Free The Aristocrat and the Single Mom by Michelle Douglas Page B

out to Archie.
    ‘Nah, it’s all yours. I’ll take first shift on the bar.’ He glanced at Simon. ‘I might even put this brother of Felice’s to work and see how he stacks up.’
    ‘How are your tea and coffee making skills?’
    Her raised eyebrow told him she doubted they’d be up to scratch.
    ‘Excellent.’ If he spent the day making tea and coffee would she finally smile at him?
    ‘Good, because we have about forty people booked for our first tour. They’ll keep you busy.’
    He couldn’t help but follow her back outside.
    She pointed to the steps. ‘Now would be a good time to check out the upper deck if you wanted to.’
    Then she leapt down to the pier with all her easy grace and all Simon was left with was the scent of her and the creaking of the boat.
    He took the steps up. The top deck boasted three-hundred-and-sixty-degree views. A fibreglass roof canopy provided shade. Padded benches that ran around the sides provided the only seating but six floor-to-ceiling poles provided anchorage points for those who wanted to stand. He moved to stand beside the wheel and controls and imagined Kate there, looking shipshape and perfect.
    Laughter and voices drifted up to him. He glanced down and was caught by the sight of Kate. Kate in the sun with her blonde ponytail shining and a smile on her face as she welcomed her passengers. He stared at her for a long moment, then made his way back downstairs and took up a station beside Archie at the bar for the first dolphin tour of the day.
     
    At the end of the first tour, Kate and Jesse jumped down to the pier. Simon wanted to follow them but something in the set of Kate’s shoulders warned him not to.
    It was the same something that had kept him at arm’s length all morning. Dammit! He knew he couldn’t kiss her, make love with her or flirt with her, but couldn’t she at least smile at him? He was still the same guy she’d joked around with yesterday, even if he wasn’t any good with children.
    He couldn’t stop his eyes from following her. In the strong midday light, she gleamed golden and navy. Navy—the colour of her uniform of cropped linen trousers and polo shirt with The Merry Dolphin emblem embossed on the pocket. Golden—the colour of her hair, her skin…her smile.
    And she was smiling, he realised with a start, but it sure as hell wasn’t at him. The person she smiled at was some blond,muscular surfer type who grinned and waved as she strolled towards him. Anger he didn’t understand clenched Simon’s gut.
    Jesse raced up to the man and was swung up in a hug. From where he stood behind the bar, Simon could hear Jesse’s laughter.
    Jesse’s father?
    It wasn’t relief that poured through him, though. Not when the man bent down and planted a kiss on Kate’s golden cheek and gave her a one-armed hug. Simon leant his forearms on the bar and clenched his hands, fought the urge to pulverise this blond, muscular surfer type who looked so bloody… perfect …beside Kate.
    ‘That there’s Paul,’ Archie said.
    He glanced down at Simon’s hands. Simon straightened and shoved them in his pockets.
    ‘He’s Jesse’s dad. Nice bloke.’
    Simon nodded. He couldn’t manage anything else. He had no right to this possessiveness, this…jealousy. But knowing it and making himself feel it, he found, were two very different things.
    ‘Kate and Paul are good friends.’ Archie’s faded blue eyes considered Simon shrewdly. ‘But there isn’t anything between them now. Hasn’t been for a long time.’
    Simon gave a terse, ‘It’s none of my business.’
    ‘Is that so?’ The older man chuckled. ‘Seems to me you’re wishing mightily that it were.’
    Simon stared out at Kate, Paul and Jesse. What was the word she’d used yesterday?
    Bingo?
     
    Tour Two. Simon gritted his teeth. How much tea and coffee did a guy have to make before he’d earned one measly smile?
    Fair enough, on that first tour when he’d been downstairs and Kate had been