took his mind off the conflict in his heart. Shel went back to the wheel and started the engines, easing the boat away from the dock. Shel didn’t want to stay away from Lucy but he didn’t want to kill her either. If he lost control with her and no one was around, he might not be able to stop himself. The best way to keep Lucy safe would be to limit the time he spent close to her. It would be hard. The thought of her in his arms gave Shel a warm glow inside. He admitted to himself at last that he did love Lucy. The merest hint that he loved Lucy and Madeline would be all over her.
The next time Shel met up with Madeline he had to kill her and damn the consequences. Lucy would never be safe with Madeline alive. Another deep sigh and Shel shook off his brooding mood as an idea came to him. He’d give Lucy a way to protect herself. Feeling much better about everything, Shel took the charts out of the drawer by the wheel. In the moonlight, he began to study them. There were places they could stay until he figured out what to do about the book.
* * * *
Lucy stepped out on deck. They were moving. She saw nothing but water surrounding them. Lucy looked up at the stars that seemed to fill the sky despite the nearly full moon. The sight took her breath away. Shel sat at the wheel bathed in the faint glow of the instrument panel. He glanced at her and held out his hand. She went to him and took it, allowing Shel to pull her closer.
“It’s beautiful out here. At night, with all the stars.” She leaned against him and gazed up at the Milky Way.
Shel pressed his lips to Lucy’s hair, breathing in her warm scent, the need barely under control. “Lucy, I want you to promise me something.”
“What?” Lucy turned back to him. He sounded infinitely sad.
Shel opened a drawer in the console and took out a long, thin piece of wood. “Promise me you’ll stake me if I ever lose control with you.”
She refused to take the offered sliver of wood. “No.”
“Please. I don’t want to hurt you.” Shel placed it in Lucy’s hand and wrapped her fingers around it, then lifted the point to his chest, pushing it in enough to dimple his skin. “Right here.”
Lucy looked into Shel’s nearly black eyes for a long moment. He was serious, concerned, and afraid for her. Solemnly Lucy took the stake and put it back in the drawer. “All right. If I ever need to.”
“Thank you.” Shel pulled her close and kissed her.
Lucy stood there beside Shel watching him guide the boat toward a dark inlet. His hands slid over the wheel in a slow caress. Everything inside Lucy heated. She knew what those hands could do.
He stopped the boat a short distance from a beach that glowed silver in the moonlight then got up to lower the anchor. She gazed at the island until she heard him coming back to her.
“Why are you so careful with me?” Lucy asked, reaching out to run her fingers through Shel’s silky shoulder length hair.
Shel hesitated. “Because you’re precious,” he said at last. “You’re like a moment in time that will never be repeated. I don’t want to miss one thing about you. Not your softest sigh, or the way the moonlight turns your hair to silver, or the way your emotions dance in your eyes.”
Lucy couldn’t think of what to say. She knew what Shel felt for her was probably because she reminded him of Isabel. Lucy thought about it for a moment. She had never seen so much love in anyone’s eyes, not even Keith’s. Something inside Lucy told her this man would die to protect her. It scared her more than a little. Lucy wasn’t sure she could live up to her ancestor’s memory.
Shel brushed a strand of Lucy’s hair back from her face and cupped her cheek. “What are you thinking?”
Lucy shook her head, not answering. She looked toward the beach, pale in the moonlight. Shel took her hand, letting the silence rest between them.
* * * *
Shel sat in the darkness of the salon. Lucy slept just feet away. The awful urge to cry rose up and choked Shel making his throat ache. Hot tears dropped to his arms and Shel hugged himself tightly, bending over with the pain of knowing he wasn’t good enough for Lucy. He would never be good enough for her. Lucy needed a caring, gentle man who would put her first and never hurt her. Lucy needed anyone but the monster he was. Shel tried to stifle the sob that squeezed his heart.
* * * *
Lucy woke. She lay there for several seconds trying to place the sound that had pulled her from a wonderful dream of Shel holding her. The soft sound came again. Carefully crept out into the short hallway and made her way to the salon. Lucy could barely make out Shel’s silhouette against the glow of the moonlight in the portholes.
She went to stand beside Shel. He didn’t move, didn’t acknowledge that he knew she was there. She hesitated for a second then sat beside him.
“Sheldon?” Lucy laid her arm over his shoulders. Shel twitched violently, shrugging her arm away and standing up.
Shel leaned his forehead against the wall by the door. He took a deep shuddery breath and swallowed hard. “I’m going up on deck.”
Lucy watched in open-mouthed shock as he opened the door and started up the steps to the deck. Lucy blinked then leapt to her feet and followed him. She caught Shel’s shirt. “Sheldon Jefferson don’t you dare take one more step!”
Shel turned and looked at her. “Go back to bed, Lucy.” His toneless voice sent a shiver through her.
“No. Not until you tell me what’s wrong.” Lucy stood her ground and waited.
“Lucy,” Shel watched her as she walked toward him despite the warning note in his voice. He never looked away. Shel’s vulnerability struck something deep inside her. The lost expression in his eyes made Lucy determined to chase it away. She would make things right between them.
“Tell me what’s wrong.” Lucy reached out and brushed her fingers over his cheek. “Please.”
“Nothing you can help, sweetheart.” He began to turn away.
“Sheldon.” She caught his arm.
Shel looked at Lucy, his eyes cold. She didn’t understand but she wanted to, Shel could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice. Maybe it was enough for now. He pulled away, more gently than he would have a few minutes earlier. Lucy let him go without any more questions and he was grateful but strangely saddened.
Lucy watched Shel go then turned and walked over to the small liquor cabinet in the galley. She pulled out a bottle of whiskey and poured a glass before following him up on to the deck.
Shel was sitting on the edge of the deck staring out to sea, his legs hanging over the edge. Lucy sat down next to him without a word and handed him the glass.
Shel took the glass and took a sip. “Monster,” Shel said quietly, his voice matter of fact.
Lucy waited.
“I am you know. Inhuman, unnatural monster.” He took another sip of whiskey. “You don’t want to get mixed up with me sweetheart, with what I am.”
“Ah.” She shifted a bit closer.
“Dangerous,
