Page 45 of Too Far To Sea
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Why?Why? Why? Had Cupid failed archery? Was she born under some morose cloud? Every time she found a man she wanted to be with, some obstacle stood in their way. For a moment when he touched her back, she wanted to melt into him, experience the hug she craved. Her heart didn’t understand what her mind had been telling it for the past two days—McKay was off limits. Why had his hand lingered in that forbidden touch? Could he be struggling as much as she was?
A sound ahead made her look up from the floor. A woman with red hair walked quickly down the corridor. Amy-Kate? It couldn’t be. She needed crutches, and why would she be down on this deck? Full of curiosity. Dana walked faster.
The woman passed Dana’s room and turned a corner, allowing Dana a glimpse of her profile. It was Amy-Kate. Dana slowed her steps as she reached her room. Should she follow Chey’s friend?
Voices reached her—a man and woman talking in hushed tones—and then she heard her own name. She stuffed her room key back in her pocket and moved closer to the corner.
“I told you, Dana won’t be a problem. She’s down on Deck 8 or somewhere in one of those inner rooms. She won’t find us, and no one else is in our suite. Can’t we just go there?”
“Baby, we can’t risk being seen.” The man spoke with a British accent.
“But I’m tired of hiding in this corner even if no cameras can see us,” Amy-Kate’s sentence ended with a deep throaty moan. “Stop, that, I’m, trying, to?—”
“We can converse in public.” It almost sounded like Cheyanne’s fiancé.
“I’ve orchestrated this event so we could be alone. There’s no one else in our suite. We can just go up there. Dana and her mom?—”
Dana’s stomach churned as the pieces clicked into place. She turned the corner.
The couple leaned in the corner with Amy-Kate pinned against the wall. Chandler’s head buried in Amy-Kate’s neck. His hands. Well, his hands shouldn’t have been touching Cheyanne’s friend anywhere. Amy-Kate noticed first. She pushed Chandler away.
It took a moment for Dana to find words. “Wow, your ankle healed quickly. And Chandler, fancy running into you here.”
Chandler turned. His face red with anger. He glared at Dana. “Where did you come from?”
“That isn’t the question, is it? Why is my sister’s fiancé making out with her good friend and bridesmaid in a corridor?”
He stepped menacingly toward her. “You are going to forget what you saw.”
“And let my sister marry you without all the facts? I don’t think so.”
“Keep! Quiet!” Chandler punctuated each word with a pointed finger.
Dana’s training kicked in automatically as she assessed his body language—he was building toward violence. She stepped back to give herself more room in case he attacked. “How long has this been going on?”
Amy-Kate tugged on Chandler’s arm. He shrugged her off and lunged at Dana.
Dana turned and caught his wrist at the same time. Using his momentum, she pinned him face first against the wall. “How long have you been cheating on my sister?”
As he struggled against her grasp, he cursed in British and American English, showcasing a rather limited and unimaginative vocabulary.
Running footfalls came from both directions.
“Let him go.” McKay didn’t use her name. Dana dropped her hold and stepped back.
Officer Alvaro came from the opposite direction. A female security officer stood behind him. “What is going on here?”
Amy-Kate and Chandler started yelling at once. Dana waited for someone to stop them.
“We are disturbing passengers. Let’s take this into the security office,” said Officer Alvaro.
“Fine, then you can expel this woman from the ship. I’d like to press assault charges.” Chandler pointed at Dana.
Dana fought to keep her expression neutral, though inside she was seething. She assumed there would be video footage of him lunging at her. Technically, she’d acted in self-defense. Although there had been a good dose of anger mixed in, and she used more force than was strictly necessary.
Not surprisingly, once they reached the security offices, the officers separated the three of them. The chief security officer took Chandler into his office, McKay led Amy-Kate into a conference room, and the female officer sat with Dana at a corner table.
