Sharon Hartley - Stranded With The Captain

What she wished for...and more!

An adventure is exactly what Cat Sidran wants when she and two friends charter a boat for a sailing trip in the Florida Keys. Throw in a swarthy captain, and Cat has the perfect amount of excitement. Until pirates overtake them, and Captain Javi Rivas reveals himself to be an FBI agent.

Working with Javi gives Cat a thrill like she’s never felt before. She can handle danger for a couple of days if it means saving her friends, but anything longer... She loves her quiet life; Javi thrives on adrenaline. She needs to forget her captain...if that’s even possible.

Cat swallowed. Why was it so hard to breathe?

“Having second thoughts?” Javi asked, his voice soft like a caress.

“No.”

She sucked in a deep breath, placed her palms on his chest and slid her fingers up to his shoulders, stepping so close that their bodies almost touched. She could smell the clean, salty ocean on him, the wine on his breath.

He hesitated, dark eyes troubled, searching her face.

The boat rocked slightly beneath her feet.

She was again losing her chance to do something reckless, to live in the moment. Because she was afraid.

She was always afraid.

She met his gaze, relieved at what she read in his expression. No question the captain wanted her.

Before he could ask something stupid like if she was sure, she placed her lips on his and closed her eyes.

Dear Reader,

Writing Stranded with the Captain allowed me to revisit one of my oldest passions: sailing! My first date with my husband was on a little Sunfish rented from Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove. Something about zipping along the water being propelled by nothing but the wind made me fall in love with Max and sailing and, before life got too complicated, we spent a lot of time on a beloved sloop named Spree. Some of our best vacations were spent exploring the clear waters of Biscayne Bay and the Florida Keys, although the original Spree wasn’t as large or as tricked out as the one Cat and her friends charter in Stranded with the Captain.

We’ve moved to the west coast of Florida now and are looking for a new boat, probably a catamaran because of water depth. We have a new bay to discover, and life is always full of adventures. I’m hopeful—and fairly confident—that we won’t encounter anything as dangerous as Cat and Javi do in the Bahamas, but you never know. After all, Tampa Bay’s most famous festival involves a pirate named Gasparilla!

I hope you enjoy Javi and Cat’s roller-coaster ride as much as I enjoyed writing it. And, please, if you get the opportunity, go for a sail. You just might discover a new love, too.

Namaste,

Sharon

Stranded with the Captain

Sharon Hartley

www.millsandboon.co.uk

SHARON HARTLEY has settled into her new home on the west coast of Florida. She’s found interesting places to volunteer, a new orchid club and loves her TARA (Tampa Area Romance Authors) sisters, who extended a warm welcome to the newcomer. But Sharon is now looking for new adventures. She hopes to sail Florida waters in the winter and travel the USA in an RV in the summer. Have computer (and yoga mat), will travel! There’s nothing like rambling to inspire ideas for fiction, so who knows where her next story will be set. Sharon loves to hear from her readers. Please visit her website at sharonshartley.com.

This story is dedicated to all of my dorm and roommates from the University of Florida, including the “real” Joan and Debbie, two of the dearest friends ever. Such adventures we had!

I learned as much from these classy ladies as from class.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

CAT SIDRAN CAME to a halt and admired dozens of sailboats bobbing in the water around her, one of which would be her home for the next week. The Florida sun warmed her shoulders. A stiff wind clanged rigging against tall aluminum masts, the sound a mysterious promise of adventure. She closed her eyes to listen.

An adventure was exactly what she wanted, what she needed to pry herself out of a boring rut where she never did anything but work.

Although she was safe inside her rut. And she did love her work.

A siren—an ambulance or the police—drowned out the sounds of the rigging.

“Hurry up, Cat. It’s hot out here.”

Opening her eyes, Cat glared at the back of her friend Debbie McMillan, who hurried ahead down the long concrete dock. Deb had done nothing but complain since the start of this trip. When had she become such a whiner?

“What’s the rush?” Cat asked. “We’re on vacation.”

Debbie turned, shading her sunglass-covered eyes with a brochure. “I need to get out of the sun, and so does our food.”

Joan Pastorini stepped beside Cat. “I got the extra sunscreen,” she said, holding up a plastic bag. “SPF fifty.”

“Great. Now can we find Spree?” Deb used the brochure to fan her face. “I’m melting.”

“Are you trying to depress me, Deb?” Cat asked.

Debbie shrugged. “I’m depressed enough for all three of us.”

“But you won’t be much longer,” Joan said. “We’re all going to chill and have fun for the next week.”

“So you keep telling me,” Debbie said. “But I’m not sure there’s enough tequila in all the Keys for that.”

Cat shook her head as Deb hurried down the dock. This adventure wouldn’t be a whole lot of fun if Deb’s attitude didn’t change.

“What’s the slip number for Spree again?” Deb yelled back.

“Was she always like this and I don’t remember?” Cat murmured to Joan.

“I told you she’s changed since the divorce,” Joan whispered back.

Cat watched her friend read the slip numbers. Or maybe this is why Brad left her.

“Slip twenty-eight,” Joan called, catching up to Deb.

“Here she is,” Deb said.

Cat admired the elegant lines of a white-hulled boat floating with its stern toward the dock, allowing her to confirm the name Spree in flowing black script. Two aluminum masts sprouted from the deck, the one in the rear much shorter. To provide shade, the owner had suspended a blue tarp over the opening that led below deck.

“She’s even prettier than the photos,” Joan said.

Cat silently agreed, her spirits lifting, for the first time actually believing Joan’s plan for this sailing charter might work. For the next week, she and her old college roommates planned to relax, catch up and reminisce on board this fifty-foot ketch. More importantly, she and Joan would try to coax Debbie out of the funk she’d been in since her divorce.

“Wow,” Deb said. “Look at the size of the steering wheel.”

The huge stainless-steel wheel in question stood in the center of the cockpit behind the largest mast, where people sat while under way. Cat smiled at her vision of standing behind that wheel with Spree skimming along aqua water beneath billowed white sails.

She’d always wanted to learn to sail, which is how Joan had finally convinced her to participate in this voyage.