Blue Velvet (5 page)

“I like to be comfortable,” Beau said easily. “And I have guests occasionally.”

“You must be very rich,” Kate said soberly. “It’s a beautiful ship, Beau.”

“Stinking rich,” he said inelegantly. “And I told you in the bar I’d be more than generous with you. You won’t have to worry.”

“I’m not worried.” She glanced away so he wouldn’t see how much his words had hurt. “You’ve been very generous already. If you’ll just get Jeffrey away from Castellano, I promise I won’t ask for anything else.”

His hand was beneath her elbow helping her up the gangplank with a protectiveness that was very comforting. Now that she thought about it, that concern had been in evidence during the entire trip back to the ship from the warehouse. The walk had been made in almost total silence, but Beau’s hand had been there to support her at every curb or sudden roughness in the cobblestone street. That instinctive care was yet another anomaly in the complexity of his personality.

“You may change your mind later,” he said cynically. “I won’t hold you to it. I’m used to paying for what I want. However, I’ll see that you get that first installment right away.” He gestured toward the man who was strolling lazily along the deck toward them. “Or, I should say, Daniel will. Daniel is very experienced in getting things done, aren’t you, Daniel?”

“Very,” the big man agreed amiably. “I know all the best ways of making bail, of finding the nearest emergency clinic in every port in the Caribbean, not to mention my talent for bribing or soothing irate fathers, brothers, and sundry
municipal officials. What would you do without me, Beau?”

“He’s also captain of the
Searcher
in his spare time,” Beau said with a grin. “Sometimes he forgets to mention that. Daniel Seifert, Kate Gilbert. Kate’s going to be with us for a while.”

Daniel Seifert enclosed her hand in a gigantic paw with surprising gentleness. He was somewhere in his middle thirties and almost as large and brawny as Julio. There the resemblance ended. His trendily cut auburn hair, snapping dark blue eyes and trim auburn beard gave him an attractiveness that had a much more virile impact than Julio’s dark good looks.

“I approve of you far more than I did the earlier arrivals,” he said, his dark eyes twinkling. “We have enough men on this ship.”

“Julio and Jeffrey arrived safely?” Kate asked, relieved.

Seifert nodded. “About an hour and a half ago. I quartered them with the crew.” He lifted an inquiring brow at Beau. “Is that okay?”

“For now,” Beau said with a shrug. “Are we ready to get under way?”

“As you command.” Daniel’s mocking smile
was a white slash in his bearded face. “Would I dare disobey?”

Beau snorted. “You’d dare do anything, if it pleased you.” His glance fell to the captain’s huge hand still clasping Kate’s. “Are you going to let her have her hand back or are you hoping to form a permanent attachment?”

“The idea has definite merit.” Seifert released her hand reluctantly. “I suppose you’ve already established a prior claim though.”

“Definitely.” The single word was crisp and incisive.

“Then I gather the guest cabin I had readied won’t be needed,” Seifert said lightly. “What a pity.”

“I have to see Julio and Jeffrey and tell them I’m on board and safe,” Kate said, biting her lip worriedly. “Julio won’t be able to rest until I do.”

Beau shook his head. “Not tonight. You can see them tomorrow morning.” He turned to the captain. “I’m taking her to my cabin. Drop in and let Rodriguez know she’s safe, will you?”

Seifert nodded. “Right away. I suppose it would be rudely inquisitive of me to ask what she’s safe from?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Beau’s hand on her elbow was propelling her forward. “You’ll be sorry you missed it.”

“Possibly,” the captain drawled. “Your companions in deviltry aren’t generally as charming as Miss Gilbert.” He watched Beau open the door to the passage to the lower deck. “But haven’t you forgotten something?”

Beau glanced over his shoulder impatiently. “What?”

“Where am I to get under way for? Trinidad?”

Beau shrugged. “Just get out of Costellano territorial waters PDQ. We’ll decide our destination tomorrow.”

T
HE MASTER CABIN
was surprisingly large and luxurious for a sailing vessel. The bunk against the far wall was oversized and covered with a denim spread in a cheerful melon color that contrasted with the rich oak of the walls and the brown and beige tweed of the carpet. The built-in bookcase was enclosed with doors that were carved with a fretted openwork design that gave the modern room a pleasing touch of Mediterranean opulence.

