But, this morning Marek had watched her with that special something in his hooded gaze until his head dropped back and his eyes closed in orgasm. Carm suspected that she knew what that special something was. And he knew it too. It was up to him to decide if he had the courage to give voice to the emotion or not.
Because Marek was damned well going to admit he was in love with Carmen if she had to hog tie him down and threaten it out of him.
A sound from the drive caught her attention and Carm focused on the narrow gap in the foliage just as a small red car shot through the opening. It was Marek’s housekeeper Mrs. Carrins.
Carm watched as the short, plump woman wiggled out from behind the wheel and slammed the door behind her. Without a glance in Carm’s direction the middle-aged woman gathered her equipment from the trunk and headed toward the front door. Once she reached the porch where Carm stood the housekeeper gave a curt nod and pushed the door open.
Did I detect a sniff of contempt? Did I not pass approval? Carm narrowed her eyes after the short woman and bit back a grin. Well, that’s just too bad. Get used to me, sister, because I’m not going anywhere.
It was cute--in a rude sort of way--that the housekeeper apparently didn’t think Carmen was good enough for her Marek. It presented a challenge to Carm to win the protective Mrs. Carrins over. And Carm loved a good challenge.
Raking her hands through her loose hair as she strode back into the house, Carm decided it was time to give her sister a call. Time to give Kate the address so she could overnight her birth certificate to her. Marek was due for a push in the right direction, and being able to leave Tortola any time was definitely a big push.
Carm considered herself a patient woman, but it was quickly running out. As was Kate’s pregnancy. It was coming down to the wire and she and Marek needed to make some decisions.
Well, she’d made her decisions. He needed a good prodding to make his. It was times like this that Carm remembered the electric cattle prod her father had used for their cows to get them to go where he wanted. The thing was darned effective on those cows. Made a girl think fondly how wonderful it could work on a reluctant, dragging-his-feet male. Zap! Make a decision, boy! Oh, not quick enough. Zap! That’s what I thought. Good boy.
Carm laughed at her internal musings and the mental picture it provided. In a wrong, sick sort of way, the image of zapping Marek on the butt to get him moving held a certain kind of appeal. There was something inherently frustrating to a female about a reluctant, s-l-o-w man. Just about every woman could relate to her cattle prod fantasy to get a man’s rear in gear.
Carm made her way down the hall toward the office and continued her musings as the sound of pots banging and clanging came from the kitchen. The truth of the matter was that women have a time frame for things. A certain period of time for things to progress and flesh out in a relationship.
And Carm’s was getting shorter by the day.
Sighing as she entered the cool, welcoming room, Carm walked around to the thick leather seat and sat down. Letting out another breath on a puff that feathered her hair around her face, she reached for the phone. And stopped. This call would put a cut-off date to her time on the island with Marek. She was pretty certain they’d passed some milestone this morning, but that instinctive fear that lives in every woman in love had her gripping her hands together to keep them from shaking uncontrollably. It crept up her throat, closed her airway, and made it hard to breathe.
“Get a grip, Carmen. It’s only a phone call.” But, it wasn’t just a phone call. It was the end. As soon as she received her proper identification she was free to leave the island. Had to leave the island. Family was family—and Kate needed her. This call was her ticket back home, to Kate and to everything normal.
It would bring to a head and force Marek and her to make a choice. And it terrified her. Would he let her leave with nothing resolved? Would he come to the states with her? Does he even love her with the same consuming need that she loves him?
Carm never considered herself a coward. Then again, she’d never been in love like this before. And the thought of forcing answers from Marek when their relationship was so new and delicate made her stomach clench and slither with nausea.
There was no doubt that she trusted him. Trusted him enough to risk it all for him. But, what if he feels trapped, pushed in a corner when she pushes the issue and walks away from the pressure? Away from her?
How will she ever know if she doesn’t make the call?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. That’s what her father used to tell her. Was she willing to venture it all? Well, she really didn’t have a choice. Her time in limbo was at an end.
