Pirates' Lair

by Jane Corrie

Thea felt a sense of keen disappointment at this thought. It hadn't taken him long to lose interest, she thought sadly, and wondered if the appearance of Timothy had anything to do with it, and if she was right, then Sam must have made a very full report back to his boss.

  If Marcus had decided to call him off, why had he to pick a weekend, she wondered crossly, just when she could have done with some help!

  She served a small boy with a can of fruit juice and a packet of biscuits, with a slight frown on her face that must have made him wonder if he had got

  the right money to pay for his purchases, but her thoughts were far away from such mundane matters. It was no help telling herself that she had been lucky in having anyone to help her. The kiosk had always been run by one person before, and if people got impatient when they had to wait in a queue—well, they had just had to put up with it, they were all served eventually, but thanks to the interference of Marcus Conan, Thea had not been given the opportunity of coping on her own with a rush of customers.

  Well, it wouldn't be long before she made up for this lack of experience, she thought somewhat apprehensively as she saw a steady line of sunbathers converging on her from different directions.

  Soon she was engulfed in the business of serving the thirsty customers, and stopping to put layers of mustard on hamburgers already well laced with the strong condiment, at special requests, a task she could well have done without at that time.

  `Will those who just want drinks line up this side,' said a voice that automatically commanded attention and made Thea almost drop the pot of mustard she was holding, and stare incredulously at Marcus as he stationed himself beside her in the kiosk, adding with a brisk, 'Now who's next?'

  It was no time for an argument, but she couldn't help exclaiming, 'Marcus! What on earth do you think you're doing?'

  His lifted brows as he calmly continued to serve the cans of fruit juice proved her question to be utterly irrelevant, and she quickly turned her attention back to the job in hand.

  For the next fifteen minutes Thea remembered

  taking orders and automatically providing the food, conscious the whole time of the nearness of Marcus, of his sureness and strength, and the wonder of his presence. It had been a fortnight since she had seen him, and as the crowd thinned and gradually dispersed, leaving them alone, she knew an absurd longing to throw herself into his arms and cry her heart out, and if he still wanted to marry her then she would shout the word 'Yes!' for all the world to hear.

  Her candid eyes, that gave so many of her thoughts away, dropped to the counter as they met the searching green ones of Marcus. She was ashamed of her weak-mindedness where he was concerned, and dismayed to find that his absence had only made her love him more and she had desperately missed him.

  To cover her misery she took refuge in indignation. 'I could have managed,' she commented waspishly. 'They would have had to wait.'

  Marcus said nothing but continued to look at her, and Thea felt her cheeks grow warm under his steady scrutiny. She also found herself wishing she was not dressed so skimpily as his eyes flicked almost casually over her bare shoulders and rested for a second on her bikini top. 'I would prefer you to wear a blouse—or a dress,' he commented quietly.

  Thea's eyes grew wide and her cheeks turned a deeper shade of red. How dare he tell her what to wear! Did he tell Sapphire what to wear? she wondered caustically, and at this thought her fury abated. He was probably buying her clothes anyway, so he wouldn't have to. This thought made her want to hit out at him and want to hurt him as

  much as he had hurt her. 'And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?' she asked caustically, completely ignoring his remark about her dress.

  His eyes narrowed as he acknowledged the snub she had handed out to him, but his voice was calm enough as he replied casually, 'I've missed you, but I don't suppose you'll believe that,' and went on, after giving a slight nod in confirmation of Thea's sceptical look at this statement, 'I rather thought we might have dinner together. I've given Sam the day off and decided to lend a hand. I gather the weekend is your busy time.'

  Thea saw more customers approaching and hurriedly said, 'I suppose I can't stop you staying on to help, but I'm afraid dinner's out. I'm more or less committed for the weekend.'

  She saw Marcus's lips firm at this refusal of hers to become embroiled in his private life again, but she had no intention of weakening on this point. His sudden arrival had only served to emphasise her longing for his company, and his invitation was only a gesture on his part to satisfy himself that she had forgiven him for what had happened.

