Island Of Pearls

by Margaret Rome

  Suddenly an object hurtled out of the darkness uttering a terrifying squawk as it winged past her face. Hazel screamed - a last terror-crazed effort born of

  sheer desperation - that ripped high-pitched from her throat, then subsided into a sob only seconds before she fainted ...

  She was rambling in her delirium, calling out for Francisco and hearing him answer to his name. His grip was tight around her body as he swung her up into his arms and his face when it swam into vision was as forbidding as a monster's, a profile etched in granite with eyes distracted, as if they'd looked upon hell. Fear drained from her. Even though still aware of surrounding danger she was no longer alone; Francisco was sharing her nightmare. She wanted to comfort him, but the words would not come, so only in spirit could she share the agony betrayed by a frantic ejaculation hissed through lips tight with fury. "Por Dios! Someone shall suffer for this acto diabolico!"

  Like the wings of a captured bird eager to fly, yet hesitant of release, her eyelids fluttered. Cautiously she risked a peep from under lowered lashes and felt a great upsurge of relief at the sight of familiar pearl and ivory objects gracing her own bedroom. Thoughts were clamouring for admittance into her mind, but she resisted the urge to remember, sensing that the experience might be hurtful. A slight movement caught her attention and her eyes swung towards it, almost betraying her wakefulness with a soft gasp which she only just managed to suppress as she recognized Francisco. He was sitting in a chair at her bedside, his dark head resting against the upholstery, his eyes closed. Against ivory velvet his face looked drained of colour, haggard and blue-jowled, as if shaving had been a sketchy affair accomplished swiftly because he

  had begrudged the time. She felt a lazy sense of guilt which did not prevent her from tracing through tears the contours of his defenceless face. For once he was at her mercy, with guard lowered, his lips denuded by sleep of their arrogant tilt, his piercing glances cloaked by a fan of dense lashes that showed dark as bruises against high cheekbones. She caught in a swift breath when he stirred, but it escaped in a surprised gasp when she saw his lips form her name. The sound, slight though it was, jerked him awake and sent his alert glance riveting upon her face.

  "Buenos dias!" she attempted, paralysing shyness leaving her bereft of intelligence.

  "Madre mia" he answered softly, eyebrows sweeping upwards, "for days now we have watched over you, despairing of your life - of your sanity even - yet when you awake you calmly wish me good day!" He began to laugh, softly, but with a despairing edge.

  Hazel frowned, puzzled by his reaction. Obviously he must have been under some tremendous strain when release from it brought such crazy relief. Then suddenly she remembered. "Carmen! What happened to her, is she safe . . . ?

  Swiftly he eased her back against the pillows. "She is perfectly safe, in fact she was never in any danger," he assured her, his mouth setting at some grim reminder.

  "Then why . . . how did it all come about . . . ?" she frowned, fighting tears of weakness.

  "Don't cry, chiquita, everything has been resolved," he calmed, his eyes devouring her small bewildered face. But the tears would not stop, not as long as he remained

  nearby to punish her with soft endearments and glances that caressed.

  "Por mi vida!" The savage exclamation torn from him was the first break in his defences. She was lifted against his heart by arms that imprisoned her within a vibrant tender circle. "I love you!" he swore hoarsely, with the impulsive recklessness of a man risking his destiny on one throw of the dice. "Madre mia, how I love you!"

  She had dreamt many times of being loved by him, but conjecture had not even remotely captured the tantalizing emotions aroused by his first kiss of devotion. Tenderly his lips explored, pleading silently for response but holding fast on to control lest the timid creature in his arms should revolt against his flare of demanding passion. Taken completely by surprise, her lips quivered under his and his arms tightened, determined to retain their hold upon heady sweetness. With fierce tenderness he wooed her capitulation, swamping her doubts with a virile passion that convinced her she was being kissed as a woman, a desirable, enchanting woman, and not as an appealing child. The wonder of it bemused her. Life up until now had not been kind, but every ache of unhappiness, every bitter tear and hurtful slight was obliterated by the joy of knowing that in some incredible, unbelievable way she had become an essential part of his happiness.

