Ivorie's Surprise [Golden Dolphin] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  Golden Dolphin

  Ivorie’s Surprise

  Billionaire businessman Drew Blessingame has a less-than-pleasant personality. After having broken his engagement, he decides not to cancel his BDSM cruise on the Devereau brothers’ luxurious 300-foot super yacht named the Golden Dolphin. Drew takes his second assistant, Ivorie James, with him on the cruise.

  Ivorie would rather go to the dentist than spend three weeks on a ship with Drew Blessingame. But when Drew’s ex-fiancée, Eugenia, decides she made a huge tactical error in letting Drew get away, she decides to get him back at any cost—even if that means getting rid of Ivorie. Can Ivorie survive Eugenia’s machinations, and can Drew overcome his doubts about his lack of judgment and make a commitment to Ivorie before it’s too late?

  Genre: BDSM, Contemporary

  Length: 64,229 words

  IVORIE’S SURPRISE

  Golden Dolphin

  Skye Michaels

  EROTIC ROMANCE

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Erotic Romance

  IVORIE’S SURPRISE

  Copyright © 2013 by Skye Michaels

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-323-1

  First E-book Publication: February 2013

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of Ivorie’s Surprise by Skye Michaels from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Skye Michaels’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Michaels’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  For my guys, Enzo and Dino—the most fun grandsons a Grammy could have.

  Life happens. Enjoy the journey.

  With special thanks to Patricia Walker for her help in editing this book.

  With special thanks to my daughter, Jenni, for her idea for this new series and for all her technical help.

  With special thanks to Captain Gary for his help with the operations of a large yacht.

  If you can dream it, you can do it.—Walt Disney

  IVORIE’S SURPRISE

  Golden Dolphin

  SKYE MICHAELS

  Copyright © 2013

  Prologue

  Key West Harbor, Key West, Florida, October 5, 2013—Saturday Afternoon

  The black Lincoln stretch limousine pulled up beside the Riva tender at the dock in Key West Harbor. Ivorie James waited patiently on the wharf for her boss, Andrew Blessingame, to exit the car. Her heart was beating hard in her chest, and the anxiety he always elicited in her was palpable. She hoped it didn’t show in her demeanor.

  As his second administrative assistant, and only having worked for him for a year, she was very nervous about this trip. She had arrived at the Golden Dolphin yesterday to set up their mobile office in the twin cabin adjoining her quarters. She had diligently attended to every detail and hoped she had anticipated his every need. She had hooked up the fax, scanner, copy machine, and printers, as well as two computers with wireless Internet access. Since much of the direct contact she had had with him during the past year had not been very pleasant, she had been surprised to be the one picked to accompany Mr. Blessingame on this three-week cruise. She was not his senior assistant and didn’t see why she should have the dubious honor. Ms. Martha Winthrop, the very efficient and austere senior assistant, had said she was needed at corporate headquarters and could not be spared to take the trip.

  The Golden Dolphin was at anchor in deep water out in the harbor. The gleaming three-hundred foot yacht had a pristine white superstructure with a dark-blue hull. The huge boat with its helicopter resting on the upper aft deck and two tenders occupying the tender garages at the water line was a stunning sight. After signing the confidentiality agreement, which had given her pause for thought, she had been given a tour of the five decks, which besides suites and cabins also contained various public dining and entertainment rooms, a spa, gym, hot tub, pool, and other luxurious amenities.

  The chief steward and purser, Casey Campbell, had shown Ivorie through the large Master Suite that Mr. Blessingame would occupy, as well as the two adjoining twin cabins one deck down that would be her quarters and office. Casey had told her that the ship could accommodate thirty-six passengers and a crew of twenty-one and had shown her through some of the fifteen large, luxuriously appointed guest suites that were still unoccupied. As the first passenger to board, although she felt she was really more of an employee than a guest, she had dined with the crew in their dining and recreation room. It had been fun, and she’d enjoyed the playful interaction between the crew members. They were always ready with a smile or a joke. She thought it was kind of them to include her since she was at loose ends.

