Sutherland’s Pride (10 page)

Flynn looked like a little boy with a wonderful new toy. Pride, reminded forcibly of Johnny, looked away when he took her hand and urged her down the companionway and into the luxurious cabin.

She stared around at the plush, pale-blue-and-teak decorated salon, with its wrap-around sofa and glass coffee table. “Are you bucking for admiral of the shrimp fleet?”

“Skipper of this vessel will do, thank you.”

“This is an admiral’s private quarters at the very least,” Pride said. “Or a billionaire’s. Who else would have the ridiculous sum required to buy this boat?”

“Have a little faith in my negotiating abilities,” Flynn protested, pulling at her hand. “It belongs to one of my clients. He’s getting a divorce and wants to unload it fast.”

Johnny, riding high on Flynn’s shoulder, turned his face toward her, and Pride was again struck forcibly with the resemblance between their two faces.

“Is that so? I’ve seen enough, Flynn. It’s gorgeous.”

“You have to see the aft stateroom.” Flynn towed her down a few steps. “It’s the master bedroom.”

Pride stepped into a room that looked like a luxury bedroom, with a queen-sized bed in the center and two teak night stands on either side. She stared into mirrors that made the room seem even larger, investigated an actual walk-in locker, and studied a private head that rivaled any bathroom on land.

“I think I’m more a sloop kind of person,” she said. “I’d be so nervous in here, I wouldn’t sleep a wink.”

“Nervous?” Flynn protested. “What on earth about?”

“I’d keep wondering when the bank was going to foreclose.”

Flynn, she saw, was quite taken by this dream of a boat. She reminded herself once more that it was none of her business. He certainly had the money to pay for it if he wanted it.

Naturally, the galley lived up to Flynn’s promise. It had not only a microwave oven, but a conventional oven and an electric refrigerator as well. Pride, who had been accustomed to cooking over an alcohol stove on Flynn’s sailboat while strapped into a harness designed to keep her from being thrown about while she cooked, professed herself overwhelmed.

“Well?” Flynn demanded. “What do you think?”

“It’s wonderful.” She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Buy it. You aren’t interested in listening to reason.”

“Don’t you like it?” Flynn asked, hurt.

“Like it? Who wouldn’t like it? It’s a mariner’s dream.”

“I knew you’d like it,” Flynn said, satisfied. “Come have a look at the forward stateroom.”

Pride surveyed the dinette opposite the galley. “I don’t need to see anything else. Hold still, Johnny.”

Johnny struggled to get down. He had seen enough from Flynn’s shoulder and wanted to go exploring on his own. Flynn kept his gaze on Pride and gently set Johnny on the floor. Johnny promptly took off into the forward stateroom.

They followed, and Flynn smiled, watching Johnny peer beneath the king-sized bed and examine the drawers on the bedside table.

“You ought to close down your apartment and move to the boat,” Pride said. “It would be criminal to maintain an apartment in addition to this.”

Flynn laughed. “You’ll need more closet space for your clothes.”

“Not me. If I lived on a boat like this, I wouldn’t need any clothes other than the ones I’d wear on the boat.”

“Don’t you think Gloria and Eddie would enjoy going out on the Gulf with us for a week or two?”

“With or without the kids?” Pride asked.

“With,” Flynn said, with equanimity. “The dinette sleeps two, and the salon will sleep the rest. This boat can handle eight adults, so the kids should be a cinch.”

“I don’t think you know what you’re asking for,” Pride said, smiling at his enthusiasm. “Have you ever been cooped up with four little children in a very small area?”

Flynn touched her face with his fingertips. “No, but the fact that I’m willing to try ought to say something in my behalf.”

Pride turned her face away, as if to study one of the bedside tables. “It does. You should receive a medal for valor. And for an exceptional number of dramatic rescues performed at sea, when one or more of the kids decides to go swimming without parental permission.”

“Do you really think they would?” Flynn’s expression of disappointment was almost ludicrous. “Can’t they be trained not to go near the deck rails?”

“You have just mentioned the operative word. Training.”

“Oh.” Flynn smiled. “Well, I’m new at training children. One of the experts will have to show me how it’s done.”

