“Sure.” If she’d survived the last few months, she could survive being stranded in an airport.
Ryan swallowed. Kelsey wondered if the question had been deeper than a polite inquiry.
“Good. Good,” he said. “You don’t look fine. You look dead on your feet and stressed to the max.”
“Thanks.” Roadkill. She looked like roadkill.
“No insult meant.”
“None taken.” Yeah right.
“Mind if I ask what happened to your husband?”
The nightmare that had begun five months ago was never far from her thoughts. If she was going to work for this man, he needed to know.
She shook her head setting her hair into motion. It felt heavy and greasy against her scalp. What she wouldn’t give for a shower and shampoo and a comfy bed.
“Mark was sailing a yacht to its new owner in Greece when something went wrong. An explo
sion of some kind. He was lost at sea.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.” She never knew what else to say, though her answer sounded so unfeeling. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel terrible about Mark’s death. It was that she was still so angry and bewildered at what he’d done.
“He was never found?”
One of the reasons the insurance company had refused to pay. No body, no money. A morbid prospect, she thought. “No. The investigation is ongoing but the Coast Guard insists no one could have survived the explosion and subsequent fire. There was nothing left of the yacht other than debris.”
She’d heard the story and repeated the words so often to investigators, insurance adjusters, reporters and friends, but they still held that element of horror. No matter how she felt about Mark, she’d never wanted him dead.
The marriage had been rocky for so long that Kelsey was embarrassed to play the grieving widow. Still, hadn’t she gotten pregnant in an attempt to draw them closer together? Foolhardy, she knew now because, instead of fixing the problem she’d made things worse. Mark had not been happy to add, as he called it, the financial burden of rearing a child to his busy life. She’d thought the notion ridiculous given how well they were doing financially. Or so she had thought.
Only after the accident did she discover some important details Mark had forgotten to mention. The business was in deep trouble. The money he took with him was all they had. He’d also put Mason Marine and all the accounts payable in her name. At first, she’d thought the action was sweet and loving—until reality dawned. Her husband had not left her the business as a means to care for her and their baby. He’d left her holding the bag.
A warm, masculine hand pressed against hers. Both Ryan and Mariah were studying her with concern. “Hey. You went a million miles away. Sorry to bring up such a painful topic.”
She’d expected compassion from the child, but from Ryan? The man was as much as an enigma now as he’d been in high school.
How did she explain to him, or to anyone, that the greatest pain was not in losing a husband but in the knowledge that her husband hadn’t really cared for her, or their child, at all?
She didn’t. Her personal pain was her own.
“It’s behind me now.” A total lie. A mountain of debt and a string of bill collectors snapped at her heels like Doberman pinschers. Somehow, some way, she’d repay all that was owed.
He hitched an eyebrow in the direction of the soccer ball around her middle. “Not everything.”
For the first time since Ryan Storm had stormed into her life in the middle of a snow storm, Kelsey felt a sense of calm at the mention of her pregnancy. However inconvenient the timing might be, her baby was the one joy, the one good thing, left in her life.
She stroked a protective hand over her belly. “Yes, there is the baby.”
And she’d do whatever it took to make a good life for her unborn child.
“So is it a deal? You’ll come to work for me? I promise you’ll be well-compensated.”
Well-compensated. She could deal with that. Here was a chance to save for the future, to pay off debts, to start over again for the sake of her child. What else could she say?
“A thirty-day trial?”
Ryan’s smile was more dazzling than the Texas sun at high noon. He offered a hand. As his long, competent fingers encircled her slender hand, Kelsey experienced an array of emotions. Relief. Safety. And oh dear, a zing of physical attraction too strong to be ignored.
Ryan must have felt it, too, for he didn’t turn loose of her hand for the longest time. Instead, he stared down at her with an intense and probing expression. Butterflies that had nothing to do with the baby fluttered in Kelsey’s belly.
“Daddy, Kelsey, look,” Mariah’s little voice interrupted. The adults dropped their hands as if they’d held hot potatoes and turned toward the little girl. She pointed at the windows. “The snow stopped.”
“So it has.” As though nothing had passed between them, Ryan turned away from Kelsey and got up for a closer look.
Maybe the moment had been her wild imagination. Maybe it had been her fluxuating and unpredictable hormones. But she didn’t think so.
The flutter intensified and she thought of her baby. This job was the best thing for him or her. And since Kelsey had no intention of ever getting romantic with a success-oriented workaholic like Ryan, she was perfectly safe. With that firmly in mind, she rose to follow Ryan and Mariah to the windows. Her cramped legs and back thanked her.
“The cloud cover seems to be breaking,” Ryan was saying.
“It is, Daddy. See right there?” Nose pressed to the window, Mariah turned her face toward her father. Her expression was sweet and confident. “Just like I told you before. Everything will work out fine. And it has. We found Kelsey, and now the storm has stopped. Things are looking up.”
Kelsey caught Ryan’s eye and both adults chuckled.
Yes, indeed. Maybe things were finally looking up.
Even if Ryan Storm was a little too attractive.
CHAPTER THREE
MARIAH HAD BEEN RIGHT. Planes began to fly again in a matter of hours. Once their seats were secured, the newly formed trio trudged to an eatery for a late-night snack and a round of general conversation. In that hour, Kelsey began to feel far more comfortable with the idea of working for Ryan and tutoring Mariah. The child desperately needed a woman’s influence and nurturing. And if there was one thing Kelsey could do, it was nurture.
The first sign of a snag came when Ryan said, “Before we board, I’ll call ahead to be sure a car is available to take us home from the airport.”
“I can get a cab.” She poked a fork into her fruit cup, spearing a piece of melon. It was the only thing on the menu she could afford.
Ryan, who’d ordered a full country breakfast, paused in mid-bite, frown puzzled. The result of not shaving in a while framed his mouth in such a sexy manner, Kelsey could hardly stop staring.
“Why would you need to do that?”
“It beats walking.”
“You aren’t walking. You’re going home with us.” The words were a statement of fact that brooked no argument.
Kelsey gulped, swallowing a whole grape. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I hired you because I need you now. Tonight. Tomorrow.”
The choice of words, coupled with his manly, scruffy look, brought to mind all kinds of possibilities. Troubling possibilities.