Mills & Boon is proud to present a fabulous collection of fantastic novels by bestselling, much loved author

ANNE MATHER

Anne has a stellar record of achievement within the

publishing industry, having written over one hundred

and sixty books, with worldwide sales of more than

forty-eight MILLION copies in multiple languages.

This amazing collection of classic stories offers a chance

for readers to recapture the pleasure Anne’s powerful,

passionate writing has given.

We are sure you will love them all!

I’ve always wanted to write—which is not to say I’ve always wanted to be a professional writer. On the contrary, for years I only wrote for my own pleasure and it wasn’t until my husband suggested sending one of my stories to a publisher that we put several publishers’ names into a hat and pulled one out. The rest, as they say, is history. And now, one hundred and sixty-two books later, I’m literally—excuse the pun—staggered by what’s happened.

I had written all through my infant and junior years and on into my teens, the stories changing from children’s adventures to torrid gypsy passions. My mother used to gather these manuscripts up from time to time, when my bedroom became too untidy, and dispose of them! In those days, I used not to finish any of the stories and Caroline, my first published novel, was the first I’d ever completed. I was newly married then and my daughter was just a baby, and it was quite a job juggling my household chores and scribbling away in exercise books every chance I got. Not very professional, as you can imagine, but that’s the way it was.

These days, I have a bit more time to devote to my work, but that first love of writing has never changed. I can’t imagine not having a current book on the typewriter—yes, it’s my husband who transcribes everything on to the computer. He’s my partner in both life and work and I depend on his good sense more than I care to admit.

We have two grown-up children, a son and a daughter, and two almost grown-up grandchildren, Abi and Ben. My e-mail address is mystic-am@msn.com and I’d be happy to hear from any of my wonderful readers.

Pale Orchid
Anne Mather

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Cover

About the Author

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

THE WIDE-BODIED JET taxied into its unloading bay, and the extending arm of the disembarking gangway was fitted into position. Across the tarmac, another plane was just taking off, its wings dipping to starboard as it executed the manoeuvre which would take it out across the blue waters of the Pacific, skirting the beach at Waikiki before heading back towards California.

Watching the American Airlines jet climb into the late afternoon sky, Laura Huyton wished, with an urgency bordering on desperation, that she could be aboard that plane, heading back to San Francisco, and on to London. Seven thousand miles was a long way to come to face probable humiliation, and she wondered if she would have set out so confidently if she had known where her quest would lead her.

Most of the other passengers waiting to disembark were holidaymakers, bound for one or other of the many excellent hotels Honolulu boasted. Some, unlike herself, were only stopping off in Oahu, en route for other islands in the Hawaiian group, but all of them, it seemed to Laura, were looking forward to their arrival. There had been a definite air of excitement in the aircraft, ever since it left San Francisco, and the stewardesses in their long Polynesian dresses added their own particular colour to the trip.

‘This your first visit to Hawaii?’ inquired the rather stout matron, who had been sitting beside her all trip, and who had tried on several occasions to engage Laura in conversation—without any success.

‘No.’

Laura’s response was monosyllabic, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t want to talk about Hawaii; she didn’t want to be here; and had it not been for a brutal trick of fate, she doubted would ever have come here again.

‘You’ve been before then?’ persisted the woman, as the door to the plane was opened and passengers started to block the gangways in their haste to disembark.

‘Yes.’ Laura slipped the strap of her bag over her shoulder and gathered together the book and magazines she had bought to read on the journey. Then, feeling obliged to say something, if only to get the woman to move out of the aisle seat, she added briefly, ‘I used to work here some years ago. It’s not a place you forget.’

‘Absolutely not,’ exclaimed her inquisitor enthusiastically, getting to her feet, and although she would obviously have liked to continue this discussion, she was compelled to move ahead. ‘Have a good time,’ she added, as Laura slipped into the queue some spaces behind her.

‘I intend to.’ Laura allowed a small smile that gave her pale features animation. A good time, she reflected ruefully, was the last thing she was likely to have; but that was her problem and no one else’s.

The pretty Polynesian girls who waited in the arrivals hall had almost exhausted the supply of flower garlands they handed out to holiday visitors. The leis, as they were called, were very popular with tourists, and Laura could still remember her delight when, on her first visit to the islands, she had received the symbolic welcome. Today, however, she sidestepped the smiling throng and hurried on down the escalator, to take her seat on one of the articulated buses, which transported passengers between the arrivals hall and the terminal buildings.

By the time she had collected her luggage from the carousel and summoned a cab, the sun was sinking and, giving the address of the small hotel she remembered, just off Kalakaua Avenue, she settled back to enjoy the ride. Through the open windows of the cab, the air was deliciously warm and pungently familiar. Even before they crossed the Kapalama Canal, she could smell the Dole Canneries, and the water tank, painted to resemble a pineapple, rose like a huge yellow dome, sprouting its prickly stalk.

To her right, the less attractive aspects of the island’s economy gave way to the waving masts of the yacht marina. Dozens of sailing craft, from modest dinghies to ocean-going schooners, were moored in the basin, and Laura couldn’t help but wonder if Jason still owned his schooner. Not that it had any relevance, she assured herself impatiently, determinedly turning her attention to the exotic elegance of a floating restaurant moored at the quay. How Jason Montefiore might or might not be conducting his private affairs was no concern of hers.

The cab was approaching Kalakaua Avenue, and Laura gazed out at the towering hotel blocks. There seemed more than she remembered, even the ‘Pink Palace’, as the Royal Hawaiian Hotel used to be called, was overshadowed now by the looming curve of the Sheraton. But the market place was still there, where Jason had once bought her a string of real pearls and the engraved gold medallion, she still carried in her handbag.

Just beyond the imposing towers of the Hyatt Regency, the cab turned into a side street and a hundred yards down, past an intersection, came to a halt outside the modest façade of the Kapulani Reef Hotel. Laura climbed out, dragging her suitcase after her, and handed over the necessary dollars. Thank goodness she had remembered the name of this place, she thought, looking up at its faded exterior. The paint was chipping on the balconies, and the sun had yellowed its colour-washed walls. But so far as she knew, its reputation was still intact, and one of the girls at the agency used to recommend it. Of course, that was more than three years ago now, but it could not be helped. Hotels in Waikiki were expensive, and those Jason had taken her to were quite beyond her means. The Kapulani used to be both clean and reasonable, and she did not have a lot of choice in the matter. Besides, with luck, it might only be for a couple of nights.

She had ‘phoned ahead from San Francisco, and she was expected. A polite receptionist had her sign in, and then a Chinese porter was summoned to take her to her room. The lift transported them three floors up to room number 409, and Laura felt obliged to tip the man, even though his manner was anything but friendly. Still, he had carried her suitcase, she reflected, as she took a proper look at her surroundings.

It was clean and neat, she had to admit, the bed one of the wide divans she had become used to during the time she had worked in Honolulu. There was a chest of drawers and a fitted closet, a round glass-topped table and a chair, and the ubiquitous colour television, standing by the open balcony doors. There was also a telephone, the one object Laura most wanted to see, but she put her immediate impulses aside and walked into the adjoining bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later she emerged, considerably cooler and fresher after a shower. Wrapped in a towel, she threw her soiled clothes on to the chair, and then rescued the key to her suitcase from her handbag and deposited the case on the bed.

There was a definite disorganisation to the contents of the suitcase, but it couldn’t be helped. For the past three days, she had thought little about her appearance, and the garments she had packed with reasonable care in London, were now muddled beyond belief. That they were not more creased was due to the resiliency of modern fabrics, and she drew out the short-sleeved shirt and pants that were first to hand.

Running a brush through the fine silky hair, that she generally plaited and wore in a single braid for working purposes, Laura contained her impatience and walked out on to the balcony. It was getting dark, but the air was as soft and velvety as a moth’s wing. The temperature stayed balmy most of the time, only becoming hot and sticky in the summer when the wind called the kona blew. Usually, the climate was perfect, a delicious blend of sun and trade winds, that made the islands a garden paradise.

Away to the right, Laura could hear the sound of the surf, as it creamed along the shoreline, and she was tempted to leave what she had to do until the morning and go for a walk along the beach. It would be so nice to forget her troubles for a while, and enjoy the exotic beauty of her surroundings. But then, the memory of Pamela, lying in the hospital in San Francisco, returned to haunt her, and putting the brush aside, she quickly threaded her hair into its neat queue.