Pride struggled to smile, stricken suddenly by the realization that she would love to watch Flynn attempting to train his own son not to go near the deck rails.

“Just watch Gloria or Eddie for about five minutes.” She felt suffocated. “You’ll receive better training than if you bought and read several books on child care.”

“I have a feeling you’re right.” Flynn tugged at her hand. “Come on. Let’s go check out the deck.”

“I can’t believe you’ve given in like this. No one ever thought you’d trade in your sails for a motor.”

“I’ll never trade in Whisper,” Flynn objected. “It’s just that there comes a time in a man’s life for other options. I now have other people to think about.”

Did he mean her? Pride glanced at him, met his watchful gaze, and turned scarlet.

“Gloria and Eddie will appreciate the thought,” she managed.

“Maybe we’d better go check out that closet in the aft stateroom one more time,” Flynn said, grinning. “If you think it’s too small — ”

“Too small? The only way it would be too small is if you’re a Saudi oil sheik.”

“I’d never go for a yacht I can’t handle myself,” Flynn protested.

“I know. That’s why you’d better be happy with that wonderful walk-in locker and quit worrying about how much space your clothes are going to take up. Stash them in nets, the way we used to on your sloop.”

“I don’t want you having to compromise anymore,” Flynn said.

Johnny, having checked out the stateroom, took off at a dead run toward the salon. Once more, Pride’s brain refused to keep up with Flynn’s tongue.

She blinked. “Compromise? What on earth do you mean?”

“Never mind. I just want you to be comfortable when we take the new boat out.” He was silent a moment, guiding her back to the salon. “Here. Want to sit down and try it out?”

Pride wondered how much of the conversation she had missed. Flynn assumed she would accompany him out on the Gulf when he took the new boat out. What else did he assume?

The salon was a spacious room that resembled a living room, except for the fact that Flynn’s head was within several inches of touching the ceiling. Several comfortable chairs, a teak and glass coffee table, and a real sofa lined the small space.

They sat down together on the light-blue sofa. Flynn put his arm across the sofa behind her, and together they watched Johnny experiment with the wheel at the inside control station, which was located beside the sofa.

“Comfortable, sweetheart?”

“Very.” Pride sighed with pleasure.

She glanced up at the windows that partially encircled the elegant sitting room. Light poured in, giving the boat’s interior a cheerful, light-filled atmosphere. Her only objection to Flynn’s sailboat had been the dark interior of the cabin.

“I knew you’d love it,” Flynn said, pleased. “It’ll take me a few days to complete the paperwork then we can take her out.”

“Flynn.” Pride sought for caution. “If you buy this boat and it springs a leak or something, you’d better not claim I insisted that you buy it.”

“Absolutely not. I had already decided on it before I ever told you about it.”

She felt his fingers tangling in her hair and leaned forward. “Johnny, stop twisting the wheel that way. Turn it gently, or you’ll break it.”

“He won’t break it,” Flynn said, grinning. “Let him play. We’re supposed to be testing the child-worthiness of the boat.”

“I don’t know if any boat can withstand the onslaught of four children,” Pride said. “Where is Gloria? She’s supposed to be exploring this dream boat along with us.”

“Gloria is being tactful, I think,” Flynn said.

“Is that so? I’d better go find her. There may be a child overboard.”

“Sit still, Pride.” Flynn tugged her hair. “I want to talk to you.” He kept a hand in her hair, and lightly massaged her neck as he tried to get her to meet his gaze. “I wanted to apologize for hurting you the way I did three years ago.”

“Thank you.” She closed her eyes, unable to meet his steady gaze. “I accept your apology.”

“I was so hurt, I never thought about you and your feelings the way I should have. I’m truly sorry, Pride. I see now that you were hurt far worse than I thought I was.”

He massaged her scalp gently in a vain attempt to turn her face toward him. Pride found the gentle touch as seductive as his voice and fought to keep her attention on Johnny.

“If you believed I was two-timing you, then naturally you wouldn’t think about my feelings,” she said.

“I cared about you. Common decency should have led me to check on you. You might have needed someone.”

Pride stared down at dark blue pile carpet. It had taken weeks to overcome her hurt, to accept the situation with grace and humor, and to become capable of planning for the future.

