Chapter Two

Judah Paloyo didn't know what to make of the Derringer's. First off, the wife was not referred to as Mrs. Derringer, but Mrs. Janaskie. He had no idea what that was about. Didn't the wife usually hyphenate the name if she wanted to keep her own? And he'd only ever heard of movie stars keeping their own last names when married, but he did not recognize Mrs. Janaskie. But there were a lot of stars these days he hadn't heard of. She was pretty enough that she could have been someone famous. If not movies then perhaps modeling. She did have the long lithe figure for it.

That was where the other strange thing came into play. Though she had beautiful features, she preferred to keep them covered up with sweaters and long pants. When the couple went out to a party on another friends boat they were both dressed in tuxedos, though Judah would not say Mrs. Janaskie did not look good in the getup. Even when she was dressed like a man she had an elegant beauty to her.

The final nail in the strange coffin was how everyone referred to both Mr. Derringer and Mrs. Janaskie as sir. It made things confusing at times for Judah when he didn't know which of the couple the workers were referring to. At one point he was told to take some food to Mr. Derringer. But Judah hadn't heard the name, or they hadn't said it, all they said was to take the food the master of the ship. If they were both sir, did that also make Mrs. Janaskie the master of the ship.

He was still new to it all and could not tell from the coldness in the steward's voice that he was referring to Mr. Derringer. Not noticing any of this he ended up taking the food to the sundeck where Mrs. Janaskie was often found.

She wasn't there so he headed off to the only other place she could be found. The bedroom.

He hesitated for a moment outside the room then knocked.

"Come in," came the smooth reply.

On entering he found the woman to be stretched out on her bed, with her long legs stretched out beneath her, and a pillow proper up at her arm on which she gazed down at her book. She was still clothed in her bathing suit, but had probably come in since the sun as too bright to read in. Usually she sat under an umbrella which remedied this, but a recent gust of wind had broken it and it had yet to be replaced.

Judah was reminded of this as he admired her alabaster skin, and bleached blonde hair that looked as if it had been kissed by the sun.

Too late he realized he'd been staring as Kyle lifted her eyes from the pages of the book. Again he was struck by how beautiful she was. The analogy of the sun also came up again as her golden eyes practically glowed as she stared at him.

"Can I help you?"

"Uh," he suddenly forgot why he was there at the low timbre of her voice. It was like listening to the rumble a tiger makes in its throat when it purrs. Pleasant, but at the same time frightening, when you remembered just how dangerous the creature was. It wasn't just some house cat, it was the king of the jungle.

"Your food," the response came like a squeak as he suddenly remembered the reason. He held out the food to her as if she needed to see it to remember.

Her eyebrow arched in interest as she stared at the plate.

Judah had studied his craft in a good school, but his craft was far from Michelin star quality. He had wanted to learn more but circumstance had prevented him. He had only secured this job because a friend knew someone important and had recommended him to the ship's owner while they were in port. It was only a temporary job before they were ready to set sail again. Their own chef was sick but was sure to recover by the time the ship was ready to go.

"I just have a bit more business in port and then we can go," was something Judah had heard Cole tell Mrs. Janaskie on multiple occasions. Kyle didn't look like she cared about the excuse. Judah didn't know if it was because she had heard it enough or if she didn't care whether or not they ever left port again. She seemed content just sitting undisturbed out on the deck with a big book.

"That's not mine," came Kyle's quick response before she returned her eyes to the book in front of her.

The answer stunned him as Judah again just stood there in silence his mind buzzing with white noise.

Seeing he was still there, Kyle did not lift her eyes, as she told him, "That platter would be for Mr. Derringer."

Judah had noticed in his short time there that Mrs. Janaskie never referred to her husband as her husband. It was always Mr. Derringer. Very formal and closed off. He wondered if they had a happy marriage. But it was none of his business, especially when he only had three more days left to serve on the ship.

Thanking her, he turned away to deliver to food to the actual owner. Before he could the ship made an unexpected movement, as he reached out to grab the door frame of the closet to steady himself. Looking back to make sure Mrs. Janaskie was okay, he found her to be unaffected by the movement.

Standing up straight, he continued to hold onto the doorframe as he leaned against it, "I guess I haven't got my sea legs yet." He grinned at his joke but again she was unaffected as she turned the page in her book. He was about to push off and forget the whole thing when the ship shook again, it was all he could do to not fall over or drop the food, has his one arm went wind milling, even as his other did its best to keep the trey level. Finally he found his footing as he stopped in a crouched position that must have looked utterly ridiculous to Mrs. Janaskie.

He glanced over and found her to not be looking at him at all. Well, at least there was that blessing. He stood up straight, adjusting his tie, then headed out.

Mr. Derringer was on the phone when he entered the office. The man motioned for him to stay quiet as he pointed to an area on his desk for Judah to leave the food. Judah did just that before leaving the room.

Judah could count on one hand the times he had seen the couple in the same room. The time they'd gone out to the party, the time Cole had come back to get Judah when he'd been lost, and one other brief encounter when Kyle had passed Cole on her way back to the sun deck.

Was theirs a marriage of convenience? Though Cole seemed like an apt businessman it was Kyle who seemed like the one with money.

Again Judah reminded himself it was none of his business. He was just a passing ship in the night. And before he knew it Mrs. Janaskie would be nothing more than a distant memory. An ethereal remembrance that after a time he'd wonder if he hadn't exaggerated in his mind. Much like another woman in his life.