Chapter 4
“Come on, Dad, you can tell me. I won’t tell Travis, or even Carl, honest. You were kissing Ms Inskip under that tree last night, weren’t you?”
Jared glanced speculatively at his son, who was sitting at the kitchen table, kicking his sandaled feet and grinning hugely. Behind David the entire wall was open to the morning breezes and a sweeping view of the cove.
“Why do you want to know?” Jared sliced two ripe papayas in half and picked up a lime.
“’Cause. I just want to, that’s all.”
“Son, you’re getting old enough to be told a few of the rules men have to live by when it comes to dealing with women.”
“Yeah? What rules?” David was obviously fascinated.
“The first one is that a gentleman never discusses in public what he does with a lady in private.”
David’s face fell. “That’s dumb. Who made that rule?”
“The ladies all got together and made it a long time ago.”
“Can they do that?”
“They did it.”
Jared squeezed the lime over the papaya and brought the plates to the table, just as he had every morning since Gabriella had been gone. Somehow, without his or David’s being aware of it, breakfast had become an important ritual over the years, something they both unquestioningly shared and took for granted.
The other meals were inevitably eaten in the hotel restaurant. Slicing papayas and making toast was about the limit of Jared’s capability or interest in the kitchen, though he could make a decent cup of coffee. There was not much point in having three gourmet chefs on the staff if one didn’t make practical use of them, he reasoned.
Jared looked at his son’s new jeans and realized they were already getting too short. He made a note to buy a new pair soon. Time went by so blindingly fast, even out here in the islands. David was almost ten years old, Jared reflected. There would be more and more of life’s hard rules to learn. The trick would be to teach him how to tell the good rules from the bad.
For a moment Jared watched his son stewing silently over the rule regarding women. Then he gave David a wry grin.
“I’ll tell you something, kid. If you value your hide, you’ll remember this particular rule. Ladies such as Ms Inskip have a way of getting even with a man who gossips about them.”
David giggled. “What would she do to you if you told me about kissing her?”
“I’m afraid to even hazard a guess,” Jared said darkly as he sat down and poured himself a cup of coffee. “Probably deck me with one of her karate kicks.”
David’s humor turned to outright shock. “She couldn’t deck you, Dad.” He paused, digesting the unthinkable. “Could she?”
A loud, enthusiastic squawk came from the yellow-fronted Amazon parrot sitting on top of its large cage. Jared scowled at the bird. “Keep your opinions to yourself, Jolly.” He looked at his son. “Feed your bird. He’s turning nasty again.”
“Here you go, Jolly.” David handed the bird a bite of papaya. Jolly glowered at Jared for a moment and then took David’s offering with great dignity. David turned back to pin down his father. “Ms Inskip couldn’t really deck you, could she?”
“With any luck I will never have occasion to find out.” Jared smeared guava jelly on his toast, wielding the knife with some force.
“Hah. I bet three dollars she couldn’t do it,” David finally decided. “You’re bigger than she is.”
“Size is not always a factor, but nevertheless I appreciate your faith in me.”
“Are there rules the ladies have to follow?”
“A few. The trouble is, they get to make up a lot of them as they go along.” Such as whether or not they’ll still be around when a man comes back to collect what had been promised with a kiss.
“That’s not fair.”
“That’s another rule, kid. Sometimes life isn’t fair.”
“Did the ladies make that one up, too?”
“No. That one got made up without anyone’s approval, and we’re all stuck with it.” Jared bit down hard on the toast.
David kicked his feet while he contemplated that. “I think Ms Inskip plays fair. She’s going to show me how to do that special kick today and maybe some other neat self-defense stuff she knows. I’m going to show her how to use snorkeling gear.”
“Is that right?” It occurred to Jared that his son was making faster progress than he was. Maybe he should have offered a few free snorkeling lessons. He had certainly gotten nowhere fast last night.
When the cake-cutting ceremonies had finally ended, Jared had looked around and discovered that Kate had disappeared. Like a fool, he had been unable to resist walking through the gardens past her room. Her light had winked out even as he’d stood in the shadows and watched. Jared had spent a restless night, and he was still feeling generally annoyed this morning.
“Yup. We made a deal last night. Some guy she was dancing with offered to show her the reefs, but I reminded her we’d already agreed I’d do it.”
Jared looked up. “Who was the guy?”
