Read Online Captain's Paradise by Kay Hooper - Free Book Online Page A

with a Coast Guard vessel as he was to surrender to them.
    In a small voice she said, “We can’t just tip off the Coast Guard about that yacht, can we?”
    After a moment Michael said, “I don’t know, but it’s doubtful. One hint of trouble, and Sutton’s likely to throw the girls overboard. And they won’t be in any condition to survive that.”
    “Then how can we help them? How can we get them and Lisa off the boat safely?”
    “I don’t know, Robin.” Michael walked on steadily, not looking at her. “I just don’t know.”
    It wasn’t over, Robin realized, going cold inside again. The worst wasn’t over. She’d had some vague idea of alerting the proper officials and standing by while the girls and Michael’s sister were safely rescued. But she realized nowthat it wouldn’t be so easy, or so simple. Finding the yacht wouldn’t be enough.
    She forced her voice to remain steady. “We’ll need some kind of backup once we find the yacht.”
    As they turned in the direction of the marina, Michael stopped suddenly and faced her. They stood before a tavern slightly more upscale than the one Robin had gone into, and the hellish glow of a red neon sign in the window lit Michael’s face and made his grim expression all too obvious.
    “No, Robin.”
    “There must be someone you can trust!”
    “That isn’t the point.”
    “Yes, it is,” Robin insisted, and felt a flash of bitterness spurred as much by her own self-doubts as anything else. “But it has to be you, right? Just you alone, and never mind that you’re way the hell outnumbered.”
    “Robin—”
    The ice was cracking, and fear was the reason. Fear for him. Nothing mattered except this terriblehunger for him, clawing at her until she was raw and helpless. He’d get himself killed, and every instinct she could lay claim to surged in protest. The feelings tangled inside her in wild confusion.
    She jerked her hand away and forced a hard laugh. “I hate heroes, I really do. They make the rest of us feel so damned inadequate!” Then, horrified to have said that aloud for the first time, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her windbreaker and hurried past him. She knew he was behind her, but he didn’t speak and didn’t attempt to catch up. Robin was blessed with a good sense of direction, and even with her thoughts and emotions in turmoil was able to find the marina easily.
    She found herself alone once she reached the boat, and realized only then that Michael must have stopped somewhere to get those supplies he mentioned. Miserable, she went below and took a shower in the tiny bathroom, making use of the first opportunity she’d had to wash away the salt of her enforced swim of last night. She foundanother pair of cutoff jeans and a short-sleeved green blouse, then went up on deck to allow her hair to dry in the night breeze.
    The marina was well lit, and she saw Michael easily when he returned almost an hour later carrying two boxes of groceries and supplies. He didn’t look at her as he jumped aboard and took the stuff below, and Robin felt even more miserable.
    Typical Robin, shooting her mouth off, she thought. She’d had no right to say that. He was worried to death about his sister—and he was an agent, for God’s sake; of
course
he was courageous enough to deal with Sutton alone. He would too; she knew he would. Heroes, sure. And
she
had to be attracted to them.
    Especially attracted to Michael Siran.
    Robin groaned inwardly and rested her forehead on her upraised knees. Oh, Lord, she was doing it again! Like ore to a magnet, she couldn’t help but give in to the attraction of strong men … only to find herself resenting them, becauseshe, a coward, could never feel equal in such a relationship.
    That was all it was, of course. All. Just an attraction, and these other tangled feelings didn’t mean anything at all. She was a dumb woman with an insane fascination for strong men. Nothing more.
    Desperately, she went on lying