“Chocolate,” he said. “Chocolate cures everything.”
She snickered. “What a bunch of baloney.”
“You feel better, right?”
She did. “That’s probably because of the ginger.” Or pheromones.
“Let me buy you a drink to warm you up, a brandy or something,” he offered.
“Oh, I have people waiting for me.” Her sister would be. And if she didn’t get to the lounge and stake a claim on Dr. Rudy one of the older women would for sure. Trevor March was a treat, but he wasn’t a doctor.
“I’ll go down with you,” he said. “Who all are you here with?”
“My sister. And some other friends.”
He nodded as they walked toward the stairway. “Old friends?”
“New ones.”
“So you and your sister are doing some kind of girl trip?”
“Her husband was supposed to come. But at the last minute he couldn’t so she called me. I’d never done a cruise before and she convinced me it would be fun. How about you?”
“My brother suckered me into this. He got the bright idea that if he brought his German class he could get a discount on the cruise. Not sure the discount was worth it.”
“I saw that group,” Sophie told him. “It looks like they’re having fun.”
“They are, and they’re nice enough kids. But I’m not into babysitting.”
“Not into kids?” she half teased. A lot of men didn’t like children. She had no intention of getting together with someone like that.
“Not a dozen at a time,” Trevor said.
Did Dr. Rudy like kids? He was a little old to be starting a family. But lots of men married younger women and did exactly that. A woman would never have to worry when her children got sick if she was married to a doctor.
“So, your sister’s married. Anyone special in your life?” he asked. Getting right to the point.
How to answer that? “Um.”
“Um means not yet, right?” he said, and smiled.
“Well.” That smile was what every girl wanted for Christmas. Trevor March himself was what every girl wanted for Christmas. Every girl who wasn’t prone to illness.
That wasn’t her. She had to stay focused. Anyway, Dr. Rudy had a great smile, too.
They were below again in the main part of the ship and on their way to the lounge.
“Anyway, if this other guy is only an ‘um,’ you want to stay open to other possibilities, right?” he argued.
“How do you know I won’t turn out to be an ‘um’?” she argued, handing back his sport coat.
“I don’t. But I have a sneaking suspicion you won’t. I already know you have good taste. You like my chocolate.”
That made her chuckle. “Almost every woman likes chocolate.”
“But not every woman has such a pretty smile.”
Trevor March had a way with words.
They reached the lounge and she looked to where she and her sister had sat the night before. There was Sierra and the two older women, Catherine and Denise. And Rudy and his daughter. Crudballs. An older man, short and stocky, wearing a Santa hat, was joining them, taking the seat Sierra should have been saving for Sophie. Thanks, sis.
“Do you see your friends?” Trevor asked.
She frowned. “I do, but it looks like somebody took my seat.”
“That sucks,” Trevor said, wearing the same smile. “I see two seats over here. How about joining me for a while and catching up with your sister later?”
There was no place to sit over by Dr. Rudy unless she plopped in his lap. “All right,” she said. She sure didn’t want to go back to her room now that her tummy was feeling better.
“We can talk some more and find out if either of us is an ‘um,’” he said.
Sophie strongly suspected there was little about Trevor March that qualified as an “um.” He was the kind of man who could easily pull a woman off course. Darn Sierra, anyway. She should have saved her sis a seat.
* * *
Catherine noticed that Sierra hadn’t said anything about the seat next to her when a short husky man took the seat between her and Denise. “Do you think your sister plans to try and join us?” she asked.
“I doubt it,” Sierra said as she took the drink the server had brought her.
“I’m sorry she’s not feeling well.”
“It happens a lot.”
“Poor girl.”
“My sister is a bit of a hypochondriac,” Sierra said. “She had asthma as a child. She outgrew it, but she still worries a lot about her health.”
It was hard to imagine someone so young and seemingly healthy always being focused on illness.