Chapter Eight
Delia clung to him tightly, her eyes closed as she hid her anguish at what he’d just said to her.
“I know you don’t want to hear that,” he said wearily. “I’m sorry. But there are things going on that you can’t know about. We can’t take any more chances. We can’t be lucky forever.”
“I understand.”
“You don’t, baby,” he said heavily. “But that’s all right.” He eased onto his side, carrying her with him. “I’m crazy about you,” he whispered. “That’s the truth.”
“I’m crazy about you, too, Marcus,” she whispered back. “I’ll never feel this way about anybody else as long as I live.”
“You’d better not,” he growled in mock anger. He kissed her gently. “We’d better get dressed. I have to get you home early tonight. I’ve got company coming.”
“Company?” She felt uneasy.
He smiled. “Male company,” he whispered, and kissed her again.
Once they were dressed and he’d phoned for a cab, he held her gently in the hall. “Listen,” he said quietly, “don’t think I’m trying to back out. I have to keep away from you for a while. It’s nothing to worry about, and you’re not to feel rejected. Okay?”
She felt worried, and it showed. “I can’t even talk to you on the phone?”
“Not until I call you, or get in touch with you through Smith. Got that?” He held her by the shoulders, his hands heavy and firm. “You can’t be seen associating with me until I tell you it’s safe. Promise me!”
“I promise, Marcus,” she faltered.
“You look as if I’ve thrown you out in the street and it’s not like that,” he said gruffly. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m not going to let you go. So when you’re picturing me with other women and worrying about whether I’ve dumped you, remember what I said. I care about you, very much. As soon as I can, I’ll be in touch.”
She managed a wan smile. “Okay.”
“You can’t tell your sister or Barney anything about us. Got that?”
“I wouldn’t dare,” she confessed.
He looked at her with deep concern. “We’ve got a future together. I promise you, we have. I’ll find a way.”
She sighed. “All right. I’ll live on dreams for a while.”
He traced a line down her cheek. “So will I, and they’ll be sweet ones.” He bent and drew his lips softly over her swollen mouth. “My sweet innocent. There’s nobody else like you on earth, and you’re all mine.”
She smiled under his mouth. “And you’re all mine.”
He kissed her hungrily until the sound of a horn outside the door distracted him.
“Can I send you a note?” she asked.
He glared at her. “No notes, no phone calls, don’t wave if you see me on the street. You don’t know me, except for that night I saved you from Fred.”
“Fred,” she sighed.
“And stay the hell away from him, no matter what else you do,” he said firmly. “Fred is big trouble.”
“I noticed,” she said, not realizing that they were talking at cross purposes.
His dark eyes were troubled as he walked her to the front door. “Last month I was a happy, carefree bachelor,” he murmured. “Now I’m not only losing my right arm, I’m seeing it off at the curb.”
She laughed softly at the analogy. “I’m losing mine, too,” she reminded him. “Or maybe I should say I’m going to be a needle without thread.”
“Or a block without piecing,” he countered, smiling.
She held his big hand in hers and looked up at him one last time. “Be safe,” she whispered.
“I’ll do my part. You do yours.” He opened the cab’s rear door for her. “John,” he told the driver, slipping him a hundred-dollar bill, “you never saw me in your life and you just came from Karen Bainbridge’s house with Miss Mason. Got that?”
“You bet, Mr. Carrera,” John said with a grin.
Marcus stood and watched the cab pull away with a grim face. All too soon, he was going to be involved in a struggle he didn’t anticipate with joy. But compared to losing Delia, even temporarily, it didn’t concern him half as much.
Delia hid her misery until she was back at the hotel and in her room for the night. She took a long hot bath and cried all through it. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Marcus might be trying to set her down gently, despite his affirmations that he cared for her. Hadn’t she heard all her life that men would say anything to get a woman into bed with them?
Now that she didn’t have him to reassure her, she lost her confidence. It was all she could do to make herself get up and dressed the next morning and go down to the restaurant for breakfast.
It wasn’t much of a breakfast at that, she thought as she sat by the clear waters of the swimming pool under some palm trees. She sipped orange juice and nibbled bacon. She couldn’t even look at a fried egg.
She was staring uncertainly at the bacon on her plate when a shadow fell over her.
“It’s too late,” a deep voice commented.
She lifted her head and looked into a pair of black eyes in a rough, tan face surrounded by dark blond hair. He was tall, slender, muscular, and pleasant. He didn’t look the least bit threatening, but there was something about him that made Delia tense inside.
