Mail-order Bridegroom Part 68

"Oh, did you go for an early swim?"

He'd grunted and stridden past her, heading for the bathroom without speaking. A shower and a shave hadn't improved his disposition much.

Kate supposed it was the floor, but she could scarcely offer to provide himwith a futon here."An' what you going to do today?" Teresa looked at them curiously."Or shouldn't I ask?" Another grin.

"I don't know about Kate," Damon muttered, 'but I need some sleep. "

"Honeymoons be like that," Teresa said un sympathetically Kate blushed.

Damon ground his teeth.

"The trouble with her is she's known me since I was eight," Damon grumbled when Teresa went back to the kitchen.

"Thinks she can say anything."

"She's only teasing," Kate pointed out.

Damon grunted and bit down on his toast with considerable ferocity.

Teresa's light gibes continued throughout the meal, and Kate could see Damon gradually losing control. All his admonitions to her about making sure Teresa thought they were deeply in love would come to naught by his own mouth if he weren't careful.

"Come on," she said as soon as they had finished breakfast.

"I'm taking him home," she explained to Teresa, 'before the wild beast emerges. "

Teresa chuckled.

"You do that. Have your way with him."

Damon opened his mouth, but Kate didn't wait to see what he was going tosay. She grabbed his hand and began hauling him towards the door."Cool it she muttered."Just cool it. We'll go back to the house and you can take a nap.""Nap?" Damon sounded outraged.

"Isn't that what you said you wanted?"

"Yes, but--' He stopped, as if he'd been going to say something more, then thought better of it.

"It's not a bad idea, actually," Kate said, warming to it.

"We can share the bed."

He made a pleased sound.

"Ah."

"I'll take it at night and you can have it during the day."

"WhatT He stumbled over a root and crashed into her.

Kate grinned.

"It's the perfect solution. After all, Teresa is sure to think you need

plenty of rest during the day if you're going to keep up your amatory exploits all night."

"And you don't need it, I suppose?" he demanded irritably.

Laughter bubbled up inside her.

"I'm not supposed to have to work so hard, I guess. Teresa probably thinks I just lie back and think of New York City."

Damon scowled.

"Don't be a spoilsport," she chided him, moving on ahead again.

"It's a better solution than you've come up with."

"I could think of an even better one," Damon muttered at her back.

She stopped again and glanced back.

"What?"

He looked at her, his gaze hot and hungry, and Kate didn't need to ask again.

"Forget it," she said.

She wished she could. She was doing her best.

In fact, it would suit her to a "T' if he wanted to

sleep the day away. They wouldn't have to pretend in dying love for each other if he was asleep.

Though she was at pains to deny it, being around him all the time was making her increasingly nervous. 4e attracted her, and he shouldn't.

She clapped a broad-brimmed straw hat on her lead, waggled her fingers in his direction and headed mt of the door.

"Stay away from the house," Damon's voice called ifter her. Teresa will expect you to be here with me," he added when Kate turned and frowned.

"I'll head towards the beach first, then go to town. ^an I get there by following the beach?"

"When you get to the sand, go right. It's about a nile to a path that leads inland past one of the inns. you'll be able to tell--the sand's been swept for the ourists. Follow the path to the water tower. You can >ee the town from there." He paused then added, Behave. "

Kate looked back at him, startled.

"Everyone will know who you are. Don't say any- :hing we'll regret."

"I've already said enough that I regret, starting with " I do"," Kate told him.

The, too. "

Their gazes locked for a moment in silent battle. Then Damon turned and strode into the bedroom without another word.

So he didn't like their marriage any better than she did. She was annoyed that the thought disturbed her. [t shouldn't, she told heJ-self. She should be glad and he certainly shouldn't be surprised.

But d.a.m.n it, it still hurt.

Because of Bryce, she told herself. It was because she was still smarting over her failure with Bryce. It certainly couldn't have anything to do with Damon himself. That would be the height of folly.

Deliberately she put Damon Alexakis out of her mind and forced herself to concentrate on the island she was about to explore. They had arrived rather late yesterday, so she'd only caught a glimpse of the town as they'd pa.s.sed through, and after dinner last night there'd been little chance to explore.

Still Damon had taken her down to the beach briefly and she was enchanted by what she'd seen so far.

It was every bit the tropical paradise she'd often dreamed of. But if she hoped to lose herself in it, forgetting Damon and her marriage to him, she soon realised that she was out of luck.

Damon was right--everyone knew about her.

"Mornin', Miz Damon," the plump lady at the basket shop greeted her.

"How you doin' today, Mrs Damon?" said the old man feeding the chickens.

"Hot 'enough, ain't it, Miz Damon?" said the teenage boy working on the outboard motor by the dock.

And when she tried ducking inside a tiny establishment called Rebecca's Pineapple Shop to buy a soda and recover from the smiling, knowing eyes, the proprietor, a jovial young mother whose toddlers were playing underfoot, asked, "How long you and Mr Damon stayin'?"

Kate gave up trying to pretend it was coincidence that everyone knew her name.

"A week."

"A week? Only a week?" the woman looked dismayed.

"We have work to get back to," Kate said apologetically, and was surprised to note that she really felt that way. She liked the islanders' friendliness.

She would have liked to get to know them better.

Rebecca finished shelving some cans of vegetables.

he made a tsking sound.

"Mr Damon, he work too nuch. Always takin' care of everybody else. Don'tver take time for himself." She shook her head."Hey, ^ilas," she called out to the men playing dominoes on the porch."You hear that? Mrs Damon say they only be stayin' a week!"Two elderly faces, both with grizzled beards, peered in the screen.One of them gave Kate a sly grin before turning his gaze to meet Rebecca's."She a pretty lady. [ reckon maybe Mr Damon figure he gonna get the job done in a week!"

"Silas!" Rebecca looked scandalised.

Kate looked at first one then the other, confused, until the man called Silas

cackled and explained,

"Only son, ain't he? Son of his own. Stands to reason. . ." He winked ather.Kate felt the heat rise in her cheeks. She looked about hopefully for another exit, knowing even as she did so that there wasn't one.

"Don't mind Silas," Rebecca told her.

"He be a dirty of man with a one-track mind. But he right. You sure pretty.

Family don't be comin' for the holiday this year?"

"Family? Oh, you mean Damon's. I think they are, but--' " Then you be here." Rebecca smiled and handed Kate her soda."Alexakises always are."Kate could hardly say she wasn't going to be an Uexakis for long. She thanked the lady, smiled weakly and went out onto the porch."You an' Mr Damon wanta go fishin'?" Silas said as she pa.s.sed."You tell 'im Silas'll take you. Be my pleasure. He not workin' now, is he?""He's sleeping."Silas chuckled."Wore out, is he? Can't say I'm surprised. Always was a hard worker, that un."

Blushing furiously, Kate bounded down the steps and set off up the street in a hurry. Silas's cheerful laughter echoed after her as she went.

She didn't go in any more shops. She didn't even finish her trek along the street that skirted the harbour. Instead she headed back across the island towards the beach. It had been almost deserted when she'd walked to town earlier. She was relieved to find it was the same now.

She took her time walking back, scuffing through the fine coral sand, composing her thoughts or trying to doing her best to come up with a plan of behaviour.

You must act, not simply react, she always told her fledgling nannies.

Children can sense when you're losing control.