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“You could say that, but I’m gathering material for a story I’ll write when I return to Atlanta. Is your name really Sheri Stephens?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Just checking.”
In spite of her attempt to put a wall between them, his laughter melted her a bit, and when she watched him settle in his chair as if her views about his presence didn’t matter, she realized that he’d leveled the playing field. Still, arrogance had never played well with her, not even when she was the one exhibiting it.
She stood. “Nice to meet you, Mr. King. Rest well.”
He made as if to stand. “Not very likely. My stateroom is in the middle of the boat, and the damned thing rocks all night. Glad to know who you are.”
Now what was she supposed to make of that? She headed for her room. Her father had said that one who walked alone stayed alone and that crowds attracted larger crowds. There was something to be said for that. She entered her stateroom and, for the first time in her memory, she examined herself in the mirror almost scientifically, without vanity or self-effacement. Her conclusion: she was not bad looking. If she applied some makeup and went to a hairdresser, she’d probably be nice looking. But that seemed too frivolous to her. If she did that, the next thing she knew, she’d be out there on deck in a string bikini. No way!
She got into bed and opened Bertrand Russell’s An Essay on the Foundations of Geometry, one of the books she’d brought along to read on the cruise, but to her surprise, her mind wouldn’t focus. So she put it aside, closed her eyes and listened to the waves play their tune on the side of the boat. Suddenly, a strange thought came to her.
Wright seemed so self-confident. Not that she wasn’t, but he gave the impression that he knew which button made the world turn. She wondered if his parents sang lullabies to him when he was little. If anyone had ever sung to her, she didn’t remember it. Yet, her little playmates had sung to her the songs that their mothers sang to them, and she recalled the feeling that she was missing something vital.
She reached over and turned out the light. Where the devil had all that come from? Tomorrow was a new day. She intended to enjoy the cruise, company or no company, but how nice it would be to enjoy it with Wright.
At eight twenty-four the next morning, Sheri walked into the restaurant thinking that if Wright hadn’t suggested that they eat breakfast together, she would have called the restaurant and had the food brought to her room. She saw June approaching with a presentable man in tow and smiled a greeting.
“Girl, you were doing all right last night,” June said. “I never would have thought of pretending to trip up so I’d fall into a guy’s arms as an excuse to meet him. You’re clever. See you around.” Sheri managed to close her mouth. Apparently June didn’t need an answer, for she had walked on.
Wright arrived and greeted Sheri with a kiss on the cheek. He looked at his watch. “How are you this morning? You were early, but that beats being late. I hope you rested well.”
“I did. The sound of those waves lashing the side of the boat is like a lullaby. Say, did your mother sing lullabies to you when you were little?” She could have kicked herself for that slip.
At first he frowned, and then his eyebrows shot up. “Gosh. Yes. Of course, she did. Uh, yeah. All the time. But where does that question come from?”
She lifted her right shoulder in a shrug to suggest that it wasn’t very important. “Something to do with the rhythm of the waves when they lap at the side of the boat.”
“That’s a sensual thought if I ever heard one. Come on, let’s get in line.”
She stared at him. “You’re kidding.”
“Far from it. I think I’ll have waffles and sausage.”
“I was thinking of a Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream, but that’s too campy, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t concern myself with what is and is not in fashion. I want waffles, maple syrup and sage sausage. If everybody else is eating hog maw, I say, ‘Right on.’”
“I can’t say I don’t care what others think. I usually don’t know what others are thinking and doing. I have my job—I’m a professor—and that’s what I focus on.”
He didn’t speak until they found a table and sat down. “Sheri, this world offers zillions of intriguing places and things. That classroom of yours is a tiny hovel on the side of a mountain compared to what the world can give you.”
“What do you do, Wright?”
“Right now, I’m a writer. I have a contract to write a novel, and I plan to enjoy every minute of it.”
“I hope you don’t mind my asking how it is that you’re so self-assured.”
He seemed hesitant, as if searching for an answer. “Am I? If I knew the answer, I’d be glad to tell you. And while we’re asking questions, tell me why you asked me if you could share my table when the boat stopped in Portland.”
