'I'll see what I can do.' He turned to the door and Anna turned back to the sink and the dishes, her shoulders tight with temper. Maybe he helped Anita to throw her things on the bedroom floor.
'Temper all gone now?' Dan's arms came round her from behind and she jumped with the sudden shock. 'Actually, you're safer here in the kitchen than being in the drawing-room,' he admitted. 'The battle is raging there. I'm just about ready to kill Anita.'
He bent his head and brushed his lips along her nape, his arms tightly around her. Anna struggled to get away but he spun her round, pressing her back against the sink, his hand tilting her chin.
'Peace, Anna?' he suggested disarmingly. 'I find it very hard to keep up any battle with you. Will you pull down the skull and crossbones? Hmm?'
He was smiling at her and she found her lips quirking. It was sheer madness, but she loved him so much that she just couldn't find any way to keep up the tight atmosphere between them.
'Oh, sorry! I'm interrupting something!'
Anita was upon them before either of them could move, and Dan merely turned slowly, his arm still around Anna.
'Not really,' he said glibly. 'I was just telling Anna that I'm taking everyone scuba diving tomorrow.'
'Oh, darling, count me out!' Anita said with a shudder. 'I can't stand those beastly little fish. I've got a fearful headache,' she added, looking at Anna. 'I wonder if there's any water for my tablet.'
'The tap is full of it,' Anna said with a sweet smile. 'Help yourself.'
Dan walked out of the room whistling under his breath, his grin only just hidden, and Anna walked out in the opposite direction. It was clear that Dan was quite accustomed to covering his tracks deftly. She should be given a shaking for letting him get round her so easily.
Fortunately, Dan was extremely busy. He spent hours with Dean Orton, thrashing out the small but tricky changes to the screenplay. Anna noticed that they all seemed to revolve around Anita, and she wondered just how much the woman's pushing had brought this about. It kept Dan away from her, though, and that was all to the good. Unfortunately, it also restricted her activities. It wasn't possible to be quite so free and easy with strangers in the house, and Anita's constant need for attention soon wiped the admiring grin off Josie's face.
'That woman can't do one single thing for herself!' she confided to Anna. 'Her bedroom looks like a hurricane hit it every day. She never even picks up the clothes she drops on the floor.'
She hadn't heard the last of Anita. She decided to walk along the beach. The moon was still bright, making everything like day, and she draped a jacket round her shoulders and walked out of the back door to avoid the others. Dan, it seemed, was once again shut in his study with Dean Orton, but as she came down the side of the house she heard voices on the veranda. Anita and Kieron. She stopped; scared they would hear her and ask her to join them.
'There's something going off between Dan and that little ward of his!' Anita remarked. 'He looks at her like a hungry wolf.'
'Don't be so disgusting, darling,' Kieron muttered. 'In any case, she's not his sister, as you know perfectly well, so what if there is?'
'Whatever it is, she's not here to recuperate, I can tell you that!' Anita announced. 'It's my belief that we interrupted something pretty torrid.'
'Nita! One of these days somebody is going to either sue you or murder you! She's only just finished at university and she's in Dan's care. I can quite see that she's been ill. She's still a little too thin.'
'I've seen you looking her over,' Anita said with a brittle laugh. 'Don't get interested, though. I found them in the kitchen in each other's arms. Does that dampen your ardor?'
'You're really too much!' He apparently had the temerity to be really annoyed with her. 'You know how he feels about Daphne. Then there's the boy!'
'So? He wouldn't be the first man to play around while he's waiting for a woman to make up her mind.'
Anna fled back to the house and her room. If she had wanted her suspicions confirmed, then this was it. Daphne had refused to marry Dan; they hadn't thought better of it, she had! Maybe Daphne knew that he played around. He had never denied that there were other women who came to Amara Cay, other women who stayed here when Josie and Abe went home. She felt sick inside, sick with herself and with Dan.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE NEXT day Dan seemed to be busier than ever. Anna was back to the tight restraint and he noticed at once, his own face clouding in anger. He took it out on Anita. If the alterations were for her benefit, then she certainly was not about to get off without some work. The drawing-room became a studio for the better part of the morning and she was kept hard at it, Kieron feeding her the new lines. Anna helped an unusually bad-tempered Josie and then escaped to the beach after lunch. Scuba diving, it seemed, was definitely off.
