LITMIR.BIZ

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the chandelier’s fall to foul play was a leap, in Kat’s opinion. She opened her mouth to say as much, but Sam suddenly pulled the other chair over and sat across from her. She almost laughed. His grandmother was right. It was as if he was in his own interrogation room with her. Samuel West did have the appearance of a Secret Service agent. Not that she’d ever met one. But he fit the image she’d stored in her imagination. Tall, muscled, dark hair, sharp eyes.

      Only, he wore blue jeans and a black polo instead of a suit and tie. And they were in the middle of the ocean on a cruise, not back on land in a federal building.

      “Enemies?” he prodded.

      “None that I know of,” Kat said.

      “So, you weren’t running from something when you took this job?”

      “No!” The word came out a little too forcefully, and Kat knew it. She had been running from something, she supposed. From loss. Her father, the house, her relationship with Max. All of it, gone.

      “Then why did you take it?”

      She wanted to tell him it was none of his business, that she’d had enough of the interrogation, and she wanted to call down for her key. But Sam had saved her life, and she owed him more than an ungrateful response.

      “It was time for a change. I wanted to try something new. My best friend has been working on cruises for years. She suggested it.” There. Simple, but true.

      He searched her face, as if he could read her thoughts. She hoped he couldn’t, because her attention had been drawn just then to the way his polo stretched across a muscled chest.

      “You needed a change from touring the world doing concerts...so you decided to work on a cruise ship. Touring the world, doing concerts.”

      He saw right through her, she knew. But she didn’t want to discuss Dad. The fire. All the other reasons she’d taken the job. She looked into his piercing eyes and knew her efforts were futile.

      “I canceled my tour back in November when my dad had a stroke. I moved in with him for a few months and started teaching piano at the University of Miami. My dad passed away in January. I needed a little time away.”

      She didn’t mention the fire. She didn’t want sympathy points from anyone. The fact that her house was being rebuilt while she was away was only a small reason she’d left Miami. Max was another. Only he’d still found a way to stay close. She simply wouldn’t share everything about her life with a stranger.

      Even if that stranger had saved her life.

      “I’m sorry about your father,” Alice said. “It’s hard to lose someone you love.”

      “Thank you.” She stood, unwrapped the blanket from her shoulders and laid it over the back of the chair. “I’d better call for my key. I’d like to get back to my room and out of this dress.”

      She moved toward the phone, but Sam snagged her hand. She looked back at him, and her breath caught. The tenderness in his gaze tugged at her heart, a deep longing rising from where she’d shoved it away. Longing for constancy, companionship, family.

      “I was hoping you’d stay with my grandmother while I talk to ship security down below.”

      She tugged her hand out of his grasp and set to tying her wet hair back into a low bun. The cool dampness did its job and she pushed her feelings away.

      “I do not need a babysitter.” Alice muttered the words under her breath. Crossed her arms defiantly.

      “Noted, Grandma.”

      Kat looked from Alice to Sam. It was none of her business, but she found herself increasingly curious about this man who had taken leave from work to care for his grandmother on vacation and then taken on Kat’s protection as his responsibility. Her cynical side reminded her that people who seemed too good to be true usually were. But the woman in her—the part of her heart that longed for companionship—sensed that Sam was everything he seemed to be. And more.

      Alice stood and walked over to the balcony door. “What I need is a little fresh air and some company.”

      Kat grinned. Yes, just like Morgan, Alice had a flair for drama. “I don’t imagine I’ll have access to my room anytime soon. I’m happy to stay until then.”

      And she was. Even though she really wanted a shower and some clean clothes, she also didn’t relish the idea of going back to her room alone just yet. Surely the incident in the atrium had been an accident, but she was still shaken by how close she’d come to losing her life. And she had to admit she’d like to get to know Alice a little better.

      “Thanks,” Sam said. “You should get some fresh air, too. You still look pale.”

      “I did nearly get crushed by a chandelier,” she said, mimicking the words he’d used and trying to lighten the mood.

      But Sam’s expression darkened. “Glad you haven’t forgotten.”

      A cold chill swept up Kat’s nape, and her hand came up to press it away.

      “Sammy, enough with your gloom and doom,” Alice chided. “I hardly think she could forget what happened just thirty minutes ago.”

      Sam glanced at his grandmother and a sheepish expression softened his face. “Good,” he said. “Hopefully, that will keep you both out of trouble while I’m gone.”

      His eyes held a teasing glint, and Kat’s stomach flipped. She moved toward the phone and away from all the feelings he stirred up.

      “We’ll be fine,” she said and picked up the phone to call the concierge station as Sam left the room. After the phone rang several times with no answer, Kat gave up for the time being. “I’ll try again in a few minutes.”

      “You coming, then?” Alice asked as she stepped onto the balcony, then looked back at Kat. “Or maybe you’d like to freshen up first? It might feel good to splash some water on your face.”

      “I think I’ll do that,” Kat said. “I’ll join you in a few minutes.” She walked to the bathroom, her side aching where the scars stretched taut, shoulder bruised from rolling off the stage. Her gown was ruined, but that was the least of her concerns.

      A deep shadow of unease swept in and stole the relief she’d felt earlier after escaping the chandelier. Could Sam’s intuition be on the mark? What if someone had deliberately caused the explosion? She tried to push the thought away. Sam may be suspicious of her ex, but the idea of Max setting a bomb off was ludicrous to anyone who knew him. That wasn’t the kind of fire he played with.

      Regardless, Kat wanted to know what exactly had happened in the atrium. And she wanted off this ship before something else happened.

      Days from land in every direction, she knew she was stuck.

      She closed herself in the bathroom. The mirror glared back at her in the bright fluorescent light and she winced as a headache flared. What a mess. Debris dotted her hair. Dust smudged her nose and her right cheek. Her eyes were bloodshot, burning from the too-familiar sting of smoke. Mascara smudged under her eyes. Hard to believe only an hour had passed since she’d left her cabin for her performance.

      She sent up a silent prayer of thanks that she had survived, but she didn’t feel relieved in the least. An eerie sense of danger crawled along her spine, dread pitting in her stomach. The opportunity to travel the world for the summer on a cruise ship had seemed like a gift—a chance to recharge and renew her spirits.

      Sunshine. That was what Morgan had said. You need lots of sunshine. And to put some distance between you and Max.

      It had worked, for a little while. Performing and sightseeing and experiencing the peace and relaxation of the open waters, Kat had begun to feel more like herself again. Over the past couple of days, though, alone in her room, the quiet had gotten to her. The sunshine she’d been hanging on to replaced with shadows of sadness from the

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