The decision to reserve a suite instead of a simple stateroom had been an impulsive one and admittedly extravagant, since she was traveling alone. Part of it had been prompted by Fan’s urging that Rachel should do this vacation up right and travel in style, and part of it had been motivated by a desire to have uncramped quarters where she could lounge in comfortable privacy.

A landing divided the stairs halfway between each deck and split it into flanking arms that turned back on itself to rise to the next deck. The landings, the turns, the lookalike foyers on each deck, began to confuse Rachel as she followed the steward. Already cognizant of the size of the ship, she quickly realized that it would be easy to become turned around with so many decks and the maze of passageways.

Instead of relying solely on her guide, Rachel began to look for identifying signs so she would learn her route to the stateroom and not become lost when she had to find it again. The striding steward didn’t give her much time to dawdle and still keep him in sight.

When they stopped climbing stairs, the steward crossed the foyer and started down a long passageway. The level was identified as the Promenade Deck. Rachel stopped for a second to read the small sign indicating the range of cabin numbers located in the direction of its pointing arrow.

Her gaze was still clinging to the sign when she hurriedly started forward to catch up with the steward before she lost track of him. She didn’t see the person approaching from the opposite direction until the very last second. Rachel tried to stop abruptly and avoid the collision, but she had been hurrying too fast to completely succeed.

Her forward impetus almost carried her headlong into the man. She cringed slightly in anticipation of the impact, but a pair of hands caught her by the arms and reduced the collision to a mere bump. She’d been holding her breath and now released it in a rushed apology.

“I’m sorry.” Her head came back to lift her gaze upward.

A half-formed smile of vague embarrassment froze on her face as Rachel recognized the man from the limousine. Only now his face was mere inches from hers. The detail of his solid features was before her—the sun wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, the angled plane of his jaw and chin, and the smooth, well-defined strength of his mouth.

Her pulse rate shot up as her glance flicked to his lazy brown eyes. A smiling knowledge seemed to perpetually lurk behind their dry brown surfaces. She felt it licking over her as his gaze absorbed her features from the tip of her nose to the curved bow of her lips and the midnight blackness of her hair, then finally to the silver brilliance of her widened gray eyes.

This flash of mutual recognition and close assessment lasted mere seconds. On the heels of it came the recollection of Fan’s advice concerning this very man whose hands were steadying her. Rachel went hot at the memory, her glance falling before his as if she thought he might be able to read her thoughts. She began to feel very stiff and awkward.

His hands loosened their hold on her arms and came away. Belatedly Rachel noticed that he was holding his tan jacket, which he swung over his white-shirted shoulder, casually hooking it on a forefinger. His shirt collar was open, exposing the tanned column of his throat.

“I’m sorry,” she said stiffly, repeating her apology for bumping into him, trying to distract her thoughts from the tingling sensation on her arms where his hands had been. “I’m afraid I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

There was a lazy glitter in his eyes as his mouth quirked. “That was my good fortune.”

She didn’t want him to come back with a remark like that, not with echoes of Fan’s advice ringing in her ears. It only added to her discomfort in the whole situation. Unable to respond to the casual advice, Rachel chose to ignore it.

“Excuse me.” Her young guide had long since disappeared down the passageway. She brushed hurriedly past the man and started down the corridor in the direction the steward had taken.

It seemed crazy, but she could feel his gaze watching her go. She even knew the moment he turned and continued on his way. Only then did some of the stiffness leave her, the tension easing in her nerves. Slowing her steps slightly, Rachel drew in a deep, calming breath and felt her pulse settling down.

At the aft end of the passageway there was another foyer with its own stairwell and elevators. It was almost an exact duplicate of the one at the forward end of the Promenade Deck. She halted, looking around for some sign to point her in the right direction. Just then the steward appeared, having retraced his steps to look for her.

“Sorry, ma’am.” There was a look of chagrin on his young face. “I thought you were right behind me.”

“It’s all right,” she assured him. It didn’t seem necessary to explain why she had been detained.

“Your suite is this way.”

This time he made sure she stayed at his side as he led the way past the elevator and down a galleria-type corridor to the next section of staterooms. He stopped at the first door on Rachel’s left, opened it, then stepped aside so she could enter.

“If there’s anything you need, press the button on the telephone,” he said. “That will summon your room steward. There’s someone on duty twenty-four hours.”

“Thank you,” Rachel nodded.

“I hope you enjoy your cruise,” he said and left her to explore the suite on her own.

Rachel closed the door and turned to survey the large sitting room. The drapes were open, letting in the afternoon light. The room was a blend of warm coral colors with brown upholstered chairs for accent. In addition there was a table and four chairs so she could eat in her room if she preferred. A wet bar stood against one wall, fully stocked with glasses.

The bedroom was tucked in an alcove off the sitting room. The twin beds were built-in and covered with a coral patterned spread. Floor-to-ceiling curtains could be drawn to shut off the bedroom from the sitting area. Rachel inspected the available storage, opening drawers and doors.

Her three pieces of luggage sat on the floor by the bed. For the time being she stowed them in a closet. There would be time enough to unpack later in the evening. At the moment she was only interested in getting it out of the way.

There was a private bath as well, with a huge tub and shower combination, and a well-lighted mirror at the sink vanity. Her quarters were very definitely more than comfortable.

When she returned to the sitting room Rachel spied a cabin key lying on the table and slipped it into her purse. There was a copy of the ship’s daily activity paper, the Princess Patter, beside it. Rachel glanced through its information section and the schedule of the day’s events. There was another small card on the table that gave her the number of her assigned table in the dining room. She noticed that she was in the “late-sitting” group.

With Fan and John Kemper due to come aboard anytime, Rachel didn’t think she should linger any longer in her room. She double-checked to be sure she had the key before she left the cabin and retraced her route to the lobby at the gangway.

Tags: Janet Dailey Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net