The Man at Key West (9 page)

Her hotel was comfortable and the service was excellent. That evening after dinner at the hotel Sue saw the wonderful sunset that even the locals respected. It was so beautiful with the sun a huge burning red ball flooding the horizon with scarlet and gold.

Sue discovered that in old Key West the alleys wound romantically with mellowed houses sleeping in the shade of majestic oak and banyan trees and that the shops were invitingly dark and cool.

She made the most of her time there, shopping and taking pictures which she was sure would please her editor. Only one thing jarred, and that was the lack of a companion. Not that the people were not friendly. In fact Sue in her brief bikini attracted the males like honey bees around a flower. But she could not help thinking how much more exciting it would have been with Jay. He was
adept at looking after whoever he happened to with.

She wondered where he was and if Gloria was with him. It certainly would not be her fault if he w
a
s not. The trouble was that Key West was hardly
a
place to be alone, because it was so crowded. My the end of her first day there Sue felt as if she had suffered a surfeit of tanned bodies, both in mid out of the beautiful calm blue waters.

She had made up her mind to develop her pictures after dinner at the hotel that evening, even though the lovely night beckoned. Sue had hardly arrived back at her hotel later that afternoon when
th
e telephone rang. Gloria Downs sounded very friendly.

‘How about coming out with us this evening to a party?’ she said. ‘That is if you haven’t already made other arrangements. You might as well make the best of your time here, and I can guarantee you’ll
enjoy yourself.’

Sue hesitated and realised that journalists and photographers did not succeed if they stayed in their hotels away from the social whirl.

‘Who is us?’ she asked warily. ‘Anyone I know?’ It was idiotic to even hope that one of them might be Jay, but she held her breath.

Gloria said airily, ‘Two of my colleagues, Pete and Steve. They’re decorative.’

Wondering what she meant by that, Sue knew that she would soon find out.

‘All right,’ she answered. ‘What time?’

‘We’ll pick you up around seven.’

Sue was ready when Gloria and her escorts arrived, two well endowed young men where muscles were concerned. Their shirts unbuttoned to reveal hairy chests and it was difficult to recognise their nationality. Their tan was almost, black. They hailed from one of the islands around, Like Gloria they took in Sue’s off-the-shoulder silk sheath offset by large hoop ear-rings and matching high-heeled sandals.

Gloria’s false eyelashes quivered at the unexpected competition and she thrust out her bosom
in the plunging neckline of her satin dress in defiance.

‘Hi, Sue,’ she said. ‘Hop in. We’re going to Sloppy Joe’s Bar first.’

‘You’re a doll,’ Steve said as Sue sat beside him; in the back seat of the car while Gloria sat with Pete, who was driving.

‘Thanks,’ Sue replied, deciding that launching a party on drinks at the bar would require careful handling.

Not much of a drinker herself, she stuck to tomato juice and noted that Gloria was more than a little tight when they moved on to the party. Their destination lay on the other side of the island, which was more modern but just as vivid as the old, with magnolia, amaryllis and hibiscus exploding against villa walls.

The house was a low rambling kind of place with entrances where people drifted in to music and
where food seemed to be everywhere except on the trees. Avocado, banana and almond trees abounded.

Sue had the feeling that she was on a film set and she wished she had brought her camera along. The guests milling around the spacious rooms made it impossible to greet their host and hostess, and immediately Sue lost Gloria and Pete.

Steve said, ‘Come along, I’ll find some food, then
. I’ll
have to leave you for a while. My wife is here
s
omewhere.’

‘Your wife?’ queried Sue. ‘Why didn’t she come with you?’

He
shrugged wide shoulders. ‘She wasn’t invited,
an
d I don’t advertise the fact that I’m married. Male models don’t—fewer complications!’

He found a quiet corner and leaving Sue with
f
ood and drink set off to find his wife. Sue gazed
at
the cosmopolitan crowd all attired for coolness, at least most of them. Some wore the conventional white linen evening jacket and well pressed trousers.

Everyone sported a deep tan and everyone looked almost disgustingly healthy: Sue wondered how many of them had gatecrashed along with Steve’s wife. Then it occurred to her that she had not seen any invitation cards handed in when they had arrived.

