“How?” A few people shouted the single word.

“We’ll be boarding up the windows in here,” he said, waving one hand at the busboys who were already carrying in sheets of plywood and the tools they needed to safeguard the wide windows.

A murmur of discontent swept the crowd and he knew they were all thinking about being shut up inside a single room for who knew how long. It was going to be hard enough being part of a crowd confined in one room. But when that room had boarded-up windows and became more or less a plush jail cell, it was going to be even harder.

He was just trying to figure out a way to make this seem less frightening when someone stepped up beside him on the small stage.

Stunned speechless, he could only stare as Debbie lifted both hands and smiled at everyone. She looked happy, relaxed and completely in control.

“Hi, everybody,” she said, and instantly the crowd quieted. “I know you’re all nervous, but really, you don’t have to be. Fantasies is safe. Mr. Vaughn and his staff are going to be doing everything they can to make this whole situation as easy as it can be on all of us.”

“Who the hell’re you?” A deep voice from the back of the room sounded out.

“My name’s Debbie Harris,” she said, speaking slowly and clearly. “I own a travel agency in California and I can tell you firsthand, I’ve been in situations just like this one in far less favorable circumstances and I’m still here to tell the tale.”

Someone laughed nervously and while Gabe watched with interest, Debbie kept talking. “I’m going to be helping Mr. Vaughn out as much as possible.”

She glanced at Gabe and shot him a smile bright enough to light up every shadow inside him. Admiration for her filled him and he had to admit that the feel of the crowd had really eased up since she’d joined him on the stage. There was just something about her that reached people.

Including him.

“I’m a guest here, too,” Debbie was saying. “Just like the rest of you. I know none of us signed up to work on our vacations, but I’ve found that keeping busy in stressful times helps us all to feel safer. And, if we all work together, we can get through this with as little trouble as possible.”

There was some muttering, but mostly, Gabe noticed, the people in the crowd were more relaxed. Some of them smiling, some of them nodding. All of them listening.

“Now, if some of you guys would go to the windows and help the busboys with the plywood, that’d be great,” Debbie said. As a few men moved off, she continued. “And we can use more help, setting up the cots, arranging a temporary kitchen-” she looked at Gabe and he pointed to the far corner “-over there. We’ll need people to help serve, set up chairs, to pass out supplies, make lists and, oh, lots of other stuff.”

She grinned at them all again, as if she and the crowd were sharing a secret and Gabe saw just how well it was working. Before there had been nerves, fear and a humming energy that could have turned ugly. But in just a few minutes Debbie’s easy smile, professional savvy and knowledge of human nature had turned it all around.

“So how about it?” she asked. “You guys willing to pitch in?”

Applause started, slowly at first, and then catching on and rising into a wave of sound that roared into the closed-up room. And while the guests cheered, Gabe looked at Debbie and felt his heart turn over.

Twelve

The storm raged all day and long into the night.

Debbie became the unofficial cruise director-initiating games, sing-alongs, even, in desperation, a marshmallow roast over the chef’s open flames. She’d done anything she could think of to keep the crowd relaxed. She hadn’t had a moment to just sit all night.

Gabe and his staff had been just as busy.

Silently, efficiently, they went about the business of keeping everyone safe. The windows were boarded, security guards were on hand to keep people from stealing outside to watch the storm and Gabe himself seemed to be constantly in motion. She watched him work the crowd, smiling, chatting as if this was just another weekend on Fantasies. His easy manner and quiet confidence instilled a sense of well-being in everyone he passed and Debbie had to admire him for it.

Gabe really was in his element, she realized. This place was more than his kingdom. It was his home and here, he was both host and touchstone.

Wandering the darkened room, Debbie walked around the edge of the club, moving as quietly as she could. People were stretched out on the cots and mats provided by the hotel, and some of them were even managing to sleep, in spite of the howling wind and the rain slamming against the boarded-up windows. A few muffled sobs reached her, too, and she knew that fear was still high as the world outside seemed to tear itself apart.

All she really wanted was a place to collapse. She was bone-weary but too wired to sleep. Besides, she didn’t think she’d be able to close her eyes while the wind was screaming like some wild creature just outside the room.

Grabbing a cup of coffee from the chef’s table, she held it between her palms and carried it with her to the far side of the club. There, she gratefully eased down to the floor and leaned against the wall.

Sipping at her coffee, she tried not to listen to the storm. Tried to ignore the hundred or more terrified people in the room. Tried not to let her own fear, that she’d been successfully blocking all day, suddenly take up life in the pit of her stomach. She tried, anyway.

“Mind some company?”

Debbie looked up at Gabe and shook her head. “Not at all. Pull up the floor and sit down.”

His mouth quirked into a half smile as he eased down beside her. Pulling one knee up, he rested his forearm atop it and stared off across the room. “Long day.”

“Yeah, it really was.” She took a sip of coffee, then held the cup out to him.

“Thanks.” He took a sip, sighed, then handed it back to her. “And not just for the coffee.”

“You’re welcome,” Debbie said, then laughed a little. “Wow. We’re actually being nice to each other twice in one day.”

He leaned back, stretched out his legs and folded his arms over his chest. “A record for us.”

“Didn’t used to be.” Debbie looked at him, his profile softened in the dim light, and her heart filled with both want and regret. “There was a time when we were great together.”