  She sighed inwardly as she served out more food. If only she could accept his company for one evening, if only to prove to him that he didn't have to go on making this kind of gesture—but she couldn't; she daren't.

  Why couldn't he see what he was doing to her? Was he so caught up with his own feelings of remorse that he couldn't or wouldn't stay out of her life? What more could she do to make him understand? she wondered miserably.

  `What exactly do you mean by "more or less

  committed for the weekend"?' Marcus asked her as soon as they were alone again.

  Thea took a deep breath and stared at the box of straws in front of her and absently thought that she ought to replenish it again. She kept her glance there, refusing to meet Marcus's searching stare. `What I said,' she replied firmly. 'I was asked to keep the weekend free.'

  `By whom?' Marcus queried persistently, making her draw in another breath and pray for patience.

  `By a friend of mine,' she snapped back, as her eyes met his defiantly. 'I thought we'd agreed 'Well, to you She hesitated here, then began again, know what I'm talking about, don't you? I just can't understand why you bother to ' She took another deep breath. 'I'm very grateful for what you've done for me, but honestly you don't have to go on feeling that you owe me anything, because you don't. What happened is in the past, and I'd like it kept that way. I see no point in renewing the association,' she ended lamely. If he hadn't got the message now, he would never get it, she thought.

  Marcus's green eyes blazed searingly into hers, and Thea almost took a step back in amazement. Somewhere along the line she had touched upon a raw spot, and she had no idea where. His pride, perhaps. There wouldn't be many women who would tell him to get lost in so many words, she thought miserably, although she hadn't meant to put it so baldly, but she had no other way of communicating her feelings to him. He had left her no choice in the matter, other than telling him outright that she loved him desperately and she couldn't take any more.

  `I get the message,' he said savagely in a voice that Thea had never heard him use before. 'I've stood a lot from you, honey, but now I think it's time that we came to another understanding. You're right, I don't owe you a thing, but you owe me a hell of a lot. You accept my proposal and the next day you change your mind. What sort of a man do you think I am?' he demanded harshly. 'Okay, so you don't want marriage, so that was my mistake. I thought you wouldn't settle for less, and I could have sworn ' He broke off abruptly and laid a long lean forefinger on her bare shoulder and slowly traced the line of her honey-coloured flesh to her slim neckline, making Thea shiver in apprehension. He had never touched her like that before and she felt like a wanton he had just picked up. 'Just out for a good time, are you?' he asked her softly. 'I can give you that with no strings attached, if that's what you want.'

  Thea's wide eyes mirrored her distress. 'Marcus, please!' she whispered. 'Don't talk like that,' she pleaded. 'You know it's not like that at all.'

  `I know nothing of the sort!' he bit back at her savagely. 'So you'll have to teach me, won't you? I guess that's what got me about you from the start. You were so damned innocent—or appeared so. You don't know much about men, that's for sure, and sooner or later you're going to land yourself into trouble, honey. I wouldn't advise you to flutter your big eyes at anyone else the way you did with me. As hardbitten as I am, I thought it was for real, and I thought I knew all
the tricks! You can tell whoever it is that you've promised to keep the weekend free for that someone else has a prior claim on your company. Got it? I'm calling the tune from now on.' His hard eyes met Thea's startled ones. 'If you don't believe me, go ahead and keep that other date,' he threatened harshly.

  Thea felt like shaking her head to clear her senses. This was not the man she knew but someone entirely differed, a hard, uncompromising man who was determined to get his own way, and she didn't care at all for the way his hard eyes were boring into hers as if to bend her to his will.

  With an effort she managed to tear her eyes away from his compelling gaze. 'Very well,' she replied quietly. 'I shall have dinner with you. There was no need to threaten me,' she added with quiet dignity as her candid eyes met his. 'I'm sorry you should feel it necessary to use that sort of coercion on me— and you're right, of course, I am in debt to you,' she added wearily.

