All Hands Below (14 page)

Liam had walked away.

Chapter Fourteen

1400 hours

Christmas Day

Evangeline stirred the wooden spoon through the pan of sugar heating up over a low flame.

She felt anything but Christmassy, taking cooking lessons she didn’t even sign up for. Once again—thanks to Maisy—she was getting screwed, and not in a good way.

Merry Christmas to me.

“This sugar is taking a while to liquefy, chef,” Evangeline said. “Is the heat on too low?”

“Ze heat is perfect. Some sings take time to get right,” the renowned Austrian chef assured her.

On board the Sea Sapphire, Chef Johann Dunder was known for his good looks and bad temper.

“What if we turn up the heat?”

“Your sugar vill smoke and burn. Vhy ze rush? Zis is no ten-minute-quickie meal. Pah!”

He shouted out in delight when Liam and the ship’s engineering crew strolled into the bistro.

“Aha! Captain Liam Rossi, ladies and gentlemen. At only thirty-seven-years-old, he is ze youngest captain in Jewel Cruise Line’s history, and he graces us vis his presence. He’ll soon take command of his own vessel. Here is some trivia for you—his father served as Jewel Cruise Line’s commodore for many years before he retired.”

Cheers went up. The engineers waved hello before helping themselves to the drinks and nibbles laid out for everyone.

Spiced mulled cider, tea, coffee, and eggnog were available, as were small platters of lemon shortbread wedges and cranberry scones, drizzled with a white chocolate glaze.

Liam stopped to greet guests, shake their hands, and take pictures. Arctic eyes and a curt nod he reserved just for Evangeline, and the mental distance he bridged between them chilled the festive atmosphere.

Seated on a bar stool, and without a nearby chair for Evangeline to crawl under, she ignored the amused looks being flashed her way.

She peered down at her sugar crystals, just starting to melt. How she noticed over the swimmy vision caused by her elevated blood pressure, she had no clue.

“Smells sweet in here, chef,” said Liam.

“Goot. You stay! Von student needs help. Her partner ran off to be vis someone else.”

“Unfortunately, chef, I can’t stay.”

“Vhy not? Do you have naked vomen in your bed vaiting for you?”

“Not today. Tell you what—my meeting can wait five minutes. How may I be of service?”

“Five minutes to create a masterpiece? Okay. Zer is your partner. You two have met, ja?”

“We’ve had the pleasure, yes,” said Liam drily.

Someone giggled.

Liam took up residence behind her. Did he have to stand so close? His breath brushed her neck.

“Well, well. Alone again,” he murmured in her ear. “Fiancé get cold feet in the kitchen, too?”

She ignored him. No point explaining that it was Maisy who’d run off on her this time. She and Eli met earlier that day for a lavish Christmas brunch and, afterward, Evangeline went off alone in search of Maisy.

She found her hiding out in Marshall Capshaw’s cabin. Evangeline took her aside and gave her a discreet scolding for bailing on her, and for leaving her holding the bag in the stolen purse caper.

“But things worked out for you, right, Evangeline?” Maisy’s gleeful eyes had sparkled like colored snowflakes. “After all, your ship set sail with that fine young Captain Rossi.”

“Yeah, well our ship ran aground!”

“What?” Maisy frowned, stamped her foot, and waved her arms around. “What the blazing hell reindeer saddles more can I
do
to—uhh…umm…”

Evangeline stepped back from the woman’s erratic behavior. Maisy’s choice of words, not so much, but she must have seen Evangeline’s eyes round in confusion. Suddenly, as if the older lady waved a magic mental wand, she composed herself.

“Well, that’s too bad, my sweet little dear. Was he married, too?”

Now here she was, bamboozled by Maisy into taking a cooking class she had no interest in. To make matters worse, Maisy took off just before the class began.

“Marshall says there’s salsa dancing at Neptune’s Grotto!”

“That’s just flipping great, Maisy,”
she’d grumped at the older woman and hurriedly took her seat before the crazy chef became too enraged.

She’d given up two hours of her Christmas morning to learn to make caramel sauce when she could have gone to a Christmas deck party, surrounded by single men and cute continental waiters.

And just how
did
Maisy know that Robert was married, she wondered. She certainly hadn’t mentioned it.

“Miss Spencer, please explain to Captain Rossi vat vee are attempting to create,” prompted the chef.

