Heart Stealers

by Patricia McLinn

  “If you think I’m going to give up just because your bank turned us down, then you don’t know me very well.”

  “Aurora, be reasonable.” He started to step toward her, then apparently thought better of it when she retrieved the dripping sponge. He held his hand up as if to ward her off. “You can’t make something happen just because it’s what you want. Determination is fine, but you have to balance it with good sense.”

  She resumed scrubbing. “You also can’t give up at the very first obstacle you reach,” she countered. “It takes courage and hard work to make dreams come true, and a willingness to take a few chances. What about you, ‘Chance’? Have you ever taken a chance in your entire life? Or are you too afraid to step off the safe path your parents set you on? Of course, considering the path you were born to, I guess you don’t have to take chances to get what you want. Well, not everyone has that luxury.”

  “I see.” His back straightened with offense. “Fine, then. If you want to throw your family savings away, that’s your business.”

  “It certainly is.” She slung her hand downward to get the excess water out of the sponge and he sidestepped just in time. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

  She turned her back and resumed scrubbing. An eternity passed before he stepped ashore, leaving the boat rocking as he stormed away. In a fit of anger, she kicked the water bucket, which knocked it over and nearly broke her toe. Hopping around in pain, she slipped and fell, landing on her backside in the puddle of water.

  Since she didn’t know whether to curse or cry, she buried her face in her hands and did both. She hated Oliver Chancellor. Hated him with every fiber of her body! Or she would as soon as she stopped praying that he’d turn around and come back. But he didn’t come back, and she knew now he never would.

  “Of all the stupid, lame-brained, idiotic things to do,” Chance muttered under his breath a week later as he paced the sunroom at the back of the Baxters’ house. The room overlooked the private boat docks along the canal. Mrs. Baxter had told him that Paige had taken her friend Stacy out on their cabin cruiser, but was expected back any moment.

  He prowled the room, trying not to think about Aurora. An impossible task. Mere days after they’d argued on the pier he’d learned the St. Claires had, indeed, purchased Pearl Island. And they’d paid cash! The idiots!

  A few days after that, he’d learned through the grapevine that the St. Claires had secured a sizable loan from a rival bank and were going full steam ahead with the renovations. He wanted to wring all their necks. “They’re going to lose everything!”

  Just then, he saw the Baxters’ cabin cruiser turn into the narrow canal that led to their house. In spite of the vessel’s size, Paige steered it effortlessly into its covered slip.

  Chance waited as she and Stacy Connely gathered up towels and suntan lotion and donned cover-ups over their swimsuits. The two were laughing and flushed from a day on the water as they entered the sunroom.

  “Chance!” Paige drew up short. “What are you doing here?”

  Her stunned expression took him off guard. “I hadn’t seen you in a while, and thought I’d drop by. Hello, Stacy.”

  “Hey, Chance.” Stacy nodded.

  “I hope the two of you don’t mind,” Chance said.

  “No, of course not.” Paige laughed nervously. “I just wish I’d known so I wouldn’t have kept you waiting.”

  “I don’t mind waiting, although I guess I should have called.” The thought of calling hadn’t even crossed his mind. Of course, he didn’t seem to be able to think of anything lately except Aurora. The woman was driving him insane! “I could come back another time if you’re busy.”

  “Don’t be silly.” Paige glanced at Stacy, and some secret message seemed to pass between them before she turned back to Chance. “You know you’re always welcome here.”

  “Besides, I was just leaving,” Stacy hastened to add. “Oh, wait, Paul was just asking if you’d want to get together with some of the guys for a round of golf.”

  “Tell him to give me a call,” Chance answered.

  “Will do.” She hugged Paige. “Thanks again for agreeing to be my maid of honor. Paul will be so pleased.”

  “How could I refuse after you agreed to serve on the Buccaneer’s Ball entertainment committee with me?” Paige said, returning the hug.

  “True.” Stacy laughed. She glanced at Chance then mouthed the words “Call me later” to Paige. With eyes twinkling, she left the two of them alone.

