losing another child, of losing a woman he loved. He’d chosen the simplest solution.
He wouldn’t love again. That way he couldn’t be hurt.
She felt the same pain, but for a different reason. He knew she cared for him. That was frankly embarrassing. But at least they were taking care of all the obstacles at once. Perhaps friendship was better than nothing. She’d be with him; she’d get to know him. In time the ache might even be manageable. And in the meantime she could make his loneliness bearable for him; she could erase some of those hard, hurting lines in his face. She could...take care of him.
She stood up and moved to join him, watching the blue water wash lazily up on the beach in white foam.
She nudged against him playfully. “I thought we were going to see the dolphins,” she murmured. “If you’re going to stand here and leer at half-naked women on the beach, I’ll go by myself.”
He glanced down at her. Miraculously all the hard, deep lines that had been cut into his face began to relax, to give way before a whisper of a grin.
She smiled to herself. It was good to see those melancholy eyes light up. Even if it was only laughter, and not love, that was the cause.
* * *
THE HUGE SEA WORLD complex was like a small dose of marine biology, fascinating to Nikki, who’d never been in one before. She went from tank to tank, staring wide-eyed behind thick glass at huge sea turtles, sharks and a variety of colorful, fascinating creatures, which included dolphins and a baby whale.
“Aren’t they beautiful?” she whispered, watching the sleek, elegant dolphins slice through the water. “But how terrible to keep them confined like this, to deny them the freedom of the ocean.”
“Is anything ever free, Nikki—even people?” Cal asked from beside her, his dark eyes narrow and brooding.
“Not completely,” she agreed. “But I do hate cages. I hate zoos more than anything in the world.”
“Most of the animals that live in them grew up there,” he reminded her. “It’s the only environment they know. Put them back in the wild and they’d starve, if civilization didn’t get them first. Wildlife is dwindling, honey. Haven’t you noticed? We’re paving it out of existence.”
“Maybe you’re right,” she said quietly. “I don’t know. I only know how I’d feel if someone locked me up and wouldn’t let me go where I pleased. Even if it was in the name of protection.”
“Marriage is a kind of prison,” he remarked.
“With the wrong person, yes, it must be,” she agreed, her mind idly going to Ralley and the unpleasant prospect of the marriage fate had spared her. “But there are happy marriages.”
He laughed cynically. “When you put a rich man and a poor woman together, perhaps, so long as she’s stacked and—”
Nikki turned on her heel and walked toward the steps that led up to the big tank where the dolphins were scheduled to perform any minute.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Cal said tightly, catching her arm as he followed her up the steps.
“You warned me at the beginning that you don’t pull your punches,” she said quietly, “I’m not that sensitive.”
“Then why did you walk away from me?”
She made an odd gesture with her shoulders, shrugging off the slight wound she wasn’t going to let him see. “Oh, look,” she enthused as they joined the crowd around the tank. Two dolphins leaped into the air in unison to take fish from the outstretched hands of a trainer on a high platform.
Nikki’s eyes watched them as they went back under the water and swam feverishly side by side, to jump up and rush backward on their tails. Their faces seemed to wear an eternal smile.
“I’m sorry I don’t live near the ocean,” she murmured under the applause of the other tourists, “I’d love to learn more about dolphins and whales. I’ve never missed a Jacques Cousteau special yet.”
“Intelligent creatures,” Cal agreed, following her fascinated gaze to the black-and-white baby whale opening its huge mouth to receive a fish. “Have you ever heard the recordings of whale songs?”
She nodded, smiling. “Haunting. Beautiful. Like a symphony without music. Did you know that dolphins may be more intelligent than we are?” she added with a grin.
“I’d believe it.” He laughed. “They haven’t built machines to pollute themselves out of existence.”
“No,” she said sadly, “we’ve done that for them. The days are coming when all animals in the wild will be competing with