She frowned. Was something wrong?
The trek down the hill proved how badly the tropical storm had ravaged the island. Leaves, palm fronds and coconuts littered the ground.
Creeped out a bit, she shuddered inwardly. Were they truly alone?
In the shade of a palm, Alex sat on the grass. From her bag, she pulled a couple of bananas she had picked at the hut yesterday, and then settled beside him. They shared the meal in silence.
Finally, he stood. “Let’s go. We can’t rely on being rescued. We need to make a camp and find food that is more substantial. I’m beginning to feel weak.”
She strode after him down the hill toward the beach and the lagoon. “We really can’t stay here. Maybe we should take our chances with the raft?”
He swung around to face her. “I want to leave as much as you do, but we can’t go unless we take supplies. Do you want to be lost out in the ocean again, this time without food or water?”
Her shoulders sagged. “No.” He was right, of course, but he didn’t understand the full implications. She had welcomed his arms around her last night.
Alex sighed. “We don’t have a choice, love. Do you have ideas for food? Do you know how to cook?”
“Sure, if you take me to the nearest microwave oven, I’ll whip you up something.” At the distressed look in his eyes, she added, “Actually, I’m a good cook, and I did see a demonstration of several traditional native dishes. Perhaps I could try to cook one. That’s if we can catch some fish.”
“Then we’ll camp at the abandoned hut to start with. It’s close to the lagoon.”
It took only a few minutes to reach the lagoon that lay sparkling in the morning sun. Kelly once again stripped off her shirt and skirt with a sense of unease. She hadn’t realized when she bought this skimpy bikini that she’d be living in it twenty-four-seven.
When Alex’s gaze raked over her, her face warmed.
He smiled ruefully. “We’ve come a long way from gowns and tuxedos, haven’t we?”
She nodded and sank back on a flat boulder, waiting to hold out the cooler to retrieve any fish he caught.
He took his diving knife and cut six sticks, shaping the end of each into a point. After he climbed on a higher edge of the bank, he peered into the water, then raised his arm to throw the spear. He looked entirely too gorgeous to be doing this with her.
She chuckled. “I feel like I’m on a set. Your pose must be from something like . . . uh let’s see—Tarzan and the Ape Girl.”
He flashed her a grin. “There is no film by that title and I’ve never played King of the Jungle. However, I’ll consider it, if you’ll play Jane.”
“Me?” Kelly leaned back on her elbows. Was he suggesting she play Jane to his Tarzan? Tarzan was always picking Jane up and swinging her around on vines, carrying her off somewhere.
At the thought of Alex carrying her to a private place, an unsettling heat lodged in the pit of Kelly’s stomach. She hadn’t forgotten her amazingly real dream. She moistened her lips with her tongue. Perhaps he would carry her to the soft patch of grass near the waterfall where tropical flowers grew in a tangle of colors . . .
He would kiss her. She closed her eyes and relived the pleasure of his lips on hers.
Cool water droplets sprinkled on her skin and startled her out of her reverie. Her eyelids flew open.
Alex had waded into the lagoon to retrieve the spears and now gazed at her with a puzzled expression. “Are you sleeping, Kelly?” He flicked more water on her. “We have a dinner to catch. Remember?”
Her cheeks burned with shame as she sat up. God help her, now she fantasized about him in broad daylight. She forced herself to concentrate on his attempts to spear a fish—and not on the hard ripple of muscles playing in his arms and back when he moved.
He gave her another curious gaze, climbed back onto the bank and threw the spears. With each throw, he missed the mark.
His eyebrows slanted into a frown. “Perhaps they’re too light. I’ll have to make heavier ones.” He glanced at her. “You want to give it a go?”
She smiled at him. “No, I’m having too much fun watching you.”
“Watch your tongue,” he teased, amusement glinting in his eyes. “Or I’ll be playing Petruchio to your Katharina. You have seen Taming of the Shrew?”
She cleared her throat and glanced sideways under veiled lashes. “Do I really come across to you as a shrew, Alex?”