  “I’m sorry if I interrupted your time with Stacy.”

  “Don’t be silly.” Paige laughed lightly as she came forward and presented her cheek for a kiss. He’d kissed her like that before, many times, but the fact that he now had to bend over so far to reach her cheek was a reminder that the innocent days of their youth were in the past. Why couldn’t she be taller? And smell like exotic flowers? And why couldn’t heat flare inside him at the mere sight of her?

  “I’m glad you stopped by,” she said with a polite smile as she set her sunbathing bag on the wicker end table. The bag matched her gold one-piece swimming suit and long white cover-up. “I’ve barely seen you since moving home.”

  “Yes, well, I guess we’ve both been pretty busy.”

  “Would you like to sit?”

  “Yes. Certainly.” He sat on a wicker love seat that was too low to the ground for his long legs.

  “Can I get you a drink?”

  “Please.” He tried to make himself more comfortable.

  “Crown Royal on the rocks, right?” She crossed to the wet bar flanked by potted palms and got down a cut-crystal tumbler.

  “Yes, thank you.” While she fixed his drink his mind raced. He had to get past this business with Aurora

  and get on with his life. A life filled with the friends he’d grown up with, golf on the weekends, holidays with his family, and the obligatory appearance at charity fundraisers. To him, these were all routines that felt comfortable—as they would be for Paige. Even if he weren’t set on marrying Paige, he couldn’t imagine Aurora slipping seamlessly into that world. They were so different. So wrong for each other. Surely any fool could see that.

  “Here you are,” Paige said, handing him his drink. Joining him on the love seat, she tucked her legs beneath her and looked perfectly at ease on the too short, too dainty furniture as she sipped a glass of ice water. “Can I get you anything else?”

  “No, actually, I... came here to talk.”

  “Oh? About what?”

  He took a deep breath. “Paige, I know we agreed we’d wait a bit before we started seeing each other regularly, so you’d have time to get settled.”

  “That was several weeks ago. Five to be exact.”

  He pulled back, startled. “Has it been that long?”

  “Umm.” She raised one brow in a look that might have been censure. On Paige? No, he shook the notion off.

  “Well.” He cleared his throat. “I think it’s time we start... you know, ‘seeing’ each other.”

  “I see.”

  “I mean, if that’s agreeable with you.” Her manner was so cool, he briefly wondered if she cared one way or the other.

  She set her glass aside and looked straight at him. “What did you have in mind?”

  “In mind?”

  “For a date. I assume ‘seeing each other’ will involve dating?”

  “Yes, of course.” Why hadn’t he planned something? “Um, how about a movie?”

  “I’ve always preferred books to movies,” she said.

  “Yes. Of course. I knew that. But I was sort of hoping for something we could do together.” His mind drew a blank. “I don’t suppose there’s anything you’d like to do.”

  “Actually there is.” She brightened some as she extracted a pamphlet from her beach bag. “Stacy and I were just making plans to play tourist this weekend. Maybe you’d like to join us.”

  “You mean... hit the antique shops on The Strand?” He c
ringed, remembering the hours of boredom his mother had put him through as a youth.

  “No, something more adventurous. A flier was mailed to members of the Historical Society advertising a new boat tour.”

  Chance nearly groaned at the mention of boats. If there was one thing Paige did get passionate about, it was boats. Sailboats, cabin cruisers, pontoons, or catamarans, it didn’t matter. If it floated on water, she wanted to try it out. He, on the other hand, barely knew the difference between a schooner and a skiff.

  “Not your typical Galveston Bay boat tour,” she continued. “This tour stops at Pearl Island for a picnic lunch at the haunted house. The kick-off voyage is this Saturday.”

  His mind snapped to attention. He hadn’t heard of this development. The property was barely in their name, and already they were offering picnic lunches? How could that be?

  “So?” Paige asked, looking hopeful. “What do you think?”

  He hesitated, entirely too tempted to jump on this excuse to see Aurora, but knowing he should stay as far away from her as possible.