Feeling suddenly guilty, she finished her food und emptied her glass, then went to explore. While in search of the ladies’ powder room she had trespassed in one of the bedrooms to see Gloria cavorting around under the sheets with a red
haired man. The party did not seem the same after that.

In one of the main rooms filled with music someone grabbed her and she was drawn into a crowd of dancers. It was sometime and many dances later that Sue began to think of getting back to her hotel. She had seen nothing of Gloria again, nor either of her escorts, Pete and Steve. 'The thought occurred that Pete, like Steve, also had a wife, but that kind of thing was going on all the time.

She had thought of going to where they had parked the car, but it would be impossible to recognise among the dozens of vehicles parked M around in the grounds. There were no taxis in sight, but the evening was so beautiful that Sue decided to walk until she caught up with a taxi.

Walking in the balmy air with the dark blue sea meeting her eyes at every turn, she was really enjoying herself until her right shoe began to rub her heel. It had not been such a bright idea to walk after all, she thought, as she was reduced to limping.

The question was, could it be practical to wave
a
passing car down? But she did not have to. One slid beside her limping figure and the front door was flung open.

‘For crying out loud,’ said a deep voice, ‘Is this what you call enjoying yourself? Get in.’

Sue was almost reduced to tears as she obeyed. ‘Oh, Jay!’ she cried. ‘I was never so pleased to see; anyone in my life!’

‘What happened?’ he asked as he leaned over to
see if her car door was shut properly. ‘Did he get too friendly?’

‘Who?’ Sue had to laugh then from sheer relief. ‘I’m coming from a party. I went with friends.’ At this point she did not want to mention Gloria. At least the girl had thought of her being on her own and she was grateful for that.

‘Why didn’t they bring you back?’

‘They were otherwise engaged, and I couldn’t get
a taxi.’

Jay scowled down at her heel as she slipped off her sandal. Her stocking had stuck to the wet patch of blood and he muttered something in disgust.

‘You’d better do a bit of paddling before we get back, with that heel,’ he growled. ‘The salt water will help to take the pain away and sterilise the wound.’

‘I don’t want to put you out,’ she demurred.

‘You aren’t putting me out. As a matter of fact I telephoned you earlier at your hotel to take you out, but you were already out at your party.’

‘That was nice of you,’ she said, lying back in her seat to the pleasure of aching feet free of sandals. Her heart was going twenty to the dozen, telling her that Jay was here when
s
he had thought him miles away.

He followed the ribbon of road and pulled in presently by a small bay.

‘Here you are,’ he said. ‘Take a paddle or a swim if you want to.’

‘I’ll take a paddle,’ she said, and the next moment he was out of his side of the car to scoop her up into his arms and carry her down to the water’s edge.

‘You don’t have to carry me,’ she protested as he set her down on her feet on the sand.

‘I’ll go back to the car so you can take off your stockings without embarrassment.’

Sue paddled for a while in the warm still water, letting the slow wash of the tide ripple over her injured heel. It tingled at first as the salt water touched the soreness, but it soon stopped throbbing and her feet were now nice and cool.

Jay was there on the beach waiting for her to come back and when she reached him he pushed her down on to the sand to dry her foot with a dean piece of rag from the car boot which he evidently used to wipe his hands when tinkering with the car.

‘It looks healthy enough,’ he said, taking her foot in his hand and sticking an adhesive plaster on the sore place of her heel.

The touch of his warm hand as it gripped her slender ankle was sending ripples along her nerves,
Instead of releasing her leg his hands moved up its slenderness to her knee. Sue saw the corners of his mouth turn up, and as she admired his stunningly thick eyelashes she saw the brilliance of his white smile.

‘You have beautiful legs, Sue, delicate ankles and delicate wrists, and your skin is like satin,’ he murmured, bending his head to kiss her leg.

Nervously Sue drew back from his touch. ‘I think we ought to be getting back,’ she said.

He released her bare leg and pushed her down in the sand to bend over her.

‘You’re really scared of what I’m going to do next, aren’t you?’ he whispered, touching the hollow in her neck. ‘You’re palpitating and there’s a little pulse going like mad here in the base of your throat.’

