Churning Seas

by Lily Harper Hart

  “Okay.” Rowan wasn’t one to argue with Quinn’s instincts. “I’ll get the photographs and then head over to the tiki bar so I can upload them to a private file. You’ll be able to find me over there. It’s getting too hot to stand out in the sun like this.”

  “I’ll be over there soon. I just want to ask a few more questions and then I’ll join you. Have an iced tea waiting for me, huh?”

  “Absolutely.”

  ROWAN WAS A SWEATY mess by the time she slid into the relative shade of the tiki bar and started fanning herself with her hand. Demarcus was amused as he automatically brought her a glass of iced tea, taking the seat next to her without invitation.

  “You look hot, baby.”

  Rowan rolled her eyes. “It’s steaming out there. I know it’s Florida and all but ... good grief. I grew up in Michigan and we had a lot of humidity in the summer. We always look forward to it because of the brutal winters, though. Whatever is going on out there today is painful.”

  “I think another storm is brewing,” Demarcus volunteered, curious as he watched Rowan plug the memory card from her camera into her computer. “What are you doing?”

  “Oh, well ... .” Rowan wasn’t sure how to answer. Quinn never said anything about sharing his request with others on the ship. Still, Demarcus was a good friend and her head was pounding hard enough thanks to the humidity that she felt too frazzled to come up with an appropriate lie.

  “Is something going on?” Demarcus asked automatically. “That was a simple question and yet you’re acting as if I asked you to take off your bra.”

  Rowan was mortified by the offhand comment. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

  “I say a lot worse things throughout the day. Trust me.”

  “Still, it’s ridiculous. I’m going to tell Quinn you said it.”

  Instead of quaking in fear, Demarcus snickered. “Go ahead. I’m not afraid of him.”

  “You’re not afraid of who?” Quinn asked, appearing out of nowhere from the left and causing Demarcus to practically jump out of his skin. “What are you guys talking about? Oh, and where is my iced tea? I think I’m dying and you said you would have some waiting for me.”

  “No, you said I would have some waiting for you,” Rowan corrected, handing over her own glass so Quinn could guzzle until there was nothing left but ice. “Wow. You’re thirsty.”

  “It’s freaking hot,” Quinn complained, wiping his forearm against his brow. “What’s worse is that it’s so humid it feels as if we’re sitting in a sauna. I don’t like it.”

  “And here I thought I was being whiny for complaining,” Rowan teased.

  “You’re never whiny.” Quinn winked at her. “What were you guys talking about, by the way? Demarcus said he wasn’t afraid of anyone. I’m confused who he was supposed to be afraid of.”

  Demarcus shot Rowan a warning look before hopping to his feet. “I’ll get you guys more iced tea. In fact, I’ll get you a whole pitcher. It’s not as if I’m doing anything else and you guys are clearly dehydrated.”

  “Okay.” Quinn furrowed his brow as he watched his friend scurry away. “What’s his problem?”

  “He made an off-color joke about me taking off my bra and now he’s afraid you’re going to punch him.”

  “Oh.” Quinn tilted his head to the side, considering. “It’s really hot. Do I have to beat him up?”

  Delighted, Rowan giggled. “No. He didn’t mean it as a challenge to your territory.”

  “I figured.” Quinn kicked back in his chair and pressed the sweaty empty glass to his forehead. “I am curious why it came up.”

  “Because he asked me what I was doing and I was so hot and tired I was floundering my way through an answer,” Rowan admitted. “He said something like ‘it’s not as if I asked you to take off your bra’ and then you showed up, for which I will be forever grateful.”

  “Cute answer.” Quinn blew her a kiss. “As for the photos, have you loaded them up?”

  “I just started.”

  “Okay. Let me know when you’re done.” Quinn fanned his face and pinned Demarcus with an unreadable look as the affable bartender approached with more drinks. “I can’t believe you asked my girlfriend to take off her bra. Do you want me to thump you?”

  Demarcus groaned as he lobbed a hateful look at Rowan. “I can’t believe you told him. That was a joke.”