“A guest. I think his name was Taylor or Tyler or something.” David munched papaya, watching Jared out of the corner of his eye. “You know something? I kinda like Ms Inskip, Dad. She looked real pretty last night, didn’t she?”
Like a lady out of a dream. “Yeah,” Jared said. “She looked pretty last night.” And the dream lady had turned into a sensuous creature of heat and shadow when he’d taken her into his arms. But instead of waiting for him after the last dance, she had vanished, the way a dream vanishes in the night. “When are you going to give her the snorkeling lesson?”
“This morning. Right after she shows me some of her self-defense tricks.” David finished his papaya and jumped to his feet. He rubbed Dolly’s head as he headed toward the veranda. The bird endured the caress with regal condescension. “Gotta go. I’m supposed to meet Ms Inskip in a few minutes.”
“Wait a second. You didn’t finish your toast.”
“I’ll take it with me.” David snatched up the slice of toast and loped out of the kitchen, out across the veranda and down onto the path that led to the cove.
Jared was left alone with Jolly. The bird eyed him assessingly for a moment and then climbed slowly down from the cage, jumped to the back of David’s chair and hopped onto the table to investigate the remains of the papaya.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, you old pirate? You know you’re not supposed to be on the table. Get away from that plate or I’ll sell a few of your tail feathers as souvenirs to the tourists.”
“Wanna bet?” Jolly picked up the papaya in one claw and began to nibble delicately.
“It’s always nice to know who’s the boss around here.” Jared got to his feet and started clearing the table. “Why do you think she ducked out after the masquerade ended last night? I was sure she’d be waiting for me. After the way she responded under that tree, what the hell else was I supposed to think? She wanted me every bit as much as I wanted her, and I know it. I think. Who can figure women? Especially a lady commando with two whole weeks of self-defense training under her belt. Maybe she just got off on proving she could turn me on. I’ll tell you one thing, pal. If that’s the case, I’m going to put a stop to her game real quick.”
“Wanna bet?”
Half an hour later, Jared stood in the open expanse that was one wall of his office and gazed down at the glistening white sands of the cove. From here he could see a smattering of early risers, some with scuba and snorkel gear and some dressed for strolling. At the far end of the beach he saw the two people he was looking for. David was standing on one foot, lashing out toward an invisible target with the other. Kate, dressed in a green maillot, was standing nearby, coaching the boy.
Jared didn’t bother to take his gaze off the pair when someone knocked on the office door. “Come in.”
The door swung open. “Morning, Jared,” the colonel said as he walked into the room. “A fine day, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Jared frowned as he watched Kate demonstrate another quick, striking kick. “But then it always is, isn’t it? Come here and watch this, Colonel.”
The colonel walked over to stand beside Jared. He peered down into the cove. “Ah. The redoubtable Ms Inskip, I presume?”
“Who else? She’s teaching Dave some mishmash of judo and karate.”
“The sort of thing she used on Sharp Arnie?”
“Right.”
“Nice technique,” the colonel observed.
“Too stiff. She needs to loosen up, be more flexible.”
“Are we talking about her self-defense skills or something else?”
“Forget it.” Jared watched in silence for a few more seconds. “I wonder how she is at baking cookies? Five will get you ten she can’t even boil water.”
“David doesn’t seem concerned with Ms Inskip’s possible lack of culinary talents. He appears to be enjoying himself immensely.”
Jared narrowed his eyes. “He couldn’t wait to get out there on the beach this morning to take the lesson.”
“He’s becoming quite fond of Ms Inskip.”
“I know.”
“You don’t sound pleased by the prospect,” the colonel said.
“She’ll be gone in a month.”
“That would depend, I suppose, on whether or not she had a reason to stay.” The colonel moved over to the desk. “I brought last night’s receipts and a couple of bar and restaurant requisitions that need your signature.”
Jared didn’t turn away from the scene in the cove. “Leave them on the desk. I’ll take care of them later.”
“Have plans for the morning, do you?” the colonel inquired with a polite tilt of his bushy brows.
“My son is going to give Ms Inskip a snorkeling lesson. Thought maybe I’d supervise.”
“Excellent idea.” The colonel beamed.
Kate stood, feet planted wide apart in the sand, hands on her hips, and studied David’s form with pursed lips. The boy made two more kicks before she nodded in satisfaction.
“Good. You’ve got the hang of it now. Watch your balance. Balance is everything. It’s what gives you the advantage. My instructor said almost everyone is off balance most of the time. The trick is to make use of that fact.”
