‘Hey, I’m the good guy here,’ Finn said, but part of him thought that maybe Hugo had grounds for accusation. He’d suspected drug-running. Why hadn’t he done more?
But then, how could he sack a whole crew because of the suspicion that it contained a couple of criminals? It was contrary to every workplace law he knew. And he was only working on suspicions. He had to have proof.
Finding that proof had almost killed Rachel, but it wasn’t his fault.
‘I wouldn’t hurt her for the world,’ he said, almost inconsequentially, and Hugo glanced at him and his face changed. Maybe something in Finn’s voice had revealed more than he wanted to reveal.
‘They do that to you,’ Hugo said softly, and he turned back to watch the hugging women. ‘The Cotton sisters. They’re capable of changing a man’s life, and you have the look of a man whose life is changing already. Welcome to the club, mate—and good luck.’
* * *
Things moved fast. Finn’s story pushed buttons in high places. They were in one of the most remote places in Australia, but within two hours they were joined by senior police and customs officers—men and women who looked like they meant business and knew how to go about it.
‘We’ve had drugs flooding the country through the northern ports,’ the senior customs official explained. ‘If this is as big as we think it is...’
Rachel and Amy had headed off to the camp’s shower block with a warning they might be some time. Finn was hunkered down with the officials—and so was Hugo, staying in the background, watching and listening. It seemed Hugo knew some of these guys. He wasn’t leaving.
The first few minutes Finn spent explaining who he was. Hugo’s expression changed when he heard, but he said nothing. He kept on listening.
Someone had a universal charger for Finn’s phone. They got the photos up, put them on a computer, enlarged them, and the custom guy’s expression changed from straight grim to satisfied grim. His was a look that said Esme was going to regret this for a long, long time.
‘We’ll get a swat team together, send a couple of our big choppers out and take them by surprise before they have a chance to dump the drugs,’ the chief told Finn. ‘You guys are listed as an accident. They’ve had no reason to toss the drugs overboard when no one’s given any hint we think you’ve survived. If we go in fast and hard, we’ll pick up these three and the Captain—he must have known. There are probably more involved but we can sort that back in port. We’ll turn the ship back to Darwin, get statements, go from there.’
‘Why not let it keep going?’ Finn suggested. ‘The cruise line has contingencies for replacing staff mid-cruise. We get rid of those we know are rotten, and it’s business as normal.’
‘There’ll be more...’
‘That’s what I mean,’ Finn said gently. ‘I’d like to go back on board, stay as a passenger and keep my ear to the ground.’
‘We need to take Maud off,’ Hugo said from behind them and Finn turned and met Hugo’s hard gaze.
‘If she wishes, then of course she can leave. But I’ve met the lady. Will she wish?’
‘If she stays, Rachel will want to return, and I won’t have them risk...’
‘You seriously think there’s continued risk?’
There was a moment’s silence while everyone assessed what was being proposed. Four criminals removed from the boat, and the cruise would continue as usual.
‘There’s no reason why not,’ Finn said.
‘Does Rachel know you’re the undercover boss of the whole cruise line?’ Hugo demanded.
‘No,’ Finn said evenly. ‘And if she comes back on board, I’d prefer her not to know.’
‘Why?’
‘How good’s her acting? And Maud’s? Could they treat me as a normal passenger? That’s what I still am—a normal passenger who’s been the victim of a crime. If anyone else on board figures who I am, why I’m there, it’ll make my presence useless. But there’s no Internet, and the new Captain can control radio access. Would it hurt to leave me undercover until Broome? Rachel thinks I’m some sort of security agent but she doesn’t know for sure. I won’t be asking her to act a part. I don’t want to ask any more of her than she’s already given.’
There was another pause. A long one.
‘I can see your point,’ Hugo said at last. ‘But I’m not sure I like it. Not to tell them the truth...’
‘I will, as soon as we get to Broome.’
‘You want them to calmly continue their cruise?’
‘I suspect they might like to. They deserve a holiday. Telling them who I am and asking them to keep it secret...it’s a pressure they don’t need.’
And...how to explain that he wanted it, too. Badly. He wanted a few more days of normal, when he could get to know Rachel as he wanted to. Explore the way he was feeling. See if he could figure where to go from here.
His life wasn’t normal. He’d never expected to inherit his father’s fortune—or Connie and Richard. More, he’d never expected to feel the way he was feeling about any woman. Now... To ask Rachel to be part of what he was barely accepting himself...
He wasn’t even sure whether he wanted to. All he knew was that he needed time. Time when Rachel thought he was almost normal.
And, overriding everything else, was his concern for her. During the long nights on the island he’d realised she lived with nightmares. She’d stirred in the night, sobbing, confused, mixing car smashes and the death of her baby and the nightmare in the sea.
Maybe the way to keep nightmares at bay was to give her back the cruise she’d dreamed of. Give her things to dream about that weren’t horrific.
‘One hint of trouble...’ Hugo growled.
‘I’ll stay in contact with the police every step of the way,’ he assured him. ‘But we all know anyone still on board with drug connections will keep their heads down.’