“I was hoping you were as bored and as eager for a traveling companion as I was. I saw the ship’s logo on your shopping bag and decided that you were a fellow passenger.”
His hand went to his chest. “You wound me. I thought my charm enticed you, and that you couldn’t resist.” He cast a wicked glance at her and grinned.
“In your dreams, pal.”
“You mean, it didn’t?”
“Well, if truth were known, I followed a trail of gold coins straight to you,” she said.
“Did that same trail of gold put you in that line next to me last night?”
She placed her knife and fork on the sides of her plate. “Are you teasing or being mean? I want to know how to react.”
He reached across the table and grasped her hand. “I tease rather roughly sometimes. I’m sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable.”
“It’s all right. If I appear worldly, it is very misleading.”
Dalton hadn’t expected such a frank admission of naiveté from Sheri Stephens. He had suspected that she lived in a closed world, but until now he wouldn’t have believed that a woman of her accomplishments and intelligence hadn’t cultivated any aspect of her life other than her intellect. So this genius with statistics knew nothing of life! Well, he’d teach her, and he’d be just as kind to her as she was to him. When he had her begging for relief, he would look down in her face, tell her who he really was and laugh.
He didn’t recall having done a deliberately mean thing in his adult life; indeed, he considered kindness and generosity critical elements of his personality. But no one had weakened his spirit and dented his estimation of his self-worth as Sheri Stephens had with her petty demands that he revise the conclusions in his dissertation. Of course, she wasn’t the first professor to sacrifice a good student in order to make herself seem clever. If any of the other examiners had agreed with her, he wouldn’t have held it against her, but not one of them did. The humiliation he’d suffered was an experience he’d never forget. It came back to him then.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Lansing. To be associated with the distinguished scholars at the Brookings Institute is more than I had dared dream of, but I won’t be eligible because I won’t graduate until July or August.”
Lansing’s gasp reached him over the wire. “This can’t be true. Your chairman said you were the best student he’d ever had, and that your graduation was a certainty.”
“Thank you, sir. One of my examiners is demanding that I revise my conclusions, and I have to comply.”
“That’s true, and I am so terribly sorry. Needless to say, I wish you the best.”
“You’re so pensive all of a sudden, Wright. Is anything the matter?” Sheri asked him.
“I just remembered something that wasn’t too pleasant, but let’s not dwell on anything negative. When I signed on for this cruise, I decided to enjoy everything it offered outside of the gaming rooms, and that definitely includes this delicious breakfast.” Which consisted of a stack of four waffles and a ring of sausage around them. He’d seen the time when the food in his plate would have fed the members of his family and left them grateful. Fortunately, both he and his younger brother were able to ensure their parents a comfortable living, and they had surely earned the right to it.
“How are you planning to spend the day, Sheri? I want to write for at least a couple of hours.”
“If you write this morning while I’m at the hairdresser, we could meet for lunch. I told myself I was going to take clogging lessons this afternoon. Don’t ask me why.”
“Clogging? Good idea. The exercise will rid me of the calories I’m ingesting. What time are the classes?”
“Three to four this afternoon and nine to eleven in the morning. If we eat at twelve or twelve-thirty, it should be all right to clog at three.”
“Right. I’ll meet you here at twelve-thirty,” he said. “Stay away from that guy in the yellow T-shirt.”
Her frown surprised him. She shouldn’t have taken that comment seriously. He’d have to be more careful.
“Why should I stay away from him?” she asked. “So far, he’s seemed harmless.”
He flashed a grin. “No man is completely harmless. Don’t forget that.”
He held her hand as they left the dining room. “I’ll see you here at twelve-thirty. Have fun at the spa. I’ll be writing out there on the back deck. Nobody goes there. It’s so peaceful, and the view is great.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek. When she stood on tiptoe to make it easier for him, he stifled a laugh. It hadn’t taken her long to get used to it.
Sheri rushed back to her stateroom and phoned the spa for an appointment with a hairdresser. “Do you have a hairdresser who’s familiar with processed African-American hair?”
“Of course, madam,” a man said. “What time would you like to come?”
“Right now.”
