Karen Leabo - Man Overboard

“Mind if we sit down?” a voice beside her asked.

Paige almost swallowed whole the strawberry she’d just popped into her mouth. He was here, Mr. Gorgeous, sans the brunette. He stared at her with those warm brown eyes, his gaze checking her out in a most unbrotherly way, roaming from the top of her head to her waist and back up, lingering on her full breasts. Her nipples tightened reflexively, and she could only hope they didn’t show.

Her face grew warm as she struggled for something clever and sophisticated to say.

“Please, join us,” Aurora said, easing over the awkward moment. “I just love meeting new people on these cruises. I’m Aurora Cheevers, and this is my niece, Paige Stovall.”

Both men nodded and sat down, offering their names, as well. The tall one was Harrison Powell, a name that seemed to fit perfectly; the shorter, blond man was James something. Paige didn’t like the way James looked at her, although his gaze certainly wasn’t as bold as Harrison’s had been.

“Is this your first cruise?” Aurora asked both men, but her eyes focused on Harrison. She tapped a cigarette out of a pack she’d pulled from her purse and inserted it into a holder. Harrison took her lighter and flicked it, cupping his hand around the flame to protect it from the wind.

Aurora touched his hand briefly to steady it, then smiled, a sly, cat’s-in-the-cream smile Paige had seen a hundred times.

Inwardly Paige sighed. Her mother sure didn’t waste much time.

“Actually, this is my first cruise,” Harrison said. “And you?”

Aurora gave a throaty laugh. “Oh, my goodness, I’ve lost track of the number of cruises I’ve been on. I’m positively addicted to the Caribbean. But this is Paige’s first, isn’t it, dear?”

“Yes. Mmm-hmm.” Brilliant. Her mind felt like it was on novocaine.

“And what about you, James?” Aurora asked. “I do believe you look familiar to me.”

“I work for Mermaid Cruise Line, in administration,” he said with a charming smile. “I’m usually holed up in the offices down in the bowels of the ship, and I don’t often get to socialize with the passengers. My loss.” He looked at Paige as he said this.

Oh, brother, she thought. This James obviously believed he was a real smooth operator. Well, he could just operate on someone else. She wasn’t interested.

Now, Harrison was another story.

“What made you decide to come on a cruise?” Aurora asked Harrison.

“Actually, I’m thinking of investing in the Mermaid Line. But I never put my money into something without thoroughly investigating it first.” He shrugged. “This is part of the investigation.”

“And do you like what you see so far?” Aurora asked.

“Very much.”

Aurora’s and Harrison’s gazes locked for a brief interlude. But not so brief that Paige didn’t see what was going on. Her mother was in the process of making another conquest.

The realization hit Paige in the stomach. It shouldn’t bother her, really. Men were always attracted to Aurora. Men fell in love with Aurora. They flocked around her in crowds, vying for her attention. She was so sweet and easy to be with, they said. Instinctively she knew just how to make them feel handsome and desirable and utterly masculine.

Paige had witnessed it dozens of times. Why, then, did it suddenly bother her so much? Was it because the object of Aurora’s attention just happened to be the one man on this whole godforsaken ship that interested Paige?

Feelings Paige thought she had long ago dealt with rushed to the surface. The incident with Curtis Rittenour hadn’t been Aurora’s fault, she reminded herself. Aurora had just been her usual bubbly, charming self.

Curtis had been an older man—all of thirty-four to Paige’s star-struck twenty-three—and a sophisticated, wealthy doctor. Paige had been convinced he was her destiny. The man had showered her with attention. He’d seemed very pleased when Paige had nervously invited him to travel to Ft. Lauderdale with her from Miami, where she was in graduate school, and meet her mother.

Poor Curtis. He hadn’t even had a chance. The moment he’d set eyes on Aurora, he’d fallen in love with the swiftness of a diver leaping from the high board—although without the grace.

To her credit, Aurora had not encouraged him in any way. But Aurora didn’t have to encourage. Smitten, Curtis had pursued her relentlessly to the point of buying her a diamond ring. Never mind that Aurora had made it clear she did not reciprocate his feelings. It had taken Bobby’s intervention to get rid of the guy.

All that was ancient history, Paige reminded herself. But the remembered pain brought on by Curtis’s betrayal still could give her a twinge now and then.

Like now. Only this was more than a twinge.

Harrison laughed at something Aurora said. It was a low, full-bodied laugh that skittered pleasurably up and down Paige’s nerve endings, bringing goosebumps to her arms. His lips were full and sensual, his teeth even and white.

The man Aurora had identified as Doc Waller wandered up and joined their party. Within moments he was hanging on Aurora’s every word. Even James, who earlier had been looking at Paige with something akin to interest, seemed to have forgotten her existence. She felt utterly invisible.

This was ridiculous, she told herself. There was no reason in the world she should begrudge her mother’s enjoyment. If anything, she should be overjoyed that the object of Aurora’s attentions appeared to be a wealthy and stable man, not some penniless fortune hunter.

Of course, appearances could be deceiving.

Paige stood abruptly. “I hope you’ll all excuse me, but this afternoon sun is so strong, it’s given me a headache. I think I’ll go lie down for a while.”

She tried to stand and make a graceful exit, but her purse got hung up on her chair. A gusty breeze nearly unseated her hat. The last thing she saw before she managed to disentangle herself and make her ungainly escape was Harrison, watching her, obviously amused.

Harrison turned his attention back to Aurora, but his thoughts were with Paige. What was troubling her? he wondered. He’d gotten the distinct impression that she wasn’t ill so much as irritated.

Aurora’s gaze was locked on the retreating form of her daughter. “Now I wonder what’s eating her?” she asked with a worried frown, echoing Harrison’s thoughts. “Maybe I should go check on her. She’s prone to seasickness.”

James stood up. “I’ll see that she gets back to her cabin all right.”

“And I’ve got plenty of seasick pills with me,” Doc Waller added, starting to rise also.

“Oh, please, don’t bother,” Aurora argued amiably. “Besides, James, I have a million questions I want to ask you about running a big cruise ship like this one. It must be fascinating work. And you, Doc—the last thing you need is to be taking care of sick people on your vacation. But maybe...” She batted her eyelashes at Harrison. “Would you mind, Harrison, seeing that my niece makes it safely back to her cabin? We’re on the Marlin Deck.”

“Sure, I’d be happy to.” Happier than he’d like to admit. He was supposed to be romancing Aurora, but that was a damned impossible task with her daughter sitting across the table. Now that Paige was out of the way he should lay it on thick. But all he could think about was running after her to find out what the problem was.

Well, Aurora had asked him to do it, he reasoned. And he wanted to please her, right?

“I’ll be back.” He gave her what he hoped was a charming smile as he stood and turned to make his escape.

Harrison had no trouble catching up to Paige. She had paused at the buffet table to sample some Brie cheese on a cracker.