David grinned and kicked out one more time. He accompanied the kick with a loud shout. Then he looked up at Kate. “Think I could take Sharp Arnie now?”
“People like Sharp Arnie are best avoided rather than confronted,” Kate said. She ruffled his hair affectionately.
“You didn’t avoid him. You clobbered him.”
“I was under a certain amount of stress at the time. The smart thing to do would have been to hand over my wallet and run.”
“You wouldn’t run from anything, I bet. You’re like my dad. I asked him this morning if you could take him in a fight.”
Kate blinked. “What did he say?”
“He said he didn’t want to ever find out.”
“How very wise of him.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. Ready to give me my snorkeling lesson?”
“Sure. I’ve got all the equipment. You can leave your towel and stuff here on the sand.” David bent over to scoop up two masks. Then he glanced down the beach.
He straightened almost immediately and waved. “Hey, look, there’s Dad. Hi, Dad.”
Kate deliberately quashed the little shiver of awareness that went through her as she turned her head to watch Jared stride toward them over the sand. He was barefoot, wearing a pair of faded, low-slung denims and a white cotton shirt. His hair was brushed straight back from his forehead and gleamed in the morning light.
He might be wearing jeans this morning, but he looked as much like a buccaneer as he had last night in full costume, Kate realized. She wondered what would have happened if she’d found the reckless courage to wait for him after the ball. But at the last moment she had known she was not ready for that kind of risk. Facing the Sharp Arnies of this world was one thing; getting involved with a man like Jared Hawthorne was a whole different kettle of fish.
“Good morning, Kate.” Jared’s slashing grin was a cool challenge. “How did the self-defense lesson go?”
“It went great,” David said before Kate could respond. “I can deck Sharp Arnie now, just like Ms Inskip did.”
“A chilling thought,” Jared murmured, his silver eyes meeting Kate’s over the top of his son’s head. “Enjoy yourself last night, Kate?”
“Very much.” Aware of Jared’s intent gaze, she picked up the towel and draped it over her shoulders; the ends covered her breasts.
“I was just curious. You disappeared so quickly someone might have gotten the impression you had gotten bored.”
“Not at all.”
“No? Then perhaps you just lost your nerve?” Jared smiled thinly.
“It was after midnight and I was tired. Just call me Cinderella.” Kate felt something within her rise to his blatant challenge.
“I can think of better names.”
“You’re right. Calling me Cinderella might imply you’re Prince Charming, and we wouldn’t want a case of mistaken identity here, would we?”
“Prickly.” Jared shook his head ruefully. “Even at this hour of the morning.”
“Say, Dad, you want Ms Inskip to show you some of her self-defense tricks?” David asked, impatient with the conversation going on over his head. “She knows all kinds of stuff.”
“Are you kidding? You think I want to end up like Sharp Arnie?” Jared demanded.
“Ah, come on, Dad, let her show you. You won’t hurt him, will you, Ms Inskip?”
“Oh, I’d be very gentle,” Kate promised, her sense of humor getting the better of her. “But I’m sure your father has more interesting things to do this morning than take a self-defense lesson from me, Dave.”
Jared’s eyes glinted in the sunlight. “Well, I guess I can spare the time to take one short lesson. I have a feeling you know all sorts of tricks, don’t you, Kate?”
“Lots and lots,” she assured him blithely.
Jared nodded. “I thought so. Including a very good vanishing act. All right, show me something really clever.”
Kate saw the taunting laughter in him and was suddenly determined to replace the masculine amusement with respect. She stood facing him, her arms relaxed at her sides. “We’ll keep this nice and simple. With all this soft sand, nobody will get hurt. Go ahead, Jared, pretend you’re, uh, assaulting me.”
“Whatever it takes.” Jared didn’t hesitate. He walked straight toward her, his hand outstretched to grab her wrist, his silvery eyes alight with mischief.
At the last second Kate wondered if she was being set up, but it was too late to retreat. She glided forward, reached for his arm, pivoted smoothly around and tugged hard just as she had been taught.
It was a textbook throw; much too easy, in fact. Jared came off his feet with no resistance at all and wound up flat on his back in the sand. He groaned once, closed his eyes and did not move.
“Dad.” David rushed forward and fell to his knees beside his father. “Dad, are you okay? Ms Inskip, is he all right? What’s wrong with him?”