“This is very nice,” Kate said, her gaze lingering on the bookcase. “I can see what you mean by being comfortable.” All those lovely books. The
doors offered tempting glimpses of everything from leather-bound weighty-looking tomes to bright slick jacketed novels. What wouldn’t she give for a week with that bookcase.

Then with a little sense of shock she realized she might very well have that week. That was why she was in this cabin. To make herself available to Beau Lantry in that bunk she’d been admiring so impersonally. Tonight. He’d said he wanted to consummate their bargain as soon as possible and brought her to his cabin for that purpose. Why wasn’t she more nervous at the thought of that consummation with this total stranger? The only thing she seemed capable of feeling was this chilling weariness and lethargy that seemed to be seeping into every bone.

“I’m glad you like it,” Beau said crisply. With his hand beneath her elbow, he steered her across the room toward the bed. “Since you’ll be spending a good deal of time here in the future. Sit down.” He gave her a nudge that reinforced the invitation that was more of a command and she found herself sitting on the edge of the bunk and gazing up at him wearily. His hands were on the buttons of her chambray shirt and he had
three of them unbuttoned before she fully realized what he was doing. So soon? Evidently he was too impatient to wait any longer for his payment.

She looked up into his intent face bent close to her own. She didn’t try to interfere with his deft disrobing of her. He was perfectly entitled to claim his rights to her body at any time he chose, she thought tiredly. She just wished he’d given her a chance to rest a little first. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a shower before we do it,” she said quietly. “It’s been quite an evening in a number of ways.”

His eyes flew up to meet her eyes and she saw a flicker of surprise in their depths. “Do ‘it’?” There was a thread of barely repressed anger in his voice. “What the hell kind of men have you been sleeping with, for Lord’s sake? Do they all jump your bones when you’re so tired and hurt you’re practically ready to pass out?”

She looked down at her half-opened shirt in confusion. “But then why—”

“I’m going to get you cleaned up and into bed,” he interrupted harshly. “And not to ‘do it,’ blast it! But first I want to take a look at your
head. That bastard clipped you pretty damn hard in spite of what you said. I wanted to examine it back at the warehouse, but I didn’t think you’d let me without putting up a fight and that would have been worse for you than the walk back to the ship.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me. I told you …”

He finished unbuttoning the blue shirt and pushed it off her shoulders, his hand reaching around to unfasten her plain white bra with experienced skill. “Bull. I was a professional athlete too long not to recognize the signs. You were carrying yourself all the way back here as though you’d break apart at any minute.”

“You were an athlete?” she repeated, surprised. “No wonder you looked so coordinated when you dove through that window.”

“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I wasn’t a circus acrobat as you thought,” he said wryly. “I was a featured skater in an ice revue for a while and then a coach for an Olympic contender the next six years.”

“And what do you do now?”

“At the moment I appear to be acting as a
combination lady’s maid and ship’s doctor,” he said crisply as he lowered the bra straps over her arms. “But usually I’m a glorified bum. The glory resulting when you’re properly endowed with filthy lucre.”

“I see.”

“Do you?” He glanced up, his eyes narrowed on her face. “No recriminations for being a worthless playboy, no attempts at reformation of my wicked dissolute ways?”

“I don’t have any right to do that,” she said gravely. “And you don’t seem all that dissolute.”

“Perhaps not in comparison with some of your companions,” he agreed grimly. He pulled the bra away from her breasts and then froze. He inhaled sharply. “Liane was wrong. You’re not thin at all.” He reached out and touched one breast with a hesitant, gentle finger. “You’re full and beautifully, perfectly round.” His eyes darkened to a smoky hazel. “And so silky.” His finger traced a circle about the dark pink nipple. “Golden silk. Lord, I’ve never seen such skin, warm and soft and silky as a small child’s. The first time I saw you in the bar I wondered if you’d feel like this.”

“Well, now you know,” she said shakily. She felt as if that lazy finger were scorching and searing as it moved and suddenly she forgot about the weariness and throbbing ache in her temple. She moistened her lips. “Have you changed your mind?”

“No,” he said thickly. “My mind is still as resolute as ever, it’s my body that’s undergoing all the changes. Are you this tan all over?”

She nodded. “I like the sun. There’s a little pool in the rain forest where we keep the Cessna that I sunbathe next to sometimes.”

