He blinked a couple of times. “You haven’t even heard how much.”

“Doesn’t matter. I would never willingly give up my boat. Johnny trusted me to take over for him and I’m not letting him down. I love fishing, I’ve been doing it since I was born and I’m good at it.”

He stared at her until the eye contact became uncomfortable, but she refused to look away first. If he was seeking some outward sign of duplicity on her part, he wasn’t going to get it.

“Then I’m sorry. The injunction stands.”

“What could I do to change your mind?” She could hear the desperation creeping into her voice. “What if I brought a neutral party on board to keep tabs on me? Or…or…” The gears in her brain turned. She had an even better idea. Why hadn’t she thought of this before?

He looked at her like she was crazy, but she knew she was on to something. “No, listen,” she said excitedly. “This will work. You get that injunction lifted, let me continue with the charters, and any time the boat leaves port, you or one of your cousins can be on board. You said yourself that you’ll need training-and I won’t charge you for that. We can even split the proceeds.” Half the income would be better than none. At least she could pay something to the most immediate of her creditors.

To her surprise, he actually seemed to think it over. Probably trying to work the angles, figure out how he could turn her idea to his benefit.

“A fifty-fifty split?”

“After expenses, of course. You can draw up the contract if you like.” Of course he would want a contract. But if she could avoid canceling any trips, she would do it.

“I could reacquaint myself with the business that way,” he said, thinking out loud.

“Exactly. See, a win-win situation. I know you lawyers generally prefer a win-lose option, but even you can see this is a sensible choice for us both.” Especially if she could find a way to convince Cooper he didn’t really want to run a fishing charter, that it wasn’t the glamorous margarita party he thought it was.