By the end of the day, she tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as she snuck through the crowds. She didn’t want to be asked for anything by a single soul. The stairs were in sight … when someone grabbed her arm.
“The captain has requested that you sit with him for dinner.”
She didn’t recognize the man who’d just spoken to her and she stiffened.#p#分页标题#e#
“Why in the world would the captain want to dine with me? I think you have me mistaken for someone else,” she told him, tugging against his hand.
“No, Ms. Mills. The captain asked specifically for you.”
And then Savvy knew why she hadn’t seen Ashton the day before. He’d been onboard already. He was obviously playing the part of the captain on this cruise. She’d never know how she’d gone along happily for thirty-six hours without figuring out that minor detail.
All she knew for sure was that the next several days of peace she’s so desperately wanted had just sunk deep down into the bottom of the ocean.
Chapter Twenty
Pacing back and forth through his suite, Ashton wondered what in the hell he was doing, and not for the first time. He’d purposely avoided Savvy since the day before the ship set off because he’d decided he wasn’t going to keep going after a woman who obviously wasn’t interested. A woman who could make out with another man on his docks. A woman who so openly flirted with the men he hired.
He’d been incredibly proud of himself when he hadn’t summoned her the first night of their voyage. That had required some restraint — intense restraint — but he’d done it. Now, on the second night out, he wasn’t quite so in control of his baser instincts. He’d sent one of his men to find her.
He should have had her reassigned to another ship, made sure that the two of them wouldn’t be stuck out at sea together in fairly close quarters, with no possibility of escape. But had he done what his better brain had told him to do? No. He seemed to have lost several million brain cells in the past six weeks.
He was a moron. That’s what it was. It was either that or he was just a glutton for punishment, and he wasn’t a masochist, was he? Either way, this wasn’t bound to go well. Bound … Hmm … Nope. Not having a thought like that.
When a knock sounded, he actually felt his heartbeat kick up a few paces. That only served to piss him off more. He moved purposefully to the door and thrust it open. And then she was standing there, and all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms.
Somehow he managed to stop himself.
“Thanks, Ricky,” he said in his most controlled voice. “That will be all for the evening.”
His guard disappeared, and Ashton led Savvy into the room. She wasn’t quite kicking and screaming, but she appeared far from happy.
“I didn’t realize you were on the ship,” Savvy said, standing uncomfortably in the entranceway of his large suite.
“I run the boats. Where else would I be?” he asked her.
“You have more than one boat, Ashton,” she pointed out. “Or should I call you Captain Stubing? Is this your version of the Pacific Princess, the Love Boat?”
“Are you going to act cranky all night?” he said as he moved over to the dining table, which was set and waiting.
“I didn’t ask to come here,” she told him. And if her eyes had narrowed before, they were like slits right now.
“You’ve been invited to dine with the captain. That’s an honor,” he said, knowing that would irritate her further. He was right. Normally, of course, the captain dined in the main room with the passengers, but he was in no mood to subject his guests to his presence on this particular evening. Not good for business.
“Seriously, Ashton, what in the hell are you doing?” she asked. “I’ve had a long couple of days and I’m exhausted.
“I wanted to dine with you. Since you’re here and probably hungry after those long days of yours — part of them spent watching the water — why don’t we try to get through the meal with as much civility as possible? Was that phrased properly for a woman of your education?”#p#分页标题#e#
She looked toward the door, and then at the set dining table, and then back at the door, as if trying to decide what to do. As much as it would pain him, he decided that if she turned and left, he wouldn’t chase her. After all, he had nine full days to get her to come to him before the boat got back home.
“Oddly enough, I am hungry,” she said, and took a tentative step toward the table.
“Good. The same goes for me.”