Stardust on the Sea Read online

  “Now please, talk among yourselves and make friends. If you’ve been here for a while or before, be sure to give our new friends a special welcome.”

  Miss Jane beamed at all of us once more before turning and whisking around a corner. Before I could blink, four young girls appeared, bearing teapots, tiered plates and platters.

  “Oh, yum, look at the scones.” The young woman next to me closed her eyes in anticipation. “They have the best ones here.”

  The man on her other side grinned and slid a hand around the back of her neck. “That’s my wife, all about the baked goods!”

  She rolled her eyes and blushed. “Sorry. We’re on our honeymoon.”

  “Really?” I glanced around the room. True, there was a wide range of ages gathered around the small tables, but still...honeymoon? I’d always pictured a sun-soaked island somewhere in the Mediterranean...not that I ever thought about a honeymoon, of course.

  “Yes.” The new husband moved his hand down to skim his wife’s bare shoulder. “This place has history for us. We came here on our first trip away together, and this is where I proposed—right out on that porch. So where else would we spend the most romantic week of our lives?”

  I smiled weakly and made a mental note to avoid these two for the rest of my time here.

  “Oh, look!” An older lady on the other side of the honeymooners sat up and waved toward the doorway. “Lucas is here!”

  I swiveled my gaze in the direction of her beaming, expecting by the tone in her voice a charming older gentleman. Instead I found myself speechless for the second time that day.

  The man making his way toward my table might have been older—than me, at least—and he might have been a gentleman, but he was also tall, blonde and very hot.

  And that was not a word I ever used unless it was in conjunction with Mexican food or the weather.

  Lucas obviously was a not a newcomer. He greeted a few people along his way, patting a gray-haired old woman on the shoulder and shaking the hand of the man I assumed was her husband. He called hello to a few people beyond reach before sinking into the seat directly across from me.

  “Why, Lucas, you naughty boy, you were very nearly late for tea!” Miss Jane appeared behind him, placing her hands on his shoulders.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Jane, but it was entirely your fault.” He swiveled his head around to grin up at our hostess, and I caught my breath when a single dimple appeared on his left cheek. “I was up at the Audubon Society, checking out their birding trails as you suggested.”

  “Oh, wonderful!” She patted his cheek. “Well, you’ve probably worked up an appetite then. Enjoy!”

  Birding. Mentally I rolled my eyes. What a waste, all that man goodness, that dimple...and he liked looking at birds?

  Mrs. Honeymoon had snagged a scone and nudged the tiered plate across the table. “Mrs. Karon, Lucas, here you go...help yourself before I take them all.”

  Her husband leaned around to smile at me again. “Honey, we’re being rude.” He tapped his chest. “I’m Sam Carter, and my new wife is Lora. Mrs. Karon is here visiting from New York. And this is Lucas Reilly.”

  I cast my vague professional smile—the one I used when I was on a job—around the table. Lora nodded at me, preoccupied with her pastry, and Mrs. Karon murmured a few words of welcome.

  But when I met Lucas’s intensely blue eyes, my smile faltered and my heart sped up just a little. He might be a dweeb birder, but God, those eyes...

  “Hi.” The dimple appeared again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

  My tongue darted out to wet my lips. “Cathryn. Whitmore. Cathryn Whitmore.”

  “Cathryn.” The smile widened. “No Cathy, Cate?”

  I shook my head. “No. Just—just Cathryn.”

  “Where are you from?” This question came from Mrs. Karon.

  I tore my eyes away from the face across the table to answer her question. “Florida.”

  There were the expected oohs and ahs that my home state usually elicited. Only Lucas cocked his head.

  “So you leave Florida, the land of beaches and sunshine, to come to Cape May—another beach?”

  Instantly defensive, I dropped the tea sandwich I’d snagged. “I didn’t make these plans. They were made for me. And I’m here on business. Partly.” I sipped my tea and burned my tongue. “Oh, and I’m from central Florida. I don’t live anywhere near a beach.”

