The Beach Bachelors Boxset (Three Complete Contemporary Romance Novels in One) (The Beach Bachelors Series)

by Pamela Browning

  Paige dozed after a while, finally waking with a start. Chad sat on the chair beside the bed, apparently deep in thought. He didn't realize she was watching him until she touched his arm.

  "Ah," he said. "You're awake. I've made tea." He stood and went to get it.

  The tea was delicious and very hot. Paige sipped at it, noticing that Chad seemed somehow unsettled. He paced from one end of the cottage to the other, cracking his knuckles, fairly seething with pent-up energy.

  "Is anything wrong?" she asked, setting the empty teacup aside.

  He shot her a probing glance. "In a way, yes. Between us, everything's wrong. I want things to be right."

  Paige could make no reply, only regarded him with surprise. She had not expected such a declaration.

  He turned quickly and crossed to the filing cabinet beside the long table. He flipped through folders, removing several and tossing them on the table top. She watched him, thoroughly perplexed.

  He returned to her bedside and sat down beside her. It was still gray and cloudy outside with occasional squalls slapping rain against the windows. He switched on the light beside the bed so that they could more clearly see the papers he was spreading on top of the blanket.

  Paige watched in amazement as he thrust drawing after drawing of sailboats and rigging at her. She held them in her hands, turned them over, and studied them. Some of these were the papers she'd seen before when she was snooping and found the incriminating envelope from her aunts' bank here at the Sea House. Chad continued to pull papers out of folders, his jaw set in a firm and determined line.

  "But what is all this?" she asked when she found her voice.

  His eyes shone with enthusiasm. "I've been working on a book. That's one reason I'm at St. Albans. It's an illustrated book about sailing." His expression was serious and sincere, and she didn't doubt for a moment that he was telling the truth.

  She felt a surge of joy and overwhelming relief that Chad had at last voluntarily revealed something, anything, of himself to her.

  "And is this the manuscript?"

  "No, these are my notes, all divided into chapters. See, here's the first chapter, and here are the illustrations that go with it. Do you believe me?" His eyes nailed her; she could not look away. There was no mistaking the carefully drawn illustrations and the neat piles of papers. Chad had outlines, rough drafts, meticulously indexed notes.

  "This is clearly more than a hobby," she said slowly.

  "This project has guided my life. I want to start a chain of sailing schools, and this will be the textbook. A major global publisher is interested. Do you believe me?" His eye searched her face.

  In the face of such evidence, how could she not? "Yes, and I'm eager to learn more about it. I mean, wow. I had no idea." He'd never shown any sign of ambition, and it was difficult to picture him as anything but a boat bum. Yet clearly there was more to Chad Smith than she'd imagined.

  Chad appeared greatly relieved. "Glynis is presently preparing the final manuscript. I'm only so-so on the keyboard and worse yet at proofreading."

  "Glynis?" Another surprise, and this time Paige was nonplussed.

  "I met her in the bank, found out she's a whiz with word processing programs, and asked her to do the typing for me in her free time. She's been working on the manuscript at home for weeks."

  "I—I thought she was a girlfriend," Paige said weakly.

  "No, never. She would have liked to be, but I wasn't interested."

  "But you brought her here that night."

  "Just to help me organize things, and she'd been pestering me to see the island. I'm not attracted to her, though I tried to be. I thought she might be able to get my mind off you. Didn't work."

  "Oh." Paige ran her finger across the top of the blanket. There didn't seem to be much else to say.

  "I came to St. Albans to write this book because the island is peaceful and quiet, and I wouldn't have the interruptions I would have had anywhere else. Or the distractions. Until you came along."

  "And then I made you paint and repair things," said Paige slowly, thinking how aggravating this must have been to Chad.

  "You were the fly in the ointment, so to speak, and worse yet, I wanted to spend time with you. You drove me wild with that wary little smile of yours that told me you found me attractive. Fortunately I was almost finished writing the book."

  "My aunts knew about it?"

  "No, only Glynis, and I swore her to secrecy. The book had to be kept secret, Paige. I had—reasons." He watched for her reaction.

  Paige closed her eyes and considered this new development. It explained Glynis's message that she had papers ready for Chad. The fact that Chad actually had meaningful work to do reassured her about him, and it explained the sense of purposefulness that she'd glimpsed now and then. But the book he was writing still didn't explain why her aunts had given him control over their money.

  "Now that you know, do you feel better about me?" Chad's expression revealed a longing to be in her good graces, and that in itself she found deeply moving. Too often she'd learned that men only offered their own love and admiration when they'd gained hers. With Chad Smith, that wasn't the case.

  She felt too tired to continue talking, but she nodded. Yes, she was beginning to trust him. Chad hadn't explained everything yet, but it was a start.

  She had a definite feeling that there was more to know about Chad Smith—much more. She smiled up at him uncertainly, feeling for the first time the beginning of hope for their relationship. He must have felt it, too, because he reached across the scattered papers and clasped both her hands in his. She was aware only of a sense of deep tenderness flowing from his hands into hers as she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

  Chapter 10

  During the following days and nights their routine settled into an intimacy that Paige would never have dreamed possible. The weather remained fierce, so they were confined to the Sea House. The little cottage became their world. It was as if no one else existed but the two of them.

