Wanting a Family Man (Raven’s Cove #3)

Chapter Five

T rystan returned to an empty saloon. When he went looking for Cloe, he found her fast asleep on her bunk.

She was tired. The kind of tired that came from sustained survival mode. Maybe she hadn’t been trekking a rugged mountain range or trapping her own food in a desert, but any environment could be hostile enough to take a toll. After her shower, her eyes had been red and bruised, her movements sluggish, suggesting sleep deprivation. Trystan recognized her alertness, too. She wasn’t actively being hunted, but she was on guard that she could be.

He needed to dig a little deeper into that but wasn’t sure how. His priority was Storm, but he could see that Cloe had pushed herself to her limit to get here—which he couldn’t help admire. It had left her weakened, though. He didn’t want to take advantage of that. He also didn’t want to see her as fragile and vulnerable. That would cause his guard to drop, and he knew what happened when it did.

He quietly drew her door closed, contemplating his promise to Reid that he would “figure it out.” It sounded like Cloe wanted to live and work here until her visa ran out, but where?

And was her being here really the best thing for Storm? For his baby sister’s sake, Trystan felt obliged to give Cloe the benefit of the doubt and believe she was only here because she wanted to be part of her niece’s life, but what exactly had happened in California? Was trouble liable to follow her here? Because that would definitely impact whether he would enable her to stay here.

Trystan hated to think like that. He believed in the value of family, probably more than either of his brothers. He might enjoy testing his own self-reliance—and make a living from diarizing how he did it—but he couldn’t have done it without the dedicated teachings of his mother’s relatives or the robust support he’d received through the years, especially from his production team. He was authentically on his own for weeks at a time, but his support staff were only a distress signal away. Humans survived by leaning on each other. He knew that.

He swore under his breath, thinking of those people he relied on who, in turn, relied on him. He couldn’t keep jerking them around. Twice now, he’d had to tell his production team to find work elsewhere, first after abruptly shutting down his trek into the arctic this spring, then again in June, when he’d promised Reid and Emma he would stick around until the resort went up for sale.

Today’s agreement for sale ought to mean he could start planning a return to work. If he didn’t go back, no one made any money, including him. He needed to get out there.

Which made Cloe an even bigger thorn in his boot. He wasn’t about to dump her on Reid or Logan—or Emma—and say, “She’s your problem,” but he didn’t want to stick around and let her be his own problem, either.

The sharp talons of interest that had been digging into him all day gave a determined flex, urging him to see her as something else, but he brushed those aggravating thoughts away.

No, he would focus on scaring up a room for her for a week or so. It sounded like she was strapped for cash, jobless, and without a permanent address so he’d check with his film connections, too. Anything they offered would likely be location work that would take her out of Raven’s Cove. The hours could be hellish, but it paid well and might cover accommodation. He was happy to help someone help themselves. Teach a woman to fish and all that.

He considered who to reach out to while he continued with his chores. He always did a thorough clean as soon as the guests disembarked, but there was a lot more to do between cruises. Along with carrying in supplies and putting them away, he had beds to make, maintenance duties in the engine room, and weather reports to study. He always looked over the passenger list and made note of any special requests so he could personally follow up. His days “off,” when he was here in Raven’s Cove, were also his only time to make important calls or send emails because service was spotty once he was out on the water.

Huh. The bed-making fairy had visited while he’d been out. All he had to do was set out the Welcome Aboard cards with the fresh toiletries.

His father would approve of her, he thought ironically. Not just because she was cute as hell, either. You boys are crew, not cargo. Get to work , Wilf had said more times than Trystan could count.

They had learned to dive in and never complain about whatever unpleasant task was handed to them—and had developed a certain contempt for anyone who lacked their same unquestioning work ethic.

Cloe hadn’t assumed her stay on board was a vacation. She hadn’t waited to be asked to pitch in. She had seen something that needed doing and had done it. Trystan had to respect her for it.

When he picked up the grocery order, he stole the company vehicle to save a few meters of walking. It was still a lot of trips up and down the ramp to bring all the boxes aboard, then more time getting it all stowed away and the empty boxes returned.

By the time he was done, two hours had passed. Cloe was still asleep, so he went to knock on her door.

“What? Hello? Come in” was her muffled response.

He opened her door to see her sitting up on the edge of the lower bunk, blinking in confusion.

“Okay?” He had an impulse to put his hand on her flushed cheek to be sure she wasn’t sick. He shoved his fist into his pocket.

“I haven’t slept in a proper bed for a week,” she said sheepishly. “Did I miss dinner?” She flicked a worried frown to the afternoon light beyond the curtained window.

