Just then, he heard the sound of running feet, accompanied by heavy breathing and the clunking of a carry-on suitcase with only one working wheel.
“There she is!” Devlin declared, pointing to the breathless, frazzled woman who was also his wife.
At least for now.
The flight attendant’s smile was stretched to its very thinnest. “So I see.”
Rushing out to meet Amy, Devlin grabbed her arm and all but dragged her along in his wake. He succeeded in getting her to the plane’s still-open door faster than she could have gotten there herself.
Amy was unusually exhausted and far from her best mood right now. She also braced herself for yet another huge argument.
She didn’t have long to wait.
“Where the hell have you been?” Devlin ground out between tightly clenched teeth. He still managed to lock them into a smile, no easy feat.
“And hello to you, too,” Amy retorted, her voice frostier than the weather outside the terminal.
It was going to be a long seventy-two hours, she couldn’t help thinking with a deep sigh.
But this, too, would pass, she promised herself. At the moment, that promise was the only thing that kept her going.
CHAPTER ONE
HER STOMACH LURCHED.
Amy was barely aware of nodding in response to the greetings that came their way as they hurried to their seats. Hers was next to Devlin’s, Amy realized as the attendant brought them to their row.
Of course it was.
What did she think, that they were going to be put at opposite ends of the plane? Cara had been in charge of booking the flights for everyone and she’d made a point of clustering the wedding party and guests as closely together as she possibly could.
It was only natural to have couples seated next to each other.
Except that they weren’t anymore. Weren’t a couple, and if she allowed herself to dwell on that fact and not on how they got to be this uncoupled couple, Amy knew she’d be more than mildly upset.
She and Devlin were supposed to be the perfect pair.
Ha!
Mercifully, she didn’t have to talk to him. Not yet, anyway. The first few minutes were taken up with seat buckling and less-than-heartwarming instructions of what to do in case the plane became a giant flotation device.
The flight attendants said a few more informative things she pretended to listen to.
And then they were taxiing down the runway, moving much too fast in Amy’s opinion, or for her liking.
Forward, linear movement was replaced with the very queasy sensation that took hold of her as the plane began to climb.
She’d always hated this part, hated that feeling of climbing up to heights sane people should never be allowed to climb to.
In response to this stimulus, Amy did what she always did. She prayed for it to be over and for the plane to finally level out. And, as usual, she clutched the armrests as hard as she could and focused the powers of her concentration on the pilot being successful in getting their plane to the proper altitude.
It wasn’t until Amy saw the seat belt sign turn off that she realized her right hand was clamped onto Devlin’s left in what could only be described as a death grip.
Embarrassed, she immediately released his hand.
Devlin looked down. There were small, perfect crescents along his skin where her nails had dug in and left their mark.
He tried to flex his hand a little and pretended that it wasn’t easy. Amy was watching from beneath hooded eyes.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to make a fist again,” he cracked dryly.
And then the eight-year veteran of the Chicago Fire Department looked at the woman beside him. “I didn’t think you were coming,” he told her honestly. She had always been late to everything, but this had to have been a record, even for her. “I mean, I knew you were supposed to come. Cara mentioned while we were all boarding the plane that she’d spoken to you the other day to check if you’d confirmed your plane reservations and you’d told her you couldn’t wait for the wedding.”
“It had been snowing for two days when Cara called me and it wasn’t showing any signs of ever letting up.” She stared straight ahead. She deliberately avoided eye contact with him. Him, the man who had once lit up her world so brightly she would have needed sunglasses to see anything but him. “At that point, if the devil had turned up with plane tickets to Hawaii, I would have told him I was going—and I would have meant it. Then.”
Devlin took a breath. She always knew how to get to him. Sometimes he wondered why he took it and kept coming back for more. Maybe he needed to have his head examined. “So now I’m the devil?”
She slanted one quick glance in his direction before looking away again. And then she shrugged. “You’re missing the tail and the horns...” Pulling out the magazine tucked into the back of the seat in front of her, Amy began to thumb through it.
“I haven’t told anyone yet,” he said, keeping his voice low. He hadn’t said a word because he kept hoping that by some miracle they’d work things out and there’d be no need to tell anyone anything. Despite her irrational outbursts of jealousy, he still loved her. But at times, it wasn’t easy—like now.
Her glance was less than warm. “I figured that part out.”