Crossing the room to where the ‘phone sat, on the low bureau beside the bed, Laura reflected that even that image was not as disturbing as the scene which had met her eyes on her arrival in San Francisco. If she hadn’t responded to Pamela’s ‘phone call so promptly, if she hadn’t ignored Pierce’s complaints about her ingratitude, and taken the first available flight from London, she might never have found her sister alive. As it was, Pamela had been unconscious, the terrible meaning of the empty bottle of sleeping tablets on the table beside her, telling their own tale. Laura shivered, even now. Without her unexpected intervention, Pamela would be dead—and all because of Mike Kazantis.

Before picking up the ‘phone, she reached for her bag, and drew out the handful of letters she had found scattered about her sister’s body. Without them, she might never have learned the name of the man who had caused her sister so much heartbreak. Pamela could have refused to tell her. Indeed, at first, she had denied any connection between the letters and her attempted suicide. But when the doctors at the Mount Rushmore Hospital had informed Laura that her sister was pregnant, she had immediately understood the situation.

Of course, Mike Kazantis’s name would have meant nothing to Pamela. It was less than two years since she had applied for a nursing post in Sausalito, and her work with the elderly, and very rich, Mrs Amy Goldstein, had seemed far removed from the commercial success of Jason Montefiore.

Naturally, after her own experiences in the United States, Laura had tried to persuade her younger sister not to leave England. But short of explaining exactly why she had returned to London, there was little she could say; and besides, it had seemed unlikely that Pamela would make the same mistakes.

Laura shook her head now, and reached for the ‘phone. It was not a situation she had ever expected to have to deal with. When she was making her arrangements to accompany Pierce to the Camargue at the beginning of March, Pamela had been writing, saying how happy she was, and there had been no mention of her relationship with Jason’s brother-in-law. Had she known he was married? Was that why she had not mentioned his name to her sister? The little Laura had read of his letters, gave no evidence one way or the other. All that was clear was that the letters had ceased, approximately six weeks ago. The most recent postmark was March 14th, and Laura had had no difficulty in making the association.

She rang the club first, guessing that as it was after six o’clock Jason was most likely to be there. If he was in Honolulu, of course, she reflected, crossing her fingers. There was no absolute guarantee. Just her own recollection of his movements, and the fervent hope that this trip to Hawaii had not been a fool’s errand.

A man answered, a man whose voice she didn’t recognise, and adopting her most confident tone, she asked to speak to Mr Montefiore. ‘It’s a personal matter of some urgency,’ she explained, hoping that by mentioning the personal nature of her call, the man would at least be curious.

‘Just a minute,’ he said, and the line went dead, indicating she assumed that she had been dealt with by a switchboard, and that her call was receiving more serious attention. Come on, come on, she urged impatiently, running first one, and then a second, moist palm over the knees of her trousers. Jason wasn’t the Pope, after all. What on earth could be taking so long?

‘Yes?’

Another male voice had taken the place of the switchboard attendant, and Laura tried to identify the brusque address. It wasn’t Jason, that much was certain, but there was something vaguely familiar about that clipped inquiry.

‘Oh, hello,’ she said again, swallowing her uncertainty. ‘I—er—I’d like to speak to Mr Montefiore, please. This—this is Laura Huyton.’

‘Laura!’ The voice definitely exhibited surprise now, and the warmer vowels gave her her first clue.

‘Phil?’ she ventured, and hearing his swift intake of breath: ‘Phil Logan? Yes, it’s me; Laura.’ She took a gulp of air. ‘Is Jason there?’

‘Where are you, Laura?’ Without answering, he turned the question against her. ‘You sound pretty close. Are you here, in Oahu?’

Laura hesitated, and then she replied resignedly, ‘Yes. I arrived a couple of hours ago. Phil, I need to speak to Jason urgently. If he’s there, I’d appreciate it if you’d get him to the ‘phone.’

There was silence for a few seconds, and then Logan spoke again. ‘Does Jason know you’re coming?’ he inquired, his tone almost imperceptibly cooler now. And at her swift denial, ‘What are you doing in Honolulu, Laura? I have to tell you—I don’t think Jason will agree to see you.’

Laura’s lips compressed. ‘What I’m doing here I’ll tell Jason, and no one else,’ she retorted. ‘Don’t you think you should at least give him a chance to refuse? It is important. You can tell him that.’

Again the silence stretched between them, and Laura could feel the nerves in her stomach tightening unpleasantly. She had eaten little since that morning, and the hollow feeling she was experiencing was partly due to her emptiness. But, she couldn’t deny a certain irritation at the attitude Phil Logan was adopting, and although she knew she had no right to expect anything of Jason, she resented being thwarted by one of his employees.

‘I can’t ask Jason to speak to you, because he isn’t here,’ Logan announced at length, and Laura expelled her breath on a sigh.

‘You mean—he’s at the apartment?’

‘Mr Montefiore doesn’t live in Honolulu any more, Laura,’ he responded reluctantly, his deliberate use of Jason’s surname creating a barrier even a fool could not overlook; and Laura was no fool. ‘He … er … if you’d like to give me the address of the hotel where you’re staying, and your ‘phone number, I’ll pass your message on. That’s the best I can do.’

Laura’s jaw quivered, and she clamped her teeth together to arrest the weakness. But it was anger, not emotion, that caused her breathing to quicken and the blood to run more thinly through her veins. How dare Phil Logan behave as if she was some pitiful hanger-on, desperate for a hand-out? she thought furiously. When had she ever treated him with anything less than courtesy, even when she had been living in Jason’s luxurious penthouse and Logan had been pulling beers in the nightclub bar?

‘Thanks,’ she said now, deciding there was no point in pursuing her frustration with him. ‘I’m staying at the Kapulani Reef Hotel. It’s on Haleiwa Avenue—’

‘I know where it is,’ responded Logan swiftly, evidently taking it down, and Laura contained her resentment at his tone.

‘Room 409,’ she added, just for good measure, and then rang off before he could make some comment about her choice of accommodation.

But with the receiver replaced on its cradle, Laura found that she was shaking. Somehow, she had never expected Jason’s employees to treat her like a pariah. Phil Logan had acted as if Jason had thrown her out, instead of the way it really was. Was that what Jason had told his men? That he had thrown her over?

Getting up from the bed, she walked nervously across to the open windows, rubbing her palms against the unexpectedly chilled flesh of her upper arms. So much for speaking to Jason tonight, she thought bitterly. He might not even get the message. If she didn’t hear from him within the next twenty-four hours, she would have to think of some other method of finding him. But how? Logan hadn’t even told her where he was living. He could be on the mainland for all she knew. Over two thousand miles away, and as remote as he had ever been.

She supposed she ought to go downstairs and find the coffee shop. Maybe, with something to eat and several cups of coffee inside her she would feel more capable of handling the situation. Right now, she had the horrible suspicion that her journey had been a waste of time, and she couldn’t help remembering that Pierce had threatened to fire her if she didn’t return within the week.

Stepping out on to the verandah, she rested her hands on the iron rail and looked down at the street below. There were few people walking, but there were plenty of cars using the connection between Kalakaua Avenue and Kapiolani Boulevard; long expensive limousines, driven by the more affluent members of the community, through to topless beach buggies, rattling along at a reckless pace.

But Laura hardly saw them. She was thinking about Pierce and his objections to her trip. Of course, he had not known before she left exactly what she would find in San Francisco, any more than she had. Even so, when she had ‘phoned him from Pamela’s apartment after her sister had been taken to the hospital, he had not shown a lot of sympathy. Pierce Carver was used to getting his own way, and that did not include losing his secretary at a significant point in his latest book.

Laura sighed. As the author of some fifteen novels, and popularly regarded as the doyen of psychological thrillers, Pierce would survive, whatever happened. Pamela might not. For the next few days, he would have to persevere with the dictaphone he had acquired some years ago, and if that was not satisfactory, he would no doubt make other arrangements. Whether those ‘arrangements’ would involve her dismissal, Laura could not be absolutely sure. Pierce was artistic and temperamental, and he tended to say things in anger he did not actually mean. Not that she considered herself indispensable, of course. No one was that. But she had worked for him for almost three years, and she knew his idiosyncrasies so well.

She remembered his dismay when she had told him about Pamela’s ‘phone call. ‘But you can’t just walk out on me, Laura,’ he had wailed. ‘We’re at the most crucial stage of the book. Whatever slough of despond your sister has got herself into cannot—simply cannot—be allowed to interfere with your obligations to me. Heavens, the girl’s not a child, is she? She’s over twenty-one. You’re her sister, not her mother!’

There had been more of the same, but Laura had had no time to listen. She had been too busy making ‘phone calls of her own, to the airport, to the mini cab service, and packing her belongings, to give him her undivided attention. She was sorry she had to leave him in the lurch. She knew how he depended upon her. But Pamela depended on her, too, and the apprehension she felt about her sister over-ruled her remorse.

