Gage, Ronna - Paradise Mine (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Ronna Gage

  Landy could almost smell her perfume haunting his thoughts. Shutting the effects of the memory from his mind, he took a deep breath and realized he wasn’t imagining the woman’s smell. Every pore in his body responded to her. She is in the room. Immediately, his body battled for what it desired most, his cock twitched to be in her, his heart yearned to love her, and his head screamed to get her away. He didn’t like being the victim to the inner battle of his organs. One of them would win and he feared his death would be imminent.

  “Did you need something?” His voice had a harshness he didn’t recognize, but he felt the wall around him reinforce.

  “No.” Rae Anne set a cup of steaming coffee in the beverage holder beside him. “I was out taking a stroll. It is my ship, is it not?” She walked past him taking the other cup of coffee with her.

  “Yes, Rae Anne. It’s your ship.” His heartbeat quickened at the strength in her voice.

  She paused at the corner of the control panel and rested her arm on the side. She looked out the window at the darkness outside. It seemed to calm her as her shoulders went lax. The darkness made a mirror of the glass, and she and Landy stared at the reflections in the window. His face looked as unreadable as he hoped, but hers looked alight with curiosity.

  “What are you thinking about? Or do you want to share?” She asked a second before she took a quick sip of coffee.

  The strapless beige dress hugged her breasts. The black sash belt accentuated her tiny waist; the pleated full skirt fell down her shins. A picture of feminine beauty. Landy became instantly disgusted with the two of them and their cat-and-mouse game. He wanted to be angry with her for looking so beautiful and with himself for reacting to her so completely. In the pit in his stomach, he ached with the effects of the physical feelings around him. Landy stomped to the bar, found the brandy decanter, and helped himself.

  “I see you’re in a grumpy mood. If you aren’t careful, your disposition will spread like a disease and fill the ship with the same choking tension that’s in this cabin.”

  “My crew and I will be fine. As for this being your ship, you can do whatever you want.”

  “Thank you. I will.”

  She didn’t take the bait to argue with him. She took a sip of the coffee and watched him from the window instead. It really pissed him off something fierce. He needed to have this out with her, once and for all. I refuse to be the one to start this round. Landy looked at his watch. Ten thirty. He couldn’t stay and relive the old pain with her. He had but one choice to make. “I’m going to bed.”

  “Good night,” she said before he cleared the doorway.

  Landy didn’t return the sentiment. Instead, he left her alone in the tension-filled salon.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “If every time I come around him sets him in a foul mood, then that isn’t going to work.” Rae Anne bit back the threatening tears. “I have better things to do than to walk on eggshells.”

  She walked to the crew’s sleeping quarters, mostly fumbling in the watery dark. She took the short steps to the middle hallway leading to Landy’s stateroom. The dark corridor gave no light, a detail she didn’t expect. Landy loved the dark. He had the eyesight of a cat. She remembered the tidbits from their childhood. He would lie in the shadows, wait for her to come around a corner, and then jump out. “Landy enjoys scaring the piss out of me.”

  She groped along the walls for guidance to the door of his cabin. I was sure a light switch was down this hall. Did I miss it? She stopped. The silence around her gave her the second she needed to think about what she planned to do. She almost backed off the confrontation with him.

  “No this has to be done.” Filled with determination, she continued down the corridor, more or less on a mission now. “I will be dammed if he treats me this way. Not on my own ship, especially by the same man who faked his death to avoid marrying me.” Her anger snapped when she voiced his betrayal. “Bastard! What is this some bad movie plot?”

  Thwack. A sharp pain shot from her small toe to her ankle and back. “Ouch! Damn it!” Gripping her left foot in her hands, she bounced on one leg. Leaning against the wall, she rubbed the ache. Suddenly, losing her balance, she stumbled backward and screamed out landing onto the floor with a thud. Seconds later, a strong force grabbed her under the arms and jerked her up to a vertical position, which made her land on the sore foot.

  “Rae Anne? What the fuck are you doing down here?” Landy demanded.