  “And so is this,” Rowan pointed out, pouring herself more iced tea so she could immediately drink half the glass. “He’s just messing with you.”

  “It’s easier to mess with you from here than get up and chase you around,” Quinn pointed out. “As for the bra thing ... well ... I would appreciate it if my girlfriend’s bra didn’t come up during normal conversation. I know that might date me as some overprotective Neanderthal, but it’s weird.”

  “No problem.” Demarcus mock-saluted as he sat. “She still didn’t answer me, though. I have no idea why you guys took photographs.”

  “We took photos because I don’t trust all the players here,” Quinn replied without hesitation. “Jasper Fitzgerald looked right into our faces and lied. He knew who the dead guy was. He covered pretty well, but he has a tell.”

  “That squinting thing he did with his eyes?” Rowan queried, emulating the look herself and causing Quinn to snort. “Yeah. I caught that, too. It’s probably good that he’s a businessman and not a poker player.”

  “So you had Rowan take photographs of oil company bigwigs?” Demarcus queried, confused. “What do you plan on doing with those photographs?”

  “I plan on running a standard search, which is easy and non-invasive. If I come up with nothing, then I have a friend capable of doing a more in-depth search. I might have zero jurisdiction here, but I’m dying to know exactly what it is that happened. I’m guessing it’s bigger than a simple rescue at sea.”

  “Well, I saw that rig from the lobby door,” Demarcus said. “Whatever happened out there, it wasn’t naturally occurring. Oil rigs do not simply buckle that way.”

  Quinn tilted his head, intrigued. “How do you know about oil rigs?”

  Demarcus shrugged, unperturbed. “I grew up on the Gulf of Mexico. My father worked on offshore rigs until his health forced him to retire. I know quite a bit about the oil business, including the fact that I never wanted that life ... which is why I became a bartender.”

  “Well, I might bend your ear on that later,” Quinn said. “For now, I just want the photos so we can run them.”

  “It seems like a lot of work for an investigation that’s not technically yours, but knock yourself out.” Demarcus stood as one of Larry Lincoln’s minions appeared under the overhang. “Can I help you?”

  “Yes, I was wondering if I might trouble you for some drinks out on the deck. It’s getting uncomfortable and I would hate for anyone to pass out.”

  “Absolutely.” Demarcus bobbed his head. “I will send trays out right away.”

  “Thank you.”

  Demarcus disappeared behind the counter to do the big boss’s bidding, leaving Rowan and Quinn to peruse the photos themselves. Now that they were out of the sun’s harmful rays, Rowan felt a little better.

  “I was getting a monster headache out there, but it’s going away.”

  “I was, too.” Quinn moved his hand to the back of Rowan’s neck so he could rub away her discomfort. “Are you sure you got everybody with both groups?”

  Rowan cocked an eyebrow. “Are you questioning my ability to follow simple instructions?”

  “No. I just want to make sure. They’re not going to be out there much longer. We might not get this opportunity again.”

  “Don’t worry. I got everyone.” Rowan turned her attention to her computer screen. “It will take me a few minutes to sort through all the photos and discard the duds. I’ll make sure that you have copies of all the photos so you can obsess over them tonight.”

  Quinn let loose a low whistle. “Someone is crabby.”

  “Yeah
. You.”

  “I’m not crabby.”

  “You just insinuated I couldn’t be trusted to take simple photographs of a seven-person team.”

  Quinn frowned. “I did not ... and it’s six people.”

  “Seven.”

  “Six.”

  “Seven.”

  Quinn’s lips tipped down further. “Are you saying I can’t count?”

  “I’m saying it’s seven people,” Rowan shot back, turning her computer screen so Quinn could view it. “See. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.” She scrolled between faces and stopped on each one individually.

  “Huh.” Quinn was sheepish. “I thought that guy was with Larry.”

  “No, Larry has his own contingency. I got all them, too.”

  “Well ... good.” Quinn pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead as he debated how to proceed. “As for miscounting ... .”

