Kaori walked over to the helm and engaged the autopilot. It was fairly easy, actually: select a destination on the screen, lock it in and let the computer do the rest.

  “It’s not perfect, but we are far from the coast, there are no shoals; and with this weather, we should be fine,” she said. “Come with me.”

  She guided him downstairs to the cabin opposite hers. Ma?l was doing his best not to look too impressed at the luxurious craft—it looked more like an upscale apartment than the inside of a sailing ship. His best wasn’t very good though, and Kaori had a blast watching his reactions from the corner of her eye.

  The cabin in itself was pretty similar to Kaori’s cabin, save for the fact it was (currently) in the shadow of the boat.

  “Do you mind if I take a shower first?” Ma?l said. Two days on a plane and the events of last night had turned him into a tired mess of sweat and present company made him keenly aware of his rather sorry state.

  “Please do,” Kaori said with much urgency—she agreed with his assessment. “Do you need a towel?” Kaori said, looking through the cupboard without waiting for an answer. She turned around only to find herself inches away from the man’s naked chest. He was yanking his shirt over his head. The sweat-drenched, rumpled piece of cloth clung to his back as if glued. Kaori gasped as she watched the half-naked man, thick, powerful muscles rippling over his torso. He was blocking the small passage between the king-size bed and the wall.

  What the…

  Ma?l’s head came free from the shirt and his grinning face loomed above Kaori’s. He jerked back with a start. Why was she still here? She knew he had to undress to shower. Did she… Oh you silly sod! He was between her and the door of the cabin. She couldn’t leave!

  “Wha….” he said, scrambling hastily to let her pass. His knee caught the side of the bed and he went flying backward, barely catching himself against the bulkhead with a loud thud. The partition held. Real smooth, you jackass! He muttered.

  Kaori promptly exited the room, doing her very best not to burst into laughter. She had been worried there for a second. Alone next to the bed with nowhere to go. In spite of all her training, she couldn’t have stopped him. She would have fought tooth and nail, but in the end, it would make no difference. If he wanted to take her, he could. The man’s raw physical power was unlike any she had ever seen, and… what a sight that was, she realized, blushing.

  Either way, the point was moot, Ma?l’s comical overreaction had released all tension. She was safe, perhaps safer than she would like to be.

  Putting aside the fiasco of her attempted relationship with Oroshi, she needed a change of pace and she was not indifferent to the exotic charms of this man from remote lands who had rescued her in her hour of need.

  What’s the point of getting saved by Prince Charming if the princess doesn’t get her man in the end?

  Inside the cabin, Ma?l was taking his shower, a cold one, for… reasons. He dried himself with the fluffy towel and glanced at his crumpled, dirty clothes on the floor. It would be good to wear a set of fresh clothes.

  Finally dressed and feeling clean, Ma?l joined Kaori in the salon. She had made a pot of coffee and was sipping on the dark beverage.

  She stood up as he arrived and bowed to him.

  Ma?l returned the bow.

  “Ma?l Allaire, tomou shimasu. What may I call you?” Ma?l had found in previous trips that a formal approach was often the best way to navigate social situations in Japan. It created an illusion of normality which allowed them to pretend everything was perfectly in order and under control.

  “Maeru Arairu?”

  “So desu!” Ma?l said with a slight bow.

  “You may call me…” Kaori paused as she recalled his reaction from the night before. Now that she thought about it, wouldn’t it be better if he didn’t know who she really was? At least for now.

  “Aiko.” She was using her friend’s boat and her clothes; why not the name too?

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  “Douzo Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu, Aiko-san,” Ma?l said with a formal bow.

  “Douzo Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu, Ma?l-san,” Kaori responded, returning his bow.

  Literally, the phrase meant “Please take care of me,” a plea for a favorable relationship. In practice though, it was just the polite, formal way to seal an introduction, every bit as meaningless as “pleased to meet you.”

  “So, now that you are no longer Kaori, can you tell me what is going on? Last night, you were telling me a fairytale about being a rich heiress. I realize you don’t know me, but you have to at least trust me with some basic idea of the situation, or I won’t be of much help.”

  “Am I not pretty enough to be an heiress?” Kaori dodged the question with a suggestive smile. She took an exaggerated pose of mock offense. It wasn’t fully feigned though.

  Am I not good enough to be a heiress?

  “Lord no! You…”

  “Or am I not rich enough?” she pressed, gesturing at the ship they were on.

  Ma?l struggled for a moment. He could tell she was messing with him, but she was engaging him on a logical level and he couldn’t back down, not on that field.

  “To start with, you are far too beautiful to be an heiress”

  “How so?” Kaori said. She was all ears now. What woman didn’t like being called “too beautiful”?

  “Well, it’s basic probability: being an heiress is not linked to physical characteristics. It follows that, as a whole, heiresses are no more beautiful than the average population.

  “There are only a small handful of heiresses in the world, so statistically, it is rather unlikely a woman as beautiful as you would also be an heiress. That would be too unfair, wouldn’t it? Additionally, you are far too athletic.

  “This means countless hours doing intense physical training. I don’t know any heiresses, but I doubt many of the pampered little princesses of our world train hard enough to achieve anything close to your physique.”

  Kaori couldn’t fault his logic, but she was unsure if she should feel flattered by the compliment or annoyed by the bit about “pampered little princesses.”

  Who did he think she was?

  He’d be in for a surprise later on and the compliment seemed sincere, so she decided she would have her fun later. It would be hilarious to watch him as he learned the truth!

  Ma?l continued with his observations:

  “Also, you were thrown out of a window in your undies and got shot at. Not only is that crazy unlikely for a heiress, but instead of going to the police, we are now fleeing on a private ship, which while beautiful, is not quite a superyacht. It’s not very ‘heiress-like’, don’t you think Aiko-sama?”

  Kaori laughed. He was completely wrong, of course, but not in a stupid way.

  “You got me. Tell me, Sherlock, what else have you been able to guess? Let’s see if you can figure this out.”

  “This part is highly speculative, but there aren’t many possibilities that would match the situation. If I go strictly from the fact that you were almost naked when you were thrown out of the window, you could be a high-class call girl who ran into a crazy customer, but I don’t believe that for one second.”

  “Why not? Isn’t that logical?”

  The comparison wasn’t flattering socially, but at the same time, it kind of was. He wouldn’t have thought of that occupation if he didn’t find her desirable—very desirable—as a woman.

  “I’m maybe naive but I can’t imagine you sleeping with men for money. Also, I doubt prostitution pays well enough for you to ride around in your own sports car and own a yacht. And finally, there’s still the issue of your physical shape. You have the muscle tone of a gymnast, but you are too tall and you have…” Ma?l blushed. “Well, probably not a gymnast. On the other hand, you’re a bit too short to be a professional volleyball player. Either way, you are a serious athlete. Combat sports I’d guess. Not Judo though. Maybe karate?”

  “Why not Judo?” Kaori asked.

  There was something fun about someone genuinely trying to puzzle you out. Palm reading and fortune-telling were popular for a reason.

  “Judo is all about pulling. I have trained with a lot of judoka over the years. Any judoka at your level of training would have very thick muscles in the middle of the back. I’d imagine you have done some Judo in the past, but I’m sure that’s not your main martial art.”

  “I see. So where does that get us?”

  “Do I have to spell it out?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “You are a spy, aren’t you?”

  Kaori would have sprayed her coffee all over the table if her cup hadn’t been empty. The man had an overactive imagination, but his logic was sound, and he had combined a small handful of hints into a brilliantly wrong picture.

  A spy. Of all things….