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Love complicated everything. Love tugged at his loyalties, making him choose between an uncle he couldn’t abandon now and a woman who’d stolen his heart without trying.
But what if it was too late?
He loved her.
And he’d hurt the woman he loved, hated what he’d done to her tonight, all in the act of self-preservation.
She was special and didn’t deserve to be treated that way. He needed to make amends.
Starting tomorrow, when he’d wrestled this irrepressible, overwhelming, surprising emotion into some semblance of control.
ChapterEleven
When the ship docked at Vila the next morning, Lana almost bolted down the gangway. Anything to escape a possible encounter with the man she could happily strangle with her bare hands.
She’d pegged Zac for a smart guy. But he couldn’t be too smart if he hadn’t read the signs last night, the biggest, glaring sign of all being her dressed to the hilt. Not that she’d be wearing that dress again. It now lay in a rumpled, crushed heap on the floor of her cabin where she’d ripped it off and flung it into the corner the minute she’d got back last night.
She felt like her old self today—almost, if she discounted a broken heart—in baggy Capri pants, loose tank top, and comfy leather sandals.
As for impressing enigmatic sailors into believing she was willing to put her heart on the line for them, never again.
She planned on having room service for dinner tonight to avoid Zac. Irrational, as he could find her any time he liked by waiting outside the gym at the end of her aerobic class, but she’d face that particular scenario if and when it happened.
Though after last night, she seriously doubted he’d be seeking a confrontation. He’d made that more than clear.
Touring Vila, the lovely capital of Vanuatu, proved to be a good distraction for a few hours but once she re-boarded, the jitters started again as she slunk from the staircase to her cabin, darting quick glances up the corridors in the hope to avoid him. She needed to get past this, get a grip.
With a muttered curse that rarely slipped past her lips, she fumbled her key before jamming it in the lock.
“I thought I’d find you here eventually.”
She jumped, her heart sinking as Zac’s deep voice rippled over her, still holding the power to set her pulse racing.
Determined to play it cool, she turned. “Was there something you wanted?”
“You know damn well what I want.”
He had the audacity to try a roguish smile after what had happened last night?
Her eyes narrowed as she tried her best death glare, the one that got co-workers to do her bidding without a word. “Actually, I don’t. I have no idea what’s going on in that big head of yours.”
“Big head? Now that’s the woman I know and love.”
Her heart skipped several beats before she realized it was a figure of speech. “I’m tired.”
His smile faded as he reached for her hand and she snatched it away. “We need to talk.”
“I don’t think so. You made it pretty clear how you felt last night.”
“That’s what I want to talk about.” He rubbed the back of his neck as if he had a pain there; probably her. “All I’m asking for is a chance to explain.”
She should send him on his way. She should ignore the tiny flicker of hope rekindling deep inside. Instead, her stance softened under the hint of vulnerability in his eyes, in his earnest, almost pleading, expression.
She held up a finger. “You get one chance.”
His ecstatic grin had the corners of her mouth twitching in response. “I finally figured it out.”
“What?”
