Summer Secrets - Barbara Freethy [58]
"No, I meant to, but when I saw Dad last night, I got distracted when he told me that Rick Beardsley has asked him to join his racing crew. Can you believe that?"
"But Dad promised he wouldn't race again," Ashley said, wondering why everything was suddenly off kilter.
"Maybe Dad just wants to move on," Caroline offered. "There's nothing wrong with getting on with our lives. The past is long gone."
"Not that far gone," Kate said, stiffening. "Here comes one person from our past right now."
Chapter Ten
K.C. Wales was a tall man, well over six feet. In younger days, his hair had been sandy brown. Now it was stark white. His dark eyes blazed against his ruddy complexion; his skin bore the weathered look of a longtime sailor. In his mid-sixties, he was still an imposing man, with a wiry strength about him and a sense of purpose. He was followed by another man, who appeared to be in his twenties and looked familiar.
K.C.'s son, David? Kate hadn't seen David in years, but then David had been raised by his mother in California.
Kate felt Ashley and Caroline draw close to her, forming a united front as the men stopped before them. There was instant recognition in K.C.'s eyes, despite the lapse in time since they'd last seen one another.
"Ah, Katie," he said with a pleased nod of his head. "Ashley, Caroline. I hadn't expected that you would be part of my welcoming committee. You're all looking well."
"And we never expected you to come back here, especially in our boat," Kate said.
"The Moon Dancer hasn't been your boat for years," he said evenly.
"You know what I mean. Why did you buy it?" she asked.
"Because it was for sale," he said simply. "I'm sure your father must have seen it listed in the magazines. If he'd wanted it back, he could have bought it."
Kate wasn't about to tell him that her father didn't have the kind of money to buy back a world-class racing yacht. Instead, she said, "He's moved on in his life. I thought you had, too."
"Things change. Life changes. No day is ever the same as the last. You should know that, Katie."
"There are hundreds of better boats, especially if you're racing again."
"But the Moon Dancer is a winner, isn't it, girls?" He paused. "I've been remiss. You remember my son, David, don't you?"
Kate turned her head to take a better look at David. Her first impression was of a rebel in blue jeans. With a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and long brown hair, he looked like a punk. He had none of the sophistication of his father. And he was too pale to be a sailor. She wondered what he'd grown up to be. Aside from the few summer vacations he'd spent with his father when they were children, she knew little about him. "Hello," she said.
David just shrugged.
"You look more like Nora than I remember, Katie," K.C. mused, studying her face. "Quiet strength suits you well."
Kate wasn't quite sure how to respond to his compliment, if in fact it was a compliment. Maybe it was a warning that she would need strength.
"Where is your father?" K.C. asked.
"He's around."
"It shouldn't be too difficult to find him, I'll just look in the nearest bar."
Kate wished she could tell K.C. that her father had changed, that he wasn't so easy to predict, but she couldn't. Duncan probably was at the nearest bar.
"As much as I'd love to stay and catch up, David and I have a meeting to get to," K.C. said. "We'll talk again. We have things to discuss -- unfinished business, you might say."
"I can't imagine what," Kate murmured.
His smile was silky-smooth. "I'm sure you can imagine. As I recall, Katie, you had the best imagination of all the girls."
K.C. and his son moved away before Kate could reply.
"I don't think you had the best imagination," Caroline said after a moment. "I'm very imaginative. And Ashley has seen ghosts and all kinds of supernatural phenomena, so you might have the worst imagination."
"Caroline," Ashley said