Man Overboard. Karen Leabo
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Название: Man Overboard
Автор: Karen Leabo
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
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“Could you at least try to appear as if you’re enjoying this?” Harrison said. “People will think I’m pulling your fingernails out one by one instead of dancing with you.”
Little did he know that he was inflicting a very different brand of torture on her. His nearness caused her body to respond, despite her efforts to remain indifferent. She was acutely aware of his hard, lean torso brushing against hers, the warmth of his hand enveloping hers, the strength of his shoulder where she touched him, the subtle, spicy fragrance of his after-shave.
And the way he looked at her. She could have easily drowned in those brown eyes, which seemed so sincere.
She forced a smile.
“That’s a little better. Why do you dislike me so intensely?
“It’s habit,” she replied, not even bothering to deny the accusation. “I’ve never liked any of Aurora’s suitors. She tends to attract a certain brand of man.”
“What if I’m different?” he countered, his hand making slow, sensual circles at the small of her back. “What if I’m gainfully employed, financially secure and a gentleman without designs on Aurora’s matrimonial status?”
Paige didn’t answer. The feel of his hand, warm and insistent through the silk of her dress, had paralyzed her brain and turned her body into one big nerve ending.
“Well, it’s possible, isn’t it?” he prompted.
With no small effort Paige collected her wits. What was she doing? What was she allowing him to do?
“You may be gainfully employed and financially secure,” she said evenly. “But a gentleman? For the past few minutes you’ve been rubbing circles on my back, and now your hand is perilously close to a part of my anatomy that shouldn’t be fondled in public. In conclusion, only a cur dog pursues two females at the same time, much less two females who are close to each other. This dance is finished, Mr. Powell. And when I tell Aurora what you’re up to, you’ll be finished with her, as well.”
Looking a bit startled at her vehement outburst, he dropped his hands, allowing her to escape.
Paige resisted the urge to run. Her face flaming, she left the dance floor, bypassed their table and headed straight for the exit. A detached part of her applauded her blistering speech. Her outrage was perfectly justified; the dressing down was no more than the cad deserved.
But another, more frightened part of herself was forced to admit that she’d liked the way he’d been touching her. For the first time in years she’d felt the full force of her own healthy, feminine response to a man’s touch, complete with watery knees, fluttering stomach, heart palpitations and an insistent tug deep in her abdomen, an ache that begged for fulfillment.
If she hadn’t willfully summoned up that anger, she would have melted against him, turned her face upward and accepted the kiss she knew had been on his mind.
She probably would have enjoyed it, too.
Three
The next morning Paige was determined to put the previous evening’s disturbing events behind her. The weather outside was gorgeous, she had a new, sleek, emerald green swimsuit, and the breakfast buffet on the Lido Deck beckoned. After she sated herself, she planned to find a deck chair, an umbrella and several undisturbed hours to lose herself in Stephen King’s latest bestseller.
She didn’t have to worry about her mother. She’d heard Aurora come dragging in after 2:00 a.m., giggling like a teenager as someone—Paige didn’t want to think too hard about who—had walked her to her door. If Aurora was true to form, she wouldn’t be out of bed until noon.
Paige did, however, need to borrow Aurora’s bottle of sun block. She eased the connecting door open and tiptoed inside her mother’s room, where Aurora snored softly, a satin sleeping mask protecting her eyes from the sunlight streaming through the cracks in the curtains.
Now, where would her mother have hidden the suntan lotion? Paige wondered.
“Mmm, Paige?” Aurora said muzzily.
“Sorry, Mother,” Paige whispered. “I’m just looking for the sun block.”
Aurora leaned up on one elbow and pulled off the mask. “‘S in that beach bag...oh, there, under the dressing table. Why’d you run off so early last night?” she asked, obviously irritated. “You missed the champagne.”
“It wasn’t early, it was after midnight,” Paige argued amiably. Sooner or later she would have to tell her mother about Harrison’s lack of fidelity, but that could wait—at least until Aurora had drunk her first cup of coffee.
“Harrison seemed to think you were miffed at him.”
“Oh, he did, did he?”
“Were you?”
Paige weighed her answer carefully. “A bit. You should watch him, Mother. I don’t think his intentions are honorable.”
“I certainly hope not,” Aurora said with a wicked laugh.
“Mother!”
“Oh, Paige, would you lay off the ‘Miss Prim’ stuff? I’m a grown woman, and I don’t need you watchdogging my social life.”
“Someone should,” Paige muttered.
Aurora chose to ignore the dig. “So where are you off to this morning so disgustingly bright and early?”
Paige was relieved at the change of subject. “To breakfast and then the pool. Want to come?”
Aurora shuddered delicately at the mention of food. “No, thanks, not until I beat this hangover. I’d forgotten what a chipper little morning person you are. Now, go away. I’ll see you at a more civilized hour.” She shoved the mask back over her eyes and burrowed into the bed covers.
With a shrug Paige grabbed the beach bag, which felt as if it contained a bowling ball, and returned to her own room.
“What in the world is in this thing?” she wondered aloud as she opened the drawstring top and checked out the contents. There were two pairs of sunglasses, a tube of lip balm, under-eye moisturizer, three scarves, and four economy-size bottles of suntan oil, each with a different SPF. The outside zipper pockets held clips to Aurora’s electric rollers, a packet of tissues and a costume-jewelry necklace.
Paige examined the necklace. It was pretty, she decided. In fact, she would have thought it was the real thing if she didn’t know that stones of this size were well beyond Aurora’s means. Still, it was obviously an expensive piece of fakery. She would have to remind Aurora to take better care of it.
Paige laid the necklace on the dresser, intending to return it to her mother later. She selected a few essentials and put them back into the bag, plopped a wide-brimmed straw hat onto her head and headed for the Lido Deck.
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