Chapter One – Cynthia

The ferry bobbed in the ocean, small enough that the waves made it rock back and forth. Cynthia’s stomach churned, the nerves making her seasickness even worse. The fresh air ought to have helped a bit, but she didn’t know if it did. With one hand she clutched the railing beside her, and with the other, she held her suitcase tightly. Closing her eyes only made it worse.

Up until she stepped foot on the ferry, she had only been excited about the start of her new life. Now, she had to wonder just how much of a bad impression she would make if she vomited all over her prospective employer the moment she met him.

The ferry captain knelt beside her. He was a big man, taller than she was with muscles on muscles. Insanely gorgeous, too, with windswept black hair and the clearest blue eyes she had ever seen. He handed her a water bottle and she sipped cautiously. The captain sat next to her and gave her a wide grin as he put a hand on her back.

“Not used to the sea, are you?”

Cynthia shook her head. “Not at all.”

There were only a half-dozen others on the ferry, all of them tall and broad like the captain. A few of them gave her distrustful gazes, though they never met her eye. One of them scowled with such fierceness she thought he might march over and toss her into the ocean, but he stayed where he was.

The captain glanced at the others and gave her a smile that had her heart doing flips despite her churning stomach. “Don’t mind them. It’s not often that we have newcomers headed to the island, and you did throw yourself on our boat.”

Cynthia felt her cheeks start to color as her eyes widened. “Your… boat? Isn’t this a ferry?”

“No.”

Heat rushed to her face and she dropped the water bottle. Before she could retrieve it, the man swept down and grabbed it. Cynthia peered at him nervously as she chewed her lip. “So… are you the captain?”

“Yes, in a way. It’s my boat. There isn’t a ferry between the mainland and our island, so I shuttle people across when I’ve got time. You’re lucky you arrived when you did.”

His grin widened and became clearly flirtatious. Cynthia started to chew her lip again, then forced herself to stop. Still, her mind drifted over what she had just learned. It was only coincidence that she managed to hop onto this boat and that it was going where she wanted to go… maybe this would be the place where she could heal her broken heart after all. The captain was very, very attractive…

Don’t go there, she told herself firmly and forced a smile to her face. I’m not looking for a relationship. “I’m sorry. I guess I made an ass out of myself.”

“No, not really. My name is Rex, by the way. Rex Tesla.”

“Cynthia Jones.” She offered him her hand, and he surprised her by kissing her knuckles.

“Pleased to meet you, Cynthia Jones.”

Oh, he was smooth. She had to stop herself from giggling. If he was trying to distract her from her seasickness, it was working. He lowered her hand but kept hold of it. “So, Cynthia. What brings you out this way? Not many people have heard of our little island, let alone want to visit it.”

“Oh! Well… Um…”

Cynthia glanced away. There were a lot of things that brought her to California. Most of which Rex probably couldn’t care less about. He wasn’t her therapist, after all. The easy answer was just to say that she had a job offer. She found herself wanting to share more. To tell him about her failed marriage, her years of struggling to pay rent while dealing with five party-happy roommates, and the final straw when she just couldn’t take it anymore.

Her ex-husband always used to say she had a tendency to overshare. It was something she was trying to work on. Random people didn’t need to know her life story.

She looked up at him with a bright smile. “I applied to an ad in a newspaper looking for a nanny. I wanted a new job, and coming out here from New York seemed like an adventure. I was ready for that. Life has gotten into a predictable routine, and I wanted to jump into the deep end of the pool, so to say.”

Wait, was that too much to say to someone she had just met?

Rex’s grin widened, assuaging her fears. “An adventure, huh? Well, I’m not sure you’re going to find it around us. The most adventure we get out on the island is the occasional storm. Although having a new face around will cause quite a stir.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

He chuckled, rich and deep in his throat. “Have you ever read those books where the heroine moves to a small town and everybody seems to know everything about her instantly?”

“Yes…” Cynthia gave him a nervous smile. “It’s not going to be like that, is it?”

“Worse. It’ll be a miracle if the whole island isn’t lined up to gawk at you as we come in.” He laughed and kissed her hand again. “Don’t let the island’s strangeness scare you off, though. I hope you stick around.”

Her blush returned to her cheeks and Cynthia ducked her head, smiling to herself. Rex took his leave, but she was suitably distracted that her seasickness wasn’t terrible anymore. It was only a little while later that she saw the island in the distance, and shortly after that, they were pulled to a large dock. As everybody climbed out, Rex lifted her out of the boat and onto the dock. She suppressed a gasp at how easily he was able to lift her; she was no string bean, but she could have been a feather seeing how easily he picked her up.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, then took the suitcase he handed to her.

