Reluctant Partners

The Dragonfly wouldn’t be the same without Allie, he caught himself thinking. In only one day he’d gotten used to seeing her running all over the boat, surefooted as a monkey, handling several tasks at once. She would fetch drinks for the passengers, re-bait a hook, and check on the engine to make sure it hadn’t caught fire all in the span of a minute or two.

She was good. He hated to admit it, but she was. He never would have found the fish. But she would analyze the sonar, gaze at the water, then-no kidding-sniff the air. A few minutes later, there would be a school of snapper. Watching her was like sipping good Scotch.

The sight of her rounded bottom in those tight denim shorts had provided its own entertainment. Much as he enjoyed the sight, he ought to talk to her about her uniform.

Harry Nelson hadn’t been able to keep his ogling eyes off of her, either, and it wouldn’t be good for business if Cooper had to punch out one of the passengers for taking liberties with his staff.

Allie worked side by side with him now, helping the happy, sunburned passengers with their gear. As soon as everyone else had disembarked, he turned to her and grinned, unable to help himself.

“We did it.”

“Did you think we wouldn’t?”

He shrugged. “I’m just saying we did good. Do we have people booked for tomorrow?”

“We have a ten o’clock, but normally the start time is much earlier.” Tomorrow, however, she had to meet with her lawyer first thing.

“Guess I’ll see you around nine, then.” He turned, but she grabbed his arm.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think you’re going? Just because the passengers are gone doesn’t mean our workday is over. We have to clean and put away the equipment. Carry out the trash. Empty the holding tanks. Call Mickey about fixing the engine. Then we have to get ready for tomorrow. We have to lay in groceries, bait.”

“Does it really take two people to-”

“Excuse me. Partners, remember? If you want half the profits, you gotta do half the work.”

“I have obligations,” he said. “Bank accounts to un-freeze. Injunctions to un-injunct. A contract to draft.” Truthfully, he’d arranged for Reece to handle most of those tasks. But if he was going to captain this boat tomorrow, he had some studying to do. He supposed it wasn’t fair to stick Allie with all the chores. But tomorrow he would be ready to pitch in.

“Tell you what. Tomorrow I’ll do all the cleaning and shopping and whatever. You can have the evening off.”

She raised one eyebrow. “Really?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, deal.”

He reached into his pocket, pulled out his money clip, and peeled off five hundred-dollar bills. “That should handle incidentals until you’re able to access the business account.”

Allie stared at the money with bulging eyes. “Do you always carry that kind of money around?”

“I like to be prepared. See you tomorrow.”

He stepped off the boat, feeling really good about the day. He had pleasantly sore muscles from climbing up and down the ladder to the bridge, and his nose was sunburned.

His good mood lasted until he saw Reece striding toward him down the dock, looking ridiculously out of place in dress slacks, a starched white shirt and a tie. Why was he wearing a tie? No one down here wore ties unless they were getting married or going to a funeral.

“Where the hell have you been?” Reece demanded. “Why haven’t you answered your phone?”

“Um, Reece, cell phones don’t work out on the ocean. Is there a problem?”

“I’ll say. Mark Gold called from Austin.”

Gold was the legal researcher Cooper had hired to check into Allie’s claims about a will. “What did he say?”

“He says there is a will. Handwritten, but properly witnessed, properly executed in every way. Went through probate without a hitch. It leaves the boat to one Allison Therese Bateman.”

“We’ll hire a forgery expert,” Cooper said immediately. “The whole thing could be faked. Uncle Johnny wouldn’t have cut us out.”

“Apparently he did. I’ve talked to the lawyer here who filed it. His name is Arlen Caldwell. He was a personal friend of Johnny’s. Says there is no question that Johnny wrote and signed the will.”

“If that’s true, we’ll argue diminished mental capacity. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll prove Allie coerced him into writing a new will.”

“Caldwell says Johnny was perfectly sane, and there’s not a chance he was coerced.”

“Damn it, Reece, I’m not letting her get away with this. That’s our boat. She’s not even distantly related. Say, wait a minute, how old is this Caldwell character?”

Reece shrugged. “I don’t know, I didn’t meet him. But on the phone he sounds like an old man.”

“Bingo. Allie Bateman wrapped one old man around her little finger. Why not two?”

“You think she and Caldwell were in it together?”

“Why not?”

Reece appeared dubious. “Look, Coop, just because Heather did a number on you-”

“I told you before, do not bring Heather into this. She has nothing to do with the current situation.”

“Of course she does. She snowed you. She snowed the whole family. She stole nearly a quarter million dollars-”

“I know what she did.”

“And she got away with it. But that doesn’t mean every woman in the world is a conniving siren out to fleece us. We can fight Johnny’s will, but it’s going to cost us. Plenty. After seeing the boat, I’m not sure it’s worth it.”

“And after spending all day aboard the Dragonfly, I’m sure it is,” Cooper countered. Piloting that boat, feeling the wind, smelling the tangy salt air, he’d felt more alive than he had in years. He was pretty sure Allie’s presence on the boat had nothing to do with the high he’d felt all day. “I’ll pay the legal fees from my own pocket if I have to, but I’m not giving up.”

Chapter Four

Allie finally got the boat squared away. Mickey had come over after hours and banged around on the engine for a while. When he was done, it didn’t appear anything had changed. If anything, there were more wires added to the spaghetti bowl. But the scruffy mechanic swore Allie wouldn’t have any more electrical shorts.

What were the chances of that being true?

After making a careful notation in the ledger book, she’d used Cooper’s money to pay off Dino and buy groceries for the next day’s excursions.

She was grateful for the cash, and she would repay him as soon as she had access to the money from today’s charter. But she’d probably been a fool to make a side deal with Cooper Remington. She had her doubts he’d do all the post-cruise work tomorrow while she took the evening off. Would he even know what to do?

Though she had to get up early tomorrow-she was meeting Arlen at the crack of dawn-she was too restless to go to bed, so she locked up the boat and headed for Old Salt’s. Johnny used to hang out there a lot, before he quit drinking. It was a friendly bar favored by the locals, and she imagined she would see a few familiar faces there.

If she lost the Dragonfly, at least she would still have her friends. No one could take them away from her.

“Hey, Allie!” The enthusiastic greeting came from Jimmy Pye, who captained the Sallie Ann. They often referred business back and forth. “Heard you found the snapper today.”

“We pulled in a few,” she said with a grin, slapping the crusty sailor on the back as she passed his table, where he was tipping some beers with his crew.