Summer Beach Reads. Natalie Anderson

‘He’s loaded then?’

      ‘You could say that.’

      She grunted and went back to her eggs. ‘Well, that figures.’

      ‘Ladies …’

      The man of the moment walked through the door and slid into a seat next to Shirley. Caryn said a cheerful good morning through a mouthful of eggs and Shirley gave a tight smile as the ship’s cook came out with two more plates of breakfast and placed them next to each other on her side of the table.

      ‘How did you sleep?’ Caryn asked casually.

      Shirley reached for the salt and pepper, desperate to be doing something as this conversation happened around her. She concentrated on breathing.

      ‘Actually, like a log,’ Hayden said. ‘Must be the sea air.’

      ‘Or the late night exercise,’ the blonde offered.

      Shirley’s hand closed hard around the salt shaker. Any harder and it might shatter. ‘I’m surprised to see either of you up this early,’ she hedged.

      ‘Twuwu has to have checks every four hours overnight,’ Caryn said. ‘Ten, two and six. So here I am.’

      ‘You went out again after I left you?’

      ‘The line of duty,’ Caryn said, wiping her hands and mouth on her napkin. ‘I can sleep all I want when I get home.’ She stood. ‘That said, I’m going to head back down to her now for her six o’clock check. Remember to come on down and say hi. She’s bored already.’

      ‘I know the feeling,’ Hayden grunted.

      Was that why he’d pursued Caryn—ennui?

      And, ultimately, what did it matter why he’d done it?

       You didn’t want him, Shirley …

      Shirley smiled as Caryn departed, then let it fall from her lips. She focused on pushing her scrambled eggs around the plate.

      ‘You working on a masterpiece, there, Picasso?’

      She lifted her eyes to Hayden’s. They were lighter, by far, than they had been when she’d last seen him. Maybe his good mood was symptomatic. Unfortunately for him, she’d had no sleep and no … stress relief to enhance her mood. She hit him with full-frontal sarcasm.

      ‘Does arrogance come naturally to you, Hayden, or do you have to work at it?’

      His frown doubled. ‘Shirley …?’

      ‘Late night exercise. Caryn.’

       Duh!

      Right at the back of his deep blue eyes a little light bulb illuminated. His answer was measured. ‘I walked around the deck and I ran into Caryn on her way back from checking on Twuwu.’

      ‘Unplanned, of course.’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Because you know nothing about planning seductions.’

      Ha. Hoist with his own petard. And other nautical metaphors.

      ‘There was no seduction.’

      ‘I guess there wouldn’t need to be if she was willing enough.’

      ‘There was no sex.’

      She pushed her plate away. ‘Spare me the details, Hayden. I don’t know why I’m so surprised.’

      ‘Given the kind of man I am, you mean?’

      She rounded on him, guilty heat surging forth. ‘Well, was I wrong?’

      ‘Actually, yes, you were. I have nothing to apologise for. And no requirement to, come to think of it. I’m a free agent.’

      ‘So all those murmurings I heard last night were just hallway chit-chat, were they?’

      ‘I have no idea what you heard, but yeah, they would have been.’

      A strange kind of earnestness tinged his expression. She frowned. ‘You didn’t sleep with Caryn?’

      ‘I did not.’

      The overhead radio crackled out music but the silence from the kitchen suggested the cook had tiptoed out or was listening in avidly to the raised voices in the mess room. Probably the latter. Maybe he had more English than he let on.

      ‘Right. Okay then.’

       Awkward …

      His lips twisted but she couldn’t honestly call it a smile. ‘Apology accepted.’ His voice lowered dangerously. ‘Now you can tell me something, Shirley … Exactly what business is it of yours what I do? Or with whom?’

      She pressed her lips together. ‘I … It’s not.’

      ‘Insufficient.’

      Of course he wasn’t going to let her just walk away from having made a colossal ass of herself. He was Hayden. She hissed out a breath. ‘You’d just finished telling me how she’d yammered at you all night. So the thought that you’d go straight to her from …’ She ran flat out of steam. And courage.

      His eyes grew keen. ‘Straight to her from you?’

      She sat up straighter. ‘Straight to her from our argument.’

      ‘No. From you. That’s what’s bothering you.’

      All right, fine. ‘You kissed me half to death yesterday and just hours later you were kissing her.’

      ‘Only I wasn’t.’

      ‘I didn’t know that.’ She took a breath. ‘It … disappointed me.’

      His eyes narrowed. ‘I’m sure I disappoint you daily. That’s nothing new.’

      She didn’t answer.

      ‘I have no obligation to you, Shirley. We’re friends.’ He glanced away. ‘If that.’

      Ouch. That hurt, unexpectedly. ‘We’re friends,’ she confirmed.

      ‘Then how have I broken faith with you?’

      ‘I just …’ What? She had no idea why she had such massive expectations of him. She sank back in her chair. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know how. I’m sorry.’

      The silence in the kitchen slowly returned to the sounds of cooking. Their conversation had apparently become less riveting. Hayden’s eyes went from thoughtful to slightly abashed.

      ‘You don’t need to beg my forgiveness any more than I need to explain myself to you.’

      Friends apologised to friends. Friends explained things to friends.

      Not owing him an explanation was a careful way of double reinforcing the fact that they barely even made friend status. As if she’d been clinging to some kind of illusion.

      Maybe she had.

      Silence resumed.

      ‘How did you go for Internet signal yesterday?’ he asked, finally breaking it.

      ‘Good. The ship has a router on the accommodation deck. The Wi-Fi is good.’

      ‘Great.’

      Awesome. Talking about Internet signal strength. Only marginally less pathetic than talking about the weather.

      ‘Does that mean you’re going to be working today?’ she checked.

      ‘I think I might. Up here in the recreation area. See what I can get done.’

      Was she surprised he was in no hurry to hang out with her? Or even near her. ‘Okay. Good luck with that.’ She stood. ‘I’m going to head off for a shower.’

      ‘Catch you later, then.’

      And