Evangeline nodded. “This is a dessert called Plantain Caramella. I am making a caramel sauce to drizzle over these crepes here,” she pointed to the platter of crepes rolled up neatly on a warming tray, “which have been filled with braised bananas and cream cheese. These sugar crystals have to heat over a low flame. It seems like I’ve been here for a while. There’s very little melting action, chef.”

“Ja, be patient, miss,” Chef Dunder retorted. “Stir faster. Harder.” Chef guided Liam’s hand over Evangeline’s, curled around the wooden stir-stick. “Help her, captain.”

She trembled at the touch of Liam’s fingers. His closeness thrilled her. The thought of those muscles beneath his uniform tensing up as he stood so close turned her spine to jelly. It didn’t help that his woodsy cologne called up memories of grazing her lips over his skin.

“Who is steering ze ship, captain?”

“Don’t know, chef. Can you go check? I’m busy,” Liam replied. When the laughter around them subsided, he added, “Seriously, out on the open sea navigational demands lighten considerably. We go on automatic pilot.”

“Tell us about your career,” the chef prompted.

“Where to begin? Well, I come from a family of merchant seamen. My Italian father captained cargo ships before moving into the ranks of Jewel Cruise Lines. As a boy, I was fortunate my American mother allowed me to go on sailings with him during my summer breaks from school.”

“Which were your favorite ports?” someone else asked.

“All of them,” Liam replied. In Evangeline’s mind, she could see his diplomatic smile.

“How about a fond memory, then?” asked another foodie.

“An Alaskan cruise,” Liam said without a moment’s hesitation. “I’d just turned seven. My father and I stood on the deck in the rain and watched humpback whales breach so close to the ship we could hear their breath whistling up through their blowholes.”

His tone held such great sentiment Evangeline couldn’t keep a lump from forming in her throat. He’d loved the sea since he was a little boy. Someone asked him what he did before joining the cruise lines.

“After I graduated high school, I joined the United States Navy. In time, I earned a commission as an officer on a battleship.”

“You didn’t wish to retire from military service?” Evangeline asked, burning with curiosity.

“A Navy combat ship differs vastly from a luxury cruise liner.” Liam was speaking to the crowd, but she felt his hand pause on the wooden stick. His breath riffled through her hair.

“I much appreciate the responsibilities entrusted to me now—the human element adrift at sea. I’m surrounded by beauty, exotic places, and smiling faces. At sea, a man is tied to nothing—and he thrives on less. Not more.”

“Ah. I see the allure,” said Evangeline, her pride at not giving in to Liam reinforced, even as her hormones raged angrily at her. Red roses—or blue—their affair would have lasted only as far as the docking berth in Miami. “New places. New faces. No wife, no children.”

“Someday I may find a special woman and settle down. Just…not right now.”

Chef Dunder came to her rescue before the awkward silence could stretch on. “Ladies and gentlemen, if your sugar has melted to an amber-colored liquid, add ze butter now, and visk. Quickly, quickly!”

Liam reached for the whisk. As he handed it to her, she removed the spoon from the caramelized sugar and accidentally bumped the tip of it against his fingers. He muffled a curse.

“Liam!” Evangeline gasped.

He grabbed a napkin to wipe off the molten syrup, only to find it stuck to his skin like glue.

Chef reached over and dunked Liam’s fingers into a nearby glass of water. “Did I forget to mention zat caramelized sugar runs hotter zan boiling vater? If it gets on your skin, it can gif you a bad burn.”

“A bad burn, hmm?” Liam gazed down at Evangeline.

“Add your cream
now
,” chef barked.

Evangeline ignored him. “Liam, let me look at your hand. Please,” she begged, stricken.

“That won’t be necessary, Miss Spencer. Happy holidays everyone. Please accept my apologies. Duty calls.”

After he strode off with the napkin still stuck to his hand, Evangeline toppled her whipping cream into the melted sugar mixture, and stared glumly at it.

Chef Dunder gave her a look of sympathy and stirred her ingredients for her. “Too bad your captain could not stay for a taste.”

“Yes, too bad,” said Evangeline.

She took the stir-stick out of the chef’s hand. Liam wasn’t joking when he said he was done with her.

It was for the best, she told herself, stirring her caramel sauce. The cruise was nearly over and, what was it that Liam had said about one-night stands lasting the length of the voyage?

