Under the Moon Gate (6 page)

“Okay,” Patience said. “Calm down. We won’t talk about golf, then.”

“What are you two staring at?” His thunderous expression gradually dissipated.

“Nothing,” Patience answered. “It’s just that I’ve never seen anyone display such animosity toward a sport. Do you hate all sports?”

“No. Just golf.”

“I see,” said Patience. But she didn’t.

“Were you hit over the head with a golf club when you were a child?” Cecilia ventured with a tentative smile.

Nathaniel wasn’t laughing.

Cecilia leaned over to whisper in Patience’s ear. “Talk about overreacting. He acts as if golf clubs are weapons of mass destruction. And while we’re on the subject of tools, I wonder if he’s a putter. Or do you suppose he prefers the long drive? I’d like to get a look at his nine-iron, and—”

“Cecilia!” Patience interrupted. “You’re being rude and crude! You two deserve each other.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Cecilia laughed.

“While you two women are busy having a laugh at my expense, I’ll just go down the hall and find my room, stash my gear and get settled.”

“But,” said Patience, chasing after him, “I didn’t say you could—”

“Since I’ve already moored my boat at your dock,” Nathaniel interrupted, “I may as well stay. I won’t be any trouble. You won’t even know I’m here.”

Patience ran over to the window. The light was already beginning to fade. “Your boat? It’s more like an ocean liner. How did you manage to maneuver that monstrosity into the bay?”

“I’m a sailor, remember? And your house is sited on a deep-water mooring.”

“I never agreed to this. You can just turn around and leave, and take the Queen Mary with you.”

“Now, Cousin, you’re just distraught,” Nathaniel soothed. “Sit down.” He tried to guide her to the couch.

“Don’t patronize me, don’t order me around in my own home, or treat me like a child, and don’t ever touch me again.”

“You make a lot of demands.”

“Patience,” Cecilia said, puzzled. “What’s gotten into you? For heaven’s sake, he’s your cousin. Be gracious.”

“Precisely,” Nathaniel agreed.

“Distant cousin,” Patience corrected. “Get out, Nathaniel. I’m giving you ten seconds to get out, or I’ll call—”

“The authorities?” Nathaniel laughed, his eyes flashing a warning signal. “You know you won’t. We don’t want to air our dirty laundry in front of your friend, now, do we? Cecilia, could you please leave us alone now? Patience and I have a lot of catching up to do.”

Cecilia’s eyes met hers and held a million questions.

“Don’t worry, I’m harmless,” Nathaniel assured her.

“Patience, you’ll call me later, promise?” Cecilia implored. “You’ll be all right, won’t you?”

“Yes, because my
cousin
is not going to be staying.” Patience let her friend out the front door and turned to Nathaniel.

“My cousin?” Patience was horrified. “That’s pathetic, even for you.”

“I’m moving in here. It’s not safe for you. I can’t protect you unless we’re together.”

“Protect me from what?”

“The evil that’s stalking us.”

“Are you hallucinating?”

“And we can’t have people talking. We need to maintain a low profile. My boat was sticking out like a sore thumb at the yacht club. And we have your reputation to think about.”

“A low profile? With that cruise ship berthed in front of Marigold House? I hardly think you’re worried about my reputation. But even if you were, it’s too late. I dearly love her, but talking to Cecilia is tantamount to taking out a front-page ad in
The Royal Gazette
. The news will be all over the island by this evening. ‘Patience Katherine Whitestone is living in sin with her American cousin.’”

“Who else besides Sallie and Cecilia have access to this house?”

“Well, there’s Andrew. He tends the garden.”

“That fossil? I saw the man in the garden talking to Sallie. He doesn’t have enough energy to put one foot in front of the other. I don’t know how he even negotiates the steps down to the garden. The man is barely mobile.”

“He’s been with us forever.”

“That’s not hard to believe. My guess is your grandmother did all the work and he puttered around after her.”

