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PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE Piraeus, GreeceMay, nine months later “THERE SHE IS, Stefan. Alexandra’s Dream.” David Anderson squatted beside his new son and pointed at the dark blue hull that towered above the pier. The cruise ship was a majestic sight, twelve decks high and as long as a city block. A circle of silver and gold stars, the logo of the Liberty cruise line, gleamed from the swept-back smokestack. Like some legendary sea creature born for the water, the ship emanated power from every sleek curve. Even at rest it held the promise of motion. “That’s going to be our home for the next ten days.”The child beside him remained silent, his cheeks working in and out as he sucked furiously on his thumb. Hair so blond it appeared white ruffled against his forehead in the harbor breeze. The baby-sweet scent unique to the very young mingled with the tang of the sea.“Ship,” David said. “Uh, parakhod.”From beneath his bangs, Stefan looked at Alexandra’s Dream. Although he didn’t release his thumb, the cor
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO DAVID RESTED HIS hand on Stefan’s back, letting it ride the soft rise and fall of his breathing as he sank deeper into sleep. Dressed in his bright red Spider-Man pajamas, the little boy could have passed for an ordinary five-year-old. The wariness had dropped from his face, leaving him with the peaceful innocence that should have been his all along.It was an awesome responsibility, to be entrusted with the welfare of a child. David had thought he was prepared for parenthood—he’d been eager for it—yet he hadn’t expected his feelings to deepen so fast. Did every father feel this protective? Maybe caring for a defenseless child, keeping him safe, was the true purpose of a man’s strength.“Good night, son,” David whispered, tucking the coverlet over Stefan’s shoulders. “Sweet dreams.”Stefan’s thumb twitched on the pillow. He gave a shuddering sigh, then resumed his even breathing.David stood up from the twin bed, taking care not to jar the mattress. The bedroom he’d prepared fo
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE “YES, THEY’RE RIGHT over there, Mrs. Anderson.”Marina looked past an array of glass-fronted wooden bookshelves and plush armchairs to the corner the librarian had indicated. David and Stefan were seated on an overstuffed sofa near the room’s far wall. Bathed in the soft glow from one of the pot lights in the library’s ceiling, they could have been posing for an artist’s portrait. They looked relaxed and natural, the picture of togetherness, snuggled close beside each other as Stefan tipped his head toward the book that David held on his lap.The contrast between the broad-shouldered, dark-haired man and the slight blond boy was more than visually appealing, it was touching. They looked almost as sweet as they had the night before when David had sat on Stefan’s bed to comfort him.Marina hadn’t been able to get that image out of her mind. In particular, she kept remembering how David’s large hand had rested so gently on the whimsically patterned red pajamas that had covered
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR MARINA TUCKED THE phone between her shoulder and her ear so she could use both hands to dig through the heap of tour pamphlets and day-trip brochures that she’d left on the dining table. Her cell phone wouldn’t work at sea, but the phones in her stateroom were cordless so they were almost as handy. She continued to dig until the trailing cuff of her pajama top caught the edge of a pamphlet and uncovered a corner of her sketchbook. “One moment, Rudolph. I remember seeing something here earlier.”“I believe Siiri faxed the contracts this morning, Marina.”She pushed her cuffs above her elbows and grabbed her sketchbook. As soon as she lifted it up, she spotted the documents her secretary had sent her. “Found them.”“Thank you. I’d like to draw your attention to the one for the beachwear. Second paragraph on the third page.”“Hang on.” She tugged the pages from underneath her sketchbook, regarded the cluttered table for a moment, then carried the phone and the papers to the livin
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE THE MODEST CAFÉ was miles from the medieval stone walls of the Old City that drew tourists to Dubrovnik. There were no picturesque fountains or churches on this street, no trendy boutiques, no scenic vistas. The sunrise that spread over the red rooftops dotting the city’s hills hadn’t yet penetrated the shadows here. Yellowed ceiling bulbs glowed over a mixture of chrome chairs with vinyl seats and wooden tables the color of mud. It was dim, crowded with dockworkers and rife with the odor of fish.As usual, Ilya Fedorovich gave no thought to his surroundings, other than scanning the room for anything that looked out of place. It was a reflex action. The odds that any law enforcement agency would be looking for him here in Croatia were slim. Only the Russian deckhand he was meeting knew where Ilya was, and he understood what would happen if he talked.Ilya took a table in a corner and placed his back to the wall. He ordered coffee so the waitress would leave him to his busine
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX THE HELIOS DECK was the topmost one on the ship, and it provided a wide variety of diversions, from a fitness center to a spa. Under other circumstances, David would have been making full use of the exercise equipment. He wasn’t accustomed to going this many days without a good workout. That was probably one of the reasons why he was feeling so tense.But the main reason his muscles were tightening and his fingers were closing into fists wasn’t a lack of exercise. It was the woman who was racing toward him.It had been impossible to miss Marina’s arrival. She’d burst onto the deck at a run, her sandaled feet skidding across the wood and her skirt flaring around her calves. She was wearing pink today, the hue as fresh as a sunrise, yet as always, it wasn’t her clothes that made her so noticeable, it was her energy. Two men on the putting green bumped into each other as they turned to watch her go by. One of the players on the tennis courts smiled to her as she passed, obliviou
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN “WHAT’S TAKING SO long?” Marina demanded. “The paramedics checked him over before they brought him back to the ship. Did you find something else wrong? Is there some problem they missed?”The nurse squeezed Marina’s shoulder and steered her toward the padded bench in the reception room. “Relax, Mrs. Anderson. Your husband is in remarkably good condition, considering what he went through. He’s a lucky man. We’re just giving him a thorough examination to make sure we can handle his needs before we leave the harbor.”“He’s not my husband,” Marina said. “We’re just…” She paused. She’d run into this issue at least a dozen times over the past few hours, both in English and Italian, but she hadn’t yet settled on a good word to describe what David was to her. “When can we see him?” she asked.“It shouldn’t be long now. The doctor will be out to speak with you shortly. Please, have a seat.”The medical center on Alexandra’s Dream was compact but was reputed to be fully equipped and pr
