Saving Simon (Tarnished Saints Series Book 5) (3 page)

Simon clenched his jaw and just shook his head when he realized the girl’s father was trying to pay him to leave. If the man really cared about his daughter he would at least have her checked out by the ship physician and not be rushing her away like the girl was an embarrassment to him.

Simon had no tolerance for men like this. The blood boiled in his veins and he wanted more than anything to take the man to a dark corner of the ship and set him straight – using his fist.

“Tips are included in the price of the cruise. I can’t take that, sir,” he said with a shake of his head. “Now you need to let me escort your daughter to see the physician. She could have hypothermia from the cold water or possibly a broken bone from falling from such a height.”

“Nothing looks broken to me. She’s fine, so don’t worry about it, boy,” said the man stuffing the money back into his pocket and continuing to walk, dragging the girl along with him. “Just send up a hot cup of coffee to our cabin at once. On second thought, send up a bottle of brandy with it as well.”

Simon couldn’t tolerate the man’s tone of voice and calling him boy as if he were a child, and he’d done it twice now. The last person who’d called him boy and acted this way toward him with a woman present was his late father when Simon was nine years old. It was a time in his life he would rather forget.

He was thirty-three years of age now and an ex-Navy officer, and no one called him boy and just walked away from him afterwards. Neither did they treat a woman like this without Simon getting involved. Simon was determined to protect this woman named Piper, even if his conscience was telling him no good could come from it in the end. And God knows he’d been down that path more times than he cared to admit.

“Sir,” he said, gritting his teeth, trying to hold back his anger. The man stopped abruptly and turned around.

Simon clenched his hands into fists as he felt the urge to hit the man overtaking him. This whole scene was all too familiar and though he knew it would only cause trouble, it was the way he dealt with men like this. He might just have hit the bastard if Thad hadn’t walked up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder just then.

“Don’t do it, bro,” Thad whispered. “You’ve come too far to go down that path again.”

He knew what Thad was talking about. His brother was warning him of his little problem he’d had his entire life. Simon had a way of dealing with things in a different way than any of his brothers. He settled problems and disputes not with words, but with his fists. The last time he felt as angry as he did right now, was the day he was dismissed from the Navy. Thad was the only one who knew why he left the Navy, and Simon had no intention of letting any of his other brothers ever find out.

The girl’s father was standing there staring at him, and he knew he had to cool his temper fast and just let this man deal with his daughter however he wanted. At least for now. It was none of his concern, but somehow he felt an attachment to the girl ever since he saved her life and gave her mouth-to-mouth. He felt attracted to her now and all he wanted to do was protect her.

The look in her eyes disturbed him, and this made him feel as if he couldn’t turn away now even if he wanted to. Her expression was one he’d seen before. It was the same look of helplessness and despair he’d seen in his younger brother’s eyes the day he took Thad to the rehab center for substance abuse against his will.

He didn’t know what this girl was going through, but all he knew was that she was silently crying out for help, and he just couldn’t look the other way.

“Well, what is it?” The girl’s father raised his hand in question and acted as if Simon were wasting his time. “Speak up, boy.”

“He just wanted to tell you he’ll be sending hot coffee as well as pastries to your cabin right away,” Thad answered for him.

“Fine,” said the man, turning back around and dragging the girl along with him. “Don’t forget the brandy,” he called over his shoulder.

“All right, everyone back to your cabins,” shouted another crewmember. “Wait for the captain to give the all-clear sign before returning to the deck.”

Simon spied his brother, Zeb, walking against the crowd, coming to join them.

“So you saved the girl from drowning?” asked Zeb, looking over his shoulder at the girl and her father hurrying inside.

“I did,” Simon, answered in a low voice. “But I can’t guarantee I won’t kill her damned father.” Simon turned sharply when he knew the crowd wasn’t looking and slammed his fist into a wooden post holding a life preserver.

“Still got your anger issues I see.” Zeb lifted an eyebrow. He was only a year older than Simon and also the twin of their brother, James. The three of them all looked a lot alike, but the thing that differentiated them from each other was their personalities.

Simon was purely physical while Zeb was a lawyer and used his mind to get what he wanted. Their brother, James on the other hand, was a rancher or a cowboy as his brothers called him, and quiet and very polite. In Simon’s eyes, James was nothing but a wuss when it came to women. Hell, sometimes James was so shy he couldn’t even talk to girls.

Well, that wasn’t Simon’s problem. Simon loved women and wanted to protect every woman on the face of the earth from men who treated them poorly. While it was an admirable trait to have, he’d always ruined it by getting into fist fights to make certain no one hurt the women in his life.

He felt as if he wanted to protect this girl named Piper, even if he couldn’t call her his own. Not yet, anyway. But he had every intention of changing that soon because there was something about this woman that intrigued him. She’d been brave to be out in the storm in the first place, but not brave enough to stand up to her father. She looked beautiful, even in wet, dirty clothes and bare feet, yet kept her elite composure. And when he’d given her mouth-to-mouth, he’d felt her soft lips under his and he wanted to feel them again, but this time in a kiss of passion. She didn’t deserve the way her father treated her, and he wasn’t going to let any man treat a woman poorly, even if the man was the girl’s own father.

“There’s no problem,” Simon said, pulling a wood splinter out of his fist and wiping the blood against his bare chest. “No problem at all. Why would you say that?”

Zeb and Thad exchanged a look that Simon knew only too well. It meant they were going to get involved. They were his brothers and they cared about him, and often stuck their noses where they didn’t belong.

“Maybe instead of the girl,
you
should see the ship’s doctor,” Thad told him.