He’d spelled things out. He’d marked the boundaries, and she’d crossed them by falling in love with him.

****

The elevator moved, uninterrupted, past several decks when it stopped to pick up passengers.

Kerri Lorenzo stepped inside. Recognition crossed the other woman’s face.

“What floor?” Evangeline asked.

“Miss Spencer, can we…uh…talk?” The other woman glanced at the covered dish in Evangeline’s hands.

What am I? Resident therapist?
What were the odds that this woman managed to have some connection to the two men who’d caught Evangeline’s eye on this cruise?

She looked at Kerri, ready to dislike her. The other woman no doubt would be as fake as her hair. Instead, her brown-gold eyes gleamed with sincerity and apology.

Evangeline couldn’t blame Eli for finding her attractive. She imagined how this woman looked that night, all glammed up and needing someone to talk to. And if the hair was fake—so what?

She smiled. “I’m taking this dessert to my friend, Maisy—the woman who stole your purse. If you don’t have a problem with that, you’re welcome to walk with me.”

Kerri nodded. “Sure. Thank you. I wanted to tell you that I didn’t know about you and Eli. I mean, other than the night we met at the club, I didn’t know like…you guys were talking marriage and children! But Liam set me straight.”

Evangeline shook her head. “He shouldn’t have. There were no promises between us. I’d just met Eli, too. We were aiming for something called a
hair-trigger romance
…until you came along.”

“I’m sorry. Again. I feel bad about the purse thing. While I don’t plan to press charges against your friend, the cruise lines will follow their own policies.”

Evangeline frowned. “Why aren’t you pressing charges?”

“I got my purse back, and it’s Christmas,” the other woman shrugged.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“What broke you and Liam up?”

Kerri sighed. “I’d like to blame the sea, but I chose my career over him. I was a newscaster for a TV station in Miami, and he was a bridge officer.” Kerri looked thoughtful. “His travel obligations were hard on me, you know? Plus I didn’t have the kind of flexibility to join him on cruises all the time. And, when I did, I felt confined after a while. Liam thrives on it. It’s the English, Norwegian, and Italian in his blood.”

The elevator stopped at Maisy’s floor. They stepped out. She didn’t tell Kerri that her purse thing was the best thing that ever happened to her on this cruise. It gave her an afternoon in bed with the most exciting man she’d ever known.

Then she wondered if five years down the road she’d be in Kerri’s shoes, regretting what could have been.

“So…what about you and Eli?”

Kerri shrugged, but her cheeks filled with color. “Not sure how to handle him yet. He’s been avoiding me, that butthole.”

“The Sea Sapphire,” Evangeline mused. “Ship of fools…”

They looked at each other and laughed.

“Just so you know, I wish all the best for you and Liam.”

I wish all the best for Liam, too.

“Thanks. As for Maisy…she has issues.”

“I’ll say,” Kerri snorted. “Let’s hope she finds some other kind of therapy that won’t land her ass in jail. On the bright side, no more purses have gone missing since you were caught with mine.”

Evangeline sighed. “Of course. I’ll probably be the one arrested when we arrive in Miami.”

They stopped at the door to Maisy’s stateroom. Evangeline banged on it. To her surprise, it wasn’t closed properly. A pen had rolled onto the carpet and stopped the door from closing. She dislodged the pen and stepped inside.

“Maisy? Hello? It’s me.”

No answer. She set the dessert platter on a nearby table.

“Hmmm…” Kerri noticed what Evangeline saw right away—two purses sitting side by side on the table.

“Oh, no.” Evangeline didn’t hesitate to look through them. “I’ve already been in trouble once over Maisy, and I’m not about to take another hit for her.”

The ID’s inside confirmed her fears. “These don’t belong to her. Dammit, she’s stealing again!”

“What should we do?”

“Return them to their owners.”

“You mean walk up to an angry woman who has had her purse stolen and say ‘excuse me, this must be yours?’” Kerri proposed in disbelief.

Evangeline shook her head. “I have a plan…”

Chapter Fifteen

“Captain Rossi requests your presence in the bridge, Miss Spencer.”

Evangeline and Eli were in the Wheelhouse Bar having after-dinner cocktails when Robert approached them.

She glanced at the time on Eli’s watch. It was a little past ten o’clock. “I wonder what he wants?”