Fire in the Blood

'She?' He looked surprised. 'The manager is a woman? I've never before stayed in a hotel which had a woman manager.'

'I think she and her husband own it. He's Luc Haines, the artist—I gave you one of his pictures once, remember? A water-colour of a fish market.'

'That one? I still have it,' said Sean. 'So he lives on this island and owns the hotel? What a coincidence.'

'It's nothing of the sort. That's why I'm here. He holds art courses based on this hotel; you spend half the day painting and the other half on the beach. I've always enjoyed painting water-colours, so I decided to take the course and have a holiday at the same time. Didn't Larry tell you that?'

'He said you seemed upset and tired and he thought you needed a holiday,' Sean admitted, and they were both silent for a long moment, looking at each other. Nadine searched his face and saw the deep lines she had seen before, the grey weariness under his usual tan. Sean needed a holiday, too; he looked as if he needed to sleep for a week. She wondered what he saw in her face—the same exhausted look she saw in his? She wouldn't be surprised. She had been under a strain ever since the divorce, emotionally, mentally, physically. She felt as if she had been running a very long race and she wanted to stop and lie down.

Quietly, Sean said, 'Anyway, last night when I checked in I only saw a male reception clerk, and he obviously didn't have an idea who I was! Or who you were, come to that. He wasn't just being discreet. He really didn't know who we were! You know how you can always tell when people have recognised you; there's that look in their eyes.'

'Yes,' she had to concede. You could always tell, even when they tried to hide it. There was that telltale flicker, the look of surprise, of recognition.

Sean shrugged. 'But if you make waves... complain... tell them we're divorced, but I spent the night with you...'

Her eyes flashed. 'Don't keep putting it like that! You may have spent the night in my suite, but not with me!'

'In your bed, then,' he mocked, and she gritted her teeth and glared at him.

'I won't tell them that!'

'Where will you say I slept, then?'

She was furiously silent, and he grinned at her wickedly. 'Whichever way you put it, if you make a fuss you're going to arouse a lot of curiosity. It's too good a story; they're going to talk about it, among themselves, and there must be a local newspaper. Someone on the staff is bound to sell the story to a reporter.'

Nadine frowned, pushing her heavy chestnut hair back from her flushed face. 'I don't believe it! It would be very bad publicity for the hotel, after all, letting you walk into my room in the middle of the night without checking with me first!'

'Maybe the management wouldn't sell the story, but the hotel staff would chatter about it among themselves and tell their friends, and sooner or later it would get to the ears of a reporter, and our names would ring a bell.'

'Especially yours!' she muttered, scowling.

'I have had a lot of Press coverage lately,' he drily agreed. 'The local reporter would sell the story to the American Press and the next thing you know we'll be up to our necks in reporters. Come on! Think about it! If you read that story in a gossip column, wouldn't you laugh like mad? Divorced wife wakes up to find her ex-husband in bed with her in hotel room?' Sean started to laugh.

Nadine didn't. She eyed him coldly. 'I don't think it's remotely funny!'

'Well, your sense of humour was always defective,' he murmured. 'But believe me, my darling, if you open this particular Pandora's box you're going to find yourself wishing you hadn't.'

He had convinced her, but that just made her angrier and she burst out, 'Just get dressed and get out of my suite! If they haven't got another room, hire a boat again and book into another hotel! I'm sure you'll come up with something.'

'Oh, stop shouting!' Sean snapped back at her, his brows heavy over his brooding blue eyes. 'I only had a few hours' sleep and I'm in no mood for all this aggro!' He walked towards the bathroom. 'I'm going to have a shower!'

'I want one!' she protested, but he was already inside the bathroom and closing the door.

'You'll have to wait, then!'

'You selfish...' she began, then stopped in frustration as she heard the shower start to run. He couldn't hear her so there was no point in telling him what she thought of him yet. She would save it up for later.

She went out on to her balcony and leaned on the balustrade, her mind working busily. Three guesses why Sean had followed her here! You didn't need to be a genius to work it out! As soon as Larry tracked him down and told him she was in the West Indies they had plotted together, worked out that while she was here, and, alone, she would be an easy target; and Sean had set off to join her.

No doubt he thought he had made a brilliant beginning. She brooded resentfully on that thought.

That snake had got back into her bed last night, and she still didn't know exactly what had happened.

Something had. That had been a very vivid dream and she had woken up to find it actually happening. How much else of that dream had actually happened?

She trembled, closing her eyes briefly. No! She didn't want to know that.

She thought about something less disturbing. Money. The reason for Sean's arrival here. Larry was determined to get her to hand back her divorce settlement or lend it to the company; and Sean, having obviously failed to raise money during his trip to Los Angeles to hunt for backing, had finally agreed to ask her for it.