style="font-size:15px;"> “Thank you. I accept gratefully.” Shannon remembered well what it felt like to be young and in love and hopeful for the future. She couldn’t bring herself to regret Nolan since he’d given her Kolby. “I hope we’ll have the chance to speak again before you leave this afternoon?”
“Don’t worry.” Eloisa winked. “I imagine we’ll see each other again.”
With a smile, Shannon hugged her little boy close, inhaling his baby fresh scent with a hint of chlorine.
He squirmed, his cheeks puffed with a wide smile. “Wanna go.”
She pressed a quick kiss to his forehead. “Be good for Mrs. Landis.”
Eloisa took his hand. “We’ll be fine.”
Kolby waved over his shoulder without a backward glance.
Too restless for a bath or nap, she eyed the pool and whipped off her cover-up. Laps sounded like the wisest option. Diving in, she stared through the chlorinated depths until her eyes burned, forcing her to squeeze them shut. She lost herself in the rhythm of slicing her arms through the heated water, no responsibilities, no outside world. Just the thump, thump, thump of her heart mingling with the roar of the water passing over her ears.
Five laps later, she flipped underwater and resurfaced face up for a backstroke. She opened her eyes and, oh my, the view had changed. Tony stood by the waterfall in black board shorts.
Whoa. Her stomach lurched into a swan dive. Tony’s bronzed chest sprinkled with hair brought memories of their night together, senses on overload from the darkened herb-scented pantry, later in the brightly lighted luxury of her bedroom. Who would have thought dried oregano and rosemary could be aphrodisiacs?
His eyes hooked on her crocheted two piece with thorough and unmistakable admiration. He knew every inch of her body and made his appreciation clear whether she wore high-end garb or her simple black waitress uniform, wilted from a full shift. God, how he was working his way into her heart as well as her life.
She swam toward the edge with wide lazy strokes. “Is Kolby okay?”
“Enjoying the movie and popcorn.” He knelt by the edge, his elbow on one knee drawing her eye to the nautical compass tattooed on his bicep. “Although with the way his head is drooping, chances are he’ll be asleep anytime now.”
“Thank you for checking on him.” She resisted the urge to ask Tony what he’d been doing since he left her early this morning.
“Not a problem.” His fingers played through the water in front of her without touching but so close the swirls caressed her breasts. “I said I intended to romance you and I got sidetracked. I apologize for that. The woman I’m with should be treated like a princess.”
His princess? Shock loosened her hold on the edge of the pool. Tony caught her arm quickly and eased her from the water to sit next to him. His gaze swept her from soaking wet hair to dripping toes. Appreciation smoked, darkening his eyes to molten heat she recognized well.
He tipped her chin with a knuckle scarred from handling sailing lines. “Are you ready to be royally romanced?”
A five-minute walk later, Tony flattened his palm to Shannon’s back and guided her down the stone path leading from the mansion to the greenhouse. Her skin, warmed from the sun, heated through her thin cover-up. Soon, he hoped to see and feel every inch of her without barriers.
He’d spent the morning arranging a romantic backdrop for their next encounter. Finding privacy was easier said than done on this island, but he was persistent and creative. Anticipation ramped inside him.
He was going to make things right with her. She deserved to be treated like a princess, and he had the resources to follow through. His mind leaped ahead to all the ways he could romance her back on the mainland now that he understood her better—once he fulfilled the remaining weeks he’d promised his father.
A kink started in his neck.
Squeezing his hand lightly, she followed him along the rocky path, the mansion smaller on the horizon. Few trees stood between them and the glass building ahead. Early on, Enrique had cleared away foliage for security purposes.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see soon.”
Farther from shore, a sprawling oak had been saved. The mammoth trunk declared it well over a hundred years old. As a kid, he’d begged to keep this one for climbing. His father had gruffly agreed. The memory kicked over him, itchy and ill timed.
He brushed aside a branch, releasing a flock of butterflies soaring toward the conservatory, complete with two wings branching off the main structure. “This is the greenhouse I told you about. It also has a café style room.”
Enrique had done his damnedest to give his sons a “normal” childhood, as much as he could while never letting them off the island. Tony had undergone some serious culture shock after he’d left. At least working on a shrimper had given him time to absorb the mainland in small bites. Back then, he’d even opted to rent a sailboat for a home rather than an apartment.
As they walked past a glass gazebo, Shannon tipped her face to his. Sunlight streaked through the trees, bathing her face. “Is that why the movie room has more of a theater feel?”
Nodding, he continued, “There’s a deli at the ferry station and an ice cream parlor at the creamery. I thought we could take Kolby there.”
He hoped she heard his intent to try with her son as well, to give this relationship a real chance at working.
“Kolby likes strawberry flavored best,” she said simply.
“I’ll remember that,” he assured her. And he meant it. “We also have a small dental clinic. And of course there’s the chapel.”
“They’ve thought of everything.” Her mouth oohed over a birdbath with doves drinking along the edge.
“My father always said a monarch’s job was to see to the needs of his people. This island became his minikingdom. Because of the isolation, he needed to make accommodations, try to create a sense of normalcy.” Clouds whispered overhead and Tony guided her faster through the garden. “He’s started a new round of renovations. A number of his staff members have died of old age. That presents a new set of challenges as he replaces them with employees who aren’t on the run, people who have options.”
“Like Alys.”
“Exactly,” he said, just as the skies opened up with an afternoon shower. “Now, may I take you to lunch? I know this great little out-of-the-way place with kick-ass fresh flowers.”
“Lead on.” Shannon tugged up the hood on her cover-up and raced alongside him.
As the rain pelted faster, he charged up the stone steps leading to the conservatory entrance. Tony threw open the double doors, startling a sparrow into flight around the high glass ceiling in the otherwise deserted building. A quick