  “You can make it up to me later when you give me the world’s best massage for an hour.”

  “That sounds like a plan.” Quinn leaned closer and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’m sorry about being grumpy.”

  Even though her agitation refused to simply disappear, Rowan could do nothing but sigh and nod. “We’re both tired because of the heat. It’s sucking the life out of us. I say, the second these people leave, we go back to my room and climb into bed for the rest of the night. We’ll turn up the air conditioning and watch some movie with a blizzard while we try to cool off ... naked.”

  Despite himself, Quinn barked out a laugh. “That sounds like the best offer I’ve had all day.”

  “Good.”

  “We can’t do that, though.”

  Rowan was taken aback. “What do you mean?”

  “I called my friend Fred Delmore. I’ve told you about him. He’s the private security consultant who helps me occasionally. I made plans to meet him for dinner.”

  “Oh.” Even though she wasn’t the type of woman to begrudge Quinn a life outside their relationship, Rowan couldn’t stop herself from feeling a bit disgruntled. She was under the impression Quinn wanted to spend time with her but apparently that wasn’t the case. “That’s okay.” She adopted a chilly tone. “I’ll do the blizzard movie thing by myself.”

  Quinn stared at her for a long beat. “I think you’re misunderstanding what I’m saying.”

  “No, I’m not. You have dinner plans. It’s fine. I don’t feel all that well anyway.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to take some aspirin and suck it up.” Quinn was firm as he regarded her. “Fred has many interesting skills. One of them is that he’s a code breaker.”

  Realization dawned on Rowan. “Oh.”

  “Oh.” Quinn mocked her with a wide-eyed stare as he leaned forward so she had no choice but to look directly into his eyes. “Did you really think I was going to abandon you for the night?”

  “I don’t know,” Rowan admitted. “My head does hurt and things haven’t been going my way today.”

  “Well, that was never going to happen.” Quinn gave her a soft kiss. “I want Fred to look at the letter from Nick. I checked when I had a few minutes and my search program came up empty. We’re going to need help.”

  “I can’t believe you even remembered the search,” Rowan said. “With everything else going on, I would’ve thought that was the last thing on your mind.”

  “Yes, well, you’re always the first thing on my mind no matter what is going on.”

  “Very cute.”

  “I know.” Quinn kissed her again. “I don’t want your ego getting too big, so I’m going to tell you the second part of this, too. I want Fred to run the photographs you took through his search engine. It’s the same as mine — and is extremely powerful — but won’t ding on any internal firewalls. I don’t want Larry to know I’m including his staff in my search.”

  “Why are you doing that?” Rowan asked. “I mean ... what’s the point?”

  “I just want to cover my bases.”

  “Fair enough.” Rowan turned her full attention to the computer screen. “I’ll get everything put together, including copies of the rig worker photos. Do you want me to put them on a flash drive?”

  “I will kiss the crap out of you later if you do.”

  “I’m going to want more than that.”

  “Done.”

  “I have plenty of flash drives. It won’t be a problem. In fact ... .” Rowan trailed off as something grabbed her attention.

  Quinn was instantly alert. “What? What do you see?”

  Rowan extended a finger toward the screen. “It’s the omen.”

  “What?” Quinn knit his eyebrows as he shifted his chair so he could look at the screen with Rowan. While he’d initially been skeptical when she admitted her ability to him not long after they met, all of that changed when he saw the omen himself ... and then witnessed the power associated with it. Now he didn’t as much as blink when he saw it. “That’s Jasper Fitzgerald.”

  “It is,” Rowan agreed. “He’s going to die.”

  “I don’t know what to do about that,” Quinn admitted. “It’s not as if he’s staying on the ship. Usually when these things pop up we have time to figure them out, work together to fight them. Fitzgerald isn’t staying on this ship. We’re not going to have easy access to him.”

  “So ... you want to do nothing?”