  After the first night, Chad prepared a pallet for himself on the floor. Paige, in the bed alone, was sometimes wakeful, and when she awoke her eyes reached for him, reassuring herself that he was still there. He had become her security, and something more. She didn't fully understand their dynamic yet. It was enough for now to know they had something special.

  She was able to walk by the third day, hobbling stiffly around the cottage.

  "I'm sorry you were bitten by that snake," said Chad one afternoon as he watched her standing at a window and staring out at the still-turbulent sea, "but in a way it's helped, too. You were always running away from me before. Now you can't." He stood behind her and slid his arms around her waist. It was a perfectly natural gesture, and she didn't stop him. They stood like that for a time, each conscious of the other's breathing as they admired the beauty of the storm going on around them.

  So many times as they adjusted to being near each other day and night in the confines of the cottage, their closeness could have easily accelerated into the enormous and powerful physical attraction that had so often driven them in the past. Paige was aware of a certain holding back on Chad's part and a sense of waiting on hers. It was as though each was reluctant to destroy the friendly and peaceful ambience that they had achieved.

  In her weak condition, Paige was entirely dependent upon Chad, like it or not. And she was amazed to find that she mostly liked it.

  She grew accustomed to seeing him standing at the window or in front of the fire or in the kitchen, heating up endless cans of hash and soup. She found that the sound of his low voice was reassuring to her and that he sang in the shower. She didn't even mind his aimless whistling.

  They avoided any mention about Chad's past. They didn't talk about money or the aunts. But their discussions ranged over so many topics that Paige couldn't keep track of them. She learned that he was knowledgeable about art, and together they looked at his drawings of sailboats. The illustrations were
extremely well done. She found out that he liked any kind of pizza but pepperoni, hated plain yogurt, and once owned a cocker spaniel named Corky. He enjoyed the performing arts and had seen many of the same films that she had. He knew quite a bit about Europe, much to her surprise, although he didn't tell her how or when he had happened to be there. She was totally surprised when he addressed her in fluent French.

  "You know, there's a lot more to you than I would have suspected," she said to him one evening after one of their fascinating exchanges.

  "How so?"

  She shrugged. "Oh, you know. You've turned out to be so knowledgeable in an eclectic way. I never would have guessed it."

  "So knowledgeable, so eclectic, when our hands touch, it's electric," he sang, pulling her from the armchair where she sat and trying to waltz her around the room, but her foot was still sore.

  "Stop!" she laughed up at him, and his eyes crinkled as he looked down at her. She thought she had never loved him more than she did at that moment while they were both happy and taking pleasure in one another's presence.

  "You're right," he said, releasing her. "I don't want to exhaust you. And I don't want you to have a setback. You and I have places to go and things to do, and I want you feeling fit when we do them."

  "Things to do? Like what?"

  "Based on my internal barometer, the weather is likely to clear tomorrow. I'll take you to the doctor. As for the rest of the day, leave it to me. I promise you'll be astounded. Astonished. Amazed. And all sorts of things like that." He grinned at her devilishly. Paige wondered what in the world he was talking about. It sounded like total nonsense to her.

  "What's this internal barometer?" she wanted to know. "Why don't I have one?"

  "Because you're not an old salt like me. Be prepared to go to the doctor tomorrow, just like I said."

  Paige limped to the tiny mirror over the small dresser in one corner. "I haven't blow-dried my hair in days," she fretted, running her fingers along one strand. "I'll need clean clothes from the Manse."

  "You'll have to move back into the Manse once the doctor says you're well," said Chad, watching her.

  She let her hand fall away from her hair and stared at his reflection in the mirror as he stood behind her. She felt all at once that she couldn't bear to let this private interlude end.

  During her time alone with Chad, she had grown used to the indescribably warm and gentle quality that he unfailingly displayed. She'd grown increasingly aware of the concern and understanding that he felt for her and that she felt for him. For once, she thought, she had met a man who truly seemed to care about her in all sorts of special little ways. When she moved back into the Manse, would it all end?

  Upset at the thought, she turned swiftly so that he wouldn't see in the mirror the emotion that she couldn't hide. But he blocked her way, standing behind her, and she bent her head so that he couldn't look at her face, which revealed all her doubts and uncertainties about their future.

  They'd lived in such close communication that there was no way that Chad wouldn't pick up on her feelings now. But she couldn't bring herself to tell him that she couldn't bear to give up the incredibly unique bond that they had forged between them in the solitude of the Sea House.

  Chad lifted her face to his, and the look that passed between them was fraught with deep meaning. She flowed into his arms, a movement so natural that it seemed that they were being molded into one. He kissed her, and it was as it had always been between them, the passion rising up and surrounding them.

  Her hunger for him was so great that she opened her lips to him in eager response. As his hands began to move over her trembling body, she felt excited by the hardness of his muscles as they tensed in anticipation. She heard herself moan in aching longing and made no objection when he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed.

