Romancing the Seas by Cait O’Sullivan

Author:Cait O’Sullivan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, contemporary
Publisher: Crimson Romance, an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.
Published: 2012-01-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Jonathon watched her retreat through the forest. She kept pulling up the straps of her backpack and he could tell she was irritated at having her stride interrupted. She squared her shoulders and soon disappeared from view.

He found a boulder to rest against and checked his phone for important messages. There were none that required him to return to the Coral Princess liner directly, so he sat still, looking up into the clear azure sky. What on earth kind of a pickle had he gotten himself into? He had not only slept with a member of staff, albeit a senior member, but he had inadvertently paid her the greatest insult that he could imagine paying a woman. No wonder she had reacted so forcefully. What had made him say it? Was he questioning her integrity? Did he just want to hear her deny it? Or was he putting the final nail in the coffin of their relationship? Whatever it was, it had certainly brought about a hasty end to it, platonic or otherwise.

More to the point, how did he now feel about the fact that Pippa had not slept with Mulberry? If he were being honest with himself, he had started to doubt it soon after the dinner she had cooked for the Stevensons. Not only did she possess talent, by the bucketful, but she had integrity and something deeper, soul. No denying her innocence after today. There was a certain sense of relief that she had denied it so vociferously — he couldn’t have contemplated a future with her if she had done it with Mulberry. He hauled his thoughts up short. A future? Was he now thinking of a future with her? She was wonderful, true, but did he want her to feature in his future?

Who was he kidding, of course he did.

The thought of waking up beside her every morning, seeing her head on the pillow beside him, warmed him from within.

Hot on the heels of this realisation came the multitude of accompanying problems.

He couldn’t have a relationship with her, a member of staff. That was a fact. There was a tentative trust amongst the staff for him, this news would rekindle the same low morale that he had been working so hard to eradicate. He couldn’t compromise his hard work or his good name. Could they get away with having a relationship in private? He shook his head irritably. Of course they couldn’t, that was a recipe for disaster. Plus, he had too much respect for her to ask her to do that. What was he going to do, dammit anyway.

Out of his peripheral vision, he espied some chamois coming to graze in the nearby meadows. Slowly moving his head so as not to alert them to his presence, he looked at them fully. It was a funny animal, neither goat nor buffalo, but rather a cross between the two that was found only in New Zealand.

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