“Bones, that’s no way to talk to my guest.”
The brother who wasn’t Bones placed a hand the size of a slab of beef on his mother’s shoulder. “Is she harassing you, Maman? You don’t have to protect her.”
Mrs. Bonnaire clicked her tongue. “We’re just chatting, Johnny.”
“I know who you are.” Johnny leveled a finger at Georgette. “You’re that tourist from Palumba Falls sleeping around with any guy who’ll have you—even the big boss. Slut.”
Well, that had gotten around quickly. Fire whipped Georgette’s cheeks, and her hand inched up to her throat. She’d never been called a slut in her life—and she didn’t like it.
“Johnny.” Mrs. Bonnaire slapped her son’s hand. “That’s no way to talk to a lady.”
Bones nudged his brother’s shoulder. “This one’s no lady, Maman. Didn’t you hear Johnny? She’s been taking her clothes off and spreading her legs.”
Those legs felt like lead, but Mrs. Bonnaire’s wide eyes and agitated hands clued in Georgette that she needed to get out of here—fast.
“I’m not going to sit here and be insulted.” Georgette pushed to her feet, and her leaden legs had turned to rubber. She braced her hand against a tree to steady herself and said, “Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs. Bonnaire.”
As Georgette turned, a hand closed like a vise around her upper arm, and Mrs. Bonnaire gasped.
“Bones, leave her be. Let her go on her way.”
Bones didn’t let her go. He leered close to her face, his breath stinking of garlic. “Why should the tourists at the Falls have all the fun? If you’re givin’ it away for free, baby, I’ll take my share.”
Georgette tried to wrench out of his grasp, but Bones circled his hand around her throat.
“Locals aren’t good enough for you?”
Kicking out, Georgette made contact with his shin, and he uttered an expletive, but he released his hold on her neck only long enough to rip her blouse from her body.
“Bones, stop. I won’t have this. I’ll call Clive myself.”
“Take Maman inside, Johnny.” Bones jerked a thumb over his shoulder as his gaze locked onto Georgette’s breasts in her bikini top. “And I’ll let you have a turn when I’m done with her.”
The bushes rustled behind her, and Jake emerged like some jungle cat, springing forward and landing a fist against Bones’ nose.
“When I’m done with you, you’ll be lucky to raise one finger.”
Chapter Thirteen
Blood spurted from Bones’ nose, and Georgette broke free from his hold, landing at Mrs. Bonnaire’s feet.
With his fists clenched, Bones turned on Jake, taking a swing that missed by a mile.
Jake threw an uppercut with his left hand and made contact with Bones’ chin. More blood joined the trail coming from his nose.
Bones ducked his head and charged Jake like an angry bull. Jake aimed a kick at Bones’ throat and slammed it home. Bones choked and reeled backward, clutching his neck.
Jake grabbed a handful of Bones’ shirt, but Johnny stepped forward. “That’s enough, Jake. I’ll take care of him.”
“You weren’t doing a very good job of it when I came on the scene.” Jake released Bones, who dropped to the ground on his back. “What’s the matter with you, Johnny? Hasn’t your brother gotten into enough trouble on the island? You want him to add rape to his crimes?”
“C’mon, Jake. He wouldn’t have gone through with it.” Johnny crouched down to look at his brother’s nose, but didn’t help him up.
“Really?” Jake scooped up Georgette’s ripped blouse from the ground and shook it at Johnny, rage coursing through his body. “This right here is sexual assault, and Georgette’s going to town right now to report it.”
“No, I’m not.” Georgette’s voice, cool and clear, cut through the air.
Jake crumpled the blouse in his hand as his gaze darted to Georgette, curled up at Mrs. Bonnaire’s feet, the older woman’s hand patting her hair. “He assaulted you, Georgette, put his hands on you, ripped your clothing.”
“I know, and if he does it again, to me or anyone else, I’ll bring the hammer down on him.” She rose to her feet, squeezing Mrs. Bonnaire’s hand. “I’m okay. Let’s just get out of here. Will you be safe, Mrs. Bonnaire?”