  Lucas held up his hands, palms out toward me. “Hey, sorry. I didn’t mean anything. Just teasing.”

  I nodded. “Sorry. People always think beaches or old people when they hear Florida.”

  “What kind of business are you in?” Sam asked.

  “I work for a consulting firm,” I smiled. The company line flowed smoothly over my lips as always.

  Lucas was demolishing his scone. “What kind of consulting?”

  This wasn’t unexpected either. “We offer services to a wide range of businesses. We help them improve efficiency, make transitions, that sort of thing.”

  Everyone nodded. It was an answer designed to stop conversation, and in my experience, it always worked.

  I concentrated on enjoying the small tea sandwiches and savories offered as the rest of my tablemates talked about how they’d spent their days.

  “So, bird watching?” Sam popped a chocolate into his mouth.

  Lucas grinned and shook his head. “Hey, there’re only so many house tours I can do, and I’m bored sitting on the beach by myself. It was an act of desperation.”

  “Why did you come here then?” The words spilled out of my mouth before I thought about them.

  Lucas’s smile softened as he shifted his gaze to me. “I won this. A week at the Star of the Sea.”

  “Won it? Like, in a card game?”

  Everyone laughed, and Lucas shook his head. “No, it was the raffle prize at a fundraiser for the college where I teach.”

  Before I could say anything else, Miss Jane was at my arm. “You’re Cathryn, aren’t you? George tells me you’ve had quite the trip up here. If you’re finished, let me show you to your room.”

  The tea and food had revived me a little, but the idea of a bed was overwhelmingly tempting. I nodded to my new acquaintances and followed Miss Jane.

  I opened my eyes and fought back a moment of panic, that sense of not knowing where I was. It was dusky in my room, with the waning rays of sun just touching the tops of the walls. I glanced across the room at the mantel clock. It was nearly seven.

  I had barely unpacked a few things before exhaustion won, and I’d collapsed onto the large four-poster. That had been about two hours earlier, and now I felt the disorientation that almost always followed a late afternoon nap.

  I wasn’t hungry and didn’t know where I’d get dinner anyway. Only breakfast and tea were offered here at the Star. I stretched and climbed out of bed. I spent a few moments puttering around the room, making sure my toiletries case was set up on the bathroom door and my clothes were hanging with my shoes lined up just beneath them. My traveling protocol was to leave anything that couldn’t be hung in my bag, tucked inside the closet. I found a plug for my phone charger and for my laptop.

  With everything tidy, I moved to the window to check out the view. Harley had done a good job here, I had to admit. My room looked out over the beach, and with the doors onto my wide balcony opened, I could hear the rush of the waves.

  The sun cast a reddish glow over the sparkling blue water, and I decided to take a beach walk before it got too dark. I changed into shorts and a plain green t-shirt, found a pair of flip-flops and tucked my phone into my pocket.

  The house was quiet as I made my way down the hall to the steps. I scanned the rooms with my mind; it seemed most people must have been out for dinner. I couldn’t hear any signs of life.

  Miss Jane had explained to me that the house had been built over a period of decades and then added on to by subsequent generations, which meant that it had winding hallways and a nu
mber of staircases. My room was in the original part, so it wasn’t too difficult to find my way to the front door and down the porch steps.

  On the beach, I pulled off my flip-flops and sighed as my toes sank into the sand. It was still warm from the day’s sunshine, though I could feel the hint of cool from the wet base beneath.

  A breeze blew the tendrils of my hair around my forehead, and I reached up to take out the pins. I almost always kept my hair up, off my neck, both for comfort and professionalism. But there was infinite relief in letting it down to fall below my shoulders. I massaged my fingers against my scalp as I meandered down toward the water.

  The waves were chilly, but as the salt water flowed back and forth over my feet, I felt the stress of the trip melt away. Maybe Harley had been right, I reflected. It had been a hard year, and being away, up here where no one knew me and where I could let go of everything...it might not have been that bad an idea.

