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after your day.”
    Shaking her head, she resigned herself to giving in.
    Like it was a hard choice, she thought, going on a cruise to make Duke’s day. What a sacrifice.
    Little did she know just how much of one it would turn out to be.

Chapter 2
    A t 8:00 a.m. on the day of the trip, Kat was the first in her party to board the M. Falcon, a 112-foot luxury sport-fishing-and-diving vessel complete with eight crew members, docked at Fisherman’s Landing.
    A deckhand with brown dreadlocks named Larry carried her belongings while Hugh the steward led her to a stateroom decorated in mahogany, teak, brass and tasteful artwork depicting marine sunsets. There was a double lower berth for her to sleep on, her own head and shower, plus a color TV with a DVD player. He told her that they had a library complete with movies and books, too.
    Not bad, she thought, unpacking her bag as Larry closed the door. She’d already stored the diving gearDuke had rented on the upper deck after meeting Shaw, the first officer; Tink, another deckhand; Wayne, the medic; Linda, the chef and Jason, the engineer. She was anxious, feeling like a kid playing hooky from school and wondering, once again, how the ama show was going without her.
    Instead of pearl-diving these past two weeks, Kat had been amusing herself by going to counseling with Neptune Point’s human resources for “confronting” Yoko. But she hardly felt punished. She’d also been spending a lot of time with Duke, polishing up her diving skills on his dime.
    Kat plopped to her berth, spreading out her arms as her back hit the mattress. She inhaled the air, the hint of must and polished wood, then tuned in to the creak of the boat as it bobbed. Duke was paying for everything, and as grateful as she was, it got to her. Still, she could tell he was happy.
    Again, she tried not to think about why. Duke was a buddy, right?
    A swift knock interrupted her thoughts.
    “Yeah?”
    A muffled voice answered. “It’s your captain, here to officially welcome you aboard.”
    “Oh.” Kat zipped upward, scooted toward the edge of her berth, eager to meet the only crew member who hadn’t greeted her yet. “Come in.”
    As the door swung open, she prepared herself for the sight of a sea dog: an aged skipper with a sailor’s hat at a jaunty angle and a squint to rival Popeye’s.
    But what she got instead robbed her of a heartbeat.
    A tall, deeply tanned man in his early thirties. Under his white T-shirt and khakis, he had the roped muscles of an athlete. His light-brown hair was cut close, highlighting a green-blue gaze that could cut darkness like sunlight through seawater. With a notable lack of shock at her presence, he grinned at her, but his hand gripped the doorknob, the veins in his arm pulsing to the surface.
    For an endless, awful moment, they didn’t say anything, too busy staring.
    Finally, Kat drew in a breath, exhaled on a surprised, pained laugh. “Will.”
    “Kat.”
    A beat passed as they locked eyes again then glanced away. A whole volume of anguish, joy and disappointment was in that one look, and she couldn’t handle it—not after she’d spent so much time trying to forget this man. Not after the hurt from everything that had gone wrong between them.
    In the presence of Will Ashton, she felt like she was underwater, ultra-alive and afraid, heart crashing against her ribs, skin prickling with awareness and the detection of danger.
    Had Duke known Will would be here?
    Kat bit the inside of her lip. Of course he’d known. Duke was anything but careless or stupid. Unlike her.
    One of them had to say something, so she stepped up. “Well. A captain, huh? Wow. From a scrub on that Catalina diving outfit to pure luxury.”
    Tone down the sarcasm, she thought, standingbecause she felt much too inferior looking up so far to this man. She’d spent too much time doing that in the past, and she’d grown out of it by now.
    “I’ve moved up in life,” he said, obviously more