Carm straightened her spine and inhaled deep. Lacing her fingers together straight up over her head, she practiced some yoga breathing. She rolled her head from side to side after she released her hands, then let out a sound of disgust. At herself, at the whole situation.
“Dammit, Carm. If he wants to be with you, he’ll be with you. No amount of time is going to persuade him one way or the other. Either he does, or he doesn’t. So, get on with the phone call.”
Tough love did the trick and Carm reached for the phone—her hand only shaking slightly now. Dialing the long distance number with her heart racing like a Thoroughbred in the Kentucky Derby, Carm swallowed around the lump in her throat and waited for the connection.
It came on the second ring. “Hello?”
Wait a minute. That’s not Kate’s voice. “Hi, this is Carm. Where’s my sister?”
“Thank God. Carmen, it’s Melanie. Something’s happened to Kate.”
Fear gripped and squeezed at her heart with a ferocious appetite. Sweat slicked her palms as Carm jerked out of the chair. “What happened? Is she in the hospital? Is the baby in trouble?”
Carm glanced around the room blindly as terror clawed its way inside her. At the sound of the crack in Melanie’s voice, her heart sank into the pit of her greasy stomach.
“She’s. . . she’s in the hospital, Carm. Her started having contractions about an hour ago. She’s in labor. She wanted me to wait here for your call to tell you. Then I’m going down to the hospital to be with her.”
Fear and anger erupted, ugly and vicious. Carm swung around, grabbed a piece of pottery next to her and threw it hard against the far wall. It shattered into a thousand pieces of sparkling red and green porcelin. “Dammit! I should have been there. Tell me everything, Melanie and get a fucking piece of paper right now. I have something for you to do.”
Silence reigned on the other end for a moment, then came the sound of drawers slamming. “I’m looking for a pen, Carm. Kate left an envelope on the kitchen counter and said I needed to get an address from you to write on it. She said you lost your passport and can’t get back without what’s in the package.”
“It wasn’t lost. It was stolen. Look in the right hand desk drawer. I keep pens in there for correcting my students’ papers.” Carm’s voice was thick with unshed tears.
“Ah, I found one. I’m ready. What’s the address?”
Carm swallowed hard and relayed the address to Kate’s friend and fought back tears. She should have been there. If she wasn’t so damned selfish and caught up in her own soap opera, she’d have been there.
Guilt mingling now with the anger and fear for her sister, turning her voice hard and bitter. “Get that envelope in the mail overnighted as soon as you get off the phone. Do you hear me, Melanie? I can’t leave here without what’s in that envelope.”
“I promise I’ll go straight to the post office, Carm.”
Carm raked a hand through her hair. It was back to shaking like a leaf. Only this time for an entirely different reason. “What did the doctor say? Can they delay her delivery? She’s only thirty weeks, Melanie.”
With a death grip on the phone she waited for Melanie’s response. “I’m not sure, Carm. They did mention trying to delay it for a day or two so that they could give her some sort of injection that w
ould help the baby’s lung development.”
A tear slipped down her cheek, hot and wet. “They can’t stop her labor? Is she too far gone for that?” Carm’s voice cracked and faltered into silence.
“I don’t know. They gave her a shot of magnesium, but I’m not sure it did any good. I left right after that to get back here for your call so I could get this envelope overnighted to you.”
Carm pinched the bridge of her nose with two fingers, applying pressure, and closed her eyes. “Thank you, Melanie. You’ve been great. Tell Kate I’ll get a flight out the minute I get the papers tomorrow and I’ll be home as soon as I possibly can.”
“I will, Carm. She knows you’ll do everything you can.”
Carm dropped her hand and pinched her lips together in a flat line. Suddenly her problems seemed so insignificant. When Melanie’s voice prodded her she said, “I will do everything I can. Tell her I love her and to hang in there. I’ll be there soon.”
