Stormy Vows/Tempest at Sea (25 page)

“That meant forever, because I could never tell you to go,” he said quietly.

She swallowed hard over the lump in her throat, and said lightly. “That's all very well, Donovan, but you could let a girl know.”

He touched the tip of her nose lightly. “You haven't been exactly communicative yourself, brown eyes. How could I confess eternal love to you, when you didn't even trust me enough to tell me about the baby?”

“Randy?” Brenna asked, puzzled, “but you knew…”

“No, our baby.” Donovan interrupted impatiently. “Don't you think it's time we talked about it?” He stroked the arch of her brow with a caressing finger. “Did you think there was any chance at all that I wouldn't want
your
baby?”

“
Our baby?
” Brenna asked blankly.

Donovan gazed at her bewildered face, and his brows arched in surprise. He gave a low whistle. “Well, I'll be damned. You didn't know.” He chuckled. “Didn't they teach you where babies come from in that orphanage?”

Brenna sat bolt upright, as her mind scrambled to assimilate and correlate the evidence that substantiated Donovan's astounding statement.

“I'm going to have a baby!” she announced incredulously. “But how did you guess?”

“Hardly a guess,” he said dryly, his blue eyes dancing. “If you'll recall I've had an intimate and pleasurable knowledge of that lovely body of yours for the past three months.” He grinned teasingly. “Unlike you, I was anticipating just such an occurrence. In fact, I was planning on it. It was going to be one of the ties that bound you to me.”

“A baby!” she hugged him ecstatically. “When?” and she started counting back mentally.

His arms went around her. “I figure about a month before the Academy Awards,” he drawled. “That'll give you time to get back that sylphlike slimness, before you collect your Oscar for best supporting actress.”

She ignored his gentle teasing, as she buried her face in his shoulder. “I may decide to give up acting,” she said dreamily. “I may not have the time once the baby is born.”

His amusement was abruptly stilled, as he pushed her away from him with a stern hand. His face was serious as he said, “Listen, Brenna, I might be a bit of a chauvinist, but I didn't get you pregnant to turn you into just another house frau. I admit my instincts are to lock you up in a harem and throw away the key, but I'm a realist. I want you to be so damn happy that you'll never
want
to leave me. You're an intelligent and gifted actress, and I want that part of you to be just as fulfilled as the wife and mother. So when the baby's born, you go back to work.” He kissed her lightly. “We'll arrange things so that you can do both.”

“Monty warned me that you were a slave driver,” she said, smiling mistily. “He also said that it was worth it.”

His hand tilted her head back. “It will be, my love. I promise you. It will be.” And his lips closed on hers.

       
Tempest
          at Sea

one

IT WAS SHORTLY BEFORE MIDNIGHT WHEN
the yellow Volkswagen drew to a surreptitious halt on the deserted dock. A sudden gust of wind swirled the light fog in gossamer wisps around the small car, and caused the three artificial daisies fastened to the antenna to bob with jaunty cheerfulness. The headlights flicked out and the two women occupants peered cautiously out the windshield at the dimly lit pier that was their destination.

“I told you it would be all right,” Jane Smith said cheerfully, grinning at the older girl, in the driver's seat. “Les said there wouldn't be anyone around at this time of night. There's only one night watchman, and he doesn't make his rounds for another two hours.”

Penny Lassiter shook her head in exasperation. “Good Lord, Jane, this is a private marina. We could be arrested for trespassing. As for what else you're planning, they'd probably lock you up and throw away the key.” She ran her fingers worriedly through her glossy brown hair, as she made one last attempt to dissuade her friend from the reckless course she had chosen.

“Nonsense,” Jane said sturdily. “It may be technically illegal, but it's not as if I'm going to do anything really criminal. I'm doing this only to make a statement and gain enough publicity so
that our petition will gain momentum. Besides, Les says that if I'm caught, the court will probably let me off with just a warning. They're always lenient with student demonstrators.”

Penny Lassiter arched her eyebrow skeptically. “If it's so safe, why doesn't Les Billings do the job himself instead of letting you take all the risks?”

Jane smothered a little sigh as she gazed at her friend's worried face. She knew that Penny had neither liked nor trusted Les Billings since he had joined their antinuclear society a few months before. Penny had a deep and sincere belief in what they were doing in trying to stop the building of the new nuclear power plant north of Miami, but Les Billings's ideas for accomplishing this aim were too radical and dangerous, in her estimation.

“Les couldn't be the one to do it,” Jane explained patiently. “He was the one who went on board with the food delivery to case the ship. If anyone saw him, they might recognize him. It's much less likely that I'd be noticed.”

“Case the ship?” Penny echoed incredulously. “My Lord, you even
sound
like an experienced second-story man.” She bit her lip worriedly, her eyes on Jane's determined face. “Oh, damn, why did I have to let you become involved with this group at all? I should have known that you wouldn't be satisfied with marching or collecting signatures on a petition. You don't even know the meaning of halfway measures. You just rush in full speed ahead and think you can set the whole world right.” She frowned. “Well, this is a little more serious than the collection of strays and derelicts you're always bringing home to the dorm. This could be big trouble.”

“Yes, little mother,” Jane said soothingly, “but it won't be, I promise you.” She'd become used to Penny's maternal lectures in the year that they'd been roommates at the University of Miami, but she never made the mistake of becoming impatient or undervaluing the affection that provoked them. After losing
her parents as a small child and living the gypsy life of an army brat under her grandfather's stern guardianship, she'd learned the hard way that love was a treasure that must never be taken for granted.

