"Madame," began the Captain.
Carolyn knew that tone of voice well. Humble, contrite, disarmingly mellifluous yet subtly charming all at the same time.
And devious.
She glanced at the handsome visage beside her before swerving the ancient station wagon just in time to avoid a pothole on the gravel-strewn Gregg Road. She exhaled with deliberate force, blowing the bangs on her forehead purposefully, so there could be no mistaking the wrath he surely knew was brewing.
Except he didn't.
"What did you mean when you said perhaps you saw me in that roguish Irish lookalike?"
Carolyn jerked the car off the road and slammed on the brakes. Without prompting, the engine died, leaving Capt. Gregg to the loud squawking of the gulls and the silence of Carolyn Muir.
"Madame?"
"Well, my dear Captain Gregg," Carolyn gazed with enormous concentration at the seascape below. Too much concentration, Daniel Gregg belatedly realized.
"As I told your indirect descendant while you stood pompously glaring down from the balcony, 'A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.' Obviously, there's a little more of Sean in you than meets the eye. Which is the sincere you, the one who's sent all my potential suitors packing, the one who couldn't stand the sight of me with a blarney Daniel Gregg lookalike, or the one who just couldn't take over that magnificent human body and at least bestow a kiss on the woman you hint you love more than anything else in the world?"
"Never mind," she tossed her head and stared directly at her tacit inamorata. "Too much sincerity could kill even a ghost. Let's just keep our relationship facile.
Before he could restrain himself, thunder rumbled ominously. Carolyn ignored him. "Well? You couldn't take over Claymore's body fast enough to suit yourself when the bumbling fool, as you call him, couldn't dance well enough with me. Is that all I am to you? A Victorian treasure to be cosseted like a young virgin instead of a woman mature enough to be unafraid of, well –"
"Of her own needs, m'dear?"
"Of our needs, Captain." A small tear formed in the corner of her eye, and he knew the storm had dissipated as quickly as it formed.
"Why did you date those quisling humans?" The Captain pushed, hoping he wasn't pushing her too far, but he had to know. Had to be certain why she seemingly favored unmanly men and a roguish cad over himself. Needed sincerity most regardless of consequences, blast it.
"Because I needed to know where we stood, where we stand, Captain. Why do you think I wore the blasted bathing suit in front of Gull Cottage, anyway? Did you think I really wanted to push the limits of your pre-Victorian sensibilities?"
"M'dear, did you really believe my morals were offended by your most lovely inattention to propriety?"
Carolyn smiled despite herself.
"If you're trying to say you like the way I look in a swimsuit and don't need to make your jealous with other men or even the most proximate duplicate of your dashing self, then call him back! We'll settle this score on my terms."
She flinched; the thunderclap was so loud, then furiously rolled up her window. "Or yours?"
"Madame, you will not impugn my reputation or my alleged intentions I admit nothing, M'dear, except –"
"Except a certain admiration for Sean's taste in women?" She tilted her head and raised and lowered her eyebrows quickly, amusedly.
"Except profound gratitude your busy life broaches no other potential suitor save me. As for calling that blasted blatherskite back so I can 'invade,' as you say it, his insincere, odious little body and mind, might I suggest another alternative?"
The smile vanished from her face and she licked her lips involuntarily, staring at his.
"Tonight, m'dear. The master cabin. No dinghy needed."
Before she could react, the car's engine restarted with a mere cock of the Captain's eyebrow and she smiled, as she shifted into gear and headed towards town with the better half of her double trouble.