Island Fire

by Bobbi Smith

  "Your worry was unnecessary. My father and I are fine," Espri answered, her tone dismissing his interest.

  "It pleases me to concern myself with you," Konga told her imperiously, "for you will one day be my wife."

  Though her temper flared at his overbearing assumption, she managed to respond calmly to his proclamation. "I am not ready to marry. I have told you that often enough. Why don't you believe me?"

  "I believe that you do not want to marry now, but there is nothing to say that you won't marry me in the future," Konga declared with the pompous assurance of a man used to getting his own way.

  "I don't love you, Konga," Espri stated flatly, wanting him, once and for all, to know the truth. She had expected him to react angrily to her declaration, but he only shrugged.

  "Love is not important in marriage," Konga replied seriously. "Only wealth and rank matter when two are joined. Our families are equals, so there is no problem." He swept away her objections with no thought.

  "There is a problem, Konga. I do not want to marry you," Espri declared, this time with a haughtiness that pushed him too far.

  Anger flared in his obsidian gaze, and all thoughts of the white man vanished as he snatched her into his arms and crushed her against his bare chest.

  "You continue to refuse me," he snarled threateningly. "It is not wise for you to treat me with such disdain, sweet one. I am Konga! Not some untried youth!"

  "Let me go!" she hissed, struggling futilely against his overpowering strength.

  "When I am ready, Espri. Not at your command. I do not take orders from a mere woman!" He pressed her intimately to his lower body so she could feel the need he had for her. "Once I have touched you and made you mine, you will understand how foolish you've been to resist me."

  Whereas Mitch's obvious need for her had excited Espri, Konga's arousal left her feeling degraded. Infuriated by his boldness, she continued to try to free herself from his embrace. "Release me!"

  "Ah, Espri, how I will enjoy taming you." With little finesse, he groped at her bosom, touching, at long last, those delectable silken orbs.

  Startled by this unexpected intimacy, she fought all the harder to get away, and when he bent to kiss her, she twisted her head to the side to avoid his seeking mouth.

  "No!" she gasped, refusing to surrender.

  But Konga, in the grip of his passion, grasped her hair in a hamlike hand and held her immobile while his mouth covered hers in a wet, stifling exchange that left her weak with nausea.

  "You see!" he exulted when he noticed her flushed features. "You want me. Why won't you just admit it? There would be no objections to our marriage. It would be a wise mating."

  Sensing her chance to break away, Espri furiously wrenched herself free, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand. "I do not want you! And no matter what you think, I will not marry you!"

  Overconfident because of his imagined success, Konga only chuckled at her display of pluck. "Have it your way for now"—his smile was benign but there was a steely determination behind his next words—"but I will not wait too much longer. I am not a forgiving man. Come to me; do not force me to take you, Espri."

  Knowing that there were many beautiful women in the village who would come to him without hesitation, Konga refused to believe that Espri truly did not wish to marry him. He was positive that she would soon be his and his alone.

  Espri was about to declare that she did not want or need his "forgiveness" when Mitch's delirious call interrupted the tense moment. Giving no thought to Konga, she turned and rushed back inside to find that her patient's fever was raging higher than ever.

  Konga was not accustomed to being treated so casually by the opposite sex, and he was enraged that she had dismissed him so easily. Infuriated, he followed her into the shelter.

  Glowering at Espri as she hovered over the unconscious man lying naked on a mat, he demanded arrogantly, "What are you doing?"

  "That is none of your business, Konga," she snapped, not bothering to look up and wishing only that he would leave her.

  "I want him out of here," he ordered, watching in great annoyance as she began to stroke the stranger's body intimately with a cool, wet cloth.

  "You have no authority over me. This is my father's home, not yours." Espri's temper flared and she stopped her ministrations to glare up at Konga. "This man is sick—maybe dying. I don't have time to argue with you. I must tend to him. Leave me. Get out."

  Konga bristled at her churlish manner, but at the same time he was greatly relieved to find that the white man was incapacitated and obviously posed no threat to his quest for Espri.

