She nodded, sliding off the stool where she had been perched while he had tended her hands. “What would we have done today if Haley hadn’t stepped into your trap?” she asked rhetorically, shaking her head as she moved toward the bathroom.
“I don’t even want to think about it,” Jase confided gruffly, watching her move through the bathroom door. “If he hadn’t lost his patience and run toward the grotto when he did...!”
Amy froze, one hand on the doorjamb. She didn’t turn around. She didn’t dare turn around. For the first time she realized that Jase hadn’t known she’d made a target out of herself back there in the jungle. She hadn’t been in his line of sight, she thought, chewing on her lip. He hadn’t known what had made Dirk Haley rush forward into the tropical glen.
Some things, she decided, unsticking herself from the doorjamb, were better left unexplained. Very carefully she shut the bathroom door behind her and began undressing. She felt as if she’d had as close a call just then as she’d had out in the jungle. Her mouth twitched ruefully as she turned on the shower and stepped beneath it. What would Jase have said if he’d known the full truth? It didn’t bear contemplation. Zealously, Amy began scrubbing the jungle mud and dried seawater off her body.
When Jase left the house half an hour later, Amy waited until she heard the front door close and then bounced out of bed, searching for her clothing. As if anyone could nap after the sort of experience she’d been through, she thought disgustedly as she pulled on clean jeans and a striped dolman-sleeved blouse.
But she hadn’t felt up to arguing with Jase when he’d ordered her to bed, so Amy had done as instructed, crawling between the sheets without demur. Her obedience had seemed to please Jase, and Amy decided rather humorously that it was because he hadn’t had much experience with that sort of feminine behavior. He couldn’t, for example, tell when it was feigned, apparently.
From the veranda she watched him disappear into Cowper’s office down the street. Some time later the three men left the quay in Jase’s launch, heading back to the cove that had been the scene of the action. Even from a distance, Amy could tell that Jase was ignoring Ty Murdock as much as possible. He really didn’t like the man. Well, that made two of them, she thought with a sigh as she turned back to the window that led into her bedroom. She didn’t much like Ty Murdock either.
She had been right two years ago not to take a risk on him. It was sad that Melissa’s instincts hadn’t been sharper.
Superficially, Amy decided as she stuffed some money into her back pocket and started down the street toward Maggie’s grocery shop, Jase and Ty had a lot in common. And although she could list those superficial similarities quite readily, Amy knew the resemblance was deceptive.
The two men were very dissimilar in a fundamental way. Amy couldn’t yet put a name to the elemental difference between the two men, but she sensed it as surely as she sensed the heat of the Saint Clair sun.
“Good afternoon, Maggie. Got any more strange vegetables for me to try today?” Amy asked chattily as she stepped inside the relative coolness of the little grocery store.
Maggie raised her neat head from the year-old fashion magazine she was reading and grinned. “What do you think about this new tuxedo look? This magazine says it’s going to be all the rage this season.”
Amy stepped over to the counter and glanced down at it. “I think that refers to last season, Maggie. The tuxedo look has come and gone back in California.”
“Oh, well, we’re always a few years behind out here on Saint Clair.” Maggie tossed the magazine aside and got to her feet, going to the locker where she kept the beer. “Have one?” She held up a can invitingly.
“Sounds good.” Amy glanced down a row of canned goods. “Got any reasonably fresh baking powder? I’m thinking of making biscuits tonight.”
“You’re going to drive Jase crazy.” Maggie chuckled, popping the tops on the cans. “That man won’t know what hit him. Here.” She handed over a can.
“What do you suppose is going to happen to him when you leave, Amy?”
Amy frowned. “I’m not exactly changing his whole life by feeding him biscuits and honey, Maggie. After I’m gone he’ll sit in The Serpent and wait for the next unsuspecting female tourist!” The image was very depressing.
Maggie shrugged and swallowed a large sip of beer. “Think you’ll ever come back?”
