A Woman With Secrets. Inglath Cooper

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СКАЧАТЬ WAS ONLY when he was alone that Cole let himself think about Ginny. Wonder how much she had grown, whether her voice still had the same sweet lilt to it, whether she had lost all of her baby teeth.

      Each of these questions cut through him like a knife, and he closed his eyes against the instant pain.

      Now, at just a little after midnight, he sat up and rubbed a hand across his eyes. He’d been sitting here for a couple of hours or more. This night was no different from most when he had to force himself to go to bed. Just as he sat up, Kate Winthrop appeared at the top of the stairs. She hesitated at the sight of him, then bolted to the side of the boat where she hung over the railing and promptly threw up.

      She sank down onto the floor, head in her hands.

      He walked over, pretty sure she wouldn’t welcome his concern. Her eyes were closed. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped.

      “Sorry,” he said. “Seasick?”

      She suppressed a moan. “Please don’t overstate the obvious.”

      “How long have you been like this?”

      “I just now woke up this way.”

      She barely finished the sentence before she jumped to her feet and leaned over the rail again, gagging.

      He went to the galley and wet a towel, returning to offer it to her along with a small bottle of pills. “Take one of these,” he said. “It won’t help for a while since you’re already sick, but it will eventually.”

      He removed the lid and shook one into his palm, then held out a glass of water for her.

      Hand shaking, she took it, forcing the pill down. “Can’t you just throw me overboard?” she asked.

      He looked down at her for a moment, then said, “As a matter of fact, I’d be happy to.”

      CHAPTER FIVE

      A little help is better than a lot of pity.

      —Celtic Proverb

      LESS THAN TWO minutes later, Kate found herself being lowered into the water on an inflatable life raft. She’d followed his directions, letting him fasten a life vest around her, then guiding her into the dingy, not caring that she wore nothing more than a thin cotton nightgown or that her skin probably had the hue of green cheese in the moonlight. She was just too sick to care.

      Once the raft reached the water, he buckled his own life vest and jumped over the side, tying the dinghy to the Ginny, then reaching a hand toward her and saying, “Come on, I’ll help you in.”

      “This seems kind of crazy,” she said.

      “It’s the only thing that will help until that medicine takes effect.”

      Intent only on escaping the nausea threatening to consume her once more, she shimmied over the side and into the arms of a man she’d known less than twelve hours. She forced herself not to think about what might be lurking in the inky depths below them.

      The water felt cool. Too lightheaded to hold on to the raft, Kate leaned against him, her back to his chest, his right arm around her waist, his left holding on to the raft. Her nightgown floated up and made a lily pad on the water, leaving her legs bare against his.

      She couldn’t find the energy to protest.

      “Give it a few minutes,” he said. “You should start to feel better soon, Ms. Winthrop—”

      “It’s Kate,” she corrected him, perversely annoyed that he’d continued to address her that way even though she’d never asked him to do otherwise.

      “You should feel better soon, Kate,” he amended, emphasis on her name.

      She breathed in the cool night air, willing the nausea to recede. Eventually, it did, enough that she could open her eyes and stare up at the star-dotted sky without that same wretched feeling of sickness. “This is horrible,” she said, the words weak and barely audible.

      “Yeah,” he said, sounding a shade more sympathetic than he had a few moments ago. “Never had it before?”

      She shook her head. A few seconds passed before she managed, “How did you know this would help?”

      “On my first ocean dive, we went out right after breakfast. Everyone on board was ill, including me. The dive master made us all get in the water even though we were too sick to move. Ended up with a sea full of cornflakes, but it worked eventually.”

      Kate moaned, an unexpected bubble of laughter breaking free from her aching throat.

      “Sorry for the visual.”

      “At least I’m still alive enough to laugh. A few minutes ago, I was beginning to wonder.”

      He chuckled beside her ear, the sound unexpected and somehow soothing. “You don’t seem the type to let a little seasickness get you down.”

      As the dizziness lessened, and the nausea remained at bay, she became aware of the arm around her waist, the chest to her back, the strong legs against hers beneath the water.

      Suddenly, she had the wherewithal to feel some embarrassment for her predicament. The situation felt intimate. As intimate as two people could be when one of them had just spent the last hour heaving her insides out.

      Reaching for the raft, she slipped free of his arm and turned to face him. “I feel a little better now, Captain—”

      “Cole,” he said.

      “Captain Cole,” she corrected with a half smile.

      He smiled then, too, a real smile. It beamed a shaft of awareness straight through her. Along with it came the knowledge that a sheet of paper wouldn’t fit between them in their current position. She kicked her feet to insert a little distance.

      “Stay where you are,” he said. “I don’t want you fainting on me.”

      Imagining herself unconscious in the ink-black ocean, she did as he said, despite her overly sensitized body. “Thank you. For helping me.”

      “You’re welcome.”

      The night hung dark and endless around them. They floated in silence for a long time while she battled with the desire to extricate herself from this awkward situation and the realization that getting back on the boat probably meant getting sick again. She chose what seemed the lesser of two evils and stayed where she was.

      “So how do you know Tyler?” he asked, breaking the silence.

      “He’s my lawyer. And friend.”

      Cole didn’t say anything for a few moments. She sensed the unspoken question and said, “I’m also good friends with Peg. His wife.”

      “Ah. So what made him think you wanted a vacation like this?”

      She started to say she hadn’t wanted a vacation like this, but found herself being honest СКАЧАТЬ