She was so relieved they had been in England when the call came through. For the past four weeks, she had been staying in Aix, at the villa in Provence, which Pierce had rented to write his latest novel. Had he not grown bored with his surroundings, had he not felt the need for a change of scenery, he would not have suggested flying back to London, and there was no doubt now he regretted his decision to return home.

‘You know how much I enjoy our sessions,’ he had protested, when the issue of the dictaphone had been raised. ‘Without your reactions, how will I know if I’m on the right track?’

‘You managed perfectly well before I came on the scene,’ Laura had pointed out swiftly, but in so doing, she had given Pierce the opening he was looking for.

‘So I did,’ he had remarked acidly, folding his arms as he was prone to do in moments of stress. ‘So I did. Beware I don’t decide I can manage without you. There are plenty of out-of-work secretaries simply panting to take your place!’

He was right. Laura knew that; and it had been with a certain amount of trepidation that she had told him she was taking a week’s leave of absence with or without his consent. Pierce could be vindictive at times, and he might just decide to be awkward. She could only hope he would find it less easy to choose a replacement than he imagined, and that absence would achieve what reasoned argument could not.

With a feeling of anxious frustration, Laura abandoned this particular line of thought, and walked back into the bedroom. The hospital, she thought suddenly. She ought to ring the hospital and find out how Pamela was progressing. It had been eight o’clock, San Francisco time, when she last made an inquiry, and despite the doctor’s assurance that her sister would pull through, her mental state was so precarious, Laura couldn’t quite believe them.

The night staff at Mount Rushmore were reassuring. Pamela had had a reasonably good day and she was sleeping. The toxic level of her blood was falling, and if her psychological report proved satisfactory, she might be allowed to go home in a couple of days.

‘There’s no physical danger then?’ Laura persisted, remembering articles she had read about toxic hepatitis and stomach bleeding.

‘It seems unlikely,’ replied the charge nurse smoothly. ‘I think your sister’s mental state is what we need to monitor. You do realise, don’t you, she could always try this again?’

She realised, Laura reflected tensely, replacing the receiver. That was why she was here, in Honolulu. That was why she had agreed to contact Jason, on her sister’s behalf. Naturally, she hadn’t told Pamela of his relationship to Mike Kazantis, but after her sister confessed that Mike was no longer using the address he had put on his letters, there had seemed no alternative but to ask Jason’s assistance. She had reassured Pamela with the conviction that if Jason could help, he would, but she had not really believed it. Still, she was prepared to do anything to take that look of desperation from her sister’s face, and if it meant humbling herself before Jason Montefiore—and his brother-in-law—she would do it.

Unable to stand the inactivity any longer, Laura gathered up her bag and left the room. It was obvious Jason was unlikely to call this evening. Even if he got her message, which was by no means a foregone conclusion, he would evidently be in no hurry to contact her. If Phil Logan’s attitude was anything to go by, he might not even acknowledge her call, and the prospect of having to tell Pamela she had failed was not something she wanted to contemplate.

The coffee shop was crowded and deciding she couldn’t stand to wait, Laura left the hotel and headed towards the floodlit brilliance of Kalakaua Avenue. After the comparative quiet of her room, Waikiki’s main thoroughfare was decidedly noisy, but she welcomed the activity to numb her anxious brain.

Finding a fast-food establishment, she ordered a burger and some coffee, and then carried her tray to a plastic booth and tried to swallow the sandwich. It wasn’t easy. She realised belatedly a bowl of soup or some salad might have gone down more smoothly, but it was too late now to have second thoughts. Picking sesame seeds from the roll, she wondered if Phil Logan would tell her how she might get in touch with Mike Kazantis if Jason’s whereabouts were verboten. Or had he orders to avoid any awkward inquiries? It was always possible that Jason had known of Mike’s involvement with her sister, and obviously he would not want his sister to be upset. Laura cupped her chin on one hand. Whatever happened, it was unlikely that either Mike or his wife lived in the islands. Mike worked for Jason’s father, and so far as she knew, Marco Montefiore’s interests did not encroach on his son’s territory.

Laura’s lips twisted. How on earth had Pamela got herself involved with the Montefiore family? The brief conversation she had had with her sister had not elicited that kind of information. Besides, so far as she knew, Pamela did not know of Mike’s connection with the Montefiores, and it was possible, that as Mrs Goldstein’s private therapist, they could have met socially. Even if her sister had known the truth behind Laura’s own break-up with Jason, she could still have become infatuated with Kazantis. There was nothing to connect him with Laura’s abortive liaison, and if Kazantis had known of the association, he was unlikely to mention it to Pamela, for obvious reasons.

Pushing the burger aside, Laura lifted the plastic beaker containing her coffee and thoughtfully sipped the fragrant brew. American coffee was always so good, she mused inconsequently. Even the unimaginative container could not spoil the taste of its contents.

Gazing blindly out through the open doors on to the busy street beyond, she wondered again what she would do if her efforts to reach either Jason or his brother-in-law proved useless. And why—even if by some chance she did get to speak to Jason—did she think he might be able, or willing, to help her? What did she really expect him to do? What could he do? Mike Kazantis was his sister’s husband. Surely, it was the height of arrogance to believe he might put Pamela’s well-being before that of Irene.

It seemed an insoluble problem, and her brain ached with the effort of trying to solve it. She was not at all convinced that approaching Mike Kazantis was the right thing to do. If Pamela had been more reasonable, if she had been prepared to go back to England, as soon as she was fit, Laura was sure they would have found a way to sort things out. One parent families were not so unusual these days, if Pamela wanted to keep her baby. And if not, there were always adoption agencies eager and willing to find the child a good home.

But Pamela had not been reasonable. Her unwilling return to consciousness to find her sister at her bedside and, it transpired, in possession of all the facts of her case, had elicited an entirely different response. ‘There must be some mistake,’ she had insisted, the faith she had lost so drastically returning now that Laura was there to listen. ‘Mike wouldn’t just abandon me. He wouldn’t! Something must be wrong. Perhaps he’s been taken ill, or had an accident. If only there was someone we could ask. Someone who could give us a clue to his whereabouts. Is there no one you know, Laura? No one you met while you were over here?’

Whether Pamela knew exactly what she was asking, Laura had no idea. Certainly she had never confided the true facts of her relationship with Jason Montefiore to her sister. But perhaps Pamela sensed, or suspected, that there had been more to Laura’s abrupt return to England than the casual explanation that she had grown tired of living so far from London. Whatever, Laura had felt compelled to use what influence she had to try and set her sister’s mind at rest, and that was why she was here in Hawaii, facing the increasing conviction that she was wasting her time.

The situation seemed hardly brighter in the morning. Laura had not slept well, and after ringing the hospital and ensuring herself that Pamela was still making progress, she considered what her next move should be. She could ring the club again, she supposed, although the prospect was not one she favoured. Besides, only the cleaning staff were likely to be there at this hour of the morning, and none of them would risk their jobs by giving out private information. And perhaps she was being overly pessimistic anyway. Jason might telephone. There was still time.

The telephone rang while she was in the shower, but although she dashed out of the bathroom to take the call, a towel wrapped hastily around her dripping body, it was an early morning call meant for someone else. ‘Aloha, this is your wake-up service,’ announced the mechanical voice, and Laura slammed down the receiver, feeling the painful ache of tears behind her eyes.

Dressed again, in the cotton pants and shirt she had worn the evening before, she stood in front of the mirror to plait her hair. She had no particular desire to look at her reflection, the evidence of the disturbed nights she had spent since Pamela’s call a visual depressant. But she couldn’t help assessing her appearance with Jason’s critical eyes, and her conclusion was not flattering. Too tall, too thin, and too plain, she thought bitterly, wondering, not for the first time, whatever it was he had seen in her. She was certainly nothing like the girls who had worked in his club or hung around the bar, hoping to attract his attention. They had all had one thing in common: an unswerving faith in their own desirability, whereas Laura had always doubted her appeal.

She sighed now, her hands falling limply to her sides. From the very beginning, she had been bemused by Jason’s interest in her, and perhaps that was why he had succeeded where other men had failed. If she had not been so naïvely flattered by his attentions, she might have recognised him sooner for what he was, instead of learning too late how easily she had been deceived.

