JAKrentz - The Pirate, The Adventurer, & The Cowboy (13 page)

"If that's the way you're going to be about it, I'll just have to enrage your hormones until you say it again." Jared shifted, rolling her beneath him. "And again and again."

"We could be here all night."

"That thought had occurred to me." He lowered his head and took her mouth.

A long time later Kate sighed and snuggled close. "Perfect," she murmured.

The next few days passed in a haze of passion and laughter. Kate went snorkeling in the cove with David, toured the island with Jared and his son in a Jeep, ate papaya and impossibly fresh fish and spent every possible stolen hour in the arms of her dream lover.

Those hours had to be grabbed when they were available because Jared, Kate soon learned, in addition to being a father, was a very busy man. His schedule was unpredictable and usually very full. One moment he was going over special banquet arrangements with his food and beverage manager and the next he was dealing with a crisis involving the pool filter machinery. Kate sought him out one afternoon and discovered him helping his staff fold a huge stack of towels in the resort's hot laundry room.

"The assistant housekeeper's daughter is having her baby. She went over to Ruby to be with her and two of the laundry room staff went along. They're all family. None of them made it back this morning, so we're short-handed," he'd explained tersely, folding a towel with precision.

"Want me to give you a hand?" Kate asked, picking up a fluffy white towel that bore the Crystal Cove crest.

Jared blinked in surprise and then grinned broadly. "I'll take any help I can get."

"Just be sure you also take a few bucks off my room bill for today, okay?"

"You bet. Want to flip a coin for the day's tab? Double or nothing?"

"Not on your life,
Hawthorne. Unlike everyone else around here, I only bet on a sure thing."

The housekeeping staff had found the exchange hilarious, and the story was soon all over the resort. Afterward Kate found extra towels every day in her room.

Jared made no secret of their liaison and Kate soon realized that everyone, from the resort staff to David, Letty and the colonel, was delighted with the way events were unfolding.

It should have been a perfect island affair, and Kate told herself it would have been if it weren't for two things. The first was that the end was preordained. She was, after all, holding a return ticket to the States. Whenever she allowed herself to dwell on that fact, she got restless and depressed and had to consciously push aside the emotions.

The second factor that stood in the way of her total enjoyment of the affair with Jared Hawthorne was a little harder to pin down, but it filled her with increasing unease. It had to do with the fact that she had seen him make another midnight trek to the
Hawthorne castle with Max Butterfield and she had begun to realize she did not particularly care for Max. His incessant references to the great novel he had not yet written reminded her too much of her ex-husband.

On the night Jared and Max made the second trip to the castle, Jared had taken Kate back to her room right after dinner in the hotel dining room. He had made hot, urgent love to her and then told her he had to go home early because the baby-sitter couldn't stay with David past midnight.

Something had not rung true. She had known Max was back on the island, however, after being away for a few days. Kate had lain awake for a long time after Jared had left, questions and doubts and pure curiosity tumbling about in her brain. Then, drawn by a premonition, she had dressed in jeans and a dark shirt and walked down the path through the jungle to the point where it branched off to the castle.

She had stood concealed in the shadows for a long time before she had heard Max's complaining voice and the sound of his labored breathing. A moment later the fat man and Jared had passed her on their way to the castle.

Kate had waited a long time for them to return, but finally had given up and gone back to her own room. She did not get much sleep that night.

No matter how she looked at it, Jared had lied to her. He had not hurried home to his son.

The next morning, Kate sat in a lounger on a terrace overlooking the cove and wondered what to do next. Over and over again she toyed with the idea of confronting Jared and asking him what was going on, but she always backed off from that approach when she remembered that he had deliberately misled her. It was obvious he did not want her to know what he was doing with Max Butterfield. If she confronted him, he would probably lie to her, and she didn't want to hear his lies.

She had to face the knowledge that, though Jared might appear to have stepped straight out of her fantasies, the truth was, she knew very little about him.

"Good morning," sang out a familiar, cheerful voice. "How's the antistress campaign going?"

Kate shook off her somber mood and smiled at Letty Platt. "Terrific. I feel like a new woman. And I've got some fascinating reading." She indicated the diary of Amelia Cavendish that lay in her lap.

Letty glanced at the leather-bound volume. "So Jared has let you actually touch his precious old
Hawthorne journals, I see. Congratulations. He's very protective of those books. Keeps them in a locked glass case."

"I know and I don't blame him. They're fascinating, once you decipher the handwriting. They're in amazingly good condition, too. But that's because the paper used in the old days was of such fine quality, not like the cheap, disposable stuff we use now."

Letty nodded, sitting down on a nearby lounger. "Discover anything interesting about our founding father?"

"This is Amelia's diary, not Roger's, and yes, I'm finding out a lot of interesting tidbits. For example, did you know that she had been in love with Roger Hawthorne since she was a young girl?"

"Really? I thought he just happened to spot her when he went back to
England looking for a bride."

"Nope. She was the daughter of the lord who owned the estates that bordered his father's lands and she'd had a crush on him for years. He was well aware of it, the cad. Used to tease her unmercifully. But he also danced with her when she made her come out in
London. He kissed her that night. Listen to this, Letty."

I was transported the moment his lips touched mine. I did not dream such unbearable joy existed. I know I should not have allowed him such liberties, but I vow I was helpless to resist him. It seems I have loved Roger forever, and at long last he is discovering he loves me. Surely he loves me. He is too much the gentleman to have kissed me otherwise. I am in heaven as of this moment. I cannot wait until he makes an offer for me.

