“And occasionally a bit of time with Zander,” Jared conceded. “However, I don’t want to go to the bar tonight. I want to go to bed.”
“Then go to bed,” Zander suggested, his eyes flashing. “You’re obviously turning into an old man who can barely keep his eyes open after eight o’clock. That’s probably not the sort of man Harper wants to spend the rest of her life with. It’s good she figures out how weak you are now rather than later.”
Jared narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits. “Now, you listen here ... .”
“Knock it off!” Harper held up her hands to silence both of them, frustration on full display. “I know you guys sometimes get off on messing with one another, but it would be great if you could give me a break for the rest of the day. I’m not sure how much more I can take.”
She turned to Jared, the set of her jaw firm. “I know I promised you time alone tonight. I have no intention of reneging on that promise. We’re going to get alone time if I have to strip you naked and rub coconut lotion on you all by my lonesome.”
Jared’s grin was triumphant. “Thank you.”
“You don’t get to dictate how much time I spend with Zander on this trip, though,” she continued, causing his smile to falter. “We’ve had this cruise planned for almost two years. We started hearing about it a full year before I met you. We had to save up before we could make our reservations, though. I’m glad you’re here because I love you and want to spend time with you, but I want to spend time with Zander, too. We’ve been talking about this cruise since ... I don’t even know when. It’s a big deal for us.”
Jared let loose a heavy sigh. “I get that. It’s just ... I thought we were going to be alone tonight. It’s not the end of the world if we’re not, though. I can survive.” He held up his hands in defeat. “We’ll go to the jazz club.”
The look on Zander’s face was right out of the “Manipulative People and How They Get What They Want” handbook. He looked so pleased with himself, so puffed up, that Harper briefly imagined poking him with a pin to let the hot air out.
“We’re not going to the jazz club,” Harper countered, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing when suspicion rolled over Zander’s handsome features. “I’m too tired from a day of traveling. I want to go to bed early — for more reasons than one — and going to a club will give me a headache.”
Zander began sputtering. “But ... .”
“No.” Harper wagged a finger in her best friend’s face. “If you want to go to the jazz club, you’re more than capable of going yourself. You can whine all you want about being alone, but we both know you’ll be the hit of the club five minutes after you arrive. People love you. That’s not going to change. You’ll be the most popular guy on the ship by morning.”
Zander pushed out his lips into a pronounced pout. “I don’t want to go alone.”
“Well, I’m not going to a club tonight.” Harper was firm. “My back hurts. I’m tired. I want to go to bed with my man and then start fresh tomorrow. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. No one says you have to go to bed early.”
Zander slowly shifted his eyes to Jared. “I blame you for this. You’ve made her lame.”
Even though he was annoyed with Zander, Jared couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “She’s the most appealing woman I know. Perhaps you’re the lame one.”
“I’m going to remember you said that,” Zander muttered. “Payback will be swift and brutal.”
“Bring it on.”
Harper groaned as she slapped her hand to her forehead. “Seriously, you guys make me tired. Maybe I won’t do anything with either of you.”
“Oh, don’t be a baby,” Zander lamented. “There’s no need to be dramatic. Things will be fine.”
“Seriously,” Jared added. “You don’t need to be difficult and blow things out of proportion. We’ve got everything under control.”
Harper took her frustration out on the crab leg and gave it a vigorous snap. This time the juice hit both men. “You make me tired.”
“That’s why you love us so much,” Jared said as he wiped his face. “Seriously, though, what’s with you and the crab juice?”
“That’s what I want to know,” Zander complained.
QUINN WAS HAPPY TO SEE ROWAN clearing her plate. By the time the bus boys came around to gather the empty plates, she was leaning back in her chair and patting her stomach as the workers prepared the stage for the evening’s main attraction.
“I think I should invest in stretchy pants,” Rowan announced, causing Quinn to grin. “When I eat my weight in crab legs, stretchy pants would be so much more comfortable than capris. I feel as if I can’t breathe.”
