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creating this wild fantasy of rolling in the grass with him, hearing the sea, feeling those strong arms holding her.
    “If you’re not kidnapping me, then why did you pick me up and carry me away? And why didn’t you carry me back to the boat? Why up here?”
    “Did anyone ever tell you that you ask too many damn questions?” He flung his arm over his eyes to block out the sun’s glare.
    “It’s what I do. I’m a journalist. In Chicago.”
    “As the man said, you’re a long way from Chicago.” He turned, leaned his head on his hand, and stared at her. “Captain Juarez was about to throw you in jail.”
    “No.”
    “Yeah.”
    “He had no grounds, no right, nothing to stand on.”
    To her dismay, Joe laughed. “You are such a baby.”
    “I am not, and I resent that.”
    “You may be a hard-ass in Chicago, where most everybody plays by the rules, but down here, they don’t always play fair. Captain Juarez was just irritated enough to throw you into one of those caves they call a jail and wait two or three months to sort out the rules and your so-called rights. When somebody, maybe, finally figured out you didn’t belong there—and that’s a long shot—they’d throw you out without so much as an apology.”
    Riley was silent for a moment, picking at blades of grass. “Then why here? Why not the Reprieve ?”
    “I needed somewhere you didn’t know. I figured you needed time to cool down. Had it been the Reprieve , you might have been able to figure out how to get off the boat and head back to Captain Juarez’s office.” He paused for a moment. “Before you go thinking I’m all selfless and gentlemanly, this was pure self-interest. If you went charging back ready for battle, I might have felt obligated to go with you. And then we’d both be fighting the rats for scraps of bread in some hellhole of a prison.”
    The sea was beautiful—calm and gentle with rolling white caps breaking smoothly against the beach. Here and there bright umbrellas dotted the sand but the beach was so large that it wasn’t crowded. Beats the frozen shores of Lake Michigan , Riley thought.
    “Maybe I should thank you for carrying me out of there.” She didn’t look at him as she said it. Apologies were not her strong suit.
    “Maybe you should. And just maybe I know how you can show your appreciation.” He reached up and twirled a strand of her hair around his finger. Then he ran his fingertip gently down the side of her face, coming to rest in the open V of the shirt, just below her throat. Leaning forward, he kissed her.
    The world stopped. The surf pounded below them in rhythm with her heart. All her senses came alive. The grass was soft on her bare legs; the air smelled of salt and flowers. The man with her was powerful and sexy and lit up every nerve in her body.
    “Come on.” He broke off the kiss as abruptly as it had started. “I need to get back.”
    Still reeling, Riley felt too shaky to get up. “Where will I go?” She hated the neediness in her voice. She was a strong woman used to taking care of herself. Here, she was in a strange country with only the clothes on her back, which weren’t even hers. She had nowhere to stay, no passport. Whether the Reprieve actually belonged to her wasn’t something that was going to be resolved today, or tomorrow, or probably next week. Until then, she had to meet the basic necessities of life—somewhere to sleep, something to eat, and some semblance of safety.
    He looked out to sea. “Can you clean? Make a bed? Wash dishes?”
    “How hard can it be?”
    “Somebody should commit me to the nut house because this is crazy.” He sighed. “You can crew on Reprieve until we figure this out.”

Chapter 3
    One minute Riley was being rocked to sleep by the gentle lap of waves against the boat, and the next she was sitting up screaming. A man stood at the foot of the bunk, jumping around, flailing his arms, and hollering.
    “Get out of here before I scream.” Chest