  "I'll go now, but I will return," Konga told her in a menacing tone so his departure would not look like a retreat. "And when I do, I expect to find you much more willing . . . if you understand my meaning."

  Espri didn't bother to reply, but when he stalked from the hut, she breathed a deep sigh of relief before turning back to Mitch.

  Nights on Malika were idyllic. Splendid in its silvery enchantment, moonlight bathed the island in a soft luminous glow, its gentle touch pearlizing the white sand of the wide, inviting beaches. The sea, surrendering itself caressingly to the shore, murmured its contentment at having finally reached journey's end. The sweet scent of the tropical flowers wafted delicately across the land, borne by breezes that seemed mere wisps of fancy, and only the dulcet song of night birds broke the Elysian stillness.

  Darkness had forced Espri to set out several candlenuts, which she'd placed strategically so they would aid her in her continuing vigil. With each passing hour, Mitch had grown more and more restless. As he tossed about in the grip of the fever, Espri grew worried, for she feared his condition might deteriorate so that she wouldn't be able to keep him from further injuring himself.

  Although her water supply was running low, she remained by his side, feeling certain that it would be dangerous to leave him alone while she made the trip to the pool. Anxiously hoping for her father's return, she waited in silence, praying that Jacques would come to help her. At one point, Espri's anxiety was so great that when she thought she heard her father returning, she jumped to her feet and raced outside to welcome him back, leaving Mitch briefly unattended.

  Lost in a maelstrom of burning misery, Mitch fought for his life. The debilitating fever held him in its grip, and he moved restively on the mat as his mind assaulted him with visions of past horrors. His parents' death . . . then Andrew's . . . his shanghaiing . . . the captain's brutality . . . the painful memories were jumbled together and drawn into a vortex of terror. Thrashing about, he tried to escape his mental torment, totally oblivious to his surroundings. Mitch did not realize that he accidentally knocked over one of the candlenuts and that the small flame spread and began to lap hungrily at the side of the dwelling.

  Espri stood in the middle of the deserted clearing, disheartened. Her imagination had been playing tricks on her. Her father had not returned. She knew now that it was futile to look for Jacques that night; she would have to see Mitch through it by herself.

  Her shoulders slumping slightly, Espri was starting back toward the hut when the acrid scent of smoke drove all thoughts save one from her mind—fire! Looking up she spotted the low, unholy glow illuminating the hut.

  "Oh, God! Mitch!" Giving no thought to her own safety, she raced toward the burning dwelling.

  Scooping up handfuls of fine coral sand, she rushed inside and threw them on the small fire that was flaring to ever greater life. Again and again she brought sand until she finally succeeded in smothering the potentially devastating blaze. Nerves stretched taut, hands shaking, she then dropped to her knees beside Mitch, who was still struggling against his imaginary demons.

  "Mitch, please . . . you're safe . . . the fire's out . . . there's no need . . ." Espri said comfortingly, but he was beyond the reach of her soothing words.

  When she fought to press his wide shoulders back down to the mat, he grasped her wrists in a viselike grip. Terrifying
phantasms drove him to escape so he threw her from him with a strength induced by delirium.

  "No!" The denial exploded from him before he slumped back.

  Espri landed heavily on her side, then lay unmoving as she fought to catch her breath. Realizing the room had become silent, she rolled over to look in Mitch's direction. To her surprise and relief, he lay inert on the mat. He had passed out.

  Trembling from the effects of his unexpected assault, Espri struggled to her feet. She was frightened by the prospect of what Mitch might do if he were left unrestrained and suffered another heedless rage, so she hurriedly located four lengths of rope and an equal number of stakes. He had not yet begun to stir when she returned to the hut, and she was exceedingly grateful for that. Immediately she drove the stakes into the ground and set about binding him to them. It was not an easy thing for her to do, but for her own safety, as well as his, drastic measures were necessary. Constantly on guard lest he begin to stir, she pinioned him to the ground, effectively spread-eagling him on the mat.

