and Lucie had talked about and planned for this far too long—but Trae’s interference could cause a lengthy and costly delay. Look at the damage she’d done already.
Frowning, he thought about their engagement party. Trust Trae to bring that up—he’d known for years that she’d been behind Lucie’s “impulsive whim” to visit London. How like her to toss it in his face, as if he were to blame for Lucie’s erratic behavior. Mitsy Beckwith had always maintained “that Andrelini person” was a bad influence on her daughter, and in this one thing, Rhys was in total agreement.
He had to get rid of her. For Lucie’s sake, if not his own.
Trae sat on the other side of the skiff, also thinking about Lucie and how she was going to help her. That Rhys would do his best to stop her efforts, she didn’t doubt for a second. Look at how he’d tried to sail off without her.
Not that she hadn’t anticipated it. Figuring she had maybe five minutes while he moored the yacht, she’d grabbed the first clothes she could find. An unfortunate choice, it turned out, since she could scarcely breathe in Lucie’s short shorts and T-shirt. There had been no time to change into something else, though, not if she hoped to get to the skiff first. Yet despite her rush, Rhys had still managed to get there before her.
Eyeing his house as they approached the shoreline, she felt her first misgivings. Rising up from the beach, the vast white colonial sprawled along the grassy knoll like a sleeping giant. A collection of structures in assorted pastels—each topped with a red–tiled roof—formed a maze around the main dwelling. So much for the simple vacation cottage she’d pictured. “Wow,” she thought aloud. “It sure is…big.”
“Some structures house the staff, but most are sheds and outbuildings.”
Awed by the vastness of the place, Trae saw how it gave him a distinct advantage. It being his house and all, he’d know exactly where to find Lucie.
While Trae hadn’t the slightest clue.
Hazarding a guess, she decided to try the main building. To reach the wraparound porch ahead of him, though, she’d have to take off running the instant they reached the dock. With any luck she should have a step or two while Rhys had to stop and tie off the skiff.
Poised and ready to leap onto the dock, she was caught completely off guard when Rhys sped past the dock to run the boat up onto the beach. Yanking up the motor in a swift fluid motion, he leaped into the water and took off running.
“You just wrecked your five-hundred-dollar shoes,” she called out as she scrambled after him.
Not that he seemed to care. With all his money, he probably had another hundred pairs waiting upstairs in a closet.
Watching Rhys reach the porch steps, she said goodbye to her last hope of outracing him to her friend. All she could do now was stand outside and yell. “Lucie,” she shouted at the house, hoping her friend would hear her. “Lucie, come outside. We need to talk.”
As if in answer, the door burst open, but it wasn’t Lucie who collided with Rhys. A short, dark, middle-aged woman pulled up short, her alert gaze flashing between them. His housekeeper, Trae assumed, because of the black dress and white apron.
“I heard shouting,” the woman said, looking from one to the other of them. “Is something the matter, Mr. Paxton?”
“No.” His curt, clipped denial clearly surprised him as much as his housekeeper. “Everything’s fine, Rosa. I’m just looking for Miss Beckwith. Is she upstairs?”
“She’s not here, Mr. Paxton,” Rosa said, a frown creasing her weathered features. “Didn’t she call you? She left late last night.”
Rhys turned back to glare at Trae, as if somehow this, too, was her fault. Reining in his temper, he addressed his housekeeper again. “Did she say where she was going?”
Rosa shook her head. “All I know is she told my boy Raymond to take her to Miami in that old fishing boat of his.”
“That’s it? She said nothing else?”
Rosa shook her graying head. “Only that she was sorry. And that she left her wedding dress upstairs. She hoped you’d send it back to her mother.”
Watching his shoulders sag, Trae might have felt sympathy had she not been struggling with her own disappointment. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been counting on finding Lucie here, safe and sound.
Inhaling deeply, she approached the porch. “This changes things considerably,” she told Rhys. “We can’t waste time here. We need to hurry back to Miami and see if we can find her at the docks.”
“You’re right, of course,” he said, running a harried hand through his hair. “Only, just so we’re clear, there’s no ‘we’ about this. I’m returning to Miami alone.” Straightening, he started off for the skiff.
She grabbed his arm. “Whoa, wait a minute. You can’t just leave me here.”
“And why not? I’m under no obligation to transport a stowaway. Besides, you don’t have a passport. You can’t expect me to take the chance that I’ll be stopped by the harbor patrol.”
“That’s low, Paxton. Even for you.”
Shrugging, he removed her hand from his arm. “I’ve no doubt you’ll manage to scheme your way off the island before too long. In the meantime, Rosa will make sure you have food and a place to sleep.”
Watching him walk off, Trae felt the heat rise up in her body. “What happened to working together? I thought we had a truce.”
“Actually,” he said over his shoulder, “if you’ll remember, I never agreed to anything.”
Thinking back, she realized he’d changed the subject by asking her to help drop the anchor. “Why, you…”
“Goodbye, Trae.” He kept going, his long, steady strides getting him into the skiff well before she could reach the shore. Watching him motor off, she wanted to scream. She wanted to stomp and shake her fist in the air, but none of these things would help her one iota. “I thought you were a gentleman,” she called out, anyway. “You didn’t even leave me a change of clothing.”
“Here.” In answer, he tossed Lucie’s suitcase in the water. “Only this time, try to find something that fits.”
She could have told him that she was well aware of how ridiculous her outfit was. She could also flip him the gesture her brothers seemed so fond of, but knew she had better retrieve the suitcase before it sank.
“That man is the devil incarnate,” she muttered under her breath as she dragged the bags to the porch.
“Oh, no, ma’am.” Coming up behind her to take the suitcase, Rosa gently shook her head. “Here on the island, we consider Mr. Paxton a saint.”
Inviting Trae inside while she made coffee, Rosa continued extolling the man’s virtues. Her family would be homeless, she claimed, had Mr. Paxton not helped them after last year’s hurricane. Not only had he provided them with cash, he’d come down there and helped rebuild their homes with his own bare hands.
Trae let her go on for a while because Rosa seemed sweet
