Protector, Lover...Husband?: In the Dark / Sure Bet / Deadly Exposure

She smiled. Maybe the kid wasn’t a demon after all. Dolphins had a wonderful effect on people. Once, she’d been given a group of “incorrigibles” from a local “special” school. They’d teased and acted like idiots at first. Then they’d gotten into the water and become model citizens.

“Absolutely. One dolphin or two?”

“Two is really cool,” David said quietly, offering a slight grin to the boy.

“Two.”

“Okay, in the water, front and center. Fins on, no masks or snorkels right now,” Alex said.

The others waited as the boy went out into the lagoon and extended his arms as Alex indicated. She signaled to Katy and Sabra, and the two dolphins sleekly obeyed the command, like silver streaks of light sliding beneath the water’s surface.

Zach was great, taking a firm hold of each fin and smiling like a two-year-old with an oversize lollipop as the mammals swam him through the water, finishing up by the floating dock, where they were rewarded as they dropped their passenger. Zach was still beaming.

“Better than any ride I’ve ever been on in my life!” he exclaimed.

“Can I go next?” one of the girls asked. Tess. Cute little thing, bright eyes, dark hair. Zach had been trying to impress her earlier. Tess opted for one dolphin, and Alex chose Jamie-Boy.

One by one, everyone got to try the fin ride. John Seymore was quieter than the kids, but obviously pleased. Even Hank Adamson—for all his skepticism and the fact that he seemed to be looking for something to condemn—enjoyed his swim.

Alex was afraid that David would either demur—this was pretty tame stuff for him—or do something spectacular. God knew what he might whisper to a dolphin, and what a well-trained, social animal might do in response. But David was well-behaved, looking as smooth and sleek as the creatures themselves as he came out of the water. The only irritating thing was that he and John Seymore seemed to find a tremendous amount to talk about whenever she was busy with the others. Then, during the circle swim, David disappeared beneath the surface for so long that the two parents in the group began to worry that he had drowned.

“Are you sure he’s all right?” Ally Conroy, Zach’s mother, asked Alex.

“I know him,” Alex told the woman, forcing another of those plastic smiles that threatened to break her face. “He can hold his breath almost as long as the dolphins.”

David surfaced at last. Macy, the staff photographer, just shrugged at Alex. They made a lot of their research funding by selling people photos of their dolphin experiences, but Alex and Macy both knew David didn’t need to buy any photos.

At that point, David and John began talking quietly in the background, as Alex got the others going on their chance for dolphin hugs and smooches. She couldn’t hear what the two men were saying, but she was annoyed, and became more so when Hank Adamson joined the conversation. She found them distracting, but had a feeling she’d look foolish if she was to freak out and yell at the lot of them to shut up. It looked like a little testosterone party going. They were probably chatting about diving—in a manly way, of course.

Why did it bother her so much? David was out of her life. No, David would never be out of her life.

The thought was galling. She had been able to see that the relationship wasn’t working, that time wasn’t going to change the facts about him, her or the situation. And they had split. She didn’t regret the decision.

It’s just that he was here again now, when she had a lovely minor flirtation going on, the most exciting thing she’d experienced since the divorce. And just because the object of her current affections seemed to be getting on with David as if they were long-lost friends…

“Hey,” Zach whispered to her, his eyes alight, “Those guys aren’t paying any attention. The girls and I could sneak in and take their hugs, huh?”

She would have loved to agree. But no matter what it looked like Hank Adamson was doing, he was a reporter. One whose writing could influence the fate of Moon Bay. She had to play fair.

“I’d love to give them to you and the girls, but it wouldn’t be right.”

“Zach, you can take my place.”

She hadn’t known that David had broken away from his conversation.

She stared at him. “The girls would want an equal opportunity.”

“Hey, I’ll give up my time.” That, amazingly, came from Hank Adamson. He grinned at Alex. “It’s cool watching the kids have fun. Don’t worry—you’re getting a good write-up.”

“I’ll give up my hug, too,” John Seymore told her, shrugging, a dimple going deep.

“Another round for the youngest members of the group, then,” she said.

Finally the time was up. Alex went through her spiel about returning flippers, masks, and snorkels, telling the group where they could rinse off the brine and find further information on dolphins before heading off for whatever their next adventure might be.

John gave her a special smile as he stopped to thank her. “I was figuring I’d do it again, maybe check out a time when the groups weren’t full. I don’t have a thing in the world against hugs. Even from a dolphin.”

She smiled in return, nodding.

“I think I have an in with the dolphin keeper,” he added softly.

“You do,” she assured him.

He turned, walking off. David had been right behind him. He’d undoubtedly heard every word. Now his dark blue eyes were on her enigmatically. She wished he wasn’t even more appealing soaking wet, that thatch of impossibly dark hair over his forehead, bronzed shoulders gleaming. She wished there wasn’t such an irresistibly subtle, too familiar scent about him. Soap, cologne, his natural essence, mingled with the sea and salty air.

“Nice program you’ve got going,” he said. “Thanks.”

Then he walked away. He didn’t even shake her hand, as the others had. He didn’t touch her.

She felt burned.

“Thanks,” she returned, though he was already too far away to hear her

“You okay?”

Alex whirled. Laurie was watching her worriedly.

“So hunky-dory I could spit,” Alex assured her, causing Laurie to smile.

Then her friend cocked her head, set her hands on her hips and sighed. “Poor baby. Two of the most attractive men I’ve seen in a long time angling for your attention, and you look as if you’ve been caught in a bees’ nest.”

“Trust me, David is not angling for my attention.”

“You should have seen the way he was looking at you.”

“You were reading it wrong, I guarantee you.”

Laurie frowned. “I thought the divorce went smoothly.”

“Very smoothly. I don’t think he even noticed,” Alex told her ruefully. She lifted a hand in vague explanation. “He was in the Caribbean on a boat somewhere when I filed the papers. He didn’t call, didn’t protest…just sent his attorney with the clear message to let me do whatever I wanted, have whatever I wanted…I was married, then I wasn’t, and it was all so fast, my head was spinning.”

“Well, that certainly didn’t mean he hated you.”

“I never said he hated me.”

“Well…want my advice?”

“No.”