Karen Leabo - Man Overboard

www.millsandboon.co.uk

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Epilogue

Harrison Powell leaned against the railing of the Caribbean Mermaid ’s Lido Deck, perusing the stream of passengers boarding below him. His gaze stopped on a tall, slender woman with a short cap of platinum blond hair. “There she is, in the red dress,” he told the man standing beside him.

The other man, James Blair, peered at the woman through binoculars. He issued a low whistle. “That’s her, looking sharp as ever. I can’t believe she’s fifty-eight years old. I thought she was more like forty-five.”

“A face lift never hurts,” Harrison said. His investigation into Aurora Cheevers’s background had uncovered numerous interesting facts about her in addition to the cosmetic surgery. She’d been married and divorced four times; she was addicted to playing the Florida Lottery; and she had a twenty-seven-year-old daughter, Paige, who was even prettier than her mother, though in a much more subtle way.

The most fascinating fact about Aurora, however, was that her extravagant life-style far exceeded her income. Which lent credence to his theory that she was the Caribbean Mermaid ’s jewel thief, the one he’d been hired to catch before any adverse publicity could get out.

“Would you stop staring at Aurora through those binoculars?” Harrison said, scowling at James, the ship’s security director. A lot of pressure had been put on James to put an end to the daring thefts, which was why he’d hired Harrison.

“She’s worth staring at, even if she is old enough to be my mother,” James replied in a distracted tone. “Nice legs. You’ll have some competition, I guarantee.”

Harrison grimaced at the reminder of the plan he and James had agreed on. Aurora had a known penchant for younger men. Harrison intended to take advantage of that fact, playing the ardent suitor in order to stay close to her. If he couldn’t catch her in the act, he intended to get inside her cabin and find conclusive evidence that she was the thief he sought.

James had wanted to simply wait for a theft to occur, then search Aurora’s cabin. The ship’s captain could authorize it. But the captain was adamant about protecting his passengers’ privacy. He would not move against Aurora until he saw compelling evidence indicating she was the culprit. It was up to Harrison to provide that evidence.

The role of suitor wasn’t one he looked forward to. His work usually involved behind-the-scenes investigation for the large security firm he worked for, not undercover jobs. But sometimes he didn’t have a choice in which jobs he accepted. This was one of those times.

A younger woman standing next to Aurora caught Harrison’s attention. He couldn’t tell much from this distance, but...no, wait a minute. She did look familiar—petite and shapely, auburn hair that hung thick and rich past her shoulders, a generous mouth.

“Give me those binoculars,” he said, nearly jerking James’s head off as he made a grab for the glasses while the strap was still around the other man’s neck. The moment he observed the magnified image of the woman, his suspicions were confirmed. “That’s Aurora’s daughter, Paige Stovall. What’s she doing here? I thought Aurora always traveled alone.”

“She does. I didn’t know she had a daughter.”

“That’s why you hired me.”

“Are you sure that’s her?”

“I’m sure,” Harrison answered grimly. He’d only seen her once, from a distance, during the two weeks he’d had Aurora under surveillance. But he’d seen enough of Paige to know she was the sort of woman who made his knees go weak, not to mention any good intentions he might have.

Green eyes, freckles and old-fashioned curves. The combination was lethal to his libido.

James reclaimed his binoculars. “She doesn’t look much like her mother, but she’s not bad, either. Damn. Do you think this will foul things up? Aurora might not want to risk stealing jewelry with her daughter around.”

“I’ll just have to keep the daughter conveniently out of the way, somehow.”

“I could distract her.”

The suggestive note in James’s voice set Harrison’s teeth on edge. He appraised the man anew. James was the sort a lot of women went for. He wasn’t a large man, but he was blond and pretty-boy handsome, clean-cut without even the shadow of a beard. He might be able to turn Paige’s head.

“No, James, forget it. Acting a role is a lot trickier than it sounds. I don’t want either woman’s suspicions to be even mildly aroused.”

“Who says I’d be acting?” James countered, again peering toward the boarding passengers. “Blondes are more my style, but this chick is tolerable. And it’s not suspicions I’d like to arouse.”

Harrison closed his eyes and silently counted to ten. “James, this might be our only chance to catch Aurora Cheevers. Do not, I repeat, do not, screw this up.”

He studied Paige once more. The wind molded her pistachio green skirt to her shapely legs and teased her auburn curls. Holding her hair away from her face with one hand, she laughed at something her mother said.

Harrison’s mouth went dry. Tolerable? Paige was undeniably gorgeous, yet she carried an air of innocence about her that was endlessly appealing to Harrison. Too bad his job was to entrap her mother and send her to jail.

* * *

Paige Stovall hated every square inch of the Caribbean Mermaid before the ship had even cleared the Miami dock. She couldn’t tolerate a lot of sun, she wasn’t much good at shuffleboard, and the idea of Las Vegas-style shows made her long for her own bed and a good book.

And then there was the seasickness.

“Did you take your motion sickness pills?” Aurora asked.

“Yes, Mother.”

“Paige,” Aurora huffed, “don’t call me that. I don’t want anyone to know I’m old enough to have a twenty-seven-year-old daughter. For this week I’m not a day over forty-five, and you’re my niece.”

Paige could only shake her head as she hung her new clothes in the surprisingly roomy closet of their first-class suite. She had to admit their quarters were more luxurious than she would have guessed possible aboard a ship. They even had a small veranda.

Her mother’s room was on the other side of a connecting door. She’d tried to get Aurora to share a single cabin, but Aurora had ruled that out immediately. What if one of them had a guest? she’d discreetly pointed out.

That’s just what Paige was worried about. Aurora was definitely on the prowl—husband hunting again. Every time she went on a cruise, she came home married, or nearly so. Paige was determined her mother was not going to hook up with another loser.

Aurora eyed her daughter’s simple green skirt and cotton print blouse, then pursed her lips disapprovingly. “You’re not going to the cocktail party like that, are you?”

“What’s wrong with this?” Paige asked defensively.

“Well, nothing, if you’re teaching school. But this is a cruise. Liven up, girl! Put on one of those cute outfits I bought for you. First impressions are essential. You want to make an impact during the first official cruise function, start carving out your territory.” As she spoke, she pawed through Paige’s closet.

Paige wondered what Aurora meant by carving out territory.

“Now this—this is perfect,” Aurora said, pulling from the closet a crisp, white shorts outfit trimmed in navy blue piping. “I have a little navy straw hat that’ll go perfectly. Wait right here.” She thrust the outfit at Paige and disappeared through the connecting door.