The Lust Boat (19 page)

“Well…, because.”

“Because why?”

“It’s his ship. Everything that goes on is his business.”

“What do you mean, it’s his ship?”

“His and Mr. Wolfe’s. They own it.”

Candace stopped in her tracks, her mouth hanging open, trying to process what Steven had said. “They own it? As in, it belongs to them?”

“Yeah. They own it.”

Fallon rushed up to her as soon as she came within sight of the public beach. It appeared none of the passengers were aware of anything being amiss with their ship. No need alarming the passengers if it turned out to be nothing.

“You heard?”

“Steven told us. Any idea how bad it is?”

“No. Richard didn’t know anything except that there was a fire. They take safety seriously, so personally investigate every incident. I just hope no one is injured.”

“Me too.” Candace took Fallon by the arm and led her a few steps away so Steven wouldn’t hear their conversation. “I’m sorry about the fire, and I hope everyone is all right, but why didn’t you tell me Ryan owns the ship? Why didn’t Ryan tell me?”

Fallon cast a glance at Steven. When she caught his attention, she sent him on his way. “I’ll look out for Candace now. You can go back to what you were doing.”

The young man protested, afraid he’d lose his job when Ryan got back. Fallon assured him she would take care of Candace and Ryan. When they were alone, she motioned for Candace to follow her and they walked to a stretch of beach, beyond the public area, but where they could still see the ship anchored in deep water.

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I thought you knew. When I realized you didn’t, I figured Ryan had his reasons for not telling you, so I stayed out of it.”

“I feel like an idiot. How could he? He used me. What am I, this week’s challenge?”

“No honey, don’t think that. I’ve been on this ship since its maiden voyage and I’ve rarely seen Ryan with a woman, certainly never as much as he’s been with you.”

Candace sat on the beach, hugging her knees to her chest as she gazed at the ship in the distance. “I don’t know what to think.” She dropped her forehead to her knees. “I feel like such a fool. He must be laughing his head off at the little innocent idiot.”

“Listen to me.” Fallon waited for Candace to turn her head in her direction before she continued. “I don’t know what motives Ryan has for spending so much time with you, but I can tell you it isn’t like him. I don’t know what happened on that first cruise, but Ryan changed after that. Don’t ask me what he was like before, he’ll have to tell you that himself, but I can tell you that when he has come out of his cabin, it’s been for a few hours of female company and he goes back into his cell like some sort of monk. That’s why Richard gave him the nickname.”

“Why me?”

“I don’t know. Richard said Ryan is in love with you. Trust me; those two aren’t the kind to throw that word around lightly.”

Candace didn’t know what to say to that. She sat like a statue, watching the ship, waiting for Ryan to come back to the island. Her emotions simmered inside like a vile witches’ brew. Humiliation, wounded pride, embarrassment-- make that-- mortification, self pity, disappointment, disbelief, frustration, and finally, anger all stirred together inside her.

“Here comes the tender. I hope the guys are on it,” Fallon said. Candace hoped so too. She’d had long enough to think about what she wanted to say to Ryan, long enough for the hurt to settle into a cold, hard block deep inside.

As the tender grew closer, she made out the distinctive forms of Richard and Ryan. Candace steeled herself for the confrontation ahead, but concern for the ship’s staff overrode her own problems.

“What happened? Is everyone all right?” she asked as Ryan stepped off the tender.

“Thank goodness everyone is okay. The fire was contained to one of the ovens in the aft kitchen. We aren’t sure what happened, but we shut down that kitchen for the remainder of the cruise. When we get back to Miami we’ll have someone take a look at it and see what happened.”

“I’m glad no one was hurt.”

“Me too.” Ryan reached for her hand and Candace drew back a step, avoiding his touch. “I’m sorry you had to find out that way. Can we talk?”

“Let’s go over there.” She pointed to the same stretch of beach she and Fallon chosen for the wait. “We can talk there.”

Once she felt they were far enough away to have some privacy, she turned to him. “I’m not interested in anything you have to say, Ryan. I have some things to say, and when I’m through, I don’t ever want to see you again.”

“I deserve that, I guess.”

“You guess?” Candace turned watery eyes to the sea, shaking her head in disbelief. She sucked in a deep breath and squared her shoulders, turning back to face Ryan. “You used me. You needed someone to fuck, and lucky me! I won the ‘spend a week with Ryan Callahan’ contest, and I didn’t even know I had entered. God! I can’t believe how stupid I am. I spent two years with a man who didn’t love me, a man who made me doubt myself at every turn, and then you came along. I was so desperate for attention, I believed everything you said to me. You must have had a good laugh, the master instructing the pathetic, jilted bride. Did you have a good time introducing the innocent little idiot to your perverted ship? I honestly thought you loved me, but it was all a lie, a big fat lie to get me in your bed. Oh, wait! Not your bed, mine!”

Ryan stood as still as bronze statue while Candace flung poison darts of fury at him. “I should have known. I should have seen the signs, but I was so grateful for the attention, I ignored them. It’s so obvious now that I know-- the way you asked for something and voila, it appeared out of nowhere. The whole staff must be on to your little game, not a one of them gave you away, not even Fallon. Do you know how humiliating it is to know everyone on the ship knew, except me? What were you going to do, wait until I was walking off the ship and tell me, gee thanks for being my project for this cruise, have a nice life? Well, I’m saving you the trouble. I’m going back to the ship because I don’t have any choice, but I don’t want to see you again, ever. Go back to wherever it is you came from, and stay the hell away from me.”

