Page 22 of Honeymoon for Seven

Nodding, he glanced over her shoulder at the stage and then sighed. “Maybe we can do this again?”

Over her inhibitions when it came to singing in public or out right making a fool of herself, without hesitating, she nodded. “Could be fun. Did Captain and Tennille do any other animal songs?”

Laughing hard, Nick kicked his head back. “I don’t think so.” He pushed to his feet and waited for her to do the same. “We might as well walk together as far as we can, unless you’re up to wrangling four kids for a little longer?”

“Best offer I’ve had all night.”

His head tilted to one side. “You are either an amazing person…” Then with a shrug and an impish grin, he waved for her to go first. “Or you’ve set your bar too low.”

Without thinking, her hand swung around and slapped him lightly on the forearm.

“Okay. I may have to add feisty to amazing.”

“You may have to remember I grew up with lots of male cousins, and I can take every last one of them if I had to.”

“Duly noted.” He bit back a smile and Ginnie found her toes tingling at the sight.

In the hall, only a few feet away from the crowded and noisy lounge, her phone rang. So unexpected, the sound not only startled her, for a few seconds it confounded her as well. All at once she remembered that she’d slid her phone into her pocket, waiting for the service to work so she could call home.

Sliding it out of her pocket, she took a quick glance at the screen and seeing her sister Mina’s name, quickly tapped speaker phone. “Hello.”

“You were great.”

Frowning, she stared down at her cell. “What?”

“I mean, you’re no Lady Gaga, but that sounded like fun.”

Now Ginnie was totally confused. She actually looked over her shoulder, down the hall to see if her sisters were pranking her and had actually come on the cruise.

“You still there?” Jo’s voice came through the line. “Who’s the guy that sounds like he could melt ice on a freezing day?”

Ginnie’s head snapped around to see Nick’s eyes wide with surprise.

“Ginnie?” this time the voice was her mother’s.

For land’s sake, what was going on? “I’m here.”

“Giovanna. Your sister is right. It’s nice to hear you sing and who is the man who sings with the voice of a true Italian?”

On a sigh, Ginnie rolled her eyes at her mother’s words. “Mama. Not everyone who can sing well is Italian.”

His lower lip pursed over his upper lip, Nick bobbed his head, then muttered softly, “You like how I sing?”

“Is that the voice that can melt butter?” Her mother could hear a pin drop three rooms away.

“Wait a minute. Will somebody tell me what’s going on? How do you know Nick can sing?”

“Ginnie, you butt dialed us. We heard almost the whole performance.” Mina’s voice dripped with amusement. “And nice to meet you, Nick. Kudos on talking my practical sister into singing on stage.”

“Nice to meet you too, and I agree, she was great.”

In the background, Ginnie could hear her mother’s voice disappearing as she yelled to her husband, “Vito, your daughter found a man, just like her sisters.”

Now would be a good time for the ship to hit an iceberg. She didn’t dare look at Nick, yet she could almost hear his smile.

“I’m guessing you’re not one of the passengers left in port?” Mina asked, probably aware that their mother had just embarrassed the dickens out of Ginnie.

“We’re not, but it was a bit rocky there for a while.”

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