Grinning, he left her hanging on that question and waded in up to his thighs to retrieve the spears.
He waved one spear in the air like a make-believe foil. “When all else fails, I say try another tactic. On guard.”
“Are you going to slay them with your sword or make them laugh themselves to death?”
“I’ll do that next.” He swished the stick in the air, then lunged his makeshift spear into the water without success. He tried a few more thrusts, but still no hits. “Damn,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. “This is harder than I expected.”
She giggled. “I’m partial to restaurants myself.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Why don’t you try, madam? You were so successful at opening those coconuts.”
She tossed her long hair over her shoulders. “All right, Tarzan, but I think I need a lesson.” She waded into the water.
Alex came up behind her and placed a spear in her hand. He raised her arm to throw the stick, but when his chest pressed against her back, her mind went blank. Strong desire raged through her. She gasped. He must have felt something, because he paused, his heart racing at a mad tempo against her back.
Abruptly, he released her and stepped away. “That part of the lesson is over,” he said in a low husky voice. “Now, try it, Kelly. Give it a go.” He was all seriousness.
Still quivering from his touch, she closed her eyes and jabbed the spear into the water. “I probably couldn’t hit Moby Dick,” she muttered, but she hit something and it moved, aggressively. She winced, hoping it wasn’t Alex––but she hadn’t heard a scream.
“Bloody hell, Kelly. Bulls eye.”
Her eyes flew open.
He took the spear from her hand. She gaped at the large, wriggling fish Alex pulled out of the lagoon. “Remind me never to make you angry when you have one of these things in your hand.”
She grimaced at the poor, unlucky creature. “It was pure luck.”
“Nevertheless, it appears we have dinner for tonight.” He placed the fish in the cooler. “For the sake of my pride, I’ll try to catch one and make a contribution.”
She tramped out of the water. “Next time, I’m making a net. If I have to spear fish, I’ll quickly become a vegetarian.” She plopped down on the bank to watch him.
It didn’t take long before he’d lanced another one.
He chuckled with amusement. “Thanks to my excellent instructor, I think I’ve learned the method. Now, we have to clean them.”
Kelly wrinkled her nose.
He laughed, his dimples evident. “By the look on your face, I’d better do the cleaning.” He gave her a sideways glance. “If you think that’s the man’s job . . . well since you’re the woman, you can cook then. Unless, of course, you’d prefer to eat sushi tonight?”
“No. Let’s try to cook the fish.”
Within a few minutes, she found the tarot plant she remembered from the tour.Choosing a site not too far from the hut to construct the pit, she instructed him to build an oven like she’d seen on the Suva tour. With empty split coconut shells, they scooped out the sand. Then they lined the pit with coconut husks and layered stones on top.
Alex took one of their precious matches and carefully lit the husks. They blew and fanned furiously to get the embers going, and cheered when the fire took hold.
“We did it,” she cried.She wrapped the fresh fish in leaves and layered it with roots of the tarot plant, like potatoes, to roast on the fire. She covered the food with more leaves to hold in heat. “It will take hours to cook. Let’s
hope this turns out to be edible.”
They turned their attention to the hut, which had suffered even more damage in the storm. All the while, the delicious aroma of baked fish wafted through the camp. Her stomach growled.
As she worked with him on cleaning out the hut, her thoughts drifted to their sleeping arrangements. How could her heart survive, night after night alone with him on this island, when her loyalty belonged to Robert? Alex would probably laugh at her foolishness if he knew she had grown attached to him.
* * *
A gentle breeze stirred the picture-perfect evening as Kelly served dinner. She sat next to Alex on the grass beneath a tree, happy to be alive.
He peeled back the leaves and a trickle of steam rose from the fish. He blew on it, then took a bite. “Superb. I’ve never tasted anything so delicious.”
She laughed. “Liar. Anything tastes good when you’re this hungry.” She nibbled on the food. “The tarot leaf tastes a little like spinach.” He agreed.