“I’m sorry?” she stammered.
“The bacon. You can’t set it free.”
She got it. Her face brightened as she laughed. “Smart mouth,” she commented.
He grinned. “My middle name,” he replied.
She frowned. “I’ve seen you around here.”
“Really?” he asked with a straight face. “When?”
She chuckled. At least he’d taken her mind off the bacon. “I’m Delia Mason,” she introduced herself.
“Dunagan,” he said, extended a hand.
“Just Dunagan?” she queried, wondering why his name sounded familiar. Hadn’t Barney mentioned a man named Dunagan? She couldn’t remember.
He grinned. “Mind if I join you?”
She hesitated.
“Let me guess. You’re involved,” he surmised.
She sighed. “Yes.”
“No problem. So am I.” He had a thoughtful look. “Of course, she doesn’t know it, but why should that worry me?”
She blinked. “You’re involved with a woman and she doesn’t know?”
He shrugged. “I keep secrets. Are you here alone?” he added.
“With my sister and her husband,” she said.
“Thought I recognized you. Your brother’s Barney Cortero, right?”
“He’s my brother-in-law,” she corrected
“He’s a good egg,” he replied, studying her closely. “Why aren’t they with you?”
“They had to go to Miami. But they’re due back tonight,” she volunteered.
He smiled. “I like Miami,” he said. “I spend a lot of time there.”
“I’ve never been to Florida,” she said, smiling. “In fact, I’ve never been anywhere until now.”
“Where are you from?” he wanted to know.
“Texas,” she said. “You?”
His eyebrows arched. “You aren’t going to believe this. I’m from Texas, too. Near El Paso.”
“I’m from near San Antonio.”
“We’ve got sagebrush and cactus,” he bragged.
“We’ve got pecan trees and palms.”
He shrugged. “To each his own. Maybe I’ll see you around, again,” he added with a congenial smile.
“Yes. Maybe so.”
He winked and sauntered off toward the bar.
She smiled to herself. There was nobody who could compete with Marcus, of course, but her new acquaintance was definitely attractive. Back home, she’d had one date in two years. Now in the space of weeks, she was suddenly irresistible. But it didn’t help to know that she was separated from Marcus indefinitely, and that she was almost certainly pregnant to boot. Marcus didn’t want children now. What was she going to do?
The first thing was to make sure she really was pregnant. So she went to a drugstore and bought a home pregnancy kit. She used it. The result was positive.
She sat on the edge of the bathtub and stared down at the blue tile floor with her mind in limbo. She was going to have a child. She was twenty-three, unmarried and the child was fathered by a man who’d already said he didn’t want children until much further down the road.
Now Delia was faced with a dilemma. Barb couldn’t know about it; that was the first priority. She’d be inconsolable and furious, and so disappointed in her sister that it was agony to even contemplate her reaction.
The second priority was to make sure that she didn’t slip up and show any symptoms that Barb would recognize. She had to make sure she slept late and didn’t get exposed to scrambled eggs. She had to say that she exercised so much during the day that she was exhausted at night. Barb would buy that, because she’d never been pregnant. She couldn’t have children at all. Delia wondered why. It was a subject that had never been discussed.
But as to what she was going to do about her child there was no question. She was keeping her baby, no matter what she had to do. If it meant moving overseas for nine months and pretended that she’d adopted a child, she’d do that. She’d do anything. She placed her hand protectively over her flat stomach and smiled dreamily. She was going to be a mother!
She tucked the pregnancy test kit into a plastic bag, shoved it in her purse, and disposed of it in a trash bin in a nearby arcade. There was now no chance that Barb would find it.
She contrived to look rested, alert and happy when the hotel door opened and a weary Barney walked in with Barb.
“We’re back, baby!” Barb exclaimed, and rushed forward to hug Delia warmly. “I’m so sorry we had to be away so long! Are you okay? There wasn’t any trouble, or anything…?”
“Barb!” Barney inserted abruptly, and gave his wife a threatening look.
“I meant Fred hasn’t been around?” Barb backtracked quickly.
“No, I haven’t seen him,” Delia assured her sister. “Did you have a nice trip?”
“It was business,” Barb said evasively. “Have you been hanging out with the yacht lady?”
Delia chuckled. “Quite a lot. You have to meet her, too,” she added with perfect composure. “She’s a hoot. You’d never guess she was in her sixties. She’s so full of life—and she quilts!”
“Aha,” Barb said with a grin. “That’s the draw, is it?”
“We’ve been trading patterns,” Delia lied. Of course, she and Marcus certainly had traded patterns.