  Through the haze of pain that engulfed him, Mitch was aware that something was very wrong. He tried to roll onto his side and sit up, but he found, to his frustration, that he couldn't move. Unable to see, unable to move, his disorientation complete, he thought himself aboard the Seastorm and at the mercy of her barbaric captain. Fighting his unwarranted imprisonment, he strained viciously against his restrictive bonds. His muscles bulged in protest as he struggled, and he swore savagely while he twisted and bucked in his attempts to break free.

  "Damn you, Warson!" he shouted. "I'll see that you rot in hell for this!"

  Espri watched in agonized silence as Mitch battled fruitlessly to escape his bonds. Finally, wanting only to calm him, she brought him a cup of straight kava and held it to his lips.

  "Drink," she urged.

  Unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy, Mitch quieted at the soft sound of her voice. A woman on the Seastorm? No longer capable of logic, he could only respond when he felt the cup touch his lips. He drank thirstily of the potent brew, its tranquilizing effect almost instantly assuaging his battered senses. Though Mitch did not cease his struggles immediately, his efforts became less and less violent until he finally fell completely under the spell of the opiate.

  With the last of her precious water supply, Espri then gently bathed him, and that done, she sat on her own mat. As she gazed down at Mitch's fever-flushed features, she wondered just how much longer he could endure the infection's unrelenting siege. Knowing that she should take advantage of his quiescence, she lay down facing him, and curling on her side, she closed her eyes.

  On the beach near the village, the bright light thrown off by burning coconut husks split the darkness. The Malikans, gathered around it to recount the events of the day, cast long shadows. Kohea, husband to Anuitua, told those listening that the white man his wife was tending had regained consciousness and was recovering nicely, while Jacques, though well into his cups, proudly added his account of how Espri had rescued the other man.

  Standing silently near the edge of the crowd, Tana grew resentful of the praise being heaped on Espri by the rest of the villagers. Doesn't that woman ever do anything wrong? she wondered with more than a trace of bitterness. Glancing at Konga, who was standing with several of his friends, she willed him to look her way, but he was too busy listening to the worshipful comments about Espri to notice her. Casting one last longing look in his direction, she turned from the gathering and started off into the forest, anxious to be away.

  Konga, too, had remained on the outskirts of the group. Since returning from a late fishing excursion that had taken him beyond the barrier reef, he'd passed the evening drinking rum and visiting with his male friends until it was time for the nightly meeting. He regarded such assemblies as tiresome, but Jacques's mention of Espri had captured his attention. As he listened to Duchant's comments, the memory of the kiss he'd shared with Espri that afternoon returned full force, stirring his blood.

  His gaze hooded, he surveyed the women sitting comfortably around the blazing fire, knowing that a number of them would gladly grace his bed given the chance. But that night, Konga wanted more than just a warm, willing body. He wanted a partner who could ease the ache Espri's delectable body and arousing kiss had created within him earlier that day. Then he spotted Tana disappearing into the forest, and he knew that she was the only one, besides Espri, who could satisfy his need. Unobtrusively, Konga slipped away from the group, and tracing the island woman's steps, he followed her down the path to the sea.

  Tana was pensive as she sat on the warm sandy beach, staring out across the moon-kissed sea. She felt frustrated and more than a little angry over her lot in life. Was it always to be this way? Would she always be second to Espri? Her heart was heavy as she pondered her love for Konga and the fruitlessness of her situation.

  "The night is going to be long . . . and hot." Konga's deep voice intruded into her thoughts, and she gasped in stunned surprise at finding him so close beside her.

  "Konga?"

  "I have need of you tonight, Tana," he told her, certain of her eager acceptance of him.

  She was of a mind to refuse him, to send him in search of his frigid Espri, but her heart would not permit it.

  "And I have need of you," she answered huskily, holding out her hand to him. "Only you . . ."

  Tana allowed him to draw her to her feet and into his arms.

