The Leo Man [antikvár]

CHAPTER ONE From the very beginning Rowan had had doubts about sailing on the Belle o' Diinooriy and had said so to her grandmother. The first intimation she had was when Marguerite de Qare returned from a shopping expedition looking even more bright and animated than usual, and obviously bursting to tell her something. She had, she informed Rowan with breathless excitement, bumped into the son of an old friend. 'Such an attractive man,' her grandmother insisted, and Rowan made no attempt to hide her smile, for Marguerite de Clare's penchant for attractive men was no secret. But the crunch had come a few seconds later when Marguerite blithely announced that she had, on behalf of them both, accepted an invitation to sail with the son of her old friend on his yacht. 'Cruise to the tropics lasting for several weeks, chérie^ she enthused, and was obviously delighted about it. _'Several weeks?' Rowan stared at her in dismay. 'Ah, but you'll enjoy it, chérie^ her grandmother assured her, and laid slender, soothing fingers on her arm. 'I'm not so sure,' Rowan demurred. She was not normally so unwilling to fall in with whatever Marguerite wanted to do, but she had never been happy on the water and her grandmother knew it. Even a dinghy on a boating lake could make her feel uneasy; not because she suffered from seasickness, but simply because she did not enjoy the sensation of being on water. 'Grand'mere, you know how I feel about sailing, about being on the water in any kind of boat at all. Why did you include me?'