  Closing my eyes, I drew in a deep breath and for the first time, I let myself feel. An image of Michael Sawyer flitted through my mind, but the pain wasn’t nearly as stinging as it had been. I knew—I had always known—that he had never been mine. He hadn’t ever led me to believe that I had a chance. Tasmyn was his world, and I had only been fooling myself last spring when I thought I could take her place. And after working with her last fall, I had to grudgingly admit that I didn’t hate her anymore. We might never be best friends, but I could respect her.

  Romance had never been on my radar. Working for my family’s company, using my gift to help other people put their own extraordinary talents to good use was all that mattered. My feelings for Michael were an aberration, something I hadn’t shared with anyone. Real heartbreak was something I didn’t even want to consider.

  “Cathryn?”

  I almost jumped out of my skin, and I did gasp in surprise. No one ever snuck up on me. But here was Lucas, carrying his shoes as he came toward me.

  “Hey,” I greeted. “I thought the beach was boring?” I wanted to bite off my tongue. Why on earth had I said that?

  He laughed. “Yeah, during the day, by myself. Turns out coming to a beach town by yourself when you’re a middle aged man isn’t so cool.”

  “Middle aged?” I cocked my head.

  “Ahh, okay. Maybe not quite.” That dimple popped out again, making my knees just a little weak. “Point is that it’s not quite turning out like I hoped.”

  “What did you want? Out of this vacation, I mean?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m thinking about making some changes in my life, and I was hoping to have some peace and quiet to think it over. But I haven’t had a lot of downtime.” He glanced at me. Sunglasses hid his eyes, but even through them I could feel the weight of his gaze. He reached down and brushed a strand of hair out of my face.

  “What kind of changes?” I struggled to keep my breath even, as his fingers lingered by my cheek.

  “My aunt passed away this spring, and she left me her house. It’s down in Florida, oddly enough.” He smiled and dropped his hand back to his side. “First I was just going to sell it, but then I thought of moving down there. Kind of starting over.”

  “I thought you were a college professor.”

  “I am. But I’ve always wanted to write, so I was thinking I could move down there, write my novel. You know, before I get too old.”

  “This age thing is really a hang-up for you, isn’t it?”

  He laughed. “Maybe. So did I interrupt you? You looked a million miles away when I called your name.”

  “I was going to go for a walk, but I got distracted by the ocean. How about you? Were you on your way back?”

  Lucas shook his head. “Just starting out. Want some company?”

  I didn’t, or I hadn’t thought I did. But I found myself nodding, and we turned to walk.

  At first neither of us spoke, but then, Lucas began to tell me about being a professor, about his students, the college and the book he hoped to write. I didn’t say much. It was strangely relaxing to listen to another person without any motive. I allowed my guard to drop just a little and listened to his mind, too, telling myself it was justified; after everything Carruthers had faced in the last year, we couldn’t be too careful about competitors and double agents.

  But Lucas’s mind was easy, straightforward and honest. What he was speaking was what he was thinking.

  We turned back as the sun dropped and darkness was truly falling. The ocean danced in the moonlight, and I shivered slightly as the breeze picked up.

  “You okay?” Lucas draped an arm over my shoulder, and I stiffened out of habit, even though my instinct was to lean into him.

  “Fine,” I said, trying to lighten my tone. “I meant to bring a sweater down with me.”

  We’d reached the break in the dunes that led to the Star. He rubbed my shoulder, before dropping his arm. “I guess if I were really a gentleman, I’d have a jacket I could offer you.”

  “That’s okay.” I hugged myself, letting my hair fall over my face. “I think once we get off the beach, it’ll be warmer.”

  Watching my steps as we made our way carefully across the dune break, I nearly ran into Lucas’s back. He’d come to a complete stop without any warning and was staring across the street at the bed and breakfast.

  I was still hearing his thoughts, so I easily picked up their panicked direction. He had seen something at the house, something that spooked him.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, coming around to stand next to him. I glanced to where he was looking just in time to see a shadow move across one of the upper level porches.

