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had been designed to conceal rather than reveal, there was only so much a swimsuit, any swimsuit, could cover however, and Dev found himself thoroughly enjoying the sight of Tabitha as she gamely went back and forth in the pool. She was so soft looking, he thought wonderingly. Soft and gentle and feminine. He remembered the touch of her hand on his forehead the night before and took a deep breath. A determined man might resort to violence to obtain that kind of softness for his very own.
    And he’d sure as hell resorted to violence for less reason than that in the past!
    But violence wasn’t the way with a woman like this. He narrowed his eyes against the sun as Tabitha emerged, dripping, from the pool. He watched the way she shook back her warm-colored hair and then he realized he wasn’t the only one whose eyes were following the progress of the staid little swimsuit.
    With instinctive male alertness he pinpointed the one or two other knowing masculine gazes, and he frowned in unaccustomed displeasure.
    Almost simultaneously he realized something else. Tabitha was totally unaware of the other eyes on her.
    It wasn’t a casual pretence of unawareness inspired by feminine self-confidence but a genuine lack of consciousness that she was attractive. It was as if she simply didn’t believe herself the type of woman to draw a second glance from any man. Perhaps it was that very lack of sensual response on her part which made the other masculine gazes slide on past to other swimsuits.
    But none of these other men had nearly gotten themselves killed in a back alley on some scroungy Caribbean island and then had this woman come to their rescue. Nor had they discovered the warmth and gentleness in her touch as Dev had the previous night. He decided he preferred to keep the information to himself.
    “I’ve been thinking about tonight,” Tabitha began hesitantly as she neared Dev’s lounger and quickly picked up the towel he extended. As soon as she got it wrapped around her she felt instantly more comfortable. His gaze had remained politely on her face as she approached, and his smile was one of genuine welcome. Such a nice man. He neither leered nor ignored. Her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as she took the seat beside him. “Are you going to feel up to having dinner in the main dining room?”
    “I’m feeling better by the minute. And thanks to all the food you’ve been stuffing down me today, I think my energy level will be high enough to manage the exertion of dinner,” he said, chuckling and leaning back against his folded arms.
    “Oh good. Well, I was wondering about perhaps seeing the purser and getting your seat assignment changed. There’s an empty place at my table and as long as you’re not traveling with anyone else…?”
    She tried not to chew on her lower lip as she waited for his reaction. He had been so amenable to every other suggestion she’d made today that when this idea had come to her in the pool, she had decided to risk the potential rejection.
    “I’d like that, Tabby,” he murmured, closing his eyes against the glare of the sun. “I’d like that very much.”
    Tabitha’s smile was very private this time as she leaned back to let the heat of the day finish drying her body. Her self-confidence soared. Dev wanted to have dinner with her. She was suddenly enormously glad she’d taken the initiative. Perhaps he’d been wondering how to do it, himself, but hadn’t wanted to seem too demanding of her time. Dev Colter wasn’t the kind of man who would want to push himself into a woman’s company unless he was sure she wanted him to do so, she thought smugly.
    That smug feeling was still with her as she entered the dining room on Dev’s arm that evening. Dressed in a gauzy, free-floating, white dress trimmed in turquoise at the hem and throat, she felt light and delicate beside his solid strength. He was wearing a dark, linen sports jacket over tan trousers, and the ebony cane in his hand