Patience blushed. “Well, she couldn’t put him out of a job. He needs the money.”

“And do you also collect all the stray cats and dogs around the island?”

Patience twisted the hem of her T-shirt and looked away.

“Don’t answer that.” Nathaniel rolled his eyes. “What’s the story with Sallie? She’s always skulking around the kitchen, making preparations, answering the door, and bringing in packages from well-wishers.”

“Sallie doesn’t skulk. She belongs here. She’s trying to be unobtrusive, respectful of my feelings.”

Her grandmother had hired Sallie many years ago and requested that Patience retain the housekeeper after her death, because she needed the work. But Patience knew the real reason. Diana hadn’t wanted to leave her daughter alone after she was gone.

When her grandmother was sick, Sallie had cooked, cleaned, and handled the household. Patience and Sallie had always been close, but they had truly bonded during her grandmother’s illness. She couldn’t have made it through the last weeks without her. In fact, it had been Sallie who had gently pried Patience from her grandmother’s lifeless body with soothing tones and tender words. “She’s gone, luv. I’ve got you now.”

“Well, that all stops today. There is to be no one in this house but you and me from now on, understood? Maybe Cecilia, or she’d get suspicious.”

“Nathaniel, you’re being unreasonable,” Patience objected. In a corner of her mind she wondered why he was insisting that they be alone. What were his real motives?

“I’m being cautious. And I want the names and phone numbers of everyone who works at Marigold House, now.”

She eyed him carefully. He was certainly in a strange mood. She didn’t think she had any fight left in her to oppose him. She’d give in now, but as soon as he left, she would hire them both right back. She opened the nightstand and held out a small black address book.

Nathaniel walked out and was back within ten minutes.

“It’s done.”

“What did you do? Did you give them the ax? Make them walk the plank?”

“No, I’m not heartless. I gave them a well-deserved three-week vacation. Paid.”

She smiled. “I’ll write out the check in the morning.”

“It’s already been taken care of.”

“How?”

“I have my own money, and I used it.”

“It’s pathetic, really,” Patience said. “I’m a grown woman. Almost twenty-seven, and my grandmother had to hire someone to take care of me.”

“This place is huge. You need help, there’s no doubt about it, although I’m sure you could handle it.”

Patience turned her head away, then whispered, “There might be a slight problem.”

“What’s that?” He cocked his head in her direction.

“Well, since you let Sallie go, I can’t, that is, I don’t know how, I mean I never learned to… Oh, bloody hell. We’ll starve, Nathaniel.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t cook!”

He threw his head back and laughed until it hurt.

“Well, I can. And I’ll teach you. Everyone should know how to cook.”

“Can you clean, too?”

“I can swab a deck, so I guess I can sweep a floor.”

“We have a vacuum cleaner.”

“I’m not going to let an electric broom get the better of me. We’ll manage until this mess is sorted out. We can always eat out.”

“I’m not going out yet. I’m still in mourning.”

Before he could comment, Nathaniel smelled smoke.

“Did you or Cecilia leave a burner on in the kitchen?” he inquired.

“No,” Patience said. Nathaniel sniffed the air again and ran to the open window at the side of the house.

“There’s a fire on the
Fair Winds
,” he yelled, and dashed out the side door with Patience close on his heels.

“I’ll call the fire department.”

“No!” Nathaniel argued. “We don’t need the authorities poking around here. We’ll handle this ourselves.”

“But you could lose your boat,” she pleaded.

“There’s more at stake here,” he yelled back at her, taking the steps two at a time. “Bring some buckets.”

Patience rushed back to the laundry room, grabbed a plastic mop bucket, and dashed into the kitchen to retrieve the deepest pot she could find. She followed Nathaniel down the steps and out to where the
Fair Winds
was moored. Nathaniel was already working furiously trying to extinguish the flames.

