Marooned With A Millionaire. KRISTI GOLD

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СКАЧАТЬ of the boat, the sound of footsteps above drew her up the steps. By Bess, he was going to talk to her even if she had to sit on him. Now that might be fun.

      Naughty, naughty girl, Lizzie, she silently scolded as she strode to her destination with wavering purpose, a little nervous over the prospect of facing his wrath. But that would not deter her. When she surfaced on the deck, she noticed the sun had all but set, providing just enough light where she could see him striding to the back of the boat, something silver clutched in his hand.

      A gun? What was he doing with a gun?

      Lord, no!

      Driven by a need to prevent his demise, Lizzie ran toward him, hoping she wasn’t too late. When she reached the platform, she screamed, “Don’t do it!” to his back.

      “Sorry, but I have to,” he muttered, and without turning around, he aimed the gun and unloaded bullets into the water several times.

      Lizzie stood stunned, wondering what in the heck he had killed. Some unsuspecting fish? Dinner? Gosh, she was hungry. No time to consider that now.

      He fisted his free hand at his side and clutched the gun in his other. “I’ll be a son of a…. Damn it straight to…” He blew out an angry breath.

      It was perhaps the most skilled censorship she’d ever witnessed from a man. A nice thing, Lizzie decided. She didn’t want Baby Hank exposed to too much foul language.

      After walking to Jack’s side, she saw nothing but a carousel of bubbles floating on the water’s surface. “What did you murder?”

      “Your basket. The thing wouldn’t go away.”

      She braced her hands on her hips and stared at him with ire. “Was it really bothering anything? I mean, that poor defenseless gondola has witnessed marriage engagements, golden anniversary celebrations, played host to Boy Scouts. Now you’ve sent it to dark, watery depths to become fish food.”

      “The fish won’t touch it.”

      “Then explain to me what harm it was doing, hanging on to your boat?”

      He crouched with the gun gripped in his hand between his parted knees and his eyes focused on the sea. “Probably no real harm.”

      “See there—”

      “Until I shot it.”

      Now she was really confused. “I don’t understand.”

      He rose and tucked the gun into the back waistband of his jeans. “I heard something scrape. I think I just sheared off the damn prop.”

      Served him right. “It wasn’t working anyway. And don’t you have a spare?”

      Wrong thing to say, Lizzie realized when his steely gaze snapped to hers. Had it not been for the baby, she might have dived overboard and tried to make it to shore on her own.

      “This isn’t Oz,” he said in a low, tempered voice. “No magic here. This is serious business, Dorothy.”

      Dorothy? Wasn’t he just the funny man tonight. Two could play that pet-name game. “And it called for killing the gondola, Ahab?”

      “I did what I had to do.”

      Lizzie knew what she wanted to do—sock him. But she deplored violence, and guns, so she settled for a direct verbal assault. “Well, I wish I would’ve brought my little dog, Toto. I would’ve sent him into attack mode. For protection, of course.”

      His frown deepened. “You don’t need protection from me, I assure you.” He held up his gun. “I’ve never had to use this before, but it’s necessary when you’re out to sea alone. Unfortunately, I just wasted all my bullets.”

      She laid a dramatic hand across her forehead. “For a minute there I thought you might put your poor disabled boat out of its misery, or use it on yourself in a moment of desperation.”

      “You thought wrong.” He angled toward her and studied her long and hard. “What you did a minute ago, chasing after me knowing I was armed, wasn’t a very smart thing to do. For all you knew, I could’ve meant to harm you.”

      “You could’ve done that by not saving me earlier, but you rescued me anyway. So I figured you wouldn’t murder me, even if you did massacre Bessie.”

      “Bessie?”

      “My balloon. And that wasn’t too smart, either.”

      “It’s an inanimate object, Dorothy.”

      “An inanimate object with propane tanks, Ahab. You could’ve blown us back to Kansas.”

      He hinted at a smile, but it didn’t form all the way. “You’re right. I wasn’t thinking.”

      “And I wasn’t exactly thinking when I rushed at you knowing you had the gun. I only knew I didn’t want you to hurt yourself.”

      He took a step closer. “Why?”

      A weird question. “Because everyone deserves to live, even if they are a bit cranky.”

      He took one more step. “Cranky?”

      She couldn’t exactly back up without being obvious, and for some reason she didn’t really want to. “Yeah. Cranky. Not that you don’t have a reason to be a bit put out.” She studied her bare feet, unable to look at him directly, not with him so close that she could count the whiskers on his chin and the character lines around his assessing eyes. “I’m sorry. Really I am. I do appreciate everything you’ve done for me and Hank.”

      “Hank?”

      She raised her gaze to his and smiled. “My baby.”

      He looked as though she’d announced she intended to birth a skunk. “You call your baby Hank? For God’s sake, why?”

      “My father’s name was Hank. He died almost two years ago. I’ve never known a stronger, kinder man.”

      Lizzie saw a glimpse of guilt in Jack’s eyes before his gaze dropped to her belly. “Then you know it’s a boy?”

      “No. I only confirmed the pregnancy this morning, so it’s too soon to tell.” And what a way to celebrate the news, stranded with a sullen sailor. “But I hope it’s a boy. Not that I don’t like girls. I’ve just always gotten along better with men.”

      His features mellowed, from staid to a tad less stoic. “That’s good to know considering I’m a man, and you’re a woman, and we’re going to be spending a lot of time together. In very close quarters.”

      Had that really sounded like a sexy, sinful guarantee? No way, Lizzie thought. No how. Not her and him. “Then we’re really—”

      “Stuck. Together.” A slight smile surfaced. “You and me, babe. Until someone happens to come along.”

      First princess, now babe. He had a lot to learn about her dislikes, and she was more than willing to teach him. “I am not a babe, and doesn’t anyone know where СКАЧАТЬ