Kate’s satisfaction transformed into instant concern. She hurried forward and knelt down beside Jared. “I don’t know. I didn’t hurt him. He just took a light fall. I wonder if he hit his head on a rock or something under the sand.”
She reached over to check the back of Jared’s head and knew she had made a bad mistake when she felt iron fingers circle her wrist. Too late she realized she’d been had. Jared’s dark lashes lifted lazily to reveal his wicked anticipation.
“Gotcha.”
“You rat.” She sighed, fully aware that Jared was going to enjoy whatever happened next.
“Hey, Dad, you were just joking, right?” David’s expression skipped from worried to delighted in the blink of an eye. He stood up. “Are you going to show Ms Inskip some of your self-defense stuff now?” He turned to Kate and said proudly, “Dad knows some tricks, too.”
“No kidding?” Kate twisted her hand in Jared’s grasp and discovered there was no way on earth she was going to pull free.
“I’ll be delighted to show you a trick or two, Ms Inskip.” Jared rolled over and surged to his feet, dragging Kate up beside him.
“Now, wait just a minute,” Kate gasped, aware that pleading was useless but desperate enough to try it, anyway. She was curiously torn between laughter and outrage, and for some odd reason the laughter was winning.
“Hey, Dad, what are you going to do with Ms Inskip?”
“She wanted a lesson, right?” Jared caught Kate around the waist and tossed her lightly over his shoulder. He started toward the water.
“Right,” David agreed, trotting along beside his father.
“Put me down this instant,” Kate ordered, very much afraid she was wasting her breath.
“So what do you say we give her the lesson she’s been asking for since last night?” Jared concluded, ignoring Kate’s struggles.
“Don’t you dare,” Kate yelped as she saw water foaming around Jared’s feet.
Jared waded out until he was knee-deep. He didn’t seem to care that his jeans were getting soaked. “The first thing you do when you go snorkeling,” he said in an instructional tone as he slid Kate down off his shoulder and into his arms, “is get wet.”
“You’re doing this because of last night, aren’t you? This is very petty behavior, Jared.”
“I just like to keep the scales balanced. Any man who lets you get the upper hand too often is asking for trouble.” He waited three more seconds until the next wave peaked and then he opened his arms and let Kate fall.
The pirate’s grin on Jared’s face was the last thing Kate saw before the roiling water closed over her head. It was also the first thing she saw when she surfaced again a few seconds later. She managed to get to her feet only to be sent spinning by a wave she hadn’t seen approaching behind her. She gasped, kicked forward into shallower water and stood up again.
“Dad, wait, she didn’t get a chance to put on her mask,” David said, splashing toward Kate with the snorkeling equipment.
“Heck,” Jared said, “I knew I forgot something. You want to try it again, Kate?”
Kate slicked back her hair and held up one palm in surrender. “Not your way, thanks. I think David will make a much better instructor.”
“This is your lucky day, Kate. You get both of us.” Jared unfastened his jeans to reveal a pair of swimming briefs. He waded toward shore and tugged off the wet denim and his soaked shirt while David helped Kate put on the mask.
Jared took over the instruction when he returned, giving orders in a crisp, efficient manner.
A few minutes later, all three of them were swimming toward the reefs. Jared and David kept Kate between them as they guided her through the underwater wonderland.
Kate forgot all about Jared’s teasing revenge as she came face-to-face with one spectacular fish after another. The colors were glorious. Jeff Taylor had been right when he said swimming around the reefs was like swimming inside an aquarium. Each amazingly tame fish was more outrageously beautiful than the last.
The morning sun danced in the crystal clear water, creating a fabulous underwater garden of coral and sand. Kate lost track of time as first David and then Jared drew her attention to yet another beautiful scene. When Jared finally tugged her ankle and motioned her to surface, she did so with reluctance.
He raised his mask and grinned down at her delighted expression as they stood waist-deep in the water. “You like that, huh?”
“It’s fantastic. I’ve never seen anything like it. Absolutely beautiful. You’re so lucky to live in a place where you get to do this every day.”
Jared eyed her for a moment and then nodded. “Dave and I like it, don’t we?” He looked at his son, who was standing in shallower water.
“Yeah, it’s great. But I like Disneyland, too. Dad took me there last year.”
“I’ll take this, even over Disneyland. Well, I thank you both for the lessons, though I will do the polite thing and refrain from commenting on the first step.” Kate wrinkled her nose. “Do we have to stop now?”