“To Saint Clair? I doubt it.” Amy’s voice trailed off wistfully and she tried to focus her attention on the aisles of dusty cans and packages. “Got any honey?”
“Yup. Friend of mine has a couple of hives at the other end of the island. Keeps me supplied. Heard you got yourself into a bit of trouble this morning. What happened?”
“It’s a long story. Jase came and got me out of the mess, though,” Amy explained with a tiny smile.
“So I heard. Who’s the fellow Cowper’s got locked up?”
“He’s named Dirk Haley.”
“Ah,” Maggie nodded wisely. “That’s the one Jase was telling folks to be on the lookout for.”
Amy glanced up in astonishment. “He was?” She hadn’t known Jase had made inquiries.
“Yeah, but no one realized Haley was the guy on the cruiser. Must have been using a different name. Hardly surprising out here. Lots of folks do. Glad you’re okay, though.”
“I’m fine,” Amy agreed weakly.
“So who’s the other stranger? The one who left on Jase’s launch along with Fred Cowper?”
“He’s the man who came to pick up Haley,” Amy said slowly. “Apparently the US government’s been looking for him for a while.”
She spent the next couple of hours explaining the complicated story to a very interested Maggie, who stored up all the details so that they could, in turn, be related to other interested people. Amy didn’t worry at all that she might be giving away information the authorities would rather not have had spread around. After all, Murdock and his cronies had been quite willing to use Melissa and the mask as bait for their trap. They deserved to have the whole story become public knowledge. It was little enough retribution for what had almost happened to Melissa. It could so easily have been her sister who had come out to Saint Clair and nearly gotten herself killed, Amy thought grimly. Besides, it didn’t matter what information she gave out. Nothing this juicy would have stayed secret on Saint Clair for long.
“That was pretty smart of Jase to take along the rope and knife,” Maggie laughed, enjoying the tale enormously. “But it fits. Don’t see him walking blindly into a mess like that without taking a few precautions.”
“That grotto area where he set up the trap is fantastic, Maggie. If Saint Clair ever does develop its tourist trade, you can definitely list it as one of the local sights.” Amy sipped her beer thoughtfully, remembering the fantasy world of the tropical grotto.
“I have some nice memories of that place, myself,” Maggie murmured softly. “My husband and I used to go there now and then. Not sure I’d want a bunch of tourists stomping through it.”
Amy laughed and set down her empty beer can, reaching for the sack of groceries Maggie had packed. “That’s the problem with a tourist economy, Maggie: You’ve got to expect a certain amount of stomping around. Thanks for the beer. I’ll see you later.”
“How long are you staying on the island?” Maggie called after her.
Amy’s smile faded as she faced the question she had been pushing aside since she had begun to realize that her business on Saint Clair was finished. “I don’t know, Maggie. I don’t have any reason to stay too much longer.”
“Don’t you?” Maggie smiled benignly. “Think about it while you’re whipping up biscuits for Jase tonight.”
Amy hurried away, not wanting to think about that at all. She was trying so hard not to think about it, in fact, that she almost collided with Ty Murdock, who stood directly in her path on the quay
.
“Whoa, Amy, where are you going in such a hurry?” he drawled softly, steadying her with two hands on her shoulders.
“Ty!” She stepped back in surprise, not liking the touch of his fingers. “Are you and Fred and Jase through already?”
He nodded toward the side of the quay where Haley’s blue and white oceangoing cruiser was tied up. “Everything’s taken care of except the small matter of getting that mask back.”
“Where’s Jase?”
“I left him and Fred back at Cowper’s office.” Ty lifted one shoulder dismissively. “I had other things to do. I wanted to talk to you, Amy, and I figured it was going to be tough getting past Lassiter to do it. So I came looking on my own. Someone said they’d seen you heading toward the grocery store down there.”
“I see. We don’t really have much to talk about, do we, Ty?” she responded carefully.