She was none too pleased when Kieron and Anita finally made their escape and joined her. Not only did she now know what they thought, but Kieron was looking at her in an entirely different way, a speculating look that made her uncomfortable and embarrassed.
For the first time ever she was worried about being in her black bikini. His eyes never left her, and when Dan and Dean came out to join them she wandered off further along the shining sands. Irritation flared over her when she noticed that Kieron had changed his position to be able to see her still. She marched back to the house, determined to dress and stay indoors.
She met Josie as she was going to her room, and she was too late to hide her expression.
'You coming indoors on this lovely day, Miss Anna?'
'I'm going to change. I don't think I'm wearing enough clothes!' she added with a burst of unusual annoyance.
She never spoke like that to Josie, and the dark face was instantly thoughtful. The knowing look in the dark eyes made Anna wonder if Josie had been looking out of the window, or if Abe had been in with a few words of gossip.
'Now what you want is a nice wrap to cover most of you!' Josie assured her. 'I got something!'
She darted away and was back from the kitchen almost at once, a length of silky material in her hands that she held up for Anna to see.
'You got black hair like the girls here,' she pointed out. 'It sure is pretty and so long. We bought this for you last night at the market. All that help, and you just getting better. We wanted to give you a little present.'
'Oh, Josie! How kind!'
Anna didn't know what to say. It was so unexpected, and her eyes moved over the material in admiration. It was brilliantly colored: bright flowers of red and blue on a cream background. She wasn't sure what she could make with it, but it was really beautiful.
'Well, I didn't know what to get, but Abe chose this. That man's a real romantic!' Josie laughed, her whole body shaking. 'I'll show you how it works.'
She wrapped it around Anna's waist, tying it in a knot, a great deal of satisfaction on her face as she stepped back to look. It came to Anna's ankles, a brilliantly colored sarong, and Josie's face was filled with glee.
'You just want a big flower in your hair and you'll look like one of them island girls!' she said suggestively. 'You're better than any film star!'
As their eyes met, Anna saw a look of mischief in Josie's eyes that at first stunned her and then brought a little smile to her lips. It was 'get your own back' time as far as Josie was concerned, and she felt that she had better go back to the beach before Josie called to Abe to make her go back.
She walked out on to the veranda, the silk brushing her legs and blowing softly in the breeze, and she stopped to pick a hibiscus from the bush by the door, tying the bright crimson flower against the blue-black shine of her hair. It just touched the creamy texture of her lightly tanned skin, and she glanced round questioningly to find Josie standing in the shadows, her white grin stretching across her face.
She wandered nonchalantly back, skirting the others and walking down to the sea, but she could almost hear the atmosphere and she kept her face turned away, her own grin threatenin
g to equal Josie's. It wasn't long before Kieron joined her, his eyes wide with admiration.
'You look as if you've escaped from Hawaii.' he said, his eyes running over her from head to foot.
'I was beginning to feel that my legs were burning!' she answered drily.
She didn't want Kieron's company. He was not the easy-going companion now that he had been before. Now that he had heard Anita's poisonous words, his look was entirely different, and she was hard pressed not to speak to him sharply and send him packing. Josie deserved some help though in her attempt to put Anita in her place, and Anna could see Anita boiling even from here.
She moved further along the sand, hoping that Kieron would go, annoyed with herself for this little trick that suddenly seemed like a fit of madness. He followed her though, his eyes never leaving her.
'Is Dan going to bring you to the studios?' he asked with a glance that embarrassed her. 'I could take you out, show you around.'
'I'll be going back to England. I have a career to sort out,' she said briefly.
'Dan's rolling in money, surely he won't let you work? Doesn't he intend to keep you close by?'