  Rae Anne looked over her shoulder into the eyes of the most handsome man she had ever seen, her beloved Landy. He hadn’t been down here too long, just long enough to discard his dinner jacket, but he still had on his trousers and dress shirt. His shirt hung open—and she took in a quick peek of the thatch of male hair on his chest. The thick rug she longed to run her fingers through. She salivated with desire and could feel the contracting response of her pussy and the dampness inside. She feared she would come from the close proximity of his body. That’s ridiculous. When she averted her gaze, it landed on the bulge in his pants. Her appearance in his stateroom awed him too. When he realized she noticed, he drove his fists into his pockets, hiding it from her view.

  “Falling for you,” she answered as she rubbed her toe.

  “What?” Landy stepped back.

  “I hurt my toe kicking your damn doorjamb,” she said and looked back at her foot. “Watch your language.”

  Landy picked her up, carried her to the desk, and set her not so gently down on top. He crouched down in front of her and took her foot in his hand. “You have a nice…” He softly stroked her foot.

  “A nice what?” she whispered. If you don’t talk too loud, don’t move too suddenly, he will loosen up some.

  Landy’s eyes darted to hers for a second before he looked down at the foot in his hand. He angled it to get a good look underneath. “You have a nice little bruise spreading on your toes.”

  “Oh.” She felt the disappointment cling to her. “Ow!”

  “Does that hurt?” he asked with mild indifference.

  “Are you dense? Did you not hear me say ow? Yes, that hurt. What did you do?”

  “Nothing, I just moved it to get a better look at the angle between your toes. Does it hurt when I move it like that?” Landy straightened it out.

  “Ow!” Rae Anne screamed. “Yes!” She slapped him on the arm. “What’s wrong with you? That hurt like hell.”

  Landy shook his head, stood up and walked to the ice bucket on the small wet bar. He took one of the bar rags, placed a handful of ice cubes inside, and closed it. He came back and gently laid the compress on her foot.

  Rae Anne watched silently at the display of affection. She liked this side of him, the nurturing side that eased the tension from his shoulders and gentled his hateful stare. She felt the cloth of his pants on the bottom of her foot. The warm, bulky muscles of his thighs felt like boulders. She liked his physique, but she always had liked his body—she had dreamed many nights of the pleasures she would like to give and receive. The heat under her foot now surrounded her ankle from the skin-to-skin contact. She looked down as his hands smoothed over her ankle. She swallowed loudly. “Well, Doctor, What’s your diagnosis?” Rae Anne asked hoping to make light of the situation.

  “You broke your little toe.”

  Shocked by the analysis she stared at the injured spot of her foot. It was purple and almost black, and she cringed.

  “You will have to be careful for awhile, but you’ll be all right.” Landy moved her foot off his thigh and turned it to the light. “The bruising hasn’t moved up to the ankle, so I don’t suspect anything else is broken.”

  “Can’t you do anything else for it? Setting it maybe?”

  “No. Unfortunately, the break can’t be splinted or wrapped. It can only heal on its own.”

  “Thank goodness. For a minute there, I thought you considered having me shot.”

  Landy gave a small chuckle. His brown eyes kept her in his gaze. For that instant, th
eir existence didn’t include fighting, grudges, or time lost between them. They were there with one another in the captain’s stateroom, just Rae Anne and Landy. Rae Anne reached out to him, unable to stop the reaction to her feelings.

  “Landy!” The whisper was barely audible, but with her fingertips, she touched the jerky motion of his jaw muscles, and the tension increased. She leaned closer, softly touching her lips to his, and in a second, he devoured hers. The strong set of his jaw, the tenderness of his lips turned hungry, and his tongue delved into her mouth. He controlled the kiss and she let him take over. Breakthrough! Rae Anne enjoyed the kiss’s effects. The building desire set her ablaze, like a bonfire in the pit of her stomach. Suddenly, it stopped. Landy’s eyes closed as he bore his forehead to hers. His breathing was labored, and he shook. He ground his teeth.

