Finding Mr. Right (10 page)

“Take a nap. I’ll awaken you when they serve lunch. I won’t feel deserted.”

“Why should you? If you hadn’t fooled around in my head all night last night, I wouldn’t be sleepy.”

“Was I…uh…nice?” He gave her half of a chocolate chip cookie that he put in his pocket when he walked through his dining room that morning.

“Thanks for the cookie. That question’s too personal. Try another one.”

Her eyelids drooped, and he put an arm around her, a pillow beneath her head and a blanket across her lap. Within minutes she slept. Even as she slept, when she moved, she moved toward him. He gazed at the peaceful, relaxed contours of her beautiful face and had to control an urge to hug and kiss her. She was in him through and through, and in a few short months, he’d grown to need her as he needed his right hand. He bent over and brushed her forehead with his lips.

Because both of them lived with family members, and prudence dictated that they behave circumspectly, their passion had tested the limits of their capacity for restraint. And
maybe that was a good thing; they had learned a lot about each other that they might not otherwise have known, and on at least two occasions recently, he was certain that, if they had had privacy, they would have made love. If they made love during that trip, and he hoped for it, it would not be a happenstance but something that they had both looked forward to and planned for.

“Will the lady be having lunch?” the steward asked as he handed Byron a hot towel.

“I’m sure she will,” Byron said. “Give me a towel for her, please.” He leaned down and kissed Tyra’s forehead. “You told me to wake you up at mealtime.” She stretched, and snuggled closer to him.

“Wake up, sleepyhead.”

“Huh? Did they serve lunch yet?”

He handed her the towel. “Here. You were sleeping so sweetly, loving me and hugging me up, that I hated to awaken you.”

“I was not. I was back in the Middle Ages flirting with a handsome Spanish picador.”

He didn’t believe he’d heard her correctly. “What? I didn’t understand you.” She assured him that he’d heard her correctly. He stared at her while she nonchalantly wiped her hands with the towel. “A picador in the Middle Ages?”

She nodded. “Uh huh.”

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Suddenly, he could see the scene in his mind’s eye, and laughter rolled out of him.

“What’s funny?”

“Nothing. I guess, if you can’t see the humor in sleeping in my arms and dreaming about some dude on horseback with a spear trying to take the wind out of a bull. That’s funny as hell.”

She sat up straighter, poked out her chin and said, “He wasn’t anywhere near a bull. How long did I sleep, anyway?”

“Only about twenty minutes. The plane’s just reaching
cruising altitude, so we’ll get lunch shortly.” He glanced from the approaching steward to her. “I’m not too hungry, but we won’t get dinner until around eight, so judge accordingly.”

“Thanks. I’ll have the crab salad and cheese and fruit for dessert, please,” she said to the steward. He chose filet mignon, parsley potatoes and asparagus with a salad.

After lunch, he removed the arm rest between them, made her comfortable, put his arms around her, reclined his seat and went to sleep. He’d hired a limousine to meet them at the airport, and, in view of the long line of people waiting for taxis, it proved to be a smart move. They arrived at the cruise ship an hour and forty minutes before sailing time.

He put her bags in her stateroom, looked at her and said, “I’m next door.” He pointed to a door that opened into his stateroom. “If you want to visit me, here’s the key. I don’t have one. The other way to get to me is through the door that opens on to the deck.”

A grin spread over her face. “You’re kidding. What about my charms?”

“If you want to know how they get to me, I’ll happily give you a demonstration right this minute.”

“Okay. I was joking. I need half an hour. Then, I want to see the boat.”

“All right, but before the boat sails, we get a talk about safety, use of lifeboats and that sort of thing.”

“Can we stand on deck and watch the boat leave shore? Gosh, I’m so excited.”

“We’ll do whatever you want to do.” He took a step toward her, but she backed away.

“If you start kissing me, I won’t get to that safety lecture and probably not even to dinner.” He didn’t disagree.

“Do you like your room?” he asked her.

“It’s lovely. Thanks for putting me on this level where I can see the water.”

He stepped closer to her then, and took her in his arms. “I will always give you the best that I have. Always. Don’t forget that.”

“And I’ll give you the same. That’s a promise.”

