A Woman With Secrets. Inglath Cooper
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eyes. “Could I help you with something?”
“I certainly hope so. Is this the Ginny?”
He nodded once, answering reluctantly, “It is.”
“Oh, good, Lily, we’re in the right place,” she said with an enthusiastic smile to the woman beside her.
“We’re the Granger sisters,” they said in unison.
Kate risked another look at Cole Hunter, whose set expression clearly indicated his passenger list was not turning out as he had expected.
She, on the other hand, was beginning to enjoy herself.
“I’m Lyle,” the talkative one said. “And this is Lily.”
The captain cleared his throat. “I thought you were…from your e-mail, I assumed you were husband and wife.”
The quiet one said, “Oh, dear. We do confuse people don’t we, Lyle?”
“Lily couldn’t say Lyla as a child, and Lyle just stuck. I hope this won’t make a difference with our accommodations. We expected to share a room. We’re totally prepared for our share of tough living, Captain.”
Kate watched with an undeniable stab of satisfaction as he eyed the mound of trunks being wheeled down the gangplank by the chauffeur. “Ladies, if you’re planning to bring all that luggage, I’m afraid we have a problem.”
“Oh. I suppose it is a tad much, isn’t it?” Lily said, one finger to the side of her face. “But I can never decide what to bring, and Lyle thought we’d probably have room for it—”
“I’m afraid Lyle was wrong,” he said grimly.
Lily’s face fell. “Well, then—”
“Now, now, dear,” Lyle said, patting her sister’s shoulder. “You’ll just have to eliminate a few things. No big deal, really.”
At her reassurance, Lily brightened. “Of course, I will.” She began instructing the chauffeur to open the trunks so that she might remove the most essential of items.
Essential appeared to include a glittering gold evening gown, black dinner suit and a pair of satin pumps. Obviously, Lyle and Lily hadn’t been any more aware of the itinerary than Kate had.
Captain Hunter excused himself then, avoiding her gaze and telling the Granger sisters he’d be back as soon as he located some Aspirin.
While Lyle and Lily continued rummaging through their trunks, a man made his way down the gangplank. Somewhere near mid-fifties, his graying hair was slicked back in a past-era wet look. His bottle-thick glasses glinted in the sunlight. He wore a tweed jacket over a white shirt buttoned to the throat. A young woman, basically a female version of him, followed behind. She, too, wore a tweed jacket over a sensible cotton blouse and an equally sensible below-the-knee brown cotton skirt. Her eyes were also hidden behind oversize glasses, her hair pushed back from her face with a tortoiseshell headband.
“Ah, excuse me,” the man said. “Have we found the Ginny?”
In Captain Hunter’s absence, Kate shaded her eyes with one hand and said, “Yes, you have.”
“I’m Professor Lawrence Sheldon. And this is my daughter Margo.”
“I’m Kate Winthrop,” she said, beginning to feel as if she had landed on the Minnow. She wondered if she would get to be Ginger or Mary Ann.
“Is Captain Hunter here?” the professor asked.
“He went for some Aspirin,” she said, trying not to smile. “I think he’s developed a headache.”
WITH THE ARRIVAL OF Kate Winthrop this morning, Cole had somehow known nothing about this trip was going to go as planned. Just to further illustrate his point, no sooner had he shown the Sheldons to their separate rooms than the younger brother of his one and only crew member, Jim, appeared on the dock, waving frantically.
The boy came bounding toward him, his running shoes squeaking against the wood. He skidded to a stop beside the Ginny, his chest working for air. “Hey, Mr. Hunter!”
“What’s up, Jess?”
“Jim can’t make the trip,” the boy said, squinting against the sun in his eyes. “He’s got appendicitis.”
“Is he all right?” Cole asked, recalling how Jim had said he didn’t feel great just before they got into Miami yesterday.
“He’s gotta have surgery. He said to tell you he feels bad for standing you up.”
Cole shook his head. “Tell him not to worry. Thanks for letting me know, Jess.”
“Sure.” The boy turned and took off again, waving as he went.
With a sigh, Cole wondered if he should just ditch the trip altogether. If things were getting off to this kind of start, what would the next ten days bring?
The group was a recipe for disaster.
He threw a glance back at the Ginny, where the passengers mingled on deck, echoes of laughter drifting his way. His gaze went around the circle, landing first on Kate Winthrop, who didn’t look as though she’d done a cumulative day’s worth of work in her life.
Lyle and Lily Granger were both dressed in requisite orange life jackets, the nylon black belts cinched tight around their ample waists—he was guessing now neither of them could swim—and can’t-wait-to-get-started smiles.
Last, but not least, Dr. Sheldon and his daughter, Margo, both of whom had already quoted Tennyson three times at last count since their arrival. An admirable talent, granted, although he had no idea how that would help them pull their weight on his boat.
He glanced at his watch. This late in the day, his options were few. He could stay in port overnight while he found someone else to crew, or he could ask Harry to go along.
This particular option came with its own set of drawbacks. But if Sam called with news of Ginny, he needed to be able to leave the boat with someone he trusted. Despite his numerous idiosyncrasies, Harry knew his way around anything that sailed the ocean.
It looked like it was Harry or nothing.
“I DON’T NEED flowers or anything, but a pretty please wouldn’t hurt.” Harry sat in a chair on the deck of his boat, enjoying himself immensely.
“Do you want to come along or not?” Cole asked.
“Hold on, now,” Harry said. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. Anything wrong with a guy needing to feel like he’s wanted?”
“Harry, I’m not kidding—”
“You’re doing the pressed lip thing again. You should watch that, you know. It could result in a permanent wrinkle—”
Cole started backing up. “You know what—”
Harry smiled. “You just take yourself way too seriously, man.”
“I’ve got a boat full of people waiting for me to take them on a ten-day vacation. I can’t do it without your help. That seems fairly serious to me.”
Harry tipped his head, conceding the point. “Okay, okay,” he said, raising a hand. “I’ll go. So what’s the plan?”
“We’ll leave around five o’clock this afternoon. Can you make that?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Great. Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”
Harry grinned. “Hey, I kind of like the idea of you owing me one.”
“Just don’t get too fancy with the payback list.”
“I’ll keep it simple. Few bottles of Dom Pérignon. A blonde or two.”
“At least you’re predictable,”