“I’m fine. Jake, take her away.”
Jake rubbed his throbbing knuckles against his thigh and kicked dirt at Bones, still writhing on the ground. “I don’t want to see you at Palumba Falls ever.”
Georgette whispered something to Mrs. Bonnaire and then strolled toward him, her hair disheveled and an angry, red mark on her neck.
Jake’s nostrils flared as his gaze shifted to Bones. His aching hand curled into a fist.
“Let’s go.” Georgette nudged his shoulder and ducked onto the path through the jungle brush.
Flexing his fingers, he followed her. When they had walked several paces from the house, he dangled her ripped blouse over her shoulder. “Do you want to put this back on?”
“I think that would look worse than a bikini top, don’t you?”
“What the hell were you doing out here on your own? I could’ve told you the Bonnaire brothers are trouble.”
“You could’ve, but you didn’t. In fact, you didn’t come with me at all.” She flapped her hand at a bug. “We were supposed to go together, but you decided it was more important to make a point and order me to go home.”
Jake ground his teeth together. She’d hidden a fiancé from him, and he was the bad guy? “I told you to go home...with your fiancé.”
She pulled up next to a tree and shook her head. “You really believe Brice is my fiancé? Do you think I could...give myself to you the way I did if I were thinking about another man? If I were engaged to another man?”
“You’re Jamie Lawson’s sister—anything is possible.”
“That’s a low blow, Jake. You know I’m not my sister.”
“I didn’t think you were until Brice showed up at the resort this morning looking for you. I covered for you, too. Knowing full well you were in my bed, I told the poor guy you were off on a bird-watching excursion.” Jake pushed his hair back from his damp forehead. “And he bought it.”
“Of course, he did. Quick thinking.” She tapped her temple.
“So, you admit it. The poor guy comes down here looking for his fiancée, who just spent the night rolling in the sheets with another man, and you approve of lying to him.”
She rolled her eyes. “Stop calling him a poor guy. He’s anything but. We were engaged.”
Jake opened his mouth, and Georgette lunged forward and pressed her fingers against his lips.
“Just listen for two seconds.” She removed her hand. “We were engaged—past tense—until I found him in bed with Jamie. I broke it off with him then, and that was four months ago.”
Warm relief coursed through his body, replaced by hot anger a few seconds later. How could any man betray Georgette like that? And with her own sister? “He is a poor guy then, because he’s clearly out of his mind. He had you and threw that away for Jamie?”
“Nice of you to say that, but I’m pretty sure everyone else in town looked at me and Jamie and wondered why it hadn’t happened before.” Georgette forced a smile to her face. “In fact, it had—a few times. Anytime any boy showed the slightest interest in me, or vice versa, Jamie was right there to swoop in and make sure everyone knew she could take him away with the snap of her fingers. She’d toy with him for a while and then dump him.”
Jake’s jaw tightened along with his heart. No wonder Georgette had been so upset when she’d heard rumors about him and Jamie. A woman like Georgette was worth a hundred of that type, but he understood how childish hurts could fester.
“I’m sorry.” He reached out his hand, but she ignored it.
“So maybe you can understand now why I wasn’t anxious to share my humiliation with you.” She swiped a hand beneath her nose and straightened her spine.
<
br /> “Humiliation? That’s their humiliation, not yours. I can’t tell you the number of times some woman cheated on me.” He shrugged his shoulders. “One actually used me to get close to my father.”
Georgette widened her eyes and covered her mouth. “No.”
“Oh yeah. That one kinda stung.” He held out his hand again. “Can we put this behind us now? I can understand why the guy ran down here to collect you—realized what he lost and has all kinds of regrets. Are you positive you’re done with him, though? I’m sure he’d want nothing more than to put a ring on it again.”
“I’m done with him, have been for months—even before I met you.” She took his hand and smoothed her fingers over his battered knuckles.
“He might be done with you, too, after that performance you gave at the pool.” He pulled her forward and placed her hand over his heart. “Did you have to go that far?”