‘And you’ll leave her alone until she knows who you are?’
‘What are you, her guardian?’
‘I’m marrying her sister,’ Hugo growled. ‘You’ve brought her trouble and I don’t like it. I don’t like deceiving her and I’m thinking I’d like you to keep away from her until it’s over.’
He had to be kidding.
His hard glare said he wasn’t.
Keep away from her?
He should do his best to keep things slow between them, he conceded. It was only fair. But after Broome...
After Broome they’d be just two normal people.
Normal people fell in love.
She was returning from her shower, walking back to him with Amy. She was dressed in oversized khaki shorts and a shirt one of the men had found for her. Her curls were dripping wetly down her back and he thought... He thought...
He thought, like it or not, he already had.
‘You’re playing with fire, not telling her,’ Hugo growled. ‘Don’t underestimate her intelligence. Or her reaction if she thinks she’s been lied to.’
‘I’m not lying.’
‘You’re not telling her the truth. Same thing.’
* * *
And out at sea...
A couple of powerful choppers arrived without warning over the anchored Kimberley Temptress. Swat guys, armed and dangerous and skilled, dropped onto the ship before the crew or passengers could react.
The search for drugs, the arrest and removal of the four crew members, shocked the passengers to numbness, but any dismay and distress they might feel was tempered with the news that Finn and Rachel had been found.
It’d give his customers a cruise to talk about all their lives, Finn thought, imagining home movies of the magnificent Kimberley—and swat teams swarming the decks of a cruise ship, armed for hand to hand combat.
There’d been no resistance. Esme and her l
ot knew when they were beaten. Already Finn had crew members flying from Darwin to take their places.
When he and Rachel rejoined the cruise they’d be treated as heroes, he thought. With the resultant publicity... It might even end up being good for business.
That wasn’t why he was going back.
He was returning to see if anyone else on board was corrupt—but there was another reason.
He was returning because he wanted normal. He wanted a few days when they could be singles on board with nothing to do but enjoy their holiday. He wanted time without his wealth or position interfering with how she felt—changing things, making her reassess once again. He wanted time with nothing to do but see if he could do something about Rachel’s nightmares.
Nothing to do but fall in love?
‘It makes sense. We’ve paid for this holiday,’ he told her as they waited for the chopper to take them back, for Rachel seemed as keen to return as he was.
‘Maud paid for me and I don’t believe you paid at all.’
‘No?’
‘I think you’re an undercover security guy for the cruise line. Nothing else makes sense. Your job is to be on the Kimberley Temptress, looking for trouble. Yes or no?’
He hesitated. Thinking how not to deepen the lie.
‘Not just the Kimberley Temptress,’ he admitted. ‘I’m responsible for the security of the whole Temptress line.’
‘I knew it!’
‘Well guessed. But please keep it to yourself.’
‘Does Hugo know?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then Amy will, too,’ she said with satisfaction. ‘They’ll know I’m not messing with a philanderer.’
‘Are we...messing?’
‘I’m not sure,’ she admitted, surprisingly. ‘Two days ago I’d have said no, but now...you make me feel...’ She broke off. ‘Enough. This emotion’s all mixed up with what’s happened—the pressure, the fear. It’s far too soon to figure...what I really feel.’
‘It’s much too soon,’ he agreed, thinking this was all about taking the pressure off, but his gaze didn’t break from hers and he watched her blush and he thought... You are the most beautiful woman in the world. Bar none. No question.
Too soon. Keep it in mind. Keep it strongly in mind.
‘I have a question,’ she said. ‘A biggie.’
‘Which is?’
‘The kids...’ she said, surprising him.
‘Connie and Richard?’
‘Yes. Do you love them?’
The question was as unexpected as it was hard to answer. He had to wait. He had to think.
He thought of Connie and Richard as he’d found them. He thought of how he’d felt, discovering his own father had put them in that mess. Anger didn’t begin to describe it. He thought of what they’d done since then. He thought of what they were becoming. Kids, shaking off adversity and finding a future. He was proud of them, he conceded, but he kept his pride to himself. They were prickly, aloof, and they didn’t do emotion.
‘Why ask?’ he said, prevaricating.
‘Because it worries me,’ she said. ‘To be on the other side of the world, doing something so dangerous...’
‘I never, ever intended that my life be at risk on this journey,’ he said, gently now, accepting her worry.
‘So you do love them?’
‘I’m growing to love them,’ he admitted, thinking of the last time he’d seen Connie, music blaring, hugging Flea, talking at the top of her lungs on her precious cellphone. Smiling despite himself. ‘They’re a bit...spiky.’
‘I was spiky, too.’
‘I can’t imagine that.’
‘Believe it,’ she said. ‘Have you contacted them yet to let them know you’re safe?’
‘They didn’t know I was unsafe,’ he said. ‘We’ve hardly been missing for weeks.’
But the thought gave him pause.
He needed to take more precautions, he conceded. In their own way, Connie and Richard still needed him. He had responsibilities.
He looked at Rachel and wondered if he was ready for more.