  Perhaps - even now her dazed senses urged caution -she was still dreaming and would waken to face again the terror of entombment! But her answer was wrung from lips despairing of response, a low, shaken plea earthshaking in its intensity. "Please, amada, don't ever leave me!" All doubts dispersed as she surrendered,

  revelling in the increasing fervency of his touch, questioning nothing, not even her own wanton desire to fulfil to perfection his loving demands.

  It was long afterwards, when heat of passion had been controlled to a pulsating throb, that she cradled his gaunt, emotion-ravaged face in her hands and began hesitantly to probe, "How long have you loved me, my darling?"

  Gravity reflected in his dark eyes as he supplied with certainty, "How long, carina? I think perhaps since the day I turned a crooked corner and found Carmen playing with a solemn little creature whose golden eyes seemed to plead with me to be kind. I suspected then that you were a thief," he teased gently, delaying long enough to brush the lashes of her wide-open eyes with his lips before continuing intently, "but it was on our wedding day, when I vowed to love and to cherish you till death, that I realized how completely you had stolen my heart."

  His admission removed her only remaining worry, and the happiness of knowing both sets of vows had been spoken with honesty gave to her eyes the glow of amber. "Then ours really was a marriage of love, Francisco!" she whispered.

  They shared a kiss which threatened to escalate beyond the bounds of mutual thanksgiving into the realms of forgetfulness but, as if determined to eliminate all possible misunderstanding, he hung on to sanity long enough to confess, "No man ever made more drastic mistakes than I in my eagerness to keep you by my side, carestia. At first I reasoned that to remain on the footing of servant and employer would create breathing

  space with which to win your confidence. Then, when that did not work, fear of losing you forced me to resort to deception, ruthlessness and even blackmail before the wisdom of a child pointed out the virtues of consideration and kindness. But by that time you had become completely alienated. Right before my eyes the child I had treated so badly blossomed into a woman, with a woman's instinctive knowledge of how to parry with cool indifference my every abortive attempt towards conciliation." He tipped up her chin to plead, "You know now how best to punish, cara, but please, I beg of you, don't exercise that power too often . . ."

  Impulsively, Hazel raised her lips to his and felt him quiver under her kiss. "You'll never be hurt again, my darling," she promised earnestly, "not as you have been hurt in the past." She was thinking of Carmen's mother, of the agony he had suffered at her hands, and the thought brought pain as well as compassion to twist her heart.

  Nimble thought can jump both sea and land.

  It was astonishing how easily he read her mind. "Carmen's mother was very beautiful," he told her deliberately, "but as a woman she lacked the qualities of warmth and sincerity a man seeks in a wife. When I tried to extricate myself from the relationship she threatened to marry my brother, who had made no secret of his infatuation. Naturally I tried to warn him against being used as a weapon of spite, but my protests were regarded by everyone as the jealous ramblings of a rejected suitor - even by Tio Garcia, who should have known me better." His jaw tautened at the memory, but he forced himself to continue.

  "Of course, the marriage was a disaster and I felt bitterly to blame, but I tried to salve my conscience by supplying their never-ending demands for money. Finally, I reached the conclusion that perhaps they needed to stand on their own feet, that far from helping them, easy money
was impeding their progress towards maturity and towards their understanding of the responsibilities they owed to their child. When I informed them of my decision," he blanched before her eyes, "they left the Casa in a rage and a few minutes later they were both dead."

  He released her and moved away, his shoulders tense, squared to accept her condemnation. Forgetting her weak state completely, she threw back the bed covers to run towards him and was mere inches away when he swung round and caught her in his arms just seconds before she fell. With loving anger he swung her high against his heart and carried her across to the bed, but melting tenderness drowned all other emotions when she lifted her hand to stroke his cheeks and to assure him with concern, "I love you so, Francisco!" She was folded into his arms and kissed with a reverence that betrayed compunction at having subjected her to such emotional strain, but his expression of relief told of tremendous uplift.

  "Thank you, mia cara" he whispered, "I thought never to hear you say those wonderful words!"

  A soft knock on the door preceded Tio Garcia, who stepped aside to allow the doctor to enter the room. They faltered on the threshold, staring at the girl being thoroughly kissed by a man who, it seemed, had no intention of ever letting her go. A grin split Tio

  Garcia's face. "Heaven be praised!" he whooped, startling his smiling companion, "I feel your services won't be required much longer, doctor, if as is said, love is the most healing medicine of all!"