She shook her head. It was too late now to change the past. And in spite of her experiences, she had succeeded in making a new life for herself with Pierce. There had actually been days when she had not thought about Jason Montefiore and the devastating influence he had had on her. Until Pamela’s ‘phone call, that was, and the inescapable connotations it had aroused …

It was barely eight o’clock when she went down to the coffee shop and ordered some coffee. The menu didn’t interest her, but realising that starving herself would help no one, she chose scrambled eggs and toast. Trying to do them justice, she surveyed her fellow diners enviously. How nice it would have been to have nothing more momentous on her mind than what bikini she would wear to the beach, Laura mused wryly. With her pale skin, she was definitely a rarity, and it was not a distinction she enjoyed.

After the waitress had taken away her half-eaten plate of eggs, Laura sipped her third cup of coffee and wondered what she ought to do now. She supposed she should stay around the hotel, if only to be on hand should Jason make an attempt to contact her. On the other hand, if he had not ‘phoned by lunchtime, she could surely discount his doing so, and then she would have to decide whether or not to try the club in person.

Her decision made, she told the receptionist at the desk she was expecting a call, and then joined the other holidaymakers congregating beside the small pool. Seated in the shade on a padded lounger, she made an effort to appear as nonchalant as the other guests, but she was acutely alert to the paging call of the receptionist’s voice.

From time to time, a lissom Polynesian girl, dressed in a flowered bikini, with a matching kanga looped about her waist, came to offer cocktails, fruit drinks or coffee. But Laura always refused her lilting inquiry, and when a shadow fell across her for the fourth time, she lifted her head impatiently.

‘Thank you, I don’t want …’ she was beginning rather tersely, when her throat dried and the words choked to silence in her mouth. ‘Heavens—Jason!’ she got out disbelievingly, scrambling hastily to her feet, but her knees felt ridiculously unsteady as she faced the man across the width of the lounger.

CHAPTER TWO

‘HELLO, LAURA.’

Jason’s voice was cool and polite, his tone detached and incurious, as if her arrival in the islands was no surprise to him. On the contrary, there was a cynical gleam in the depths of his pale gold eyes, and his expression was resigned and only slightly guarded.

‘I … er … I thought you’d ring,’ Laura stammered now, caught unaware by her own unwelcome response to his dark magnetism. She had thought she had recovered from that unhealthy infatuation, but it seemed she had been premature in dismissing his attraction.

‘I did,’ he replied briefly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, and she noticed, inconsequently, how much older he looked. The lines that etched his dark features were deeply ingrained, and the hair that lay so smoothly against his head was distinctly threaded with grey. ‘You were not available,’ he added, glancing behind him to where two other men were lounging by the pool bar.

Realising he had not come alone, Laura felt a resurgence of the resentment which had sustained her through the long weeks following her return to England. Of course, she thought bitterly, a man like him would need a bodyguard. He must have many enemies, not just here, but on the mainland.

‘I rang yesterday evening,’ he continued, observing her changing expression with impassive eyes. ‘Logan said it was urgent. I presume he exaggerated.’

‘I … why … no!’ Laura gathered her wandering thoughts, and adopted an air of concentration. ‘He—Logan, that is—doubted you would wish to speak to me. I’m afraid I went for a walk. You should have left a message.’

Jason expelled his breath evenly. ‘Yes,’ he said flatly. ‘Yes, I expect I should. Well—I am here now. I suggest we find somewhere we can talk.’

‘Oh—yes.’ Laura looked about her awkwardly, realising for the first time that their conversation was being observed by at least a dozen pairs of curious eyes. And why not, she reflected drily. They must be wondering what a man like Jason Montefiore could possibly want with a pale-skinned English girl of nondescript appearance, when he could evidently have his pick of any of the golden-skinned beauties lining the pool.

‘I assume you have no objections to coming with me?’ Jason inquired, as they walked towards the hotel entrance, and Laura cast him a sideways glance.

‘Coming with you?’ she echoed faintly, acutely aware of the shortcomings of her outfit compared to the fine silk of his beige suit.

‘I thought we might use the yacht,’ he essayed politely, allowing her to precede him into the hotel. ‘We can hardly talk here.’

‘Why not?’

Laura’s braid swung over one shoulder as she twisted her head towards him, and his lips parted in a thin smile. ‘I think we will use the yacht,’ he responded, striding lithely through the lobby and pushing wide the swing door for her to precede him out on to the front steps of the building. ‘You initiated this meeting, Laura,’ he added crisply. ‘The least you can do is to allow me to choose its venue.’

Aware of the two men from the bar following them, Laura had little choice but to step out into the sunlight. Rubbing her palms against her upper arms, she saw the sleek silver Mercedes waiting at the kerb, and her heart beat a little faster in spite of her misgivings.

Jason went ahead of her down the steps, and she saw him loosen the button beneath his tie and pull the knot away from his collar. So even he felt the heat, she reflected tensely, glad of the small imperfection. Then, as the doors opened behind her, she descended the steps, just as a uniformed chauffeur emerged to open the car doors for them.

‘Get in,’ advised Jason briefly, his eyes already looking beyond her to the two men behind. She did so, with reluctance, closing her ears to the terse instructions Jason was issuing, not looking his way again even when she felt the depression of his weight on the cushioned seat beside her.

The door was closed, and immediately the air-conditioning inside the car chilled her flesh. With the glass screen between front and back raised, they were enclosed in a world of smoked glass sophistication, and Laura couldn’t help remembering the last occasion she had ridden with him. There had been antagonism between them then, as there was now, but also a compelling familiarity—an addictive intimacy Laura had found it so hard to live without. She had known him so well—or at least she had thought she had—and there were times in those early days when she had wondered how she had ever found the strength to leave him, even after what she had learned. The truth, she had discovered to her cost, was that love did not always conform to a code of ethics. It was headstrong and unpredictable, and it had taken many months and many sleepless nights to get Jason Montefiore out of her blood …

‘You flew in—when? Yesterday?’ he inquired now, and she was forced to withdraw her attention from the leather strap hanging by the window.

‘Yesterday afternoon,’ she agreed, giving him a swift look of appraisal. He had lost weight, she noticed unwillingly, but the deeply-set eyes and thin-lipped mouth were still as disturbingly sensual as ever. His cheeks had hollowed, but the skin stretched tautly over his bones gave his dark face the strength and character she remembered, his Italian ancestry only evident in the burnished darkness of his hair.

‘From London?’ he persisted, raising one leg to rest his ankle across his knee, and the fine cloth of his pants tautened across his thighs.

‘No,’ she responded shortly, turning her eyes away from his unconscious sexuality, and concentrating on the back of the chauffeur’s head. Evidently the two other men were riding in a separate car, for there was only themselves and the driver in this one. After all, what use had Jason for a bodyguard with her? He was perfectly capable of subduing her, should he so wish.

She thought he might pursue his questions, but he didn’t. As if deciding he could wait if she could, he lounged a little lower in his seat, resting one leanfingered hand on his drawn-up ankle and gazing broodingly out of the tinted window.

It didn’t take them long to reach the marina. Jason’s driver evidently knew the city well, and in only a few minutes they had reached the basin where dozens of yachts had their mooring. The Mercedes drove into the parking area, but before he could get out to open the door for his passengers, Jason had already taken care of it.

‘You can pick me up at four o’clock,’ he told the man, flicking back the cuff of his brown silk shirt and glancing at the narrow gold watch circling his wrist. ‘If I need you before, I’ll call.’

‘Yes, sir.’

The chauffeur touched his cap with exaggerated courtesy, and Jason’s lean face displayed the first trace of humour Laura had seen since his appearance. ‘Okay, Ben,’ he acknowledged drily, jerking open Laura’s door and offering her his hand to alight. ‘I’ll see you later.’

Laura got out without any assistance, and Jason’s hand fell to his side without comment. Slamming the door behind her, he waited until his driver had moved away before starting off towards the boardwalk, his long stride covering the ground easily so that Laura had to hurry to keep up.

He was one of the few men who did not make her conscious of her height, she thought reluctantly, his lean frame overtaking hers by a good six inches. It was one of the first things she had noticed about him; that, and the lazy brilliance of his eyes. The fact that he had been at least ten years older than she was had not registered. Despite the fact that until then she had never been interested in older men, her attraction to Jason had been immediate and overwhelming. Was that how it had been with Pamela? she wondered, struggling manfully to remember exactly why she was here.

Jason’s yacht, the Laura M, was moored at the end of the jetty. Laura had thought he might have changed the yacht—or changed its name—but the 84 foot schooner was exactly as she remembered it, its trim white lines gleaming as it nudged against the boardwalk. A man in white shorts and a knitted cotton shirt was already on board, leaning on the rail, talking to a member of the crew of the adjoining craft. But he quickly straightened when he saw Jason, and Laura’s lips parted as she recognised Alec Cowray, the captain of the Laura M.