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT ARIANA BENNETT LOOKED at the couple in front of her, bewildered by their reactions. Marina’s jaw had dropped and the color had drained from her face. Pressing her hand over her mouth, she muttered something in what sounded like Russian as she stared at her nephew. David swore and reached beside his chair to grab his crutches from the deck.“I’m sorry,” Ariana said. “I didn’t mean to upset you by bringing this up. As I said, I did give a full statement to the police.”But it had been a belated statement, Ariana admitted to herself, given over the phone to a harried-sounding officer once she’d returned to the pier later that evening. She hadn’t wanted to remain at the accident scene long enough to speak with the police in person because she’d had only a few hours left before the ship sailed and had still hoped to find the address she’d been seeking.But she’d failed to locate it anyway. She hoped she hadn’t made an error when she’d transcribed her father’s notebook and loaded
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE THE LIQUID SOUND of harp music flowed through the Rose Petal tearoom as gently as morning mist. Ivy trailed from pottery urns, glossy and lush against the walnut wainscoting. Crisp chintz in subdued pastel hues covered the chairs and old-fashioned settees. The same understated colors gleamed from the porcelain teacups and teapots that rested on dark, delicately carved wood tables. From its place of honor on the wall, a portrait of Alexandra Rhys-Williams Stamos, the late wife of the ship’s owner, presided graciously over the guests. It was in memory of Alexandra that every detail in the room was designed to evoke an English country garden.As lovely as the room was, though, Marina had thought it was a ridiculous place to bring an active five-year-old. Olena had repeatedly warned her to keep Stefan away from breakables, and even Marina could see that a single nudge against one of those elegant tables could send half a dozen cups and saucers crashing to the floor. Passengers
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN THE PHOTOGRAPH WAS grainy, obviously taken from a distance and enlarged, yet there were enough details to make the man recognizable. His steel-gray hair was cut military-short, leaving nothing to soften the prominent bone structure of his face. He had a high forehead and prominent brows over dark eyes set deeply in their sockets. His nose was broad and flat like the blade of a shovel. His mouth was only a tight slash in his pale face, but that seemed more because of his expression than the shape of his lips. All this would have made his face memorable, yet his most distinctive feature was the thick, white line that arced across his left cheek from the outer edge of the cheekbone to the side of his chin.Marina crossed her arms tightly across her chest, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the air-conditioning in her stateroom.Good God, that man was real. “His name is Ilya Fedorovich,” Captain Locatelli said, laying the photograph on the dining table. “This is the most
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN IT WAS MADNESS. Stupidity. It could only end badly.Yet at this moment, Marina could think of nothing she wanted more. The invitation in David’s eyes, and the sensation of his hand precisely where she longed to feel it, were more than she could resist. She leaned into his caress, opened the buttons on his shirt and slipped her hands inside.Had it only been two days since she’d laid her hands on his bare chest? It seemed like forever, or like minutes ago. The time that had passed had no meaning as she felt the heat of his skin beneath her palms.His body was magnificent, she thought, sliding her fingers along the smooth swell of his muscles. She loved the masculine textures, the tautness of his skin, the soft brush of his hair as it sprang back against her fingertips. She loved the strength that hummed through his frame, even when he was at rest.“Hang on,” he whispered, clamping one arm behind her back. He released her breast and braced his hand on the cushions, holding her
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE ILYA REMAINED MOTIONLESS as another security guard walked past, but the man didn’t glance in his direction. No one expected to see him here. They were concentrating on the pier and the Palermo cruise terminal, just as they had since the ship had arrived in Sicily this morning. Ilya had had no trouble spotting the Italian police who had taken up positions around the harbor. They’d disguised themselves as tourists and likely thought he wouldn’t notice them, yet he’d learned long ago how to spot his enemy. The fools thought they would trap him, but they were all looking in the wrong place.A flash of red near the taxi stand beside the terminal building caught his eye. Ilya pressed closer to the ship’s railing, squinting to focus his gaze as he watched the Artamova woman arguing with the policeman who had been shadowing her. No doubt she was trying to refuse his order to return to the ship. If Ilya had been capable of laughter, he would have been amused by their last-minute a
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN THE SEA WAS restless, its long swells puckered with rows of marching waves. The breeze hadn’t died during the night, and it was strengthening with the sunrise. To the east, the sky was already tinted with pink, laying a glistening path on the water for Alexandra’s Dream to follow. David was in no hurry to see the dawn. It meant they had only one day left. He turned away from the window and focused on the bed.Marina was sitting on the edge of the mattress, her hand on Stefan’s shoulder. She’d been desperate to get back to her stateroom to see him. That was the only thing she’d wanted to talk about throughout the interview with Locatelli. She’d had no patience for their questions or for the words of praise the ship’s staff and the Italian police had tried to give her. She’d flat-out refused to be examined by a doctor. All she’d wanted was to come back and hug her nephew.David had found it hard to let go of her, even for Stefan. He was too conscious of the time that was s
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
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