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“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 you are?”
Any inkling of a smile disappeared from his face. “I haven’t talked to anyone for a year, except for a few people in port, and now you.”
A year? Had he been without a woman for a year? The prospect that her virtue might be in peril momentarily crossed Lizzie’s mind, and yes, somewhat excited her, but he really didn’t seem to be in an amorous mood. Except for his proximity. Except for his eyes. He kept looking at her in a way that made her flesh threaten to crawl up her neck and over her head, pleasantly so. In fact, just thinking about him making love to her doused her whole body in slow, scrumptious heat. How goofy to even consider that. Obviously she had been visited by the hormone fairies.
Lizzie snapped her thoughts back on the situation at hand. “I’m sure Walker will send someone out to look for me.”
Finally, he put some distance between them. Now Lizzie could breathe normally instead of pant.
“Who is Walker? Your car?”
“Ha, ha. The head of the chase crew.”
He looked hopeful. “And he saw you drifting?”
“As far as I know, he did. When I came awake, I tried to contact him but I couldn’t pick anything up on my radio. That leads me to believe I drifted farther off course than I’d realized.”
“You have a radio?”
“I did. It’s kind of submersed at the moment.”
“Then I guess we’ll have to rely on your good fortune.”
“Or yours.”
He looked altogether too serious, and almost sorrowful. “Apparently my good fortune ran out a while ago.”
Lizzie didn’t dare ask what life-altering event had driven him onto his boat, by himself, for months, away from all humanity. She’d already done enough damage for one day; no need to rock the boat, figuratively speaking. “Okay. I’m fairly lucky most of the time.”
“Good, because the last time I checked the weather, there was a storm heading our way. That’s the reason I was returning to port.”
“Until I fell from the sky.”
Finally, he smiled all the way, stripping years off his handsome face. “Yeah, but them’s the breaks. Just as long as you know what you’re up against. The weather could get pretty rough.”
Living for years in Ohio, smack-dab in the middle of tornado alley, Lizzie had grown up with storms. She had overcome her fear and learned to respect their majesty, their power. Come to think of it, not much seemed to frighten her because long ago she’d learned you just have to have faith that things would work out.
However, Jack Dunlap did frighten her in a way, or maybe it was his sensual pull. Not that she would tell him that. She didn’t dare reveal her attraction to him. In fact, she was determined not to let him see that each time she was close to him, she entertained some really dubious thoughts.
Lizzie pulled her gaze away from his lest she give herself away. “I’m sure everything will work out fine.”
“Just so you know,” he added, “it might get rocky around here.” His eyes narrowed and he took on that look again. The one that said he meant business, she’d like to think the kind that involved undressing and caressing. “Can you handle it?”
Oh, yeah. “Oh, sure. What’s a little wind and rain?” A little bedtime adventure.
Halt, Lizzie.
“In the meantime,” he said, moving a bit closer, “I’ll have to show you what I need you to do in case the situation calls for it.”
Visions of him instructing her on the finer points of lovemaking leaped into her brain. What a way to weather a storm. She could consider that later. First, she needed food.
Her stomach rumbled loud enough to rouse the Loch Ness monster. “Maybe this is a really bad time to ask, but do you have anything to eat? I’m starving.”
His grin went wicked and a little wild. “So am I, Dorothy. So am I.”
Jack was very hungry, thanks to the woman busily raiding his cabinets. He should’ve thought twice, ten times before he walked in on her in the tub. He should’ve turned around and headed out the door. He should leave her to her own devices now, before he did something really ridiculous, like run his hands down her bare thighs, then up again, then down again….
He had to get his libido in a choke hold and put it to rest. Not necessarily an easy prospect, and only a momentary remedy. He had no idea how long this little liaison would last, or how he would control himself as he spent time with a woman who possessed a strong will, sassy mouth and a body that would be worth investigating. A really nice mouth that he’d wanted to kiss into silence several times today. Right now, even. But she was pregnant with another man’s child, and he didn’t want that hassle, no matter how tempting she could be. He had more than enough to worry about considering his disabled boat.