Jared shook his head. “You two don’t have to quit, but I’ve got work to do. Some of us are not on vacation. I’ll see you both later. Dave, don’t forget to take care of the equipment when you’re done here.”
“I won’t, Dad. Come on, Ms Inskip. Let’s go look at another section of coral.”
“Sounds like a wonderful idea.”
Kate lowered her mask and turned to follow the boy back under the water. She was aware of Jared standing in the shallows watching them for a few minutes, but when she surfaced a while later, he was gone.
The small, aching sensation of regret she felt startled her.
The invitation to dinner in Jared and David’s private quarters arrived late the next afternoon. Kate had been lazing in the shade on her veranda, telling herself she ought to be doing something useful, such as plotting a new novel, when the knock sounded on her door. She got to her feet and went to answer the summons. A young man in the resort’s livery of white slacks and a flowered shirt stood on the threshold. He was obviously having a hard time containing a grin.
“Message for you, Miss Inskip. From the management. I had special instructions to wait for a reply.”
“Thanks.” Kate glanced curiously at the childish print on the outside of the envelope. She unfolded the single sheet of lined binder paper and read the short, painstakingly lettered message.
“Please come to dinner tonight. We will have it at seven.” It was signed David Hawthorne.
“Just a minute,” Kate told the messenger. “I’ll give you a reply.”
She found a piece of stationery with the resort’s crest on it and carefully wrote a short note of acceptance. Then she folded it, slipped it into an envelope and sent the courier off with it.
As soon as she closed the door behind the young man she went straight to her closet and examined her wardrobe. Sarah and Margaret had done an excellent job of packing. Kate smiled to herself as she made her selection.
At precisely seven o’clock that evening, dressed in a demure ankle-length sheath of polished green cotton and gold sandals, Kate walked down the path to the gracious, airy home where Jared and David lived.
The house was set a short distance from the resort. It was nestled in the lush island foliage on the top of a bluff and commanded a sweeping view of the cove and the small outlying shoals and islets that protected Amethyst Island.
Kate hesitated briefly before raising her hand to knock at the front door. She’d never accepted an invitation quite like this one before, and her curiosity was aroused. She wondered if Jared knew what his son had planned for the evening. Cautiously she tapped on the door. A moment later she heard pounding footsteps and then the door was flung open.
“Hi,” David said. “I knew you’d come. Everything’s ready. Dad’s in the living room.”
Kate stepped inside the cool foyer and glanced curiously at her surroundings. There was a subtle harmony to the bleached wood floors, the sisal matting and the graceful greenery. The front of the house seemed to be one vast open window that caught the breeze and the spectacular view.
David led the way toward a large room furnished in rattan. Kate followed her host down two steps and looked across the room to see Jared standing at a brass and glass beverage cart. He turned to glance at her as she walked slowly toward him. His gaze was appreciative and his smile was slow.
“I’m innocent,” he said. “This was all David’s idea.”
“I believe you.” Kate smiled at the boy, who was looking enormously pleased with himself.
David looked at his father. “Come on, Dad, you’re supposed to pour her a drink. Then I’ll introduce her to Jolly.”
“Thank you for reminding me, Dave. What will you have, Kate?”
“A little sherry will be fine.”
Jared nodded and picked up a bottle. “When is the restaurant kitchen sending dinner over, son?”
“I told them to send it at seven-thirty. Is that okay?” David looked momentarily anxious.
“That sounds fine.” Jared handed the glass of sherry to Kate, his gaze a mixture of amusement and sensual intensity. “Dave tells me he has arranged everything this evening.”
David nodded in satisfaction. “Come on, Kate. I want you to meet Jolly.”
“Who’s Jolly?” Kate obediently followed the boy out of the living room and into a spacious kitchen. A large green-and-yellow bird crouched malevolently on top of a black wrought-iron cage. “Oh, I see. He doesn’t look especially Jolly.”
“Jolly is short for Jolly Roger,” Jared explained.
Kate laughed. “Now that fits. Will he take off my finger if I try to scratch his head?”
“Of course not,” David said.
“Wanna bet?” asked Jolly. But he stretched his neck out demandingly.
Kate scratched cautiously. “He’s beautiful. Does he talk a lot?”
“You’ve just heard his entire vocabulary,” Jared said.
“Wanna bet?” Jolly turned an annoyed eye on Jared.