  “Landy? Why?” she begged and wrapped her arms around him. The heat she had felt a second ago left her.

  He pulled at her arms at his neck. “Rae Anne, I can’t do this.”

  “Why? Don’t you think this is what we are supposed to do?” Rae Anne held him closer, and pulling him back, she wrapped her arms and legs around him. “Why do you hate me so much?”

  Landy released all the tensions in his shoulders and body. “I don’t hate you, Rae Anne.” He freed himself from her legs, walked to the small fridge, and got a beer. “I think it’s best we don’t start anything that we may regret later.”

  Regret? After that kiss? “I don’t understand. What do you mean?” She had to hear it once and for all. Did he want her or not?

  “I don’t trust myself to be around you right now,” he finally stated. His gaze took on that annoying coolness again.

  “But why?”

  “I’m leaving the ship when we make port in Mazatlán.”

  Landy looked at her for a few seconds more, and then left her in his cabin….alone.

  Brokenhearted, rejected, and angry, Rae Anne hobbled to the door. “That isn’t happening. Not again.” She cried with each shuffled step to her cabin.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  For two days, Rae Anne stayed off her foot most of the time to let her small toe heal. At least, that’s what she told herself numerous times a day to justify her stubbornness. Silence and despair filled the two days after Landy’s announcement. She took out her diary, opened to the first blank page she came to, and stared for a second before she wrote.

  Each day the yacht sails to Mazatlán draws the realization that I will lose Landy again. Even civil conversation is a chore with him these days. He grows more and more moody and unreadable. At least the crew members keep to themselves. I guess he’s informed them of his intentions to leave.

  Frustrated by her emotions, she tossed the diary down. “He will never let me in.”

  She looked out at the window where he stood. “Landy, why do you hide your feelings from me? I know something is bothering you. Tell me.”

  He laughed at something Kip said, which charged her emotions to a new level of sensitivity.

  “At least you eat in the dining room with me, but why do you try to keep up the appearance that all is well on the ship?” She shivered at a stray thought. The building tensions are from something other than lost feelings and old memories. She took in his demeanor: relaxed and calm. Lingering questions and observations toyed in her mind. The two of us can’t be in the same room together without having a battle of wills or a wicked argument over the ports of call. She turned away from the window; her gaze caught the page opened on her diary. What? She snatched up the diary and then reread what she wrote. He’s told the crew, but he keeps appearances up for them. “Is he having dinner with me for other reasons?” He’s wearing down!

  Actions speak louder than words. What could she do to keep him on the ship, she wondered for the thousandth time. So many scenarios spun in her head, from paying him a higher wage to simply asking him. Despair cooled her enthusiasm. I can’t ask him to stay. I’m not sure I can take the rejection anymore. She refocused the effort to sort out her feelings on the pages of her diary, a secret connection to her thoughts and Landy.

  Landy, to have you again, and then lose you will be the death of me when you’re gone. For the last ten years, I did all I could to find you, or rather your body. Why did your desire to fake your death begin? Was it me? Did you find someone else? Whatever changed your mind was of your own making, and it is your fault you couldn’t be brave enough to face me? You are a gutless coward.

  Angry, she closed the book, looked out the window, and felt the gripping binds of depression tugging at her will. The cloudy sky didn’t suit for sailing, and strolling around the yacht hurt her foot. She turned to her computer and read her e-mails. A message from her father caught her attention. “At least someone wants to hear from me.”

  The solitude wasn’t too bad, but Rae Anne didn’t get much done. Rambling thoughts of would’ve said, should’ve said kept her busy. The unsaid words between her and Landy at dinner last night ailed her the most. She lay her head down on her pillow and cried herself to sleep.

  The mood of the cloudy day carried over to dinner. Rae Anne dined dressed in black from head to toe. The black pantsuit fit her mood and would probably be much more comfortable to sit in than a dress.

  “Good evening, Captain.”

