“Well, this is quite the greeting,” he chuckled as the hostess frowned. It was obvious the young woman had liked what she saw in Quinn. It was equally obvious that he was taken given Rowan’s enthusiastic hello. “I missed you, too.” He kissed her cheek and rubbed her back. “It’s okay.” He held her for a moment longer and then pulled back so he could study her face. “Are you okay?”
The hostess made a huffy sound. “I told you they already ordered.”
“Then I’m just in time to eat.” Quinn flashed her a friendly but dismissive smile. “Thank you.”
The hostess looked between him and Rowan for an extended beat and then sighed while turning. She muttered something under her breath that Rowan thought sounded like “the good ones are always taken,” earning a smile from everyone around the table.
Quinn waited until she was out of earshot to shake hands with Nick and Paul and then slide into his chair. “I’m sorry I’m late.”
Rowan waited for him to expand. When he didn’t, she fixed him with a fiery stare. “That’s it? That’s all you’re going to tell me?”
Quinn glanced around the restaurant. It was too busy for a frank discussion. “For right now. We’ll go for a walk on the beach after dinner. I happen to be starving.” He reached for a lobster tail but could still feel Rowan’s eyes on him. “Ro, we can’t talk about it here. I’m fine. It’s going to be okay. It’s just ... something big has come up.”
“Will we all be taking the walk on the beach?” Nick asked curiously.
“Yup.” Quinn bobbed his head. “This involves you, too.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“I don’t know what to make of it. Food first, though.” He tapped the side of Rowan’s plate. “You need to eat. I’m not telling you anything until you fill that mouth of yours.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re in big trouble later for torturing me like this.”
“I’m sure I’ll enjoy being punished.” He winked at her and ignored the darkening of Paul’s gaze. “This looks great. Let’s dig in.”
EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS A HUGE fan of seafood, wading through the mountain of food felt torturous to Rowan. By the time they exited the restaurant, Paul and Nick leaving their car in the lot, she was almost beside herself.
“Spill,” she ordered when they hit the sand.
“Just a second.” Quinn took his time surveying the empty beach, making sure to study each direction for a long time, and then turned to face the firing squad. No one looked particularly happy about him making them wait.
“I was late because I got an update to our trip list for tomorrow,” he started.
Rowan frowned. “We get late updates all the time. It’s not a big deal.”
“Except I set up a track and trace on various names for the Phoenix Society a few weeks ago. Three of the new names on the manifest tripped it.”
Rowan stilled, unsure. “What does that mean?” she asked finally, looking to her father for answers. “Is that bad?”
“It means three people from the society are going to be on your cruise,” Paul replied, lost in thought. “I wonder ... .” He trailed off.
“I have a feeling I know exactly what you’re thinking,” Quinn noted. “It was my thought, too. By switching names out this late, they were probably trying to fly under the radar. They had no way of knowing I would check every name because most people would’ve let it slide and assumed that the initial checks were sufficient.”
“I still don’t understand,” Rowan pressed. “What checks? I feel as if I’m drowning in quicksand because none of this makes sense.”
Quinn was calm as he shifted to face her, running both his hands up and down her arms and marveling at how cold her skin felt despite the oppressive heat and humidity swamping them. It was late summer in southern Florida. There was nothing cool about the breeze ruffling her hair.
“Sweetie, I don’t know exactly what it means,” he started. “I know that three people from the Phoenix Society will be on the ship tomorrow. I can’t believe that’s a coincidence. The way they’re trying to slide in suggests to me they’re expecting me not to notice ... and they probably have an agenda.”
“And we all know what that agenda is.” Paul’s gaze was heavy as it landed on Rowan. “Well, that’s it then. We have to run.”
Quinn immediately started shaking his head. “We are most definitely not running.” He was firm. “I’m not living my life on the lam unless I absolutely have to.”
“No one says you have to go,” Paul shot back, his fiery temper on display. “You can stay here and play investigator and we’ll take Rowan with us.”
“You mean take her away from me.” Quinn’s eyes went dark, flat. “I’m not just going to sit back and let that happen either. If you think I am, then you’re crazy.”
“I don’t think it’s your decision,” Paul argued. “Rowan is an adult.” He turned a set of pleading eyes on his daughter. “You have to come with us. We gave it a good shot trying to figure out what was going on with them, but obviously they found out about you. It’s time we leave.”
Rowan glanced between Paul and Quinn and felt caught. “We can’t run,” she said finally, loosening a relieved sigh from Quinn. “I don’t want to spend my life hiding who I am. I’m building something here ... with Quinn. We have plans for a future together.”
“Why can’t you have that future in another location?” Paul refused to back down. “We can find a new home. If you like the beach — which you seem to — we can find a tropical location. It won’t be here, but it will still be great.”
“And what do we do for jobs?”
“I have enough money for all of us. I’m a famous author. You don’t need to work another day in your life.”