“And you haven’t been seeing that gangster?” Barb added suspiciously.
“Barb, she already told you she hasn’t,” Barney groaned. “Stop grilling the girl.”
Barb grimaced. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I worry, especially now…”
“Barb, for God’s sake!” Barney interrupted.
Barb flushed, holding up both hands, palms out. “Okay, okay!”
“Have you eaten supper?” Barney asked Delia.
“No, and I’m hungry,” she said. She wasn’t really, but she couldn’t admit that.
“Let’s all go get something to eat.”
“Have you connected with any of the guests here?” Barb asked as they all went out the door together.
“Actually, I have, with one. His name’s Dunagan.”
Barney turned to her, frowning. “Dunagan?”
“He’s from Texas, too,” Delia chuckled.
“Yes, we know,” Barb said absently.
“He’s dishy,” Delia said, playing it to the hilt. “Wavy blond hair, black eyes, nice body, weird sense of humor—just my type.”
Barb pursed her lips and her eyes twinkled. “Well, well, progress!”
“Will you stop trying to marry her off?” Barney muttered. “She’s just a baby.”
“I was eighteen when you married me,” Barb pointed out.
Barney gave her a grin. “So I robbed the cradle. That doesn’t make it all right.”
Barb made a face at him. “Spoilsport. I want to see my…sister happy like I am. What’s wrong with that?”
Not for the first time, Delia found it curious that Barb always hesitated before she said ‘sister,’ as if she had a hard time with it. There was a tremendous age difference, of course, and she’d spent much of her life taking care of Delia. Probably she felt more like a mother than a sister, and who could blame her.
“I’ll bet I ruined your love life,” Delia mused. “Mama said you took me on your first date with Barney.”
Barb didn’t look at her. “That was Mama’s idea. She thought you’d keep us straight.”
“Didn’t she trust you?” Delia asked innocently.
“Leave it alone, there’s a good girl,” Barb replied. “Quick, catch the elevator or we’ll be stuck here for ten minutes!” She ran for it, with Barney and Delia trailing behind.
Dunagan was at the restaurant when they walked in, sitting all by himself, waiting for his order. He was wearing white slacks with a patterned silk shirt and a stylish jacket. He looked very masculine and expensive.
He spotted Delia and grinned as she and her party came even with him, behind the waiter.
“Great minds do think alike,” he told her. “Care to join me? I need protection! I’m sure that at least two women in this restaurant have evil designs on me.” He glanced around covertly.
She smiled. “Sorry. I’m with my sister…”
“Barb, you mean?” he persisted. “Hey, Barney, how’s it going?” he added, greeting Delia’s brother-in-law.
“Slow and tricky,” Barney said. “You’re still here, then?”
Dunagan shrugged. “Some jobs take a lot of patient work.”
Barney and the younger man exchanged a puzzling look. There was something strange about the way they looked at each other. It was almost as if they were putting on an act.
“What do you do, Mr. Dunagan?” Delia asked as Barney seated Barb and then himself.
“I’m in real estate,” he replied, smiling. He produced a card and handed it to Barney. “Right now, I’m trying to peddle some acreage on Paradise Island.”
Barney lifted both eyebrows. “That’s still on?”
“Definitely,” Dunagan said easily. “I’ve got a buyer on the hook.”
“Well, well,” Barney replied.
The waiter arrived, and the small talk vanished as the menus were produced.
It was the strangest meal Delia could remember, and she was quietly suspicious of the easy rapport between Barney and Dunagan. Barb didn’t seem to be aware of it.
Afterward, Dunagan went into the lobby with them and asked Barney if he knew anything about a statue just outside the hotel door.
The men walked away, talking animatedly.
“What’s going on?” Delia asked her sister.
Barb looked innocent. “What do you mean, baby?”
“Barney and Mr. Dunagan are talking on two levels,” she said. “I don’t understand much, but they know each other. I’m sure of it.”
Barb laughed. “You’ve got a very suspicious mind.”
“It runs in my family,” Delia said mischievously. “Now, give. What’s going on?”
Barb was serious all at once. “I wish I could tell you,” she replied. “But I can’t. It’s a very secret sort of project Barney’s working on.”
“With Dunagan?”
Barb turned and looked down at her sister. “I can’t tell you anything.”
Delia grimaced. “I get the feeling that nobody trusts me.”
“That’s silly. Of course I do. But this isn’t my project, and I can’t discuss it. Not even with my very favorite sister.”
“I’m your only sister,” Delia pointed out.