“Don’t we? You came a hell of a long way because of that mask, honey,” he said in a persuasive tone. “I couldn’t believe it when I learned that it was you and not Melissa who had left for Saint Clair. Why, honey? What brought you out here to Saint Clair looking for answers? Were you looking for me?”
“Ty, I really don’t know what to say,” Amy began a little desperately. “It’s all so complicated now and I...”
He took the sack of groceries out of her arms. “Come on, honey. Let me buy you a drink. It’s the least I can do for old times’ sake, hmm? But I think we’ll go into another bar besides Lassiter’s. I can do without him hovering over my shoulder, glaring at me every time I look at you.”
Helplessly, reminding herself that answers about Ty Murdock were indeed the real-reason she had come so any thousands of miles across the Pacific, Amy allowed herself to be led inside the shaded confines of a dockside tavern named Cromwell’s.
On the veranda of The Serpent, a little more than a block away, Jase stood with his hands shoved into the back pockets of his khaki slacks and watched the pair disappear into the other bar. He stood very still, realizing he didn’t dare take his hands out of his pockets because his fingers were trembling.
Finally, his self-control stretched to the breaking point, he turned on his heel and stalked into The Serpent, heading for his usual seat at the end of the bar. Ray didn’t ask any questions immediately. Unasked, he opened a new bottle of rum and poured a drink, sliding it over in front of his boss.
“Did you find her?” he finally inquired, leaning one elbow on the top of the bar.
“Yeah, I found her. She was just coming out of Maggie’s with a load of groceries.”
“Then why do you look as if you just lost your best friend?” Ray flicked at a piece of lemon peel that had landed on the bar.
“Because Murdock intercepted her and took her into Cromwell’s for a drink and God knows what else,” Jase rasped, reaching for his glass of rum.
“So? She bought the groceries for your dinner, not his,” Ray pointed out, concealing a smile. He’d never seen Jase like this over a woman. “I mean, she couldn’t have bought the groceries for his dinner because he’s staying at the Marina Inn and they don’t have kitchens there. You’re the one with the kitchen.”
“Is this an example of the kind of analysis I can expect from a shrink without a diploma hanging behind the bar?” Jase gritted sarcastically.
“Sorry,” Ray said instantly, realizing he’d trespassed the invisible boundary. “Are you really worried, Jase?”
“He’s the one she came several thousand miles to find out about. I just happened to be someone who got in her way.”
Ray lit a cigarette while he considered that. “You saved her life,” he said finally.
“I don’t want her gratitude!” Jase inhaled deeply, closing his eyes briefly. “Besides, this afternoon I discovered just how I saved her life. We made Haley tell us his version of the story, and do you know what he happened to mention in passing?” Jase glared at his employee.
“Haven’t the foggiest.”
“He casually stated that as he was standing at the entrance to the grotto area he saw Amy dash from where I’d hidden her, straight through the waterfall. That’s what made him run forward into the trap I’d set,” Jase growled. “It was sheer luck he didn’t hit her when he fired into the cave. Sheer, blind, tourist luck! And she must have made the dash on purpose, to draw him out for me.”
Ray winced at the savage tone. “She’s okay, Jase,” he tried to say reassuringly. “You got her out of the mess.”
“She’s going to be in a much worse situation when I get my hands on her. I’ve never felt like beating a woman before,” Jase added wonderingly, somewhat shocked by the depths of his own feelings on the subject.
“Is that why you went looking for her when you got back with Cowper a few minutes ago? You were planning on beating her?” Ray grinned.
“Let’s just say I thought I’d express my views on the matter in no uncertain terms. She had no business risking her neck like that. Haley would have wandered into the trap, given a few more minutes. He couldn’t have resisted searching that grotto. He had to know we were in there.”
“Amy’s not as good as you are at guessing what people like Haley will do, Jase. She was probably afraid for you, afraid he wouldn’t step into the rope.” He eyed his boss’s knuckles as they closed around the glass of rum. They were turning white with the force of Jase’s grip. “If you want a little free advice from your underpaid analyst...”