  Landy smiled but didn’t pull out her chair for her. “How’s the toe?”

  His friendly inquiry surprised her—no, stunned her. He remembered to ask about my toe. It broke her heart not to have that closeness she had with him once before and dreamed of for so many years.

  “It’s all right. It only hurts when I walk.” She smiled as she looked at the delicate toe in the strappy sandal.

  “You surprised me by staying off it.”

  “I sometimes follow directions if it is in my best interest.”

  He said nothing but did give a small grin that further encouraged her.

  “Shall we dine?”

  “By all means,” he answered.

  The two sat down for the first course, which Gina handed out in the same minute they sat down. “Thank you, Gina. This looks delicious.”

  “I hope you like it. It’s an old paella recipe from Spain.”

  During most of the dinner, Landy’s civil conversation and delayed answers got the better of Rae Anne’s attempts. “Landy, is there something wrong?”

  He looked back at her. “No, why do you ask?”

  “You just seem distracted. You’ve hardly spoken to me, and you’re constantly looking out of the window, into darkness.”

  “I apologize, Ms. Carmichael. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

  Ms. Carmichael? Oh, we’re back to that again. “I see. Anything you’d like to talk about?”

  He gave her a solemn look. “Not really.”

  Rae Anne took a small bite of her dinner. The bland taste disappointed her. It had no robust spice like the first course, or sweetness. She expected something scrumptious after the paella soup. She didn’t have an appetite, and too many questions needed answers. Tonight would be her last to face Landy and get to the bottom of what had happened to him all those years ago. Was he a prisoner of war? She feared his answer if she asked him. If he hadn’t been, then he had purposely withheld himself from her on account of rumors. If he had been, the thought of him being tortured troubled her deeply. Images of Landy’s battered body had haunted her conscious. Before they took hold, she set her fork down. “Landy would you please help me to the salon for an after-dinner coffee?” She looked down at her foot and then quickly up at Landy. “I can’t really walk alone without some pain.”

  Landy stood up from the dinner table without question or argument. He held out a hand for her. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought him a gallant gentleman for helping her. “What would you like to drink?” he whispered softly.

  Their gazes met. A shock of awareness rolled shivers down her back. His dark brown eyes held a spark of something familiar that Rae Anne couldn’t identify.
/>
  “I will have a coffee and some Bailey’s.” She leaned a fraction of an inch toward him, and he moved and suddenly straightened.

  He walked to the intercom switch. “Gina, we’ll take two Irish coffees, please.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  Rae Anne felt like crying. Landy was such a hard man. A prideful man. Rae Anne suddenly had a revelation. Whatever had happened to him was a matter of unfortunate outcomes of war that he would bear alone.

  Of course, only Landy would bear something that horrible and shut me out at the same time.

  * * * *

  Landy sipped his Irish coffee and watched Rae Anne. He wouldn’t let his emotions get in the way of what he knew he had to do. Rae Anne’s eyes caught his attention. Her expression of a new air of confidence settled in her gaze. Landy knew that look. She thinks she has an edge, huh? Well let’s see what it is. “What?”

  She narrowed her eyes to a penetrating glare. “I want to—”

  Kip came charging into the room, waving a piece of paper frantically in the air. “Captain, look at this!”

  Landy read the missive, bolted out of his chair, and in three steps, he stood at the captain’s chair. He flipped on a switch.

  “A severe hurricane warning has been issued for the PacificCoast. A tropical storm has quickly gained hurricane proportions of a category five. If you are in the vicinity of the PacificCoast, please take shelter immediately.”

  “Kip, have the others tie everything down. Don’t leave anything unsecured,” Landy ordered.

  “They have already seen to it, Captain.” Kip pulled open a desk drawer and pulled out a flashlight and batteries.

  Landy turned to Rae Anne. Her face paled in response to the weather bulletin. “Rae Anne, I want you to go below to your stateroom and stay there.”

  “No!” She stood up and ran to him.

  “Rae Anne.” He gripped her arms and gave her a small shake.