She noticed the man from before, who had glared at her on the boat, still looking at her as though she had personally burnt down his house. He met her gaze briefly and there was such hatred in that gaze that she reeled from it. He stomped away, leaving her shaken. Cynthia tried to shove her uneasiness aside. Surely it wasn’t her he had been glaring at. She had just gotten here.

Holding her breath, she looked at the docks, searching for the face of her new employer. Tyrell Jarvis. They had been chatting online for almost a week now. Her heart leaped when she caught sight of red hair, but it wasn’t him. It was a woman.

The redhead made her way over to them and gave Cynthia a big smile. “Cynthia? Hi. I’m Ruby. Tyrell sent me to pick you up.”

Cynthia started to put out her hand to shake Ruby’s, but before they could Rex jumped out of the boat. A scowl twisted his handsome face and he narrowed his eyes at Ruby.

“What’s this about? You’re not working for Jarvis, are you?”

Cynthia flinched at the anger in his voice. She backed away from him a little, eyeing him warily. He had seemed all too charming on the boat, but now he radiated danger. “Um… well, yes I am—”

Rex let out a swear word that had Cynthia’s jaw drop. Her hands flew to cover her mouth.

“No.”

Rex shook his head. He grabbed her suitcase and tried to pull it away from her. Cynthia held on tightly, letting out a squeal of protest. He grunted, stopped pulling, and glared at Ruby, who stood nearby looking unimpressed with the whole thing.

“You don’t want anything to do with the likes of Tyrell Jarvis, believe me. I’ll take you back to the mainland and—”

Ruby pushed between them. With a jerk, she yanked the suitcase from Rex’s hands and put her hands on her hips. She tossed her head, ending with Cynthia getting a face full of red hair, and narrowed her eyes. “Mind your own business, Rex. And stop trying to tell women what to do.”

Rex gave out an honest-to-God growl, but when he glanced at Cynthia he must have seen the shock on her face because he shrugged and turned away. Ruby gently took the suitcase from her and lead her down the docks, to where an old, battered truck was waiting.

“Sorry about that,” Ruby said smoothly. “Rex and my brother have a history. Rex isn’t completely in the wrong, mind you, but he’s remained very stubbornly childish about the whole thing when Tyrell just wants to move past it.”

“I understand.” Cynthia nodded, though she longed to ask what exactly that history was. Secret lovers? A falling out between best friends because they fell in love with the same woman? There were so many juicy possibilities.

I’m not here to fantasize about people’s private lives, she told herself firmly, but still couldn’t help it. For Rex to react so strongly … maybe this wasn’t the best idea after all. What if Tyrell wasn’t as good a guy as she thought he was?

Cynthia chewed on her lip but shook off those thoughts. She had already thrown herself in headfirst. If Tyrell Jarvis turned out to be a real creep, she would just have to leave. He seemed nice enough from their chats online, though, and she had deliberately said things to provoke him just to see what kind of guy he was. He never got angry, not once.

Besides, her parents had his address and picture, and a promise she’d call them at least once a week. Nothing would happen, but if it did they’d make sure to send in help. Her folks were extremely overprotective, after all.

Ruby drove her through a rather shabby-looking town and soon they were surrounded by large fields. Cynthia rolled down her window, eager to drink in the scent of tilled earth and hay fields. When they passed a few herds of cows, she barely repressed a squeal as she clapped her hands.

“I’ve missed this,” she said over her shoulder to Ruby. “I grew up on a farm, you know. My parents had to sell it when I was at veterinarian school.”

Ruby hummed. “I saw on your resume that you had some vet training. It’ll be useful out on the ranch. We only have the one vet on the island, and so we end up having to do a lot of things on our own. How far did you get?”

“I was in my final year before… before I switched jobs.”

“Sounds like a story there.”

Cynthia shrugged. “I just realized that everything I was doing with my life was because other people expected it of me, not because I wanted it.”

And that included her marriage. She nearly winced as she thought about Michael. She had really dragged him through hell as she was figuring out herself. Not that he had been any easier on her, not knowing what he wanted from life, either. It still made her sad that things hadn’t worked out, even though she knew it was for the best. What they wanted out of life was just too different. She was grateful that they had been smart and that she hadn’t gotten pregnant as teenage newlyweds.

