His Reluctant Bodyguard (23 page)

Rip finished his pastry, rose to his feet and paced across the room. "But I’m not Jean Jacques’ only relative, am I Luc?"

While Avery stared wide-eyed, Luc shifted in obvious discomfort. "You’re his only legitimate heir."

In the glaring silence that enveloped the room, Avery heard voices echoing from the street below. Rip heard them too, and opened the French doors a crack.

A cheer drifted up, followed by the chant, "Rip! Rip! Rip!"

As Rip stepped out onto the balcony, Avery’s heart leaped into her throat. What if someone in the crowd had a gun? With her pulse pounding so loud, she couldn’t hear anything Rip said, but the cheer grew to a roar.

Luc’s smile was back. "He’s a natural."

Rip might very well be, but Avery knew she wasn’t. Her heart continued to hammer furiously and the panicky feeling of the walls closing in threatened to overcome her. She realized yet again that after everything she’d gone through, she would never feel comfortable, much less fit in here on
Benezet
. If this was Rip’s destiny, she wouldn’t stand in his way. But as much as she wanted to be with him, she couldn’t stay.

"I-is…" She took a deep breath to fortify her resolve. "Is the ferry running again?"

"Probably this afternoon."
Luc’s voice faded in confusion. "But Avery, you can’t - -"

 
"I can and I will." She slid her feet into her shoes and stood to face him.

Rip stepped halfway into the room, motioning for Luc to join him. Seemingly frozen to the spot, Luc gazed from Avery to Rip.

"C’mon!" Rip urged.

Luc took a step in his direction. Rip grabbed his arm and dragged him out onto the balcony. Through the open door, Avery heard Rip shushing the crowd.

"I know I was born here, but I’m an American," he told them. "I don’t know how to lead
Benezet
." Then over the cries of protest, Rip shouted. "But here’s someone who can – my brother, Luc
DuBois
!"

An eerie silence blanketed the crowd. Avery’s mouth flew open, her stunned mind struggling to absorb Rip’s words.

"That’s right!" Rip reiterated. "Luc is a
Pollendene
, too, and he’s one of you. He knows what’s best for
Benezet
."

As hope and happiness bloomed inside her, Avery heard a new chant start up, "Luc! Luc!
Luc!"

"Go, spread the word!" Rip urged the street full of people. Then he clasped Luc’s hand and raised both their fists in a gesture of triumph, just like his Uncle Jean Jacques had done. While the group cheered and chanted, he sidled back inside the room. Luc followed.

He’d no sooner pulled the door closed than Avery cried, "Thank all the stars in heaven!" And launched
herself
at him, peppering his neck with kisses.

At the same time, Luc demanded, "What the hell was that about?"

"The truth."
Much as he hated to, Rip pulled free of Avery’s enthusiastic embrace and faced his half-brother. "I’m totally clueless about running this island. You aren’t. Besides, last night I realized all I really want is to be with Avery if she’ll have me."

She made a cute little sound in the back of her throat, then grabbed his face and gave him a loud smack on his lips, her breasts rubbing enticingly against his chest.

Rip draped his arm around her waist to keep her close and continued to address Luc. "You know what to do and who to trust. Plus, you’re a
Pollendene
. That’s what Uncle Jean Jacques meant when he said
Phillippe
sent both his sons away, didn’t he?"
  

Still looking uncertain, Luc nodded, and Avery spoke up. "You know Rip’s right, Luc. You’ll do what’s best for your country."

"I need to be elected first," Luc muttered.

"Piece of cake, you’re a
Pollendene
." Rip assured him with a wink. "Avery and I will hang around for a few days, if you still need me to sign stuff for Uncle Jean Jacques. But as soon as this election is done, we have about ten years to make up for."

He wiggled his eyebrows at Avery and she wiggled hers back.

Luc rolled his eyes and sighed wearily. "Guess I’ll need to make some adjustments to our plans."

"You can do it." Avery’s tone was cruise director cheerful and encouraging. "You’re good at things like that."

"Exactly."
With his free hand, Rip clapped Luc on the shoulder and propelled him in the direction of the door. "So why don’t you go and do whatever it is that keeps this place running? Avery and I have a few adjustments to make too."

As Luc closed the door behind
himself
, Avery broke away and ratcheted the security chain in place. "There, that takes care of that little adjustment."

With a sassy smile, she sauntered to the rumpled bed, plopped down and kicked off her shoes.

"Why Miss Knox, I do believe you’re trying to seduce me," Rip teased, slipping his hand into the pocket of his jeans, and easing out a condom packet.

Blue eyes sparkling with mischief, she murmured, "Goodness, Mr.
Pollendene
, you seem to have all the answers today."

"Not all," he admitted as he kicked off his own shoes. "Right now, I’m wondering if you’re wearing those little scraps of black lace I saw folded inside that skirt."

"Well, why don’t you come over here and find out?"

 
"
Suuu-weet
!" he declared.

THE END

Author's Note

The island of
Benezet
is wholly fictitious but was inspired by several Caribbean islands I have visited on various cruises:
 
Grenada,
Dominca
, and St. Lucia being the chief among them.

Loucinda
McGary
has been a storyteller and writer all her life. In 2003 she left her day job to pursue her twin passions of travel and writing. To date she has visited forty-seven states, thirty-four foreign countries, and taken twenty-three cruises. She likes to set her stories in some of the fascinating places she has visited. Her stories have placed and won several contests and awards including the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart contest, the Australian Romance Readers Awards, and the Kindle Book Review's Best
Indie
Book of 2012.