“She knows you do, Carm. She wanted me to tell you not to beat yourself up for not being here. No one could have predicted she’d go into labor ten weeks early.”
Looking at the shattered pottery scattered across the hardwood floor she muttered, “Yeah, right. I’ve got to go now, don’t forget to go straight to the post office.”
“I won’t. See you soon, Carm.”
“Yeah, see you soon.”
Carm hung up the phone and let the tears flow freely down her cheeks. How could she not beat herself up? She’s down in the sun and surf falling in love and having amazing sex while her sister’s alone, scared, and delivering a baby way too early.
What else can she do but blame herself?
“You ready to do some recon work, Bro?”
Marek glanced at Landon as they strapped their seatbelts on and waited for the chopper to warm up. They’d had a hell of a morning at the station. Apparently they’d found the culprit who’d vandalized his jeep. It turned out to be some young punk kid trying to impress his boss.
Turns out the kid was also responsible for trashing Carm’s room at the Green Island Inn. He’d thought the death threat note was a nice touch. His intention had been to scare them away from looking into what was happening on Mt. Liamuiga and score some points with his drug lord boss to boot.
Marek remembered those days. Recalled what it was like to be the little gopher kid with no respect, wanting to prove himself a man. Except he’d never thrashed a vehicle or tossed a room.
And he’d had a parent.
The kid wasn’t more than thirteen or fourteen and had no parents. The guys he worked for in the drug ring were the only family the kid had. Instead of feeling anger toward the kid for beating the hell out of his jeep and for his stunt with Carm, Marek felt sorry for him. The kid needed a positive role model and enough food to eat so he didn’t have to steal it.
The dark skinned, dark eyed kid was so thin and underfed he was all skin and bones. And attitude. Rebellion had burned like kerosene in his brown eyes, even as his empty stomach had let out a pathetic growl of hunger. Though he’d tried to hide it, the boy was scared half to death. Marek saw it hidden behind the defiant tilt of his chin. Saw it lurking deep in his eyes.
In the end Marek had decided not to press charges. Instead the kid was going to do time working for Marek to pay off the damages done to the jeep and the hotel room. He figured the kid deserved a second chance at a straight life, like he’d been given. And this kid was a whole lot younger.
It was almost scary the way he saw himself in that kid while he sat spewing filthy words across the room toward him. Marek’s heart had taken one look at that kid, recognized him. Beneath the long, ratty dreadlocks, the tattered clothes and bad attitude, Marek had recognized a terrified kid in need.
The kid wasn’t getting off free, however. Uh-uh. No, the brat had destroyed a room in his mother’s beloved inn and wrecked his jeep. He’d decided to let the kid spend the day in a holding cell with all the time in the world to think about his life and his choices while he and Landon went over to St. Kitts to play I Spy.
It also gave Marek time to figure out what he wanted to do with the sullen punk. The kid had no home, no family, and no one to tell him he deserved a better life.
He had two choices. He could let the kid live with him, or he could talk to his parents. They had some experience with punk teenagers. But, he had a feeling once he talked to Carm about Kypher—as the kid called himself—she’d demand he live with them. Being the school teacher and kid lover that she is.
Considering that he was thinking about her like that--including her in his decisions—meant he had his answer. Whether he was ready for it or not.
He loved Carm and wanted her to be in his life. Always. And when he got back to the house tonight he was going to tell her. Tell her that he wanted her to stay on Tortola with him, make a life with him. Make a family with him. Tell her he wanted to spend the rest of his life loving her with everything he had in him. And he had to tell her how much he needed her.
It was long past time he told her what was in his heart. Merde. He’d still rather have his balls clamped in a vice.
Letting out a pained sigh, Marek reached for his sunglasses and put them on. Landon geared the chopper up for take-off and grinned. “I love this part, man. The take off rocks.”
Marek grinned back in complete understanding. The feel of a vertical lift-off kicked ass. “I know what you mean, mon. It’s a rush. Kind of feels like the same sensation as falling in love.”