He put his lips to the place in question, then ran small kisses up her throat to her mouth. Sue went very still. She could not have stopped him to save her life. She knew he was going to kiss her even before his lips took hers, but she was unable to utter a sound. There was no way that she could remain unaffected by such an attractive, virile man as Jay.

She closed her eyes, trying to deny the desire surging through her as she heard the thudding of his heart—or was it her heart? His mouth was searching, demanding and seeking satisfaction. Sue was utterly lost in a daze of sensual bliss. The world narrowed down to just herself and Jay and she wanted no other. Her heart argued that it could not be wrong to obey its call when it gave her so much pleasure.

Jay’s hands moved against her back, seeking to press her body closer to his hard one. His voice was thick and she sensed his control slipping.

‘Sue, my sweet,’ he was saying against her lips,
‘
there are some small motels here where one can
s
tay. What do you say?’

His words flung her from the emotional heights of ecstasy. He was regarding her as one of his many affairs to be used at his convenience, and for how long ... until the novelty of it wore away from him? On the other hand, she did not want to marry anyone like him, who was never in the same place l or long. What then was she to do?

She wanted him desperately, for she knew that no other man would ever give her the fulfilment that belonging to him would. On the other hand, what satisfaction she had with him would be sordid and cheap in her estimation. To sleep around was degrading, and Sue Blake was never going to end up doing that.

‘Let me go, Jay, please. If you want that sort of thing you must go to Gloria. I’m sure she will oblige,’ she said in distress, and the tears gathered in her eyes as he loosened his grip and stared down at her.

‘And what does that mean?’ he said grimly. ‘I’m no sex maniac, and I don’t associate with floozies like Gloria.’

Sue gulped back her tears. ‘No, you play safe. You prefer girls like me who haven’t been sleeping around. Is that it?’

Jay stared down at the tears flooding her eyes. ‘For Pete’s sake, no tears,’ he groaned. ‘And for your information, I don’t sleep around either. I have had affairs—for heaven’s sake, I’m not a boy, I’m a man—but I’m not prepared to take what
you refuse to give willingly. You shouldn’t lead me on.’

‘Lead you on?’ Sue cried indignantly. ‘I did no such thing!’ She lowered her eyes from his dark intent ones. ‘It’s your kisses, your technique. I suppose it wins every time.’

He smiled sardonically. ‘It almost did with you, didn’t it? If I hadn’t mentioned the motel we would have been well away. Perhaps it’s as well that it didn’t happen. I might have been involved in more ways than one.’

‘What do you mean?’ she asked hoarsely, as visions of Connie and Henry Cassells leered up to mock her. Yet why should they enter into it?

‘Never you mind,’ he said, releasing her and rising to his feet. ‘Come on, we can talk on the way back to your hotel.’

CHAPTER EIGHT

They had not talked on the way back to the hotel, us Jay made short work of the journey. Instead they had a nightcap on the veranda of the hotel and talked.

Jay lifted his glass and looked straight into Sue’s tawny eyes. ‘I’d like to ask you something.’

Sue had the sensation of someone holding her breath back against her own inclination.

‘Ask away,’
she invited.

‘I take it you’re in no hurry to go back, so I thought we could enjoy a little holiday here, just the two of us. I’ve finished what I came out to do and, say, in three days from now, I can fly you back.’

‘I’d like that,’ she agreed.

‘There’s something else we must clear up as well. For the next three days we’ll behave as we are now.
I haven’t told you I’ve booked a room here. Actually it’s next to yours, but don’t let that alarm you. I shall keep to my own quarters when we say goodnight. We’ll forget what happened this evening earlier on, and we’ll behave like a couple of friends on holiday together. Right?’

‘Suits me fine.’ Sue smiled with relief and felt happier than she had for some time.

Later, at her room door, Jay smiled down at her, and when his lips brushed hers in a goodnight kiss Sue felt over the moon at the thought of spending a brief period of time with him. As she closed her room door she knew she was not doing the sensible thing in getting to know him better. She would spend many sleepless nights in consequence, but she refused to look so far ahead. To accept the present and all it offered was all that mattered.

The next morning she was awakened by a peremptory tap on her door.

‘Wake up! We’re going swimming,’ Jay said firmly.