“Fortunately,” Jared said, “the two words he knows are very useful here on Amethyst.”
Kate glanced around the kitchen and saw a number of pencil drawings tacked up on the refrigerator. She went for a closer look and discovered they were astonishingly charming sketches of the cove and the resort. “These are wonderful. Did you do them, Dave?”
“Yeah. You really like ‘em?”
“Very much. You have a lot of talent.”
David blushed happily. “Thanks. Well.” He looked from one adult to the other and started to back out of the room. “Guess everything’s under control, so I’d better be going.”
Kate looked at him in surprise. “Aren’t you staying for dinner?”
David shook his head quickly. “Carl Shimazu invited me to spend the night at his house. His mom said it was okay. Carl and I are going to study together.” He looked at his father. “You don’t have to worry about anything, Dad. I told the kitchen staff to take care of everything.”
Thanks, son.” Jared’s mouth quirked. “I appreciate that.”
“Sure. Well, good night. See you guys later.” With one last look around, David turned and bounded into the hall. A moment later the front door closed behind him.
Jared swirled the whiskey in his glass and led the way back into the living room. “What can I say? He means well. He likes you.”
“I like him, too.”
Kate wandered over to the expanse of open wall and took a deep breath of the fragrant night air. An odd nervousness was settling on her now that she was alone with Jared. When she had accepted the invitation she had been certain David would be around to act as a buffer. Instead, she was on her own.
The nervousness alarmed her. This was not like her at all. The only other time she could remember feeling nervous around a man in recent years was the time she had been stopped by a grim-looking motorcycle cop. She had been sure she was going to get a ticket. In the end she had given him an autographed book for his wife, instead. He’d been thrilled.
Jared came up behind her, not touching her. “The other night in the garden I got the impression you liked me, also. Did I get the signals mixed?”
“You’re very direct, aren’t you?”
“I don’t have time to string this out, but even if I did, I probably wouldn’t. You’re right. I am a direct man, Kate. I don’t like games.”
“Your friend Letty says we strike sparks off each other.”
“I guess we do. Is that so bad?”
Kate shook her head. “No, but I’m not sure it’s good, either. Sparks can be dangerous.”
“They can set fires,” Jared agreed. “But I’ll be honest with you, Kate. I’ve never had any woman set quite this kind of fire in me. I’m not sure exactly how to handle things, but I know I can’t walk away and pretend this never happened. Can you?”
There was silence for a long moment. Then Kate said softly, “I told you I wasn’t interested in a vacation fling.”
“Is that why you disappeared so fast after the masquerade ball? You just aren’t interested? I don’t believe that.”
She tilted her head thoughtfully to one side. “You want the truth? I got cold feet.”
“I thought that might be it. At least you’re honest about it.”
“I also decided you were taking a lot for granted on the basis of a few kisses.”
“And you wanted to put me in my place?”
Her fingers tightened on the glass. “No, not exactly. I just decided things were happening too quickly.”
“If things don’t happen quickly between us, they won’t happen at all. Within a month you’ll be gone.”
“Yes.” She moved uneasily, stepping away from him and turning to smile coolly. “Which is the best reason of all for not getting involved, isn’t it? What’s for dinner?”
“I don’t know.” Jared’s mouth curved faintly. “David ordered everything. One of the side benefits of raising a kid around a resort is that he gets very sophisticated about such things as ordering up room service.”
“I see. David does this for you a lot, then?”
“For your information, this is the first time he’s ever tried his hand at matchmaking.”
Kate winced. “Sorry, didn’t mean to annoy you.”
“Didn’t you? I think you enjoy annoying me, Kate.”
“Careful, you’re getting paranoid.”
“I’m not so sure about that. Sometimes I almost have the feeling I’m being tested in some way.”
Kate’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Good grief, what a weird thing to say. You really are paranoid.” But she sensed some blundering masculine insight in his accusation and wondered silently what was happening to her.
Jared smiled again and held up his palm. “You’re probably right. Let’s call a truce, okay? The food will be here any minute and I’m hungry.”
“So am I. I did some more snorkeling this morning and it gave me an appetite.”
He eyed her warily. “About the snorkeling lesson yesterday. Can I assume you’re not holding a grudge?”
“Just because you faked that fall and then dropped me into the sea? Heavens, no. Why would I hold a grudge over a little thing like that?”
“Beats me. It wasn’t as if I didn’t have grounds for revenge or anything. But some women aren’t as fair-minded as you are. David took pains to point out to me what a good sport you were about the whole thing.”