“Don’t you have anything besides canned meat?” she asked, slamming one cabinet door closed and moving on to the refrigerator.
“I like canned meat. It’s convenient, and it’s not half-bad once you get used to it.”
After closing the refrigerator door, she leaned back against it. “No salad?”
“Not at the moment.”
She threaded her bottom lip between her teeth. “This is not a good thing. I’m a vegetarian for the most part, although I will have poultry on occasion.”
“Maybe you should consider diving for seaweed.”
She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “You are so amusing, Ahab.”
“Say what you will, but there’s nothing better than a big juicy rare steak.”
“Rare?”
“Yeah, the rarer the better.”
Lizzie’s hand suddenly went to her belly, her face as pale as the white galley counter. “Oh, gosh. I think I’m going to be sick.”
Jack rushed to her side and guided her up the companionway. She removed her hand from her mouth long enough to ask, “Where are we going?”
“To the deck,” he said. “I have a rule. Anyone who gets seasick has to do it over the side.”
“It’s probably morning sickness,” she muttered, her words muffled by her palm.
But it happened to be night, Jack thought. He guessed a little nausea was possible. After all, what did he know about pregnant women? Not a thing. He had a feeling he was about to learn more than he’d ever imagined.
When they reached the stern, he turned her toward the sea and held on to her from behind. “Go ahead.”
She glared over one shoulder. “I can’t do it with you watching.”
“You’re going to have to because I’m not letting you go. If you fall in, then I’ll have to go get you. And babe, I’m thinking that would be a bad idea. Rule one, stay on the boat.”
That brought her around in his arms. “I told you, I’m not a babe.”
“And I’m not Ahab.”
“It’s either that or Captain Hook since we seem to be following a fairy-tale theme.”
“Both my hands are intact.” Definitely so because they’d somehow made their way to her hips.
“I guess you’re right about that, so Ahab it is.”
He couldn’t hold back his smile. “Okay, Dorothy. Are you feeling better now, or do you still need to be sick?”
She drew in a deep breath, thrusting her breasts forward against his chest. Man, he didn’t need that.
“I’m not nauseated anymore, only hungry,” she said. “I just need something to eat.”
Jack needed to kiss her, badly. But he sure couldn’t do that at the moment, or anytime for that matter. He took a much-needed step back but kept his hands clasped loosely around her waist should she decide to pass out. “Look, I have some Oriental noodles with vegetables. Will that do?”
She grinned. “Perfectly.”
How little it seemed to take to please her. Jack wondered if that held true in all endeavors, including lovemaking. Slapping the thoughts from his brain, he released her completely. “Let’s get you something to eat.”
“And Hank,” she added.
Even though it was the last thing he wanted to do, Jack laughed. For the first time in months.
The man kept staring at her. Oh, he’d tried not to be too obvious about it, but four times now Lizzie had caught Jack watching her mouth.
Egad! She probably had a Chinese noodle hanging off her chin. Her fingertips immediately zipped to the area, but thankfully she found no strings. Just in case, she grabbed a napkin and swiped at her mouth to remove any latent residue.
He glanced up from his bowl again and this time his eyes homed in on her breasts. Lizzie immediately looked down at her chest, expecting to find a nice brown blob smeared on the borrowed T-shirt. She always seemed to miss her mouth, very odd since it was a more than adequate size.
Nope, no blob. Just cotton. Fairly transparent cotton that didn’t come close to hiding the fact she was still a bit chilled.
Sheesh. Is that what he’d noticed? Well, if so, she’d just have to cover the evidence.
Sitting back in the chair, Lizzie folded her arms across her breasts. “That hit the spot. Not exactly my favorite, but I feel much better now.”
“Good,” he muttered, dropping his gaze to his food.