  His eyes closed, his thoughts on Espri, Konga kissed Tana savagely, his mouth possessing hers. Though Konga did not love Tana as he loved Espri, he found her sexually exciting, and his body reacted eagerly as she offered herself to him.

  Loving Konga as she did, Tana knew she would take him on any terms, and she responded enthusiastically to his rough lovemaking. He was the only man she wanted, the only one she would ever truly need, and she was thrilled that he had chosen to be with her that night. Casting her thoughts to the winds, she concentrated only on the moment, on the brief period of time Konga was really hers.

  Yet, Konga's mind and his senses were flooded with Espri: the way she'd looked earlier today when he'd watched her stretching sensuously before the hut, the softness of her breasts to his touch, the ripeness of her mouth when he'd kissed her. In a frenzy, he sought to deepen his and Tana's embrace, but she stopped him.

  "Wait, Konga," she murmured, her tone sultry and sensuous.

  "For what?" he demanded hoarsely, wanting only to lose himself within the welcoming confines of Tana's willing body.

  "I want to please you tonight," she told him invitingly.

  "You always do," he answered, in the heat of his need wanting her then and there.

  "Good. There is nothing more important to me than keeping you happy." Tana moved slightly away from him. "Come with me," she coaxed. "We will go to the pool and enjoy the peace of our night there."

  Her erotic invitation readily accepted, they crossed the silvered beach to the path that led to the deep, fresh-water pool near the center of the island.

  The moonlight filtered through the high trees and glittered off the cool, clear waters. Crowding the night-shrouded banks, gardenias and wild orchids bloomed in tropical profusion, their heavenly scent delicately perfuming the air. The multi-hued birds who nested in the surrounding foliage were bedded down for the night, but an occasional soft call blended with the musical rush of the sweet water as it cascaded over the low falls and splashed merrily into the welcoming basin below.

  Espri stood silently on the bank enjoying the serenity of the deserted pool. For hours Mitch had not stirred so she had felt it reasonably safe to leave him for the short time it took to fetch more water. But she hadn't reckoned with the delightful sense of abandon the waters inspired. She couldn't resist the temptation to bathe in the refreshing pool.

  Filling the bucket she'd brought with her, she set it aside, then quickly unfastened her sarong and let it drop unheeded to the ground. Stepping from the slippery bank into the silken waters, she pushed
off gracefully and swam at a leisurely pace out to the waterfall. She climbed nimbly onto the rocky ledge that ran beneath the shimmering cascade, then stood beneath the sparkling fall and closed her eyes, raising her arms to the heavens in an innocent, sensual offering.

  Having never been aroused by a man before Mitch, Espri was totally unprepared for the sudden stimulation of the water pouring sensuously over her body. Mitch's intimate touch and kiss had awakened her to a new awareness of herself as a woman, and her heart skipped a beat as she remembered with shocking clarity the erotic hardness of his male body and the passion of his embrace. The pink crests of her breasts tautened in response to that memory and the caress of the water only served to heighten their sensitivity. Not fully understanding why her body was reacting this way, Espri rubbed at her breasts, hoping to erase the heated tinglings that were surging through her, but she found even the touch of her own hands strangely arousing.

  Frightened by the burning pulse that had flared to life deep in the core of her, she would have dived back into the pool, but the sound of voices and laughter came to her across the water. She recognized the sound of Konga's voice immediately so she stepped behind the veil of the splashing silvery fall and remained perfectly still as she waited to see if he and his companion would pass on by.

  Espri watched in silent frustration as Konga appeared at the opposite side of the pool with Tana. She wondered how she could get away without being noticed. Luckily, she'd left her clothing and the bucket on the other bank, but she wanted to go back to the hut—and Mitch.

  Espri realized that any other island girl would just swim out casually and make her presence known, naked or not, but she did not want Konga to see her nude. There was something repulsive about the way he had touched her that afternoon, and she refused to give him the opportunity to view her body. The thought of their encounter made her flesh crawl, so she took great care to stay out of sight, and she prayed that whatever Tana and Konga were going to do would be done quickly.