The aching pain was raw and fierce and she looked away so that he couldn't see the liquid brightness in her eyes. "I told you I didn't want any of those," she said huskily. "I just want to get back Jeffrey's plane for him."
Beau muttered something violently obscene and Daniel gave a low surprised whistle.
"Then by all means let's go ashore and retrieve dear Jeffrey's property," Beau said with bitter savagery. He turned to Daniel. "I don't suppose you've noticed since you've been lolling on your duff passing the time of day with Kate, but we've come close enough to shore to launch the dinghy, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, that is."
"No trouble at all," the captain said genially, rising lazily to his feet. "Always willing to oblige, Beau."
Beau snorted inelegantly. "When it suits your convenience."
"Well, that goes without saying," Seifert said, his eyes twinkling. "Isn't it lucky it does in this case?" He sauntered off with surprising grace for so large a man.
He was only a few yards away when he halted in his tracks, his eyes on the horizon. This time his low whistle was sharp with startled apprehension. "I think we'd better forget the dinghy for the time being. I believe we're going to have visitors."
Kate jumped to her feet, her heart pounding in alarm. Her gaze followed Seifert's and she inhaled sharply. A launch painted a drab army green was headed in their direction.
"The local marines, I take it," the captain murmured. He glanced at Beau. "Do you want me to try to run for it?"
"Do we have a chance?"
"Not much." Daniel was observing the launch's approach with keenly analytical eyes.
Beau shrugged. "Then we'll let them board us. The most they can do is impound the ship and the conglomerate will be able to handle that. It will only be a matter of time."
"Julio!" Kate's frantic call brought the Latin boy dashing from the far end of the ship toward her.
"Julio, hurry!" She was running for the rail facing the shore. With any luck the masts would hide them from being spotted through binoculars. Julio was beside her now, his face mirroring the same tension as her own. "They don't have a chance of outrunning it," she said tersely, pulling off her tennis shoes. "They're going to let the Searcher be boarded."
Julio muttered a curse and began to take off his own shoes.
Beau and Daniel were at their sides and Beau's face was dark as thunder. "What the hell do you think you're doing now?" he growled. "There's nothing to be afraid of. No matter how much clout Despard has with the government, I can protect you there. The conglomerate can buy and sell Castellano."
"He's right, Kate," the captain inserted swiftly. "I've seen it happen before. All Beau has to do is exert some economic muscle and we're home free."
'You’re home free," Kate said grimly. She was climbing over the rail. "It will be easy for them to pull you out of their bureaucratic clutches. It wouldn't be so simple for Julio and me." She tried to smile reassuringly into Seifert's worried face. "Don't worry, we're not that far from shore and we're both very good swimmers. Jump, Julio!"
The boy slipped over the rail and dropped into the sea like a stone. Kate drew a deep breath and was about to release the rail herself, when Beau grabbed her roughly by the shoulders. "No! This is crazy. I tell you you're both perfectly safe, blast it! I can protect you."
"You think you can." Kate was struggling frantically. "Let me go! Do you know what happens to women who are imprisoned in Castellano? That gang rape you mentioned would be short and sweet in comparison."
"They wouldn't touch you," Beau said fiercely. "I wouldn't let them."
"You couldn't stop them," Kate cried, her eyes blazing. "That blanket of protection you're so smug about doesn't work for people like Julio and me."
"Why the hell not?"
"Because we don't have a country to back us up. They'll just lock us up and throw away the key." He was still looking at her with that expression of incomprehension and the launch was getting closer every second. "Because neither of us has a passport, damn it!"
"What?" Beau's grip loosened and she tore free and tumbled backward into the sea.
"No passport! How the hell can anyone go wandering around the world without a damned passport?" Beau asked furiously, jerking his shoes off and slipping over the rail. Julio's and Kate's heads were bobbing several yards from the ship as they struck out strongly for the shore. "I suppose I should have expected it. There isn't one single ordinary or reasonable thing connected with the woman!"