  “Nothing.” He whispered the word, but he didn’t look away. “What a house, huh?”

  “It’s something,” I agreed. “Did you see...” I paused, listening to his mind. He was afraid I would think he was crazy. I decided to start again.

  “I thought I saw something, up there on the porch.” I squinted at it. “Actually, that’s my room, I think.” A dozen different scenarios flashed through my mind. Was someone trying to get into my room? Carruthers’ competitors could be ruthless, but why would they mess with me here, on vacation?

  “Oh, God. You see it, too? I thought I was losing my mind.” Lucas expelled a breath. “What...is it, do you think?”

  “I hope it isn’t someone breaking into my room.” Once again, I spoke without thinking first and mentally kicked myself.

  “It doesn’t look like that. It doesn’t look—human.” He gave a short bark of a laugh and leaned against the low wall that divided the sidewalk from the sand. “I know, I’m nuts. Too many ghost tours, I guess.”

  “No, you’re not nuts.” I surprised myself once more. “I think you might be right.” As we watched, the figure simply vanished.

  “Wow,” Lucas breathed. “I’m glad you’re here with me. I’d be driving home and checking myself into the psych ward if you hadn’t seen it, too.”

  We walked across the street. Lucas had his hand on the small of my back, and I was all too aware of how close he was to me.

  Guests sat on the porch as we climbed the steps. A few waved or smiled at us. I spotted Mr. and Mrs. Honeymoon on a swing, holding hands. She had her head on his shoulder, and he was stroking the side of her face.

  I sighed, and Lucas followed the direction of my attention. He chuckled as he opened the screen door, allowing me to pass through first.

  “Sam and Lora are cute, aren’t they?”

  I worked to keep from grimacing. “I guess. It’s just something so far outside my experience. They’re really young, and maybe just a little too cute.”

  We paused at the bottom of the staircase. “They remind me of my students. After all these years, I can tell you the lifecycle of that kind of relationship.” He leaned on the newel post, standing almost over me as he leaned in to murmur closer to my ear. “They might make it. I hope they do. Gives me inspiration.”

  I glanced up to see the twinkle in his blue eyes, and the implied intimac
y made my heart stutter again.

  “I’d better go to bed,” I whispered. “I have a meeting tomorrow.”

  Lucas brushed my hair off my face again, and this time his fingers swept my cheek, rubbing softly.

  “Good night.” He smiled. “Thanks for a non-boring walk on the beach and for being my sanity check.”

  “Aren’t you going up?” I asked.

  He quirked an eyebrow at me. “Are you inviting me?”

  To my horror I blushed. “No! I was just wondering.”

  He laughed softly. “My room is up the back stairs.” He patted my shoulder. “See you at breakfast, Cathryn.”

  I climbed the stairs with my mind on Lucas. I had never had an experience with a man where I hadn’t been the one in complete control, but Lucas shook my core. I didn’t understand why.

  Fishing the key out of my pocket, I opened the door to my room, fumbled for the light and tripped over something on the floor. The light switch finally worked, and for a moment, I just gaped.

  All of my clothes were in the middle of my bed in one disorderly pile. Hangers littered the floor—it had been one of those that had tripped me.

  My heart pounded as I remembered the shadow outside my window. Someone had broken in, and...why would they move my clothes to the bed? My laptop was still sitting on the antique desk. It didn’t look as though it had been touched. I moved to the bathroom.

  All of my makeup and toiletries were lined up at the edge of the tub, and my shoes made a precarious tower in front of the sink.

  It was silly to be spooked by a pile of shoes, but my hands shook a little as I bent down to retrieve a bottle of lotion that had rolled into the tub. When I straightened, my eyes skittered across the mirror and froze.

  A gray and diaphanous face met my eyes.

  I gasped, my mouth opening in a scream that didn’t materialize. I couldn’t move, couldn’t look away. After what seemed like an eternity, the face simply melted away as an ice cold wave of air washed over me.