  Now Ivorie would have to ride out to the Golden Dolphin with Mr. Blessingame on the ten-meter Riva. Next to the enormous yacht, the tender looked very small. There was no way to avoid being close to Mr. Blessingame, and Mr. Blessingame made her very nervous. She hoped she didn’t stutter and stumble all over herself. Although she had graduated near the top of her class four years ago with a business degree from Columbia University, the tough economic environment and the rigors of this job had tested her self-confidence. She was somewhat unsure of her office skills and a bit timid. She had really just wanted t
o get her foot in the door at Blessingame Holdings with an eye to something more challenging in the future. She had been a business major after all. Little did she know how challenging working for Drew Blessingame would be. Ivorie did her best to camouflage her insecurities with tailored business suits and sensible pumps. She wore her long, wavy blonde hair tamed into a competent bun at the nape of her neck. She walked toward the limousine with trepidation in her steps just as the chauffeur opened the door to the rear passenger compartment.

  Andrew Blessingame, Drew to his few friends, got out and turned to the chauffeur. “Martino, please load my luggage onto the tender.” He turned to Ivorie and said, “Good afternoon, Ms. James. I assume our office is in order on board and everything is ready for our departure.” Of course, he would just naturally assume that everything was as he expected it to be. Men like Andrew Blessingame didn’t ask.

  “Yes, sir.” Ivorie had a little hitch in her voice. She certainly hoped all was in readiness. Mr. Blessingame was not known for his patience with incompetent staff, and she had felt the rough side of his tongue on more than one occasion. This was the first time she had seen him out of a three-piece suit, except once when he was in his office with his sleeves rolled up his muscular forearms. Oh, geez, scratch that thought.

  He looked relaxed and gorgeous in Dockers with a polo shirt stretched across his broad chest, the wind blowing his wavy, light-brown hair across his forehead. He also looked sexy as sin, but she had better not think about that either. She had a hard enough time keeping her composure in his presence without remembering some of the fantasies she had entertained about him over the last year. Well, they’re my fantasies after all…my private thoughts not to be shared. She couldn’t see the expression in his eyes through the lenses of the dark sunglasses he wore, but his face was not creased in a smile. Well, she hadn’t seen many smiles on his face up to this point. Why should she hope for one now? Ah, hope springs eternal…But this promises to be a very, very long three weeks.

  * * * *

  Drew Blessingame watched as his second assistant turned toward the Riva tied to the dock. Ms. James is going to have a hard time boarding the tender in that tight skirt and high heels. What was she thinking? That she would be expected to maintain office protocol aboard the yacht? Obviously. Her slim, chalk-striped gray skirt and white silk blouse hugged her figure lovingly. He had to admit that he had had a few inappropriate thoughts about Ms. James over the last year, but he had been engaged to Eugenia at the time and had let them slide. A few of them involved sweeping all the papers off his desk and…not that he would have actually done that in his office during business hours. There had been that time he and Eugenia had stopped back at the office after an opening at the Met to pick up some papers and he had implemented that exact fantasy on his big mahogany desk. He had thoroughly enjoyed it at the time, but now it wasn’t a good memory. I’m going to have to overwrite that memory with something more pleasant, now that I think about it. He’d always admired Ivorie’s upright posture, stiff backbone, and determined chin, even when it quivered a bit on the few occasions when he’d dressed her down for something, not to mention her very spankable butt. Her infractions had never actually been much, but he had high standards for himself as well as his staff. He expected a certain level of perfection.

  She had always seemed a little timid but resolute, and she did not usually seem to be easily flustered. It took a lot to bring the glimmer of tears to her long, dark eyelashes. She was a beautiful young woman with thick golden hair, a creamy complexion, and caramel-brown, doe-like eyes. She was curvy, just shy of voluptuous. The elegant lines of her body and the natural rhythm of her hips had caught his eye the first time he had seen her. He was really glad Ivorie was to accompany him instead of that paragon of virtue, Ms. Winthrop, whom he had inherited from his father. He couldn’t imagine the austere Martha Winthrop on a BDSM cruise. That thought strained the bounds of credulity. He had intended to take his ex-fiancée, Eugenia Cartwright, on this trip, but they had an unexpected parting of the ways when he had finally figured out that she loved his bank statements more than she loved him.

  Ivorie James must have been shocked when she realized just exactly what kind of cruise this was. He grinned to himself as he watched her hips sway. He hadn’t decided if he would introduce her to his BDSM world or not. She might spend the trip in their temporary office, or she might spend it cuffed to his bed. He thought he would just play it by ear. He had been assured that there were several attractive and willing subs among the crew, as well as a couple of single female passengers who were interested in sub training. But he was really tempted to see just how far he could take Ms. Ivorie James.