Quinn chuckled as he tugged Rowan’s chair so it was positioned directly next to his. He moved her hand from her stomach and linked their fingers before resting their joined hands against his chest. “I’ll look into buying you stretchy pants tomorrow. I think they sound like a fabulous idea.”
Rowan snickered. “What are we doing? Are we staying for the entertainment? We never stay for the entertainment. I thought you hated comedians.”
“This isn’t a comedian.”
“Oh?” Rowan arched an eyebrow. “Who are we dealing with?”
“His name is Mark Brady. He’s supposedly a psychic to the stars.”
Instead of being impressed, Rowan made a face. “But ... you don’t believe in psychics.”
“I didn’t say that.” Quinn turned somber. “In fact, that’s the opposite of what I said. I believe some people truly have the gift. I’m not saying this guy does, but I kind of want to get a feel for the room and the people we’re dealing with since ... well, you know.”
Rowan sobered. “I get it. You want to see if the psychic predicts anything worth following up on.”
“I don’t know where to look,” Quinn admitted ruefully. “It makes me uncomfortable because I feel like I should be doing more. It’s not that I believe this guy can predict the future. It’s more that I want to watch the way the people interact while we’re in here, to give me an idea.”
Rowan squeezed his hand tighter. “That sounds like a good idea. I’m sorry I gave you grief about it.”
“Hey, he could very well be a kook.”
“It won’t be the first time we’ve dealt with kooks.”
“Or the last.”
Rowan’s mouth split into a huge grin. “This might be fun. We’ve never done it before. Maybe it will be an adventure.”
“That’s the fighting spirit I like to see. That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
MARK BRADY TURNED OUT to be the theatrical sort. Ten minutes into the man’s act, Quinn was convinced he was full of it. He was too much of a showman to be the real deal. Still, though, Quinn was happy to sit through the show if it meant watching the guests. Their reactions were key ... and he wanted to see if anyone stuck out to him. Unfortunately, since they were dealing with a ship full of oddballs, everyone stood out to him.
“Someone on this ship is going to die,” Brady intoned, his eyes going wide. He’d been making increasingly dire pronouncements for the last twenty minutes, and Quinn believed he knew why. He was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. “It’s a woman. A woman with a secret she doesn’t want anyone to know.”
Rowan tilted her head to the side as she slid her eyes to Quinn. “That could be any woman,” she whispered. “I mean ... that could be me.”
Quinn’s heart did an involuntary roll at the words. He knew Rowan didn’t mean anything by the offhand statement, but he was antsy enough about her safety given the current predicament with her father that he didn’t enjoy even a half-hearted joke.
“Let’s not go there,” he said. “You’re right about it being vague, though. There’s a reason for that.”
“What’s the reason?”
“Just wait. The show is over in three minutes. You’ll find out exactly why he said what he said in thirty seconds.”
Rowan wasn’t conv
inced, but she listened anyway.
“The death that stalks this ship is the sort that leaves a mark,” Brady intoned, his features grim as the light shining on him turned a ghastly shade of blue. It lent an eerie ambiance to the room. “It will rip out the soul of an unsuspecting woman – perhaps more than one, the spirits are shy tonight – and shred it before the great beyond lays claim to an innocent angel.”
Rowan rolled her eyes. “That is ridiculous.”
Quinn held up a finger to silence her. “Just wait.”
“Death is a fickle beast, though,” Brady continued. “Time isn’t set. The future isn’t written. Things can be changed.” He delivered the last line with a dramatic flair as he drew out the final word. Then he straightened and fished a stack of cards from the inside pocket of his suit. “If you’re worried you’re the unfortunate soul who is in danger, I will be telling individual fortunes by the pool for an hour in the lobby and on the deck tomorrow afternoon. For a nominal fee, of course.”
Rowan pressed her lips together as she snagged Quinn’s gaze. He was smirking.