  Marcus's eyes narrowed at her cold admission, but he did not apologise. 'We'll dine at home,' he announced grandly, and it took Thea back to their earlier acquaintance when they had often had dinner at his flat, and she had loved the quiet intimate evenings. She gave a slight shiver as the meaning of his harsh words flowed over her. 'I thought you wouldn't settle for less than marriage.'

  The arrival of more customers was a very welcome break for Thea, whose shocked senses had left her numb and utterly defenceless against such a man as Marcus Conan, but she would keep her word, she told herself dully; she owed him that much, and before the evening was through he was going to find out a few home truths, she promised herself grimly, and she very much doubted if he

  would bother to haunt her existence after that.

  As the crowd thinned out she saw Timothy striding towards them and drew in a deep breath of dismay. She had entirely forgotten about Timothy, and she didn't want Marcus to meet him, particularly in the sort of mood he was in and when he found out that Timothy was the man who She swallowed convulsively. There was nothing she could do about it now, she thought despondently as she watched him stride the last few yards to the kiosk, his eyes not on Thea but on Marcus, who was watching his approach with narrowed eyes, and it suddenly struck Thea that he knew who Timothy was, and why he had picked that day to help her out in the kiosk.

  `Hi!' Timothy greeted her, his light blue eyes resting on Thea and then on her companion, embracing both of them in the greeting, and Thea now knew that Timothy knew Marcus. There wouldn't be many island folk who didn't, she thought crossly, and wondered how she was going to explain the reason for Marcus's presence in the kiosk.

  As it happened no explanation was called for. She did attempt to introduce the men to each other, Marcus intervened with, 'It's Saunders, isn't it? I believe I saw you at the conference last week, didn't I?'

  Timothy beamed at the recognition. 'That's right, sir,' he said. 'The manager couldn't make it. I thought your summing up of the future trend of tourism was pretty accurate,' he added enthusiastically, with overtones of respect that made Thea want to stamp her foot in temper as she acknowledged the salient fact that Marcus would receive no opposition

  from Timothy as far as she was concerned, in spite of the fact that he was obviously mystified by Marcus's presence in the kiosk.

  Marcus soon settled his doubts by announcing calmly, 'I've come to keep an eye on my girl,' giving Timothy a look that plainly said that he was wasting his time if he had hopes in that direction.

  After giving a quick startled nod at this thinly veiled warning, Timothy said hurriedly, 'Well, I suppose I'd better get the old girl shipshape if I want to catch the tide,' and with a vague cheery wave he moved on towards his boat.

  `That was a rotten thing to do!' Thea exclaimed angrily. 'I'm not your girl now, so why did you lie to him?' she demanded.

  `Because he would have found out sooner or later, and I prefer it to be sooner. At least he's got plenty of time to make other arrangements for the weekend now,' Marcus said casually.

  Thea stared at him. 'You knew it was Timothy, didn't you?' she said flatly, then looked back at where Timothy was making the preparations for his trip out to the bay. 'He was a friend of Michael's,' she said slowly, and her voice shook a little as she added, 'He didn't have any ulterior motive in getting to know me. He just wanted to look out for me, for Michael's sake.' Her voice petered out miserably.

  wonder what he thinks of me now,' she added, as she stared at her small clenched hands resting on the counter.

  Marcus tilted her head up with a gentle forefinger and looked down at her. 'Okay!' he said abruptly. `So I'll make it up to him. I could do with a bright young accountant.'

  Thea swallowed, and resisted the urge to lay her head on that strong shoulder of his as she had done so often before when grief had overcome her. He didn't understand, she thought unhappily, he would never understand. Everything could be solved by money in his eyes, and the thought that Timothy would probably jump at the chance of working for him did not lessen her misery for one minute.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  WHEN they closed the kiosk at six o'clock, Marcus made it plain that he had no intention of leaving Thea at Beach House and returning later for her, but intended to spend the early evening period with her too, and that meant that Thea had to introduce him to Mrs Welling, who at first was a little flustered by his august presence, but under his skilful and sure touch with the opposite sex, be they young or old, she was soon chattering away to him as if they had known each other for years.