Barb hugged her. “My very special only sister.”
Delia relaxed. She was very tired. It was her condition, she supposed. At least she hadn’t been sick.
“Sleepy?” Barb asked curiously. “You’re usually a night owl.”
“I don’t know what it is about the Bahamas,” she said with a straight face, “but I’ve been sleepy like this for two weeks. Maybe I’m coming down with something.”
Barb chuckled. “The paradise syndrome,” she teased. “It’s making you lazy.”
“That’ll be the day,” she laughed.
“Yes. It truly will. Why don’t you go on up to bed?” Barb asked, nodding toward the two men who were talking outside the hotel, with grim faces. “They may be out there all night.”
“That looks like a distinct possibility,” Delia said. “I think I will go on up. You sleep good, Barb.”
“You, too, baby. Tomorrow we might go out in a glass-bottom boat, would you like that?”
“Yes!” Delia said with forced enthusiasm. “I’d really enjoy it.”
“Then we’ll do some sightseeing,” Barb said. “You’re not sick, are you?” she added worriedly.
Delia laughed. “Not me. Good night.”
“Lock the door behind you. We’ve got our key,” Barb called after her.
Delia did go up, but she didn’t sleep. She laid awake worrying if the driver of the glass-bottom boat she and Marcus had gone out on would recognize her and say anything. They’d been careful most of the time, but on occasion, they’d been careless.
She realized that it would be ridiculous to assume that a boatman would recognize one couple out of the thousands that came through the Bahamas during the summer. But she couldn’t help herself.
As it happened, she didn’t need to worry. She had a phone call early the next morning.
“It’s for you,” Barb announced, poking her head into Delia’s room. “Some lady with a British accent.”
“Karen!” Delia exclaimed, grinning as she dug for the phone. “Hello?”
“Good morning, dear,” Karen’s accented voice replied. “Would you and your sister and her husband like to come sailing today?”
“I would,” Delia said at once. “I’ll ask my sister. Barb!” she called, with her hand over the mouthpiece.
Barb opened the door again. “What?”
“Would you and Barney like to go sailing?” she asked. “Karen’s invited us out on the yacht.”
Barb’s eyes widened. “Would we!” she exclaimed. “Sure!”
“Barb said yes,” Delia told her friend. “And thanks.”
“Come over to my slip at the marina about ten, dear, and I’ll pack a nice picnic lunch for us. See you then!”
“We’ll be there,” Delia promised, and hung up.
“A yacht. Wow!” Barb murmured. “Even Barney’s friends don’t have yachts. Nobody sails!”
“Karen doesn’t, not often.” Delia smiled. “You’ll love her. She’s sweet and British and very eccentric.”
“My sort of lady,” Barb agreed. “When do we leave?”
“About nine-thirty, to get to her slip at the marina by ten. We’ll have to take a taxi.”
“I’ll tell Barney.”
The door closed and Delia’s heart raced. She couldn’t see Marcus, but being with Karen was almost as good. Perhaps Karen had seen him and had a message for her. If not, perhaps she could take one for Delia. She felt as if she’d had her lifeline cut.
They took a cab to the marina, and Karen was waiting on the pier, all smiles, wearing a huge straw hat with roses all over the brim.
Delia introduced them, and Barney and Barb were immediately charmed by the elderly lady.
“I’m so glad you could all come,” Karen said, leading the way down the pier to the slip where her yacht was moored. “It’s old, but I love it,” she added, leading them aboard the grand white floating mansion. My husband bought it new in the eighties.”
“It’s glorious,” Delia said with a sigh.
“Very nice,” Barney agreed, smiling at Karen. “Barb and I went on a cruise once, but we’ve never been nautical. A ship like this could change my mind.”
“I love the ocean,” Barb agreed. “Thank you so much for inviting us,” she added. “Delia’s been singing your praises ever since we got back from Miami.”
“She’s a dear girl,” Karen replied, smiling at Delia. “And so kind, to keep an old lady company. Guests are thin on the ground for me these days,” she added with a meaningful look at Delia, who was immediately alert and concerned. Had something happened to Marcus?
Karen read the expression and shook her head quickly as Barb and Barney wandered off to explore the yacht.
Delia nodded and followed after them, with Karen in the rear.
They sailed for the Out Islands, chatting and listening to Karen’s outlandish tales of her first days on New Providence.
There was a swimming pool onboard, although Marcus and Delia hadn’t used it. But Barb and Barney were like fish in water. Karen offered them suits and as much time in the pool as they liked before lunch. They took her up on it.