“No. But that’s why I woke you.” That was a small prevarication. He wanted to talk to her before they went up to the house. “Would you rather skip dinner and go back to sleep?”

“No. I want to see Storm. I’ll just brush my teeth and wash my face. Can I go like this?” She looked down at the wrinkled shirt and shorts she had changed into after her shower.

“We don’t exactly dress for dinner here,” he said, amused. “I should have asked when we were at the house. Would you like to put anything through the wash?”

“Do I need it?” she asked with a cringe of horror.

“No,” he chuckled. “You’re fine. And I spend half my life in the bush. My standards are very low. But if you’ve been traveling, you probably haven’t had time for laundry.”

“Emma wouldn’t mind?”

“Not at all. There’s always something of Storm’s waiting to go through. It’ll come out smelling like baby powder. If that doesn’t bother you…”

“It doesn’t. Thanks. I’d love that.” She stifled a yawn.

“I was about to make myself a cappuccino.” He thumbed toward the galley. “You want one?”

“Desperately. I’ll be right out.”

He pulled the door shut and went back to the galley, trying not to think of the fact she was braless beneath her T-shirt. He hadn’t meant to notice, but damn it, he had noticed.

There was a drip coffeemaker for the morning rush of passengers while they were on the water, but he liked the espresso machine when it was just him.

“I don’t know why I brushed my teeth,” Cloe said when she joined him, eyelids still heavy. “The toothpaste will make the coffee taste funny and I’ll have to brush again before we go.”

“We have lots of time.” He offered her the cup, then made his own. “Thanks for making up the beds.”

“No problem. One of my first jobs was in housekeeping at a dive motel. I was hoping they needed someone at the lodge, but they don’t.”

He almost asked her if she’d ever done coffee runs for celebrities, but he was still waiting for a call back on that.

“I’ve never been on a boat like this.” She picked up her mug and cradled it in two hands, hovering on the other side of the island, looking around curiously. “Can I ask how much you charge for the tours?”

Since it was on the website, Trystan didn’t hesitate. “Twelve thousand.”

Cloe dropped her jaw. “Per person ?”

He shrugged. “Canadian dollars. It’s more like ten if you’re paying in US. There’s a small break for groups of four or more.”

“I can’t imagine having that kind of money to spend on five days of vacation.”

Plus flights, which were damned expensive, given their remote location, but he didn’t want to provoke an aneurism.

He also didn’t want to beat around the bush. As he finished making his own coffee, he said, “I need to ask you something.”

She dragged her attention from the window to him, eyes widening slightly with apprehension. “Yes?”

“Is Storm in danger? Are you?”

She swallowed and dropped her gaze into her mug.

“Not Storm,” she said firmly. “No one else knows her name except my lawyer. I didn’t even know if she was here so I don’t know how anyone else could.”

“Anyone else being…?”

“My ex.” She rolled her lips inward. “Ivan. I testified against him. He’s in jail, awaiting sentencing, so, yeah, he might be holding a grudge. He knows I had a sister and that she was having a baby, then died. One of my court appearances was delayed when I got that news, but I’d be shocked if he remembers her name. I’m sure he thinks she was living in San Francisco because I never told him otherwise.”

She took a brief sip, wincing. It was probably still hot.

“I deleted all my social media accounts even before I was arrested, trying to keep Tiff out of what was going on. That’s why I don’t have a phone, so no one could track me. I’ve been through my bag so many times, making sure there aren’t any geotags. No one got off the ferry with me last night. I was alone there.”

What he heard in all those precautions was fear.

“Do you want to tell me what happened? You don’t have to.”

“I would love to never tell this story again,” she said, voice strained. “But you deserve to know.” Her brow pulled with suffering, though. She sipped and licked her lips. “There are things I can’t tell you because there are other people being charged and that has to play out, but my testimony isn’t needed anymore.”

Voices sounded outside and she glanced to the wharf, profile one of persecution.

Trystan walked over and closed the door, then turned back to see Cloe had backed herself into the corner near the dining nook. She took one more bracing sip of coffee, speaking in a steady tone, but he heard the tremor beneath it.

“The car dealership was my first job after getting my bookkeeping certification. I realize now that it wasn’t a good foundation in accounting. It was more about how to use that particular software, but I felt like I finally had a real job, one that paid well and offered benefits. I liked working with numbers. They don’t lie. If something doesn’t add up, you know you’ve screwed up. You find your mistake and fix it.”

Trystan moved to a stool at the island, trying to give her space to speak at her own pace, but he was riveted to every word, wanting to pry them from her as fast as possible so he could turn them over and see what danger they might pose to the people he cared about.