She got the appointment and walked into what she would have described as a silver cove with crystal chandeliers, white floors and red roses. This looks like the perfect setting for debauchery, she said to herself. A few months earlier, she would most certainly have turned around and walked out.
“For two hundred fifty dollars, madam may have a massage, mud bath and facial in addition to a shampoo, trim and style.” A man dressed in a black T-shirt, skintight black pants and black sneakers told her.
“I don’t have that much time,” she said. “I only want my hair done.”
She got back to the dining room at exactly twelve-thirty. But, to her chagrin, Brian King waylaid her. “I’m sorry, Mr. King, but I’m meeting someone for lunch, and I’m about to be late.”
“For a woman like you, it ought to be his pleasure to wait. Will you have a drink with me at six this evening, since we have fixed dinner arrangements?”
She glanced toward the table that she and Wright shared that morning and saw that he leaned back in his chair observing them. “I’m sorry, but this amounts to rudeness on my part. I’m late, and he sees me talking with you. Goodbye.”
Wright stood as she approached. His smile eliminated some of her anxiety. “Sorry, but I got waylaid.”
“So I saw. Are you interested in him?”
“I’ve gotten the impression, wrongly or not, that he’s interested in getting me in bed, and I—”
He grabbed her left hand. “Wait a minute. And you think I’m not? You think I’m not attracted to you?”
“W-well, I d-didn’t th-think about it,” she stammered.
He grinned, winked and put his hand on his chest as if to decelerate his heartbeat. “Tell me you’re joking.”
“At least you’re not blatant about it.”
His gaze roamed over her. “Your hair is beautiful. That style really suits you. But then, you’d look good if you never went to a hairdresser,” he said.
She told herself not to believe him, but having a man who looked like Wright tell her that he liked her looks made her want to preen. “Thanks, but I’ve got a mirror.”
He leaned forward. “In that case, you should use it. What else do they do in that spa?” She told him. “Let’s take that whirlpool treatment together tomorrow morning,” he said. She noticed that when he said it, his food got his undivided attention. “It could be fun. Is it bigger than a Jacuzzi?”
“I was told that the water gives you a massage.”
“Then let’s do it.”
“Okay, but we have to make a reservation.” He told her that he would. “If the water’s moving around that much, couldn’t it be dangerous?”
His face mirrored an expression of concern. “I doubt the ship company would offer a dangerous form of relaxation. If you won’t be comfortable with it, we won’t do that.”
“But I think I’d enjoy it.”
That wink again. “Then I’ll make our reservation for around eleven. An hour in that thing should be more than enough, and we can have lunch at twelve-thirty.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Provided I’m not too sleepy to eat.”
He went to the buffet table and returned with a dish of frozen banana yogurt for himself and a cherry cream cake for her.
“You remembered,” she said when she saw what he brought for her. “Thanks.”
“I will always remember everything about you,” he said. “You are not a woman that I could ever forget.”
She knew that her entire demeanor showed her pleasure at his remarks. “I don’t think I could forget you, either, Wright.” And she wouldn’t. She wasn’t a virgin, but she hadn’t been made to feel that she had anything special to give to a man. Furthermore, she hadn’t met a man who treated her as if she was a woman he could love and care for. Maybe that was her fault. Until this cruise, she hadn’t realized how lacking she was in social skills and that those skills were as important as her academic abilities.
She noticed that her comment drew a raised eyebrow from Wright. But she’d told the truth, and he’d have to deal with it. She wasn’t sure, but it seemed to her that he was looking at her differently. His eyes seemed warmer or…If math and statistics had taught her anything, it was the folly of guessing at facts. Still, something about him drew her right then, and she reached out. Embarrassed, she patted his hand and then withdrew her own.
Why was he looking at her that way? “I think I’ll have a rest before we go clogging,” she said, needing to escape.
He walked around to her side of the table, held her chair and, before she could get up, he leaned over her and kissed the side of her mouth. Shocked, she turned her head and met his mouth with her lips parted. Thank God he had the presence of mind not to push it, she thought. He grasped her shoulders as she stood.
“I didn’t intend to do that, Wright.”
