Bride of the Tiger by Heather Graham (big screen ebook reader txt) 📕

“Yes,” he answered flatly.

“I can take care of myself.”

“Can you? Seems to me that things went rather badly for you two years ago.”

She inhaled sharply. “What did you do, threaten him?”

“No, I didn’t threaten him, Tara. What is this thing you’ve got about threats?”

“Then what did you do?”

“I offered him a better story, Miss Hill. That’s all.”

“And that was?”

He laughed. “I don’t know yet. I just promised him that he could have an important exclusive in the near future if he would quit torturing you. So, do I get hanged for that, too?”

“I’m not trying to hang you.”

“Aren’t you?”

She shook her head.

“Then am I forgiven?”

She shook her head again. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

Tara jumped up suddenly, afraid to be with him. He’d answered honestly; he hadn’t hedged or lied. But she could have found out the truth herself, anyway.

But what was wrong with knowing the truth about him? She still wasn’t sure. You couldn’t hang a man for being affluent. Or for being so affluent that his promise of a story was “better” to a reporter than digging into her past.

It was just that she wanted to trust him so badly. She wanted to believe that this was really it, that their love could go on and on forever.

“Tara.” He caught her wrist, and she could have sworn that the depth of emotion in his arresting golden eyes was real. “Tara, I’m here because I care. Because I have to be. Please, believe that.”

She nodded distractedly.

“Can you have dinner with me?”

“I, um, not tonight. I promised George I’d stay with the group. He’s having pictures taken.”

“After?”

“I’ll—I’ll meet you in the casino, I guess.”

She jerked her hand away, a blush suffusing her cheeks. She needed to run away at this moment; she had promised to meet him later because she couldn’t have done anything else. The need to be with him was far stronger than any warning signals.

Ashley was anxiously awaiting her in the cabin. “Well?”

“He owns the ship.”

“Oh? And?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know. We’ll see.”

Ashley continued to quiz her; Tara remained stubbornly silent as they showered and dressed for dinner. Ashley told Tara that Mary had seemed to have the captain wrapped around her little finger; he was spending all his free time with her.

“Well, that poor man had better watch out!” Tara said, laughing, but she was still nervous; she felt a stream of energy running through her, and she didn’t know when it would slow down.

Sometime during dinner, she did calm down. She had agreed to meet Rafe. She wanted with all her heart to meet him. She dreamed of spending the cruise with him. Being held in his arms while the breeze moved around them.

The photographers arrived, and the models posed with their wineglasses held high. They stood; they sat. They did their very best to look totally elegant in George’s creations.

Then they were left alone, talking, laughing—just like the other passengers.

Dinner came to an end when Mary nibbled at her dessert, then yawned softly, stretching. “Anyone for casino? I’ve got my numbers all picked out for the roulette wheel.”

“I’ll put forty quarters into a slot machine and that will be that!” Cassandra said agreeably.

Ashley started to rise, and Tara, too. But George halted her.

“Tara, could you stay behind just a minute, please?”

She frowned slightly, then shrugged, sitting again.

George smiled and waved the others away. When they were gone, he took Tara’s hands and stared worriedly into her eyes. “Are you okay, Tara?”

“I’m fine.”

“How are things with Tyler? I didn’t mean to feed you to any wolves, you know. It’s just, well, naturally, he can do a great deal for my prestige. But secondly, well, it’s time that you—that you saw other men again. I didn’t make you unhappy, did I?”

She shook her head. “No, you didn’t make me unhappy. I like Rafe very much.”

He nodded.

“Did you know that he owned the ship?” Tara asked.

“Guilty as charged.”

“You didn’t tell me.”

“If he’d wanted you to know, he would have said something. I guess he has told you, now.”

She nodded.

“Oh, Tara.” He shook his head. “I just hope that I’ve been doing right by you. I thought that you needed to work again. Maybe even face the past. But the closer we get to Caracas, the more nervous I get.”

“You can’t really believe that Tine has been waiting there for two years on the possibility that I might come back?”

He shrugged. “From what you said, Tine really wanted that mask.”

“I never had the damn mask. Who knows, he may have it already. And most likely he’s living somewhere deep in South America and he’ll never make an appearance again. Why risk arrest?”

George nodded sagely, agreeing with her logic. “To think that I made a nest for that smuggling snake all those years! Ah, well, you’ll be with all of us. You won’t be out of our sight for a minute! You’ll be fine.”

“I think so. Thanks, George.”

He gave her a little wave. She smiled vaguely and hurried up to the casino.

Rafe wasn’t there. She saw Mary at the roulette table and asked her if she had seen him.

Mary gave her one of her all-knowing stares, plunked down a pile of chips and nodded. “He was here looking for you a few minutes ago. I told him that you had been delayed. I’m afraid I don’t know where he went.”

“Oh. Thanks,” Tara murmured, trying not to show her disappointment.

She walked around the ship, going from lounge to lounge, but she didn’t see him. She shied away from a friendly, slightly inebriated group who wanted her to join them. She was so keenly disappointed that she felt like crying.

She went back to her cabin, scrubbed her face, touched up her nails and finally decided to go to bed.

She lay awake for about two hours. Ashley came in, tiptoeing once she saw that Tara was in bed. In a few minutes she stretched out in her own bed, and Tara thought