'He does not! This guardian business is merely a legal tangle of short duration. I'll have plenty of money of my own soon. I'm here to get well.'
'You look wonderful to me!' He took her arm, and before she could snap at him she found Dan behind them. Neither of them had heard him approach across the soft sand.
'Anita needs you,' he informed Kieron tightly. 'With a bit of luck we'll have this thing all sewn up by tonight, and then you can all be on your way!'
He was hardly the gracious host, and Kieron turned and marched off. Anna looked after him.
'Did you have to be so rude to Kieron?' she asked crossly.
'Yes, I had to be so rude to Kieron,' he mocked. 'Where were you going with him? Did you intend to offer him a few home comforts?'
Anna's reaction was instant. She slapped his face hard and then, seeing the mounting fury, she turned and raced across the sand, heading out along the beach towards the sandy dunes away from the house. He pursued relentlessly, his face grim as she glanced back.
Her nerve broke and she began to run faster, heading inland and making for the house by a circuitous route. He easily outpaced her, especially when she came down on the soft sand, her sarong getting around her ankles and tripping her neatly. She rolled quickly to get up but Dan was already there, crouching over her, his black shirt open to the waist.
'Panic?' he enquired coldly. 'Do you expect the spanking you deserve for that slap or for this exotic appearance? You wanted to get Amery all hot and bothered?'
'I'm more covered than I was in my bikini!'
She was panting after her run and the fall, and she lay there looking up at him defiantly. His many crimes were right at the top of her mind. At this moment she hated Dan and her eyes were blazing, her voice sharp.
'And much more suggestive!' he grated. 'He's white with passion and Anita is a pale shade of green.'
'Serves her right,' Anna raged. 'Maybe now she won't want to stay!'
'You want us to be back to our nice little domestic arrangement?' he asked silkily, and she looked determinedly away from the growing awareness in those tawny eyes.
'I was thinking of Josie,' she muttered uneasily.
She made a move to get up, but he held her shoulders flat to the sand, his gaze turning slowly over her, resting on the frantically beating pulse in her neck, the quick rise and fall of her breasts.
'Do you know how you look?' he muttered angrily. 'No wonder Anita went into a panic. You're every man's secret dream, and she knows it. Slender, exotic, slightly wild. You're like that hibiscus, glowing, unreal. A man would want you no matter how he got you!'
He lowered his head, his lips searching her skin softly, moving down her neck to the deep hollow between her breasts.
'Dan!'
Her anxious voice went unnoticed as he came down slowly on top of her, his long length lowered deliberately, stretched out sensuously to cover her and press her into the soft sand.
'Do you think I'm any different'?' he asked huskily. 'Are you relying on the past to save you when you let me see you like this? The past is over, Anna! I want you in any way I can get you!'
He lifted his head and looked at her, desire darkening those wonderful eyes, and she was held by the look she saw, by the desire that flared through it. She moved urgently to escape while she could, but her movement only inflamed him further and his hands moved to her breasts, capturing them and molding them, his eyes never leaving hers. She gasped in wild excitement and fear as he unclipped the black top of her bikini and allowed his eyes to move slowly over the swollen silk of her breasts.
'You beautiful little witch!'
The bronze-gold of his head bent until his lips were brushing the surging, alert peaks, and she shuddered with arousal, a small sound of desire escaping from her parted lips. She made no attempt to resist, and he groaned softly as his mouth covered the painful tightness, his lips closing over the throbbing peak.
She gave in without a struggle, her hands lacing into the thick, gleaming hair, cradling his head as her body arched against his demand. It was almost barbaric. Waves of pleasure surged through her as his tongue probed deeply. Her fingers curled against his shoulders and then slid beneath the opened shirt, clenching on his hot, damp skin, and the pressure of his body increased, every inch of it an unspoken command.
There was no doubt that he had expected her reaction, that he knew she would not resist. His hand slid beneath the parted fabric of the sarong and moved possessively over her leg, coming to rest between her thighs, and she twisted madly, raising her hips to his. The gleaming head lifted and his other hand covered her breast as his eyes moved hotly over her face.
