Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

covered quickly by ringing up their items. “I really appreciated her coming by personally.”
    “Aunt Carol has always been very thoughtful. We’re heading out to Sea Lion Cove. I’ve been taking care of one of the dolphins, although I think he’s much better.”
    “How are the wedding plans coming?”
    “We haven’t had much of a chance to really work on them, but we’re going to pull it together,” Abbey assured her.
    “I’ve heard rumors that you are engaged.” Inez looked pointedly at Abbey’s finger and then at Aleksandr. “It is customary to give a woman a ring if you’ve asked her to marry you.”
    “I did give her a ring,” Aleksandr said and brought Abigail’s fingers to his mouth.
    She snatched her hand away and put it behind her back as she glared at him. “You have an oral fixation.” She turned back to Inez with a smile. “I think we have everything, Inez. Maybe a couple of your famous mochas to keep us warm while we’re at the cove?”
    Inez smiled for the first time since they’d entered the store. “You Drakes with your men.” She shook her head as she began to make the mochas for them. “Carol’s giving Reginald a terrible time. She has the poor man dancing through hoops for her. He’s shaved and cut his hair and is wearing very nice clothes.”
    “Did you know they were engaged at one time?” Abigail asked over the sound of the espresso machine.
    “Of course. It was a dreadful scandal at the time. Reginald was so heartbroken and over time, he withdrew so much he wouldn’t allow us to remain close friends. He became very solitary. I told Carol to be very careful with his heart this time. I don’t think he could take rejection a second time from her.”
    “I had no idea,” Abigail said. She took the two mochas as Aleksandr picked up the small bag of Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    groceries. “Thanks, Inez. I’ll see you soon.”
    Aleksandr put his hand on Abigail’s shoulder before she could walk out the front of the store. “Inez, would you mind if we went out the back?”
    The older woman looked up alertly, but nodded without asking questions.
    “Do you really think this is necessary?” Abigail asked as she followed him through the store toward the back.
    “Until we catch Ignatev, yes, it’s necessary. Jonas may think he’s gone, but I know better. I have no doubt this recent turn of events not only cost him a great deal of money, but got him in trouble with his terrorists friends, and he’ll want vengeance. I’ve interfered with his plans too many times for him to just let this go. And unlike Nikitin, who’s probably long gone now, Ignatev likes to do his own killing when he can.”
    Abigail shivered as she watched him put their purchases on the back seat of the car. “At least we’ll be safe in the cove.”
    He shook his head. “The harbor’s dangerous, too many buildings and boats. We’re vulnerable there.
    We should be safer in the cove. If we’re in the middle of it, a shooter, even a marksman, would have trouble hitting us from that distance.“
    “Is he a marksman like Jackson?”
    “Abigail…”
    She yanked open the driver door. “What do you want me to do? Stay in the house all the time?” He barely had his seat belt on before she started the car and turned onto the main highway.
    “Yes, if you want the truth. It would be safer until I find him.”
    “I’m sure it would, but it won’t help my dolphin and I doubt if you’d be hiding in the house with me.
    You’d be running around trying to draw him away from me like some hero in a novel.”
    He leaned over to nibble on her neck. “I am your hero.”
    She pushed at him, but it was halfhearted. “You’re going to make us wreck.” She fended him off for the rest of the short drive to the harbor and was laughing by the time she parked the car.
    As they loaded the food and drinks and Abigail’s equipment into the boat, she realized he was shielding her body with his own. “Are you going to keep this up the entire time we’re out at sea?”
    “No. Just when we’re in the harbor.”
    Abigail shook her head over his stubbornness. It was impossible to argue with him when he was set on something so she just stowed her gear and took the boat slowly out of the harbor, ignoring the way he hovered over her. Once they were out in open sea, he relaxed and leaned back, drinking his mocha and staring at their surroundings through his dark