Devlin ignored what he perceived to be sarcasm. The last thing he wanted was to get into an argument with her in public. “And I’d appreciate it if you continued to keep this a secret for a while longer,” he told her.
This time, Amy did look at him. They’d already agreed on this. Did he think she was an idiot who needed to be constantly reminded so that she wouldn’t wind up ruining the wedding?
“I guess that means I’m going to have to cancel the skywriter,” she deadpanned. “And he was all set to do his thing the night of the rehearsal, too. He’s going to be really disappointed. Think he’ll give me back my down payment?”
Absolutely no one could press his buttons the way Amy could. Maybe he should just go through with this divorce, get a fresh start. It was something to seriously consider.
“Is everything a joke to you?” he wanted to know.
Her eyes were flat as she regarded him. “It didn’t use to be—until the most important part of my life turned into one.”
Her jealousy over the way other women flirted with him had always been a bone of contention for them. What was he supposed to do, wear a bag over his head? Why couldn’t she trust him? How many times did he have to go through this? “Nothing happened,” Devlin insisted. “You know that.”
“Yeah, because I turned up.”
Devlin struggled to keep from giving in to the urge to shout, No, because I was faithful. I’ve always been faithful, damn it! But Amy hadn’t believed him the other times he’d been forced into a position to have to tell her that, why would she suddenly believe him now?
And it was all so hopelessly clichéd and stupid, he couldn’t help thinking.
Amy turned her head away from him, blinking back the tears. She’d come home early that night, thinking to surprise him. Like other firefighters, Devlin worked two days and was off two days. This was his downtime and she had great plans for them involving candles, wine, music and the sexiest lingerie she could find.
The plans instantly turned to dust when she walked through the door to discover their neighbor from across the street draped over her husband in the most suggestive, provocative pose she had ever seen.
She’d slammed the door behind her. The neighbor, a sexy blonde divorcée named Bonnie, had hardly even looked embarrassed while Amy’s about-to-be-cheating husband had looked at her, flustered and speechless.
Not that any words would have changed what she’d seen.
That’s what you get when you marry a drop-dead gorgeous
man who also happens to be a fireman, a branch of public service that comes with its own sex-starved groupies.
She had thought she knew what she was getting into, that the prewedding couples’ therapy that Devlin had insisted on had shown her how to handle her surges of insecurity, but she’d been wrong.
Besides, she’d really been convinced that Devlin was different, far from the cliché. Talk about naive.
She’d tried to get used to women’s heads turning whenever Devlin walked by. She’d almost succeeded because, for the most part, he appeared not to even be aware of it. Whenever she brought the matter up, he’d pointed out that he didn’t care about other women, that she was the only one for him.
And she’d believed him.
But after the Bonnie incident, she knew that every man had his breaking point, and their sexy neighbor was his. She realized that it had been just a matter of time before Devlin was led astray. She felt like a fool.
“I’m not having this argument here,” Devlin said in a low voice. What was the point of repeating that Bonnie had rung the doorbell, saying she wanted to drop something off, that when he let her in, it turned out she was dropping off herself? Amy was his wife—she was supposed to believe him, not what she thought she saw.
He didn’t need this aggravation. Maybe he should just go through with the divorce. God knew his life would be a lot less stressful if he did.
Amy raised her chin, doing her best to look as if she didn’t care what Devlin did or didn’t do.
“Not asking you to,” she told him crisply.
“But you turning up just then, that night, had nothing to do with the way I responded. End of story.”
Yes, it had, she thought. It was the end of the story. Their story.
“We almost took off without you,” he told her, changing the subject. “I had to do a lot of fast-talking to keep that flight attendant from closing the door.”
“I’m sure she was more than happy to oblige,” Amy said with a saccharine smile. “Is she meeting you after the plane lands?”
Three months apart and nothing had changed. Same old song, he thought angrily.
He wasn’t even going to dignify that with an answer. Instead, he appealed to her better nature. Appealed to the woman he’d fallen in love with and was fairly sure was still in there, somewhere.
“Look, this means a lot to Nick and Cara, so please, just hang on to this secret for a while longer, all right?”
And what do I do with my other secret, Devlin? How long can I hang on to that?
She knew her emotions were all over the place. She was far from the level-headed, rising ad executive she’d been three months ago.
That, too, was his fault, she thought, glaring at him.
