Hunter's Bride and A Mother's Wish (15 page)

Chloe just stared after her. That would never have occurred to her, but obviously Gran was considerably wiser. She knew more about people than Chloe would learn in a lifetime.

And Gran thought Chloe could do this thing.

Chloe forced herself to look at the possibility. How could she make Luke see he was wrong?

One thing was certain. She wouldn't make the mistake again of trying to create a plan without taking it to the Lord. She closed her eyes, seeking the quiet place in her soul that she would feel in the chapel or on Angel Isle. Listening.

A few minutes later she opened her eyes and found she was looking at the
Spyhop,
rocking gently at the dock. Angel Isle. The boat.

An idea began to form in her mind.
Is this it, Lord? Is this what I should be doing?

A quiet sureness filled her soul. She knew what she had to do. She had to confront Luke with who he was, and she knew just where to do it.

Whether he'd listen to her or not—well, that was up to him. She knew what God expected her to do, and that was enough.

L
uke stood at the public dock in Caldwell Cove the next day, wondering if anything could be more futile than this effort. Why had he come? His meeting in the local attorney's office to sign the preliminary agreements was set for less than three hours away. He wouldn't believe he'd actually pulled this off until he had the agreements in hand.

So why was he here?

He didn't have to search hard for the answer. He knew why. Chloe had called him, Chloe had wanted to see him. And even though he didn't think it would do any good, he had to see her again.

Chloe's face filled his mind, her green eyes dancing, her golden-brown hair curling against sun-kissed skin, her generous mouth smiling at him. He tried to push it away, to replace it with an image of the corner office that would soon be his. The task was more difficult than it should be.

All right, he could deal with this. He'd spent his life setting goals and letting nothing keep him from achieving them. He didn't intend to change now.

The only reason Chloe intruded on his plans was that he didn't like the breach between them. He cared about her, not just as his valued right hand but as…

What? His mind stalled on that. He knew how to think of Chloe as his assistant. He wasn't sure he knew how to relate to her as anything else. But things had changed since they'd come to the island, he couldn't deny that.

He wanted to mend things with her. That much was clear in his mind. Whether or not there could be anything else between them—he just didn't know.

He saw her face again—eyes filled with a sense of betrayal—and something clamped around his heart. Then he looked up and saw the
Spyhop
nosing into the dock with Chloe at the wheel.

She tossed the rope to him, and he caught it automatically. His mind seemed empty of the words he wanted to say. He just looked at her, noting the dark smudges under her eyes and the determined set to her soft mouth.

“Are you all right?” That wasn't what he'd intended to say, but his heart took over.

She shrugged, unsmiling. “I've been better.” She gestured to the boat. “Hop in. Let's go for a ride.”

“Can't we just talk here?” He glanced at his watch.

“You have plenty of time before your meeting.” Her voice was edgy. “Get on board. I want to make one last trip to Angel Isle before your meeting.”

“Chloe, I don't think that's a good idea. Look, let's go get a cup of coffee and talk.”

She shook her head stubbornly. “Angel Isle.” She met his gaze evenly. “I think you owe me that.”

Angel Isle was the last place he wanted to go today. But there was a determination about Chloe that was new to her, as if she'd done some growing up overnight. She wasn't the team player, ready to go along with anything he wanted. If he wanted to talk to her, he'd have to do it her way.

“All right.” He stepped lightly into the boat. “If it means that much to you.”

She didn't answer—just backed away from the dock so quickly he nearly fell into his seat. He clutched the railing with one hand and watched as she turned her face into the wind and the nose of the boat into the channel.

She wasn't looking at him. Eyes narrowed, she stared straight ahead.

“Chloe, look, we have to talk.”

She shook her head, gesturing toward her ears. “Can't hear well enough here. Wait until we get to the island.”

“We've talked before on the boat. Why not now?”

She swung the boat in a wide semicircle around the end of the island. “You're in a hurry to get to your meeting, remember?” She revved the motor. “So let's just get there.”

They passed the yacht club dock, and he wondered if Theo was working today. With a pang, he realized the kid who'd looked at him with so much admiration the other night probably wouldn't speak to him now.

Then Chloe turned the boat into Dolphin Sound, accelerating so that they rocketed across the waves. He clung grimly to the rail and wondered if she was trying to make him seasick. No looking for dolphins today—all he could do was hang on.

Finally she eased in to the dock on Angel Isle, and he took a deep breath and waited for his stomach to catch up with him.

“Trying to make me remember I'm a landlubber?” he asked, climbing onto the dock and making the ropes fast. He wouldn't admit how much he wanted to feel firm ground under his feet.

Chloe scrambled up beside him. “Just wanted you to have a taste of what the sound will be like once there's a resort on Angel Isle—hotel launches rushing back and forth, pleasure boats crowding the water.”

She pointed, and he saw the dolphins then, their crescent shapes moving through the waves. Funny, he almost felt he could identify them, the way Sammy had that first day.

“Say goodbye.” Chloe's tone was grim. “I don't imagine they'll hang around once the sound becomes jammed.”

He ought to be able to find something to say to that, but he couldn't.
It's not my fault.
That was what he wanted to say. “Look, we both know the hotel will bring prosperity. People will be glad we did it. The dolphins will adapt.”

She just looked at him. Suddenly he was back waist-deep in the warm water of the marsh, looking at the triumph in Chloe's face as the dolphin shuddered between them and then took off for the sea.

He blinked, shaking his head, shaking away the image. But looking at Chloe today proved just as disturbing. The gold dolphin necklace he'd given her lay against her skin. For an instant his fingertips tingled, as if he were fastening the clasp against the delicate arch of her nape.

He took a step back from her, and the dock moved gently under his feet. “Let's take a walk,” he said abruptly. Maybe he'd be able to think more clearly if he wasn't looking at her.

