Tide Will Tell (Islands of Intrigue: San Juans) by Lesley Ann McDaniel Page A

both of them if he left tonight, but he wanted to make sure she’d be okay.
    He drew in a breath to speak, but the door to the post office opened and the same nun they’d seen earlier stepped onto the walkway. She looked out at the light rain that had started to fall, then her gaze fixed on Kate.
    “Excuse me.” The nun approached, and Kate snapped her head toward her as if she’d been startled. “Aren’t you the girl who’s going to marry Chase Cole?”
    Kate blanched as she gave Josh a look edged in fear. She looked back at the nun. “Y…yes. I am.”
    “Oh. I thought so.” The nun folded her hands in front of her. Her eyes narrowed and she started to speak, then bit down on her words. She looked away as if reconsidering what she wanted to say to her. “Did that young man find you?”
    Kate frowned. “What young man?”
    “The nice one who was asking about you.”
    “Nice man? What did he—”
    The ferry whistle blasted, making Kate visibly startle. The nun glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, it’s here already.” She looked back at Josh and Kate. “Please excuse me. I’m meeting someone who’s going to stay the week at Our Lady of the Rock.” She turned and started down toward the landing. “That’s our monastery, you know.”
    Kate’s jaw trembled and her hold on her cone loosened. “A man was…asking about me…”
    Josh grabbed the cone from her hand before she dropped it. “Probably just a reporter. They’re not always very subtle.”
    She shook her head. “No, you don’t under…” The cars started to exit the ferry, and Kate snapped her focus to the parking area. “That looks like Chase’s car.” She took a couple of steps, stumbled, and caught herself on the railing.
    “Kate, you shouldn’t—”
    “You don’t understand.” She shot Josh a look that reminded him of a scared rabbit. “I need him to keep me safe.” Maneuvering around the railing and into the rain, she waved an arm to signal Chase.
    “Kate!” Josh followed on her heels, not wanting her to go.
    She stopped abruptly, pulling in her arm. Josh followed her gaze, wondering why she’d suddenly turned as pale as the ice cream he salvaged from her wilting grasp.
    As the car passed by them, he saw the reason why. There was already someone riding in the passenger seat of Mr. Cole’s car. And that ‘someone’ was a woman.

Chapter 12
    Kate paced like a caged tiger. Her first couple of days on Shaw Island hadn’t gone at all as she’d hoped. Instead of relaxing in her new home with her husband-to-be, she was all alone in the guesthouse, wringing her hands and probably wearing a path in the carpet.
    Hours had passed since she and Josh had seen Chase get off the ferry with a woman in his car, and there had been no word from him. Where could he be? Shaw Island wasn’t that big.
    But the other question pressed on her mind—who was he with?
    Halting, her gaze rested on the dark blue water past her living room windows and the twilit ferry landing on the other side of the bay. The light afternoon rain had progressed into a persistent deluge that only served to darken her mood.
    She was still reeling, not only from the events of the day, but from the realization that she had hurt people she loved by running away, not just once but twice. Even if things settled down in her life, how could she ever hope to make that up to them?
    Maybe her access to Chase’s unlimited funds could be put to good use. She could start a foundation to help runaways. Some kind of safe house where kids could go without being afraid of being turned in to the cops. If she could make that a reality, maybe all of this suffering would be worth something.
    An involuntary shiver accompanied the reminder that she’d left Dakota behind when she’d fled San Diego. She winced, pinching back tears. Was there a chance that Joe would assume Dakota knew her whereabouts? Would he take his anger out on him? Now that she knew, or thought she knew, what Joe was