The lazy swim in a mild sea warm as silk and the breakfast afterwards of melon, pineapple and strawberries was out of this world. At least Sue thought so as she laughed into Jay’s dark eyes with their diabolical glint.

‘We’re going sailing today,’ he told her.

With Bermuda shorts over her bikini Sue put herself in Jay’s hands as they skimmed over the water in the hired boat. They laughed a lot, drank iced drinks and swam in the blue sea, to dry out later on the deck.

It was a day Sue would never forget, and they arrived back to change for an evening meal out. In the soft warm, dark blue dusk they strolled down Duval Street to a restaurant balcony in the open air. While they sipped their aperitifs Jay asked. ‘How are the photographs coming along?’

‘I haven’t developed them yet, but I haven’t any worries about them. I’m sure they’re what my editor is looking for,’ Sue told him eagerly.

He looked at her clear eyes, the smooth peach bloom of her skin and the luxurious tumble of her tawny hair. She was wearing the strapless dress of the previous evening, showing her beautifully smooth creamy shoulders still in the first stage of acquiring a tan. Her long jewelled ear-rings dazzled.

His tongue was in his cheek. ‘Topless nudes and till,’ he murmured.

‘You don’t approve?’ she queried, detecting a disparaging note in his deep voice.

‘About nudes in general?’ he answered with the lift of a sardonic brow. ‘For purely aesthetic reasons, I don’t approve. When a person puts all
their
goods in the shop window what is there left
look forward to?’

‘You mean there’s no good taste or an appreciation of beauty as such when it’s displayed so blatantly?’

‘Exactly. You don’t feel the urge to strip off your bra, do you?’

He laughed devilishly at the soft contours of her breasts and the hint of their beauty in the swathed bodice of her dress.

Sue chuckled. ‘I trust that isn’t an invitation to do so,’ she said with a blush.

They tucked into their meal with the healthy appetite of two people on holiday and enjoying it. Sue discovered that there was nothing to beat eating out in the open air at night with a huge moon above and the heady perfume of a riot of exotic
blooms along with the salty tang of the sea. It was all too beautiful.

Jay smiled at her in the muted light, his cream dinner jacket and wine-coloured bow tie making him look swooningly handsome.

Later they walked by the sea. Jay put his arm around her trim waist and they talked of
m
any things. Sue discovered that his tastes and loves for various things coincided with her own. This surprised her very much, for she had not expected to find him so in tune with her scheme of things.

He was such fun to be with, too, with an irresistible sense of humour which she shared.

‘You’re quite surprising, do you know that?’ he told her as he left her at the hotel door some time later. ‘You have hidden depths, my sweet, which are quite intriguing.’

He had framed her face with his hands and was bending his head for his usual goodnight kiss. Sue had been looking forward to it all day, much to her shame. Being with Jay was something akin to being hooked on a powerful drug, a dangerous one which only sent you looking after still more. She was enjoying being in masculine company again after missing her father’s.

Jay’s appearance never failed to summon attention wherever he went. Doors opened, people smiled, eager to please, unbooked tables appeared magically in an overcrowded room and what was more important, one felt cared for, almost coddled in his company.

He knew how to treat a woman in a world losing much of-the social graces. And there was this graceful, nonchalant way of walking, a congenital grace that gave everything he wore a correctness and value. Small wonder that Sue found her arms stealing around his neck and returning kiss for kiss.

‘I’m very grateful... to ... you,’ she stammered after ardent moments had passed while their bodies had been fused together as their lips had locked. ‘I’ve had such a heavenly day, and I owe it all to you.’

Her breathless admission had been prompted by the lift of his eyebrows at her passionate response to his kisses.

‘Is that what it is?’ he murmured on a chuckle. ‘See you tomorrow. What about spending the day round the coast, dropping off when it suits us and
ta
king a picnic? We can be sure of a nice one from
th
e hotel here.’

‘Sounds heavenly,’ she breathed, and sealed it with a kiss.

Jay’s
eyes took in her bikini, his beautiful body very disturbing. They had motored around the beauty
sp
ots in a hired car and had stopped for a dip in
th
e sea to be followed by a picnic.

‘Race you in!’ Sue cried, trying not to look at the wide shoulders and tapering hips of someone who was taking his place in all her thoughts whether asleep or awake.