“I don’t need a doctor.” Simon headed away without even looking at them.

“Well, don’t you want to talk about all this?” Zeb asked, following him.

“About all what?”

“About the fact you just pulverized an innocent wooden post,” Thad added as he hurried over to join them.

“I’ve got better things to think about and something I need to do right away,” Simon said.

“Oh, good.” Zeb nodded. “You’re going to go see the doctor after all.”

“Nope.” Simon just shook his head. “I am going to deliver a hot cup of coffee to a girl in need, so stay out of my way.”

“Simon, I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Thad called after him. “After all, you saw what a jerk the girl’s father was. He obviously doesn’t like you.”

“You’re right.” Simon started up the steps on the outside of the ship that led to the upper staterooms. “That’s why I’m going to make sure I bring the old bastard a bottle of brandy as well. If he’s lucky, he just might not have to get acquainted with my fist after all.”

Chapter 3

Piper stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a plush robe, compliments of the exorbitant price she’d paid for the suite. She dried her hair in a towel and then exited the bathroom, glad her father had left for now, but disappointed that he hadn’t shown more concern for the fact she’d almost drowned.

It seemed to her the man named Simon who saved her life cared more about her safety than her own father. The kind man had even gone to the extreme of having the ship’s doctor make a house call to her room to check up on her. Her head hurt and her legs still felt cramped from the cold water, but she knew she wasn’t dying since the doctor had just left a few minutes ago and said she was a very lucky girl and nothing was broken.

She heard a knock at the door and threw the towel down on the couch, glad that room service had finally come with her hot coffee. It was taking longer than it should have, and she needed it more than anything right now. She padded barefoot over the carpeted floor of the living room that hosted a white couch and two padded side chairs in bright blue. Her bedroom was on one end and her father’s on the other, and they both had private baths.

A coffee table of teak wood sat in front of the couch and a big screen TV was mounted on the opposite wall. A wall of sliding glass doors opened to the private balcony with lounge chairs outside for their pleasure.

“I thought you’d never get here,” she said, pulling open the door and stopping in mid-motion when she saw the man named Simon who’d saved her life standing there. He was dressed in a fresh uniform – a white short-sleeved shirt with blue stripes on the sleeves, and snug white pants. He wore a white officer’s cap with a blue visor on his head.

“I went as fast as I could. Sorry to disappoint you.” He looked devilishly handsome standing there balancing a pot of coffee and two cups along with a plate of fruit-filled puff pastries on a tray. Under his arm was tucked a bottle of brandy. “Well, can I come in and put this down?” he asked. “I’m not that great with balancing things on one hand and can’t promise this coffee will make it to the table still inside the pot.”

She glanced up to his eyes, his bright blue eyes the color of the sea, and she suddenly felt naked under his perusal, though she was wearing a robe. Only a robe, she reminded herself, and he was asking to come into the room.

“I . . . I . . .”

“Just say yes, Ms. Westbrook. I’m here to follow up on today’s incident, nothing more. I need to fill out an accident report, and I have a few questions to ask you.”

“Questions?” she repeated, wondering if she was in some sort of trouble.

“I’m Safety Officer of the ship, and I need to know if things aren’t up to par. Our passengers’ safety is our number one concern. If something on the ship isn’t up to standards and it is dangerous to our guests, then I need to do something about it right away. May I?” He nodded with his head, looking into the room.

“Oh, of course. Come in.”

She stepped aside and he entered, and she closed the door and turned back to see him bending over the coffee table, carefully setting down the tray. The cups were stacked and wobbled noisily, threatening to fall over. Her eyes focused on his rear end, and she couldn’t think of anything but the fact she was in a room nearly naked and with a sexy man who looked at her like he wanted to eat her. This kind of excited her, and when he turned around, she pulled the ties on her robe tighter.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, and she was glad he couldn’t read her mind.

“Nothing. Why?”

“Your face is flushed. Do you have a fever? Maybe it’s an infection from your fall in the sea.” In two long strides he was standing in front of her and putting his hand on her forehead. “I notified the ship’s doctor, has he been here yet? I asked him to come see you personally.”

“Yes, he’s been here and said I’m fine except for a few bruises and a slight concussion.”

He was so close she could smell his spicy cologne, as well as see the dimple on his chin that she hadn’t noticed earlier. And it wasn’t as if she hadn’t noticed him earlier, because she had. She noticed him the first day of the cruise when he gave his safety talk to all the passengers. She’d been in the front row and almost got lost in his eyes.

“Did he say to do anything special?” he asked.

“No. Just stay off the deck in storms from now on.”

“Are you sure you’re all right? You took in a lot of water and had a steep fall.”

“I’m fine,” she said, with a slight smile and a quick wave of her hand. “Thank you for your concern as well as your rescue.” She stepped around him and made her way to the coffee table. She reached out for the coffee pot but he came up from behind and grabbed the pot first.

“Sit down,” he said. “I’ll get it, Ms. Westbrook.”

“But . . . this isn’t your job,” she protested.

“I told you, my job is seeing to your safety.” She sat down and he handed her a cup of coffee, then poured a cup for himself and settled on the couch next to her.

“I hardly think drinking coffee is dangerous,” she said with a giggle.

“Cream and sugar?” He nodded toward the tray.

“No cream. Just sugar, please.”

He picked up the metal tongs and reached for the sugar cubes.

“One lump or two?”

“Just one.”

He carefully balanced it between the prongs and plopped it into her cup, dropping it too quickly. Some coffee splashed up out of the cup and onto her robe right over her chest.

“I’m sorry.” He reached over with a napkin and started to dab at it, and she gasped when she felt his gentle touch against her breast.