Saving Simon (Tarnished Saints Series Book 5) (12 page)

“So this is your brother, James. The James who isn’t called Zeb.” Piper was out of the car and next to him. “It’s amazing how identical they look.”

“James, I’d like you to meet Pippa – I mean Piper Westbrook,” Simon said, putting his arm around her shoulder. It was more of a subtle reminder to his brother that this girl was his and not to work his cowboy charm on her. Piper’s body stiffened and it was obvious she felt uncomfortable by this gesture, so he quickly removed his arm from around her shoulder.

“Ma’am,” said James, tipping his hat from atop the horse. “Glad to meet you.”

“Why is everyone calling me ma’am?” she asked, but Simon ignored it as his brother jumped off the horse and they quickly embraced in a manly back-slapping style of greeting each other.

“So I hear you’re running the marina since Mrs. Glover had to leave town suddenly,” said James.

“Yep, that’s about right. Thad’s inside, so why don’t you come give our little brother hell for staying away so long?”

They small talked, and James led his horse over to the lake to get a drink and then tied it up on the fencepost outside the marina.

“I hear you’re living over with Old Man MacAllister now as a farmhand,” said Simon.

“For now,” answered James. “Since I sold my ranch I had to find somewhere to board my horses. Plus, the man is too old to do the work himself anymore. I’m hoping to buy my own place eventually.”

Thad came out to join them next. “Hey, James how are you?” They greeted each other and Thad looked over to Simon. “I found a great place to stay. There’s a little back room in the marina with a couch. This sure would be better than staying with Thomas. Or are you already using that room?”

“No, not at all,” said Simon. “Go for it, bro. Mrs. Glover said we could use it.”

Thad and James made their way inside talking.

“Simon, you never told me where you stayed last night,” said Piper.

“How bout I just show you instead?”

“Okay. Is it close by?”

“Closer than you think.”

When Piper was sure Simon was going to lead her back to the car, he led her in the opposite direction. That is, toward the lake instead.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked.

“To the pier.”

“By the water?” She felt a little apprehensive about being so close to the water again after the spill she’d taken from the cruise ship. Her body was still sore in places that she never even knew existed, and the thought of her almost dying in the process still rattled her nerves.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. The water by the pier is shallow enough to stand in, so you won’t drown. Besides, I’ll be there to protect you.” He put his arm around her waist as they walked.

“You don’t have to protect me from everything all the time, Simon. You’re not on the cruise ship any more so you don’t have to be the safety police around me.”

“All right, already. I get it.” He took his arm from around her and with it went the warmth that was emanating between them. Now she was angry at herself for saying anything at all.

“I didn’t mean it that way. Really.” Piper tried to apologize but could tell she had hurt his feelings.

He walked down the dock and then onto a pier that looked old and rickety and started toward the larger of the two sailboats that were docked there. There were nearly two dozen piers up and down the water with slips for the boats. Some of the piers were in good condition and there were others she wouldn’t set foot on if someone paid her.

“Come on, Pippa, we’re here,” he said stopping alongside the sailboat and holding out his hand, coaxing her down the pier.

She had on her two-hundred dollar pair of designer jeans with the rhinestone bling on the back pockets and her good pumps and didn’t want to get them wet or dirty. It was already bad enough she’d foolishly knelt in the dirt at the cemetery.

“I don’t want to get my shoes or jeans wet or dirty,” she told him and saw him roll his eyes and shake his head before coming back to get her.

“Are you coming or not?” he asked.

She looked at the pier again and sincerely wondered if it was going to collapse if she stood on it. “I don’t think so.”

“I thought you said you wanted to see where I spent the night.”

She looked down the dock again and realized what he had done. “Please don’t tell me just because I told you that you couldn’t stay in the cabin, you came and slept on the boat?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“You’re crazy, Simon Taylor to sleep on a boat.”

“No, I’m not,” he said. “It’s got all the comforts of home.”

“You’re just teasing me.”

“Want to find out for sure or not?”

She looked at the pier again and then at the boat bobbing up and down in the water. “I told you, I don’t want to get my shoes or jeans wet or dirty.”

“Then you won’t have to.”

Before she knew what was happening, he’d swooped her up off her feet and cradled her in his arms. She let out a little squeal and clasped her hands around his neck. The contact between them felt wonderful, but she knew he meant to take her onto the boat.

“Simon, put me down. Please.” Her heart beat rapidly in her chest and she wasn’t sure if it was from the excitement of being in his arms or from her fear of the water.

“Not until you’re on the boat.” He walked down the pier quickly and with the grace and stealth of a wildcat he mounted the boat with her in his arms, never once wavering. He put her gently down on her feet, and she almost felt disappointed not to be in his embrace anymore. “Well, here we are. Home sweet home,” he said with a proud smile.

The boat swayed in the waves as a speedboat went past, and she almost lost her balance and grabbed on to Simon with both hands. He steadied her and wrapped his arms around her body in a protective hold.

“Okay, take me back to shore now. I’ve had enough.”

“Not until I show you the cabin.”

“This is scary. I want to go back.”

“Pippa, for god’s sake we’re still docked. It’s not like we’re in the middle of the ocean. Actually, you showed less fear when we
were
in the middle of the ocean.”

“That was before I experienced what it was like to almost drown. Besides, it was a much bigger boat than this.”

“It was a yacht, or ship. Not a boat, sweetheart.”

“Whatever. I felt safer on that even in the rain storm than I do on this.”

