“I found a pilot with more greed than good sense and bribed him. I left him in the men’s room at the airstrip. He’s not feeling too well.”
“You were crazy to come here. And you’ve wasted your time and your money and your heroic effort. I don’t want to see you. Please leave my room.”
He laughed wickedly. “No way.”
He took two menacing steps toward her, and to postpone what she now thought to be inevitable, she asked hurriedly, “How did you find me? I didn’t tell anyone where I was going.”
“You have a bad habit of doing that, Mrs. Kirchoff,” he sneered. “This time, you didn’
t cover your tracks very well. I’ll admit when I arrived in San Juan and couldn’t find you registered at a hotel, I lost your trail for a while, but it wasn’t too hard to get back on it when I started asking around for a… never mind what I asked for. I’ve found you.” His mouth narrowed into a hard, bitter line. His drenched clothes had formed a puddle around his feet that squished when he came closer to her. “Why did you run away without leaving word with anyone?” His eyes speared into hers, pinning her against the window.
Kathleen swallowed a lump of fear. He wouldn’t hurt her. She knew that. Didn’t she? “I… I was tired. I needed to get away for a while. I was intending to be back by the time you started taping again. Aren’t I entitled to a day off like everyone else?” she asked haughtily.
“Yes, but you were the only one who chose to leave like a sneaking thief in the middle of the night without letting anyone know that you were going. You were the only one who deserted the rest of the crew, leaving the leader of said crew to worry out of his mind. Do you think that’s responsible behavior, Mrs. Kirchoff?”
“Stop calling me that as if it were an epithet!” she snapped. His smile was insolent “Are you ashamed of your name, Mrs. Kirchoff? Or are you ashamed of how you came to have it? Poor old Seth has never been able to sample your wares, has he? For the life of me, I can’t figure out why a decent guy like him bailed you out when you were carrying my baby.”
“Shut up!” She shoved away from the window and moved to a small chest of drawers, keeping her back to him. “Someone like you wouldn’t understand an honorable man like Seth. All men aren’t as spoiled and selfish as you. Nor as base, thinking only of one thing with the single-mindedness of an adolescent boy.”
“What makes you an expert on what I’m thinking? Huh?” He was following her around the room. Each time Kathleen moved, he was behind her, trailing her, stalking her, leaving a wet path behind him.
“If I don’t know what’s on your mind, I’m sure Tamara could tell me. I see she made it back to shore last night without stepping on any sea urchins!” She angrily resumed her original position at the window. The thunder and lightning had stopped, but torrents of rain continued to beat the sand and surf. The wind bent the palm trees to drastic angles.
Erik quirked an inquisitive eyebrow. “You were spying on us?” he asked with amusement.
Kathleen spun around and faced him again, furious. “No! I couldn’t sleep, so I took a walk out on the pier. You certainly weren’t difficult to spot. You obviously weren’t concerned about being observed. Before the scenario became too graphically disgusting. I left.”
“Then you don’t really know what happened, do you?”
“I can guess.”
“Jealous?”
“J—Jealous,” she sputtered. “You must be kidding!”
“No, I’m not. You ran away because you couldn’t stand to see me with Tamara.”
“I couldn’t stand to see two adults acting like… like naughty children! You must have a thing for making love near the water.”
The moment the words left her mouth, Kathleen wished she could recall them. Her bosom heaved with emotion and anger as they stared each other down. Now Erik knew that she remembered—cherished—the time he had made love to her near the river.
He stared at her from under lowered brows and his voice was gruff when he said, “So, you remember.”
Her heart was pounding and she wanted to drag her eyes away from him, but they refused the commands of her confused brain. “Yes.” She ducked her head. “It would have been better if it had never happened.”
“Would it?”
Her head came up with a jerk and she said with feeling, “Yes!”
“We wouldn’t have Theron.”
“Oh,” she sobbed, and turned her back on him once again. Weakly, she leaned into the windowsill for support, though she thought nothing was strong enough to hold the heaviness in her heart. He had said “we.” He was wrong. He didn’t have Theron, she did. She and Seth. Barely above a whisper, she said. “How long are we going to tear at each other this way? Each time we’re together, we try our best to bring pain to the other. I surrender. I’m tired of fighting you, Erik.”
“I didn’t come here to fight.” His voice was close behind her, though she hadn’t heard his approach.
Blood rushed to Kathleen’s head and her eyes closed tightly. “Why did you come after me?”
Erik didn’t answer. For the longest time, she stood there, waiting for his answer, but he wouldn’t honor her silent plea to hear it. Finally, she turned around to face him, tilting her head back to look up into the face hovering above hers. “Why did you come after me?”