while you were gone. She wanted to charter a fishing boat for the day, with you as captain.”
“Are you serious?” he asked incredulously.
“I am. She seemed to be, too. Attractive woman. You going after her?”
Michael nodded. He was definitely going after her, though before he proposed, he might ask what the hell she thought she’d been up to the past couple of weeks. If he didn’t know for a fact that she believed in the direct approach, he might have concluded she’d been deliberately taunting him.
Greg gave him a penetrating look. “I assume I can cross you off my list of available captains, then?”
“In more ways than one,” Michael said. “I really appreciate you giving me a job, Greg. It helped to get my confidence back in ways I can’t even begin to explain.”
“You staying in the navy?”
Michael nodded. “I’m just discovering that there’s more than one way to skin an enemy. You ought to think about that.”
“Not me. I like my laid-back lifestyle. You go on and get the bad guys.” He winked. “And while you’re at it, good luck with getting the girl.”
“Thanks, pal. I’ll be by from time to time and I’m sure I’ll see you at the pub.”
“Count on it.”
From the office, Michael headed for home to change, then went straight to Kelly’s. When he finally showed up at her door, he was in his dress uniform and carrying a bouquet of spring flowers that had cost an arm and a leg in midwinter.
When she opened the door, there was a brief moment when he thought she might turn right around and slam it in his face. Instead, she squared her shoulders and stood fast. That little display of courage made him want to scoop her up and kiss her, but he resisted the urge.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
She spoke in a cool tone that didn’t quite go along with her recent forays into all the corners of his life. Still, it was disconcerting. Suddenly hesitant, he thrust the flowers toward her and said, “I brought you these.”
She accepted them with apparent reluctance, breathed in the sweet scent, then looked at him over the extravagant bouquet. “Why?”
He shifted uneasily at her lack of enthusiasm. “Could we go inside?” He didn’t want a lot of witnesses if she turned him down flat.
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I see you’re wearing your uniform. Does that mean you’re going back to work for the navy?”
He nodded. “I’ll tell you about that in a minute. The important thing is, I’m gainfully employed again.”
“I thought you were gainfully employed by Greg Keith.”
His lips twitched. “Yeah, I heard you’d paid him a visit. What’s with the sudden desire to go fishing?”
“I’m exploring new interests. I thought it might be fun.”
“And spending the day at sea with me had nothing to do with it?”
“Not really.”
“Then why didn’t you go through with the charter?”
She shrugged. “Changed my mind.”
“That’s not the way I hear it, Kelly.”
“Men have a tendency to imagine things and then exaggerate,” she told him.
“I see. Okay, then, let’s get back to the reason I’m here.”
“I figured you wanted me to know you’d gone back to work for the navy,” she said. “Now I know. Did you really think that mattered to me?”
“No, but settling into a career mattered to me,” he said.
“And fishing’s not good enough?”
“No, dammit. Stop twisting everything I say. It wasn’t about money, Kelly. Or about prestige. It was about self-respect. I need to do something that matters.”
A flicker of understanding warmed her eyes, but then that shuttered expression fell back into place. “I’m happy for you, truly I am, but if that’s all you came to tell me, I need to get going.”
She was about to close the door, when Michael jammed his foot in it. “Wait.”
She looked into his eyes.
“I love you,” he said, blurting it out before he messed up again. “That’s what I came to tell you. That and to ask you to marry me.” He fumbled in his pocket and drew out a ring, a diamond solitaire that could never in a million years match the sparkle in her eyes when she was happy. “I know I’m the worst sort of fool and I don’t deserve you, but no one will ever love you more or work harder to make you happy.”
Her eyes unexpectedly filled with tears and made his heart wrench.
“Are you sure, Michael?” she asked, her voice shaky. “Really, really sure? Because this is it. If you