Free Marooned with a Millionaire by Kristi Gold

unforeseen circumstances, not because she’d insisted on being there. Lizzie didn’t have a selfish bone in her incredible body. She’d disregarded his shortcomings, never looked upon him with judgment. She believed in him. She deserved to be safe, and he intended to keep her that way if at all possible.
    The thought of failing her ate at him like salt on ice. He had to believe that fate wouldn’t be so cruel as to let that failure visit him again.

Five
    J ack sat across from Lizzie at the dining-room table where they had recently finished a cold canned-meat dinner. Green-gray ominous-looking clouds had gobbled up the sun an hour before and the faint rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. Although the sea was currently smooth as glass, Jack realized that it only signified the proverbial calm before the storm.
    Lizzie shoved her plate aside and frowned. “I really hate this.”
    He sat back in the chair and surveyed Lizzie’s face cast in the golden glow of lantern light. He saw only a hint of worry there, but it was enough to fuel his own. “Sorry, Dorothy, but this is the best I can do. That’s all the food we have and the batteries are completely drained.”
    â€œIt’s not the food or the dark. I hate this waiting, the not knowing when the storm is going to get here.” She leaned forward and took on the familiar hopeful expression. “Do you think maybe it’s missed us?”
    Jack wished it had, and he considered telling her it was possible. He wished he could assure her that their suspect visitors had called for help, but he had grave doubts about that. And even if they had, there were no assurances anyone would begin a search for two people who obviously weren’t in immediate distress except for the impending storm, another factor that could hinder a rescue attempt. Besides, he’d given the miscreants the impression that they didn’t really care to be rescued. And if Lizzie’s balloon had drifted to shore, her friends had probably given up hope that she was still alive.
    No, he didn’t want to cover that territory tonight, or worry her more. But Lizzie deserved some honesty. At least he could give her that much. “The barometer’s been dropping for the past hour, so it’s probably only a matter of time before the storm hits.”
    â€œI know all about barometers. A storm is the worst thing that can happen during a balloon flight.” She drummed her fingers on the table and looked around, then her gaze came back to rest on him. “You’re really worried, aren’t you?”
    â€œI’ve weathered storms before.” He didn’t dare tell her about the one that had gotten the best of him.
    â€œIs there something we should be doing?” she asked.
    â€œI’ve secured everything down here as best I can. All we can do now is wait and see what happens.” And hope.
    She snapped her fingers. “I know one way we could pass the time.”
    â€œNot that again,” he murmured.
    She propped her elbows on the table and rested her cheeks on her palms. “Actually, I was wondering if you have a deck of cards.”
    â€œYeah. Why?”
    â€œWe could play a few games of poker to distract us.”
    As Jack watched Lizzie slide the gold chain dangling from her neck back and forth, another kind of distraction jumped into his brain and it had nothing to do with a friendly game of cards. “I suppose we could play a few games.” Anything to keep his hands occupied.
    She slapped her palms on the table. “Great. What are we going to use for bets?”
    He picked up the blue-and-red box of matches. “We could use these.”
    â€œNot very challenging, but I guess that will have to do.” She grinned. “Unless you want to play strip poker.”
    That was the last thing he needed to consider at the moment. “I can probably find some spare change.”
    She sighed.