Fire in the Blood

'Look at the time! I must get back to my kitchen.' She smiled at Nadine. 'Let Luc paint you, won't you? It will be a masterpiece.'

Luc laughed. 'My fan club!' he said with every sign of satisfaction. 'But it's mutual. She loves my work, and I love hers. In fact, I married her for her cooking.'

Clarrie grinned at him. 'You think he's joking, but he isn't!'

'What's for dinner tonight?' Sean asked, strolling forward, dark and romantic in the white evening jacket but his brooding blue eyes like danger signals.

'Oh, hello, Sean,' Clarrie said, lighting up with pleasure at the sight of him as women always did. 'You look very sexy!'

'Hey! Watch it, woman!' said Luc, laughing. 'Go to your kitchen immediately!'

Clarrie giggled. 'After I've told Sean what's for dinner! I'm cooking some very good grilled fish tonight, especially for Nadine, I know she likes plain fish, but this isn't really plain, it's full of flavour—it's been marinated in citrus fruit, and I'm serving it with fried banana and lime. There's also curried goat, and onion tart.. .1 like to offer plenty of choice for every palate, but personally I'd eat the goat if I were you, Sean. It's a young goat, and the curry's very mild, I used lime and coconut milk to flavour the sauce; you'll love it.'

Nadine watched Sean smiling at Clarrie and her heart ached. He had such charm when he chose to exert it, and Clarrie was right. In that white jacket with the red silk across his waist he looked so sexy that her mouth went dry every time she saw him.

Clarrie hurried away and Luc said, 'Now, what can I get you to drink, Sean?'

Sean said he would try one of the hotel's cocktails made with coconut milk. Luc went off to get it for him and Nadine sat down at the table where her own drink waited—a tall, frosted glass of lime juice and fizzy mineral water. Sean sat down opposite, stretching his long, slim white-clad legs.

'Is that how it feels to be you, Nadine?' he drawled, and she looked at him in bewilderment.

'What are you talking about?'

'I overheard what Luc was saying about you always being reflected in mirrors and men's eyes- it sounded claustrophobic to me and you looked haunted as he said it. Is that how it feels?'

'Sometimes,' she said and his brows snapped together, a heavy black band above those brooding eyes.

'Then why do you keep modelling?' His voice was harsh, angry, and she shrank back in her seat. 'And now this TV idea! Why do you court men's attention by putting yourself on show like that unless you enjoy having them stare at you and want you!'

'I d. ..d...don't. ..it isn't like that...' she stammered, getting angry herself. 'You know how I got into modelling. It wasn't my idea; I always wanted to be an actress. I just happened to meet Jamie Colbert, and he gave me work as a mod

el, and it seemed a good way of making money while I hoped to break into the theatre, or films...' Her voice trailed away and Sean gave her a cold, sardonic smile.

'With my help!'

She couldn't deny that she had wanted him to help her get a part in a film so she said nothing, her eyes lowered to her drink.

'Luc left that out when he was talking about men always watching you, didn't he?' Sean grated. 'He didn't mention the fact that you use men to get what you want. You used Colbert and you used me, and when I'd failed to get you what you wanted, a career in films, you left me!'

'That's not true!'

'Oh, yes, it is,' he snarled, his face hard and bitter. 'And now that Colbert's usefulness is over you'll drop him, too, won't you? Once your TV career begins you'll never see Colbert again.'

'Jamie is a friend,' she whispered, conscious of Luc coming towards them with several other members of the art class. 'And shut up. Here comes Luc with your drink.'

The next minute Luc put a cocktail in front of Sean; the glass decorated with a paper umbrella, a vivid white and scarlet orchid, and a medley of chopped tropical fruit.

'Too pretty to eat!' Sean said, pretending amusement, and one of the women from the art class sat down next to him on a bar-stool, flicked her lashes sideways at him and purred,

'Let me help you out with it!' She took the umbrella out, laughingly twirled it, then took the fleshy, gaudily coloured orchid and thrust it into her hair, before deftly picking out a piece of mango from the drink. That she slowly inserted into her kiss-shaped mouth in a sensual, deliberate fashion, while her eyes gazed invitingly at Sean, who had watched the entire performance with lazy-eyed amusement.

Nadine felt the usual sting of jealousy. It was like indigestion: a burning sensation in her chest, a bitterness in her mouth. She hated seeing him with other women.

'I'm going to paint a portrait of Nadine,' Luc announced. 'It won't be part of the coursework— you can all watch me work and see how I do it, if you like; and you can ask questions and make comments, but I'll be working with her in the afternoons so you'll still get your usual lessons.'

Nadine met Sean's hard, glittering glance; he didn't like the idea of Luc painting her, she noted with a sort of angry satisfaction. Well, she was going to do it. While Luc was painting her Sean couldn't get her alone; she would be safe from him all day, and at night she would make very sure her door was locked, until Friday, when that plane arrived to take her off the island, and that was what she wanted, wasn't it? To avoid Sean until she could get away, and once she had escaped to make sure she never saw him again.

CHAPTER SIX