“He’s a charlatan,” Quinn explained. “He makes his money through a very particular grift. He’s hardly the first guy to do it.”
“I thought he might be real since we’re on a ship full of ghost hunters and paranormal enthusiasts,” Rowan admitted. “I guess we didn’t get that lucky, huh?”
“I guess not.” Quinn exhaled heavily. “I increased patrols on the deck tonight. I don’t know what else to do. We have nothing else to go on.”
“You can’t do anything. We’re stuck.”
“Then let’s be stuck together in bed,” Quinn suggested, grinning when a wicked light filled her eyes at the unexpected double entendre. “I didn’t necessarily mean that, but I’m always up for whatever adventure that evil brain of yours comes up with.”
“That makes two of us. Let’s get out of here.”
“You read my mind.”
Five
Zander was still feeling abandoned when he made his way to the lido deck after dinner. He faked a smile and waved when Harper and Jared said goodnight, but in truth, he was miffed.
In his head, he understood that Harper and Jared needed time alone. They were newly engaged, head-over-heels, and quite often schmaltzy. That didn’t irritate him nearly as much as it used to.
In his heart, though, he was frustrated. When they planned the trip, it was just supposed to be Harper and him. At the time, neither of them were dating – and Zander was convinced he would never find anyone to settle down with – and it seemed like the perfect vacation. They could network and enjoy a tropical destination. He never expected their lives to change so much over the course of a single year.
In that time, Harper and Jared met and turned into magnets, always drawn together. From the first moment he saw them together, Zander knew their lives were going to change. Jared was the one for Harper almost from their first shared breath. He expected it … he just wasn’t comfortable with change.
Jared was good for Harper – Zander would never say otherwise – but the fact that the amiable police officer was always there, a permanent fixture in their lives, and often a replacement for Zander, was a bitter pill to swallow.
Zander wanted Harper to be happy … but he would’ve preferred she was happy with him (and only him) during this particular trip. Since he couldn’t blame Harper – she was his best friend after all – he had no choice but to blame Jared. Surprisingly enough, he was fine with that.
“Men are stupid,” a woman announced as she took a seat at the bar next to him. Zander was thrilled with the ambiance of the club despite the kitschy name, All That Jazz, and the timely opening for conversation only drove home that point.
“Men are definitely stupid,” he agreed, sipping his violet gin and tonic. It was purple, and the lighting made it glow, which gave it a fairy quality that left him feeling giddy. “Are you on vacation with your boyfriend?”
The woman eyed him for a moment, suspicion obvious. “Um … .”
“Don’t worry. I’m not hitting on you.” Zander waved his hand in a flippant manner. “You’re not exactly my type.”
She narrowed her eyes further. “What is that supposed to mean? Is it because I’m too fat?”
The question caught Zander off guard. “Um … no. You look perfectly proportional. Although, if I were you, I probably wouldn’t wear pleated shorts. They make your hips look a bit wide. That’s easily fixed, though.”
The woman’s mouth dropped open. “W-what?”
“I forgot what question you asked,” Zander admitted, taking another sip. He was only on his second drink, but it was going straight to his head.
The woman stared long and hard, and then it was as if a lightbulb went on over her head. “Oh. You’re gay.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Oh, no.” Mortified, the woman fanned her face. “It’s not a bad thing. I’m all for it. You know … man love.” She pumped her fist in such a manner that Zander couldn’t stop himself from laughing.
“Oh, you’re funny.” He extended a hand and introduced himself. “What’s your name?”
“Tasha Vale,” she replied when she recovered from her laughing fit. “I’m so sorry for doing that ‘man love’ thing. I realized when I was saying it that I sounded like a loon, but it was already too late. I have this thing where I stick my foot in my mouth and sometimes I lodge it so far in there I can’t get it back out.”
Zander snorted, amused. “You sound just like me. That’s how I am, too.”
“Do you ever wish all men would be shipped to an island and kept there, too?”