Learn more about
Loucinda
, her travels and her work at: www.LoucindaMcgary.com

If you enjoyed this story, please check out her other books:

The Wild Sight
(2008)

The Treasures of Venice
(2009)

The Wild Irish Sea
(2010)

All from Sourcebooks Casablanca and available on Amazon and B&N.

Her novelette available on Amazon and B&N:

The
Sidhe
Princess
(2011)

In the rural Northern Ireland of the 1960s, sixteen-year-old Moira Mullins is newly released from her second stay in a mental institution. Her problem is that she can’t seem to escape the notice of the other-worldly inhabitants of the wild lands bordering her family’s farm. Creatures nobody else can see or hear.

When one of these beings, a fairy princess called the Maid of Ulster, offers to foretell the future, Moira jumps at the chance. But the Maid has ulterior motives that could have tragic results for Moira, who learns the future is sometimes better unknown.

A dark modern-day fairytale, this 14,000 word novelette (easily read in a couple of hours) is a prequel to Ms.
McGary's
award-winning debut release
The Wild Sight
.

Book 1 in the Adventure Cruise Line series also on Amazon and B&N:

High Seas Deception
(2012)

A DANGEROUS MISSION

The Irishman is a ruthless mercenary who performs any task for the right price. His current assignment involves intercepting a dangerous package smuggled aboard the cruise liner Intrepid. If the contents of the package reach Los Angeles, millions will die.

But only if the Irishman fails.

A DEADLY ATTRACTION

When Adventure Cruise lines' security officer
Skylar
Davidson finds the stowaway, she recognizes him from a bloody shoot-out she witnessed at LAX airport. But rather than being frightened, she's drawn to the enigmatic Irishman, and quickly becomes embroiled in his desperate scheme.

Can they win this deadly fight? Or will it cost them their lives?

Riveting danger, fast action, and sensual romance make
High Seas Deception
a thrill-ride of a read!

Please continue reading for a sample of High Seas Deception.

HIGH SEAS DECEPTION

By

Loucinda
McGary

Copyright © 2012 by
Loucinda
McGary
Munoz

Chapter 1

From the balcony of the ninth story condominium, the Irishman drained his coffee cup and walked to the railing. Lifting a pair of small field glasses to his eyes, he focused on the boxy white ship gliding across the smooth waters of
Banderas
Bay. Through the early morning haze, he took a moment to distinguish the black, stylized 'A' on the vessel's smokestack, but once he did, the tingle of anticipation zipped along his nerve endings. Adventure Cruise Lines Intrepid – his objective was right on
time
.

He saw the harbor master's gleaming metallic cutter rushing out to meet the huge ship and guide her into the port. Slipping the field glasses into his pocket, he walked back inside to ready himself for his own meeting with Intrepid.

Forty minutes later, he slumped in the shade on a wrought-iron bench and sipped a bottle of water. Through his sunglasses, he watched the first passengers emerge through the gate in the chain link fence that separated the pier from the tiled plaza in front of the flea market a few meters to his left.

A score of eager taxi drivers descended on the new arrivals, crying out in accented English.

"I take you on a tour of the city... "

"...
 
to
Mismaloya
... "

"...
 
to
the tequila factory... "

"...
 
good price!"

"...
 
cheapest price!"

He'd seen the same scenario in every tourist port he'd ever landed in, though he had to admit that as tourist towns went, Puerto Vallarta was one of the prettiest. When the first hardy group negotiated their way past the gauntlet of aggressive drivers, he tossed his empty water bottle into the nearby trash bin and listened closely to their chatter. Their accents matched his
intel
which said most of the eighteen hundred passengers were from the US or Canada. He'd have no problem posing as one of them.

As a second, larger group made their way toward the shops in the flea market, he looped his backpack over his shoulder and joined them. Ignoring the calls of the pushy vendors, he took less than five minutes to spot a likely mark. The man at the counter stood close to his own height, though huskier in build. He wore a grey and black Oakland Raiders T-shirt with a matching baseball cap, and his personal identification stuck out of the back pocket of his shorts when he pulled out his wallet to pay for a tube of sunscreen.

This really is child's play
, the Irishman thought as he side-swiped the man's
shoulder.
Then he murmured, "Lo
siento
mucho," at the same time his unsuspecting benefactor said, "Excuse me."

"Hurry up, honey, the tour leaves in five minutes," a petite blonde in a pink flowered sundress admonished from the doorway.

Excellent! A tour meant they wouldn't come back to the ship for at least four hours, probably six if the snorkel mask poking out of the blonde's tote bag was any indication.

The man scooped up his change, dropped the pesos in the bag with the sunscreen and hurried out the door, wallet still in hand. The Irishman followed at a safe distance just to be sure the American didn't notice his missing ID card.

The blissfully unaware couple hurried to join a large group trailing after a man with a sign on the end of a pole, while the Irishman ducked around to the secluded side of the building. He glanced briefly at the white and blue plastic sea pass card before he zipped it into the inner pocket of his backpack.

"Thank you, Robert Adams," he murmured under his breath.

In the next hour, he bought himself a pair of plastic flip-flops, a Puerto Vallarta T-shirt, and his own black baseball cap. And he lifted two more sea pass cards -- one from a teenaged boy who was being a sullen pain in the
arse
to his parents, and the other from a chubby grandmotherly type who was chugging cold
cervezas
at half-past nine in the morning. He knew that three missing cards wouldn't raise as much suspicion as one, and he even smiled a bit as he dropped the little
knacker
Matthew
Moorehouse's
card into the dust bin.