After they had eaten the main course, Kelly made an announcement, “And now I have a surprise for you.”
She walked to the pit and returned with a dessert similar to what she’d seen the natives make––papaya sprinkled with coconut milk and wrapped in tarot leaves.
Alex bit into the concoction, his eyes lighting with contentment.
“Delicious,” he said between bites. While he ate, she watched his sexy mouth. Once again, he sent her senses spinning.
Exhaling a deep breath, she jumped to her feet and headed to the lagoon to clean the plastic plates. By the time she returned, dusk had spread over the island, and squawking parrots heralded the approaching night.
Alex dozed against a palm tree. He must have thrown more sticks into the pit for the fire burned brightly. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to the idea of complete darkness. Glad to have Alex near, she sat cross-legged beside him on the soft grass.
He opened his eyes. “Dinner was fabulous. I feel better already.”
She gazed at the palms silhouetted against the sunset. “It’s such a beautiful place, Alex.”
“A lonely paradise.”
“If only we had the comforts of home.”
“Or of the cruise ship––excluding Vanessa, of course.”
“You weren’t too happy to see her.”
His mouth took on an unpleasant twist. “Hardly. She manipulates everything. Hillyard only asked me to be in the film so he could sign Vanessa. I should have known the part was too good to be true. I’m unknown in the States, except for being notorious in the tabloids as Vanessa Caine’s errant husband.”
“How did you meet her?”
He raked back a lock of hair from his forehead. “While I was a drama student in London, she visited the school. You can imagine, I was flattered when she asked me out that night.” He exhaled a deep breath. “I soon discovered Vanessa to be the most cunning person I had ever met.” He pressed his fingertips to his temples. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all of this.”
Not wanting to lose this moment of sincerity and his trust, she whispered, “I’ll keep your secret. I’ll never forget you saved my life.”
A wave of guilt tormented her. She had her own secrets. Those horrible men had been after her. She yanked out a long blade of grass and twined it through her fingers. Alex had spoken honestly. Maybe, she needed to open up, too, and he had every right to know who had caused the dive boat explosion.
She was about to confess everything, when he said, “I want you to know that I’ve been separated from Vanessa from almost the beginning, but she wouldn’t consent to a divorce, so I’ve had to wait five years.”
“Five years,” she blurted. Then she stiffened, remembering Robert had said Alex had married the actress for her money and to further his career.
“Vanessa wouldn’t agree to the divorce. In England one must be separated for five years without consent.”
“That’s a long time.”
His lips twisted in a cynical expression. “I suppose all women are not like Vanessa.”
Did Alex deserve his fate for using Vanessa? “No,” she retorted. “Many people have happy marriages.”
His brow rose. “My parents did until my father died.”
Not hers. Someone had deliberately taken her parents’ lives. How many of her father’s disgruntled clients wanted her dead? A lump stuck in her throat.
“Are you all right, Kelly?”
She wasn’t, but she nodded anyway. “My parents seemed happy, until my father cheated with an actress. I suppose that’s one of the reasons why I’ve never had a high opinion of actors. Mom and Dad had just reconciled and were killed in a plane crash.”
“Both your parents? Do you have siblings?”
She shook her head. “I have only my great-aunt Kaye. I went to live with her after they died. My life changed drastically.” She went from a pampered rich girl to being financially devastated.
“Sorry to hear that.” He looked away, and then went on in a flat voice, “I knew I wasn’t in love with Vanessa when I married her.”
She couldn’t believe he admitted it. “How did you ever expect to be happy, if you only married her to help your career?”
His expression held a note of mockery. “So you damn me along with everyone else?”
“But you just said you didn’t love her.”
“People get married for other reasons, Kelly.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “So it would seem.”
He sighed. “I don’t expect you to believe me, but the truth is I hadn’t known Vanessa very long, when we . . .” He seemed embarrassed, but he shrugged it off. “My ego swelled. Bloody hell, I was twenty-two years old and this famous actress wanted me. She took me places around the world I’d never even dreamed of seeing. It was brief and exciting. She turned up a month later, after I’d ended it, saying she was pregnant.”