'Tell me what I know perfectly well.' he demanded thickly. 'Tell me what I wait every day to hear.'
His eyes blazed into hers, his teeth gently biting at her lips, his fingers moving on her breast with slow caresses that fired her wild desire. She moaned and twisted against him, the open position on the beach forgotten, her whole world encapsulated in Dan.
'Tell me, Anna.' he murmured against her lips, and she sobbed out the words that had been in her heart for so long.
'I want you, Dan!' Her eyes opened and met his, desire, pain and a look that was almost anger in their dark depths. 'You're mine!'
The sensuous lips smiled slowly, the tawny eyes narrowing with a deep understanding.
'Then kiss me, mermaid,' he ordered thickly. 'Kiss me as if you meant it!'
She looked at those sensuous, tempting lips that waited so possessively, and with a little cry of frustration she raised her head slightly and pressed her own lips hungrily to his. Immediately his mouth covered her own, cutting off any protests, hungrily claiming her as he gathered her against him, no restraint between them at all.
It was madness! They were only just out of sight of the others, but there was always madness when Dan kissed her. She was molten in his arms, hungry and aching.
'Dan! Dan! Where are you?' Anita's voice came clearly and angrily across the sand. 'Dan, we need you now!'
He lifted his head and gazed down at Anna's face.
She was too bemused to feel any confusion yet and he knew it. He fastened the clasp of her bikini, his touch gentle and unhurried, then he slowly stood, pulling her to her feet.
'Dan! Where the devil are you?'
Closer than ever, Anita's voice at last penetrated Anna's dazed mind, and with it came realization of her own words and actions; but the shame she should have felt never came. She had given in to her lifelong love for Dan and he knew it.
His face was filled with a kind of exultation as he gently turned her towards the house, her route hidden by trees, and she went blindly, her whole being like a floating cloud, softened, vulnerable and overwhelmed.
'Let's take the whole damned thing and get back to the studio with it!' Anita said petulantly. 'I work better ther
e. It's time you came back to California, Dan, in any case. Anna could come with you, you don't have to hang around here. You'll still be together in California. You've got an apartment there.'
It was a snide remark and Dan instantly bridled. 'I'm not hanging around here,' he rasped. 'I live here! Anna does not have to be under my wing either. She's an adult, not a child!'
'Well, darling, if that's your attitude, then it looks as if we're here for another day-or two,' Anita murmured.
Anna expected an explosion from Dan, but he surprised her.
'Can't be helped,' he said blithely. 'It's a bit rough, though, all this hard work. Tomorrow morning we'll have a break. We'll go diving. It's time Anna had another lesson. How about it?' He looked across at Dean Orton, who grinned and nodded.
'I'm game, any time. How about you, Kieron?'
'A break will do us all good. Anna must be bored with all this script-writing and alterations. I'll show her a few tricks.'
Dan's lips quirked, but he made no comment, and Anna felt a wave of irritation mixed with dismay. He was so sure of her that he wasn't even annoyed with Kieron any more. She supposed that everyone fell into his arms. He was just preparing to add her to the number.
'You know I hate things like diving!' Anita said angrily. 'I've told you before.'
'You're not obliged to go,' Dan assured her pleasantly. 'You can stay and go over the script, or just laze about.'
The evening started quite well, everyone managing to behave in a civilized way, but, in spite of Dan's terse manner on the beach when he had almost ordered Kieron back to the house, Anna found herself almost under siege. Kieron followed her wherever she went, and there was little she could do about it without actually turning on him.
Fortunately Dan was not annoyed with her; his furious looks seemed to be divided between Kieron and Anita, the latter actually annoying Dan more. She flatly refused to work on after dinner, and as they had been here for two days it looked as if they would be here longer.
'We have to have a break, though, and we're certainly going.'
'I'll stay here!' Anita snapped, and Kieron's face was only just controlled.
Dangerous Obsession Page 10