‘Good morning, Mr Montefiore,’ he greeted Jason politely, lifting his cap and then pushing it back on his bald pate. ‘I didna expect ye to be coming aboard this day.’

‘I didn’t know myself, Mr Cowray,’ responded Jason drily, stepping on to the deck. ‘Don’t disturb yourself. I shan’t be staying longer than a few hours. I gather we do have some food on board?’

‘No problem,’ averred the stout Scotsman, his expression mirroring his confusion, and then he saw Laura. ‘Christ!’ he exclaimed, forgetting to moderate his language. ‘I don’t believe it!’

‘Hello, Mr Cowray. How are you?’ asked Laura awkwardly, following Jason towards the forward hatch. ‘It’s good to see you again.’

‘It’s good to see you, too, miss,’ declared Alec Cowray fervently. He looked helplessly towards his employer. ‘Will that be lunch for two, Mr Montefiore?’

‘Provisionally,’ replied Jason crisply, giving Laura a thoughtful glance. ‘Don’t go to a lot of trouble, Alec. Miss Huyton may not be staying.’

Laura pressed her lips together to prevent herself from voicing an indignant comment as she followed Jason down the gleaming stairway. She was more convinced than ever now that he knew exactly why she had come to the islands, and she fed her resentment in an effort to dispel the effect her surroundings were having on her. He had brought her here deliberately, she thought, knowing what association it would have for her. The first time Jason had made love with her had been aboard this yacht, and she averted her eyes determinedly from the panelled doors to his stateroom. She knew the craft so well—she knew there were three suites; an upper and lower saloon; and a well-equipped galley aft. Yet, for all its size, a crew of three could handle it, using the powerful diesel engines when the sails were not in use.

Jason led the way into the forward saloon, a beautifully furnished living area, with cushioned banquettes, panelled walls, and a soft carpet underfoot. From its windows on three sides, one had an uninterrupted view when the craft was sailing, and Laura remembered moonlit evenings, after she and Jason had dined alone, sitting here and enjoying the starlit beauty of the night …

‘Will you have a drink?’

While she had been absorbing the saloon’s familiarity, Jason had opened up the fitted bar and was presently examining its contents. ‘Gin? Scotch? Vodka? Or would you like me to mix you a Chi-Chi?’ he inquired, mentioning the island cocktail which had once been her favourite.

‘Nothing, thank you,’ she responded tautly, seating herself on the low banquette and imprisoning her hands between her knees. ‘I—well, I’d like to get this over with. I believe you know why I’ve come.’

Jason poured himself a scotch, despite the early hour, and after adding several cubes of ice, looked at her over the rim of the glass. ‘I have a fairly good idea,’ he conceded cynically, swallowing a generous mouthful. ‘I suppose you assume my agreeing to see you gives you the edge. Well—I shouldn’t bank on it, if I were you.’

Laura felt the colour pour into her cheeks at his scathing words, and it was all she could do to remain sitting. But standing would be equally as perilous, and she didn’t want him to see how nervous she really was.

‘I have no—preconceptions,’ she declared now, holding up her head and concentrating on the tasselled cord securing a fall of velvet curtain. The words stuck in her throat, but she had to say them: ‘I’m—grateful—you agreed to see me.’

Jason lowered his glass. ‘Did you think I wouldn’t?’ he inquired mockingly, and she bent her head to study the tightly clenched bones of her knees.

‘I thought it was possible,’ she agreed carefully. ‘As I said before, Logan didn’t seem to think …’

‘Phil Logan was only doing his job as he saw it. He knows we split up. I guess he got the wrong idea.’

Laura quivered, and when she lifted her eyes to his, the resentment she was feeling was mirrored in their depths. ‘You mean—he thought you got tired of me, don’t you?’ she demanded painfully. ‘Did you disabuse him?’

‘You’re here, aren’t you?’ remarked Jason flatly. ‘That should mean something, even to Logan.’

Laura absorbed his words with a troubled frown. ‘You’re—very generous,’ she murmured unwillingly. ‘I—don’t know what to say.’

‘I’m sure you’ll think of something,’ retorted Jason tersely, finishing the scotch in his glass. ‘I suggest you tell me what you’ve been doing since you left. I know; but I’d like to hear it in your words, just so we understand one another.’

Laura caught her breath. ‘What do you mean?’ she exclaimed, shaking her head. ‘You—know—what I’ve been doing?’

Jason sighed. ‘Must we go into this right now?’

‘Yes, I think we must.’

‘Okay.’ He set down his glass, and came to stand in front of her. ‘But first, I think I should sample the merchandise, don’t you? I mean, it has been three years, and I may have overestimated your appeal!’ And before she could move or even comprehend his meaning, he had circled her wrist with his fingers and jerked her to her feet.

The warm strength of his lean fingers on her nape, as he drew her unresistingly towards him, was the last coherent awareness Laura had before his lips descended on hers. Disbelief; resentment; panic; all were briefly subdued by the hard pressure of his mouth, and her shaken disconcertment opened her lips to his tongue.

His free arm slid around her, drawing her closer into his embrace, and it was the sensuous abrasion of his shirt against her fingers that brought her a returning measure of sanity. But although she fought free of him without too much effort, his shocking behaviour had disturbed her, and she knew he had sensed her involuntary response.

‘How—how dare you?’ she got out, when her breathing had steadied, and she saw the wary gleam that entered his eyes at her words.

‘How dare I?’ he asked, echoing her question. ‘What did you expect? An apology?’ He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t feel I have anything to apologise for.’

Laura blinked. ‘What are you talking about?’

Jason expelled his breath heavily. ‘Laura, let’s stop playing these games, shall we? You know why you’re here, and I know why you’re here. Okay—maybe I did precipitate matters a little, but you can’t deny you wanted it, just as much as I did.’

Laura gulped. ‘There’s some mistake …’

‘Is there?’

‘Yes.’ Her tongue circled her lips with increasing rapidity. ‘I … I don’t know what—kind of an advantage you think Pamela’s situation gives you, but—but so far as I am concerned …’

‘Wait a minute!’ Jason’s harsh voice broke into her stammered outburst, and she broke off at once, staring at him with troubled eyes. ‘Run that by me again,’ he said grimly. ‘Who is Pamela?’

‘You know who Pamela is,’ she exclaimed. ‘Pamela Huyton. My sister Pamela. Don’t pretend you don’t know about her and Mike!’

Jason fell back a step, still regarding her with distinct incredulity. ‘Your sister Pamela?’ he repeated blankly. ‘What the hell would I know about your sister, for Christ’s sake? And Mike? Mike who?’

‘Mike Kazantis!’ declared Laura quickly, trembling a little as she struggled to take the initiative. ‘You know who Mike Kazantis is, don’t you? Or are you going to deny all knowledge of his identity, too?’

Jason’s mouth thinned. ‘Are you trying to tell me that your sister is in some way involved with Mike Kazantis?’ he inquired tautly, and Laura nodded.

‘But you know,’ she said bitterly. ‘You know you do. Else why did you agree to see me? Unless you thought you could gloat over our misfortunes!’

Jason’s dark features lost all expression, and the lines that bracketed his nose and mouth looked that much more pronounced. ‘Is that the opinion you have of me?’ he said sombrely. ‘Well, well! You really thought I would do a thing like that?’

Laura was not a little confused by now, and in spite of her determination not to let him get the better of her, his quiet words had more than an element of truth in them. But why—if he hadn’t known about his brother-in-law—why had he said he knew why she was here?

‘Wheth—whether you knew or not, you do now,’ she said, forcing herself to go on. ‘Pamela is in the hospital in San Francisco. She took an overdose of sleeping tablets. She’ll live, but I don’t know for how long.’

Jason’s nostrils flared, and with a curious inclination of his head, he moved away towards the bar. Then, swinging round, he poured himself a second glass of scotch, tipping his head back to drink it before turning again to face her.

‘It … it’s barely eleven o’clock,’ Laura exclaimed abruptly, unable to prevent the words from spilling from her lips. ‘Is it wise to—to drink so much?’

Jason’s lips twisted. ‘Not wise at all,’ he conceded sardonically. ‘But that’s my problem, not yours. So. Go on about your sister. Why don’t you think she’ll survive?’

‘Because she’s pregnant!’ Laura pressed the palms of her hands together. ‘And Kazantis has deserted her.’

‘Deserted her?’ Jason considered the phrase. ‘What an old-fashioned expression! You mean, I suppose, that as soon as he discovered your sister had a problem, he took off.’

Laura blinked. ‘He doesn’t know about the baby.’ She frowned. ‘At least, I think he doesn’t.’ It was something she had not thought to ask her sister.