The chopper was coming in to land—the chopper that’d take them back to the cruise ship.
‘So you’ve decided?’ he said softly. ‘You’ve decided that you trust me enough to spend the next few days with me—and with forty other passengers?’ And then, with the air of a man offering expensive chocolates, he held out his lure. ‘And with lots of rocks.’
‘Rocks,’ she said reverently, and she grinned. ‘How can you doubt I’m coming back?’
And, with that, she went to hug her sister goodbye and restart her holiday.
CHAPTER TEN
IF ANYONE had told Maud that Rachel’s experience would have done her good she’d have told them they had rocks in their heads.
She greeted her young friend with trepidation, expecting her to be deeply traumatised. She’d talked with her by radio before she’d come back to the ship.
‘Are you sure you want to go on? We could both be taken off and flown on to Broome.’
‘No way.’ Rachel’s response was emphatic. ‘I’m not letting those druggies spoil more of our holiday.’
‘You’re not coming back just for me?’
‘No,’ Rachel said and there was a thoughtful pause. ‘I’m coming back for me.’
But, after seeing her, Maud was thinking there was a fair amount of Finn Kinnard thrown into that equation as well.
Nothing like tossing a girl overboard with a guy with a smile to die for, she thought. Nothing like leaving her on a deserted island for two days to put the colour back in her cheeks.
It was a nonsensical thought, but colour was definitely back in Rachel’s cheeks. Her whole body language had changed.
She greeted Maud with joy. She slept the clock round, even missing two shore excursions to let her body recover, and then she bounced back, determined to take every inch of enjoyment from this cruise.
Especially when Finn was around.
* * *
She needed to keep her heart under control.
That was what Rachel kept telling herself, but she could do no such thing. This man had held her naked while she’d let terror overtake her. This man had swum beside her when she’d thought she’d die.
This man made her smile.
Caution.
For there was a tiny voice in the back of her mind saying, Ramón, Ramón, Ramón. You were a fool once. You married a man you didn’t know. You married a man you shouldn’t have trusted.
But Ramón was Ramón. And Finn was...Finn.
She knew so little about him. She wished she’d met him in Darwin, at the university where she was about to start teaching. She could ask people about him. He could take her home to meet these kids he talked about. Only his kids were back in the US. His life was back in the US, and she knew nothing.
She needed a private investigator to check him out.
Did she distrust her judgement that much?
Yes, she did, she conceded. When Finn wasn’t around she knew her instincts were flawed. But when he was...
When he was he made her happy, simple as that. When he was with her, it was as if the nightmares of the past took their rightful place—a part of what she was but not a part that was blocking her future. Not a part that was a leaden weight, stopping her from living.
‘Are you up to a bit of cliff climbing today?’ It was Jason, newly graduated to head tour guide in Esme’s stead. He was a great kid, and he thought Rachel was cool. ‘I’m taking a group from the river mouth to the inland falls. You can climb up and swim in the rock pools above if you want. And on the way...’ he hesitated ‘...there are some magnificent rock formations. We’d love it if you could tell the group how they w
ere made.’
‘Of course she will.’ And Finn was right beside her, back in his customary shorts and T-shirt, back with his customary grin. ‘You should put this lady on the payroll. I love listening to her talking about rocks.’
‘So...you’re coming?’ she asked him a trifle breathlessly, and his smile softened.
‘“Whither thou goest, I will go,”’ he quoted softly.
‘Finn...’
‘I know,’ he said a trifle ruefully. ‘It’s far too soon. But it’s not too soon to climb a waterfall and have a swim.’
* * *
He was here to watch the crew.
He’d watched them.
There were a couple more crew members whose obvious nervousness meant that questioning when they reached Broome was a no-brainer. For the rest, though, investigation was done. He was Finn Kinnard, a guy on holiday, a guy who’d met a woman who was everything he’d ever dreamed of.
Or not.
For he’d never dreamed of a woman like this. He hadn’t known such a woman existed.
He climbed the falls with her. He listened to Jason ask about the rock formations and he watched as passengers clustered around to hear her answers.
She made these rocks come alive. The layer on layer of time-tortured sediment told a story, and Rachel gave it a voice.
The passengers loved her.
He loved her.
Jason pointed out the rock pools. Above the falls there were scores, connected by a web of waterways.
Fresh water, safe—and private.
Jason was taking most of the walkers to look at caves further inland, and he warned the younger ones that if they wanted to explore the pools they were on their own.
‘We call this place Honeymoon Hotel,’ he said and chuckled. ‘There are scores of waterholes, all beautifully separated. It’s a stiff climb but it’s safe and it’s worth it. Rule is, you claim a waterhole and you don’t go near the others. I’ll whistle when it’s time to leave. I’ll whistle ten minutes before I come and find you. No matter what you’re doing, make sure you listen for that whistle. I’ll be back in an hour.’
Amid general laughter, the main group disappeared, leaving...the honeymooners. And Rachel and Finn who just happened to decide—independently—without even looking at each other—that it sounded okay by them.
A Bride For The Maverick Millionaire (Journey Through The Outback #2) Page 12