They swam, floated and enjoyed the fresh feeling of being submerged away from the hot sun. Then Jay draped a wet arm around her slender figure as they trudged up the soft white sand to the shady spot they had chosen to have their picnic.

But before they sat down on the rug Jay stilled her with his hands on her shoulders.

‘You look so beautiful,’ he said, ‘with shiny droplets of water trickling down your face and your eyes and teeth gleaming.’

‘So do you,’ she answered, pushing back her dripping hair with a nervous hand. She could not make up her mind whether her giddy reaction was on account of his nearness or the hot sun.

Suddenly she was clamped against him and he was kissing her with all the passion she loved. She was conscious of his wet flesh pressed against her. The tang of the sea was in her nostrils and it seemed that she was once more submerged in the cool blue depths.

She was coming up for the third time when she broke away from him. Her body was still tingling from contact with his.

‘Oh,’ she exclaimed, holding him at arm’s length, ‘I’m hungry! I don’t know about you.’

‘I could answer that one, but I won’t,’ he said with a half-smile. ‘Let me dry your hair?’

‘My hair will dry in no time, left alone,’ she assured him.

He cupped her face so quickly that she could not stop him.

‘I’d like to do lots of things for you,’ he said in a low voice, brushing her lips with his. His hands slid to her shoulders, stroking them before moving down to her breast.

‘You are going to see me when we get back to Miami, aren’t you?’ he asked, caressing their firmness.

‘If you behave yourself.’

His answer was to scoop her up into his arms. Sue began to struggle. ‘Put me down, Jay! Stop playing the fool!’

He said softly, dangerously, ‘I don’t think you’d like it if I did. You know what I mean, don’t you?’ Her heart dipped, then raced on madly. ‘Yes ... yes ... I think I do. Now put me down,’ she said, chastened.

They lay down and slept after their lunch, satiated with wine and sun and sea.

Sue awoke with a thirst to see Jay slicing a melon. ‘Better fruit when you’re thirsty, and this is deliciously ripe,’ he said.

They ate the whole melon between them with the juice trickling down their chins and necks amid much laughter and fun. Going for a swim was the best way of cleaning themselves of surplus juice, and they clowned about in the water. Then they had a race back to the picnic spot with Sue throwing herself down, gasping for breath.

Jay flung himself beside her and for a few moments there was only the sound of their laboured breathing.

‘Know what?’ he said, rolling over to look down on her with his hands flat on the sand each side of her prostrate form to keep her prisoner.

‘What?’ she chuckled, and her sudden smile up at him became fixed as his expression changed.

‘You’re the most tantalising and beautiful creature I’ve ever met,’ he said with a look in his eyes that made her feel a sudden urge to flee.

Instead, almost without volition, she was drawing his face down to hers, kissing his well-cut mouth, his masculine, long nose, and ruffling the wet hair now curling damply after drying in the hot sun.

‘You aren’t so bad yourself,’ she said before he claimed her lips.

Because she could not deny him, her lips parted beneath his in sweet seduction.

‘You’re so sweet, Sue,’ he muttered hoarsely, his hands caressing her back before moving down to her hips.

Sue felt the heat of his strong body against her and knew the danger. This was no romp in the sand as they had been doing earlier, for she could feel his sense of control slipping as their kisses grew wild. Common sense told her that she had to draw the line before her own desires, coupled to his, overcame
caution and made reckless behavi
our inevitable.

But Jay was the first to pull away with a groan. Taking a deep breath, he released her and with a resigned sigh rolled over to lie beside her with his arms behind his head. Flung from such emotional
heights, Sue found it hard to bring herself back to normality.

She looked at Jay’s powerful chest gleaming like mahogany in the sun and knew that she was prepared to let her heart take over against any thought of common sense. She sat up, bent over and kissed his chest, letting her fingers ripple over the beautiful line of his wide shoulders.

Softly, she said, ‘Thanks, darling, for remembering our pact. You aren’t for me and I’m not for you. We both know it ... I...’

She broke off what she was about to say at the look in his eyes.

‘Go on,’ he said. ‘What were you going to say?’