Candace stumbled past him in the shifting sand and headed for the tender. As the boat shoved away, she saw Ryan headed down the path they’d taken to the lean-to. She wiped hot tears off her cheeks and turned her face into the wind, letting the salt spray hide the tears she could no longer hold at bay.

Alone in her cabin, she curled onto the bed, hugged a pillow to her chest, and cried until there were no more tears. She’d drifted into an exhausted sleep when someone banged on her door. She didn’t move. She hoped whoever it was would go away if she didn’t answer.

“Candace, it’s me, Fallon. Open up.”

Candace crawled off the bed, every muscle in her body protesting the movement. She jerked open the door to find Fallon and Richard. “Go away.” She tried to slam the door on them, but Richard stopped her by placing his hand in the middle of the door and pushing. “What do you want?”

“Is Ryan with you?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No. The last anyone saw of him, he was with you. We thought he might have come back to your cabin with you.”

She held the door wide and stepped back. “See for yourself. No Ryan Callahan.”

“Do you know where he is?” Richard asked.

“No, and I don’t care, either.” She made another attempt to shut the door.

“Look, I don’t know what happened between you two, but I need to find him. No one saw him come back onboard and we’re supposed to sail in less than an hour.”

Candace sighed and leaned against the edge of the door. “We argued. I took the next tender back. The last time I saw him he was headed down one of the paths into the woods.”

“Which path?”

Candace felt the blush creep up her neck. “The one that leads to the lean-to. That Steven guy you sent to find Ryan knew where we were.”

“Okay. That helps. He must have gone home.”

“Home? He lives in a lean-to?”

“No. He has a house on the other side of the island. It’s a long walk, but you can get to it from that path.”

“Oh, well. I’m sure he’s fine then.”

“I’ll go see if he’s there and make sure he’s okay. We can delay our departure for an hour or so.” Richard hurried off, leaving Fallon standing in the hall in front of Candace’s room.

“Can I come in?” she asked.

Candace studied the other woman for a moment. None of what happened had really been her fault. She’d only been doing as her employer asked by not revealing his identity. “I guess.” She stepped back to let Fallon in. She closed the door and pushed past Fallon to resume her spot on the bed.

“I’m sorry. For what it’s worth, I don’t think Ryan meant to hurt you.”

“He used me.”

“I’m not so sure of that either. I’ve known him for over two years and I’ve never seen him spend as much time with one woman as he did with you, and he never looked at any of them the way he looks at you.”

“How does he look at me?”

“Like the sun revolves around your head. Like he might die if you left him.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine. He has a whole new ship-full of women to use every week.”

“That’s just it, Candace. He doesn’t do it. He stays up there in his cabin like Howard Hughes. He has his meals brought up to him, or one of the chefs cooks for him. He has his own kitchen, so he doesn’t have to come out if he doesn’t want to.”

“I don’t understand it. Why me?”

“Is there ever an answer to that question when men are involved?” One eyebrow lifted in question. “Look. There isn’t any use in moping for the rest of the cruise. There are over twelve hundred eligible men on this ship. Go out and have some fun.”

“I don’t…”

“Oh no, you don’t. You aren’t going to let Ryan Callahan send you back down into your mouse hole, are you? Come on. Tonight is the chocolate buffet. Have dinner with me and we’ll check out some of the lounges. The buffet opens at midnight. We’ll eat enough chocolate to make us forget our man troubles.”

“You have man troubles?”

“More than you can imagine. What do you say? Ladies’ night out on the town, or ship, I guess I should say?”

Candace hesitated.

“Come on. Ryan gave you an introductory course; now show him how well you learned your lessons.”

“Okay. I guess I can do that. Where and when for dinner?”

* * * *

“Go away.” Ryan continued to stare out at the ocean as Richard sank beside him in the soft sand.

“I delayed the departure time to come get you, so get up off your ass, and come back to the ship with me.”

“No.”

“Look, asshole. I don’t know what happened between you and Candace, but the woman’s a wreck. You need to come back and make an effort to fix it.”

“She made it plain she didn’t want to see me again, ever.”

“Is this because you played the seasoned passenger, instead of telling her who you really are?”

“Something like that.”

“How much does she mean to you?”

Ryan turned to look at Richard. “I love her. I promised I wouldn’t hurt her and I did. She doesn’t want to see me. The least I can do is to honor that request.”

“Did you tell her you love her?”

“Yes.”

“Does she love you?”

“She said she did, but that was before she found out she’d fallen in love with someone who didn’t exist.”

“Is that the only thing you pretended about when you were with her?”

“Yes.”

“Then she fell in love with Ryan Callahan. What you do for a living shouldn’t matter. Would she still love you if you drove a garbage truck?”

Ryan turned back to watching the surf. “I don’t know. I told her I’m a wealth manager with two clients.”

“That’s not a lie. You are a wealth manager. Your two clients just happen to be me and you.”

“And we own a damned floating orgy.”