  Francisco was chased to his room to catch up on sleep he had lost during two days of solitary watch at her bedside. "He would allow no one near, with the exception of the doctor," Tio Garcia explained. "Never have I seen a man so demented the night you went missing, and when he found you . . . ! Por mi vida! never again do I wish to see such an expression of agony! He thought you were dying, you see," he finished simply, his voice conveying a remembrance of tragedy.

  With the doctor's permission, they were sitting on the balcony of her room enjoying the sunshine. Carmen had been allowed a short visit only, but she was playing below on her swing within sight and near enough to yell fond remarks every now and then to the invalid.

  "What really happened that afternoon, Tio Garcia ?" she urged quietly. "Was Carmen lost, or had she slipped past me in the crowd ?"

  "She never went into the caves at all," he told her after a slight pause. "It seems she changed her mind and decided to rejoin you - after seeking Catryn's permission, of course," he stressed deliberately. Her hands clenched in her lap, but her expression did not change as she insisted in a low voice, "Go on ..."

  "There's not much more to say," his jaw hardened, "except that when they couldn't find you Catryn told Carmen to wait in a nearby cafe until the excursion

  was over when, she said, you were sure to turn up to fetch her."

  "But why didn't Catryn tell me this instead of sending me back into the caves . . . ?" When she stopped short, eyes wide with horror, he nodded.

  "Yes, cara, you've guessed correctly! She locked you in deliberately, probably hoping you'd meet with an accident which would have given her a heaven-sent opportunity of consoling Francisco."

  "She admitted all this ?" she faltered, not wanting to believe Catryn capable of such a deed.

  "Under considerable duress," Tio Garcia confessed. "Francisco can be extremely ruthless when his sanity is at stake."

  "I see," she nodded, not really wanting to hear more. But with relish he carried on to outline the events of the day.

  "We returned from Formentor just after seven to find Carmen in tears and Catryn waiting quite self-possessed to tell us you were missing. Of course, Francisco was not long in pointing out that her tale and Carmen's were oddly conflicting, but she was all prepared to brazen it out until he sent Carmen out of the room and concentrated with deadly menace upon getting at the truth. It was less than an hour before she broke down and admitted where you were, but he did not wait to condemn her, he rushed out of the Casa like a madman, and I can't help feeling relieved that she left the island on the first available flight, because if she had still been here when he carried you home, half-frozen and delirious with fear, he'd have murdered her without the least compunction."

  Francisco was awake; Hazel had heard him splashing about under the shower earlier and now the sound of drawers sliding open and shut evidenced his presence in the next room. It was very late, so he would hardly be dressing to go out, but as he had slept for hours he was probably completely refreshed. She couldn't sleep either. She felt keyed up; the weariness that had affected her had vanished completely, to be replaced by alert expectancy and alternating feelings of yearning and fear. Fear, it seemed, played an integral part in her relationship with the man who, even now, she barely dared accept as a husband. Fear of his anger, fear of an attraction so strong she would have found death preferable to banishment, and now fear of being found wanting by a man whose eyes had mirrored reluctance when he left her to replenish a body drained to exhaustion by hours of tormented vigilance. How many other Drach brides had waited in this room bedevilled by similar doubts? She drew consolation from the costly objects around her - the men of Drach bestowed beauty in abundance upon those they loved ...

  She was standing at the window when he entered, a slight, ethereal figure clad in a negligee delicate enough to have been woven from moonbeams. She did not stir, but waited until he joined her, then when she felt his arms stealing gently around her waist she leant back until her head was resting upon his muscular chest left bare above the belted waist of a silken dressing gown.

  Deliberately, he brushed aside the coil of hair from the nape of her neck and pressed cool lips to the tendrils left curling against soft skin. " Bienquista!" he murmured

  hoarsely, "dearly beloved!"

  Hazel spun round to press her cheek against his heart and saw moonlight caress the pearl glistening in his palm. Silently, he lifted her hand and slid the Ring of Chastity upon her finger, before pulling her close to set his seal of possession against her waiting lips. No words were needed and none exchanged; she felt she had come home after a long and weary exile. As he swooped to carry her like a piece of plunder towards the bed she heard a deep-throated growl and felt immediately unafraid, recognizing a sound known only to the cherished and much beloved brides of Drach - the sound of a dragon purring!