Rowan balked. “No. That’s not how this works. Besides, I love my job. I want to take photos for the rest of my life. I don’t think I’ll always be on a cruise ship, but it’s where I want to be now.”
“You mean you want to be with Quinn,” Paul countered. “Don’t sit there and pretend he’s not the one driving this decision. He should want to keep you safe above all else. That means leaving this place before they ever set eyes on you.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Quinn’s voice was low and full of warning. “I love Rowan more than I’ve ever loved anything in my life. Don’t sit there and pretend you don’t realize it. We’ve talked about this before.
“I understand what you’re afraid of,” he continued. “Trust me. I understand more than just about anybody. If I thought the best thing for her was to run, we’d already be gone. That’s not the life she wants to live, though. There’s no guarantee that these people will stop looking.
“Then what happens? In ten years when we have kids, are we going to uproot them and take them from the only life they’ve ever known because they get close again? That is not a life. I want to be free to love Rowan in the open, raise children together, and plan our future. We can’t do that if we run.”
Paul opened his mouth to argue and then snapped it shut, agitation practically rolling off him in waves. “I understand you have friends you don’t want to leave but as long as you have each other, I would think that’s enough.”
Quinn licked his lips and adjusted his stance so it wasn’t so aggressive. He didn’t want to dominate his future father-in-law. He did, however, want them to willingly come to a meeting of the minds. “If we have to run, I will go with Rowan and you’ll never hear a word of complaint from me. As long as I have her, I have everything. We’re not there yet, though. I want a chance to end this on my terms, her terms. We can’t do that if we flee in the middle of the night.”
Nick cleared his throat to ease the tension and drew multiple sets of eyes. “What do you suggest?”
“We’re going on the cruise,” Quinn replied, matter-of-fact. “We’re going to be watching the people who think they’re going to be watching us. We’re going to figure out what it is they want ... and then we’re going to end the threat.”<
br />
Paul snorted. “You’re going to end the threat, huh? Just like that? How do you think that’s going to happen? They followed me my entire life after I was part of their experiments and I barely tickled their psychic meter. Rowan is a freaking phenomenon. They’re going to want to get their hands on her.”
“They won’t touch her.” Quinn was grim. “I’ll kill them before they ever lay a hand on her. I promise you that.”
“You’ll kill them?” Paul wasn’t especially upset at the notion. “Will you really do that?”
“Will I protect the woman I love from these people? Yes. I’ll use whatever means necessary. That includes running if I deem it necessary. I’ve been trained for this. I can protect her.”
“What about us?” Nick queried. “You can’t expect us to sit back and do nothing while you guys set sail for a week. We can’t be separated from her without knowing what’s going on. Neither one of us is comfortable with that.”
“Do you want to be on the cruise?” Quinn hadn’t considered it before, but it made sense. “I can arrange that. I’ll get Fred to come up with fake identities and slide you through security myself. You’ll probably have to be in disguises just in case, but we can make it work. Fred was going to join us anyway. That’s why I was so late. I was on the phone with him.”
Fred Delmore was Quinn’s old military buddy. He worked in the private sector now as an investigator. He had a dry sense of humor and loved hitting on the ladies. Despite that, Rowan was glad to know he would be joining them.
“That’s good.” She let out a breath. Surprisingly enough, now that they had a plan, she was feeling better. “I’m ready for this. I want to put it behind us as much as you do.”
“I know.” Quinn cupped the back of her head and stared into her eyes. “I’m going to be with you every step of the way. You can’t get rid of me. Not ever. It’s you and me for the long haul.”
She managed a small smile, heartfelt but a little stiff. “I couldn’t do it without you.” She wrapped her hand around his wrist. “It’s finally time.”
“Yeah, well, we don’t know what it’s time for,” Paul pointed out. “We have no idea what these people want.”
Quinn shot him a quelling look. “The argument is over and the decision has been made. That’s all there is to it.”
“I’m not arguing.” He held up his hands in capitulation. “I’m in this, too.”
“Both of us,” Nick added. “Get us on the ship. We’ll be ready in the morning for whatever you send our way.”
“I’ll be sending Fred so he can give you temporary identities and fix how you look. When you get on the ship, pretend you don’t know us ... at least for the start. I want to get a feel for these people before I do anything.”
“That sounds like a plan.”
Instinctively, Rowan wrapped her arms around Quinn’s waist and rested her head on his chest as he held her and stroked her back.
“I’m ready,” she whispered.
“I’m ready, too. We’re going to do this, and we’re going to do it right. We’re all in this together now. There’s no turning back.”
2
Two
Rowan was a nervous wreck the next day. She tried to pretend otherwise, but Quinn knew her better than anyone. He watched her get ready with a studied eye, frowned when she fussed with her makeup, and finally stepped in when she decided to change her outfit a fourth time.
“You’re good.” He grabbed her hand before she could reach for a flowery dress. “You never wear dresses when taking opening day shots,” he reminded her. “You need to be comfortable because you still have a job to do.”
Her forehead wrinkled. “I’ve worn dresses on the first day before.”
