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

cigarette and cigar smoke, and dark except for the single shaded light hanging low over a round table in the center. Half a dozen men were grouped around the table seated in folding chairs, all in their shirtsleeves. With the exception of one younger man, they were middle-aged. There was a profusion of glittering diamond rings, unidentifiable drinks in thick tumblers, and several overflowing ashtrays.
    There was also a pile of money in the center of the table, and none of the bills was less than a hundred.
    The man who had let them in relocked thedoor in silence and returned to the table, and out of the dimness surrounding the low circle of light a deep, beautiful voice spoke sadly.
    “Michael, your timing is lousy.”
    Robin couldn’t see the man’s face very well from where she was standing beside Michael, but she thought he was younger than the rest, and he was exquisitely dressed in white trousers and vest and neatly knotted tie. He was in his shirtsleeves, with his suit jacket over the back of his chair, and his hands were beautifully long-fingered and graceful holding the cards.
    “Finish the hand,” Michael said. “Then we have to talk, Dane.”
    Robin stood beside him in the shadows near the wall, listening silently as the men continued playing, talking in low voices as the pile of money in the center of the table grew. It was another half hour before the hand finally ended, and it had come down to just two players: Dane and an unnamed man with about six diamond rings and a harsh voice.
    “Four of a kind,” the harsh voice said, laying down four nines.
    There was a beat of silence, and then Dane sighed and stacked his cards neatly facedown before him. “My luck,” he said mournfully, “seems to have deserted me today.”
    With no sign of triumph the winner raked in his money, and the other men gathered their belongings. In a loose group they moved to the door, escorted by Dane, and within moments were gone. Dane crossed the room and snapped up the three shades at the windows and the small room was abruptly flooded with light.
    “It better be important,” he said cheerfully to Michael.
    Robin made her way to the table and sank down in the chair Dane had recently vacated, staring at him. He was a man women would always stare at, she acknowledged silently to herself, feeling a bit numb. He was absurdly young to have made and lost several fortunes, being somewhere in his mid-thirties, and … God, the man was
beautiful
.
    His size alone made him impressive, since he was easily six and a half feet tall with shoulders to match, and he was lean-waisted and slim-hipped. He looked athletic yet moved with lazy grace as if he couldn’t be bothered to stir himself enough to move quickly. His thick, shining hair was black as a raven’s wing. And in a lean, tanned face with every feature perfect, his eyes were a striking violet. Robin had never before seen such laughing eyes so vividly filled with life.
    “It is important,” Michael was saying, taking a seat to Robin’s left and watching the other man sit across from him. “This is Robin Stuart. Robin, Dane Prescott.”
    “Hello, Robin,” Dane said.
    “Hi,” she managed weakly, and tore her gaze away to look down at the cards he had left stacked on the table. She picked up the cards and looked at them, but she had only a moment before he took them from her gently and smoothly as he was gathering the rest from the table.
    “What’s up?” he asked Michael.
    “Ever play cards with Edward Sutton?”
    Dane shuffled the deck idly, looking at Michael with a slight smile. Without speaking, he placed the deck facedown between them. Michael reached out and cut the cards, producing the king of spades faceup. Dane cut and got a jack. He sighed.
    “Yeah, I’ve played against him. A number of times.”
    “At the Serendipity?”
    “There. And other places.”
    Michael glanced at Robin, then said slowly, “We’re looking for a yacht we have reason to believe