“Nathaniel,” she called, and when he turned, she tossed him the bucket. He jumped off the boat, reached over, and dipped the bucket into the sea, fairly flying back to the source of the flames. Patience ran to the water, filled up the heavy stainless steel pot, and stood beside him, hefting its contents onto the fire. They worked in tandem for close to an hour without speaking. Fortunately, the fire had just started and hadn’t done much damage. After interminable trips to dip their pails into the bay, the fire was finally under control.

Nathaniel was fuming. It was obvious this boat meant the world to him.

“The bastard,” Nathaniel said, chest heaving. “He’s been on the boat again. And this time he’s left a dangerous calling card. That’s it, Patience. He’s gone too far. I’m going to have to kill him.”

“You admitted, yourself, you don’t even know for sure who
he
is,” Patience reasoned. “All you have to go on is some codename in a journal. Calm down, Nathaniel, before you explode.”

“He’s probably watching us right now,” Nathaniel seethed. “Get back to the house!”

“Stop ordering me around like I was a witless child,” Patience said.

“Then stop acting like one!”

“You’re insane,” she spit, eyes flashing. “Why are you mad at
me
?”

“Because you’re here! Now go, before I carry you into the house myself.”

“Just try it,” she challenged.

Patience didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry at how ludicrous the situation was. All she was doing was trying to help. But she knew his anger disguised raw fear. He was on the edge.

Well, so was she. The unknown man hadn’t threatened to kill Nathaniel, had he? How did he even know Nathaniel? She was his primary target, after all. If the man set Nathaniel’s boat on fire, then it stood to reason Nathaniel couldn’t be the stalker.

But he was still digging into her past. Was she wrong to be frightened of him? She knew somewhere in the back of her mind that he was out to hurt her, her family. But she was more frightened than ever of the stalker and thought maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep Nathaniel around, even if he
was
irritating.

Deciding not to press her luck by further inflaming his temper, Patience stomped back up the steps to the side entrance, sulking as she slipped into the house.

****

He found her on the couch, the journal open on her lap.

“Damn,” Nathaniel said, when he noticed her red, swollen eyes. “You’ve been crying.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Yes, you have. You’ve been reading his journal.”

She didn’t answer, but she bit her bottom lip and twisted her hands together, wrinkling the newly pressed skirt she had changed into after their bout with the fire.

Nathaniel covered her hands with his and took her into his arms. After the commotion of the fire, she was too tired to resist him, and it felt good to be held. She rested her head on his shoulder, just for a minute, until she could regain her strength.

“You didn’t like what you read,” Nathaniel said.

“I don’t believe what I read.”

“Or you don’t
want
to believe it. Is it your grandfather’s handwriting?”

Patience nodded.

“Are you finished?”

“No, I just started. I’m just so tired.”

“Of course. Let me take you to bed.”

She looked up at him in confusion, and her eyes filled. Did he mean what she thought he meant? No. But his lips were so close. So close she could feel his hot breath against her face. And she felt so warm in his arms. So safe. So protected. She didn’t have the strength to struggle. She had no fight left. She simply couldn’t move. She felt as if she were enveloped in a fog. And he was calling out to her.

****

“Patience,” he murmured softly. He placed a gentle kiss on her lips. It wasn’t right to take advantage when she was so vulnerable. He couldn’t disguise the fact that he wanted her, which made no sense, because he had just met her.

But he felt like he belonged here, with her. He was drawn to her with a yearning that was physical. And even though he hardly knew her, he wanted to protect her. He tried to lead her down the hall, but she wouldn’t or couldn’t move.

She was practically asleep on her feet. He lifted her up and carried her into her bedroom, where he looked around. It belonged to a fairytale princess, floral chintz fabric on the windows for an English Country look and a soothing color scheme of lavenders, the palest blues, and yellows. Fresh, fragrant island flowers were everywhere. He had a flashback of a woman who might have been his mother, although he barely remembered her. Her room had smelled like this, like spring.