AB (10 page)

James stepped into the lush garden filled with fireflies, orchids, and fruit trees. He

snapped a star apple from a sagging branch and bit into the tangy skin.

But nothing compared to the sweet taste of her.

Inside the house, the cedar floorboards were cool against his bare feet. He climbed the

dark staircase two steps at a time and moved through the airy passageway, heading for the

familiar door.

He was dressed in trousers sheared at the knees, ready for a quick disrobe. He opened

the door with great expectation—but inside, the large canopy bed with white cotton

sheets was empty.

“Sophia?”

Through the open window, James spied the Bonny Meg, veiled with moonbeams and

anchored a league away. Sophia was privy to his return; she could see the ship clearly. So

why wasn’t she waiting for him?

A balmy breeze tickled the candle flame sitting on the sill. The flickering glow

illuminated a small box.

In irritation, he stepped across the room and tossed the pit of the star apple out the

window before he picked up the curious carton. With disregard for the plain packaging,

he ripped apart the paper and opened the box.

A fob watch.

James lifted the timepiece to better inspect the splendid craftsmanship and sighted the

elegant inscription:

MAY YOU ROT IN EVERLASTING HELL.

He gripped the cold gold between his fingers, knuckles white. The blood pulsing

through his veins now pounded in his ears. He let out a robust cry before he smashed the

watch against the wall.

The glass face shattered, the hands stopped ticking.

He stormed from the room, the plantation house, and hiked in bold strides along the

dark and narrow path leading to Dawson’s hut.

James didn’t care if he sliced his bare feet across sharp rocks or jagged twigs. He didn’t

care about anything—except finding Sophia.

He reached the ramshackle structure. It was dark. Eerily dark. And quiet. No familiar

ranting. He stepped inside the abode, his heart throbbing, his limbs sweating after the

vigorous journey through the moonlit mountain, and found the room empty, filled with

shadows.

His heart dropped, sunk right into his belly. He clutched the door as he searched the

dim space with his eyes for any hint of her whereabouts, but it was in vain. She had left

behind no clues. He had been at sea for weeks, and she had had plenty of time to pack up

her father, her gold—everything that she cared about—and desert him.

James slammed the door closed and returned to the plantation house, to their

bedroom. But the once-intimate haven offered him no comfort now. It was nothing but a

gloomy shell without Sophia’s presence.

The leaves rustled outside the opened window, and he spotted a serpent coiled around

a branch: a Jamaican yellow boa. He glared at the snake, thinking about his venomous

lover. He then glared at the damaged timepiece still on the ground, imagined grinding the

cursed watch into the floorboards…but he crouched beside it instead and started to pick

up the pieces.

It was the only gift she had ever given him, however foul her sense of humor. And now

that she had left him, it was the only keepsake he had of her.

By Alexandra Benedict

TOO DANGEROUS TO DESIRE

TOO GREAT A TEMPTATION

the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual

events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

MISTRESS OF PARADISE. Copyright © 2009 by Alexandra Benedikt. All rights

reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of

the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to

access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be

reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or

introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any

means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the

express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Adobe Digital Edition July 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-193336-3

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