It would be the first time Becky and her kids had ever been on a ship. They’d seen them before, docked in San Diego, but knowing they were going to be living on one for a week was exciting. They stood in line on Pier Five at the Port of Miami, filling out forms, then gave their luggage to a stevedore and handed an agent their passports to check. Connor kept lagging behind, studying the exterior of the ship, while Sarah bounced around in happy anticipation. The heads of Ken and Barbie popped out of her backpack, as if they were doing their own happy dance.
BECKY KEPT BOTH Sarah and Connor close as they went through the embarkation process, which was held in a comfortable covered area on the pier. There was even a band playing island music in the far corner, and a private seating area for the VIP group, which Estelle had seen fit to bestow on Becky and the kids. However, Becky was sure all this executive treatment came with a high “you owe me” price tag. She could only speculate what that might be.
Becky kept the kids close by her side, not wanting them wandering off before they even found their cabins. Her ticket stated that she and her kids had a penthouse with a veranda.
Sarah had looked it up on the Web, and when she discovered the cabin had a DVD player, she insisted on bringing along Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars and various other movies to torment Becky and Connor with during the cruise. Becky brought along The Princess Bride, the one movie the entire family could agree on, even Connor. They’d all seen it countless times, and could quote from it, but there was something almost magical about the movie that usually put them in a good mood.
Sarah had this belief that anyone they met who loved the movie as much as they did would eventually become part of their family, and so far, Sarah had been right.
Becky, of course, was hoping to distract her from watching so many movies with all the water activities this cruise had to offer. After all, it was billed as A Creatures of the Caribbean encounter, a chance to get up close and personal, and Becky intended to take full advantage of every encounter offered…well, at least within reason. She had already signed up for a dolphin encounter—too good to pass up—and snorkeling around a coral reef sounded like fun. But she’d been forced to leave herself and the kids open because Estelle had her own plans, and Becky knew better than to try to disrupt those. The ship was scheduled to drop anchor at Grand Turk Island, the Cays, Tortola Island, St. Maarten and, of course, Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She was sure Estelle had plans for each stop, only she hadn’t yet bothered to tell Becky.
Once they stepped on board and into a huge lobby with glass elevators, large baskets of fresh flowers everywhere and enough room to accommodate half the people on the ship, Becky let out a sigh of relief. They had actually made it. Maybe she could, in fact, relax.
A charming woman with dark hair and a warm smile handed Becky a brightly colored brochure announcing an onboard treasure hunt. “Be sure to join in the fun, looking for the treasure,” the woman encouraged. “It’s all explained in this brochure.” Becky noticed her name tag: Patti Kennedy, Cruise Director.
“What’s that about?” Connor asked Becky, obviously curious.
Becky handed the brochure to Connor instead. “Here. You read it and tell us what it says.”
“Is it a real treasure?” Sarah asked. “Like in Pirates of the Caribbean? Will we be rich if we find it? I’d like that. Then Mommy could stay home more and only go to work when we’re at school.”
A pang of guilt ripped through Becky. She really had been working too many hours since Ryder had died. It wasn’t about the money; Ryder had left them more than enough to be comfortable. Plus each child had a college trust fund. The Montgomerys had set that up as soon as the kids were born. But work was the only thing that seemed to keep Becky from thinking about Ryder. It hadn’t been very fair to her kids. She could see that now, especially with Connor.
She made a promise to herself to spend every moment of this adventure with her kids. Perhaps, in some small way, that would make up for all those long hours they had spent with their babysitters.
She let out a heavy sigh, suddenly seeing the cruise in a whole new light. She watched as Sarah took Connor’s hand and pulled him in closer so she could see the pictures on the brochure. Connor didn’t put up any resistance. He merely opened the brochure, lowered to her level and began reading.
“May I see your boarding papers?”
Startled by the deep voice, Becky looked up and into the impossibly green eyes of the handsome man standing in front of her.
“What?”
“I’m here to escort you to your cabin.”
She handed him the papers.
“Oh, I see you’re in a penthouse, Ms. Montgomery.”
“Becky.” She felt her cheeks heat up. Now why had she wanted to tell him her first name?
“Welcome aboard. Follow me.”
Becky tapped the kids’ shoulders to get their attention and they all fell in line behind the man. She caught bits and pieces about the treasure hunt as Connor kept reading while they walked. It looked as if they were being given the VIP treatment with a special escort, something Estelle had likely set up.
As they walked, Becky sneaked a glance at their escort. He was very good-looking, dressed in white shorts and a white polo shirt, with the ship’s insignia discreetly stitched over his heart, along with a small name tag: Dylan Langstaff—Newfoundland. He wasn’t dressed in a steward’s uniform, and there was no indication of his title, so Becky could only guess this wasn’t part of his regular duties. He looked more like the fit outdoorsy type to her.
“‘…and the sun god was intensely jealous of the beautiful moon goddess and wanted her all to himself.’” Connor continued reading the legend in the brochure. “‘He didn’t like it when she was on the far side of the earth and he couldn’t see what she was doing. In one of these periods, the moon goddess fell in love with a beautiful shepherd from Arcadia named Lexus…’”
Becky could only imagine this cute guy’s backlist of women, probably the proverbial “girl in every port” routine. He didn’t seem the type who would choose to spend weeks on a ship, working far from home while he had a wife or steady girlfriend waiting his return. No, he definitely looked more like the dyed-in-the-wool bachelor type.
“‘…they had to keep their love a secret from the sun god and could only be together at night. The moon goddess went to the celestial seamstress Athena and begged her to weave a beautiful cloak of shimmering moonbeams that would shield the goddess and her lover from the eyes of the sun. The cloak worked beautifully until one day when the sun was searching for them, the cloak slipped and nearly revealed them…’”
But Dylan was the perfect specimen of the type of guy she had expected might work on a cruise ship: handsome and tall—she guessed just over six feet—wavy brown hair with those natural blond highlights from being out in the sun, thin and tan with muscular arms and straight shoulders. She thought he probably handled the athletic activities the ship offered, maybe helping passengers climb up those rock-climbing walls that were so popular. Connor had been to a birthday party at a rock climbing gym in San Diego a few years ago, and all the men there looked like Dylan—powerfully built, fit, ready for adventure.
“‘The moon goddess arranged for a blacksmith to make a clasp to secure the cloak and couldn’t resist having a large diamond inserted in the clasp. The sun was becoming increasingly jealous because he knew the moon goddess was in love with a human and he was determined to put an end to their relationship…’”
Becky kept sneaking peeks at Dylan as he led them into one of the glass elevators, then down a corridor with plush carpeting under their feet, where creamy white doors lined both sides of the hallway. She noticed