James, Stephanie (10 page)

But Dev Colter was not her husband. He was as different from Greg as night from day. Dev would not

expect an acrobat in bed. And in spite of his physical weight and strength, Tabitha just knew Dev would

be a tender and infinitely gentle lover. Perhaps even a lover who could let her find out for herself if there

was any hope of releasing a sensual side to her nature—a fantasy side.

“Face it, woman,” she lectured herself in front of the mirror. “You’re falling in love with the man. And

you were the one who said she’d never get involved in a shipboard romance!”

Could she let this marvelous man just disappear from her life without making some effort to cement a

more permanent bond between them?

What would have happened if she’d obeyed her impulse to touch him more and more intimately tonight?

What if she had tried another kiss? Would he have responded? Dealing with a basically shy male had its

advantages, but it also had a few drawbacks, she decided ruefully. It left her with the task of making the

final decision.

There were only a few days left on this trip. So little time left. If she was going to do anything substantial,

it would have to be soon. Resolutely, Tabitha lifted her chin and eyed her reflection. Damn it, she was

falling in love,
really
falling in love for the first time in her life. Was she going to let her natural hesitation

and shyness ruin her one chance?

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But set out to deliberately seduce a man?

With a groan of dismay Tabitha sank down onto her bed, chin in hand, and contemplated the enormity

of what she wanted to do. On top of everything else there was the awful risk that she was misinterpreting

things terribly. Perhaps Dev wasn’t all that interested in her. Oh, God. How awful if she put him in an

embarrassing and untenable position by trying to seduce him!
Mortifying
!

The alternative was to return to Port Townsend and go sedately back to work in her bookshop without

ever having learned the truth about his feelings for her. She knew she would never forgive herself for her

cowardice. Dragon-seducing was dangerous work, however. She didn’t feel very well equipped to

tackle the job. Tabitha groaned again and flopped back on the pillows, staring at the ceiling.

There was no repressing the excitement and the sense of wonder she experienced as she fell asleep

considering the immediate future. It was as if her whole life were focused on a crucial turning point,

leaving it up to her to choose the final path. Never, since the day she had decided to go into business for

herself, had she felt quite so poised on the brink.

It took great courage to don the flowing, colorful caftan without first putting on a bra the next morning.

Anxiously Tabitha stood in front of the mirror and eyed the effect. Wasn’t she a little too well rounded

and a little too old to be going without a bra? On the other hand the turquoise and red garment was so

loose-fitting that Dev might not even notice the absence of a bra beneath the material!

The question was, would Dev be attracted to the sensual shape of her unconfined breasts even if he did

notice? Fingers drumming on the counter, Tabitha hesitated. Maybe she looked better with the bra on.

No, she didn’t droop or anything and nearly every other woman on board dressed quite freely. With a

brisk nod of decision, she decided to leave the bra off.

Feeling enormously daring and quite liberated, she ran a brush through the soft bell of her hair and

located her sandals under the bed. She’d take things a step at a time. Breakfast without a bra came first.

The knock on her door came just as she was lacing up her sandals. She took a deep breath and went to

answer it with her most casual smile.

“Good morning, Tabby,” Dev began calmly as she opened the door. “I came to see if you were ready

for breakfast.” As if he had been standing in the room ten minutes earlier, watching her dress, his silver

eyes flicked down, sweeping across the bodice of the caftan.

“I’m starving,” Tabitha said, hurriedly stepping out into the corridor before she lost her nerve. Oh, lord!

He’d noticed. She was absolutely sure of it. So what was his reaction! “How are you feeling this

morning?” she remembered to ask.

“Quite refreshed,” he drawled, taking her arm in a grip that seemed more intimate than usual. Did the

back of his hand always come into contact with the side of her breast when he took her arm or was she

just more conscious of the warmth this morning because there was one less barrier? “I always seem to

sleep well after you’ve tucked me into bed,” he went on lightly.

He seemed to be waiting for something. She sensed the hesitation in him and all at once understood it.

He was wondering whether or not to kiss her good morning. Feeling more confident because she’d had

good luck with the action before, Tabitha smiled and braced herself lightly against his shoulder with one

hand. Then she brushed his mouth with the most fleeting of kisses.

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“I’m glad,” she murmured.

“That I sleep well after you’ve put me to bed? So am I.” As she eased back down he lowered his head

and returned the kiss. This time the contact held longer and there was a warmth to it that lingered long

after Dev broke the kiss.

The greeting signaled the start of the day, and the sunny hours rolled past with a sensation of rapidly

coalescing intimacy. Dev seemed more than willing to be led down the primrose path, Tabitha decided in

wry humor as she stretched out beside him on a pool lounger. He might be shy but he was not

disinterested!

“Do you feel up to a little swimming this afternoon?” she asked conversationally as he sat down beside

her. They had both changed into swimsuits, and she found her glance wandering toward the curling mat

of hair that formed a large triangle on his chest. Apparently he had removed his bandages, and more than

once she had to drag her eyes away from the spot where the tip of the triangle disappeared into his trim

swimsuit.

“I think so. How do the bruises look?” He glanced down at his ribs, more or less giving her free license

to do the same.

“Much better,” she managed with an air of briskness. God, he was hard. Hard and lean and wonderfully

sleek. She wanted an excuse to touch him, any excuse. “A little black and blue still, but definitely

healing,” she went on, extending her fingers to the line of his battered ribs. His skin was warm from the

sun. He glanced up, his silver eyes meshing with hers, and she forgot to withdraw her hand.

