“Whatever you say. When I come back, I’ll give you that massage.”
His muscles had tightened up on him during the night. A massage would feel good. He removed the covers and turned over on his stomach so his injured leg would be closest to her.
Soon he felt her presence as she knelt at the side of the bunk. The subtle flowery fragrance from the soap she used in the shower drifted in his direction, intoxicating him.
“Okay. I’m ready for your instructions.”
“Start with my foot and knead your way up my calf, but no farther.”
“All right.” She molded her hand to his heel and began to caress the pad with gentle insistence. Her nimble fingers seemed to know instinctively where to rub using the right pressure. With slow deliberation, she worked her magic from his toes to his calf.
He didn’t have to tell her to use the flat of her palm to wiggle the fleshy part, thereby loosening those muscles. Her touch was instinctive. He could feel its healing effect as his whole body began to relax.
“How am I doing?”
Luc was afraid to tell her. He didn’t dare admit it to himself. “If you did this service for Cesar before the race, then I can understand why he would want you around.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said without missing a breath. Her glib response frustrated him no end. “Would you like your neck and shoulders massaged, too?”
She’d probably done all this and more for his brother. Luc sucked in his breath. “Just keep up what you’re doing for a minute longer, and I won’t require another session until bedtime.”
“What about your water therapy?”
“I’ll go for a brief swim later in the day after my lunch has digested.”
“We’ll both swim. In the meantime, you can read the latest thriller I brought with me while I go hunting for treasure.”
He lifted his head. “Owing to the fact that the fabulous
fortune buried in the grotto of Monte Cristo didn’t exist outside Dumas’s imagination, I thought you’d given up on the idea.”
“Wasn’t it you who told me ‘all that glitters isn’t gold’?” Her hand gave him a final pat. “There may be treasure lurking here not instantly recognizable to the naked eye.”
To his chagrin she stood up, thereby ending these few moments of sheer physical pleasure. “I understand from Greer the island only takes up six square miles. I probably won’t be gone exploring for more than a couple of hours. While I’m away, you can shower and read at your leisure. I’ve left the book on the dresser.”
Olivia Duchess never did anything without an agenda. What was she up to now? “Good luck spouse hunting,” he muttered as she started to leave the cabin.
She paused in the doorway. “Thanks. Maybe I’ll run into a heartthrob who’s scuba diving off his yacht.”
After she disappeared, he eased himself out of bed with the help of his cane and walked over to the window to survey the situation.
In a minute he saw her splashing through the water to the shore. She took the time to inspect the ropes still tied by the rocks before she began her jog around the desolate island.
It didn’t matter that the surface resembled the moonscape. At this point Luc was beginning to realize this woman was a self-starter who made her own luck. Nothing kept her down. No hill was too hard for her to climb.
Her resilience under stress was almost as astounding as her fearless predilection for attempting the impossible and getting away with it. Only the Duchess sisters could have made their escape out the second-story window of his parents’ villa in the middle of the night without making a sound or injuring themselves.
He might even have admired her daring if he hadn’t known she’d risked life and limb to watch Cesar race in the Grand Prix a few hours later.
Luc’s brother had been so flattered to learn that he was the sole reason she’d come to Monaco—that she’d tossed her American lover aside for him—it was no wonder he couldn’t see through her master plan which had been to become Madame Cesar de Falcon.
It was a stroke of genius on her part to run away from him after his win at Monza, pretending she really wasn’t interested in him after all.
Knowing how many other women had tried and failed to get his ring on their finger, she’d done the one thing guaranteed to bring him to his knees.
Beautiful, amoral Olivia Duchess was the perfect match for Luc’s dashing, amoral brother.
Little did Cesar know that while she was waiting for him to catch up to her, she’d made for Ischia last night while Luc had been asleep, hoping to catch a prince. There was no limit to her ambition, as Cesar would find out one of these days. Luc wished them the joy of each other.