  “Come on, Chance,” Paige coaxed, handing him the flier. “It’ll be fun. And Stacy could even invite Paul to make it a double date.”

  “Well...” He hedged, telling himself he needed to spend time with Paige. If this was what she wanted to do, he should indulge her. His agreeing had nothing to do with Aurora. “I guess we could do that.”

  “You mean it?” Pleasure brightened her eyes.

  “Absolutely.” He glanced at the flier, suddenly eager— to please Paige, he told himself, not to see Aurora. “What time do we need to be there?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “How many reservations do we have?” Rory asked as she bounded into the tour-boat office, short of breath.

  “Not many, and you’re late,” Bobby answered.

  “I know. Sorry.” She placed a hand over her stomach, hoping to squelch the beginning signs of an anxiety attack. After two weeks of working themselves into the ground, the day had finally arrived for their first haunted-house lunch run—a trial run, really, to see if the idea would even work. She’d been up since dawn helping Adrian and Allison pack pasta salad, fresh fruit, and sandwiches into ice chests. They’d sent out fliers to the Visitors’ Center, the Chamber of Commerce, and members of the Historical Society. Now, if only people would show up.

  “Maybe no one noticed the request for reservations down at the bottom,” she worried. “I knew I should have told the printer to make it bigger. But that doesn’t mean people won’t come, right? They’ll come. Don’t you think?”

  “Hey, you’re not nervous, are you, beautiful?”

  “Who, me?” She gave him a wobbly smile, so nervous she’d been nauseous for the past two weeks. “I know it’s early to be starting something like this, but we need it to take off. If Adrian’s going to be our breakfast cook, he has to be able to quit his night job at Chez Laffite. Pulling two shifts with almost no sleep would be too much. We have to build up this lunch business while we’re renovating so everything will be in place when we’re ready to open in the fall.”

  “Just as long as you don’t quit before then.” Bobby stopped restocking the pamphlet display to give her a disgruntled look. “You’re the best tour guide I’ve ever had. I’ll never find someone else with your flair for telling a story.”

  “Thank you, Bobby.” She felt so touched, she wanted to cry. But then, her emotions had been running high lately. “That’s really sweet.”

  “Now, don’t get mushy on me.” He smirked. “Just promise you’ll train your replacement.”

  “I promise.” She leaned over the counter and kissed his bristly cheek. “But first, let’s get through today. And hope this lunch run doesn’t bomb completely.”

  “It better not, since I could be making two regular runs in the same amount of time.” He returned to restocking pamphlets, but stopped when something out the window caught his eye. “Well, look at that.”

  “What?” She came around the counter and peered over his shoulder. The parking lot closest to them was filling up fast and several people were heading their way. Some of them she recognized as employees of the Visitors’ Center, but there were several tourists, as well. “I guess the fliers worked.”

  “Guess so,” Bobby said, a bit stunned. “I hope we have enough room for all these folks.”

  “I just hope we packed enough food.” She laughed even as a fresh wave of nausea stirred in her stomach. Maybe she’d caught the summer flu that was going around.

  “Well,” Bobby said with a white-toothed grin, “let’s get to work.”

  She hurried out the door to take up her post by the boat. Staying busy calmed her jitters. As long as she concentrated on work, she didn’t have time to worry. Or think about Chance.

  No, that was a lie. Chance always lingered in the back of her mind. The memory of how they’d parted made her heart ache until she couldn’t sleep. Which made her all the more determined to concentrate on work, and get over the man.

  While Bobby sold tickets, she handed out life jackets to the minors. She was laughing through her usual jokes about feeding passengers to the sharks if they didn’t obey the safety rules when the last group to board came up behind her.

  “Hello, Aurora.”

  Her whole body went still at the sound of his voice. A thousand thoughts flew through her mind as her heart filled with pleasure, then pain. When she turned, she saw only him. His gaze caressed her face as if he were starved for the sight of her, too. He smiled, but somehow she felt his unhappiness and it gave her hope. Then she saw the couple behind him and the petite blond holding his arm, and her blood turned to ice.