  It was small wonder that he had done so well in the hotel trade, Thea thought scathingly as she took a shower and freshened herself up before Mrs Welling prepared their tea for them, and -she wondered what Mrs Welling would think if she knew that behind that charming, handsome façade of Marcus Conan lay a ruthless character who had surely been born in the wrong century. He belonged to the age of the cutlass, and it didn't take much imagination on Thea's part to see him jumping out of the longboat on to the shore swinging a murderous-looking weapon before him and with a look in his eye that spelt death to any luckless soul in his path.

  She shivered as she slipped a cool dress over her head. He might have American nationality, but he was where he belonged, there was no doubt of that. The darker undertones of the islands' history were not only in his blood, but in his outlook too. What-

  ever he wanted, he would take, one way or another. With his looks and autocratic bearing plus a well-filled wallet, he could be certain of success.

  She stared at her reflection in the dressing table mirror. What on earth had he seen in her? she wondered. She was no beauty to send his senses reeling—or any man's, come to that. Her head went to one side as she studied herself. He had said she was different, she recalled, and had then accused her of playing with him—fluttering her big eyes at him was the way he had put it. She closed her eyes at the memory of those idyllic days and cosy evenings with him not so very long ago. She had been so much in love with him that it wouldn't have occurred to her to use any wiles or any form of flirtation on him.

  She gave a deep sigh as she laid her hairbrush down on the table top. Yes, she was different. Different from the women he had known, in that she was simple and incredibly naïve. Sapphire had had all the answers, and Thea was indebted to her and very thankful that she had acted on her advice. She doubted that the 'engagement' would have got as far as the altar, not if a certain event had taken place before the wedding. Her cheeks flamed at this thought. It could have happened that way, she told herself, and it was no use burying her head in the sand and refusing to acknowledge this fact. Her lips firmed as she prepared to join Marcus and Mrs Welling in the lounge. Forewarned is forearmed, she told herself as she lifted her head high and went down to join them.

  Before they left for Pirates' Cove, Thea changed into an evening dress, since although they were having dinner in Marcus's flat, she knew that after-

  wards they would sit out on the hotel's floodlit terrace, and that was another part of the past that had painful memories fo
r her.

  How different it would all be now, she told herself wistfully as she got into Marcus's car and waved to the immensely satisfied-looking Mrs Welling, who had seen her guest to the door and ordered Thea to enjoy herself. Would those large beautiful stars that had shone down upon her in what now seemed a century ago still fill her with a sense of infinity, or would they appear as cut-out images pasted on a board of velvet? she wondered, as the sleek car purred its way along the beach road towards the hotel.

  Marcus was silent as he concentrated on his driving, and Thea was glad of this. He was content, it seemed, that he had managed to get his own way so far with her, but if he had any other plans in line then he was in for a big disappointment. This would be the last time she would see him—well, alone, that was—and she was going to make that clear too before the evening was through.

  Before long they were drawing up in the hotel car park, and Marcus, getting out and assisting Thea to alight, grinned at her. 'That's what I like about you,' he said in amusement. 'I don't know of any other woman who waits for me to open the door for her—or that I would bother to, come to that,' he added musingly. 'With you, it's a kind of natural action.'

  He pulled her hand through his arm as they walked towards the hotel reception area. 'You don't chatter, either,' he added thoughtfully, 'and you've no idea how much I've missed that'

  Thea gave him a wary side glance, but still said nothing. She was wondering if she was going to spend the evening receiving compliments, no doubt with a certain purpose in mind, she thought dryly, but it wasn't going to work, and it was almost a shame to disappoint him.

  The dinner was well up to the usual standard that Thea had become used to, and she took particular notice of the fact that her favourite menu had been served right down to the sweet course, a rich chocolate cake filled with fresh cream, reminding her of a past remark of Marcus's that he didn't know anybody else who would have dared to indulge in such fare as they were too afraid of putting on weight.