She nodded, and he followed her off the dock and down to the stretch of beach. They fell into step with each other on the hard-packed sand. He frowned, trying to come up with the words that would make things right between them. It shouldn't be this difficult to make peace with Chloe. He'd handled far more costly negotiations than this, without this terrifying sense that the wrong word would ruin everything.

“They won't, you know.” Chloe glanced out at the water.

“Who won't?”

“The dolphins. They won't adapt.”

“Chloe—” He stopped, again gripped by that fear of saying the wrong thing. “You know you can't stop progress. It's going to come whether you want it or not.”

Her glance flashed to him. “Not stop it, no. But progress doesn't have to take away our island.”

“Look, I know you love it here.”
I feel closer to God on Angel Isle than anyplace else on earth.
That gave him pause. “But are you sure you're not being a little selfish? Don't other people have the right to share the beauty?”

The shadow in her eyes told him the shot had hit home.

“The place as we know it won't exist in ten years if the hotel goes in. That's what you don't understand. Angel Isle is too fragile. Other places can stand up to it, but not Angel Isle.”

He'd agreed to let her help him find an alternative site, and then he'd gone back on his word. He'd had a good reason for that, hadn't he?

“Dalton didn't give me a choice.” That sounded defensive even to him.

“You always have a choice, Luke. It just depends how big a price you're willing to pay.”

They seemed to have cut through all the external arguments. It was as if they spoke to each other's hearts.

“You don't know what you're asking me.” He stopped, swinging to face her.

She met his eyes. “I might be the one person who does know.”

He knew, suddenly, what he was seeing in her eyes. Love. For him. It crashed over him like a wave, knocking him off his feet.

“Chloe.” He took her hands, feeling her pulse beating rapidly against his fingers. “Chloe, I want—”

What did he want? What was he willing to give up to have her? Everything?

He drew her slowly toward him. This was bigger than ambition, bigger than the corner office. This was everything he'd ever wanted. “Chloe.” He said her name again softly as she moved into his arms—

The sound ripped through the stillness. He spun.

The
Spyhop's
engine roared, and the boat shot away from the dock toward the open sound with Theo at the wheel.

The meeting—without the boat, he'd never make the meeting. Chloe had invited him here. Chloe had betrayed him.

 

Chloe stared blankly after the
Spyhop
. “Theo!” she shouted, even knowing how impossible it was for him to hear her. “What does that boy think he's doing?”

She swung to Luke, as if he might have an answer, and then she saw his face. He thought she had done this.

“Luke, I didn't.” Tears stung her eyes. Why now, of all times? Surely she'd been getting through to Luke. He'd looked at her as if…as if he loved her.

He didn't look that way now.

“Congratulations, Chloe.” His fists clenched. “That was a move worthy of Dalton himself.”

“You can't believe I had anything to do with that. Theo's come up with some crazy plan on his own.” Probably because Theo had been hurt to discover Luke wasn't the hero he'd thought.

“I'm afraid that's giving your little brother a bit too much credit.” He looked at his watch, and his blue eyes darkened with fury. “Perfect timing. I miss the meeting, your father assumes I've backed out, and the deal is off.”

“I didn't.” She said it again, helpless against his anger. He'd never believe her.

“On the other hand, maybe not such terrific timing.” His expression was wry. “Because I was about to give in. About to give up everything for you, because…I thought we were in love.”

I thought we were in love.
She did feel her heart break then, she was sure of it.

“What happened to that loyalty of yours, Chloe? It seems to be a pretty flexible commodity these days.”

Anger welled up suddenly, and she welcomed it. If she held on to the anger, maybe she could withstand the pain for a bit.

“Loyalty? You're a fine one to talk about loyalty. About love.” She had to fight a fresh wave of pain before she could go on. “Don't even talk about changing for me. You should be making this decision because it's right, not because of me.”

She had lost him. No, that wasn't right. She couldn't lose what she'd never had. But she could still grieve for what might have been.

“What's right is doing the job I came here to do. The job you were supposed to help me do.”

“What's right doesn't have anything to do with business.” Her head throbbed with the need to make him see.

Oh, Lord, let me get through to him.

“You talked about Reverend Tom and what he meant to you. How he led you to the Lord. Do you actually remember any of that? Do you ever think about doing anything because it's God's will for your life, instead of what you want?”

He went pale. “Don't preach to me, Chloe. You don't have the right.”

“I love you.” The words she thought she'd never speak had a bitter taste. “I think that gives me the right.” Before he could say anything, she swept on. “You asked me where my loyalty was. I can tell you that. It's to the man I've always thought you were, inside. But if you go through with this, you're not that man.”

No use, it was no use. He wasn't hearing her. She spun on her heel.

“Where are you going?”

“Theo had to have come by boat.” She flung the words over her shoulder at him. “I'm going to find it. If you expect to make that meeting, you'd better hurry.”

Without waiting to see if he was following, she jogged down the sand. She had a pretty good idea where Theo would have beached his boat—same place he'd beached it when he'd run away. And if she concentrated on that and kept moving, maybe she could run away from the pain that threatened to overwhelm her.

Sure enough, Theo's boat was pulled up under a sweep of Spanish moss not more than twenty feet from the dock. She tugged it toward the water.

“We're going across the sound in that?”

“It's the only way.” She resisted the impulse to imply it wasn't safe. Her father had raised her to act honorably. She wouldn't disappoint him again. “Theo does it all the time.”

“All right.” Luke's jaw set. “Let's do it.” He grabbed the boat and dragged it to the water.

Of course he'd do it. Chloe shoved them out into deep water. The word
can't
wasn't in Luke's vocabulary. He'd sacrifice anything for the rewards this deal would bring. Anything.