  No. Not this. She couldn’t handle this on top of everything else she had to deal with today. Her spine stiffened. “I’m not sure we have room,” she said in a flat tone, as the heat of anger melted the shock.

  “Oh, but we have tickets,” the little blond said. She wasn’t a great beauty, but she had pretty eyes and flawless skin.

  “Then apparently we oversold.” Rory stepped in their way, and felt like an Amazon next to Chance’s girlfriend. So this is Paige, she thought. No wonder he preferred this dainty debutante to her. Rory hated her on sight.

  “I’m sorry,” Chance said to Paige, but his gaze remained fixed on Rory. “I guess we’re too late.”

  “You certainly are,” Rory said. Several weeks too late.

  “I don’t understand.” The other man stepped forward. “Why did you sell us tickets if you don’t have room?”

  Rory’s gaze broadened to take in the whole group. All four of them had the polished sort of looks that pegged them as members of the Galveston elite. It was more than the cost of their clothing and the cut of their hair. It was something in the way people from Old Money stood, the gestures of their smooth hands, the air of relaxed confidence that surrounded them. Seeing Chance with them, so much a part of them, was even worse than seeing him at the bank. She felt foolish for ever thinking she could capture the attention of Oliver Chancellor for more than a fling.

  “Yo, Rory!” Bobby said, coming out of the office. “What’s the hold-up? Let’s get these people aboard and shove off.”

  “We don’t have room.” She glared at her boss, hoping he would catch the message in her eyes. No such luck. Captain Bob was too busy smiling at Paige and her friend.

  “Of course we do,” he said. “We always have room for beautiful women aboard the Daydreamer.”

  “Oh.” Paige blushed rather than roll her eyes as Rory would have done. The other woman, an attractive brunette, just laughed.

  Brushing Rory out of the way, Bobby stepped aboard and held his hand out to Paige. “Here, let me find you a seat near the captain’s wheel. Watch your step, now.”

  “Why, thank you,” she said as she took Bobby’s hand and stepped onto the crowded boat in her yellow silk shorts set and white summer sandals. The tennis bracelet that sparkled at her wrist could have bought the Daydreamer with diamonds to spa
re.

  “My pleasure. I’m Captain Bob.” He tugged on the bill of his cap. “And you would be... ?”

  “Paige Baxter.”

  Baxter. Rory might not have recognized the first name, but she definitely recognized the last. Baxter Homes developed neighborhoods throughout east Texas.

  As Bobby found seats for Perfect Paige and the other couple, Chance remained by Rory. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “We shouldn’t have come.”

  “Why ever not?” She forced a smile that quivered a bit around the edges. “There’s no reason we have to avoid each other. And since we apparently have room, after all, grab a seat and we’ll be under way.”

  Chance found space on the bench beside Paige and watched Aurora cast off the mooring lines. Seeing her again had been a mistake. He hadn’t realized how much it would tear at his resolve. But then, he hadn’t expected her to look so tired and pale. Not pale enough that anyone who didn’t know her would notice, but he wondered if she’d had as much trouble sleeping lately as he had.

  Then he snorted at the thought. If Aurora couldn’t sleep, it was due to the excitement of a new business. Not because she’d been pining away for him. While she’d been upset about him not calling her the day he’d come to the docks, no doubt she’d gotten over it by now. Gotten over him.

  Just as he needed to get past his constant brooding over her.

  Their lives had crossed paths briefly but were moving in different directions. Still, he wanted them to part as friends so they could both look back on their time together with fond memories. And without this horrible emptiness he felt watching her.

  The motor rumbled to life with a coughing belch of smoke, and they pulled slowly away from the pier. Aurora moved to the front of the boat and picked up a mike. “Good morning, everyone. Welcome aboard the Daydreamer for our first Haunted House Lunch Cruise. For you visitors to Galveston, I’ll be pointing out several historical landmarks on the way. If you have questions just give me a shout.”