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

like she’d just been doused with cold water.
    Josh retook his seat next to her, mentally calculating when he’d have to leave to catch the last ferry. “You didn’t eat much.”
    Brow furrowing, she started to pick at her food. “I guess I’m just not very hungry.”
    He gave her a sideways smile. “The food was good, but….” He leaned toward her, lowering his voice. “Just between you and me, I’d rather have a burger and a shake.”
    She looked up, surprise flashing in her eyes. She forked a small bite of tuna. “I’m with you.” Her face fell as she looked at the French doors where Jessica had exited. “I didn’t mean to upset her.”
    Josh frowned. “Of course you didn’t.” This was crazy. How could he possibly comfort this girl when she was voluntarily engineering a huge train wreck? The sooner he got away from all this, the better.
    “I don’t know if I can do it.” She now gripped her fork like she might want to stab someone with it.
    He jarred. Was she seeing the folly of her plan to marry Mr. Cole? “Do…what?”
    “Go shopping with Jessica.” Her teeth gritted. “She’s obviously not happy about me marrying her dad.”
    Disappointment flared. She could go through with the marriage, but she couldn’t handle the shopping? “Don’t worry about Jessica. She’s still pretty upset about her mom. I mean, not that that’s an excuse or anything.”
    Nodding, Kate stared at her plate.
    His heart went out to her. “Besides,” he heard himself continue. “I could go with you on your wedding errands tomorrow with Jessica. Kind of act as a shield.” He paused, then added. “If you want me to.”
    She looked up, her face brightening. “I’d owe you a milkshake.”
    He smiled in response. “Make it chocolate, and you’ve got a deal.”
    Was he crazy? This girl was an inch away from stealing his carefully-guarded heart, and he was letting her do it. What was he thinking?

Chapter 9
    Kate sunk down deep into the front seat of Josh’s car as he drove off the ferry onto San Juan Island. His suggestion that they could elude the press lurking outside the estate by taking his slightly dinged-up teal blue Toyota instead of the limo had seemed risky at first, but to Kate’s amazement, it had worked.
    As the car advanced slowly along with the rest of the ferry traffic, she peered out the window at the main street of Friday Harbor. Instead of a swarm of paparazzi, a mix of tourists and locals milled about a very cute, old-fashioned looking town.
    A couple of kids zoomed past on skateboards, stirring up melancholy thoughts of Dakota. He loved pretending to roll down the street on one of his longed-for modes of wheeled transportation. To Kate, it had always seemed like a blessing in disguise that he couldn’t afford a skateboard or roller blades. Lacking strength and coordination, the poor kid would have been crushed by his inability to soar the way he did in his imagination. It was probably better that he was stuck with pretending, even though the sight of him at fifteen running and leaping garnered too many cruel comments.
    Kate blinked. She had to believe that when she’d left, someone had stepped in to shield him from the harshness of the world.
    Recognizing that slinking down like a fugitive was far more suspicious than just behaving like a normal person, she pulled herself up a few inches. She scanned the quaint area, which looked like the setting for a Hallmark movie. Quaint shops lined the street that, under different circumstances, she’d be itching to explore. As it was, she bit her lip and prayed that they could do what they needed to do and get back on the ferry before anybody tried to get her picture.
    Optimism overtook her tongue before she could suppress it. “This town is so cute.”
    A harrumphing noise from the backseat reminded her that Jessica had grudgingly accompanied them, no doubt just to please Chase. Kate clamped down on her enthusiasm for the picturesque town and vowed