‘I’d guess he does,’ retorted Jason drily. ‘If indeed it is Mike’s.’

‘What do you mean?’ Laura was indignant. ‘Pamela wouldn’t lie about something like that!’

‘And she says it’s his?’

‘Yes.’ Laura drew a trembling breath. ‘Do you know where he is?’

‘Kazantis? Right now?’ Jason shrugged. ‘I’d say—Europe.’

‘Europe!’ Laura blanched. ‘Where in Europe?’

‘Italy.’ Jason dropped his empty glass back on to the bar. ‘At least that’s where Irene is, so …’

‘Italy!’ Laura’s shoulders sagged. ‘Oh, God! Why did he have to be there?’

‘I’m not saying I know it for a fact,’ said Jason evenly. ‘But, like I said, Irene is there right now, visiting my grandparents. And, knowing my father’s ideas about his women, I’d say he’d insist she didn’t go unescorted.’

Laura sank down weakly on to the banquette behind her. ‘For how long?’ she asked helplessly. ‘When will they be coming back?’

‘One month, maybe two. Who knows?’ Jason lifted his shoulders in a dismissing gesture. ‘I’m not my sister’s keeper.’

Laura shook her head, resting her elbows on her knees and cupping her cheeks in her hot palms. ‘Oh, God!’ she said again, feeling the emptiness of despair gripping her insides. ‘What am I going to do?’

It was only partly a rhetorical question, but the sudden breeze through the open door alerted her to the fact that Jason had left her. She was alone in the green and gold beauty of the saloon, alone with her unwilling memories, and with the terrifying realisation that there was nothing she could do.

She supposed she should leave. After all, Jason had done what he could. He had told her where Kazantis was, and he had not disbelieved her story. The anger he might have displayed at the news that Pamela had evidently been having an affair with his sister’s husband had not materialised, and she was simply wasting her time, and his, by pursuing the matter further. Somehow, she was going to have to find a way to tell Pamela that Mike Kazantis was married; that there was no point in her threatening to kill herself again, because he could not marry her. Not unless he got a divorce from Irene, of course, and if Jason was right and he was with his wife, in Italy, that did not seem at all likely. Besides which, Laura had met Irene, and she knew her to be a very beautiful young woman. It had been an outside chance at best that her marriage to Kazantis had floundered. Remembering what she knew of him, Laura doubted anything would prise him away from the wealth and influence that came from being Marco Montefiore’s son-in-law, and contacting Jason had been her last resort.

Which brought her back to that other puzzling development: why had Jason assumed he knew why she was in Hawaii? Was there something she had overlooked? Did he know something she didn’t know? And why had he kissed her? She had been prepared to face his anger, not his passion.

With trembling fingers, she traced the bare contours of her lips. She wore little in the way of cosmetics, just eyeliner and mascara, and occasionally a shiny lip-gloss to frame her mouth. But what little make-up she had been wearing had been erased by his caress, and she couldn’t deny the unwilling awareness that his touch still had the power to melt her bones. If only …

His reappearance with an enamelled beaker which he held out to her arrested her guilty thoughts. ‘Here,’ he said, pushing it into her hand. ‘You look as though you could use it.’

‘What is it?’ she asked foolishly, while the aromatic odour of ground beans floated to her nostrils, and Jason’s mouth pulled down.

‘Just coffee,’ he replied drily, taking off his jacket and pulling off his tie. ‘Laced with heroin, of course!’ He grimaced. ‘Drink it, for God’s sake! I’m not reduced to drugging my women yet!’

Laura obediently sipped the fragrant beverage, recovering a little of her composure in the time it took her to drink it. Jason, she noticed, tossed his jacket and tie aside and flung himself on to the wide velvet cushions at the broad forward end of the cabin, crossing his legs as he had done before and staring broodingly out on to the sunlit dock.

‘So, tell me what happened,’ he said at length, when he had given her time to compose herself. ‘How did your sister meet Kazantis?’

‘I don’t know.’ Laura caught her lower lip between her teeth before continuing: ‘She works—worked—in Sausalito, but she has an apartment in San Francisco.’

‘Since when?’

‘Oh eighteen months, I suppose. She qualified as a physiotherapist in London, but she wanted to travel. I tried to dissuade her from coming to the United States, but …’

‘… she wouldn’t listen?’

‘Right.’ Laura looked down into her cup. ‘She always seemed so much younger than me. It’s only two years, I know, but—well, I’ve always felt much older.’

‘And you didn’t want her to venture out into the bold bad world!’ remarked Jason wryly, running his hand inside the opened neckline of his shirt and in so doing loosening several more buttons. ‘So—she met Kazantis. Why didn’t you warn her?’

‘Warn her?’ Laura looked across the cabin at him, uncomfortably aware of the sensuality of his exploring hand. The skin of his chest exposed by his careless movements was as brown and smooth as she remembered, his nipples taut, an arrowing of fine hair only lightly roughening his flesh. ‘I didn’t know.’

‘She didn’t write to you?’

‘Well, yes. Yes, of course, she wrote.’ Laura dragged her eyes away, and tried to keep her mind on what she was saying. ‘She just didn’t mention her relationship with Mike Kazantis, that’s all. And … and after all, she wouldn’t know who he was.’

‘Who he was?’

‘Yes.’ Laura shifted a little restlessly. ‘Your brother-in-law; Irene’s husband! I … she … we never discussed your relations.’

Jason regarded her intently. ‘But she knew of me? She knew we were living together, didn’t she?’

Laura moistened her lips. ‘She knew we were … close, yes.’

‘But did she know we were living together?’ persisted Jason insistently, and Laura wondered if he already knew the answer.

‘It’s not important,’ she said, shaking her head, but he did not agree.

‘Perhaps, if you’d been more honest with her, she would have felt more able to confide in you,’ he commented brusquely, and Laura met his relentless gaze with hastily-summoned indignation.

‘Are you saying it’s my fault?’ she exclaimed, using anger as a means to avoid his questioning, and he shrugged.

‘I’m saying you were afraid to tell your sister the truth. Why should you be surprised if she feels likewise?’

Laura sniffed, and buried her nose in the beaker. ‘That’s a simplistic way of looking at things,’ she said, in a muffled voice.

‘I’m a simplistic person,’ he responded carelessly, and she thought how ironic it was that he should say a thing like that.

‘You’re the least simplistic person I know,’ she retorted childishly. ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, does it matter what I did or didn’t tell her? Pamela’s pregnant, right? And if I hadn’t arrived when I did, she would have been dead!’

Jason considered her for a few nerve-racking moments, then he said quietly: ‘Exactly why did you arrive in California?’

‘Pamela ‘phoned me.’ Laura cradled the beaker between her palms and gazed into space. ‘I’d just got back from Aix …’

‘The South of France, I know.’

‘… and when she rang …’ Laura paused briefly, as the import of what he had said reminded her of something he had said earlier— ‘when she rang, I sensed something was wrong.’

‘Just sensed?’

‘No. No.’ Laura spread a helpless hand. ‘Pamela sounded strange—desperate! I don’t know why, but I knew she had to have rung for a purpose.’

‘A cry for help?’ suggested Jason drily, and Laura looked at him sharply.

‘Don’t you believe me?’

‘Oh, yes.’ He tilted his head back against the dark green velvet and studied her through narrowed eyes. ‘But, objectively, I’d say that perhaps your sister wasn’t as desperate to kill herself as you might think. I mean, she did rig herself a lifeline before jumping over the side, metaphorically speaking, of course.’

Laura sat up straighter. ‘That’s a rotten thing to suggest!’

‘It’s something for you to think about,’ retorted Jason flatly. ‘Laura, I hear of people over-dosing every day. Most of them do a better job of it than your sister appears to have done.’

‘You … you swine!’

Laura set down the cup and got unsteadily to her feet, but before she could make it to the door, Jason was there before her. ‘The simplistic view, remember?’ he said, his back against the panels successfully blocking her exit. ‘Laura, I’m not saying Pamela did this to gain attention, but it has been known. Remember that.’

‘Will you get out of my way?’

Laura’s hands clenched at her sides as she waited for him to move, but he didn’t. ‘Eventually,’ he averred, his tawny eyes resolute between the dark fringe of his lashes. ‘Go sit down. We haven’t finished our conversation.’

‘I have.’

‘Do you want me to use force?’ he inquired lazily, his eyes moving down over her high small breasts thrusting against the thin material of her shirt, to the slender curve of her hips outlined by the tie-waisted cotton pants, and she immediately abandoned her mission.

‘I don’t know what else we can possibly have to say to one another,’ she exclaimed, moving back into the middle of the floor and wrapping her arms about herself, as if for protection. ‘You’ve made your position very clear. Why won’t you let me go?’