“Well, here we are.” Ruby pulled into a gravel driveway that led to a simple, white-painted house. It was in need of a few minor repairs but looked pretty good overall. Ruby stopped the truck and they climbed out.

A man stepped from the house and Cynthia’s heart did a few flip-flops. She had seen his picture, but nothing compared to this image. Heat rushed to her face. He was shirtless, wearing a pair of low-slung jeans. Darkly tanned skin gleamed with a freshly-washed shine. As her eyes trailed over his sculpted abs, tracing the deep V that disappeared into his waistband, her mouth went dry. Her nostrils flared, as though trying to pull in his scent right now.

“Ruby.” Tyrell’s voice was deep. It made her insides twist and a flash of heat flared under her skin. When she looked up at his face, though, she saw that it was set into an annoyed scowl. “What did you do?”

Startled, Cynthia glanced over at Ruby to see that she had an angelic smile on her face.

“Tyrell, this is Cynthia. The nanny you hired.”

Tyrell pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ruby—”

“What? You’re busy and I’m going to college soon. You need a nanny.”

Cynthia’s eyes widened as she watched the exchange. A twist of unease made her grow cold and she clutched at her suitcase. “I… we’ve been chatting online for a few weeks…”

Tyrell sent Ruby a furious glance. His gaze softened when he looked back at Cynthia. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, Miss… I’m afraid my sister here has deceived you. I have not been looking for a nanny and you and I have not been chatting.”

“But… but I wiped out my savings to get here…”

Her mind whirled. So she had come out here on false pretenses? She had wiped out her savings and taken a huge leap. Now she was going to tumble around in the dirt. She shuffled on the spot. If she didn’t have a job, then she had no money. What was she going to do? Her parents were going to be full of ‘I told you so’s over this. They had warned her that heading across the country to work for a man she didn’t even know was a bad idea.

She’d have to figure something out. She did not want to call them and start begging for help!

Tyrell glared at Ruby as he came down the steps. He strode over to Cynthia and took the suitcase. His nostrils flared and a look of shock flitted across his face. Cynthia stared at him as he opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Clearing his throat, he gestured to the house. “Well… I’m sorry to hear that. About your savings, I mean. You can stay here until you figure out what you’ll do now. I am very sorry for my sister’s deception. She will pay for your return home.”

Ruby snorted. “Sure. Whatever. I have to go.”

“Ruby—” Tyrell cut himself off as Ruby jumped into the truck and peeled out of the driveway like a bat out of hell. He grumbled under his breath, then gestured for Cynthia toward the house. “I am sorry about this. Ruby is always inserting herself into other people’s business.”

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

Tyrell gestured at the house. “Come on inside. I’ve got an empty room anyway… and you look like you could use a rest.”

Cynthia nodded again. The gravity of the situation was starting to crash down on her as Tyrell led her into the house. It was cluttered and messy, in desperate need of a good clean. Her parents thought she was a quitter since she had ended her marriage and quit vet school, but the truth was far more complicated than that. As she looked at everything that needed to be done in the house, though, she started to wonder if she had a chance at making this work after all.

It was clear that Tyrell had no time to take care of his house. She just had to take the step to prove that he needed her. The question was, did she want to stay on the island when she had been lured out on a lie?

By the time they got upstairs and he had put her suitcase on a very dusty bed, she had made up her mind.

“Mr. Jarvis,” she said, turning to him. “I know that I was not expected here, but if you send me away now, you will be losing a very valuable employee. I have extensive experience with taking care of children, and I also have experience with living on a farm. I know that it’s hard to keep on top of the household things when you’re busy out in the field all day long. Furthermore—”

“Miss.” Tyrell held up a hand. “I’m sure that Ruby did her proper research when she chose you. But I don’t need a nanny or a helper. I’m sorry. That’s just how it is.”

“My name is Cynthia,” she mumbled, then straightened her shoulders. No cowering. No accepting defeat. “Well, it’s not like I have anywhere to go right now. At least let me do some work while I’m staying here.”

Tyrell sighed. “Fine, you can do that. But this isn’t a job. I’m sorry, but that’s just how it’s going to be. I’ll leave you to get settled.”

He stepped out, closing the door after him. Cynthia let out a shaky breath. She glanced around the room, her heart sinking. Well. This wasn’t what she had been expecting. But then… She started to roll up her sleeves. Until she was back on a boat floating away, there was always the chance to change Tyrell’s mind. And she was going to. If it was the last thing she did, she would stay on this island.