A grim expression crossed his handsome features. “Within three months of knowing her, I made the worst mistake of my life. I married her.” He sagged against the tree. “I’ve been living a nightmare ever since.”
Kelly frowned. “You married her because she was pregnant?”
“At the time, I thought it was the right thing to do.”
Disappointment assailed her. Alex had a child with Vanessa? Why should she be surprised? Married people usually had children. Even after the divorce, he’d be forever tied to Vanessa.
She yanked another blade of grass. “That was a noble thing to do.”
“Yes, that was back when I was noble, young, and stupid.” He picked up a pebble from the ground and tossed it in his hands. “Not anymore.”
“But, no matter how you feel about her, it was probably the best thing for your child.”
“There never was a child,” he said sharply. “On our supposed honeymoon, I found out my bride was a habitual liar.” He sailed the pebble into the fire. “She told me she lost the baby, but had wanted to marry me anyway. What a lie. She’d never been pregnant.”
He paused for a moment, exhaling a deep breath. “Because of my family’s reputation and the scandal of divorce, I was obligated to make it work, but it was impossible. Vanessa is insanely jealous.” His brooding gaze caught Kelly’s. “I’ve never told anyone the truth about my marriage . . . until you.”
She put her hand on his arm. “I’ll keep your secret.” Now, Alex and Vanessa’s story made sense. Robert had been right, but so wrong. “If Vanessa is so awful, what I don’t understand is how Robert can adore her.”
“Hillyard should. He helped create her and put her in his films. In turn, her stardom helped make him rich.”
Kelly gaped. “I know they’re friends, but Robert never told me he had such a long history with her.”
Alex exhaled deeply. “I’ve said more than I should. I don’t need any more stories in the press.”
They had that in common. She took a deep breath. “I have something to tell you, too.”
He cross
ed his arms over his chest. “I’m listening.”
“Remember the day I ran into your cabin?”
His mouth quirked at the corner. “How could I forget, love? You were wearing all lace and sheer silk and nothing more.”
Her heart beat faster at his words. She wore about the same skimpy amount tonight in this tiny bikini. “Please, don’t tease me. This isn’t easy for me.”
He watched her thoughtfully. “All right, go on.”
She cleared her throat. “The day I ran into your cabin, I had received a death threat. You found the letter on the floor.” His expression stilled, but he let her speak. “I thought someone was in my cabin to kill me because in L.A., a man had attacked me. He tried to strangle me, to be exact.”
Alex’s eyebrows drew together in shock. “The bruises on your throat . . .”
She nodded. “Yes, and there’s more to it. On the day of the explosion, those men were looking for me. I’m the one they wanted to kill.”
Alex gripped her arms and hauled her to her feet. “Why the bloody hell didn’t you tell me?”
She winced at the pressure of his hands on her arms. “I was afraid of the attack getting into the news and hurting Cochran Investments even further. I had planned to tell the police when we were rescued.” She drew in a shaky breath. “You have every right to be mad at me. I should have told you the danger you were in just by being with me.”
“I’m not angry with you,” he snapped, loosening his hold.
“You certainly sound like it.” She tried to twist out of his grasp, but he didn’t release her.
He sighed and said in a softer voice, “Kelly, I’m concerned, that’s all.” He stroked her arms lightly where he had held her. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“You didn’t hurt me,” she said, barely able to whisper. She had gone soft all over when he touched her.
“It’s just they could have come back to make sure you were dead. I wouldn’t have known there was any danger.”
“I’m sure they think I’m dead or they would have come back.”
“But why would anyone want to kill you?”
“The police think my father was embezzling from his clients and sending the money out of the country. A seven-million-dollar bank withdrawal had been made by my father a few days before the crash.” She choked back a sob. “The plane had been rigged to go down. I was supposed to be on the plane, too, but I was sick and stayed with Aunt Kaye. At the time, I’d wished I had been with them. I wanted to die, too.”
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