Jason straightened away from the door, but he didn’t shift his stance. ‘What are you going to do?’ he asked. ‘Now that your attempt to find your sister’s lover and speak with him has failed, what are you going to tell Pamela?’

‘I don’t know.’ Laura shook her head a trifle wearily. ‘I’ll think of something. If I can persuade her to come back to London with me …’

‘And if you can’t?’

‘Oh, please!’ Laura turned away from him, gazing out through the window, across the blue waters of the yacht basin. ‘Why should you care? Our lives mean nothing to you!’

‘Yours does,’ he retorted crisply, and she turned her head and gazed at him over her shoulder as if she couldn’t believe her ears.

‘What did you say?’

‘You heard me,’ he responded tersely, folding his arms across his chest. ‘Why else do you suppose I’ve had your movements monitored, ever since you ran out on me? I know all about your life in London, and that creep, Pierce Carver, you’ve been living with for the past two and a half years.’

Laura half turned, her lips parting incredulously. ‘I—I am not living with Pierce,’ she protested, indignation vying with disbelief. ‘I work with him, yes, but that’s all. Your investigator was wrong if he told you there was anything between us.’

‘You live at his house!’

‘I have a room there. I also have a flat of my own,’ retorted Laura hotly, and then anger quickly enveloped her. ‘But that’s my business. I don’t have to explain myself to you! It’s nothing to do with you! I said it before and I’ll say it again: how dare you?’

Jason regarded her beneath lowered brows. ‘Why didn’t he come with you to San Francisco?’ he demanded harshly. ‘Doesn’t he care about your sister?’

‘Why should he?’ Laura was trembling with resentment. ‘Oh! I can’t believe this, I really can’t! You’ve actually been having me followed ever since I left Hawaii?’

Jason shrugged, making no immediate response. Then he said flatly, ‘I want you back, Laura. But you should know that. I didn’t want you to leave. That was why I thought you’d come back to Hawaii. I—foolishly, I now realise—imagined you had had second thoughts; that the feelings you used to say you had for me had overwhelmed your much vaunted scruples. I was wrong. I admit it. But that doesn’t alter the situation. I still want you—for the present, at least. Seeing you again has only confirmed that belief. And I’m prepared to go to practically any lengths to get you—even if it means involving your sister!’

CHAPTER THREE

LAURA FELT as if someone had just delivered a gasping blow to her midriff. Her throat felt tight, and her breathing was suspended, the stunning reality of what Jason had said resounding in her head like the clanging of a bell.

‘You’re—not—serious!’

‘But, I am.’ Jason’s expression was faintly self-derisive now. ‘How could you doubt it? No one—but no one—walks out on Jason Montifore!’

‘So that’s it!’ Laura caught her breath. ‘Your pride was hurt!’ she accused him bitterly, the shuddering intensity of his announcement tempered now by his mocking confession.

Jason inclined his head. ‘If it pleases you to think so,’ he remarked carelessly. ‘I won’t insult your intelligence by protesting I’m in love with you.’

‘No. Don’t.’ Laura hunched her shoulders with sudden loathing. For a moment, for a brief space of time, she had half believed there must be some feeling behind his impassive pronouncement. But his taunting expression dispelled that assumption, and made a mockery of her sympathetic response.

‘Nevertheless, I am prepared to do what I can to help you, providing you are equally prepared to do the same.’

Laura swallowed disbelievingly. ‘Are you threatening me?’

‘Threatening you? No. How could you think it?’ he responded, in that same half mocking tone. ‘I’m offering you a way out, an alternative your sister may find more appealing than a depressing plane ride back to London.’

Laura shifted uneasily. ‘I don’t understand you.’

‘You will.’ Jason shrugged. ‘Stay and have lunch with me, and I’ll explain.’

Laura moved her head from side to side, but it was a futile gesture. ‘I don’t see what you can say to appease Pamela’s state of mind,’ she insisted. ‘She feels desperate and afraid …’

‘Because she’s alone and pregnant, and she has no future means of support,’ said Jason levelly. ‘Wouldn’t you say that covered her immediate situation? That and her professed desire to see Kazantis again?’

‘Well, yes …’

‘Good.’ Jason’s arms fell to his sides and he gestured politely towards the cushioned seat behind her. ‘So. Sit down. I’ll go tell Alec we’ll eat in fifteen minutes. You do like lobster, don’t you?’ His dark brows arched, and a faintly humorous gleam entered his eyes. ‘Oh, yes, of course you do. How could I forget?’

As he pulled open the door behind him and went to inform the yacht’s captain of his intentions, Laura curled one leg beneath her and sank down unhappily on to the soft banquette. It seemed he had all the answers, she thought bitterly, her fingers tugging convulsively at the fringe of braided silk that edged the cushions. And if he wasn’t threatening her exactly, he was certainly using Pamela’s condition to get what he wanted.

But why her? she brooded helplessly. Why was he prepared to go to such lengths to get her back? Was it only because she had walked out on him? Was he really so vain, that he couldn’t bear the implications of her action? It was not an adjective she would have associated with him once, but how well had she really known him, after all? Once, she would have said she knew everything about him—his likes, his dislikes; his fairness, and his humour; the things that made him laugh, and the things that aroused his anger; his integrity in business, and his probity in justice. The men who worked for him and with him, respected him as well as liked him, and until experience had taught her differently, she had never had cause to doubt him.

Of course, she had been in love with him then, madly and irresistibly in love with a man she had never dreamed might be attracted to her. When she first went to work for him, as a temporary replacement for his own secretary, the other girls at the agency had teased her about his lean good looks, and the fact that he was one of the wealthiest men on the island. Naturally they, like her, had never imagined he would take any interest in a long-legged English girl, whose only claim to beauty was the silvery fair hair that fell almost to her waist. The rest of her features were totally ordinary, she knew: blue eyes, that watered when the sun was too strong, a straight nose that was not the least bit retroussé, and a wide mouth, whose lower lip was just the tiniest bit fuller. She discounted the length of her lashes, whose tips required mascara to be seen, and the slender curves of her figure. In her experience, men preferred smaller women, with fuller breasts, women who nestled into the curve of their arm instead of meeting them on eye-level terms.

Not that she had ever been able to say that of Jason. His height, and the lithe muscularity of his body, had always made her aware of her own femininity, and he had always maintained he preferred taller women. There had been plenty of them, goodness knows. Before she had figured in his scheme of things, he had had other mistresses, and there were several would-be supplicants all willing to inform Laura of how precarious her position was. Not to mention his ex-wife, Regina, and their daughter, Lucia …

She shook her head, banishing the unwilling memories of the emotions he had aroused. It was ridiculous, she told herself desperately. How could she even consider his demands? She couldn’t stay in Hawaii. She couldn’t abandon Pierce in the middle of the new book. Her life was in England now. Her job was in England. She had to make him understand she could not abdicate her responsibilities.

Three years ago, things had been different. Pamela had been training at a good teaching hospital in London, and sharing a flat with several other nurses. When Laura had been given the opportunity to spend six months in the Honolulu branch of the international secretarial agency in Bond Street, where she had worked at that time, it had seemed a marvellous break. It had been no wrench to give up her bedsitter, put the few belongings she was not taking with her into storage, and fly off to Hawaii. But not now. Now, she had her own flat, in Highgate. She had put down roots, and she was no longer the carefree twenty-two-year-old she had been when Jason first met her. Besides which, she didn’t want to lose her job with Pierce. She liked working for him. The job was interesting, and it had given her a chance to travel, as well as providing a very generous salary. She couldn’t give that up, not at the whim of a man who she despised. She should not have come here, she acknowledged belatedly. She should not have allowed Pamela’s desperate plight to drive her into a situation she obviously could not handle. But then, she realised bleakly, she had had no way of knowing how Jason would react to her plea for help. She had never suspected he might have plans of his own.

‘I’ve told Alec to have the awning erected.’ Jason’s lazy tones interrupted her reverie, and she turned her head to look at him. ‘I thought we might eat on deck,’ he continued. ‘It’s cool enough in the shade.’

Laura wanted to say she didn’t want to eat lunch with him, but she bit back the words. There was no point in antagonising him, she decided weakly, ignoring the fact that the longer she allowed this charade to continue, the harder it would be to convince him she could not be blackmailed.

‘All right,’ she said now, indifferently, sliding her curled leg off the cushions and giving a little shrug. ‘But I’m not very hungry.’

‘Nor am I. My appetites run in an entirely different direction,’ responded Jason unemotionally. ‘But unless I miss my guess, you’re not exactly in a mood to take advantage of them, are you?’

