not just rich people. He could learn to appreciate such things.
“Ahem.”
The purser’s throat clearing brought him back to reality. The one he needed to stick to with his workman’s clothes, scuffed shoes, and crate of whisky hefted on his shoulder. “Where do you want it?”
The man pointed his pencil to the marble fireplace. “Next to it. Mind the flowers.”
Aye, the flowers. Only rich people would waste money on a vase stuffed with lilacs and lilies arranged in a faux fireplace. Setting the crate down, he pushed it back to the wall lest it trip a pair of fancy shoes. The smell of lilacs wafted under his nose.
Kat always smelled of lilacs.
He jerked back to find the entire cabin dripping with the horrid reminders, all in shades of cream and purple. “Bit much for a sea voyage.”
“They’re for a wedding.”
His gut lurched. Of course they were. Lured into a trap of memories, why would he not find more heart-wrenching evidence of the things never to be his? He moved to the open door leading to the balcony. Tangy salt air washed over him, drowning out the flowers.
“Wait a moment in here while the other supplies are brought in, as you’ll need to double-check their contents and sign off for delivery. I shall return shortly,” said the purser.
The deep blue-green waves crested white in the distance. If Barrett squinted hard enough, could he see the Statue of Liberty and all that she promised? Or was she one more lady he would fail to obtain?
Kat had waited for him on the steps that day. Everything in her eyes told him, begged him, to take her in his arms and kiss her until there was nothing left standing between them except their bared souls. Mayhap in her perfect world there could have been that, but it was far from the truth. Too much stood between them. He’d known it as soon as her father signed his name to that check. She was his heart. No amount of money could buy that.
Pounding the doorframe with his fist, he turned from the ocean that too closely matched her eyes. The lilacs stared back at him.
“What is it with today?”
Slashing his hand through his hair, he circled around the room in search of a safe spot. The door to the adjoining berth stood open. A dark-gray jacket hung on the back of an ornate chair. He frowned. Did he not have one just like that?
Glancing over his shoulder to make sure the coast was clear, he marched into the room and snagged the jacket off the chair. Same buttons, same patch around the cuffs. Digging into the inner breast pocket, he fished out the ticket from last week’s boxing match he’d gone to with a coworker.
The door slammed shut behind him. A key turned in the lock.
He shoved the ticket back in the pocket. “You better have a good explanation for what my jacket is doing here.”
“I thought you might need it.”
Of all the people in the world, he never thought he’d hear that voice again. Her voice. Every inch of him went cold, then burned hot as blood rushed to his head. He gripped the back of the chair to keep steady. “What are you doing here?”
“I should think that was obvious. I came for you,” Kat said behind him.
“You lured me here under the false pretense of malt whisky.”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“Aye. It did.” He swallowed hard against the sickness roiling in his gut. A wedding, the purser had said. “Now what? Shall I pour the glasses for you? Turn back the bedcovers?”
“Not yet.” His throat tightened at the smile in her voice. “It would help if you turned and looked at me.”
It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he couldn’t continue to stand there staring at the wall. Bracing himself, he turned slowly.
A thousand years would never have prepared him for seeing her again. Dressed in sky blue with her golden hair curling around her face and his grandmother’s brooch pinned to her lapel, she shone like an angel from his dreams. He struggled to keep the air from collapsing in his lungs.
“Mind telling me what you’re planning to do with this?” He held up his jacket in accusation.
“I thought you might like to take it with us.”
Us. It rang in his ears like a bell. “I’m in no mood for games. I’ve got work to do. Stand aside.”
Kat braced herself against the locked door. “Not until I’m done putting sense