Sharon Kendrick - Kat's Pride

Kat hadn’t carried her own bags since she’d been expelled from her last school. These were heavy and they were cumbersome—and on the too-high shoes she was wearing, it wasn’t the easiest task in the world to walk across the gleaming deck with any degree of grace.

If that was bad, then it suddenly began to get worse because just then they arrived at her cabin—and Kat looked around in disbelief. It had been ages since she’d stayed on a yacht, but in the past she had always been given the best and most prestigious accommodation available. Something near the deck, where you could climb out of bed and wander straight outside in the morning and be confronted by the ever-moving splendour of the sea. Or somewhere a little farther down towards the centre of the vessel—which meant that you were in the most stable part of the boat and buffeted from the possibility of too much movement.

But this.

Kat looked around. It was tiny. A cramped little bunk and barely any wardrobe space. No pictures on the walls and, even worse, no porthole ! And someone had actually left a drab-looking piece of clothing hanging on the back of the door! She dropped her bags to the ground and turned to the man. ‘Listen—’

‘The name’s Mike,’ he interrupted. ‘Mike Price.’

She wanted to tell him that his name was of no interest to her and that by the time the day was out he would be looking for a new job, but right then there were more pressing matters on her mind than the man’s crass inefficiency and overinflated sense of his own importance. Kat took in a deep breath. ‘I think there’s been some sort of mistake,’ she said crisply.

‘How come?’

‘This cabin is much too small.’

‘It’s the one you’ve been assigned.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Better take it up with the boss.’

Kat gritted her teeth. If only she knew who the boss was! But by now she knew she couldn’t possibly lose face by asking this unhelpful man. ‘I don’t think you understand—’

‘No, I don’t think you understand,’ interrupted the engineer brusquely. ‘The boss likes his staff to put up and shut up—that’s why he pays them so well.’

‘But I’m not a member of staff,’ she protested. ‘I’m a guest here.’

The man’s eyes narrowed and then he laughed—as if she’d made some weird kind of joke. ‘I don’t think so. Or at least, that’s not what I’ve been told.’

Kat felt the first tremor of apprehension. ‘What are you talking about?’

Jerking his head in the direction of the garment which had caught her attention when she’d first walked in, Mike reached out and plucked it from the hook before handing it to her.

Kat looked at it blankly. ‘What’s this?’

‘What’s it look like?’

It took her a moment to realise—since it wasn’t an item of clothing she was familiar with. ‘An…an apron ?’ Momentarily, Kat’s fingers tightened around the heavy fabric before she pushed it back at him, her heart beating wildly. ‘What the hell is going on?’

Mike frowned. ‘I think you’d better follow me.’

What could she do, other than what he suggested? Start unpacking all her expensive clothes and attempt to start storing them away in that rabbit’s hutch of a room? Or maybe she should do what her gut instinct was telling her—which was to get off the wretched boat and forget about the whole idea of a holiday at sea.

She began to follow him through a maze of wood-lined corridors until at last he threw open a set of double doors and Kat quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Now this was more like it.

The room in which she now stood was the polar opposite of the poky cabin she’d just been shown. This had the enormous dimensions she was used to—a grand dining salon set out on almost palatial lines. Inlaid lights twinkled from the ceiling, but these were eclipsed by the blaze of natural light which flooded in through sliding French windows which opened up on to the deck itself.

There was a dining table which would have comfortably seated twelve people—though Kat noticed that only two places had been laid and used. Various open bottles were lined along the gleaming surface and candle wax had dripped all over a bone-china plate. At its centre was a beautiful blue-glass platter of exotic fruits and next to it sat a crystal goblet of flat champagne along with a carelessly abandoned chocolate wrapper.

Kat’s lips pursed into a disapproving circle—wondering why on earth a member of staff hadn’t bothered to clear it away. ‘What a disgusting mess,’ she observed quietly.

‘Isn’t it?’ agreed Mike, laughing. ‘The boss sure likes to party when he parties!’

So at least she now knew that the ‘boss’ was a man. And an untidy man, by the look of things. With a sudden smooth purring of powerful engines, the boat began to move—and Kat’s eyes widened in surprise. But before she could register her inexplicable panic that they were setting sail so soon, something happened to wipe every thought clean from her mind.

The first was the sight of a bikini top—a flimsy little excuse for a garment in a shimmering gold material which was lying in a discarded heap on the polished oak floor. It was a blatant symbol of decadence and sex and, for a couple of seconds, the blood rushed hotly into her cheeks before she allowed herself to concentrate on the second.

Because the second was a photo of a man.

Kat’s heart thundered as she stared at it—recognition hit her like a short sharp slap to the face.

The man in the photo must have been barely out of his teens, yet already his face was sombre and hardened by experience. Black eyes stared defiantly straight into the lens of the camera, and his sensual lips curved an expression which was undeniably formidable.

He was wearing a lavishly embroidered glittering jacket, skintight trousers and some kind of dark and formal hat. It was an image which was unfamiliar and yet instantly recognisable—and it took a few moments for Kat to realise that this was the traditional garb of the bullfighter. But that realisation seemed barely relevant in the light of the horror which was slowly beginning to dawn on her.

That she was staring at a likeness of the young Carlos Guerrero.

Trying to conceal the shaking of her hands, she turned to Mike.

‘Whose boat is this?’ she croaked.

Mike’s blond head was jerked in the direction of the photo, and he smiled. ‘His.’

‘C-Carlos?’ Even saying his name sent shivers down her spine—just as the memory of his harsh words lancing through her still had the power to wound. ‘Carlos Guerrero?’

‘Sure. Who else?’ Mike’s expression grew even more curious. ‘You didn’t know?’

Of course she didn’t know! If she had known, then she would never have set foot on the damned vessel—why, she wouldn’t have gone within a million miles of it! But there was no way she was going to enlighten this smirking engineer about her misgivings, or the reason for them. She needed to assert her authority and get onto dry land again.

‘I think there’s been some kind of mix-up,’ she said, her smooth tone belying the fast beating of her heart and sudden sense of urgency. ‘And I’d like to go ashore. Please.’

‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible.’

Kat’s eyes narrowed. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Well, Carlos told me that a new domestic was arriving—and that her name was Kat Balfour.’

One word reverberated around the room and she repeated it, just in case she had misheard it. ‘Domestic?’ she repeated incredulously.

‘Sure. You’re Kat Balfour and there’s six hungry crew on board.’ He smiled. ‘And we need someone to clean up after us and make our meals, don’t we?’