But Penny was steadily ignoring Jane's attempts to reassure her in this case. Her gaze was now traveling unhappily over Jane's petite figure, garbed in a black turtleneck sweater and dark jeans. Her small feet were encased in black canvas sneakers. In the black shapeless sweater, she looked nearer fifteen than twenty. “And you're insane if you think you won't be noticed and remembered if you're spotted on that yacht.”

“Oh, but I've got that covered,” Jane said mischievously, as she began tucking her short mass of curls beneath a black ribbed stocking cap. “Or I will have soon.”

“I wasn't referring to your hair, damn it,” Penny said in a thoroughly exasperated tone. She shrugged helplessly at Jane's disbelieving expression. It was a long-standing argument between them that Jane persisted in believing herself plain and insignificant, despite Penny's insistence to the contrary. Jane passionately hated the blazing red of her mop of silky hair that refused to do anything but curl riotously around her heart-shaped face, and she contemptuously referred to her strange golden eyes, framed in extravagant dark lashes, as “cat eyes.” It was true that Jane's features, except for the huge eyes, were nondescript, but there was a certain tender curve to her lower lip and a mobile vitality to her expression that made them hauntingly memorable. In this case, dangerously so.

She reluctantly relinquished that argument, but immediately attacked from another angle. “You even look like some kind of a cat burglar. Is all this necessary?”

Jane grinned as she admitted sheepishly, “I don't really know, but they always dress like this in the movies. I figured that there must be some reason for it.”

“The whole affair makes no sense at all,” Penny argued
desperately. “Why pick on Jake Dominic's yacht for your demonstration? He has nothing to do with the building of the nuclear plant.”

“Publicity,” Jane said tersely. “Jake Dominic's just finished directing a motion picture that has a pronuclear slant. Les chose Dominic because he says that it will attract more attention than if we'd picked an ordinary businessman.”

It was a fact that couldn't be disputed, much as Penny would have liked to discredit Billings in any way she could. Jake Dominic was the original golden boy. He had fallen heir to the fabulous Dominic shipping fortune at twenty-five and had promptly delegated authority in the corporation to continue to pursue his passion for directing films. In the past twelve years, Dominic's brilliance and fantastic success in his chosen field had been rivaled only by his scandalous and dissolute personal life. His wild escapades and numerous affairs had made him the sought-after prey of eager journalists in every country in the world.

“Yes, the newspapers will probably plaster the story all over the front page,” Penny concurred gloomily. “Together with the account of your arrest and jail sentence.”

Jane shook her friend's arm reprovingly. “Stop talking like that,” she ordered cheerfully, “I'm not about to get caught. We have it all worked out.” She reached in the back seat for her backpack, and as she strapped it on she continued soothingly, “Look, Penny, it will all be over in another hour. All I have to do is to row out to Dominic's yacht and climb the anchor line to get on board. I make my way to Dominic's cabin and write my message on the wall. Then I leave my backpack with the bomb in it in the cabin and row back to the pier.” She tightened the strap of her backpack and smiled winningly. “Then you pick me up here and take me out for a well-deserved pizza. Your treat. It's another three days before I get my monthly insurance check.”

Penny Lassiter flinched. “I wish you'd forget about that bomb, and just write your blasted statement on the wall,” she said unhappily.

Jane shook her head stubbornly. “They might ignore the graffiti. We need to make them angry enough to make a fuss.” She shrugged. “After all, it's not as if it were a real explosive. It's just a stink bomb. Les made it himself at the chemistry lab,” she continued with satisfaction. “He says that when it goes off, it will cause a positively nauseating odor that will permeate the whole cabin and all the furnishings.”

“Well, that should upset them enough to content even Les Billings,” Penny said sardonically. “And what, may I ask, is Jake Dominic supposed to be doing while you're redecorating his cabin? No one could sleep through all that.”

“No problem,” Jane said blithely. “He's still in New York. There was a picture in the morning paper of Dominic and his latest mistress at Club 54.” She frowned. “It's really too bad that he's not here. We'd get much more press coverage if he were on the spot.”

“And it would also be much more dangerous,” Penny said firmly, seeing the speculative gleam in Jane's golden eyes.

“Perhaps you're right,” Jane said impishly. “If Dominic were here, I'd have to worry about stumbling over not only him but his latest bedmate. You know that Dominic always takes a woman on his cruises.”

“You've been reading the gossip columns again,” Penny said absently, her worried eyes on Jane's glowing face. “Jane, don't do this,” she urged seriously. “It's not worth the risk.”

“Of course it is,” Jane said firmly, her golden eyes alight yet serene. “If you believe in something and it has value for you, then any risk is worthwhile.” She leaned over and kissed Penny lightly on the cheek. “Relax, Penny. It's going to go off smooth as silk.”

Penny shook her head slowly, her brown eyes oddly sad. “They'll probably crucify you,” she said quietly. “This cynical old world doesn't have a place for people who care as much as you do, Jane.”

“Then, I'll just have to
make
a place for myself, won't I?” she asked tranquilly, as she opened the door and jumped out. “Remember, be back here in one hour,” she said, and she slammed the door. With a jaunty wave of her hand, she hurried toward the pier, where the rowboat waited.