’s a new babe on the horizon. She just reached tropical-storm status, and she’s been named Dahlia, but they think she’s heading north, too. They think she might reach hurricane status sometime, but that she’ll be off the Carolinas by then. Still, people don’t seem to be venturing out as much as usual. Thank God you bring your guests over here. Right now, frankly, you’re helping me survive.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure business will pick up,” she assured him.

“I see your ex is here. It’s always good for business when he shows up here. Word gets out, makes people feel like they’re coming to a real ‘in’ place. Still, it’s kind of a surprise to see him. You all right?”

“Of course. We’re still friends on a professional level,” Alex said.

“You know what I think?” Warren asked her.

“What?”

He leaned low against the bar. “I think he came here for you.”

“Mmm,” she said. Me, and whatever excitement and treasure Alicia had in store, she thought, but she remained silent on the subject.

Then she asked, “Warren, you know who Alicia Farr is, right? Has she been around?”

“Nope, not that I’ve heard about.”

“Well, thanks.”

“Who’s the blond Atlas with your ex?” Warren asked.

“Tourist.”

“Not your typical tourist,” Warren commented, wiping a bar glass dry.

“No, I agree.” She shrugged. “Thanks, Warren,” she told him. The place was thatch-roofed and open, but she suddenly needed more air. She took her beer and headed outside. She walked along the attached dock, where the dive boat had pulled in, came to the end and looked out at the water, studying the Icarus.

She wasn’t docked; David had anchored her and come in by way of the dinghy. A moment’s nostalgia struck her. She had really loved the Icarus , and she did feel a pang that the beautiful sailing vessel wasn’t a part of her existence anymore.

She had fair compensation in her life, she knew. Diving, here off the Florida coast, would always be a joy, no matter who was on the tour. And she had her dolphins. They might actually belong to the corporation that owned Moon Bay, but they were her babies. Shania, especially. Wounded, just treated and beginning to heal when Alex had come on board, the adolescent dolphin was her favorite—though, naturally, she’d never let the other dolphins know. But she felt as if she and Shania had gained trust and strength at the same time. She had noticed that Shania followed her sometimes. One night, sipping a drink at the Tiki Hut, she had looked up to find the dolphin, nose above the surface, watching her from the lagoon.

And she had learned to live alone. By the end of her whirlwind one-year marriage to David, she had been alone most of the time anyway. Her choice, she reminded herself in fairness. But he never wanted to stay in one place, and she had longed to establish a real base, a real home. Too many times, he had been with a woman who shared his need for constant adventure. Like Alicia Farr. And she had let the doubts slip in and take over. When she had filed the papers and he hadn’t said a single word, she had forced herself to accept the truth—she wasn’t what he wanted or needed. He had Alicia, and others like her.

He had been planning on meeting Alicia at Moon Bay. And now he suspected she was dead.

With that thought, she dug into the canvas bag she’d brought ashore, found her cell and called the sheriff’s office. She was certain she was going to have to leave a message, but Nigel Thompson’s assistant put her right through.

“Hey, Alex.”

“Hey, Nigel. I’m sorry to bother you, but…I’m concerned.”

“Of course. But listen, I checked all the ferry records. No one’s missing. Everyone who checked into Moon Bay is alive and well and accounted for. And all the daytrippers and people who checked out of Moon Bay were on the ferries out. Usually there are people in their own boats who come by way of the Moon Bay marina, but not yesterday.”

“Thanks, Nigel,” she murmured.

“Alex?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t think you’re easily fooled. I sent some men out last evening to walk the grounds. But they didn’t find anything.”

“Thank you, Nigel. I guess…I don’t know. Thank you anyway.”

“Sure thing.”

She snapped the phone closed.

She nearly jumped a mile when a hand fell on her shoulder. She spun around, spilling half her beer.

It was just Jeb.

“Sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I saw you go out, so I followed. Want to wander into a few shops with me? I need a tie.”

“You need a tie?”

He grimaced. “A friend is getting married up in Palm Beach next week. I’ve got the makings of a suit, but I don’t own a single tie.”

Her own thoughts were driving her crazy, but she couldn’t think of a rational step she could take to solve any of her dilemmas. Might as well go tie shopping.

“So…where’s that new girl of yours, David?” Seth asked.

They hadn’t been there long; but Seth Granger had already consumed five or six drinks—island concoctions made with three shots each.

David had never particularly liked the guy to begin with, and with a few drinks in him, he was pretty much completely obnoxious.

“New girl?” David asked.

“Alicia Farr. Fair Alicia. Since the wife threw you over after all those pictures of the two of you came out, I figured the two of you were an item. She isn’t here with you, huh? I heard tell she had something up her sleeve and was going to be around these parts. Word is she learned something from that old geezer who died a while back. Danny Fuller.”

David wondered if Seth Granger was really drunk or was just pretending to be. He’d spent the day listening, waiting for one of his guests to ask the right question, make the right slip. No go. They might have been any four good old boys out for a day on the water.

But now…

“Sorry, Seth. Alicia and I were never an item. We team up now and then for work. We have a lot of the same interests, that’s all. There’s no reason for her to be at Moon Bay.”

“Actually, there was an article about her in the news a few weeks back. Of course, it was in one those supermarket tabloids, so…Anyway, the headline was something like Dying Mogul Gives Secrets to Beauty Who’s a Beast. The writer seemed to think she’d been hanging on him hoping to get news on any unclaimed treasure he might know about. There was a definite suggestion that she was coming to the Keys.”

Jay Galway thumped his beer stein on the table a little too hard. “So why do you think she was headed for Moon Bay? There are two dozen islands in the Keys.”

“That’s true enough,” David said, eyeing John Seymore. “So you’re up on the movements of Alicia Farr, too, huh?” he inquired, forcing a bit of humor into his voice.

“I’m a wannabe, I admit,” John said ruefully.

“I know what it takes to be a SEAL,” David commented. “I can’t imagine you’re a wannabe anything.”

“Not like me, huh?” Seth Granger demanded, giving David a slap on the back that caught him totally unaware and awakened every fighting reaction inside him.

He checked his temper. “Hell, Granger, with your money? I doubt you’re a wannabe anything, either.”