Shattered by Joann Ross

Author:Joann Ross [Ross, Joann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Romance, Suspense, Military
ISBN: 9781410414359
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2008-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

31

The sun was lowering as Kirby and Shane drove to Zach and Sabrina’s home.

Swann Island appeared even greener than San Diego’s Griffith Park, and really, really small. The village itself consisted of only four tree-lined streets arranged around a Victorian bandstand set in the middle of a green square.

Kirby suspected it was the type of place where everyone knew everyone. And their business.

A crescent beach curved around the southern tip of the island, then wrapped around the eastern coast that faced out to the Atlantic Ocean. Rows of houses, built on stilts, lined the beach. There was also a wooden pier from which a man and boy were fishing.

A panorama of wheat-hued marsh made up the west and north coasts.

“What are these fields?” she asked as they passed row after row of waist-high green plants.

“Tea. And those trees over there are Swannsea’s peach orchard.”

Kirby immediately made the connection between the name of Zachariah Tremayne’s wife’s family home and these acres and acres of plants.

“Zach’s wife is the Swann of Swann Tea?”

Which made her really, really rich.

Yet she’d married a SEAL, who might be a warrior hunk, but last time she’d looked, the Navy didn’t pay its chiefs that much. Such a difference in economic status might be a problem for some couples, but from the way Zach Tremayne’s eyes had gleamed when he’d talked about his wife, it was obvious that if it ever had been a problem, it definitely wasn’t now.

Which made Kirby like Sabrina Swann Tremayne already.

“That’s her. Small world, isn’t it?” Shane asked mildly, letting her know that he hadn’t forgotten that Swann’s ginger peach herbal tea had always been her favorite.

And, in case she’d forgotten, which she hadn’t, it was also a subtle reminder of the time he’d gone online and surprised her by ordering an entire case from the company’s Web site to be sent to the Green Zone.

Which, now that she thought about it, was yet another indication that their relationship, despite what he’d claimed at Landstuhl, had been about more than sex.

“Zach said you’re teaching flying.” Which explained the plane logo on his blue T-shirt.

“Yeah. At an airfield over in Somersett.”

“Do you enjoy it?”

He shrugged. “The planes we use aren’t exactly extreme or challenging, but I enjoy being up in the air again.”

“I’ve always thought it would be fun to learn to fly.”

“Maybe, once we get back from Central America, I can give you a few lessons.”

“Maybe,” she said noncommittally.

“Shields up, Scotty,” he murmured.

“That reference escapes me,” she said, pretending a sudden interest in the waist-high tea plants outside the passenger window.

“Since we’re going to have to work together over the next few days, I’m going to resist calling you a liar,” he countered. “But I’m also not so clueless that I can’t recognize when someone’s put barricades up.”

“I don’t remember you being prone to exaggeration. I haven’t put up any barricades.”

Which wasn’t exactly true. But they weren’t anywhere near as high or thick as the ones he’d erected between them in Germany.

“Look, I realize I owe you a huge apology.

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