"Uh-oh," Letty said. "Let me guess what happened next. The rogue left
England and poor Amelia never got her offer."

"Afraid not.
Hawthorne didn't actually seduce her, but he certainly got passionate on a number of occasions and led her to believe he was going to ask for her hand in marriage. Then, without any warning, he ups and leaves the country without a word of explanation and doesn't return for three years. Amelia was devastated. Cried inconsolably for days."

"Poor girl."

"She turned out to be the feisty type, though. When she finally recovered from her heartbreak she was determined never to give her heart to another man. She scorned all offers of marriage, though her family pleaded and threatened when she turned down one eligible male after another."

"She'd really had it with men, hmm? Can't say that I blame her. Why did Roger Hawthorne leave
England so suddenly?"

"I don't know yet. Amelia just says he split without bothering to say goodbye. He was a second son and so couldn't inherit. I expect he decided to go off and make his fortune as a pirate, and the thought that poor Amelia would get her heart broken didn't occur to him."

"Or didn't bother him too much if it did occur to him. Typical male in many respects."

"I'm at the part now where he's just returned. Amelia has found out he's in
London and that he's asked her father for her hand in marriage. Apparently he's quite wealthy now and society is willing to overlook the little matter of how he got so rich. Amelia writes that her parents are delighted with the offer. But she refuses to even see him. Says she is not about to trust him with her heart a second time. Can't wait to see what happens next."

"Well, we can guess, given the fact that the legend says he eventually kidnapped her and brought her back here."

Kate closed the book. "Something tells me she put up a good fight. She's really furious with him at this point."

"Maybe her relationship with Roger went the same way your relationship with Jared is going. I must tell you, Kate, we are all having a great time watching you two."

"I can tell. I feel as if I'm conducting a relationship inside a goldfish bowl."

"You don't know how good it is to see Jared getting involved emotionally at long last. He's been alone with only David for too many years. He needs a wife."

Kate stirred uneasily. "Come on, Letty. You know as well as I do that the kind of thing Jared and I have is probably going to end the day I catch my plane home."

Letty smiled complacently. "If Jared takes after Roger Hawthorne as much as I think he does, he won't let you get on that plane."

"He can't stop me," Kate said automatically.

Letty chuckled without opening her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. Jared all but owns this island. He can do anything he wants around here. Just ask anyone."

Kate thought about Jared's midnight treks to the
Hawthorne castle and went cold. What if Letty was right, she wondered. What if Jared really did run this island as if it were his own personal kingdom? What if the power he wielded around here had gone to his head and he had gotten involved in something dangerous or outside the law?

Her imagination was running wild, she told herself. "Letty, what do you know about Max Butterfield?"

"Max?" Letty opened one eye. "Not a lot. But then there isn't a lot to know. He's been out here forever. He's the kind of guy who imagines himself to be another Hemingway and does a good enough job with the booze, but not an equally good job with the writing. Why? Did old Max make a pass?"

"No. I was just curious." She was about to ask another question when Jared's voice interrupted.

"There you are, Kate." He walked up behind Kate and leaned down to drop a hard, possessive kiss on her forehead. "I've been looking for you. Hi, Letty, how's it going?"

"Just fine, Jared. Kate has been filling me in on all the details from Amelia Cavendish's diary. It's about time someone read it cover to cover."

"I tried once, but I didn't get far. Pretty dull going. Roger's journals and log are a lot more interesting." Jared dropped lightly down onto the foot of Kate's lounger. "Who wants to read a woman's diary?" he added plaintively.

Kate punched him lightly in the ribs. "I'm having a great time reading it, I'll have you know. It's a heck of a lot more interesting than a ship's log."

"Ouch." Jared gave her a reproachful look as he massaged his injured ribs. "That's a fine way to treat a man who's just come out to invite you to a nice home-cooked dinner."

"Has David lined up the restaurant staff for us again?"

"Uh, no, not exactly."

Kate's brows rose as she saw the speculative gleam in Jared's eyes. "Really? Who's going to do the cooking? You and David?"

"As a matter of fact, we planned to let you do it." Jared gave her his best buccaneer's smile. "Dave hasn't had a home-cooked meal in ages. Neither have I."

Letty gave a muffled laugh from her lounger. "Be careful, Kate. Sounds like they're planning to take advantage of you."

"I'm supposed to be on vacation," Kate pointed out loftily.

"Yeah, well, if you can't cook, just say so. Dave and I will understand. It's not too late to order dinner from the restaurant."

"I can cook," Kate retorted, feeling challenged.

"Are you sure?" Jared looked doubtful.

"Of course I'm sure," she snapped, thoroughly irritated now by his skeptical expression.

"It's okay to admit it if you can't. I mean, this being the late twentieth century and all, there are probably a lot of women who never really learned to cook. They've got their careers and stuff to think of first, I guess and…"

"I told you, I can cook."

"Well, if you really think you can handle it…"

"I can handle it."

"You're sure it's not too much trouble?"

"It's not too much trouble, dammit. Haven't you got some work you should be doing?"

"Yeah." Jared got to his feet and leaned down for another quick, satisfied kiss. "There's a major plumbing disaster going on in the south wing. I'd better check on the repairs. See you around six. You can pick up any supplies you need at Chan's grocery in town. Letty will show you the place. Tell Chan I sent you and he'll give you the resort discount."