witnessed Bay’s biggest grins and knew this one would be a double wide.
At least maybe Marsh had heard something she’d said. Or maybe poor Bay had just gotten that pizza party home run after all.
At the yacht club, she gave her keys to the valet and walked along the promenade beside the water. The clubhouse looked like something a freaked-out Scarlett O’Hara would have designed after that nasty old War of Northern Aggression, but Tracy knew from one lone evening there that the food and service were both first class.
In addition to a pool and golf course, there were four piers with a total of seventy floating slips—she’d asked the valet, who had pointed her in the right direction and given her a rundown. Each slip was equipped with a storage locker, running water, sewer pump and all the luxuries, like electricity, cable television and telephone service. Henrietta’s slip was along the pier farthest from the clubhouse, where the largest yachts were berthed.
As she drew nearer, Tracy saw CJ. He was standing at the end of the pier, chatting with several people beside a yacht roughly the size of New Mexico. Henrietta wasn’t going to be giving up many of the pleasures of home this summer. Tracy wondered if the yacht came with a masseuse and a cook. Henrietta had room to house a small circus if she needed entertainment.
CJ stopped talking and smiled at her as she approached, then excused himself and walked down the pier to meet her. He wore an elegant gray sport coat and a shirt several shades darker. CJ always carried himself like royalty, a stance easy enough for someone with his wide shoulders. For a moment she felt like the same young woman who had, at their first meeting, immediately set out to make him hers.
It lasted only seconds before her internal alarms began to sound, but she was painfully aware that she had, at least temporarily, succumbed.
“I remember that dress.” He sounded as if the memory was a good one.
She kept her voice cool. “You probably remember everything in my closet, CJ. I haven’t exactly been haunting Rodeo Drive since they stuck you away.”
“I gave this one to you.”
When they were married, CJ had been highly opinionated about what she wore, but he’d rarely selected any of it. Now she remembered that he had picked this dress out on a rare shopping spree together. Suddenly she was sorry she’d worn it, afraid she’d sent the wrong message.
He leaned over and kissed her cheek before she could turn her head. “Black was always your color.”
“A good one to get used to. Mourning, and all that.”
“Sounds like you had some day. Whatever put you in this mood, it wasn’t my fault, okay?”
She let herself sigh. A long, deep and hopefully cleansing sigh. “Yeah.”
“Here’s my suggestion. Leave whatever happened right here, and when you step on board Henrietta’s yacht, forget what it was. You need some fun, TK, and you need to relax and let somebody take care of you for a change. You’re a big, independent girl, but even Wonder Woman probably needed a stiff drink and a neck rub every once in a while.”
Big resounded in Tracy’s head.
The advice, though, was stellar. She did need some fun, and after years of being taken care of, a few more hours of being pampered wouldn’t hurt her. So what if CJ was involved in this Statler disaster, whatever it was? He wasn’t going to play pirate tonight and hijack the yacht to Cuba, and she doubted anybody would arrest him for anything until they were safely back on land. Meantime, the night was theirs.
She put on a smile, and, surprisingly, it helped. “Let’s enjoy everything about tonight.”
“I’ll enjoy being with you.”
Despite herself, she was afraid she would enjoy being with him, too.
And what did that say about her?
chapter eighteen
The night had few visible stars, and clouds drifted across the moon. Fortunately Alice’s porch light fell softly on the flower bed beside her door, so Dana could see to dig. She was concentrating so hard that a shadow creeping toward her was the first clue she was not alone. She swiveled in horror and found Pete Knight standing just at the edge of the light.
“I announced myself,” he said. “I was sure you heard me.”
Dana’s heart was pounding so fast she thought it might sprout wings and fly away. “I didn’t hear a thing.”
“I parked over at your place, and Lizzie told me you were out for