The Bridal Bargain by Emma Darcy

was helping until she started the exotic fruit thing,” Tracy chimed in.
    “Yeah! Now that’s what I mean,” Eric said pointedly. “She got everyone having fun tasting all that stuff. I reckon Hannah could sell anything if she put her mind to it.”
    “No worries, Tony,” Jai assured him with a grin. “Even if her cooking isn’t great, she’ll sell it to them with her smile and they’ll think it’s great.”
    “I hope you’re right,” Tony bit out, feeling he’d been an all too easy victim of that smile.
    “Hey! Don’t forget that scrumptious salad she brought along yesterday,” Tracy reminded the other two divers. “Anyone who can create a salad as good as that is sure to be a fine cook.”
    Tony frowned. “She doesn’t have to bring salads with her.”
    Tracy shook a finger at him. “Don’t discourage it. I sneaked back for seconds it was so yummy. And I wasn’t the only one. The stuff we get delivered didn’t rate in comparison. Wait and see, Tony.”
    “Okay. I’ll wait and see. I’m glad you’re all happy with Hannah. I’ll go and have a word with her.”
    “A lot more cheerful to be around than Chris has been the past few weeks,” Eric tossed at him for good measure.
    All of which formed a very positive picture, Tony acknowledged as he moved on into the saloon. The need to be fair-minded about Hannah O’Neill, particularly where this job was concerned, bore down on the personal prejudice he’d been nursing. There was not a hint of envy or anything negative coming from Tracy, and while Jai and Eric obviously liked Hannah as a person, neither guy had given any indication of hot sexual interest.
    Was he the only one turned on by her?
    Energy...chemistry...all he really knew was that some compelling force was being generated and he needed to get a hold on it so it didn’t mess him up. Captain of his ship, he thought again as he approached the L-shaped bar that enclosed the galley. Consciously relaxing, he was ready to smile at both Hannah and Megan who were busily setting out cups and saucers for the first rush on tea or coffee by the incoming passengers.
    “Good morning, Tony!” A bright greeting from Megan who spotted him first. She had a very short crop of brown hair and was into ear-piercing in a big way—at least a dozen studs and rings hanging off her lobes—but Tony didn’t mind her taste in fashion. Nothing about Megan distracted him.
    “Good morning,” he echoed, barely managing a glance at her. His attention was riveted on Hannah, who was very slow to raise her gaze to him.
    There was tension in her sudden stillness. Her shoulders squared as her chin lifted, eyelashes at half-mast, veiling her feelings until she had them guarded enough to deflect any probe from him. He caught the wary expression instantly. And more. A flash of vulnerability that made his stomach flip.
    She was as unsettled by him as he was by her.
    No devious plan.
    The thoughts flashed through his mind and a wild satisfaction surged over the questions that had nagged so infuriatingly. It wasn’t one-sided. He wasn’t her victim. A bite had been taken out of her breezy confidence with that almost-kiss on Wednesday, which surely meant she’d been left in some sexual turbulence, too. Over him.
    It put a grin on his face.
    “Hannah...” he said with an encouraging nod, not stopping to consider whether encouraging was a good move.
    She had her hair braided again. Such long, thick wavy hair had to look fantastic when it was not constricted, even more fantastic spread across a pillow. Funny how both she and Megan wore the same uniform—white T-shirt and shorts with coral cuffs and the Coral King insignia on the pockets—yet it simply looked neat on Megan. Hannah filled it with luscious curves. Tony had a mental image of the hidden butterfly and wondered if it was fluttering.
    “Got here in time!” a triumphant voice declared behind him.
    A voice he instantly recognised.
    Matt’s voice!
    His younger