“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 ner
ve?” 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 o
f 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.
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