“Well, look at what the cat dragged in.” Jeremy sauntered into the room, eyeing Alexandra up and down. “I never thought I’d see you again.”
He wore a bright pink and purple paisley shirt that fell open at the neck and exposed a few strands of chest hair, reminding me of a lounge lizard who’d wandered into a World Market sale. Even his cologne was too much, overpowering the smell of burned fabric and making my nose twitch. I’d never been a fan of heavy cologne on men, especially on a man as unappealing as Jeremy.
She took a small step backward then clenched her fists and squared her shoulders. “I hoped the next time I saw you, you’d be six feet under.”
Jeremy arched a brow. “Kitty has claws.”
Alexandra rolled her eyes. “Give up the act, Jeremy. I told them all about you and who you used to be.”
A flash of anger and fear darted across his face, then he sneered. “Do I care what these two-bit amateurs think?”
“Hey,” Richard said as his bag growled. “Who are you calling amateurs?”
I tried to send Richard a warning look to stay out of this fight, but he wasn’t focused on me. The last thing we needed was for Jeremy Johns, confidant and preferred designer of the stepmother, to run off and tell Mrs. Barbery we brought a dog on board the ship. Knowing how strict they were about shoes, I could only imagine how they’d feel about a dog.
Jeremy’s eyes darted between Richard, Alexandra, and Richard’s quivering bag. It seemed as if he couldn’t decide which one to focus on first as he opened and closed his fists.
Richard waved a hand at the gaudy fabrics spread across the dining table. “Bold words from someone who picked out this horror of a color palette. Not to mention that shirt.”
“The only taste he ever had was in his mouth,” Alexandra said. She ran her eyes up and down her ex-husband and gave a dismissive sniff. “And even that he learned from me.”
Jeremy’s face flushed scarlet and he stamped his foot. “How dare you! I am a visionary.”
Alexandra laughed. “Your only vision is of money and how much you can talk people out of. And if this is the best original idea you can come up with, I feel sorry for you.”
Kate looked at me, her eyes wide. Neither of us had ever heard Alexandra go after someone like this. Even with the most difficult brides, she’d always managed to keep her cool and her somewhere-in-Europe sophisticated reserve. Clearly, Jeremy had a talent for making even the most unflappable people feel homicidal.
Jeremy glared at his ex-wife, his breathing heavy. “You’d better leave before I have you thrown off the ship. You should know by now what happens to people who cross me.”
“You don’t scare me anymore, Jeremy.” Alexandra strode across the room until she was inches away from his face. “And you’d better be careful, or you may find yourself off this boat. Floating facedown in the Potomac.”
Jeremy took a step back from her, and I could see he was startled. Even I was surprised she’d gone there since we had, in fact, recently found a body floating in the Potomac.
“Damn, girl,” Kate muttered under her breath.
“Can I be of assistance?” Daniel Reese came into the room and put a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder. Jeremy jumped and twisted around to face the retired police officer.
Several inches taller than Jeremy, Daniel wore gray cargo pants and a black button-down shirt he had rolled up to the elbows. He cleared his throat and looked around the room at all of us.
“Everything’s fine.” Jeremy shrugged Daniel’s hand off his shoulder and tugged at the bottom of his shiny shirt to straighten it. “I need to get back to Mrs. Barbery.” He shot a menacing glance at Alexandra and left the room, pushing past Fern and another man on his way out.
“What’s going on?” Fern asked, pulling the other man into the room behind him. “We heard Jeremy screeching.”
“It’s nothing. Jeremy and Alexandra had a few words.” I took a moment to absorb his outfit. “Do you mind if I ask what you’re wearing?”
Fern touched a hand to his navy blazer with gold epaulets on the shoulders. “Don’t you know dress blues when you see them?”
I rubbed my temples. “Please tell me that’s not an actual Navy uniform.”
Fern laughed and swatted me. “Of course not. Those jackets are cut too boxy. I had this one designed for me when I knew I’d be working on a boat. I kept the gold stripe down the sides of the pants but tapered them to elongate my legs. See?”
I nodded as I took in the slim-fit pants and matching tailored blazer embellished with gold braid and a colorful bar of fake commendations over the left pocket. I hoped no actual military officers ever laid eyes on this.
“I, for one, thought you were part of the ship’s crew,” Alexandra said.
Fern’s eyes rested on the cake designer, and he clapped his hands together and ran to give her a hug. “You’re here!”
“I didn’t know you were on board,” Alexandra said when Fern had released her.
“Officially I’m not here since Kristie isn’t staying on the boat anymore,” Fern said. “Damian and I were just gabbing downstairs. Everyone, this is Damian, Mrs. Barbery’s hairstylist from Paris.”
The man with Fern smiled at us. “Bonjour.”
I could see Kate turn up the wattage on her smile when she heard his accent, and I tried not to groan out loud. Kate had a weakness for accents. Actually she had a weakness for most things having to do with men.
I had to admit he was striking. Tall with muscled arms the color of raw honey and dark dreadlocks that reached his shoulders. He wore a snug black T-shirt and dark wash jeans only a Frenchman could pull off. Everything about Damian was too cool to be from DC.
“So you can’t stand Jeremy either?” Fern asked Alexandra, holding both of her hands in his.
Richard’s bag yipped, and he coughed over it.
“She hates him even more than the rest of us,” Kate said. “She used to be married to him.”
Fern’s face registered disbelief. “Jeremy Johns? You were married to Jeremy Johns?” He held her out at arm’s length “Are you sure, darling?”
Kate, Richard, and I all coughed as Hermès let out a series of small barks. Fern, Damian, and Daniel looked around the room, so I did as well—shrugging after the yipping stopped. Daniel began walking toward Richard, and Richard edged away from him.