A wave of warm indignation swept over her skin at his careless words, and as if that was answer enough, Jason’s lips twisted. ‘I thought not,’ he essayed, turning back to the bar. ‘I suggest a cocktail instead. Something crisp, but not too sharp. I wouldn’t want to sour what promises to be an … interesting association.’

Laura looked up at him tensely, and then, giving into a wholly ungovernable sense of panic, she sprang to her feet. ‘I … I can’t go through with this!’ she exclaimed unsteadily. ‘I don’t care what you say, I won’t let you blackmail me! If you can’t help me find Mike Kazantis, I shall fly back to San Francisco tonight.’

Jason turned from pouring white rum into a metal mixer. ‘Strong words,’ he remarked, his expression wiped of all humour. ‘However, much as I hate to say this, you came to me, Laura. I didn’t invite you here. And as you have given me the means to keep you here, why should I let you go?’

Laura swallowed. ‘You can’t force me to stay.’

‘No. I can’t do that,’ he agreed, adding a measure of orange curacao to the flask. ‘Nor do I intend to do so. I shall just make it—difficult for you to go.’

Laura gazed at him disbelievingly. ‘How could you do that?’

Jason shrugged, his attention fixed on the remaining ingredients needed to complete the cocktail. ‘Sit down,’ he advised evenly. ‘Wait until you’ve heard what I have to say. And stop looking so anxious.’ His tawny eyes lifted to her troubled face. ‘The prospect of going to bed with me used not to frighten you that much!’

Laura gulped and turned away. ‘You’re … despicable!’

‘Why?’ He fastened the cap on the container and shook it energetically. ‘Isn’t it the truth? I seem to remember you were not exactly opposed to our making love.’

‘It was not love!’

‘Would you know the difference?’ he demanded cynically, and then he expelled his breath on a heavy sigh. ‘Look. I don’t want to argue with you, Laura. It’s obvious we’ve got a lot of ground to make up. Right now, I suggest you have a Mai Tai and stop worrying about your fate. The future will take care of itself. It always has, and it always will.’

The crushed ice frosting the glass he held out to her was very appealing, and without really knowing why, she accepted the cocktail. Perhaps she needed the support the alcohol could give her, she thought miserably, sipping the chilled liquid. But it was delicious. She had to admit that, if only to herself. Jason had lost none of his skill … in any direction, she added silently.

Out on deck, two white-coated stewards had just finished laying the table. Its glassy surface was spread with bamboo place mats and shining silver cutlery, pristine white napkins reflected in the polished gleam of delicate cut glass. From somewhere, a centrepiece of star jasmine and scarlet frangipani, called plumeria in the islands, had been arranged, and a bottle of Dom Perignon was residing in an ice bucket. Set beneath the striped awning, it was at once open to the soft trade winds, yet protected both from the sun, and the inquisitive glances of other users of the marina. A millionaire’s retreat indeed, thought Laura, following Jason across the white painted boards. And how had Alec Cowray accomplished so much in such a short space of time?

‘Is everything satisfactory, Mr Montefiore?’ inquired one of the stewards politely, while his companion subjected Laura to an intent scrutiny. Laura had never seen either of them before, but she could guess what they were thinking. In her cheap pants and shirt and without any make-up, she was not at all the glamorous kind of female they were no doubt used to seeing. Had Alec Cowray filled them in on her previous relationship with Jason, she wondered. She didn’t know which was worse: the idea that they knew she had once been Jason’s mistress, or their avid speculation that she might be hoping to assume that role.

‘This is fine, thank you,’ Jason was saying now, his smile perfunctory but polite. He waited until Laura had taken the chair the steward held out for her before dismissing a similar attention and taking his own seat. ‘We’ll serve ourselves,’ he added, his crisp tone tempered by his manner, and the two men departed, evidently disappointed that their services were no longer required.

A prawn cocktail, arranged on pink-fleshed bases of papaya, had been served as an appetizer, and although Laura had not felt hungry when she sat down, the sun and the breeze, and the succulent aroma of the food were seductive. While Jason was uncorking the bottle of champagne, she took a spoonful of the juicy concoction, and it was so delicious that she took another. There were warm rolls, wrapped in a cloth and residing in a basket, and creamy curls of butter, cool on a bed of ice. With a feeling of resignation, she gave in to the temptation to taste the bread, too, and by the time her glass was filled with the effervescing liquid, she was actually enjoying her meal.

Jason, she noticed, ate little, and she was relieved to see he was not drinking much either. He seemed quite content to lounge in his seat, set at right angles to hers, playing with the stem of his wine glass and watching the antics of a pair of dinghies, tacking backwards and forwards across the blue expanse of Mamala Bay.

The stewards appeared briefly to clear away the dishes already used and to set two silver-domed tureens before them. Inside, Laura discovered two whole lobsters, halved and filled with a delicious thermidor sauce, with tempting mounds of saffron rice to accompany them. ‘Help yourself,’ advised Jason, offering her the serving tools, and with a little sigh, she lifted half a lobster on to her plate.

‘Do you want some?’ she asked nervously, feeling obliged to make the gesture, and he inclined his head.

‘Thank you,’ he said, allowing her to serve him also, and in spite of her apprehension, she managed not to spill any in his lap.

Forking a white piece of lobster meat into her mouth, she eventually said quietly, ‘Don’t you think this has gone far enough?’ She paused, and then added tensely, ‘You don’t really expect me to move back into your apartment, do you? I mean—why would you want me to? There are plenty of other women who would be only too—’

‘I don’t want plenty of other women,’ retorted Jason smoothly, laying his fork aside. ‘I want you.’ He met her eyes squarely, and she was jolted by the unguarded passion in the depths of his. ‘I’m being very civilised about this, Laura, because I sense that if I move too fast I’ll have you running scared. But don’t doubt my determination. It’s there. Believe me!’

She did. With her throat closing up suffocatingly, she found her appetite which had flowered so unexpectedly, closing up too. ‘But why?’ she demanded imploringly. ‘Why?’

Jason did not dignify her plea with a reply. ‘I don’t live in an apartment any more, Laura,’ he replied, pouring more champagne into her glass. ‘I have a house, approximately two hundred and fifty miles from here, on an island called Kaulanai.’

Laura stared at him. ‘Kaulanai?’ she shook her head. ‘I’ve never heard of it.’

‘You wouldn’t have.’ Jason’s expression was indifferent. ‘It’s only a small island. Approximately fourteen miles long by seven miles across. But it’s beautiful. And it belongs to me.’

‘To you?’ Laura’s tongue circled her dry lips. ‘It’s your island?’

‘For my sins,’ agreed Jason wryly. ‘You would agree with that, I assume.’

Laura’s hands curled together in her lap. ‘And—and you expect me to live there?’

‘Not all the time,’ he assured her drily. ‘I still own the apartment New York, and I keep a suite in one of the hotels here in Honolulu always available.’

Laura took a trembling breath. ‘And what is your plan for Pamela? An expensive abortion?’

‘Of course not.’ Jason’s tone hardened in response to her sarcasm. ‘Though if that’s what she wants, it can be arranged.’ He paused. ‘But no. Your sister losing her baby was not part of my plan. I’m quite prepared to support her as well as you.’

Laura shook her head. ‘She’ll never agree.’

‘Won’t she?’ Jason put his glass aside and rested his elbow on the table, supporting his chin on his palm. ‘Right now, Pamela is alone and desperate. She has no job and she has no money …’

‘How do you know she has no job? Mrs Goldstein hasn’t fired her. Pamela’s a good physiotherapist …’

‘I’m sure she is.’ Jason shrugged. ‘However, an attempted suicide is not something easy to live down. And this Mrs Goldstein, did you say? She’s unlikely to want to go on employing someone with such … psychological tendencies.’

‘You make her sound like a mental case!’

‘No. I’m only saying she may find it difficult to take up where she left off, even should she want to. And you yourself suggested persuading her to go back to London.’

Laura sighed. ‘All right. So she’s in a difficult situation. I know that.’

Jason abandoned his confiding stance and lay back in his chair again. ‘Okay. So we agree on something,’ he remarked drily. ‘Let me put it to you that your sister would find life far more appealing without any money worries, without any responsibilities—except to look after herself and be happy. And you have to admit, the climate here is a little more appealing than London.’

Laura’s palms felt damp and she rubbed them hastily over the knees of her pants. ‘You’re suggesting we both live in your house on Kaulanai?’

Jason’s lips twisted. ‘Well—not quite as it sounds,’ he commented sardonically. ‘And I shall require you to do a little more than—live in my house.’

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