“When?”
“Lots of times.”
He folded his arms over his chest and regarded her with a stern gaze. “Ro, I’ve been watching you since you arrived on this ship. I was watching you long before I thought it was a good idea to watch you.”
“You sound like a stalker.”
His lips twitched. “Only for you, sweetie.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “You’ve never worn a dress on the first day and you know it. The breeze is usually stiff when we’re leaving port and you don’t want to worry about your dress flying up when you’re busy working.”
She knew he had a point. Still, she was annoyed. “You would think, as an adult, I would be old enough to pick out my own clothes.”
He refused to let her draw him into an argument. “Perhaps you’re just having an off day.”
“Ha, ha, ha.” Her eyes traveled, unbidden, to the mirror. “What do you think they want with me?”
That question had been haunting Quinn for weeks. “I don’t know. My guess is they want to see what you can do. It doesn’t matter. I won’t let them near you.”
“We both know you can’t protect me every second of every day.”
“Watch me.”
She couldn’t hide her amusement. “I love you.” She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest, enjoying the moment of pure intimacy for as long as she could. Soon, their lives would be in upheaval — again — and they wouldn’t have a lot of quiet moments to enjoy.
“I love you, too.” His arms were strong as he held her tight. “I won’t lose you. Whatever you believe, that’s the truth. It’s you and me forever.”
“Yeah.” She let loose a sigh. “Have you talked to Dad and Nick? Do you know if Fred got their new identities taken care of?”
And they were back to reality.
“Yup.” Quinn gave her a quick kiss and then released her. “Nick is actually keeping his current fake identity, which is his legal identity. There’s no way to tie him to your father, so it’s safe.”
Rowan was puzzled. “I thought you said they both needed new identities.”
“Fred tore Nick’s apart and says it’s solid. Also, because of who he is, we already have a story in place for Nick. We’ll be swinging by El Demonio again. It’s the first port stop. He’s taking a team back for another dive.”
“A team?” Rowan shook her head. “Won’t that distract him?”
“Not really. Besides, his team is technically divers but there are five former Navy SEALS on it. They’re also security for you.”
“Oh.” Rowan brightened considerably. “You’re saying you’ll essentially have a small army at your disposal.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Nick and Fred did a good job covering us. These men are highly trained and know their first priority is you. They’re also adept at blending in. As far as the Phoenix Society folks are concerned, they’re just divers entertaining themselves until they get to their destination.
“Also, with Fred on the ship, I’ll know you’re always covered,” he continued. “When he first insisted on coming, I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Technically he’ll be on Nick’s payroll, though. This is going to work.”
He sounded so sure of himself that Rowan couldn’t help but brighten. “What can you tell me about the Phoenix Society people coming on board?”
“I was hoping to wait until we’re all together to share that information so I only have to go over it once. Everyone should be here in about thirty minutes. That gives us an hour to break things down and get them settled before the regular guests start arriving. It’s important to remember that most of the passengers are only here for a good time.”
“You want to make sure I don’t shirk my duties. I’ve got it.”
“You would never shirk your duties.” He tweaked the end of her nose, earning a smile. “You can spend time with your father and Nick. Your father is being listed as an underwater engineer with Nick’s firm. You’re allowed to spend time with them, but I want you to be careful not to spend too much time with them alone. It’s better if you’re with the group.”
Rowan understood what he was saying. “They’re going to be watching me. You want to make sure they have no reason to question my father’s
identity.”
“Pretty much. From what I understand from Fred, he came up with a great disguise. They won’t be able to recognize him.”
“That’s good.”
“Definitely.”
“What about the others?”
Now it was Quinn’s turn to be confused. “What others?”
“Well, Michael for starters.”
Michael Griffin was the captain of The Bounding Storm. He was closer with Quinn than Rowan, but he’d been helpful a time or two since Rowan had joined the staff. He was unaware of her gift, and that’s exactly how Quinn wanted to keep things.
“Michael is aware that Nick is returning. He thinks we bonded over that first trip. If I have to hazard a guess, he believes I’m sticking close to Nick so I can get a good job when I’m finished on the ship. I have not dissuaded him from that assumption.”
“Makes sense.”
“He believes Nick’s only goal is to get back to El Demonio with his team.”
“And we had enough room for all these people at the last minute? That doesn’t sound right. We’re usually booked solid.”
“Well, that was an issue,” he hedged, shifting from one foot to the other. “The only rooms we had open were the high-roller suites. Nick didn’t bat an eyelash when I told him about the cost. They have that entire wing.”
Rowan’s eyebrows migrated north. “Seriously? That’s a lot of money.”
“Your uncle is loaded.” Quinn’s grin was cheeky. “Why else do you think he offered us a beach house for a song once this is all over with?”
Rowan chuckled. “True. Still ... I’ll have to thank him.”
“He wants to be here. They both want to be here. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have them with us. At least now I’ll know you’re always covered.”
Farewell Seas Page 40
