Castillo's Bride. Anne Duquette Marie

as your partner. Nice try, though.” Aurora deliberately changed the subject. “Where are you staying now?”

      “At a hotel. I hadn’t even been there a day before I ended up in the hospital,” he said wryly. “I’m back at the same one.” He mentioned a well-known San Diego hotel near the airport.

      “You hate it,” Aurora guessed.

      Jordan didn’t reply.

      “Stay with me, then,” she offered. “I have plenty of room.”

      “If those guys are still after me, that’s not a good idea,” he argued. “I don’t want you involved.”

      “But I am involved,” she said. “Anyway, Donna’s got her people watching your back. I suspect she’s doing the same for me. And, Jordan, I wouldn’t have offered my hospitality if I didn’t mean it. Trust me, this will make things easier on Donna, too. Everyone at my slip knows everyone else, and if a stranger shows up—we’ll hear about it.”

      “Since you put it that way…thanks. I don’t sleep well on land,” he admitted. “And I could use some help navigating your freeways. I’d planned to do some research on the Castillos and the San Rafael’s payload.”

      “Where do you want to go?”

      “San Diego de Alcala.”

      “Oh, the Old Mission.”

      “You know where it is?”

      “Everyone does. It’s the first mission ever built in Southern California—and a mandatory field trip for every schoolchild. Beautiful place. If you want, we’ll go together. How about day after tomorrow?”

      “Only if you let me buy lunch—partner.”

      Aurora grinned. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

      AT DONNA’S SUGGESTION, the three of them sat outside in the bright California sun at one of the local eateries in Seaport Village. While waiting for their seafood and salad to arrive, they nursed their drinks. Donna had a wine spritzer, Aurora more limeade, and Jordan enjoyed his unsugared iced coffee while observing the two women.

      He believed in the old adage, You can judge a person by the company he keeps. Or in this case, she. Jordan quickly decided that Donna—outwardly Aurora’s opposite, with her crisp appearance and military manner—also had a keen intelligence.

      Aurora’s dive crew won’t be idiots, judging by her taste in friends. That went for Neil Harris, too. He might be a bit proprietary but he was clearly a man of compassion and integrity.

      “You two go way back?” he asked, for the women were comfortable completing each other’s sentences. He found brains appealing in any woman, and neither one was hard on the eyes.

      The women glanced at him, then at each other. Aurora picked up her drink. Donna merely inclined her head.

      “Should I withdraw the question?” Jordan asked.

      “No,” Aurora said. “It’s just that, well, it’s ancient history. Donna and I went to school together. We both wanted out of the house at an early age.”

      “Rough childhood?”

      “Not at all,” Donna said truthfully. “I was the spoiled only child of doting parents. Too spoiled.”

      “I was the headstrong daughter of kind, gentle parents,” Aurora said. “But my ex-hippie mom and dad turned out to want a stricter, more regimented life for their kids than they had themselves. Donna and I both wanted to run away to sea at an early age. Donna here managed to restrain herself until after graduating from college—summa cum laude and class valedictorian.”

      “That’s ancient history, too,” Donna inserted. “Then it was off to Newport, Rhode Island, for officer training, and a career in the Navy as an intelligence officer…until a few years ago.”

      “I didn’t wait so long,” Aurora said. “I grew up swimming, then diving in these waters. I hated school, hated being inside and had very little patience.”

      “Especially when she was offered a job with a salvage crew off the coast of Florida,” Donna continued. “The salvage captain heard about her through the beach grapevine. Thought Aurora was at least eighteen.”

      Aurora smiled sheepishly. “I wasn’t, but the captain was happily married, her husband was the dive master and her grown children worked the boat. She was the only adult who recognized how serious I was about diving. She offered me a job, I told my parents, and my parents hit the roof.”

      “That’s putting it mildly,” Donna said, signaling to the waitress for a refill on her spritzer. “The tears, the arguments—it was a mess. Aurora wanted to go to court to be declared a legal adult, but the salvage job would’ve been filled by then. She had to be on the next plane with the captain, who offered to pay her passage, or lose out.”

      “How old were you?” Jordan asked Aurora.

      “Sixteen. I’d just finished my sophomore year in high school, but I knew what I wanted—my opportunity of a lifetime. I’d never given my parents names, places or details, so when they refused to listen, I left. They were unable to track me down.”

      Silence fell over the table. The seagulls screamed and circled above their empty table, then moved on.

      “You parents must have been heartbroken,” Jordan said.

      Aurora nodded. “They were. So was Dorian. She’s never forgiven me.”

      “Dorian’s a jealous bitch of a younger sister,” Donna said.

      “No, she’s not,” Aurora said loyally.

      “She is,” Donna insisted. “Even I was jealous. I mean, what an adventure! So Rory packed her things, caught the bus to the airport and left. She didn’t even say goodbye to her sister or her best friend—that’s me, by the way.”

      “I couldn’t. Not without causing more trouble.”

      “However,” Donna continued, “Rory kept in touch with me, and I delivered news to her family on a regular basis until she turned eighteen. Her parents forgave but never forgot. In fact, they moved to Arizona after a lifetime of working in the same San Diego bank. After Dorian got her accounting degree and married her computer expert, they stayed in San Diego. That’s when those proverbial chickens came home to roost. Dorian’s niece grew up hearing about her aunt and wanting to become another Rory—a hard act to follow.”

      “I never wanted to hurt anyone,” Aurora said quietly.

      “It’s true. She did all she could to spare her family,” Donna explained to Jordan. Jordan had the feeling not too many people sided with Aurora’s youthful decision. “However, Tanya doesn’t give a damn who she hurts when she wants something. Tanya doesn’t even care that Rory’s almost dead broke. She’s been meeting Dorian and Gerald’s payroll—and her cash is running out.”

      “Donna, please.” Aurora protested. “He doesn’t need to know all my personal business.”

      “He does if he’s going to be your partner. Besides, I have a stake in all this. Who’s in charge of protecting your butts?”

      “I didn’t ask you to look after me. I can take care of myself.”

      “So can I,” Jordan said.

      Donna gave him a skeptical gaze. “I heard about your little adventure on the pier, Mr. Castillo.”

      “I didn’t know anyone was after me. I do now. And I’ll help you keep an eye on Aurora.”

      “Worry about yourself, Jordan,” Rory muttered.

      “I will. Donna, I appreciate your efforts on my behalf. You’ll bill me, of course,” Jordan said, purposely changing the subject and centering his attention on Donna.

      “Strike