He jerked his eyes back to her face and found her studying him with a puzzled frown. He swallowed. “I’m sorry.” His voice sounded rough and he swallowed again. “I was just checking to make sure you had no visible signs of injury.”
One delicate sable brow lifted. “Whatever it was hit me in the head.” Violet reached up to gingerly explore her scalp.
“Of course.” Doyle nodded quickly, his fingers brushing hers as he began his own examination.
Violet winced and sucked in a breath as he found a tender spot.
“Sorry,” he said again, lightening his touch. “The skin doesn’t seem to be broken, but you do have quite a bump. Does it hurt anywhere else?”
He gave the faerie, still hovering above them, a meaningful glance. She pulled a small cloth pouch from inside her dress and darted down to sprinkle silvery healing dust over the area he was probing with his fingers.
Violet shook her head. “No. I think I’m alright. It’s already starting to feel better.”
Doyle smiled and Violet’s rosy lips quivered upward in response. She smelled of the ocean and sun-ripened fruit. Her hair was drying into shining ripples of silk beneath his hand, and he longed to run his fingers through its length. She was so close, her eyes like wide pools of liquid amethyst. A man could lose himself in their crystalline depths. If he just leaned in a few inches, he would be able to taste her…
An annoying chorus of giggles broke the spell. Doyle shook his head to clear it and reluctantly pulled his hand back from Violet.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Violet wasn’t quite sure what had just happened. First the handsome captain had blamed her for almost drowning. Then he’d insisted on taking care of her himself and sent the other, friendlier man away. She could have sworn she’d caught him ogling her cleavage, but he’d insisted he was only looking for injuries. Her head had been throbbing. But when he’d touched her, his fingers had literally soothed away the pain, as if by magic.
To make things even more confusing, just now there had been a moment when she was sure he was about to kiss her. A shiver went through her, her lips still tingling at the enticing thought. His sea-green eyes had held such heat as they stared into hers. But he’d pulled away when his two girlfriends showed up.
“Are you okay?” gasped the woman in the red bikini. Her voice dripped with concern, but her eyes roamed the captain’s muscular chest as she spoke. It was the clingy blonde he’d had on his arm earlier.
“What happened?” her friend asked in an anxious tone, steadily grinding a piece of chewing gum between her teeth.
Captain Doyle straightened and crossed his arms over the width of his chest, as if to distance himself from Violet. She felt a bright flash of annoyance at him, mingled with a touch of disgust for herself. She reached down to pull a towel from her backpack, using it as an excuse to scoot away from the fickle captain.
“Something big knocked into me from behind. It was probably a shark,” she replied briskly, enjoying the discomfort that flitted across both women’s faces as their eyes traveled from her to the water in which they’d just been swimming. “I felt it dragging me down before I passed out.”
“Did it bite you?” asked the one with the gum, grinding it harder as she stared at Violet in horrified fascination.
“I...” Violet looked down to make sure she wasn’t bleeding. It suddenly occurred to her that the only way a shark could have pulled her down was with its teeth. But all she found were a few light abrasions where her skin had rubbed against rock. Although relieved not to find any more serious injury, she discovered, with a surge of disappointment, that her favorite silver anklet had fallen off.
She looked up to find the woman still looking at her expectantly. “No, I wasn’t bitten,” she said, feeling foolish. She must have imagined being dragged down.
“Thank Gawd!” the woman exclaimed, appearing not to spot the inconsistency in Violet’s shark story.
Violet glanced at Captain Doyle, sure he’d catch it right away. But he was staring off into space, not even listening to her. Apparently she no longer merited his attention. Miffed and a little hurt, she stood up and wrapped her towel tighter around her midsection. “Excuse me. I need to use the restroom.”
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
“It wasn’t a shark,” the faerie piped up as soon as the word left Violet’s mouth. “It was a merrow. That’s why I wasn’t able to warn her away in time. Sometimes my signals get crossed when other magical beings are involved.”
Doyle stared at her, frustrated with his inability to reply.
“I don’t think this was an isolated incident. A couple of months ago…oh, Titania’s wand!” she cursed.
“I have to go. My son found his way out of his playpen. Little tyke’s getting much too clever. I’ll find you later, when you can talk.” She gave him an apologetic grimace and was gone.
Doyle blinked and realized that Violet was no longer at his side. He rose, skirting around the college girls, and began walking toward the bow in search of her. He thought he’d seen a merrow. But why would one of the mer-folk want to harm Violet?
Violet exited the head, pointedly avoiding his gaze as she returned to her seat, and Doyle sighed. Apparently he’d upset her again. He’d have to figure out how to make it up to her later. Right now, he needed to get his passengers back to shore.
“Ready to pull anchor, amigo?” Manny clapped him on the shoulder.
“Let’s take her in,” he grumbled.
Chapter Two
Violet couldn’t believe the nerve of the man. He’d followed her off the boat asking if they could get together later. When she declined, he asked for her address and phone number, claiming it was for insurance purposes. All the while, those two little blondes had been lurking behind, waiting for him.
Well, they could have him!
She felt a pang of regret, remembering his gentle touch and the way her entire body had tingled to life at the prospect of kissing him. But no. It didn’t matter how sexy his accent was, or how amazing his eyes were, or how much she wanted to run her fingers through that soft honey-brown hair and feel what it was like to have his thick arms band around her as their lips joined.
He was obviously some kind of playboy, and she wasn’t going to allow herself to become one of his toys.
She opened the white picketed gate and made her way up the cobblestone path that led to her parents’ glass-paned front door. Bougainvilleas bloomed in a riot of fuchsia, purple and orange, towering over the trellised fence to either side, intermingled with red and yellow trumpet vines. She really should get someone in here to cut them back, she thought, as she fitted the key in the lock. Maybe she’d ask that nice neighbor who had offered to help her box up her parents’ things if she knew of a good yard service.
Violet sighed as the door opened and a blast of cool air washed over her. She moved into the living room and dropped her backpack on the hardwood floor, sagging onto one of the couches. It was upholstered in a thick weave fabric that had been dyed royal blue. The other couch was dark red, and a forest green recliner completed the set, a tribute to her mother’s eclectic taste. Mom had loved to mix and match colors and styles, and somehow she had always seemed to make it work.
Which reminded Violet, she’d intended to finish packing up her mom’s hat collection today. She allowed herself to rest for a few minutes more, then she