  The air around them was charged with electricity as Chad laid her on the wool serape. For a moment his eyes penetrated her, sought, found the answer he wanted. No words passed between them because words were unnecessary. He closed the gap between their lips, and all at once she felt boldly sensual, ready to yield to the strength of his passion. His mouth evoked the most overpowering sensations as his hands moved upon her body, hot and demanding.

  Slowly he ran his hands up from her breasts along the sides of her neck and buried them in the dark profusion of her hair. The strong hard weight of his body pressed down on hers, and she excited to the contours of him. She gasped as his lips moved slowly along her neck until they rested on the sweetly throbbing hollow at her throat.

  His hands moved with agonizing slowness beneath the loose shirt she wore, his fingers teasing her nipples to exquisite delight. Her breasts swelled beneath his gentle hands until, melting with longing, she felt that she could wait no longer.

  He sensed the wanting in her and raised his head. She marveled at his high sun-bronzed cheekbones and his light eyebrows, at the lean hard planes of his face and the utter sensuality of his mouth poised above hers. His eyes pierced her through and through, understanding her, knowing her, missing nothing.

  They were beyond words. It wasn't necessary to articulate an emotion that was almost visible because it was so real. They couldn't have put a name to it if they wanted to, but they both recognized it. It was as though they had each penetrated to the deepest reaches of the other's soul and become part of an extraordinary bond that was neither him nor her but a unity of both. And as they recognized this transcendence of the physical for what it was, the passion that had brought them to this juncture of their innermost beings broadened and deepened and rose into a rapturous tide of affection and tenderness that swept over them and made the physical aspects of their relationship seem unimportant.

  Without speaking, Chad gathered her into his arms and held her close. Their hearts beat as one, their breathing synchronized, they closed their eyes and marveled at it. Paige recognized it as what she had waited to experience with a man; Chad whispered her name over and over in sheer wonder at the depth of an emotion he had never dreamed existed.

  They might have lain clasping each other for a minute or for an hour, they never knew how long it was. At last it was Chad who drew slightly apart. They lay on their sides, each exploring the depths of the other's eyes, touching faces, stroking hair, smiling at the sheer beauty of being together.

  "Chad," she whispered, "it's all right, you know. I—I want to be yours. Completely."

  He held her tightly, his mouth close to her ear. "You are mine completely." There was a note of fierceness underlying his tone, and then he laughed softly and moved so that he could look at her face. "At last I know what you were talking about when you confounded me with your 'communion of the spirit.' We can wait, my darling, until your foot is officially pronounced better, until—"

  Paige didn't find out what was his other reason for waiting; she didn't want to know. They only had a few more hours until dawn, until their time together in the Sea House must end. She would allow nothing to spoil it, nothing.

  "Now," she whispered, "Please, Chad."

  His voice was a murmur in her ear. "You're sure?"

  For an answer, she reached down and touched him. He was ready, and so was she.

  His body covered hers, and she opened to him. As he filled her, she felt the perfect melding of love and surrender with a man who had come to mean more to her than any other, ever. With Chad, lovemaking was perfect, and no matter what secrets he might reveal in the future, she was grateful to have this one time, one night, when everything was perfect.

  Morning brought what Chad had promised. The sun crept early through the uncurtained windows, fell across their faces and woke them. The sea had subsided into a calm and placid stretch of blue, and there was no wind, only a mild breeze that smelled of salt.

  Chad smiled at her from his side of the bed, and she smiled back. He touched her lightly on the arm. "I'll find us something to eat," he said. "Then we'll go to St. Simons and later to Brunswick. All right?"r />
  Paige sat up, ran her fingers through her hair and laughed out of pure joy. It was a gorgeous day, she felt fine, and Chad was with her. Everything was right with the world.

  Or was it? Her exhilarated mood persisted through breakfast, and she hummed as she busied herself with tidying the Sea House while Chad showered and dressed. But when they left the cottage in the Mule and headed toward the Manse, she suddenly felt as though she were leaving her happiness behind. The Sea House had become a symbol of something to her, and while they had stayed there they'd been able to shut the rest of the world with its realities out of their lives. Now they were about to take up where they left off.

  Sitting next to him in the golf cart, Paige was all too aware of his compelling physical presence. She couldn't, however, forget the beauty of their lovemaking last night. But she felt as though a cold hand was clutching her heart when she realized that perhaps she had been living in a dream world where nothing was real, nothing was subjected to the tests and rules that governed their everyday lives. They could no longer be a world unto themselves.

  She still had to talk to the aunts about Chad's role in their financial management, and she cautioned herself that she might not like what she found out about him. The mystery about Chad Smith had never been cleared up, and she almost wished she could drop the whole matter and go on living in the dream. Of course, that wasn't possible.

  Lost in her thoughts, she scarcely realized that they had pulled up in front of the Manse.

  "I'll wait for you on the dock while you get ready," said Chad. Paige gazed up at him mutely, and reading her as well as he did, he realized that something was wrong. She climbed out of the Mule and ran into the Manse, calling over her shoulder, "I'll be out soon," and hurried up to her room. Reality. She already felt as though a chasm had opened between them.

  While she showered, she tried not to think about Chad. She kept her mind on last night, the pure ecstatic enchantment of it. She wondered if Chad were thinking about it, too.