To Wear His Ring: Circle of Gold / Trophy Wives / Dakota Bride. Wendy Warren

in the water.

      Closer to Pauline, Bess was staring down at the swimming pool where the water was about six feet deep—far too deep for her to swim in.

      “I wish I could dive,” she told Pauline.

      “But it’s easy,” Pauline told her, making instant plans. “Just put your arms out in front of you like this,” she demonstrated, “and jump in. Really, it’s simple.”

      “Are you sure?” Bess asked, thrilled that an adult might actually teach her how to dive!

      “Of course! I’m right here. How dangerous can it be? Go ahead. You can do it.”

      Of course she could, Bess thought, laughing with delight. She put her arms in the position Pauline had demonstrated and shifted her position to dive in. There wasn’t anybody else around the pool to notice if she did it wrong. She’d show her daddy when he came back. Wouldn’t he be surprised?

      She moved again, just as Pauline suddenly turned around. Her leg accidentally caught one of Bess’s. Pauline fell and so did Bess, but Bess’s head hit the pavement as she went down. The momentum kept her going, and she rolled into the pool, unconscious.

      “Oh, damn!” Pauline groaned. She got to her feet and looked into the pool, aware that Jenny was screaming. “Do shut up!” she told the child. “I’ll have to get someone…”

      But even as she spoke, Gil came around the corner of the hotel, oblivious to what had just happened.

      “Daddy!” Jenny screamed. “Bess falled in the swimmy pool!”

      Gil didn’t even break stride. He broke into a run and dived in the second he was close enough. He went to the bottom, scooped up his little girl and swam back up with all the speed he could muster. Out of breath, he coughed as he lifted Bess onto the tiles by the pool and climbed out himself. He turned the child over and rubbed her back, aware that she was still breathing by some miracle. She coughed and water began to dribble out of her mouth, and then to gush out of it as she regained consciousness.

      “Call an ambulance,” he shot at Pauline.

      “Oh, dear, oh, dear,” she murmured, biting her nails.

      “Call a damned ambulance!” he raged.

      One of the pool boys saw what was going on and told Gil he’d phone from inside the hotel.

      “Where’s Kasie?” Gil asked Pauline with hateful eyes as Jenny threw herself against him to be comforted. Bess was still coughing up water.

      There it was. The opportunity. Pauline drew in a quick breath. “That man came by to take her to lunch. You know, the man she met on the plane. She begged me to watch the girls so they’d have time to talk.”

      Gil didn’t say anything, but his eyes were very expressive. “Where is she?”

      “I really don’t know,” Pauline lied, wide-eyed. “She didn’t say where they were going. She was clinging to him like ivy and obviously very anxious to be alone with him,” she added. “I can’t say I blame her, he’s very handsome.”

      “Bess could have died.”

      “But I was right here. I never left them,” she assured him. “The girls mean everything to me. Here, let me have Jenny. I’ll take care of her while you get Bess seen to.”

      “Want Kasie,” Jenny whimpered.

      “There, there, darling,” Pauline said sweetly, kissing the plump little cheek. “Pauline’s here.”

      “Damn Kasie!” Gil bit off, horrified at what might have happened. Kasie knew he didn’t trust Pauline to watch the girls. Why had Kasie been so irresponsible? Was it to get back at him for what he’d said the night they arrived in Nassau?

      When the ambulance arrived, Kasie and Zeke left their dessert half-eaten and rushed out the door. Zeke had to stop to pay the check, but Kasie, apprehensive and uneasy without knowing exactly why, rounded the corner of the building just in time to see little Bess being loaded onto the ambulance.

      “Bess! What happened?!” Kasie asked, sobbing.

      “She hit her head on the pool, apparently, and almost drowned, while you were away having a good time with your boyfriend,” Gil said furiously. The expression on his face could have backed down a mob. “You’ve got a ticket home. Use it today. Go back to the ranch and start packing. I want you out of my house when I get back. I’ll send your severance pay along, and you can thank your lucky stars that I’m not pressing charges!”

      “But, but, Pauline was watching them—” Kasie began, horrified at Bess’s white face and big, tragic eyes staring at her from the ambulance.

      “It was your job to watch them,” Gil shot at her. “That’s what you were paid to do. She could have died, damn you!”

      Kasie went stark white. “I’m sorry,” she choked, horrified.

      “Too late,” he returned, heading to the ambulance. “You heard me, Kasie,” he added coldly. “Get out. Pauline, take care of Jenny until I get back.”

      “Of course, darling,” she cooed.

      “And get her away from the swimming pool!”

      “I’ll take her up to my room and read to her. I hope you’ll be fine, Bess, darling,” she added.

      Kasie stood like a little statue, sick and alone and frightened as the ambulance closed up and rushed away, its lights flashing ominously.

      Pauline turned and gave Kasie a superior appraisal. “It seems you’re out of a job, Miss Mayfield.”

      Kasie was too sick at heart to react. She didn’t have it in her for a fight. Seeing Bess lying there, so white and fragile was acutely painful. Even Jenny seemed not to like her anymore. She buried her face against Pauline and clung.

      Pauline turned and carried the child back to her chaise lounge to get her room key. Not bad, she thought, for a morning’s work. One serious rival accounted for and out of the way.

      Zeke caught up with Kasie at the pool. “What happened?” he asked, brushing a stray tear from Kasie’s cheek.

      “Bess almost drowned,” she said huskily. “Pauline promised to watch her. How did she hit her head?”

      “I wouldn’t put much past that woman,” he told Kasie somberly. “Some people won’t tolerate rivals.”

      “I’m no rival,” she replied. “I never was.”

      Having noted the expression on her boss’s face at the airport when he’d said goodbye to Kasie, he could have disputed that. He knew jealousy when he saw it. The man had been looking at him as if he’d like to put a stake through his heart.

      “He fired me,” Kasie continued dazedly. “He fired me, without even letting me explain.”

      “Trust me, after whatever she told him, it wouldn’t have done any good. Go home and let things cool down,” he added. “Most men regain their reason when the initial upset passes.”

      “You know a lot about people,” Kasie remarked as they started up to her room.

      “I’m a reporter. It goes with the territory. I’ll go with you to the airport and help you change the ticket,” he added grimly. “Not that I want to. I was looking forward to getting to know you. Now we’ll be ships that passed in the night.”

      “So we will. Do you believe in fate?” she asked numbly.

      “I do. Most things happen for a reason. Just go with the flow.” He grinned. “And don’t forget to give me your home address! I won’t be out of the country forever.”

      Chapter Eight

      It didn’t take long for Kasie to pack. She wouldn’t let herself think of what was