Without a word he covered her hand with his own, pressing it briefly against his chest, and then he

released it to get to his feet. “Last one in buys the drinks tonight,” he announced cheerfully. He began

moving the few feet to the pool’s edge without the aid of his cane, the limp very pronounced. It certainly

didn’t totally incapacitate him, however!

“Hey!” Tabitha exclaimed, realizing she was being left behind. “No fair. I didn’t get any warning.” She

dove in about two seconds behind him, surfacing a moment later to find him laughing down at her. “For a

supposedly wounded man with a definite limp, you move awfully fast,” she accused.

“A man will do a lot when the provocation is sufficient. For a tabby cat, you seem to take fairly well to

water.”

“I still think we should run that race again. I deserve a head start, being the weaker sex and all!”

“I wouldn’t dream of setting back all the progress made by the women’s movement.”

She grinned. “That’s very noble of you. Try this bit of progress on for size!” Taking him by surprise, she

managed to push him over backward in the water. He went under very nicely. But he managed to circle

her wrists with his own, and she found herself following him below the surface.

For an instant the world was transformed in the abruptly silent, watery environment. Tabitha couldn’t

resist. Taking her courage in both hands, she let herself float down until her body lay along his and then,

eyes tightly closed, she kissed the strong line of his throat. His hands seemed to wind themselves into her

hair, holding her head in place, and she felt her legs tangle excitingly with his. It was a moment of magic

and undeniable passion.

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The magic ran out at the same instant as the air in Tabitha’s lungs. Realizing she was about to try

breathing water, she kicked reluctantly free and surged to the surface. Automatically her eyes scanned

the faces of the nearest sunbathers.

“Worried that someone may have noticed?” Dev asked softly as he came up beside her. “Don’t fret

about it. They’ll think you’re a mermaid.”

Tabitha blinked water out of her eyes. “Dangerous creatures, mermaids,” she managed to say lightly,

striking out for the side of the pool. She hoped no one had noticed that little scene but it was hard to tell.

She still wasn’t accustomed to this seduction business!

“Why are they dangerous?” Dev asked, trailing beside her in the water.

“Sailors who hear their calls at sea and follow them are never heard from again,” she told him in dark

tones. “They lure men to disaster.”

“I thought the ladies who lured sailors to their deaths were the Sirens,” he protested laughingly.

She liked his laughter, Tabitha decided. She liked it very, very much. “Well, there’s some confusion

between Sirens and mermaids in the various bestiaries. You can’t blame the scribes for getting them

confused. All they were really sure of was that you had to be damn careful of the creatures. In fact, there

are a lot of general cautions about women thrown into the texts. The female of the species is often rather

dangerous, I’m afraid. Or at least the medieval people thought so.” She smiled brilliantly.

“You know how men are about learning from history,” Dev rasped softly. “They have a bad habit of

forgetting the lessons of the past no matter how many times they’re repeated.”

Tabitha drew in her breath, a wave of excitement coursing through her. “Meaning you’re going to turn a

deaf ear to all those warnings about Sirens and mermaids and Harpies?”

“Meaning I don’t think I have anything to fear from a tabby cat,” he corrected, silver eyes gleaming in

the sunlight. “I’m not really dealing with a Siren or a mermaid, am I?”

She searched his face, uncertain of his real message. “No,” Tabitha had to admit. “Probably not. But

you said yourself that to a man who’s never seen a tabby cat, she might seem very unusual.”

“She does,” he told her whimsically. “Unusual and charming and very appealing.”

“But not dangerous?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

Tabitha treaded water, staring up at him for a moment longer. Then she made up her mind. Not

dangerous, hmm? Delicately she grasped his slick shoulders, letting herself slide closer. He didn’t move

as she closed the distance between them. Probably thought she was going to kiss him again, Tabitha

decided mischievously. He was getting to like her kisses, she knew.

Very deliberately she bent her head and sank her teeth lightly into his bare shoulder.

“Ouch!” Startled, he drew back.

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Tabitha didn’t let him go. She smiled blandly up at him. “I’ve decided I don’t like being labeled as ‘not

dangerous.’ ”

He eyed her a little warily. “I see. I, uh, won’t make the mistake again.”

“Good.” She released him to swim to the side of the pool again. “Hungry? It’s almost time for tea and

scones.” She had him properly confused now, Tabitha decided gleefully, even somewhat intrigued. She

hadn’t missed the speculative light which had gleamed for a moment in his eyes. This certainly was a

delicate game, this business of seducing a man. You had to be so careful not to go too far and scare the

victim, yet you couldn’t be too hesitant or nothing would be accomplished!

It was as they left the dining room and headed toward one of the lounges on board that Tabitha

reminded herself of the two staples of sophisticated seduction: alcohol and verbal innuendoes.

Matters had been proceeding very nicely up to this point, she decided, vividly aware of the feel of Dev’s

hand on her back. He had been finding one excuse after another to touch her all evening, and she had

been encouraging the contact. The dress she had on was a swirly, little thing, loose but also of quite thin

cotton in a vibrant, coral shade. Her bra had once again been left behind in her stateroom. She was very

conscious of the lack of it when the evening breeze on deck plastered the coral cotton against the length

of her body.

The overall effect was a bit more than she had intended, Tabitha realized as she saw her escort’s eyes

drop almost lazily to the outline of her breasts. Fortunately they soon entered the darkened cocktail

lounge and during the process of finding a table, Tabitha recovered her composure.

Alcohol and innuendoes. Booze and sexy conversation.

She would get Dev Colter just a bit tipsy, she decided judiciously. Enough to lower some of his natural,

gentlemanly reserve. And then she would talk about sex.