She’d never seen such fiery eyes.
“Trust me, I certainly didn’t do what I wanted to do. If we’d had a modicum of privacy, I’d have kissed you thoroughly. Meet you at the bar at three. Did you sign up for the clogging lessons?”
She said she did. “The classes are around the corner from the bar. See you then.”
He kissed her cheek. “Behave yourself.”
“What? What else would I do?”
He pointed to the entrance. “Does that guy always wear the same T-shirt? See you later.”
“How would I know?” she said, feeling irritated at both men.
“Hi,” Brian said. “I have not been waiting here for you, but I saw you were about to leave—”
She interrupted him. “I’m not having a drink with you, Brian.”
“Why not? I pay my taxes, I’m good to my mother, I’m not married and I’ve got a decent job. What’s wrong with me?”
“I don’t know that anything is wrong with you, but I can only deal with one man at a time.”
“And right now you’re dealing with what’s-his-name over there?”
“I have to go, Brian. Bye.” She ducked around him and headed for the escalator. Maybe he was a nice guy who had originally misrepresented himself, but he did not make her pulse race as Wright did when he’d kissed her a few minutes earlier. What would it be like if he really kissed her?
“Watch out, girl. Thinking things like that will get you in big trouble.”
She set her alarm for two-thirty and stretched out on the bed. She could feel his mouth on her, and he didn’t stop at her lips. And, Lord, he was so wonderfully greedy. Her nipples ached, and her hot blood heated her loins. She awoke and sat up abruptly at the sound of the alarm clock.
“Good grief! I promised to be at the bar at three o’clock.” She slipped into a pair of white shorts, a pale blue T-shirt and a pair of low-heel flats, grabbed her bag and raced to the bar.
Wright watched as Sheri paused to speak with Brian King. The man was handsome and a charmer, and he’d rather not have the guy playing on his turf. He hadn’t meant to kiss her. He’d been fooling around as usual, playing a game—though, admittedly, he hadn’t had previous experience at being a player. He didn’t believe she’d intentionally kiss him on the mouth, because she was not an aggressive woman. At least, not with him. But if she felt what he felt, they’d have a time of reckoning before the boat docked again in Manchester.
Isn’t that what you planned? his conscience nagged. When he learned that I wouldn’t graduate with my class, my dad cried, he reminded himself.
In his room, he finished the chapter on the loss of his family’s house during his childhood and how his father built a log cabin for his family to live in. Precisely what I need to keep my head straight about Sheri Stephens, he said to himself as he was putting his writing pad away. He hadn’t used his laptop for that passage because he knew the writing would be difficult, and he thought best with a pen in his hand. One more short chapter, and he’d put the final period to it.
“Hi. I meant to be on time, but I fell asleep.”
He took her hand and walked with her to the dance floor. “Thanks for telling me. I was afraid that yellow T-shirt had hijacked you. That guy is tenacious.”
“Maybe he’s not such a bad person.”
“No? What changed your mind?”
“Nothing. It’s just…what harm can he do on a boat out in the Atlantic?”
“Sheri, I don’t believe you said that. You cannot be that naive.” Her stare reminded him of a child who’d been unjustly accused. Her vulnerability got to him deep inside, and before he realized what he did, he hugged her and stroked her back in a gesture of genuine caring and affection.
The sound of Earl Scruggs’s “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” saved them the need to acknowledge the moment’s reality. “Relax your shoulders, drop your hands to your sides and give yourself to the music,” the teacher called.
The fast pace of the music exhilarated him, and he felt as if he could soar. “Come on, sweetheart, let it fly,” he said to Sheri. “Loosen up.”
She caught the steps, and very soon she put her body into the dance. She fascinated him. He looked at the T-shirt that hugged her body as if it were glued there and sucked in his breath. His mother had always cautioned him against playing with fire for fear he’d get burned. But as her ample breasts bounced to the rhythm of the dance, he wanted to get his mouth on one of them. She had a nice pair of legs, too, he noted, and decided that he would enjoy seeing her get into that whirlpool the next morning. The lady had some lovely attributes, and he meant to enjoy them.
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