His finger touched the perky pink tip. “Nude?” he asked huskily.

“Yes.” She could barely get the word out. “There’s never anyone around.” Her throat was dry and tight and she was sure he could hear the beating of her heart caused by his gossamer light touch. She hadn’t realized before how sensitive her body could be, how a tentative caress could send hot signals to her entire body. She didn’t have to look down to realize that her nipple was budding and her breast flowering for him. She could see it in the darkening of Beau’s eyes.
Strange, she felt as if all their responses were now curiously linked.

“I’m going to watch you do that someday,” he said, his voice as velvet soft as his finger. “I’m going to sit and watch the sun pour down on you like golden rain, caressing you and making you glow.” His thumb and index finger pinched gently and she felt an aching incompletion in her loins. “And then I’m going to come to you and make you glow for me. I want to feel you open and flower and tremble.” She could see the wild cadence of the pulse beat in his temple. “I want to know that everything I do to you will make you shine and melt and flow.” He drew a deep shuddering breath and shook his head as if to clear it. “I must be going crazy. For a minute I could actually see you lying there waiting for me to come to you.” His hand dropped away and he stepped backward. “Come on, we’d better get you in the shower or I’m going to forget you’re not fair game.” He pulled her to her feet. “Get out of the rest of those clothes while I find something for you to put on.” He strode to the built-in closet and slid back the door. “Tomorrow you’ll have to make do with a pair of my shorts
and a T-shirt while your own things are being laundered. Do you often have to make a run for it with only the clothes on your back?”

“No, this is the first time.” She kicked off her tennis shoes and pulled off her jeans, her gaze fixed on his back as he riffled through the closet. “Actually, we don’t move all that often. Jeffrey sets up operations and lets his clients come to him. We’ve been on Castellano for about four years.”

“You make him sound like a corporate attorney,” Beau drawled. “But from what I hear about Castellano, it must have been ideally suited to your friend’s occupation.” He pulled out an ice-blue satin negligee trimmed in fine Valenciennes lace. “I thought I remembered seeing this in there,” he said, looking at it critically. “Barbara must have forgotten it when she left the ship at Barbados. The blue should be good with your eyes. Do you object to wearing another woman’s clothes?”

Barbara? How many of his mistresses had occupied this cabin and why did the thought of those women hurt so much? “No, I don’t mind,”
she said softly. “I’d be awfully ungrateful to be that petty, wouldn’t I?”

“I’m glad you’re so sensible. I know quite a few women who’d …” He glanced back over his shoulder and the words died away. She was totally naked and standing there gazing at him with clear unflinching honesty. No coyness, just the quiet serene acceptance that had so moved him before. There were dark circles beneath her eyes and weariness in the slight droop of her shoulders, but it didn’t affect the valiant sturdiness of her stance. He must be getting old, he thought cynically, he’d never before looked at a lovely naked woman and only noticed how courageous she was. And she
was
lovely. Those beautiful full breasts flowed into the supple slenderness of her waist and hips and her long legs were strong and shapely. Her entire body was strong and graceful yet there was a fragility about her bone structure that gave her an air of intense vulnerability. Strength and vulnerability. The ambivalent physical mixture was echoed in her personality and he was finding it a very explosive combination, indeed. He glanced at the negligee in his hand and felt a sudden violent
distaste he refused to examine too closely. He impulsively hung the robe back in the closet and pulled a white terry-cloth one of his own off its hanger.

“This will be more comfortable,” he said tersely, sliding the closet door closed and tossing the robe on the bunk. “Come on.” He opened the door to the adjacent bathroom and stepped into its brown and beige ceramic confines. He adjusted the water in the frosted shower stall to a warm soothing flow and stepped aside with a mockingly gallant gesture. “Mademoiselle. I’ll join you in a moment as soon as I get out of these clothes.” The frosted shower door closed between them.

She was glad the sudden hotness of her cheeks could be attributed to the steam that was rising from the water. It had been intimidating enough having him look at her for those long moments with that curiously enigmatic expression, but she hadn’t imagined he’d be stripping and stepping into the tiny shower cubicle with her. There was scarcely room for one, much less two, beneath the spray. She drew a deep steadying breath and squared her chin. What earthly difference
did it make? Now or later both minor and major intimacies would come at Beau Lantry’s discretion. She’d better be prepared to accept that fact.