One Wild Night. Heidi Rice

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      After an intensive nine-day search, rescuers have located the boat of missing sailor Paul Wells floating abandoned ten miles off the coast of Darwin, Australia. Based on the heavy damage to the hull, rescuers believe Wells, who was attempting to break the solo circumnavigation world record, perished in recent storms in the Timor Sea. Wells was a native of Charleston and is survived by his father, Porter Wells, and his eleven-year-old son, Chris.

      A rock landed in her stomach. Chris wanted to attempt the same stunt that had killed his father? Was the man insane?

      Wait, hadn’t Chris told her before that sailboat racing wasn’t all that dangerous? “It’s hard to kill yourself,” he’d said. She changed her search terms to give her more information about solo circumnavigation, and from the results it seemed it wasn’t all that hard to die after all.

      Great. The father of her child had a death wish. Maybe that’s why he was so keen on claiming this baby—he’d have a piece of immortality in case his boat sank in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

      That thought made her a little sick.

      The doorbell rang and she quickly shut down the laptop before she went to answer it. Taking a deep breath to prepare herself, she opened the door to Chris.

      Who looked so good the air in her lungs came out in a painful rush.

      With the sun behind him, he seemed surrounded in a golden glow. A black T-shirt hugged those strong shoulders and skimmed over the planes of his chest before disappearing into the waistband of low-slung faded jeans. He grinned, and her heart melted a little as her senses sprang to life. This was the Chris she’d flipped for, and her body definitely remembered him. He leaned in to give her an innocent peck on the cheek in greeting, but even that brief touch of his mouth burned her.

      “Come on in.” Ally stepped back to allow him to pass as she tried to compose herself. How different this time was from Monday when he’d been here, so angry the air around him had nearly burned from the heat. Today he seemed comfortable, almost relaxed.

      Well, at least one of them should be, and it wasn’t shaping up to be her. With a sigh, she closed the door behind him.

      “You look great, Ally. Are you hungry?”

      “Starved.” Amazingly enough, she was, but she would’ve lied if necessary. Her living room usually seemed open and spacious, but Chris seemed to fill it completely, making her overly aware of him and creating an uncomfortable feeling of intimacy.

      “Then let’s go.” Chris reached for her hand, and the touch of his hand sent a shiver through her. Yesterday she’d chalked up her immediate physical reaction to his touch as a simple aberration—something to do with all of those pregnancy hormones sweeping through her—but the repeat of the sensation today underscored her need to keep him at arm’s length.

      Literally.

      But he made that extremely difficult to accomplish. He kept touching her—to help her out of the car, to guide her as they walked, to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear—and her nerves were a complete jangle by the time they reached the restaurant on the riverfront.

      Chris made small talk, and although her mind kept wandering to deeper places, she managed to keep up her end of the conversation. At the restaurant Chris sat opposite her, and finally she had enough distance to begin to incrementally relax.

      A drink would have helped, but when Chris waved away the wine list, she remembered it would be a long while before alcohol touched her lips again. She’d have to find her courage outside of a bottle.

      “I brought you a present.” Chris slid a small black box across the table.

      Jewelry. Jewelry came in boxes like that. “That’s really not necessary.” She scooted the box back to his side of the table.

      “Yes, it is. It’s what men do when they’re trying to impress a lady.”

      She thought about Gerry and muttered, “Not the men that I know.”

      “Then you know a sorry class of men. No wonder you dumped your ex.”

      She looked up sharply to see if he was teasing. The look on his face didn’t help her any there. “The fact he was sleeping with someone else had a lot to do with it.”

      Chris nodded sagely. “Then he wasn’t only sorry, he was stupid, as well. I don’t know what you ever saw in him.”

      That comment brought a laugh and suddenly the wariness lifted. “Me, neither.”

      He pushed the box back to her. “Then open your present.”

      Sliding off the red and white ribbon, Ally pulled the lid off carefully. Inside, nestled against black velvet, she found a circular gold disk attached to a delicate chain. Holding the disk to the light, she could see the design: two lions rampant, flanking a pillar.

      “It’s beautiful.” From the twitch of his lips, she realized she was missing something. “Okay then, tell me what it means.”

      “I thought you said you were a mythology geek. It’s the symbol of Rhea.”

      Rhea, mother of the Titans, the goddess of female fertility and motherhood. Rather appropriate, considering. “Of course. Those are the lions that pull her chariot.” She ran her thumb over the design. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s lovely. Thank you.”

      Before she realized it, Chris was behind her, seemingly uncaring of the curious stares of the other patrons as he took the necklace from her fingers and placed it around her neck. The disk settled perfectly in the hollow between her breasts. His fingers brushed lightly against her nape as he fastened the clasp. The touch was gone as quickly as it had come, and Chris returned to his seat.

      His eyes moved over her like a caress. “It suits you.”

      The words and appreciative stare caused her face to heat, and she was very thankful for the dim lighting in the restaurant and the well-timed arrival of their server with their food.

      As they ate, the conversation moved easily through current events, how she was feeling, and the book she was reading before Chris casually mentioned something about the Dagny that gave her the opening she needed.

      She tried to keep her tone light. “It’s a really ambitious goal, but isn’t sailing around the world by yourself a bit dangerous?”

      Chris set his drink down slowly and looked at her strangely. A moment later he nodded in understanding. “You’ve been doing some research. It was an accident. It’s not likely to happen again.”

      “But that doesn’t change the fact…” She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

      “That my father died doing the same thing?” he provided for her.

      “Exactly.” She pushed her plate away, suddenly not hungry any longer.

      “Things have changed a lot in the last twenty years, Ally. We’ve come long way. GPS systems, automatic emergency beacons, satellite communication, improved ship design—it’s very unlikely anything catastrophic СКАЧАТЬ