Alexandra laughed. “It’s a long story.”
Fern winked at her. “You know what I say, girl. The longer the better.”
“Oui,” Damian said, and he and Fern giggled.
Richard shook his head and shifted his bag behind him. “Oh, for the love of all that’s holy.”
I leaned closer to Kate. “Do you think Damian speaks any English?”
“When you look like that, who cares?” Kate whispered back.
“Is everything okay here?” Daniel asked. By this point he’d made a full circle of the room and so had Richard, so they remained on opposite sides of each other. Daniel’s face told me he was more amused than concerned. “Jeremy Johns seems to have a lot of enemies on board.”
This time when Hermès yipped, he leapt out of the bag and onto the floor. Damian’s hand flew to his mouth as he screamed.
“How did that get in there?” Richard said, peering into his messenger bag and pretending to be startled.
Clearly thrilled to be out of the bag and in daylight, Hermès trotted around the group sniffing all of our feet.
Fern reached down and scooped him up in his arms. “Was that big, bad man keeping you inside his bag?” He shook one of the dog’s tiny brown paws at Richard. “Naughty Richard.”
Damian had recovered from his surprise and reached over to pet the Yorkie. “Adorable.”
Daniel laughed. “So that’s what you all were hiding?”
“Sorry.” Kate batted her eyelashes at him and held out her wrists. “Do you need to lock us up?”
“I’m here to keep an eye out for danger, not dogs.” He tousled the fur on top of Hermès’s head. “Anyway, I like dogs.”
“And I’m sorry I lost my temper,” Alexandra said. “I let Jeremy get to me. But I promise I won’t let this impact my work for this wedding.”
“Don’t worry,” Richard said. “That toad is the master at pushing people’s buttons. There have been plenty of times I would have liked to see him floating in the Potomac.”
“I’m sure you don’t mean that.” I gave Richard a pointed look and hoped Daniel wasn’t taking what he said seriously. “Have you met Daniel Reese? Detective Reese’s brother and the head of the security team on board?”
“I’m sure I do mean it,” he said, then glanced at Daniel. “And yes, I’ve met Big Brother. I told him he was even better looking than the detective in a silver fox kind of way, and I hoped not nearly as arrest happy.”
I put a hand over my eyes. Between Richard threatening people on board, Hermès’s surprise appearance, and Kate’s flirting, we were making a great impression.
“He knows I would never really push Jeremy in the Potomac,” Richard said.
Daniel rocked back on his heels. “Of course not.”
“And he knows I mean silver fox as a compliment.” Richard winked at Daniel.
“Anyone over twenty-five is not automatically a silver fox.” I felt myself blushing for Daniel.
“I’m not criticizing.” Richard spread his arms out in front of him. “I’m expanding my horizons.”
Good heavens. I took Hermès from Fern and handed him back to Richard, then grabbed Kate by an arm. “Why don’t we go? We’ve caused enough fun for one day.” I glanced back at Alexandra, avoiding looking at Daniel. “You coming? I can drop you back at your hotel.”
Alexandra put her sunglasses back on. “I’m with you. It would be smart to put some distance between me and my ex-husband.”
I pushed my motley group out the door of the salon and through the informal dining room. As we were trading the Mystic Maven slippers for the shoes we’d left in the big basket, I heard my name being called from above. I glanced up and saw Mandy waving at me from one deck up.
“Hold on a second,” she called down, and then disappeared from sight.
“We were so close,” Kate said.
I handed my car keys to Kate. “You guys go ahead to the car. I’ll wait for her.”
Kate and Alexandra teetered down the ramp in their heels, and I hoped neither of them turned an ankle.
Mandy appeared at the bottom of the circular staircase at the other end of the deck and hurried toward me. “Sorry to stop you. I wanted to talk with you about Caren.”
“She hasn’t come back?”
Mandy darted a glance over her shoulder. “No. She didn’t come to see you, did she?”
“Me? Why would she come to see me? I don’t even think we ever spoke.”
“I know.” Mandy let out a breath. “But she knew you were with the wedding, so I thought maybe she’d reached out to you. I’m sorry. I’m grasping for straws.”
I put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. I know you’re worried about her.”
The glass door to the informal dining room opened behind me, and the bride’s stepbrother stepped outside. “Hey! The wedding planner, right?”
“You got it,” I said. “Brody, right?”
He snapped his finger and grinned, the tanned skin around his blue eyes crinkling. He really was spectacular looking. I was glad Kate had already left the ship, or I knew I’d never get her off.
“My mother was looking for you, Mandy,” he said.
“Thanks for the chat,” Mandy said as she rushed toward the staircase.
Brody bestowed a wide smile on me as he snapped his fingers. “Actually, I have a question for you. Is it true that you’ve been involved in murder cases before?”
I cocked my head to the side. “Where did you hear that?”
Brody’s shoulder twitched up in a hint of a shrug. “Your assistant might have let something slip.”
Of course she did. “Maybe once or twice.”
“So this is par for the course for you,” Brody said, leaning against the ship’s railing.
I brushed a strand of hair off my face that had escaped from my ponytail. “I wouldn’t say that. Murder is never what I’d consider routine.”
His face became serious. “Of course not.”
“Anyway,” I said. “Our focus is on Kristie’s wedding, not the murder.”
“Too bad.” Brody winked at me. “You two are much easier on the eyes than the security guys or the cops.”
Even though I knew he was just being friendly, I couldn’t suppress a nervous laugh. “I’d better go.”
Brody arched a brow at me and grinned. “Weddings to save?”
“Something like that.” I walked down the gangway as fast as I could without breaking into a jog. I glanced back at the ship once and saw Brody watching me. I got the feeling he was standing guard. I just wished I knew if he was guarding against a threat on board or someone on land with me.