“To get rid of Brice? Yes. He’ll never forgive that behavior.” She glanced up at him from beneath her long lashes. “And you? Can you forgive it?”
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the tips of her fingers. “Only because I know your motive, but it’s dangerous. You gave those Bonnaire boys the wrong impression with your sexy act.”
“Even if I weren’t acting, my behavior doesn’t give them the right to assault me.”
“I know that, but you wanted to trash your reputation and you did. Mission accomplished. Can you stop now? I don’t think I can take anymore.” He picked a leaf from her tangled hair.
“I believe the damage is done. Only two days until the full moon.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to press charges against Bones? Don’t worry about his mother. She’ll survive it.”
“I don’t want anyone to know about what happened here.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Why?”
“Because Mrs. Bonnaire gave me some information, and nobody needs to know that I was speaking with her. The brothers won’t say a word now.”
“Information about Hallie? What?”
Tugging at his hand, she said, “Let’s walk away from here.”
They crept down the path, hand in hand, and then Georgette stopped and faced him, the tips of her breasts brushing his chest. “First, she told me Hallie and Jamie knew each other before Hallie disappeared.”
“That’s possible. Hallie was working at the Falls when Jamie arrived.”
“Then while you were fighting with the brothers, she told me,” Georgette glanced over her shoulder, “that Hallie went to the Palumba Airport a few times before she went missing.”
“The airport? Why would she be going there?”
“That’s what Mrs. Bonnaire was wondering. Hallie wouldn’t tell her, but Mrs. Bonnaire remembered overhearing an argument between Hallie and Fiso about a locker at the airport.”
“A locker.” Jake scratched his scruff as an idea took shape in his head. “A locker at the airport.”
Georgette nodded. “A locker with a combination—like the digits on the postcards.”
***
The sun was beginning to set as Georgette waited in front of the resort for Jake to bring around his Jeep.
Her teeth sawed at her lower lip. She’d had a close call with the Bonnaire brothers, but it had been worth it. When Jake hadn’t seen her at the pool later, he’d figured she’d gone off by herself to talk with Mrs. Bonnaire. He’d rescued her just in time.
She crossed her arms, cupping her elbows. She didn’t know if Johnny had planned to stop his brother or join in—and she was glad she didn’t find out.
“Georgette, where have you been all day?”
Sighing, Georgette turned to face Brice bearing down on her, cell phone in one hand, binoculars hanging around his neck. Her lip curled on one side as she thought about Brice traipsing after the bird-watching groups.
“I’ve been busy, Brice. Go home. There’s nothing for you here—not even Jamie.”
He snorted. “As if I want her. It’s you I want, Georgette. It’s always been you. I was a fool.”
Jake roared up in his Jeep, left it idling, and jumped out of the driver’s seat. “Is Brice bothering you again, Georgette?”
Brice spluttered. “Bothering my fiancée? I hardly think so.”
“Yes, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“She’s not your fiancée. You threw her away.” Jake leveled a finger at Brice. “And if you don’t leave her alone, I’ll forcibly eject you from my resort.”
“Just a minute here.” Brice grabbed his binoculars and took a step toward Jake.
For a second, Georgette feared that Jake would land a punch on Brice, just as he had with Bones. Instead, Jake curled one arm around her waist, one around her shoulders and dipped her for a long, hot kiss.
When he’d stolen all her breath, he righted her and opened the passenger door of his Jeep. “Ready?”
“I am.” She flicked her fingers in the direction of Brice, whose mouth was hanging open.
When Jake peeled away from the curb, Georgette threw her hands in the air and laughed. “That felt good.”
“Nothing wrong with a little revenge.” Jake took the next turn a little too fast, and the tires squealed. “Just as long as there’s more to this than revenge or a rebound. I’ve been the rebound man before, and I’m not going down that road again.”
“You’ve been a rebound guy?” She narrowed her eyes and studied the prime example of manhood next to her, from his tangled hair blowing in the wind to his pumped-up arms, strong hands gripping the steering wheel, and the bunching muscles of his thighs as he worked the clutch on his old Jeep. “The woman who used you as a rebound must’ve been an idiot.”