He gazed into her eyes, large, beautiful, long-lashed brown eyes that seemed to draw him as sweet clover draws bees. Eyes that promised him heaven on earth. Something quickened inside of him, and he knew right then that he was hers forever. “I’d better get out of here. Knock on my door when you’re ready.”

He went into his own stateroom, closed the door, dropped his luggage on the floor and himself on the chaise longue beside the window. He’d come within seconds of ruining all that he’d planned for them. Shaking his head in bemusement, he pulled himself up, took a shower and dressed in white pants, a blue, collared T-shirt and blue sneakers. Then, he stored his passport and valuables in the safe, locked his door and went out on deck.

Seagulls, herons, ibis, orioles, bulbuls and many birds that he couldn’t identify flocked at the dock in such numbers that they covered the area. He gazed out at the vast water beyond, wondering what that trip would bring him, for he knew that in some way his life was about to change. He heard her door open, turned and saw her step out of her room dressed precisely as he. If he needed more evidence that he was on the right track, that had to be it. Happiness suffused him as she walked to him with a smile blooming on her face. He opened his arms and received her.

“Woman, you do something to me.”

“Everybody must go to the auditorium,” a voice said through a loudspeaker. “This safety drill is required by law, and everyone must attend. We sail in forty-five minutes.”

He lifted his right shoulder in a shrug. “Let’s go. I can’t think of anything less encouraging than a lecture on the use of life vests and lifeboats.”

“That’s probably because you can swim. I can barely keep my head above the water.”

He took from his pocket a map of the boat, checked it, took her hand and headed for the auditorium. “Have you ever thought about what you see in the future for us, Tyra?”

“Of course I have. What I hope to find out while we’re on this cruise is whether you and I are on the same page,” she said with her usual candor.

“I’ll do my best to help you with that.”

After the safety instructions, they explored the boat. “Gosh, that’s a frozen yogurt dispenser,” she said to Byron when the turned a corner to walk up the stairs. He asked if she wanted some. “Do they have strawberry or lemon?”

“Lemon.” He piled a cone high with frozen lemon yogurt, wrapped a napkin around the bottom of it and handed it to her.

“You mean I can just come here and get it whenever I want it? Just like that? She snapped the fingers of her right hand. “Gosh. That’s fantastic.”

“You can find something to eat twenty-four/seven. So don’t get carried away.”

“Not to worry. I’m not going to gain so much that I can’t get into my clothes.” She savored the creamy delight. “This is so good. Where are we going now?”

“To the bar, and then to the top deck to see the boat pull away from shore.” She could hardly contain her excitement.

“After dinner, we can do karaoke, line dancing to a country music band, see an old Sidney Poitier movie or sit in the lounge and talk, since I assume you’re not interested in throwing your money away in the gaming rooms.”

“Oh, I’m willing to give away five dollars, but not a penny more.” He asked her how she managed that. “I change a five dollar bill. I go to the slots. If I win five dollars, I put the five dollars back in my pocket and play with what I won. If I lose
all of that, I tell the slot machines bye-bye. I do not go back in my pocketbook for more money.”

They sat at a bistro table in the corner of the lounge, and she became aware that she didn’t have his full attention. After a while, she noticed that a man who wore the trappings of wealth had focused his attention on her. The man smiled. Simultaneously with her frown, Byron glanced at her.

“Have you ever seen that man before?” he asked her.

“No, I haven’t. Let’s go.”

Byron crossed his left knee with his right ankle and leaned back in the chair. “I’m not ready to leave, Tyra, but don’t get nervous. I can hold my own with any man, and if that one is smart, he’ll find a woman of his own and ogle
her
.”

He could tell her not to be nervous, but with that feral expression on his face, he had the bearing of a man ready to pounce. She knew that Byron’s type of man wouldn’t let another crowd his woman and that he wouldn’t let another man fool around in his space. She hoped the man wouldn’t challenge Byron, because she didn’t think he’d back down.

“Byron, I’m getting sick. Come go with me to the women’s room.
Please!
”

He stood, helped her up and put an arm around her. “I saw one around the corner.” She went into the woman’s room, leaned against the counter and her breathing came faster and faster.