“What advice?” Jase growled.
“Beating her at this particular juncture may not be your smartest move.” Ray smiled. “It might make Murdock look very pleasant by comparison!”
Jase swore something short, harsh and derived from the barnyard. Slowly he unwound his fingers from the rum glass and got to his feet.
“Where are you going?” Ray demanded.
“I’m going to rescue my dinner.” Jase headed for the exit of The Serpent and started down the street toward Cromwell’s.
Chapter Nine
Three minutes after he’d seated her at a table and ordered drinks, Amy had decided what was motivating Ty Murdock. She glanced down at the glass of plain tonic water she’d ordered and then lifted a speculative gaze to his face.
“This drink isn’t for old times’ sake at all, is it, Ty? You’re indulging yourself in still another fantasy, aren’t you?”
He leaned back in his chair, every inch the tough, cynical, faintly amused playboy. “Running into you again after all this time does have a certain element of fantasy about it.”
Amy shifted impatiently, automatically taking in some of the waterfront atmosphere in which Cromwell’s specialized. She didn’t like this place as much as The Serpent. Cromwell’s catered to the same assorted crowd of visiting sailors, fishermen, locals and a few brave tourists, but the place seemed alien to Amy. It made her uneasy. Then she remembered that that was how she’d felt the first night at The Serpent. It helped to know the proprietor, she thought wryly. And the bartender. Here she felt very much alone in a totally masculine haunt. The man behind the bar had nodded curiously at her when she’d entered with Ty, however, so perhaps he knew who she was. It seemed that most everyone on the island did now.
“Ty, I’m talking about a different kind of fantasy than you are, and I think you know it. For you the real pleasure in seeing me is the kick your ego is getting at the idea that I came all this way on a romantic goose chase. You think I traveled several thousand miles across the Pacific to find out what had happened to a man I couldn’t forget, right?”
“Didn’t you?” He half smiled, his dark eyes moving over her with the beginning traces of desire. “You’re here, Amy, and that says a lot.”
“Ty, this is going to come as something of a shock to you, but I didn’t come to Saint Clair to satisfy my own personal curiosity about you. I came to find out the truth about what happened to Craig’s father. Y
our son is a year old now, Ty. Doesn’t that interest you at all?”
“Craig was a mistake,” he said quietly.
“One Melissa ended up paying for. You sure as hell didn’t stick around to support her, either emotionally or financially! You got off scot-free, didn’t you? Walked away from all the responsibilities. No worrying about doctors’ fees or mowing the lawn or changing diapers or wondering if Craig will do all right in school!”
“Amy, I wasn’t cut out for that kind of life and you know it,” he shot back harshly.
“Oh, I know it. I knew it two years ago. That’s why I wouldn’t marry you when you asked me! I just wish my sister had had the same realization.”
“So do I, Amy, so do I,” Ty said wearily, lifting his drink. “Do you want to know what really happened between Melissa and me? I’ll tell you. After you turned me down she was very sweet. Soft and feminine and loving. All the things you wouldn’t be for me. Is it so very strange that I found her, well, comforting?”
“You mean she was balm for your wounded ego and you used her to try to teach me a lesson for having the gall to turn down your proposal of marriage,” Amy said tightly. “Talk about behaving like a boy! Ty, you’re so proud of your male prowess, but the truth is you’ve never really become a man. You handle the real responsibilities of life like a boy. You walk away from them!”
He sat forward sharply, reaching across the table to snag her wrist in one large hand. The dark eyes glittered. For a moment Ty Murdock reminded Amy very much of Dirk Haley. She felt her nerves go into high gear, shudders of fear sparking through her.
“Look, Amy,” he ground out, “what happened between Melissa and me was just one of those things. You were always the important one to me. We could have had something special, you and I. If you hadn’t been so damned cautious—if you’d let yourself love me the way Melissa did—everything would have been different!”
Serpent in Paradise Page 15