Landon grimaced. “Shit. You went and did it, didn’t you? You can’t hide behind your sunglasses, Bro. Thanks for that nice middle finger suggestion. I’ll consider that. Dude, I told you she was it for you. You knew it the minute you saw her that night at Big Bubba’s. Have you told her yet?”
That’s what Marek loved about Landon. You could flip the guy the bird and he didn’t blink an eye. Marek grinned and shook his head. “Nope. Not yet. I’m going to tonight when we get back. You know, I hate to admit when you’re right. But, I gotta say, mon, that you were right on when you said love could be pretty damned sweet.”
Landon shrugged and leveled the big black helicopter in the air. “Yeah, it has it’s moments.”
“You know, Carm was adamant that it was some kid who thrashed her room and wrote her that letter. I could have sworn it wasn’t, but she insisted. And she was right, too.”
The chopper glided over the crystal clear water as Landon snorted into the mouthpiece. “Women tend to have a sense about things that escape us men, I’ve learned. Somehow they know shit we don’t. It’s one of the many mysteries of the female sex, Bro.”
Marek turned his gaze to the horizon and said, “So it is, mon. So it is.”
They lapsed into companionable silence until the imposing shape of Mt. Liamuiga came into view. Clouds hung low and heavy around the inactive volcano as they neared St. Kitts, lowering the visibility.
As they circled the island to the far side Landon asked into the mouthpiece, “You ready to rock and roll, Bro?”
Anticipation mounted in the cabin of the chopper as the two men shifted in their seats. Marek rolled his shoulders, loosened his tight muscles. “I like the decals they gave you to put on the side of your chopper, mon. Sunny Day Charters written around a big sun. Pretty funny stuff. Hopefully it’ll keep us from getting shot at, though.”
Landon gave Marek a wry look. “Or, they’ll shoot us for having such a dumb name.”
He had a point. “True. But, at least it should buy us enough time to confirm if they’re loading the drugs over on the east side of the island.”
They rounded the island and located Marek’s coffee fields through the patchy clouds.
“Grab the camera, Bro and snap some photos if you can. It’s got a hell of a zoom lens.” Landon said.
Spotting some men wearing large brimmed straw hats laboring in his fields, Marek reached for the camera and slipped off his sunglasses. Lifting the large black camera to his face Marek brought the m
en into focus and began snapping a succession of photos.
He had to break and wait as Landon rounded the volcano again and came back around. When the men came into sight again Marek zoomed in on the pick-up they were using to load the plants into and snapped some more pictures.
As he was about to drop the camera a man climbed out of the cab of the pick-up and looked straight up at the helicopter exposing his face. Marek sucked in a breath. “You rotten son of a bitch. I should have known you were in on it.”
Quickly snapping more photos of the man’s face, Marek muttered to himself. “You were behind this the whole time, weren’t you? Couldn’t handle me going straight you fat old ass. Merde, I should have known.”
“Who is it? Who’s behind this?” Landon demanded.
Marek lowered the camera and glanced at Landon with cold green eyes. “It’s none other than my mentor Carillos Andrade. It was him the whole time. The bastard can’t stand that I cleaned myself up and have gone straight. He’s getting back at me for that. Merde! This isn’t just some random drug operation, Landon. This is personal. He’s probably been watching me since I came back to the island, waiting for his opportunity.”
Landon pulled the steering and turned the helicopter away from the side of Mt. Liamuiga. “So, what you’re saying is that your old boss is pissed that you grew up and went to the states and got yourself educated and straightened out? Did he ever threaten you about it?”
Marek’s mouth pressed in a thin line as he nodded. “He did. The day I told him I was done he said I’d regret it someday, but I didn’t believe him. I figured he was just pissed about losing his best runner.” Marek slammed his fist against the dash. “Merde. I should have clued in when we saw Kypher this morning. I knew I recognized the kid, Landon. It’s because he’s been running for Carillos.”
Temptation Island Page 25