"Since when has the ordinary or reasonable appealed to you?" Daniel asked, raising a brow. "I gather you're going dashing ... er, swimming, after her?"
"What the hell else can I do?" Beau asked testily. "There's no telling what trouble she'll get into next. My God, no passport!"
"Any instructions, or do I play it by ear with the authorities?"
"Cover for us," Beau said tersely. "Tell them you let the four of us off at Santa Isabella and stick to it. I'll try to get in touch with you before the conglomerate pulls you out of Castellano, but if I don't, take the ship to Santa Isabella and we'll join you there."
"Right," Daniel said, scooping up the litter of shoes on the deck and tossing them overboard. "Wouldn't want to leave any evidence lying around when we're boarded, now would we? Have a pleasant swim, Beau."
"Thanks a lot," Beau said ironically, and dove into the sea.
Five
The water had felt cold at first but now it was like warm satin flowing over her. She could see Julio's gleaming dark hair a few yards ahead and the shore seemed miles away. She felt a shiver of apprehension run through her. Would they be able to make it?
She bit her lip and struck out more determinedly. She mustn't even think there was a possibility of their not reaching the shore. She'd discovered a long time ago that doubts could be your worst enemy when you were striving to reach a goal. She blocked out everything but the rhythmic movement of her arms and legs that were cleaving swiftly through the water.
It was an eternity later when she staggered ashore and sank down beside Julio. His head was buried in his knees and he was gasping desperately for breath. She was in scarcely better shape as she stretched out on the sand.
"For Pete's sake, it's still broad daylight and you're taking a sunbath in full view of the ship."
She looked up dazedly to see Beau striding out of the waves like Poseidon. His cutoff jeans were clinging to his slim hips and strong muscular thighs and his hair was a shining bronze helmet in the sunlight. "What are you doing here?" she asked dazedly. He wasn't even breathing very hard, she thought with a touch of resentment.
"Trying to keep the two of you from being sighted by that launch," Beau said, reaching out a hand to pull her to her feet. "Come on, Julio, let's get to that cluster of trees before they decide to send out a shore party. Daniel's trying to distract them, but it would only take a glance for them to spot us."
"Right," Julio gasped, and staggered to his feet to follow them the short distance to the grove of palm trees.
Beau's arm around her waist was strong and secure as he half led, half carried her to the shadowy shelter of the trees and she unconsciously leaned against that strength. She'd be all right in a minute, she assured herself. It wouldn't hurt to let him be the protector, the strong one for a while. She sank down and leaned against the rough bole of a palm tree and closed her eyes.
"Are you okay?"
She opened her eyes. "You shouldn't have followed us, Beau," she said wearily.
"So I was just supposed to sail away and let you take your chances?" Beau shook his head and for an instant anger flickered in his eyes. "You forgot to mention what would happen if it was the police and not Despard who captured you."
"It wouldn't have changed anything. I would still have had to come anyway," Kate said. "I had to get the Cessna."
"Without a passport the danger was increased a hundredfold." Beau dropped down across from her. "You knew that and you came anyway." She opene
d her lips to speak and he held up his hand. "Forget it, I've heard it all before. You owed a debt." His gaze darted to Julio sitting a few yards away. "I can see how Julio could be without a passport considering the manner of his exit from El Salvador, but why the hell don't you have one? Brenden said your mother was an American nightclub entertainer. "
"I was born in Rio. When my mother left she took my birth certificate with her. Without it, Jeffrey couldn't apply for a passport for me." She shrugged. "He wasn't concerned about it at the time. In his line of work he never entered a country through the usual channels anyway. It wasn't really necessary."
"Oh no, it wasn't really necessary," Beau repeated sarcastically. "It just kept you from going to school and getting an education that might have assured your future. It stripped you of any protection you might have had from your mother's country. It's kept you lingering on the fringes of life instead of being able to participate." His lips twisted. "Hardly worth mentioning."
"I got along all right," Kate said defensively. "It's not as ugly a picture as you're painting."