“I wasn’t in any danger of giving in to despair,” she said, “but thank you for the thought.”

His hand tightened in her hair, and he tilted her head around to face him.

“I hurt you a lot worse than I thought,” he said, in grim tones. “Were you counting on me that much?”

He probably meant that she had counted on him to rescue her from her own folly in sleeping with another man who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, take care of her, she realized.

She answered him truthfully. “I suppose I must have. A young woman often has the idea that somewhere she’ll find a man who’s willing to shoulder all her burdens and straighten out all her problems.” She gave him a genuine smile. “It takes a few years for her to learn that she really has no one she can count on except herself. But we still go on taking chances. Otherwise, there would be no children with two parents to rear them.”

Flynn watched her, eyes narrowed. “If it’s any comfort to you, I’ve often wished I’d gone ahead and married you anyway.”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t. My life would have been miserable, and so would yours.” Unable to face him another minute, Pride broke loose from his light grip on her hair, leaving several long, blond strands clasped between his fingers, and stood. “If I had a miscarriage, you’d feel trapped and angry. If I had the baby, you snipe at me for the remainder of our lives together, no matter how much like you the child looked. No, Flynn, your ditching me was the best thing that ever happened to the both of us.”

She whirled and headed toward the companionway, reminding herself that Flynn might yet turn out to be a carbon copy of her father.

Flynn grabbed her arm and jerked her back. “Dammit, Pride, I am not your father.”

“No, but in that situation, who’s to say you wouldn’t behave exactly like him? My father didn’t even have the extra bonus of thinking he was sterile.”

She fought him, but Flynn held onto her. He pulled her into his arms and stared into her furious green eyes.

“Let go of me, Flynn.” Her voice shook.

“I don’t think so.” He shook her lightly. “Pride, I — hey.”

Pride followed Flynn’s startled movement and looked down.

Johnny, his brown eyes filled with tears, glared up at Flynn with his upraised fist ready to strike again at Flynn’s leg. His lower lip quivered with hurt.

She forgot her anger and knelt, holding out her arms. It was criminal of her to forget Johnny’s presence like this.

Johnny flung his small body into her embrace, and Pride clasped him to her, murmuring softly in his ear. “Everything is all right, darling. Flynn and I were just talking.”

Johnny gave a mighty sniff and burrowed his face into her breast.

“Let’s go up on deck and look at the boats, okay? I hear one going by in the water. If we get there quickly, we can see it.”

She struggled to her feet, cuddling Johnny, and walked toward the companionway, conscious of Flynn behind her.

By the time she reached the deck, Johnny had forgotten his fear in the excitement of racing to the foredeck in time to watch a fishing yacht head out of port toward the open Gulf. They took up a position along the rail and waved at the three fishermen occupying the flying bridge of the passing yacht.

“Pride, I’m sorry.” Flynn stood beside her, watching her steadily. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Or Johnny.”

“I wasn’t thinking,” she admitted, turning back to watch the passing yacht. “I’m sorry he hit you.”

Flynn came closer. When she made no movement away, he took her hand and held it.

“It served me right,” he said. “Do you think he’ll ever forgive me?”

“Ask again after we’re off this boat and on your sailboat.”

He lifted her hand to his lips. “What about you? Will you ever forgive me?”

Pride looked away. “Of course, Flynn. You don’t even have to ask.”

“Great.” He smiled whimsically. “I still want to marry you, you know. No matter what it is you intend to tell me tonight.”

Pride swallowed hard and turned her gaze toward a slowly passing yacht. By the time ‘tonight’ arrived, she would probably be searching for a way of putting off the moment of revelation a little longer.

What an idiot she was. So much for being mad because Flynn didn’t realize Johnny was his son. Now, she feared Flynn would be furious when he learned the truth. So furious, he would rescind his offer of marriage and sue her for custody of Johnny.

“Time will tell,” she made herself say in light tones.

He smiled with wry humor. “Unless, of course, you intend to tell me that you had the baby, and he’s alive and well and living with his father.”

“As a matter of interest, why would that kill your desire to marry me?” she asked, genuinely curious.

“Because then I’d have to kill the guy so I could have both you and the baby,” he said, astonishing her. “I made a big mistake when I let you walk out of my life three years ago.”