Page 26 of The Playboy and the Widow
“You and the girls.” Having heard Diana’s hesitation, he resigned himself to including her daughters in every outing until she learned to trust him. “We’ll make a day of it.”
“When?”
Cliff thought about waiting another week to see Diana again, and knew that was much too long. His schedule for the next week was hectic and he’d be lucky to find the time to spend more than an hour or two with her. He had two cases going to trial and a backlog of work awaiting his attention. “Tomorrow,” he suggested.
Joan bolted upright. “Hey, that sounds great. Count me in.”
Irritated, Diana glared down at her daughter. “Cliff, I don’t know. I’d think you’d have had your fill of me and the girls for one weekend.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“I’ve never been sailing before,” Joan reminded Diana, her two round eyes gazing up at her pleadingly. “And you know how Katie loves anything that has to do with the water.”
“We’ll talk about it later,” Diana told her firmly, and walked out of the bedroom. Cliff followed her down the stairs.
“Well, what do you say about tomorrow?” he asked, standing in front of the door.
“I’m... not sure.” She remained on the bottom step, so that when he walked over to her, their eyes were level.
He smiled at her then and slipped one arm around her waist to pull her against him. In an effort to escape, Diana pried his arm loose and climbed one stair up so she rose a head above him.
If she thought he was going to let her go so easily, Cliff mused, then Diana Collins had a great deal to learn about him.
He brought her into his arms and kissed her until everything went still as hot, tingling shivers raced through Diana. She closed her eyes and stopped breathing.
“Tomorrow,” she said in a tight, strained whisper. “What time?”
“Noon,” Cliff mumbled, and dropped his hands.
Diana gripped the banister until her nails threatened to bend. “Thank you for tonight.”
It was all Cliff could do to nod. He backed away from her as though she held a torch that was blazing out of control. Already he was singed, and all he could think about was coming back for more.
Five
“How long will it take before I catch a fish?” Katie asked impatiently. Her fishing pole was poised over the side of the sailboat as the forty-foot sloop lazily sliced through the dark green waters of Puget Sound.
“Longer than five minutes,” Diana informed her younger daughter. She tossed an apologetic glance in Cliff’s direction. He’d been the one so keen on this outing. She wasn’t nearly convinced all this time together with the girls would work. Cooping the four of them up in the close confines of a sailboat for an afternoon wouldn’t serve anyone’s best interests as far as she could see. But Cliff had assured her otherwise, and the girls continued to swoon under the force of his charm. With such resounding enthusiasm from both parties, Diana certainly wasn’t going to argue.
“The secret is to convince the fish he’s hungry,” Joan said haughtily with the superior knowledge of a girl three years Katie’s senior.
“How do you do that?”
Diana was curious herself.
“Move your line a little so the bait wiggles,” Joan answered primly, and gyrated her hips a couple of times as an example. “That makes the fish want to check out what’s happening. In case you weren’t aware of it, fish are by nature shy. All they need is a little encouragement.”
“All fish are shy?” Diana muttered under her breath for Cliff’s benefit.
“Especially sharks,” he returned out of the corner of his mouth.
“I’ve met a few of those in my time.” Chuckling, Diana watched as he finished baiting Joan’s hook and handed her the pole. Cliff could well be a shark, but if so, he was a clever one.
When he’d completed the task, he paused and grinned at her.
“What about you?” Diana asked as he settled down by the helm. “Aren’t you going to fish?”
“Naw.” He slouched down and draped his elbow over the side of the sloop. Squinting, he smiled into the sun and expertly steered the sailboat into the wind.