"You're absolutely incredible." Beau shook his head wonderingly. "You actually believe that?"
"Of course I do," Kate said, rubbing her forehead wearily. "My life hasn't been all that bad. I've been really lucky in a number of ways." She straightened briskly. "But none of that is important right now. We've got to get started if we want to get to my place before dark."
"Your place?" Beau asked, puzzled. "You mean Brenden s cottage that you mentioned?"
She shook her head. "That's on the outskirts of Mariba. I have my own place here on this end of the island. Sometimes it was a little awkward for Jeffrey to have me around."
"I just bet it was," he muttered darkly. "So he let you come out here in the middle of the wilds on your own?"
"I wanted it that way," she said simply. "Particularly when men like Despard made it a habit of dropping by at all hours of the day and night. It was nice to have a place of my own to run away to and just be by myself." Her eyes moved back to his. "Besides, it was very near the plane. We needed someone close by at all times to guard it."
"Oh yes, the plane," Beau drawled. "If you want to get the Cessna off the island tonight, we'd better get moving." He stood up and reached down a hand to pull her to her feet. "It's almost sunset."
She cast a glance at the fiery scarlet and delicate lavender that touched the clouds with beauty and the sea with mirrored paths of brilliance. "We still have forty minutes or so. That should give us enough time to get to my house."
He frowned. "What about the plane?"
She shook her head. "We can't leave the island now." Her blue eyes were troubled. "Not until we're sure Captain Seifert and the crew are going to be okay. You may be sure your company can get him out of this, but I can't leave until I know>. It's my fault they were captured in the first place."
"But I told you—"
'They're my responsibility," Kate said stubbornly. "I can't leave until I know they're safe."
There was a curious tenderness mixed with the exasperation in his eyes. "Now how did I know you'd feel like that?" He ruffled her damp curls. "All right, Kate, we'll do it your way. How do we obtain this reassurance you're so set upon?"
"I can get it." Julio spoke up. "I can go to Mariba tomorrow morning with Consuello when she takes in the day's catch of fish. It shouldn't be difficult to ask a few questions at the marketplace."
"Who's Consuello?"
"One of Julio's women," Kate supplied absently. "She lives in a fishing village just around the cove. Her father and brother are fishermen and so was her husband. She's a widow now."
"One of Julio's women?" Beau murmured. "Evidently a very advanced eighteen-year-old, Julio."
Julio grinned, his dark face shrewd. "And you were another, I'd bet. How many lovers did you have to your credit at the same age?"
"I was too much of a gentleman to count," Beau drawled. "And so should you be."
Julio shrugged. "Consuello is lonely. I merely fill a need." His eyes were suddenly twinkling. "Actually a variety of needs." He stood up. "The more I think about it, the more I believe it's my solemn duty to look up Consuello and persuade her to take me to Mariba," he said expansively. "Don't worry, Kate. I'll get on it right away."
"Or on her?" Beau suggested, his lips twitching.
Julio winked. "At any rate I'll be back by tomorrow evening at the latest with news of the captain."
"That would probably be the safest move." Kate bit her lip. "Despard's men don't know you and Consuello would be a good cover. Just be careful, Julio."
"Yes, by all means," Beau said. "Or Kate will probably be storming the local bastille to get you out."
"I'll be careful," Julio promised, touching her cheek with a gentle finger. "You, too, pequena." He turned to Beau with gruff sternness. "Watch over her." Then he was walking swiftly toward the headland using the trees as a cover.
Kate's throat felt suddenly tight and aching as she watched him swagger jauntily out of sight.
"He's so young," she murmured. "What if something happens to him?"
"You told me yourself that he was older than his years," Beau said gently. "He'll be fine, Kate." He took her hand in his, the firm vital clasp giving comfort and strength and infinite reassurance. "And if not, I'll help you storm that bastille myself."
Her smile was a little watery. "Promise?"
He nodded. "Promise. Now what will it take to get you to lead me to this house of yours?" He made a face. "I hope it has bathing facilities. I need to wash this salt water off me. I feet as if I'm going to dry up and blow away any minute."