  Chapter One

  Ivorie followed Drew into the Master Suite aboard the Golden Dolphin. She was nervous and didn’t know exactly what was expected of her.

  “Have a seat, Ms. James. Why don’t we dispense with formalities for this trip? You can call me Drew, and I’ll call you Ivorie.” He smiled his devastating smile at her, but she wasn’t falling for it. She had seen him turn at the blink of an eye from charming to demon over a typo.

  “Thank you, sir,” she said with a formal tone to her voice that she had learned from Ms. Winthrop. Despite his invitation to sit, she remained standing. He frowned but said nothing. “If you don’t need anything at the moment, sir, I’ll go down to the office and check on things.” She was anxious to get out of the suite and away from him. A pleasant and smiling Drew Blessingame was an unnatural phenomenon not to be trusted in her book—sort of like the quiet before the storm.

  “Fine, Ivorie. I’ll see you at seven o’clock in the main dining room for dinner.” He smiled again, flashing his dimples.

  “Well, sir, I have been eating with the crew…”

  “Well, you’re not eating with the crew any longer. I’ll see you at seven.” His voice had hardened to the tone she was more familiar with. He turned abruptly away from her and walked toward the door to the deck.

  “That would be fine, Mr. Blessingame, ah, sir, I mean Drew.” This was totally unexpected and most unwelcome.

  * * * *

  Drew frowned at his reflection in the glass of the door leading out to the deck. Am I that much of an ogre that my assistant can’t get out the room fast enough and doesn’t want to eat dinner with me? He thought back to his limited interactions with Ivorie James and had to admit to himself that maybe he was. He knew he’d jumped down her throat over a couple of things that might not have been completely her fault. Phone calls from his ex, for one thing. He knew that Eugenia was not to be denied by an employee when she wanted to get through to him. Those reprimands might not have been completely fair. Then there were a couple of draft letters with typos…He realized that he might need to make a little more of an effort to be pleasant if he expected to overcome Ivorie’s reticence to be in his company. He had planned to take this trip with Eugenia before their blowup. Jamie Devereau, an old friend and his roommate from Harvard days and the owner of the Golden Dolphin through one of the family subsidiaries, Devereau Shipping, had encouraged him not to cancel or postpone the trip despite his breakup with Eugenia. He was probably right. Sitting in the office brooding about his lack of good judgment where she was concerned would not be nearly as much fun as chasing down and subduing the impenetrable Ms. Ivorie James. Drew had been on a business trip in Europe and had been very disappointed to miss Jamie and Anne’s wedding, which was held on the Golden Dolphin’s Key West to Yucatan shakedown cruise the previous month.

  Chapter Two

  Captain Constantine Cortelis, the thirty-eight year old Greek master of the Golden Dolphin, stood back from the console on the bridge overlooking the array of navigation screens. “John, let me know when you’ve input the way points in the navigation computer and rechecked the latitude and longitude on the paper charts,” he told his navigator, John Donato.

  “Yes, sir. Programming is almost complete. Pending weather updates, etcetera, we should be set to depart on schedul
e Sunday evening, cross the Gulfstream out into the Atlantic with our first port of call Gustavia, St. Bart’s, arriving on Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. That’s if we make good all of our way points and stay on course and speed. I don’t anticipate a problem.”

  Con had gone over the charts and the proposed course for the twenty-four-day roundtrip cruise from Key West to Manaus, Brazil and back with his navigator and the chief mate and second-in-command in detail, and he had signed off. The ship would be departing Key West at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow after the remaining passengers had boarded. Except for some training runs and the shakedown cruise with the owner and his wedding party, this was the first cruise of the Golden Dolphin under Con’s command.

  The chief mate, Alexander Dragados, and the chief engineer, Edward Cervantes, joined Con on the bridge. “We’ve reinspected the RO units and the generators, and everything is online and operating at full capacity. The fresh water tanks are full, the fuel tanks have been topped off, and we’re ready to go from an engineering standpoint,” Alex said as they came through the door and onto the bridge.

  “Navigation’s online as well,” John Donato reported.

  “Where’s Saltydawg?” Con asked Alex about the short, squatty, mud-brown English bulldog who was the unofficial mascot of the crew. “I haven’t seen him today.”