“In love with someone else.” He lifted a shoulder. “But I’m serious. Do you plan to go back to Brice when this...fling is over?”
“Not. A. Chance.” She stuffed her hands beneath her thighs as her knees bounced up and down. A fling? Is that what this was? It had to be. He lived here, and she lived in North Dakota—had a home there with her mother, had the bookshop, had responsibilities.
Jake squeezed her knee. “Good. He doesn’t deserve you.”
She slid a sideways glance at his profile. Was he preparing her for a breakup line? I don’t deserve you, Georgette. She bit the inside of her cheek. Did it have to be a line? He had his life here, and she had hers at home. She could enjoy a few more days with Jake and then smoosh all those feelings into a little ball to take back with her to North Dakota. She could even take the ball out once in a while on a cold night and remember all the warmth and sunshine and kisses. That would have to be enough.
Georgette cleared her throat. “What do you think is in the locker?”
“Maybe nothing. Maybe there is no locker. This could all be a wild-goose chase based on an argument Mrs. Bonnaire overheard between her daughter and son-in-law and a few scribbled numbers on a couple of postcards.” He used on hand to smooth the hair back from her face. “Don’t get your hopes up.”
“But there are lockers at the airport. How do they work?”
“I think you rent a locker, pay in advance, the airport clears the digital combination, which you can then set with your own, and then it’s cleared again when your rental runs out.”
“Oh.” Georgette slumped in her seat. “So, this particular locker, if there is one, could already be rented out to someone else and have a different combination.”
“That’s right.” He pinched her chin. “Like I said, don’t get too excited about this.”
“How are we even going to know which locker was Hallie’s or Jamie’s or Jean-Claude’s?” Georgette tapped her forehead with the heel of her hand. “We can’t exactly make our way down a bank of lockers, trying out the combination on each one. We don’t even have the last number.”
Jake raised one eyebrow. “Haven’t I told you I practically own this island?”
“I know you think you do.” She punched his hard bicep with her fist. “But I’m not sure how fa
r your influence extends outside the gates of the Palumba Falls...or Palarita.”
“Far and wide. Watch me.”
He rolled up to the curb in front of the small baggage claim area at the airport and hopped out of the Jeep. Before she could push open the passenger door, he swung it open for her and helped her out.
They made their way past one creaking carousel with two lonely bags traveling around in a circle. Only a few commercial flights serviced Miami a few days each week with puddle-jumpers and private planes making up the rest of the arrivals and departures. The commercial flights had ended for the day, and the airport resembled an off-the-beaten-track bus depot.
Jake sauntered to the information counter, where an attractive woman with a flower tucked behind her ear greeted him with a wide smile, her white teeth glistening against mocha skin. “Jake. It’s about time you paid me a visit. A girl can get awfully lonely at this airport.”
“You? Lonely? I don’t believe that for a minute, Felicia.” He reached over the counter, took her hand, and kissed her fingers.
Georgette forced a smile onto her face. Jealousy never looked good on anyone...and one did not express jealousy over a fling. She’d learned a few things from Jamie.
Jake introduced the two of them, and Felicia dimmed her megawatt smile for Georgette before hunching over the counter, putting her face close to Jake’s and her cleavage on display. “Taking your private plane off to your secret island?”
Jake had a private plane? Georgette raised her eyebrows.
“A plane? I could swim to my secret island, but I do have a favor to ask you.”
Felicia studied her nails. “What do I get out of it?”
“How about a spa day at the Falls?”
Felicia’s full lips pouted.
“And I’ll throw in dinner at the restaurant for you and a guest. Who do have groveling at your feet these days?”
“Johnny Bonnaire.”
Georgette opened her mouth, and Jake nudged her foot.
“Then dinner for you and Johnny. It’s just a small favor, Felicia.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“I need you to look up some information on the lockers. Hallie La Croix, Georgette’s sister, or her companion, may have rented one. I want to see if they did, if it’s still rented, and the location of the locker.”
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