  “I didn’t say that.” Quinn rubbed the back of his neck, frustrated. “That doesn’t mean I know what to do, Ro,” he said finally. “I can’t very well contact Fitzgerald’s security detail and explain that my magical girlfriend saw an omen in a photograph and they need to lock their boss in a bubble-wrapped room to keep him safe for the foreseeable future. They’ll think I’m crazy ... and then call Larry and tell him I’m crazy.”

  “Welcome to my world.”

  “Yeah, well, I need to think.” Quinn exhaled heavily as he slowly let his eyes drift around the room, an audible gasp escaping when his gaze landed on Sally.

  The woman stood four feet away, her gaze locked on Rowan’s computer. Her features were ashen, her eyes accusatory, and Quinn had no doubt she’d heard everything they’d said about Rowan’s secret.

  “Sally, whatever you heard ... .” Quinn moved to lurch to his feet.

  Rowan was horrified when she realized what was happening. “Oh, no.”

  “Stay right there.” Sally extended a finger, her fury palpable. “Don’t come any closer.”

  “It’s not what you think, Sally.” Rowan felt helpless as she held her hands palms up. “I can explain.”

  “You can explain, huh?” Sally looked more hurt than angry, which was enough to give Rowan pause. “You can explain why you’ve been hiding a big secret from me even though we were supposed to be friends?”

  “What did you hear?” Quinn asked, briefly hoping he could conduct damage control. If Sally only heard a small snippet, or perhaps didn’t understand what he was saying, there was still hope. “I guarantee whatever you heard isn’t what you think it is.”

  “Oh, really?” Sally rolled her eyes. “Well, I heard it all and you can’t turn back time and take it back. No! I don’t want you coming near me right now. I can’t believe you guys hid this. I just ... I need to get back to work. I can’t even look at you guys right now.”

  With those words, Sally spun on her heel and disappeared inside the ship. Tears pricked Rowan’s eyes as she faced Quinn. “What are we going to do?”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Quinn pulled her in for a hug. “I’ll take care of you. I ... we’ll work together to figure this out. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Rowan wanted to believe him, but she wasn’t so sure. The worst had officially happened. Her secret was out and there was no controlling the fallout.

  8

  Eight

  Rowan and Quinn allowed themselves an hour-long nap before showering and dressing for their dinner. In truth, Quinn was worried Rowan would melt down in fantastic fashion after Sally’s outbu
rst. Instead, she seemed oddly stoic as they walked along the beach toward the restaurant where they were supposed to meet Fred.

  “Do you want to tell me what you’re thinking?” Quinn asked, casting her a sidelong look. The sun was still relatively high in the sky — so the heat hadn’t abated — but he was hopeful cooler temperatures would allow his brain to figure a way out of their problem later in the evening.

  “I think the water is pretty.”

  Quinn sighed. “Ro, please don’t shut me out.”

  “I honestly was thinking that.” Rowan was earnest when she flicked her eyes to him. “I was thinking that I never thought much about the ocean until I finally got to see it every day. I’m going to miss seeing it.”

  Quinn’s heart stuttered as he pulled up short. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m going to get fired.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Of course I am.” Rowan insisted on being pragmatic rather than emotional. She knew that if she let her emotions get a foothold that she would start crying and never stop. “Sally is going to tell Michael what she overheard. He’s going to think I’m crazy. You can’t have a crazy person on a ship.”

  “Sweetie, you’re not going to be fired.” Quinn was firm as he tugged her closer and ran his hands up and down her arms. “First off, I don’t think Sally is going to tell Michael anything. She was obviously caught off guard this afternoon. That doesn’t mean she’s going to blab.

  “Secondly, even if she did tell Michael, I could handle him,” he continued, barreling forward without giving Rowan a chance to interrupt. “Michael is my friend. He won’t fire you. I’ll take care of it.”

  Rowan shook her head. “I won’t allow you to put your career on the line for me.”

  “And I won’t allow you to admit defeat before we even start fighting.” There was an edge to Quinn’s voice that took Rowan by surprise. “We’re in this together. We have been from the start. You are not going to lose your job ... and I am not going to lose you. We will figure it out.”