“Not if I have to stay on the island. If I can remain with the women – only the sane ones, not the PMSing ones or anything – then I would totally be for it … but only if the island found a way to keep bossy cops from inviting themselves along on private vacations.”
Tasha nodded. “I’m sure we can work something out.” She lifted her chin when the bartender stopped in front of her. “What is that purple thing you’re drinking?”
“Violet gin and tonic.”
“That sounds fun. Can I have one of those?”
The bartender bobbed his head. “Coming right up.”
Tasha waited until he was out of earshot before continuing. “So, tell me everything about yourself. I’ve had a terrible night and want to hear something happy.”
“I’m not sure my night has been any better. I’m on vacation with my best friend and her boyfriend. I’m the official third wheel … and it’s absolutely no fun.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“You don’t have to watch them constantly pet one another. I swear, they spend a full hour every night saying ‘no, you’re prettier’ and that’s on top of the mirror they have over their bed so he can admire his muscles while he’s doing filthy stuff with my best friend.”
Tasha openly gaped. “They have a mirror over their bed? Is it gilded?”
“It’s a funhouse mirror.”
“Truly?”
Zander smirked. “No, but I like messing with him. He has freakishly large nipples. No joke. It drives him crazy when I comment on them.”
“Which means you comment on them constantly.”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
“Well, the psychic at dinner said I was going to die, which annoyed my group members – one of whom I’m desperately in love with – so I could use some funny stories about large nipples.”
“Ask and ye shall receive.”
ROWAN MANAGED TO SLEEP, BUT it wasn’t exactly restful. Quinn’s eyes were already open and on her when she shifted her chin on his shoulder to stare at him the next morning.
“Did you sleep at all?”
He nodded. “I got a solid six. How about you?”
Rowan wasn’t sure she got a solid anything. “I slept.”
“That was a bit evasive.”
“I slept,” she repeated. “I could’v
e slept better but … that’s not the world we’re living in right now. I’ll sleep when we figure out what’s going on.”
Quinn’s fingers were gentle as they brushed her auburn hair away from her face. “No ideas?”
“No. I don’t know what to do.”
“I have an idea, if you’re interested.”
“Oh, yeah?” Rowan’s eyes lit with interest. “I’m willing to listen to any suggestion you have right now.”
“Your father.”
That wasn’t the answer Rowan expected and she shifted a bit so she could prop herself on an elbow. “Huh. That didn’t even occur to me.”
Quinn honestly wasn’t surprised. Rowan was still coming to terms with the new realities of her life. Paul Gray disappeared right before she graduated from high school, leaving her to fend for herself through college and what came after. She thought he was dead – the father who raised her would never willingly abandon her, or so she thought – and she mourned him hard for years.
Since her mother died years before, Rowan was well and truly on her own. She managed to make it through college thanks to help from her uncle, although she didn’t know he was miraculously making scholarships available to her at the time. Then she got a job as a photographer in Detroit and remained close to home for years, until she was laid off.
After that, she saw an ad in a newspaper, interviewed, and promptly found herself making a new life on The Bounding Storm. Things shifted quickly after that, Quinn and Rowan fell in love just in time for her father to miraculously rise from the dead. He had run because he was trying to protect her and the things she could do. He was working hard at regaining her trust, but their relationship was still a work in progress.
“I don’t think it could possibly hurt,” Quinn offered. “He has a phone now thanks to Nick. You’re allowed to call.”
“But can I call from the ship when it’s at sea? I mean … I’ve never called anyone while we’re on a cruise … mostly because I didn’t have anyone to call. I don’t know how that works.”
Quinn’s grin was lazy. “Well, I happen to have a special hub that will allow you to use your cell phone, although I think it might be easier for you to use the computer and do a video chat.”
Wicked Ghostly Seas: A Rowan Gray, Harper Harlow and Ivy Morgan Mystery Omnibus Page 44
