A Match for Celia

“Hi, Ms. Carson. Joining us for lunch today?”

Celia glanced around to find Mike Smith emerging from the employee door, buttoning his neat white jacket as he approached her, obviously just beginning a shift. “No, I’m not hungry,” she said. “I was trying to find Reed—Mr. Hollander. Have you seen him, Mike?”

“Not since the two of you left for breakfast this morning,” Mike replied. His dark eyes searched her face. “Is anything wrong, Ms. Carson?”

“No.” She forced a smile. “I’ve just misplaced him, that’s all.”

“I’m sure he’ll turn up.”

She nodded. “I’m sure he will.”

“Want me to tell him you’re looking for him, if I see him?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Celia didn’t bother looking in the health club or bar. Reed had never shown any more interest than she in either facility. She did check the pool, thinking he might be sitting under an umbrella with one of his history books. He wasn’t. Nor did she see him at the tennis courts or the koi pond.

She looked thoughtfully at the long, flat expanse of beach spreading out beyond the resort. For just a moment, she longed for the wooded hills of home. How could anyone live without trees and grass and hills? she thought, studying all that flat, grayish-white sand and the painstakingly planted grass leading up to it.

She wondered if there were trees and grass and hills where Reed lived? Or did he live in the city, surrounded by concrete and high rises? And if so, would he want Celia to live there with him eventually? Could she adapt?

She could certainly try.

She continued her search for him. She wasn’t at all pleased when she finally spotted him.

He was sitting on a secluded bench beneath two obviously transplanted and rather sickly-looking palm trees at the very edge of the Alexander’s property. He wasn’t alone. The glamourous redhead was sitting beside him—very closely beside him. Their heads were close together, their gazes locked as they talked in voices much too low for Celia to hear.

She stopped dead in her tracks behind them. She knew neither of them had noticed her. They were much too intent on each other.

She thought of marching up to them and breezily introducing herself to the woman, acting as if Reed should have been expecting her to join him, but something held her back. Maybe it was the way they were talking—they didn’t look as though they wanted to be interrupted.

Celia’s temper flared. Was this Reed’s idea of making some important calls? This was the reason he’d had to rush away from her this morning? He’d actually expected her to wait alone in her room while he snuggled on a bench with another woman?

She was still watching when the redhead said something that made Reed scowl. And then he shook his head and laughed, looking ruefully amused.

He put an arm around the woman’s shoulders then and gave her a hug. One she returned with an enthusiasm that made Celia absolutely furious.

Without waiting to see more, Celia turned on one heel and hurried away. She was half tempted to call Damien and politely ask him to please have Reed beaten up. She suspected that Damien would happily agree.

She didn’t call Damien, of course. That would have been childish. Instead, she headed away from the resort, just as fast as she could put the place—and all its accompanying confusion—behind her.

It was early evening when Celia returned to her suite. She’d spent the day keeping busy, utilizing the island trolley system, whimsically dubbed “The Wave,” to take her to the tourist places Mindi Kellogg had tried to talk her into seeing before. The University of Texas–Pan American Coastal Studies Laboratories, with its aquariums and extensive shell collection, Sea Turtle, Inc., the Sea Ranch Marina. It wasn’t that she’d particularly wanted to visit those places alone, but she had needed the time to think.

Everything had been happening so fast. She needed time to put the past few days into perspective. Had she really fallen in love with a man she hardly knew? Was she really willing to take a huge risk like that with someone who could hurt her worse than she’d ever imagined?

By the end of the day, she had an all-new appreciation for fascinating sea creatures, particularly those of the flippered persuasion, but she hadn’t resolved her feelings for Reed. She couldn’t say for certain that what she felt for him was love—but she couldn’t quite convince herself it wasn’t, either.

Needing a chance to freshen up and bolster her courage before facing him again, she slipped unnoticed into her building and tiptoed down the empty hallway, almost as though he could somehow hear her if she wasn’t careful. She unlocked her door, stepped into the sitting room, then closed and bolted the door behind her.

And then she turned to find Reed standing in the bedroom doorway, watching her with an expression that could have been carved of hard, relentless stone.

Chapter Twelve

Celia placed a hand to her throat, where her heart seemed to be hanging at the moment. “How did you get in here? You scared me half to death!”

“Where the hell have you been?” Reed demanded, ignoring her question. “I’ve torn this damned resort apart looking for you.”

“I’ve been out.”