Sue bit hard on her lip, wanting to throw herself into his arms and flying discretion and her pride to the winds. But that way lay disaster. Jay only wanted an affair. It was the only part of him that she would have and she did not want that—neither did she want marriage with him. The latter would be too much like her old life with her father, except that Jay would be sharing her bed from time to
time, and that was no way to establish a happy, lasting relationship.

Her mother had been a business woman first and a mother after, but Sue knew that there must have been times when she wanted the positions reversed. Sue was no business woman, although she had helped her father in his affairs quite a lot through her own common sense. Maybe she had inherited that side from her mother, but there the resemblance ended.

Sue knew what she wanted—a home of her own, a husband who would be at home to help raise and love his children, and until she could find that sort of a man her career would have to take over.

‘Nothing,’ she said without expression.

Jay took her hand and kissed it. ‘You called me darling. I like the way you said it. Say it again.’

She saw the glint of his teeth as he smiled. The am played on his ridiculously thick eyelashes and she knew that she was very near to being hauled into his arms again. She had only to say the word.
H
e would never know what it cost her to refuse his request.

‘I’m thirsty,’ she said. ‘Any coffee left from lunch?’

She saw the light go out of his eyes and she wanted to kiss the tightening of his expression back
ag
ain to the teasing laughter of the last few days. In fact she reached out a hand towards him, but he did not see it.

‘I think we can manage that,’ he said coolly, and reached for the picnic basket.

They talked a little on the way back to the hotel, but Sue knew that something wonderful had gone out of their companionship. But there was still the evening and another day before their time was up. Dressing for dinner that evening, she wondered if she was up to going through with it and facing the strain.

Her glowing face in the mirror revealed shadowed eyes as she outlined her lips in a softly glowing lipstick. Her dress was a pale almond green silk, adding lights to her tawny hair and reflecting in the long jewelled ear-rings. Her health had impro
ved enormously since she had come
to Florida. She had lost a little weight while going through the trauma of losing a beloved housekeeper plus the shock of her father remarrying. Now she had regained it. Her curves were softly rounded, her breast firm, giving her an outline which was very provocative and feminine. The tawny hair had a new life of its own, full of healthy highlights and shining in a mass on to her apricot-coloured shoulders. Two fragile straps graced the top of her dress, cut provocatively to show the tops of her softly rising breasts.

She was not the same girl who had come to Florida a short time ago. The new Sue had come to life in Jay’s arms and she was afraid of her, afraid that she might be tempted to take what Jay offered and so reap new unhappiness for herself.

A sudden picture of his face rose before her, his dark eyes, that very masculine nose, a tenderly curved mouth with no sign of weakness about it, only a hint of obstinacy. Quite suddenly Sue stopped denying the truth. She loved Jay. Useless to deny that he had taken her heart with her lips, and it was beyond recall. She loved him madly and hopelessly. She loved his air of careless grace, his mocking smile, his thoughtfulness, his deep voice with its musical undertones, and most of all she loved his kisses and being in the warmth of his arms.

It made her weak to think of belonging to him wholly, to lie in his arms and feel his virile body melting into hers. Her reflection in the mirror showed wide-set eloquent eyes and a tremulous mouth. Snap out of it, you idiot, she told herself.

The discovery, while it was shattering, gave her new courage to keep to her vow never to even consider the kind of husband a man in Jay’s position would make. It simply was not on.

That evening they dined by candlelight because of a power cut. They were in the restaurant in

Duval Street and the waiter informed them that the Key West generators usually gave out between nine and ten in the evening. He appeared to show a certain amount of glee as he lighted their candles, saying he was sure they would agree with him that candlelight was more romantic.

Jay poured out more wine when he had gone and lifted his glass to Sue.

‘To you, my sweet Sue,’ he murmured. ‘Even candlelight can’t dim your beauty this evening. Your sparkle makes me feel jaded.’ He lifted a provocative brow. ‘If it wasn’t that I know differently, I would say that this evening you have the aura of a woman in love.’

Sue felt the tell-tale colour rise in her face and she was grateful for the dim lighting. There was something to be said for the power failure after all.

‘Have you ever been in love, Jay?’ she queried in an attempt to keep her voice on an even keel. ‘I mean really
in love, in the kind of way that transcends all other feelings. I have a reason for asking.’