“A long time ago.”

In the dark, in the relative quiet in their little corner of the room, she said softly, “I didn’t want to say no to you ten years ago, Gabe. I loved you so much.”

He turned his head to look down at her, but with the light behind him, she couldn’t really see his eyes. And she wished she could. She’d always been able to look into those eyes and see love.

God, she missed that.

“You should have had faith in me, Deb,” he said, and his voice sounded tired. “Faith in us.”

“Maybe,” she admitted, thinking back to the girl she had once been. The girl who had been so scared. Scared of loving too much. Scared of never being safe. Scared of taking a chance-a risk. “Maybe I should have, Gabe. I don’t really know anymore. But since we’re being so honest here, do you think you’d have done all this if we had stayed together back then?”

“Funny,” he said after a long moment or two. “Someone else asked me that just yesterday.”

“And?”

“And, I don’t know.” He blew out a breath. “Guess I’ll never know. I was so damn mad at you for so long…”

Blindly, she reached for his hand and when his fingers closed over hers, Debbie clung to the warmth of him as he continued. “I loved you then, Deb. Enough that it almost killed me when you walked out.”

“Gabe-”

“But I won’t love you again.”

Debbie’s heart broke at his quiet words because she knew they would never have the second chance together that she wanted so much. Maybe the brass ring really did only come around once in a lifetime. And if you missed your shot at it, then it was just too bad for you.

“We got lucky,” Gabe said late the next morning as he studied the windswept grounds stretched out in front of him. “If the hurricane hadn’t veered off sometime last night, we’d be in much worse shape.”

“I suppose so,” Debbie said from right beside him. “But, Gabe, everything looks…”

He knew what it looked like. A war zone. Trees had broken and lay splintered across the ground like toys discarded by a petulant child. The pools were filled with dirt and leaves and God knew what else. Awnings were ripped, signs torn from their posts.

But there hadn’t been any injuries, so he called it a win.

And now that the storm was over, it was time to get things back to normal. All the way around. He blew out a breath. “We’ll get it cleaned up within the next few weeks. But with any luck, the airfield should be clear in a couple of days. You can catch the first plane out.”

She was quiet for a long moment, then said, “All right.”

He turned and looked down at her. They’d come through the storm and having survived it, they were both a little stronger, a little more sure of themselves and a little further apart. That bothered him a hell of a lot.

He’d seen her in action and knew what an amazing woman she really was. When things were toughest, Debbie had come through. Having her with him had made everything easier. She’d helped him when he needed it most and now that she was leaving, he could do the same for her.

Even things out between them as best as he could.

Then they’d each have a clean slate. No guilt. No…unfinished business.

“There’s something else,” he said, his gaze locked with hers.

All around them, the resort was slowly coming back to life. Workers hustled, cleaning up debris, guests staggered out of the main club like shipwrecked survivors getting their first glimpse of land, and the sun spilled down on all of them.

“What is it?”

“You came through for me during the storm-”

“You already thanked me,” she said quickly.

“This is something else.” He smoothed a strand of her hair back and tucked it behind her ear. “When you get back to Long Beach, I want you to draw up a plan-a travel package plan. Fantasies will offer discounted vacations through your company.”

She took a step back and stared at him in stunned amazement. “Gabe, are you sure? That’s huge. Why would you do that for me?”

Because he didn’t want to worry about her. Because he wanted her dreams to come true. Because maybe she and Victor had been right and he really wouldn’t have had this success without the nudge she’d unconsciously given him ten years ago.

“It’s good business,” he hedged, not wanting her gratitude. “We’ll get guests we might not have had otherwise and the packages will save your company.”

“More than,” she said. “I’ll be the only travel agent in the country with a packaging deal for the most sought-after resort in the world.”

He gave her a half smile and shrugged. “Good business. Like I said.”

Reaching out one hand to him, she whispered, “Gabe…”

He took her hand, squeezed it, then let her go. “I’ve got to get to work.” He walked off, then stopped and said, “You can stay in the suite till you leave. I’ll bunk in my office.”

He left her standing there amid the rubble that had once been his only dream.

And he didn’t dare look back.

“He did what?” Janine demanded.

Debbie gripped her cell phone a little tighter and told her friend about Gabe’s offer again.

“That’s amazing, girl,” Janine said with a low whistle of appreciation. “Okay, I’m feeling a little more charitable toward good ol’ Gabe again. This’ll make your little agency the hottest one in the state. Maybe the whole country.”

“I know.” Debbie wandered through Gabe’s suite and stepped out onto the terrace. The suite was too empty without him. And knowing that he’d be avoiding the place until she was gone only made it-and her-feel emptier.

Below, the golf course was looking a little wind-blown, but she could see teams of employees out there now, working to bring it all back to rights. Everyone on Fantasies had been working like maniacs all day to restore the resort to its pre-hurricane splendor. It might take a few weeks to get it all back to what it had been, but she didn’t doubt for a minute that Gabe would pull it off. Heck, he’d probably make improvements and have Fantasies even better than before.

The man was unstoppable.

“You’re not jumping up and down with excitement.”

“I should be,” Debbie agreed, tilting her face up into the sunlight. “This is the answer to everything. It’s more than I’d even hoped for.”

“Yet…”

She smiled at Janine’s coaxing tone.