Delia didn’t because she wanted to talk to Karen, and she couldn’t risk having her sister overhear them.
When they heard splashing in the pool, Delia turned quickly to Karen. “How is Marcus?” she asked at once. “Have you heard from him?”
“No, dear,” Karen said worriedly. “I was hoping that you might have.”
“Not a word,” Delia replied. “In fact, he told me not to contact him. Not even to wave at him on the street. Something’s going on. Something bad, I’m afraid.”
Karen took Delia’s cold hands in hers. “My dear, I feel the same apprehension, but I don’t know what we can do about it. I tried to phone him, twice, and that nice Mr. Smith said that he wasn’t able to take any calls. Something about an ongoing business deal that he had to concentrate on. But I usually see him going in or out near my house, and he hasn’t been.”
Delia gnawed her lower lip. “You think he’s in some sort of trouble?”
“I can’t think of any other explanation. But I’m sure he’s all right,” she added when she saw Delia’s expression. “I’m sure he is.”
“I wish I could be,” Delia replied, worrying about something else that she couldn’t share with Karen, about the child she might be carrying.
“You might talk to Mr. Smith,” she said.
“If Marcus doesn’t want me to call him, I’m sure he doesn’t want me talking to Mr. Smith, either. But if you hear anything, anything at all, will you call me at the hotel?”
“Of course,” Karen said quietly. “And you must make me the same promise. I’ve known Marcus for many years. I’d stake my life on his honesty. And I’ll never believe some of the outlandish things I’ve heard about him.”
“Neither will I,” Delia agreed. “Not ever.”
It was an idyllic day, but disappointing, because Delia had hoped against hope that her friend knew something about Marcus. Now she had no way to find out what was happening in his life.
Barb was suspicious. She kept watching Delia as if she knew Delia and Karen were talking about something they didn’t want overheard. Once they were back at the hotel, and getting ready to go downstairs to the restaurant for supper, Barb let Barney go on ahead to get a table. She urged Delia out into the room and closed the door.
“You and that sweet little old lady were trading more than quilt patterns, or I’m a drunken sailor,” Barb said gently. “Now what’s going on?”
Delia forced herself to look innocent. “Of all the suspicious people,” she exclaimed, laughing. “Karen and I were talking about potted plants!”
Barb studied her worriedly. “No. I’m sure it’s more than that. It has something to do with Marcus Carrera or I’m a turkey.”
“Gobble, gobble?” Delia teased.
“This is serious,” came the quiet reply. “Listen, Marcus Carrera is mixed up in a really bad plot, baby. He’s working with a gang in Miami to take over gambling on Paradise Island. I overheard Barney talking about it on the phone with someone. But he’s been sold out by one of the mob. Federal agents are on his tail. They’re going to arrest him.”
Delia’s face went pale. She couldn’t even manage a reply.
Barb grimaced. “So you do know him, don’t you? And it’s more than just having him rescue you at the casino. I thought so. Baby, you can’t go near him again. He’s going to go to prison. You don’t want to throw your life away on a man like that!”
Delia swallowed hard. “He’s not like that.”
Barb’s eyes widened. “In only three weeks, you know him better than the federal government does. I see.”
“No. It’s…hard to explain.” Delia took a calming breath. “He won’t let me near him. He said it was dangerous, that I could get hurt. He said he wouldn’t risk me, in any way, and that I wasn’t to speak to him on the street.”
Barb groaned. “Oh, baby,” she said miserably, and hugged her sister hard. “I’d have cut off my arm to spare you this.”
“He’s not a criminal.”
“They don’t arrest people for being nice.”
“He hasn’t done anything illegal, I know it. And he couldn’t have killed people,” Delia said fervently. “He’s kind, he has a wonderful heart! He makes the most beautiful quilts…!”
“There’s a mass murderer who was kind to animals,” Barb replied.
“Marcus is not a mass murderer!”
“But he is a criminal, baby,” Barb said heavily. “And nothing you can say about him, nothing you can do, is going to keep him out of prison.”
Delia swallowed. “I have to warn him,” she whispered. “I can’t let him be killed!”
“Baby…”
“I love him,” Delia choked.
Barb ground her teeth together. “There’s something else. I was afraid that you were involved with him, and I wanted to try and spare your feelings. But there’s no need now. Listen, he’s involved with a woman,” she added. “She’s been seen at the casino and the hotel with him, at all hours of the day and night. She’s young and beautiful and the daughter of one of the gangsters in Miami that he’s connected with.”