Separate Cabins

Gard looked in no better shape when she finally met his eyes. One side of his mouth lifted in a dryly commiserating smile. She found herself smiling back with a hint of bemusement.

“So much for the appetizer course, hmm?” he murmured and pushed to his feet. “Since our little paradise is being invaded, do you want to head back?”

“We might as well,” Rachel agreed and reached for her shoes.

On the way back they passed a family with four adolescents determined to travel as far upstream as they could go. When they reached the adobe buildings on the bluff, Rachel didn’t bother to change out of her swimming suit into her clothes. It had long since dried. She simply put on the lavender print cover-up she’d purchased instead.

“The ship isn’t scheduled to sail from Puerto Vallarta until late this evening, and we still have a couple of hours of afternoon left,” Gard said as the car accelerated out of the parking lot onto the paved road. “Is there anyplace you’d like to go?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Rachel settled back into the seat, that unsatisfied inner tension not allowing her to completely relax. “Besides, I’d rather not go anywhere when I look such a mess.”

She’d had a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her ebony hair was a black snarl of waving curls, damply defying any style, and most of her makeup had been washed off during the swim.

“You look good to me,” he insisted with a sliding glance that was warm with approval.

“I’m told if you’re hungry enough, anything looks good,” she retorted dryly, a teasing glow in her smoky eyes.

A low chuckle came from his throat but he made no reponse.

There was an easy silence in the car during the long ride back to town on the twisting, coastal road, each of them privately occupied with their own thoughts. When they reached the port terminal, Gard left the car in a lot and together they walked to the ship’s gangway.

“Found her, did you?” The officer on duty smiled when he recognized Gard with Rachel.

“I certainly did.” There was a lightly possessive hand on her waist as he guided her onto the gangway.

After the glare and the heat of the Mexican sun, the ship seemed cool and dark when Rachel entered it, until her eyes adjusted to the change of light. Instead of taking the stairs, Gard pushed the elevator button.

“We’ve done enough walking and climbing for one day,” he explained while they waited for it to descend to their deck. “Why don’t you come to my cabin? We’ll have a drink, and maybe have the steward bring us a snack.”

“I’d like that,” Rachel agreed. “But why don’t I meet you there in half an hour? That will give me time to freshen up and change into something decent.”

“Okay. It will probably take me that long to turn the car into the rental agency.” The elevator doors swished open and Gard stepped to the side, allowing Rachel to enter first. “But when you change, I’d rather you put on something ‘indecent,’” he added with an engaging half-grin.

It was a little more than half an hour before Rachel knocked at the door of his cabin. With the magic of a blow-dryer and a styling brush, she had fixed her midnight-black hair into a loose and becoming style. Her simple cotton shift was grape colored, trimmed with white ribbing, and cinched at the waist with a wide white belt. Her nerves were leaping and jumping like wildfire when the door opened.

Gard’s features were composed in almost stern lines, a flicker of raw impatience in the dry brown look that swept her. Before she could offer a word of greeting, he was reaching for her hand and pulling her inside to close the door.

Rachel was taken by surprise when his mouth rolled onto her lips in a hot and moist kiss. She swayed into him, feeling his hands grip her shoulders with caressing force. When he lifted his head, he had taken her breath as well as the kiss.

“What kept you?” The demand was in his eyes, but Gard tried to inject a careless note into his voice. “I was beginning to think you were going to stand me up.”

“It took me longer to get ready than I thought.” When his eyes ran over her and darkened with approval, Rachel was glad about the extra time she’d spent.

With the tip of his finger he located the metal pull of the hidden zipper down the front and drew it down another four inches, so the neckline gaped to show her full cleavage. The sensation licked through her veins like heat lightning. A pleased satisfaction lay dark and disturbing in his half-closed eyes.

“Now it’s closer to being indecent,” he murmured in soft mockery, then swung away from her to walk to the drink cabinet in the corner. “I promised you a drink. What will you have? Gin and tonic?”

“Yes.” She was absurdly pleased that he remembered what she usually ordered.

While Gard fixed a drink for each of them, Rachel took the opportunity to study him unobserved. The backlight of the bar made the hard, smooth contours of his handsome features stand out in sharp relief. During that brief but exhilarating kiss she had caught the spicy scent of fresh aftershave on his skin. The cleanness of his jaw and cheek seemed to verify that he’d taken time to shave before she’d arrived. Her gaze openly admired his male body, so trimly built yet so muscular. Just looking at him was a heady stimulation all its own.

When he turned with the drinks, Rachel pretended an interest in the large sitting room, not quite ready to let him see what was in her mind. “The room seems much larger without so many people in it,” she remarked idly, recalling how small and crowded it had seemed at the cocktail party he’d given.

“It does,” he agreed and handed her the glass of gin and tonic water. He raised his glass in a semblance of a silent toast and carried it to his mouth, sipping at it and looking at her over the rim, quietly assessing and measuring. “It seems we’ve done this before—only last time you didn’t accept the drink I offered,” he said, tipping his head down as he watched the glass he lowered, then flicking a look at her through the screen of his lashes.

“Yes, the night I discovered you in my cabin,” she recalled, aware of the suddenly thready run of her pulse.

“At that point it was our cabin.” A glint of amusement shimmered in his eyes, then faded. Again some inner impatience turned him away from her. “I’ll call the steward and find out what he can offer us in the way of a snack. Is there anything special you’d like?” Gard took a step toward the phone.