He gave her a shrewd glance. ‘Would you like to state your reason first?’ he asked politely.

She shook her head. ‘No.’

He smiled and proceeded to look fiercely thoughtful for her benefit.

‘Now let me see, there was a girl in London once, but there was also this girl in Rio

‘You’re teasing,’ she protested. ‘I’m serious.
’

‘I know you are, and you know what I said about being serious? I still mean that. We’re having no complications this evening to spoil anything.’ He reached for her hand across the table and raised it to his lips. We made a bargain to enjoy ourselves
as two holidaymakers, so have fun!’

And they did. They danced into the small hours, with Jay behaving impeccably throughout. His lips never sought anything more than her gleaming hair as they danced and Sue wished it could last for ever.

They went for a nightcap in Sloppy Joe’s bar, and Gloria was there with the redhaired man Sue had seen her having fun with the night of the party.

‘Hi, Jay. Hi, Sue,’ she called as Jay escorted Sue to stools at the bar. ‘Where did you get to the other night at the party? I looked all over for you.’

Gloria was well and truly tight ... as tight as the dress she wore, Sue thought, eyeing it rather shakenly.

The redhaired man was eyeing Sue with appraisal.

‘Aren’t you going to introduce me?’ he asked Gloria, who shrieked with laughter.

Throwing her arms around his neck, she said, ‘Sue Blake. She was at your party the other evening.’

He raised a sandy brow. ‘Really?—and we never met. I shall have to curtail my social activities. It seems I’m missing out on the important things.’

Jay handed Sue a drink, took one himself from the barman and hitched on the stool next to hers. He was not enjoying the conversation much, or the company. He had given a cool nod to Gloria and her companion.

‘The name is Lee Knowles,’ Gloria’s companion said, shaking hands with Sue. ‘Jay always did bag the best girls. Gloria and I are going to a late party. Why not come along?’

‘No, thanks,’ Jay said firmly. ‘We had a long
day sightseeing.’

Soon afterwards Gloria and her companion finished their drink and left.

Jay said, ‘You aren’t running around with Gloria, are you?’

‘No. She telephoned out of the blue and asked me to go to that party.’

‘You didn’t say it was Gloria you’d been out with when I picked you up.’

Sue bridled at his attitude. ‘You didn’t ask.’

The salty tang of the sea drifted in on the night air.

‘Feel like a short walk before we turn in?’ Jay asked after finishing his drink.

‘Why not?’ Sue slid from her stool and they walked to the beach in silence. She glanced up surreptitiously at his clear-cut profile with a stab of misery, for he was withdrawn from any warmth or ardour. But what did she want, for heaven’s sake? She knew there was only one answer, for since discovering her love for him she knew she would be miserable with him and miserable without him.

She knew Jay would find it easy to forget her when she had gone, because nothing had happened to make her presence memorable. They had one day left, and the sudden thought of it prompted her next question.

‘What are we doing tomorrow?’ she asked lightly.

‘I thought we could sail out and go to the living coral reef to snorkel. We can hire an underwater camera and I can teach you the essentials. H
o
w do you feel about underwater swimming?’

‘Never tried it, but it sounds interesting. I’ll certainly give it a whirl,’ she answered enthusiastically.

‘Good girl,’ he said, and reached for her hand as they walked.

As his fingers curled around hers Sue wished he had not taken her hand, for his touch churned up feelings and emotions better left dormant. All she knew was that if Jay chose to pull her close against him her resistance would be nil. The quiet stillness, broken only by the gentle lap of the water, was hypnotic and she was tired after a full day of activity.

Perhaps she swayed with fatigue without being aware of it, but Jay saw it.

‘You’re tired, my sweet,’ he said, putting an arm around her waist. ‘We’ll go back to the hotel.’

At her door he bent his head to kiss her lightly, ‘Have a good night’s sleep,’ he murmured, and smiled with his hands on her shoulders.

‘And you too,’ Sue said bemusedly, her voice not quite steady at the look in his eyes.

It seemed almost unnatural for them to go to separate rooms after their day of fun. Almost as if he had read her thoughts, his hands tightened on her shoulders.

‘Sue, you don’t have to look so beautiful ... a guy hasn’t a chance of keeping his cool with you before him undermining his resistance to your charms,’ he said somewhat thickly.

