Page 74 of Hard Luck (Blackstone House)

“Not really? What does that mean?”

Bella glanced at Cole and sucked in a breath. Let it out again. “It means I’ve experimented enough with women to know that I prefer men.”

This whole time, he’d been tiptoeing around her, nervous of scaring her off, and she’d left anyway. Whoknew that Frankie’s approach of bombarding her with questions might actually work?

“I mean, if you’re not sure, that’s a great approach. I guess I’m just indecisive. It’s the same in restaurants—I can never decide what I want to eat, so either someone has to order for me, or I end up with six different dishes I can only eat half of. I love your necklace, by the way.”

“Uh, thanks? Yours is cute too.”

“It belonged to my grandma, but she passed it to me last year. It’s made from conch pearls.”

“Conchs produce pearls?”

“Yup, queen conchs do, but they’re super rare. The pearls, not the conch, although those are endangered too now. And the pearls don’t just come in pink. You can get blue, yellow, tan… Or at least, you could. Commercial conch fishing has been banned here because the conch population has been decimated. Have you been to San Gallicano before?”

“Once, several years ago.”

“Couldn’t stay away, huh? There’s no way you could see every island in one visit. Which ones did you go to?”

“Only this one.”

“Well, you picked the right man to come with.” Frankie giggled and gave a conspiratorial wink. “Pun intended. Emerald Shores is the prettiest island. Kind of like Bora Bora with the lagoon and everything, except it’s wilder and blessedly free from tourists. Can you swim with that thing on your leg? You didn’t say what happened to it?”

“I fell down some stairs, and yes, I can swim.”

“Oh, yikes. Be careful at Cole’s house—the steps from his deck to the beach are pretty steep. How long until you can take it off?”

“Another two weeks at least, but I need a scan at the hospital first to check everything has healed. I’m hoping to build up my strength by swimming while I’m here.”

“The lagoon on Emerald Shores is absolutely beautiful for swimming. Do you have a snorkel?”

“Yes.”

“Make sure you wear something on your feet—there are stonefish around. And get Cole to show you the sandy slope with the garden eels.”

“I’m wearing a cast on my foot.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“And Cole will be on his boat.”

“He has a few days before the customers arrive. Right?”

Cole nodded. “Right. We can go snorkelling if Bella wants to.”

“Is Delroy coming on the boat with you again?”

“No other deckhand will work near Skeleton Cay.”

“Skeleton Cay?” Bella asked. “Isn’t it usually pronounced ‘key’?”

“Not in San Gallicano,” Cole said. “One of the local quirks.”

Frankie pulled a face. “If I didn’t have a sailing competition, I’d come with you myself. Delroy’s such a sourpuss. Bella, make sure you take a cover-up. He’ll stare at your boobs otherwise.”

Great, now there was no way Bella would go near theCrosswind. “That’s not helping, Frankie. And Delroy’s strong—it’s good to have him around to carry the scuba tanks and help launch the submersible.”

Plus he was a man of few words, so he got along fine with William Blaylock and his stepson, Clint. Cole had heard on the grapevine that William had filed for divorce from his wife—Clint’s mom—in the past year, so he hadn’t been certain the boy would come, but he was on the manifest Dr. Blaylock had emailed across, along with two of his friends. Clint was following in his stepfather’s footsteps by studying marine biology at the University of Miami, andhe’d be carrying out research for his dissertation on this trip. Another reason Cole couldn’t cancel.

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