LITMIR.BIZ

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      To the awesome women

      of Romance Writers of Australia.

      This year we come of age—twenty-one years

      of fabulous support, friendship and professional growth.

      From the women who were there at our inception

      to the women who form our strength now,

      I give you my thanks.

      CHAPTER ONE

      FINN planned to have nothing to do with Rachel Cotton, but the elderly passengers on the Kimberley Temptress disagreed. They’d been giving him advice since Darwin.

      ‘You ought to make a play for her. Make an impression. What’s a cruise without a bit of shipboard romance?’

      So, like it or not, he made an impression.

      He knocked her grandmother overboard.

      It wasn’t exactly planned. The ship’s tour guides, Esme and Jason, were assisting passengers to step down the short landing ramp to the rocky beach. Esme’s job was to hold each passenger until Jason had them safely at the other end.

      She didn’t hold Dame Maud long enough, and Maud wobbled.

      Finn stepped onto the ramp fast, but not fast enough. Maud swayed and lurched—and hit Finn, who was trying to manoeuvre past Esme.

      He couldn’t grab her in time.

      She was in her eighties. The water was deep, she was heading for the bottom and, from the rocks, Rachel Cotton screamed in terror, launching herself back across the ramp to dive in.

      Finn was the owner of the entire Temptress cruise line, but he was here now as a passenger, undercover, to observe the crew. Rescuing passengers was not his call. Neither was stopping more passengers throwing themselves overboard. Nevertheless, he didn’t have a choice.

      He grabbed Rachel, sweeping her up into his arms.

      ‘Stay back!’

      ‘Put me down. Let me go!’

      She was cute and small and blonde—and loud and lethal. She twisted and kicked… right where a guy didn’t need to be kicked.

      He swung around and shoved her into Jason’s arms.

      ‘Don’t let her go,’ he commanded, and dived overboard even as he said it.

      Held by Jason, who was almost as strong as Finn, Rachel could only watch as her beloved Maud slid under the boat and out of sight.

      ‘Maud!’ She could make Jason drop her—martial arts training told her how—but sense was beginning to kick in.

      ‘He’ll get her,’ Jason said.

      He must. She had no choice but to depend on Finn Kinnard.

      She’d met Finn the day the Temptress left Darwin.

      ‘This is Finn Kinnard,’ the purser had told her, determinedly making the ship’s forty passengers mingle. ‘Finn’s a boat-builder from the US. Finn, this is Rachel Cotton, and she’s a geologist. You two are the only young singles on board. Have fun.’ She’d flashed a suggestive smile, her implication obvious.

      ‘What sort of boats do you build?’ Rachel had asked, intrigued despite the implication.

      He obviously wasn’t intrigued in return. ‘Small wooden boats,’ he’d said curtly, and then, grudgingly, ‘What sort of geology?’

      ‘Big rock geology,’ she’d retorted, even more curtly, and he’d smiled. But he’d moved on fast.

      She got it. He was expecting her to launch herself at him.

      As if.

      She was vaguely miffed, but not much. There was too much to do and see to be offended—but she couldn’t help but stay aware of him. The man was tanned, tall and seriously ripped. He also exuded an air of confidence and authority which didn’t quite fit with a lone traveller staying in the standard accommodation section of the boat.

      ‘He’s gorgeous,’ Maud decreed the moment she’d set eyes on him. ‘And a boat-builder… Ooh, I love a man who can handle a hammer. Rachel, love, if you weren’t in mourning, I’d say go for it.’

      Rachel had been forced to smile. Others skated round Rachel’s grief, but Maud was upfront.

      ‘A shipboard fling could do you good,’ she’d decreed.

      Rachel wasn’t the least interested in any sort of ‘fling’, but she conceded Finn Kinnard was definitely gorgeous. And also… nice. He was solitary but not aloof, making light-hearted banter with the older passengers

Скачать книгу