“Come on,” he grumbled, not taking no for an answer.

He guided her down through the door at the front of the boat, and they both had to bend over to enter the small space. Immediately she felt claustrophobic and wanted to turn around and run out but Simon’s wide shoulders were blocking the exit and it was too cramped to move.

“Sit down,” he told her, holding out his hand and offering her a seat on a padded bench. She felt like she was going to fall again and quickly sat down just so she wouldn’t end up on her butt on the dirty floor. He sat down on a padded bench across from her and their knees touched. His body filled up most of the cabin and took her breath away.

“You weren’t kidding,” she said, finding it hard to believe that people actually slept on boats.

“I told you. Nice, isn’t it?”

“That’s not the word I had in mind.”

“I’ll give you a tour. There’s the stove and sink,” he told her, pointing to the small area next to her.

“How?” she asked.

“There’s a water tank hooked up to the boat and the stove is propane.”

“Next you’ll be telling me there is a bathroom in here too.”

“What do you think is under that cushion you’re sitting on?”

“I’m sitting on the toilet?” she asked, cringing when she said it.

Simon laughed then, and she loved the sound of his deep voice rumbling through the small cabin. “What more could you ask for?” he said. “It even sleeps five.”

“Maybe this would sleep five if Snow White and her dwarves were staying here, but I can’t even understand how one person can sleep here without being a contortionist.”

“I never said it could sleep five comfortably,” he said with a grin.

“Unbelievable,” she said, looking around to see a small table on metal poles stuck into the wall and also several windows, one on each side and one in the front over a spot that looked as if it could sleep two together very cozily. “I suppose that’s the master bedroom up there.”

“It is. Want to try it out?”

She felt herself getting very hot all of a sudden and the thought of making love on a boat was floating around in her head like jetsam on the water.

“Whose boat is this anyway?” she asked, wondering if the owner was going to walk in at any moment.

“Mine.”

“Yours?” That surprised her.

“Well, it used to be mine before I sold it to the Glovers when I joined the Navy. But I talked to Mrs. Glover this morning and she told me she wanted to sell this boat, so I’m going to be buying it back from her.”

“Wait, did you just say you talked to Mrs. Glover? Did she tell you where the books and invoices were? I need to talk to her. Do you have her number so I can call her back?”

“No, sorry. She called here and I didn’t think to ask for it.”

“Well we can just check the caller ID number.”

“Nope. The phone in the marina doesn’t have caller ID. Anyway, I decided I’ll let my brothers and nephews use the boat when I go back to work on the cruise ship next month.”

“Are you really going back there, Simon?”

“I’d planned on staying here but the captain made me an offer I couldn’t refuse right before I left. He offered me a substantial raise and more responsibility on the ship. Plus, I get two months off a year and free cruises for family members. How could a man say no to a sweet deal like that?”

“Won’t you miss your family?”

His face became sullen and his focus dropped to his hands that were clasped together on his lap now. “Yeah. I guess I will. I’ll still see them two months out of the year and when they come for cruises tho.”

“Simon, why don’t you stay?”

“And do what? As soon as this marina’s gone, I’ll be out of a job anyway.”

“Well, I’m sure there’s something you can do that doesn’t involve being by the water.”

“Pippa, the water is my life. You take that away from me and you might as well just stab me in the heart right now with a knife. I don’t think I could live without being by the water or on a boat.”

Suddenly Piper felt like nothing more than an assassin. Thomas’s words came back to haunt her of how she would be driving a knife through Simon’s heart by seeing to the measures that would close down the marina for good. Now, Simon had told her the same thing. This time she saw it in his eyes that he really meant it. But if she didn’t do the job she was sent to do, she’d be driving a knife into her father’s heart.

She felt a knot forming in her stomach and knew that no matter what she did she would be disappointing one of the two men she truly cared about in her life. No matter what decision she made, she knew she would be the one having a knife stabbed into her heart when this was all over in the end.

Chapter 11

The next morning, Simon took the invoices and the ledger he’d found in an old desk drawer in the back room of the marina out of his hiding place in his duffel bag. He tucked them away neatly under the cushions of the main berth of his sailboat. He’d been hiding them as well as the phone number where Mrs. Glover was staying at her sister’s in Ohio from Piper, hoping to slow her down from filing her financial report to her father about the marina.

He’d told Thad to keep her distracted as much as possible. He’d also tried to get her involved with the customers who came in, but business was slowing down now as they hit the end of September. Actually, he’d been surprised that families had been here at all during the week since school had started weeks ago. But today was Friday and he knew that the weekend would be busy with out-of-town guests coming up just for a few days starting tomorrow morning. If he planned on spending any time alone with Piper it was going to have to be today.

“Hey, Simon, are you out here?” called out the voice of his brother, Thad. Simon stuck his head out the door of the boat’s cabin.

“Thad. Good. You’re here. Piper isn’t here yet is she?”

“Not yet. I told Angel to go over to the lake cabin and visit with her just like you said. She did a great job last night convincing her to stay in the cabin instead of going to a hotel. Of course that’s probably because she introduced her to all the kids and they ran her ragged showing her things and she didn’t have the chance to say no.”

“Good job. Now do me a favor and get Nate or someone to help you with the marina today.”

“Nate’s got a bar to run now, don’t forget.”

“His place doesn’t open til later in the day. He can spend a few hours here this morning with you and maybe you can get Thomas to come by for a bit this afternoon.”