The growing passion in his dark eyes should have warned her, but she was floating on a dream as tiredness took over. Her tremulous smile was his undoing. She was crushed against him as one hand went to her hair in order to pull her head back to seek her mouth. In a state of torpor, her lips parted beneath his and she pressed herself against him.

Ardent moments passed during which her arms slid around his narrow hips to hold him tight. It
di
d not matter that his lips were bruising hers or that his hold was so intense as if to break every bone in her body. This was Jay in her arms and
she
did not want to let him go.

The sound of voices farther up the corridor slowly broke their hold.

Jay said hoarsely, ‘I think you’d better go quickly before I haul you to my room. Go on. I’m not to be trusted to keep to our bargain tonight.’

The passion she saw darkening his eyes pulled her up abruptly. Was it ... could it be love ... or just plain hunger for a woman in his bed? She unwittingly stared up at him for a tense moment, ignoring a couple passing to their room.

‘Go, for Pete’s sake,’ he said in an urgent undertone, and she went into her room.

As she leaned back against the closed door her breath came in short gasps as her lips burned from the imprint of his mouth. There ought to have been a feeling of relief that she had escaped from something dangerous. Instead, to her everlasting shame, she felt a severe sense of letdown and she gave a soft frustrated cry as she recalled the desire in Jay’s eyes when she had left him. Throwing herself on the bed, she beat her pillow with her fists, knowing that she had to get over this futile obsession for a man who was totally unsuited to her in every way regarding marriage. Even if he did want to marry her she would not consent.

Lying in bed later, she asked herself whether or not she would be better giving in to him. At least she would have the memory of belonging
to
him. But you wouldn’t belong to him, or he to you, common sense argued. Sharing his bed would prove nothing.

She was up the next morning, having gone out like a light into a sleep of exhaustion. Like the healthy person she was, she was bright-eyed and full of optimism again, refusing to dwell on her torment of the previous evening. In her Bermuda shorts with her beach bag at the ready she left her I room, and ran directly into Jay leaving his room. He reached out to grip her upper arms at the collision to steady her.

‘No need to rush,’ he told her with a grin. ‘We’re up in good time to have breakfast before we set off.’

Sue managed a very bright smile, although she was aware of his impersonal touch and his cool approach. Had he been awake until the small hours regretting letting her go so easily when he knew he ; could have got her in his bed? Sue doubted it. He looked vibrant and glowing with his dark hair still damp from the shower and his tan a healthy mahogany emphasising the clean cut features.

‘Sleep well?’ he enquired.

‘Like a log,’ she answered lightly. ‘And you?’

‘I always sleep well,’ laconically.

‘What, no bogey to keep you awake?’ she queried as he took her arm along the corridor.

He laughed down at her. ‘You said that as though you hoped there might be!’

‘Now why should I do that when I’m depending upon you for a nice day out?’

‘Sure it’s what you would like to do?’ he asked. ‘Yes, of course.’

The yacht skimmed across the blue waters to the coral reef. Jay had all the equipment they would need to go skin diving and he gave Sue a quick run down on everything. He taught her how to use a snorkel, and assured her that there was nothing to worry about as he would be with her when she
lived below the surface to the coral reef.

The air was still and clear and warmed the water to a pleasing temperature. Sue inhaled strange exciting scents, unfamiliar and tantalising, as Jay anchored the boat. Not even her imagination had prepared her for the magic of it all. It was her first underwater experience, and the water closed over her head like blue-silk as it took the weight of her cylinder. She had followed Jay into the depths, going over the side of the boat with a fast beating heart.

Rainbows of colour flashed before her eyes as small shoals of tiny coloured fish shot away from her intrusion into their domain. Through her mask she could see Jay moving just ahead, his skin glistening in the strange underwater glow.

Presently he was turning round to take her wrist and lead her to formations of coral in fairytale, clusters of ivory lace. Soon she was swimming with confidence, using the underwater camera that Jay had hired for the occasion. Once when she was taking a photograph of a large sea anemone she caught him watching her and they held each other’s gaze for breathtaking moments. His slow smile twisted her heart and she knew that for her life would never be the sa
m
e again without him.