kiss."
"Not interested," she said lightly. She had found out last night what dangers lurked in moonlight kisses.
"If I weren't eight months pregnant, I'd trade places with you."
"You wouldn't trade places with anyone and you know it, Ingrid."
The stab of envy, sharp and unexpected, lingered on after they'd said goodbye. For all of Ingrid's grumbling about her second pregnancy, one fact was very clear: Ingrid loved her children and her husband, and was lucky enough to be loved in return.
Neither Megan's privileged childhood nor promising future could compare with that.
She set up her laptop computer on the lacquered desk, and spent a few hours poring over the plans for floral arrangements and table designs. She would have loved the opportunity to acquaint herself with the galley below deck but it was off-limits until tomorrow morning when she began her "audition." Celia Briscoe had outdone herself today and Megan could feel the pressure building. She massaged her temples, wishing she'd remembered to bring Advil with her. It had been too easy, she thought, resting her head on the desk as the ship rocked gently. The anger between her and Jake had flared to life again with the quick intensity of a brushfire. So had the sexual attraction; it burned away the barriers between them with its ferocious heat. Like a force of nature, that chemistry between them had been there from the first. Divorce hadn't dampened the fire--and neither had time.
She was so tired of only living half a life. Being Jenny's mother was a joy and her career brought her a great deal of pleasure. But there was a part of her that had been ignored for far too long. She needed to feel like a woman again. It was as if the deeply sensual and sexual part of her nature had been locked away with her divorce papers, vanished along with the man who had once been her husband and lover.
Maybe Jake was right. Maybe the only way to break free of the past was to burn it away in a blaze of passion. Give in to the lure of sultry night breezes and soft whispers and ancient promises of pleasure. She wasn't a girl any longer. She knew that life was seldom easy and often unfair. She'd left the last of her illusions behind the day her father died and she became yesterday's news, forgotten the moment her gold card was cancelled and her bank accounts picked clean by hungry creditors.
Still she had managed to hold her head high and forge a new life for herself and her little girl. A life based on respect and honesty and hard work. She'd learned how to function on her own, how to rely upon nobody but herself. And she would teach Jenny to be self-reliant if it was the last thing she ever did.
But there were still too many questions left unresolved. Too many emotions tugging at her heart, keeping her rooted in the past when she longed to run free. Was she mad to believe that she could offer herself up to the inferno and walk away unscathed?
#
Sunday morning she rose before the alarm and threw herself into her chores with single-minded determination. Breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, all went off without a hitch. Compliments flowed as freely as champagne at the open bar near the pool.
But not even the fact that the franchise with Tropicale now seemed within her grasp was enough to cool the fire inside that grew hotter as ten o'clock approached.
Sandy and Val greeted her as she entered the bar.
"Will you look at that dress!" Sandy fanned herself. "Talk about hot." She turned to Val. "Can you believe this is the same flour-speckled wretch who was slaving away in the galley all day?"
"The wonders of makeup," said Megan forcing a smile. Val stepped closer to Megan as her sister drifted off into the crowd gathered around the piano. "Are you seeing him tonight?"
Megan's smile faltered. "Excuse me?"
Val touched her arm lightly. "Don't look at me like that, Megan. I was only teasing."
"Sorry," said Megan. "It's been a long day."
"He's standing near the bar," Val said, a half-smile on her face. "What I wouldn't give for five minutes alone in a dark room with that gorgeous specimen...."
He was dressed all in black. It seemed to Megan as if the darker forces of the night were gathered in his eyes as his gaze met hers. The thundering of her heart all but drowned out the soft music and the