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Protector S.O.S.

Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.

Chapter One

When Sandy and her first mate, Ellie Cantrel, delivered new sailboats to their buyers, most of them beamed from ear to ear. But not Martin Vanderpelt. He frowned, his lips pressed firmly together, as if he already knew that he would find something to complain about.

Sure that the cabin was shipshape, Sandy hopped off the deck, tied the bowline around the cleat on the dock, then straightened and tried to ignore Martin Vanderpelt's scowl. "We ran into a little rough weather, sir. Nothing your boat couldn't handle."

Ellie positioned bumpers between the boat and the dock to protect the hull from scrapes, and Vanderpelt's glance lingered over Ellie's tanned legs. "For the money I paid, I expected your delivery to be on time."

"Sorry you had to wait, but I think you'll be pleased. She's a beauty, Mr. Vanderpelt." Sandy held out her hand in a friendly manner, pretending she didn't notice the coldness in Vanderpelt's expression. After a week at sea, she normally enjoyed landfall. But as clouds scudded over the sun and the air temperature dropped ten degrees, Vanderpelt ignored her handshake and climbed aboard thethirty-six-foot vessel, and Sandy wished she was back at sea.

She didn't like the way Vanderpelt had looked at Ellie. Not that lots of men didn't look at her friend. But something cold in his eyes warned her that he hadn't made all his millions by being a nice guy.

Reminding herself that Vanderpelt wasn't just any client and that she needed his goodwill, she bit back her sarcastic "So pleased to meet you, too." She couldn't afford to mouth off - not when he had bought a half dozen sailboats for his wealthy guests to race around the island. Despite the rumors about Vanderpelt's rude manners, Sandy and Ellie were hoping for repeat business. However, while they might not be chosen to deliver Vanderpelt's next boats, it would be worse if he complained about their service to the boat manufacturer who'd hired them.

Ellie and Sandy needed the extra money they earned delivering boats to help support their fledgling marina. Okay, maybe not so fledgling. They'd expanded over the last two years, adding a lucrative retail supply business to their main operation of leasing slips and selling fuel. They no longer worried over paying their bills, but they had more plans for expansion in the works.

Vanderpelt headed down below and Ellie rolled her smoky gray eyes at the sky, signaling what she thought of the high-and-mighty Vanderpelt. Sandy shrugged. During the past year, they'd had other unusual clients. A buyer in Florida had met them on his dock in his pajamas, a glass of champagne in his hand and a buxom blonde under each arm. A movie star in L.A. had burst into tears at the sight of his boat, totally overcome at finally being able to afford the yacht he'd always dreamed of. Sometimes Sandy felt like Santa Claus - but not today.

She distracted herself from Vanderpelt's displeasure by perusing his private island. Located about a hundred miles due east of Nova Scotia, and part of mainland Canada, the forbidding rocky shoreline and chain-link fence around the perimeter, with No Trespassing signs posted every ten feet, looked more like a military compound than the luxurious home of an eccentric millionaire.

A stately two-story house with a steeply pitched roof perched on tall pilings next to a clearing that looked like a helicopter pad. Vanderpelt's pilot was supposed to fly them back to Bar Harbor, Maine, where they could rent a car, head home and regroup before heading out to sea again.

Vanderpelt's thinning blond head poked out of the cabin, followed by the rest of him. Sandy had hoped his expression would have lightened to pleasure after seeing the rich mahogany cabinetry, the immaculate galley and the well-appointed cabin, decorated by a top Toronto designer.

But his blue eyes had narrowed, and the furrow between his brows had deepened to a fierce glower. "This is not my boat."

Sandy and Ellie exchanged "uh-oh" glances. Although Sandy's concern was intensifying with the storm blowing in, she kept her voice pleasant. "Mr. Vanderpelt. Lightning struck the mast of your boat and melted part of the hull. The manufacturer wanted you to have a brand-new, undamaged boat. You're lucky they had a replacement."

"You brought me a substitute? That's not good enough. It's unacceptable," he sputtered.

Sandy kept her tone businesslike to cover her annoyance. The customer wasn't supposed to know that his original boat had been damaged, and she was delivering a substitute, but obviously someone had screwed up either the design or the decor, clueing him in to the switch. "Sir, if you have a beef with the manufacturer, I suggest you call them. I'm a subcontractor. I was paid to deliver this boat to you. If the boat's unsatisfactory, you need to take that up with Danzler Marine. Not me."

"Damn right. You wait right here." Vanderpelt stalked off, his cheeks flushed with rage.

"Like we're going anywhere," Ellie muttered.

"There's not another piece of land within a day's sail." She glanced at the dark cumulus clouds rolling in. "I think I'd prefer facing the storm and the sea to his mood."

"Hang on. We'll be out of here soon enough."

"I've got a bad feeling about him." Ellie shivered and glanced over her shoulder at Sandy, her usual dancing green eyes dimmed.

Sandy sighed. "I never understood why Danzler Marine didn't tell Vanderpelt up-front about the lightning, but now I know. They didn't want to deal with his temper." Sandy straightened her spine. "Keep in mind that he's so rich, he's probably accustomed to his every whim being catered to. When something goes wrong, he has all the self-restraint of a two-year-old."

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Protector S.O.S. by Susan Kearney Copyright © 2004 by Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.. Excerpted by permission.
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