To Wear His Ring by Diana Palmer Page B

cute.”
    “Thanks.”
    The flight attendant was two rows away, with snack meals and drinks. Kasie settled down to lunch with no more reservations. She’d landed on her feet. She wondered what Gil would think if he saw her with this nice young man. Nothing, probably, she thought bitterly, not when he was so wrapped up in Pauline. Well, she wasn’t going to let that spoil her trip.
    Nassau was unexpected. Kasie fell in love with it on first sight. She’d seen postcards of the Bahamas, and she’d always assumed that the vivid turquoise and sapphire color of the waters was exaggerated. But it wasn’t. Those vivid, surreal colors were exactly what the water looked like, and the beaches were as white as sugar. She stared out the window of the hired car with her breath catching in her chest. She’d gone overseas with her parents as a child, but to distant and primitive places. She remembered the terror of those places far better than she remembered the scenery, even at so young an age. Even now, it was hard to think about how she’d lost the parents who’d loved her and Kantor so much. It was harder to think of Kantor…
    “Do stop pressing your nose against the glass, Kasie. You look about Jenny’s age!” Pauline chided from her seat beside Gil.
    “That’s funny,” Bess said with a giggle, not understanding the words were meant to hurt.
    “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful,” Kasiemurmured a little shyly. “It really does look like paradise.”
    Pauline yawned. Gil ignored her and watched Kasie a little irritably as she and the girls enthused over the beach.
    “When can we go swimming in the ocean, Daddy?” Bess asked excitedly.
    “We have to check into the hotel first, baby,” Gil told her. “And even then, the beach is dangerous. Kasie doesn’t swim.”
    “Oh, we can take them with us,” Pauline said lazily. “I’ll watch them.”
    It occurred to Gil that he never trusted Pauline with his children. She wasn’t malicious, she just didn’t pay attention to what they were doing. She’d be involved in putting on sunscreen and lying in the sun, not watching children who could become reckless. Bess was especially good at getting into trouble.
    “That’s Kasie’s job,” Gil said, and put a long arm around Pauline just to see the reaction it got from Kasie. It was a constant source of anger that he couldn’t keep his hands off Kasie when he was within five feet of her, and he still didn’t trust her.
    Kasie averted her eyes. Odd, how much it hurt to see Pauline snuggle close to Gil as if she were part of him. Remembering the hungry, masterful way he’d kissed her in the study, Kasie flushed. She knew things about Gil Callister that she shouldn’t know. He made her hungry. But he was showing her that he didn’t feel the same way. It was painfully obvious what his relationship was with Pauline. Even though she’d guessed, it hurt to have it pointed out to her like this.
    She knew then that she was going to have to resignher job when they got back to the States. If he married Pauline, there was no way she could live under the same roof with them.
    Gil saw the reaction that Kasie was too young to hide, and it touched him. She felt something. She was jealous. He could have cheered out loud. It didn’t occur to him then why he was so happy that Kasie was attracted to him.
    “Who was the man you were talking to on the concourse, Kasie?” Gil asked unexpectedly.
    “His name was Zeke,” she replied with a smile. “He had the seat next to mine.”
    “I noticed him. He’s good-looking,” Pauline said. “What does he do?”
    “He’s a freelance writer for several travel magazines,” Kasie told her. “He’s down here doing a story on a new hotel complex.”
    Gil didn’t look pleased. “Apparently you made friends quickly.”
    “Well, yes,” she confessed. “I was a little nervous about flying. He talked to me while we got airborne.” She grinned. “Didn’t you hear us all singing