Page 67 of Devlin

"Devlin, sorry I'm late." His father turned to Hannah, his gaze narrowing. "Where do I know youfrom?"

"I'm Hannah Reid, Mr. Blackthorne. I'm Frank's daughter."

His father's lips tightened. "Oh, of course, Hannah. I didn't realize you were in town."

"I thought my father needed me."

Graham cleared his throat. "Yes, well…" He turned to Devlin. "Are you ready to go?"

"Just waiting for you," he said, noting that his dad was dressed in jeans and a polo shirt,sneakers on his feet. He couldn't remember him looking so casual in a very long time.

"We'll see you out on the water," he told Hannah.

"As we fly by you," she returned, angry determination in her gaze.

As his dad moved toward the boat, Hannah stepped in front of him.

"Mr. Blackthorne," she said. "My father deserves his job back. He has been an incredibly loyal anddevoted employee, and this personal fight between the two of you is hurting his livelihood. He needs to work, and you need him to work. He's the heart and soul of the Boatworks."

Graham gave her a hard look. "I can appreciate a daughter standing up for her father."

"I don't need you to appreciate me. I need you to appreciate my dad."

"This is between your father and me. Youand Devlin need to stay out of it." Graham didn't wait for an answer, pushing past Hannah, and then climbing aboard and disappearing into the interior of the boat.

Hannah turned to him. "I know you didn't want me to say anything, Devlin. I just couldn't pretend nothing was wrong. I hope I didn't make things worse."

"I don't think you could do that," he said lightly, even though itwas possible she'd done exactly that. On the other hand, she might have lit an even bigger fire underneath his father to take Frank out of the race. He'd have to see how it played out.

"I better go," she said.

"We're not done talking about us."

"Yes, we are."

As she walked away in her tight white jeans and soft blue sweater, her blonde hair bouncing around her shoulders,all he could think about was how tired he was of her leaving. She always seemed to be walking away from him.

Was he prepared to do what it might take to get her to stay?

The test run was turbulent and did not go as well as Devlin had hoped. He'd gotten used to his father being great at everything he did, but his sailing skills were average at best. He was out of practice, and he hadn't ever sailed a boat with as much technology as theWind Warrior. He fumbled with the sails. He misjudged the wind. He almost fell into the ocean at one point. Withevery mistake, his father got more and more annoyed.

Things got worse when theDaisy Maecame into view.

The old boat didn't move through the water like theWind Warrior. But damn if Frank and Hannah didn't sail by them with quite a bit of ease. While she gave him a wave, Frank refused to look in their direction. And then they were gone.

He changed direction as well, not wantingthem to see that he and his father were not moving together as well as they should. They needed to work the kinks out on their own. But that wouldn't be easy. It wasn't just the sailing they had to conquer; it was all the unspoken tension between them.

He adjusted the sails and turned on the autopilot. It was past time to get rid of the tension. "Let's cruise for a while," he said.

His dad nodded. "I'd forgotten how challenging it is to race. I'm rusty."

"We have time for you to get better."

"I don't know if I have the time to put into this. I have a lot of balls in the air right now."

"There's no one else available."

"There has to be someone. Jason is back."

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