"Oh yes, it has bathing facilities," Kate said happily, her hand unconsciously tightening on his. Such a warm strong hand, it felt so wonderfully protective and affectionate. She started off through the palm grove into the half-light of the rain forest beyond. "I'll take you there right away."
"A tree house!" Beau said blankly, his gaze taking in the upper branches of the rain tree they were standing beneath. "You've got to be kidding."
Kate shook her head. "It's really a very practical idea," she said, her eyes wide and earnest. "The branches and foliage offer a certain amount of shelter from the sun and the rain and it's very private." She was dragging a ladder from behind a cluster of nearby bushes and he moved automatically to help her set it against the tree. "Julio and I built it. It took us about four months, but it was worth all that time."
"I can tell," he said gently. Even in the twilight dimness of the rain forest he could see the glowing eagerness in her face and it filled him with a poignant tenderness. Child-woman, vulnerability and strength. "I can't wait to look inside."
"It's not very fancy." Kate was climbing the ladder swiftly and her voice drifted down to him as he started after her. "It wasn't all that easy to furnish it. We had to use a pulley except for the little pieces we could carry." She reached the wooden platform and opened the rough wooden door with a little flourish. "Mi casa, sucasa."
"Thank you," Beau said gravely as he preceded her into the little house.
She followed him quickly. "Perhaps you'd better let me go first. It's pretty dark in here and I know my way around." She was fumbling at the natural rattan nightstand. Suddenly a match flickered and he could see that she was lighting an old-fashioned oil lamp. She turned to face him and her eyes widened in surprise. In the cutoff jeans, bare-chested and barefooted, he was a strange wild figure in her familiar little room. Wild and virile and overpoweringly male. "It's a little close in here," she said breathlessly. "I'd better open the shutters."
"I'll do it." He was at the large square window beside the door unfastening the tan woven hemp shutters and throwing them wide. "The whole place smells of flowers." He turned and suddenly grinned. "No wonder, you have enough flora in here to fill a florist shop."
"I love flowers," she said simply. "And they grow wild in the rain forest, so I can gather fresh ones every day." She gazed arou
nd in blissful satisfaction. "They make everything look so lovely."
The simple furnishings of the room definitely needed that embellishment, she thought. There was no bed, merely a single mattress covered with blue denim on the rough-hewn floor. Other than that, there were two rattan captain's chests against two walls and the small rattan nightstand. But there were blossoms everywhere. Gorgeous coral orchids with creamy centers tumbling out of rattan holders fixed to the unfinished walls. Delicate maiden fern surrounded deep purple violets in a polished black bowl on one of the chests. A tall vase in one corner was filled to overflowing with greenery and strange white blossoms with golden markings. But his eyes were on her, not the furnishings and she was suddenly conscious of that queer breathlessness again. "I guess it must seem primitive to you," she said uncertainly.
He shook his head slowly. "No, it's very beautiful and very, very special," he said quietly. "I can see how you'd be proud of it." His eyes met hers across the room and it was as if she were being wrapped in a velvet intimacy so complete it filled the whole world, "In a way it's like you. Different and lovely and totally special." He looked away and his eyes fell on a colorful object on the rattan chest across the room. "What's that?"
She was glad he'd been distracted. She didn't know if she could have broken the intimate moment herself. She followed his gaze with her own and then smiled eagerly. "That's my music box." She ran across the room and knelt by the chest. Her hands lifted the scarlet-and-ivory carousel with loving care and wound the key at the bottom. "I discovered it in a pawn shop in Port of Spain. Isn't it lovely? A carousel with not only horses but unicorns and centaurs. It was in pretty bad shape when I bought it, but I repainted it and Julio found a man to fix the mechanism." She set the music box back on the chest and stayed there, her eyes misty with dreams as she watched the carousel turn slowly on its pedestal. "I've always loved the tune it plays. I tried to find out what it was, but the man in the shop didn't know and neither did Julio and Jeffrey."
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