“Things weren’t adding up,” she said with a flat smile. “I brought it to the owner’s attention. He was Ivan’s dad, Gregor. He would tell me it was fine, and he would make some adjustment and it would seem fine. For a while. Ivan was the head of sales, but he traveled a lot. Whenever he was in, he would flirt with me. He was ten years older than me, very charming when he wanted to be.”

That was always a red flag. When he wanted to be .

“I was still paying off my student loans. I had a car payment, rent… I was living month to month so I got very swept up when he started taking me to fancy restaurants and the VIP section in nightclubs. He was really hard to say no to, especially when he just seemed to want to make me happy. He paid off my loans and gave me a credit card, told me to buy clothes and manicures and get my hair done. I felt a little like he was trying to turn me into something I wasn’t, but all the wives and girlfriends in his circle did those things. I felt like I was becoming one of them because that’s where we were headed. I thought we were in love, that we would get married and all the rest. I didn’t see the danger in becoming completely dependent on him.”

Another huge red flag, one that sent an ominous chill into Trystan’s blood.

“One day, Ivan told me to make some changes in the dealership account and I said no, that it wasn’t right. At first, he tried to talk me around to his side of things, but when I was stubborn about it, he lost his temper.” She seemed to go gray as all the luminous gold leached out of her skin.

Trystan was surprised his ceramic coffee mug didn’t shatter in his hand. He was very philosophical about helpless fawns that were pounced on by pumas, but this was an entirely different type of predation. The kind that riled him in atavistic ways.

“He apologized afterward, but I knew I had to leave. I didn’t know how, though. My paychecks went into a joint account. If I started taking money out of it for first and last month’s rent and everything, he would have noticed. If I left, I wouldn’t even have a job . By then, all my friends were the women attached to his friends. I had no one to turn to.”

“You had Tiffany.”

“Yes, but”—Cloe gulped her coffee and choked slightly—“when I called her, she told me she was pregnant. She was so excited, I wound up downplaying the trouble I was in. I had mostly convinced myself that it was just an argument that got out of hand. He was having a bad day. She was still worried and said I should come here right away. I thought a work visa and coming when the baby was born would be a cleaner, low-conflict break. I told Ivan I was planning to visit her once the baby came, but I was nothing but ulcers.” She waved at her stomach.

“Was he being violent? Abusive?” he asked, bracing himself.

“No.” She shrugged helplessly. “But I had this unending sense of dread, aware the switch could flip at any time. I wanted to be able to go to Tiff in a hurry if I had to, so I started adding twenty or forty dollars in cash to any groceries or whatever I bought on the debit card. And I was still bothered about what he’d done in the books, so I started downloading files onto thumb drives.”

“Weren’t you afraid he’d find out?”

“Terrified. I kept everything in my locker at the gym.”

Smart. He nodded, impressed.

“Thank God I did. He and his father were setting me up as their scapegoat. That evidence kept me from being charged, but Ivan showed his true colors again when he was arrested, making some very scary threats. I was put into protective custody. I didn’t have anywhere to live, anyway. Much as I wanted to come stay with Tiff, I couldn’t leave the state, let alone the country.”

“Then you lost her. I’m really sorry about that, Cloe.” No wonder she looked like she’d been peeled down to the core of her reserves.

She jerked her shoulder. “I honestly don’t know how I would have got through all of that if I hadn’t been thinking about Storm the whole time. When the trial was over, I just wanted to get here. I was given back the cash I’d stashed. I sold the few things that hadn’t been seized. It wasn’t much, but it got me here. This is what rock bottom looks like, in case you were wondering,” she said with a very lame, self-deprecating smile. “The good news is, there’s only one way to go from here and that’s up.”

He wanted to hug her. He had a feeling she could use it, but she must be wary of men after that prick not only scared the hell out of her but tried to pin his crimes on her.

“That’s not me asking for a handout,” she hurried to add. “I really appreciate you giving me a place to stay for a couple of nights.” She pointed toward the crew cabins. “Now that I know Storm’s okay, I’ll make a plan for myself. I need to do it myself. I can’t become dependent on anyone again.” Her cheeks went hollow.

He understood that, but a knee-jerk impulse to help lurched in his chest.

His phone pinged. He glanced at it, hoping it was a reply to one of his texts earlier, so he could offer her a job. Offer her hope , but it was only Reid.

“Is it time to go? I’ll brush my teeth.”

He couldn’t tell whether she was eager to see Storm again or simply wanted to end their difficult conversation. Probably both.

He nodded and took the mug she drained.