The Ceo’s Accidental Bride

“The Harpers restore and preserve,” Dylan explained. “The Gilbys prefer to bulldoze and start fresh.”

“Philistines,” Lindsay proclaimed as she breezed out onto the deck. In blue jeans and a green blouse, she somehow looked completely relaxed and at home.

Kaitlin, on the other hand, was now feeling awkward and jumpy. “How’s the pie coming?” she asked, turning away from Zach’s scrutiny.

Though she couldn’t control her reflexive reactions, she had long since learned not to wallow in self-pity about her upbringing. It was what it was. She couldn’t change it. She could only make the best of here and now. Well, maybe not exactly here and now. She only wanted to make it through the weekend.

“We’re all invited, or should I say ‘commanded’ to stay for dinner,” said Lindsay.

“That’s Auntie,” said Dylan, with a stern look for Lindsay. “You know she’ll be fitting you for a wedding dress over dessert.”

Lindsay fought with her unruly blond hair in the swirling wind, making a show of glancing around the deck and into the great room. “No problem,” she informed him. “I could easily live here.”

Dylan rolled his eyes at her irreverence.

“I’ve got nothing against living off the avails of pirating,” she added with a jaunty waggle of her head. Then she tugged at the gold chain around her neck and pulled a gold medallion from below her blouse, swinging it in front of Dylan.

With a start, Kaitlin recognized it as the coin her friend had purchased from the antique shop. Lindsay was wearing it around her neck?

“What’s that?” he demanded.

“Booty from your ancestor’s plundering.”

“It is not.” But Dylan took a closer look. “From the Blue Glacier,” she informed him in triumph.

“Okay. That’s it.” Dylan captured her arm and tugged her back across the deck. “Come here.”

Kaitlin watched Dylan hustle Lindsay through the open doors into the great room. “Where’s he taking her?” she asked Zach with curiosity.

“My guess is that he’s showing her the Letters of Authority.”

Kaitlin shook her head in amazement over their willingness to engage in this particular contest. “Lindsay spent two thousand dollars on that coin from the Blue Glacier,” Kaitlin told Zach. “Apparently, it was sunk by the Black Fern and Captain Caldwell Gilby.”

“I know the story,” said Zach.

“So, when do I get my ten bucks?”

He gave her a look of confusion.

“The bet at the baseball game,” she reminded him. “Lindsay has unrefutable evidence that Dylan is descended from pirates. I believe that means she’ll win the argument. And I believe that means you owe me ten dollars.”

“Signed by King George…” Dylan’s voice wafted through the open doors.

“Here we go,” Zach muttered in a dire tone.

“It’s still not legal,” Lindsay retorted.

“Maybe not today.”

Curiosity getting the better of her, Kaitlin settled to watch the debate through the open doorway.

Lindsay and Dylan were turned in profile. They were both obviously focused on something hanging on the wall.

“Forget the fact that Caldwell Gilby plundered in international waters,” said Lindsay. “Just because a corrupt regime gives you permission to commit a crime-”

“One point to me,” Kaitlin murmured to Zach.

“You’re calling the British monarchy a corrupt regime?” Dylan demanded.

“That one’s mine,” said Zach, leaning back on the deck rail and crossing one ankle over the other.

“Your great, great, great, however many grandfathers held people at gunpoint-”

“Go, Lindsay,” Kaitlin muttered, holding out her hand for the ten.

“I suspect it was swordpoint, maybe musketpoint,” said Dylan.

“Held them at gunpoint,” Lindsay stressed. “And took things that didn’t belong to him.”

Kaitlin gave Zach a smirk and tapped her index finger against her chest. Dylan didn’t know who he was up against.

But Lindsay wasn’t finished yet. “He sank their ships. He killed people. You don’t need to be a lawyer to know he was a thief and a murderer.”

“Oh, hand it over,” Kaitlin demanded.

Dylan suddenly smacked Lindsay smartly on the rear.

She jumped. “Hey!”

“You crossed the line,” he told her.

Kaitlin’s jaw dropped. She sucked in a breath, waiting for Lindsay to react.

This was going to be bad.

Oh, it was going to be very, very bad.

Dylan said something else, but Kaitlin didn’t hear the words.

In response, Lindsay leaned closer. It looked as if she was answering.

Kaitlin stayed still and waited. But the shouting didn’t start, and the insults didn’t fly.

Instead, Dylan reached out and stroked Lindsay’s cheek. Then he butted his shoulder against hers and left it resting there.

For some reason, she didn’t pull away.

Suddenly, Zach grasped Kaitlin’s arm and turned her away.

“Huh?” was all she could manage to say.

“They don’t need an audience,” said Zach.

“But…” She couldn’t help but glance once more over her shoulder. “I don’t…” She turned back to stare at Zach. “Why didn’t she kill him?”

“Because they’re flirting, not fighting.” Zach leaned on the rail, gazing into the setting sun. “Just like you and me.”

The breath whooshed out of Kaitlin’s chest. “We are not-”

“Oh, we so are.”

“So far, so good?” asked Dylan, parking himself next to Zach at the rail of the deck after dinner. Lights shone from the windows of the Gilby house. The pool was illuminated in the yard below. And the twinkle of lights from Zach’s house was visible in the distance.

“I think so.” Zach motioned to the three women inside, where Ginny was playing right into his plan. “She’s showing them photographs from when she and Sadie were girls.”

“I dropped a hint to Lindsay,” said Dylan, taking credit. “She immediately asked Ginny if there were any pictures.”

“Good thought,” Zach acknowledged. Ginny and Sadie had grown up together on Serenity Island. And though Ginny’s short-term memory was spotty, she seemed to remember plenty of stories from decades back. She was in a perfect position to give Kaitlin some insight into his grandmother. And it had the added advantage of coming from a third party. Kaitlin couldn’t accuse Zach of trying to manipulate her.

The thought that Zach could execute a master plan through the eccentric Aunt Ginny was laughable. Though, he supposed, that was exactly what they were doing.

“Lindsay’s a fairly easy mark,” Dylan added. “Mention a pirate, and off she goes like a heat-seeking missile.”

“I notice you’re protesting a bit too much about the pirates,” Zach pointed out. Sure, Dylan was sensitive about his background, but Zach had never seen him pushed to anger over it.

“It sure makes her mad,” Dylan mused.

“Our ancestors were not Boy Scouts,” Zach felt compelled to restate.

“And the British monarchy was not a corrupt regime.”