Kate laughed softly, beginning to relax„ “All right, I’ll admit you might have had grounds for revenge. I shouldn’t have ducked out the night of the masquerade without saying anything. I should have told you I’d changed my mind.”
Jared grinned. “That’s probably as close to an apology as I’ll get, so I’ll take it and be satisfied.” He started to say something else and then paused as a knock sounded on the front door. “Ah, there’s dinner. Let’s see how creative the kid is.”
David, with the help of the resort’s restaurant staff, had outdone himself. The Brie-and-sun-dried-tomatoes appetizer was followed by impeccably fresh fish cooked in parchment and a beautifully arranged plate of exotic tiny sautéed vegetables. It was all lavishly served by a waiter who couldn’t seem to hide his delight as he went about his duties. It was obvious the staff was enjoying the entire event.
When the excellent Chardonnay had been served, the linen napkins unfolded and the candles lit, the waiter bowed himself out the front door. Jared waited until he was gone, then he lounged back in his chair and looked across the table at Kate.
“You realize, of course, that this will be all over the resort by midnight, if it isn’t already?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Certain assumptions concerning our relationship will be made.”
“Probably.”
“Just thought I’d warn you.” Jared nodded once and raised his wineglass. “Here’s to us and the month we have. Let’s not waste it, Kate.”
Kate felt her insides tighten, but at the same time a thrill of anticipation was soaring through her. She looked into Jared’s silvery eyes as she obediently raised her own glass and the poignant sense of familiarity nearly overwhelmed her. “To us,” she whispered.
“Why don’t you tell me how you go about writing a book?” Jared suggested when the toast was finished.
“All right. If you’ll tell me how you go about running a resort.”
“It’s a deal.”
To Kate’s surprise, it was suddenly easy to talk to him. The conversation flowed so effortlessly now. She felt lighter than air, caught up once more in that dangerously seductive certainty that she knew Jared far more intimately than could possibly have been the case.
When they had polished off the white-chocolate-and-macadamia-nut dessert, Jared got to his feet. He reached down to grasp Kate’s wrist and drew her up beside him. “Come on, I want to show you something.”
“Not your etchings, I hope.”
“I think you’re going to find this a lot more interesting than etchings. And I want you to remember I thought of this angle all on my own. David didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Where are we going?” Kate asked as he led her down the hall.
“To my study.”
Not his bedroom. Kate wondered at the sense of wistful disappointment she felt.
When Jared opened the door into a book-lined room, she stepped inside and gazed around with deep interest. “Very nice.”
He released her wrist and went over to a glass-fronted cabinet that housed several very old leather-bound volumes. On one of the shelves was the black dagger Jared had been wearing the previous evening.
“What are those?” Kate’s attention was instantly captured by the sight of the old books.
“Some journals, business papers and a ship’s log belonging to Roger Hawthorne plus a diary that his wife, Amelia, kept.”
Kate’s eyes widened in astounded delight. “Are you serious?” She flew across the room to stand in front of the cabinet. She stared longingly down at the aging volumes.
“Take a look.” Jared opened the glass doors, smiling with satisfaction as Kate reached carefully inside for one of the journals.
She stroked the cracked leather cover lovingly. “Do you realize what you have here? A pirate’s personal journals. What an incredible thought. And the diary of the bride he kidnapped. I would sell my soul for these volumes.”
“I wasn’t planning to ask such a high price, but if you insist, I won’t turn you down.”
Her head came up swiftly as she sensed the sensual meaning in his softly spoken words. The expression in his eyes made her catch her breath, and she forgot about the treasure she held in her hands.
“Jared?”
“You can examine the journals any time you like while you’re here on Amethyst.”
“Thank you.” She was breathless. The heat in his gaze was warming her from the inside out, “Thank you very much.” Kate put the old volume carefully back into the glass cabinet and stood very still.
After a long, shuddering moment of silence, Jared reached out to touch her cheek. “Whatever else it will be, Kate, it won’t be just a fling. You know that, don’t you?”
She felt his fingers tremble slightly on her skin. When he dropped his hand, she was trapped by the molten silver of his eyes. Surely she had known this man all her life. “Yes,” she said. “I know.”
He picked up a blanket that lay folded on the end of the sofa, took Kate’s hand again and led her out of the study onto the shadowy veranda that overlooked the sea.