LITMIR.BIZ

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at him and said the one thing she’d known would work. ‘I dare you.’

      And it had worked. She’d seen something inside him give as his gaze had zeroed in on her mouth and his lips had moved closer.

      Her father’s curt ‘Riccardo!’ had been the bucket of water they’d both needed.

      A reminder that there was a line between them that should never be crossed no matter how close they’d danced to it.

      And she was glad for it now.

      Glad that this magnificent man liked her and enjoyed her company and called her his friend. That he could drop by out of the blue and use her shower and doss down for the night and there was no awkward history, no uncomfortable silences.

      Despite what Diana thought, a person didn’t die of sexual frustration and she wouldn’t sacrifice their friendship and mutual respect for a brief slaking of bodily desires.

      No matter how damn good she knew it would be.

      He stirred and she froze, hoping like crazy that lazy blue gaze wasn’t about to blast her in tropical heat.

      It didn’t. But it was enough to spur her into action. She was not going to sit here and ogle him as if she were still in the midst of her teenage crush, watching him surreptitiously from behind her dark sunglasses as he went about the business of running a boat.

      Without a shirt.

      Always without a shirt.

      She pulled out her laptop and powered it up.

      * * *

      An hour later the cabin crew came through offering a meal and Rick woke. He stretched, then righted his chair, glancing over at Stella busily tapping away. She seemed engrossed and he smiled at her.

      ‘I thought you were blocked.’

      Stella looked up from her notes. ‘I’ve had an idea,’ she admitted.

      ‘Hah!’ he crowed. ‘I told you all you needed was a treasure hunt.’

      ‘Yeh, well, all I’m doing is some preliminary planning, at the moment. It remains to be seen if I can actually write anything.’

      Although she knew she could. In fact she itched to. Lucinda and Inigo’s story was becoming clearer and clearer.

      ‘So how does that work, then? Writer’s block?’ he asked.

      She shrugged. ‘I look at a blank page all day terrified that I’m not good enough, that I’m a one-book wonder, willing the words to come and when, on a good day, some actually do appear, they’re all crap and I delete them.’

      Rick nodded thoughtfully. He couldn’t say that he understood exactly, but he could see the consternation creasing her brow and the look he’d seen in her eyes last night akin to panic. The same look he’d sometimes seen when she’d been a kid and Nathan had been late returning to the surface.

      ‘Maybe you need to give yourself permission to be crap?’ he suggested. ‘Just get it all down, warts and all. Switch your internal editor off?’

      Stella raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Did Diana tell you to say that?’

      Rick chuckled. ‘No.’

      ‘Well, it’s easier said than done, believe me.’ She sighed. ‘I think if I’d had a whole bunch of books rejected before Pleasure Hunt, then I’d have known stuff like that. But this crazy instant success didn’t give me any time to fail or any time to know who I am as a writer. I think I needed this time to figure that out.’

      Rick nodded. ‘So...’ he said, looking over her shoulder, ‘are you going to tell me what it’s about?’

      Stella shut the lid of her laptop. ‘Nope.’

      The last time a guy had realised what she’d written it hadn’t ended well.

      ‘Excuse me, Ms Mills?’

      Stella looked up at a stewardess who had brought her some water earlier. ‘Yes?’

      ‘I’m sorry, I hope you don’t mind—I saw your name on the passenger list and I just finished reading Pleasure Hunt.’ She held it up. ‘Would you mind signing it for me?’

      Stella blushed. ‘Certainly,’ she murmured as she held her hand out for the book and proffered pen. ‘Is there any message in particular you’d like me to write?’

      ‘Just to me, Andrea.’ The stewardess smiled.

      Stella wrote a brief message to Andrea, then signed her name with a flourish before handing the book and pen back.

      ‘Thank you so much,’ Andrea said. ‘I shall cherish it.’

      ‘Thank you,’ Stella replied. ‘It’s always nice to meet people who like what you do.’

      Andrea nodded. ‘I better go and serve dinner or my little band of travellers won’t be happy.’

      Stella and Rick watched her walk away. He turned to her. ‘Wow. You’re seriously famous, aren’t you?’

      Stella chuckled. ‘Does that threaten your masculinity?’ It had certainly threatened Dale’s.

      ‘Hell, no.’ He grinned. ‘I’m a little turned on, actually.’

      Stella shook her head. ‘If you’re thinking threesome, forget it.’

      Rick laughed. ‘Well, I am now.’

       CHAPTER THREE

      STELLA had been seven and Rick ten when they’d first laid eyes on the Dolphin anchored at St Kitts. They’d both stood on the bow of the Persephone with their mouths open, staring at the wooden beauty. Teak, oak, cypress and the original brass fittings had given her an old-world charm hinting at an era when craftsmanship was everything and things were made to last.

      Stella still remembered Rick’s awed whisper. ‘One day she’s going to be mine.’

      And as they stood on the wharf looking down at her now, the brass gleaming beneath a high Aussie sun, the wooden deck warm and inviting, she looked as grand and majestic as ever.

      Lucinda sighed in her head.

      ‘God, Rick,’ Stella breathed, that same stirring in her blood she always felt with a stiff sea breeze ruffling her hair. ‘She’s even more beautiful than I remembered.’

      Rick looked down at her, her hair streaming behind her, her pink lips parted in awe. She’d changed into a vest top and cut-off denim shorts and she was so tiny the urge to tuck her under his arm took him by surprise.

      ‘Yes, she is,’ he murmured, looking back at his purchase.

      Stella looked up at him. The sea breeze whipped his long pirate locks across his face. His strong jaw was dark with stubble. ‘She must have cost you a fortune.’

      He shrugged. ‘Some things are beyond money. And she’s worth every cent.’

      She nodded, looking back at the superbly crafted boat. ‘Why now?’ she asked.

      He shrugged. ‘I listened to your father talk about The Mermaid all my life. About how one day he was going to find Inigo’s final resting place. And then he died without ever having seen it.’

      Rick felt a swell of emotion in his chest and stopped. He slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her gently into his side. ‘I always thought Nathan was invincible...’

      Stella snaked an arm around his waist, her heart twisting as his words ran out. She’d always thought so too. Always thought her father would be like Captain Ahab, The Mermaid his white whale. They both stood on the dock watching the gentle bob of the Dolphin for a few moments.

      ‘I’ve dreamt about owning

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