“Are you all right?” a woman asked her.

“Just a little nervous. I’ll be fine. Thank you.” The woman left but was back in a minute. “A tall man standing outside, who’s dressed like you, wants to know if you’re okay. He seemed very worried.”

“Thank you. Tell him I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute.” She breathed deeply in and out until she was able to regain her equilibrium. Maybe the foolish man had gone. In any case, she wasn’t going back to that particular lounge.

When she emerged from the women’s room, he rushed to her. “Are you all right, sweetheart? If that guy upset you, I’ll—”

She interrupted him. “It’s all right. That man is not normal, and he obviously doesn’t mind a fight. I’d be happier if we went up on the next level. I don’t want to go back there.”

“I admit the guy probably wasn’t rowing with both oars, but—”

She grasped Byron’s arm. “My dad always said that the certain way to avoid trouble was to turn and walk the other way when you see it coming. All right?”

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. It’s the last thing I’d do.”

They walked in the direction of the stairs, and she saw that the gaming room had opened. “Let’s go in here.”

“I see you want to blow your five bucks right now. All right.” He took her arm and walked with her past the roulette table to the row of twenty-five-cents-a-throw slot machines and handed her a five-dollar bill. She bought a five-dollar card with it, bet twenty-five cents and pulled the arm. It seemed that the bell would never stop ringing, and her eyes got bigger and bigger until, at last, she looked up and saw that she had just won sixteen thousand dollars.

She pulled the card out, put her arms around him and hugged him. “That’s a good omen. I’m never going to leave you. Let’s go cash my money and get out of here.”

But he stood as if frozen, staring down at her. “Don’t ever say a thing like that unless you mean it.”

She frowned, trying to think. What was he talking about? “Like what?”

“That you’re never going to leave me.”

She stared right back at him. “I won’t of my own accord. Come on.”

At the cashier counter, she collected her winnings and the remaining money on the card. He put an arm around her as if
to leave the place, but she didn’t move. Did he think she was so selfish that she wouldn’t share with him what his money won? She handed him the four dollars and seventy-five cents that remained on the card and then made him wait while she counted out eight thousand dollars.

“This is yours,” she said when she handed it to him.

“I don’t know how you figure that. You won it, so it’s yours.” He attempted to give it back to her, but she wouldn’t take it.

“Byron, I have a conscience, and I know what’s right. I believe in sharing, and especially in this case when I don’t think I deserve any of it. If you don’t want to ruin this trip for me, you’ll put that money in your pocket. This eight thousand in my hand is going to be the down payment on a new car, a white one. And this will probably be the last time I ever go near a slot machine. I believe in quitting while I’m ahead. If you don’t want to spend that eight thousand, but it in Andy’s piggy bank toward his Harvard education.”

“Good idea,” he said. “I can definitely do that. We’d better change. It’s almost time for dinner.”

To her disgust, the man who eyed her in the lounge sat at the table next to theirs at dinner. “Do you see who that is over there?” Tyra asked Byron, nudging his knee immediately after they sat down to their assigned seats.

“Yeah, and if he can’t keep his eyes off you, I’m going to ask him why. Don’t get upset. I’ll be as calm as the Pacific Ocean just before a storm.”

She told herself to relax, that at least she’d learn who the real Byron Whitley was. “I’m only concerned because he seems much less a gentleman than you are.”

The waiters served the elegant dinner in six courses, and it occurred to her that they had first class dinner accommodations when wines accompanied each course and liqueurs were offered with after-dinner coffee. She didn’t know whether the intemperate stranger looked her way, because she
didn’t once glance toward him. While the guests enjoyed espresso coffee, the waiters sang “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and “Y.M.C.A.” and gave the guests souvenirs.

Tyra didn’t know when she’d had so much unexpected fun. She leaned against his shoulder, but he was rigid and preoccupied. She looked toward the uncouth stranger and saw that his gaze was on her.

“Excuse me,” Byron said without looking at her. He walked to the other table, and she held her breath.

He’d had it. No man was going to disrespect him to that extent and do it with impunity. He walked to the next table and faced the man. “Excuse me. Do you know that woman with me?”