He and Ryder had stayed up late, talking. Ryder was worried. If word about the two of them circulated, he could kiss his teaching job good-bye. Technically, it wasn’t against the rules of the school to teach and be a homosexual . . . but Ryder coached football as well. Someone, somewhere, would hold issue with that. Rural Utah wouldn’t stand for it. The scandal wouldn’t be worth the stress.

“What do we do now?” Ryder asked.

“I say we carry on as normal.” She looked between the two of them. “OK, maybe not completely normal. We don’t want to give the photographer anything truly scandalous.”

“Unlike last night?” Mike asked.

Meg batted her lashes. “My reputation could stand the boost,” she teased. “If all this guy can grab is me swapping spit with a bunch of sexy men . . . then he won’t have anything scandalous to pin on you.” She waved a finger in the air. “I’m the one who convinced you to come here.”

“I’m the one who invited Ryder.”

“I didn’t have to come,” Ryder said last.

“So we all feel responsible. Great. Lotta good that’s going to do when Michael’s career blows up, you lose your job, Masini’s island is no longer Fantasy Island for the rich and famous . . . and Alliance hits the media for what it truly is. Because the reporters chasing this story will dig until they find even more dirt.” Meg turned to the sea and muttered, “Shit.”

“We should just leave,” Ryder said for the tenth time.

“If the pictures are already taken, what good would that do? At least here we can try and corner this person and play them at their own game.”

“Pay them off, you mean?”

Meg shook her head. “That would be like negotiating with terrorists. No. Anyone playing dirty is dirty. We find their dirt.”

Ryder nudged Mike’s arm. “Glad she’s on our side.”

“Let’s see what today brings. I don’t think this guy is going to stay silent for long.”

“We’re scheduled to leave on Monday.” Only three nights away.

“School starts back on Monday.” Mike wanted to take Ryder’s hand, but didn’t dare out in the open. He offered a sympathetic look instead.

“Business as usual then. Ryder leaves Sunday as planned. We leave on Monday . . . or you leave on Monday,” Meg said.

“What about you?”

“We play that by ear. We make sure and take a few photos ourselves. Safe to say since I’m snuggling with Masini I’d want a few shots of us together. If pictures start to circulate of us, we can say we took them.”

“I like that idea, Meg. It won’t help Val if the person behind this takes pictures of others, but it might help our stake in the matter.”

Chapter Fourteen

Gabi waited on the dock as Alonzo’s yacht pulled into view.

“There you are.” Meg walked onto the dock behind her. “Your brother said you’d be out here.”

Gabi accepted her new friend’s one-arm hug. “You didn’t have to wait with me.”

“Completely selfish of me. I wanted to see this yacht I heard you talking about.”

“Can you believe I’ve only sailed on it once?” Gabi asked as they both watched it move closer.

“Why’s that?”

She shrugged. Because Alonzo was always coming or going . . . seldom did he stick around, and there wasn’t a good time for her to join him. “He’s very busy.”

Gabi turned to find Meg studying her.

“I’m sure that will change once you’re married.”

“I would think so.”

Meg pushed a strand of hair from her face. “Did he do something to tick off your mom, or does she hate the thought of her little girl sleeping with someone?”

Gabi managed a laugh. “I wish it was the latter. Yet Alonzo hasn’t done a thing out of line. He even suggested we spend ample time apart to ease my mother’s fears of an early grandchild.”

“You have no sound idea why she doesn’t approve?”

“All she says is she doesn’t like him . . . doesn’t trust him.”

Meg lifted her hand to shield her eyes. “You trust him. That’s all that matters.”

“That’s what I tell her.”

Meg opened her mouth and closed it again.

“What?”

“What about your girlfriends . . . what do they say about Alonzo? I’ve always found my girlfriends clued into the men in my life more than I ever was. If there was a guy I liked and they couldn’t stand him, it never worked out.”

Gabi shuffled her feet. “Hard to keep girlfriends on an island of employees and holiday guests.”

“Oh. There has to be—”

Gabi shook her head, cutting Meg off.

Meg curved her hand around the crook of Gabi’s arm. “Good thing I’m here then. I’ll give you my honest opinion so long as you don’t hate me for it.”

“If I don’t agree with you?”

“A good friend will offer her opinion and support your decisions. Unless he’s violent . . .”

“Lord no!”

Meg grinned. “Good to know.”

Gabi wondered if this new friendship could hold up over time. Gabi couldn’t remember the last long friendship she’d shared with another woman.

Meg coughed a few times, held a hand to her chest.

“Are you OK?”

“Asthma,” Meg offered, as if the one word meant everything. “Been giving me a little trouble since I’ve been here.”