“If you play along and act like you still want to be my wife,” he was whispering, “when we get back, I’ll give you that divorce. Uncontested. So is it a deal?” Devlin held out his hand to her.
She looked at him for a long moment. She didn’t take giving her word lightly, and he knew that. “It’s a deal,” she finally told him quietly.
As she shook his hand, Amy felt her stomach lurch again. Lurch and then begin to rise almost up to her mouth. One second she was shaking Devlin’s hand, the next she bolted out of her seat and made a beeline for the bathroom, the placement of which she’d had the presence of mind to notice the moment she’d boarded.
When she finally returned to her seat some ten minutes later, after first having consumed half a roll of mint-flavored Life Savers, Devlin looked at her quizzically.
“You all right?” he wanted to know.
She avoided his eyes. Hers still felt a wee bit watery. “Fine.”
He seemed skeptical. “You’re pale,” he observed.
“Had something that didn’t agree with me for lunch.” She said the first thing that came to mind. “Ate too fast so I could get here on time.”
“You weren’t on time,” Devlin pointed out.
Why was everything an argument with him? “I’m on the plane, aren’t I?”
Devlin inclined his head and let it go. Winning arguments with Amy had ceased to interest him when he realized that she was dead serious about filing for divorce. Suddenly, there was a bigger picture involved.
When she wasn’t making him crazy—the way she was now—he found himself not wanting to give her more reasons to leave him. He wanted to peel away the ones she felt she had.
“Yes, you are,” he agreed.
And just maybe, he added silently, that was a hopeful omen.
CHAPTER TWO
“REALLY GLAD YOU could make it.”
Nick McNeil’s enthusiasm was directed at Amy. Since the seat belt sign had been off for the past half hour, the groom had begun to make his rounds, greeting the wedding guests on the plane with him and his bride-to-be.
Outgoing and friendly, Nick was setting an informal, laid-back tone for the three-day celebration that was still ahead of them.
“I was starting to have my doubts back there for a while, Amy,” Nick admitted with a laugh. Amy liked Nick; she always had. She didn’t want what was happening between her and Devlin—Nick’s best man—to spoil the guy’s wedding. Faced with his genuine concern, she said the first thing that came to mind, seizing on an explanation that was, in part, the truth.
“The taxi got stuck in traffic. The snow made it almost impossible to travel faster than a snail. You know how it is.”
“Yeah, I do. Gotta love Chicago weather.” Nick laughed and shook his head. “To be honest, in all the excitement, I didn’t realize you were missing until I saw the others boarding the plane. How come you didn’t arrive with Devlin?” he asked. “I figured the two of you would have been coming in the same cab.”
Devlin read her nervousness in her eyes. Amy was talented in many ways, but she definitely wasn’t any good at fabricating excuses out of thin air. It was one of the things he’d loved about her. Amy didn’t know the first thing about lying.
He came to her rescue. “She had some last-minute things to take care of at the ad agency—and you know Amy. She’s not happy until everything’s just as perfect as she is.”
Then, as if a show of momentary intimacy would help reinforce his words, Devlin gave his wife a quick, one-arm hug and brushed her cheek with what would have looked like an affectionate kiss to anyone who was watching.
As always, her skin felt silky against his lips, reminding him just how much he missed their casual displays of affection now that there weren’t any.
Nick leaned over the seats, giving Amy’s folded hands a quick squeeze, apparently oblivious to the fact that those hands were actually clenched together.
“Well, bottom line is you made the flight and we’re all very happy about that,” Nick told her. He grinned at Devlin. “I know that my best man here definitely wouldn’t have been himself if you missed the flight for some reason.”
Amy forced a smile to her lips. As if she cared whether or not Devlin was himself or the creature from the black lagoon.
“I would have just caught the next flight,” she told Nick glibly.
“If there is a next one,” Nick qualified. “From what I hear, the weather forecast says there’s another big storm front moving in. You ask me, I think we got out of the airport just in time. Otherwise, Cara and I might be saying our vows in an airplane hangar.”
Straightening, Nick glanced to his left. Another couple waved to him a few rows away. “Well, I’ll see you at the hotel,” Nick said, making it sound more like a vow than something left to chance. He withdrew to talk to the other guests.
Devlin ducked his head down and whispered against her ear, his breath warm.
“You can stop smiling now if you want. Although I have to admit I like you better smiling like that—even if you do look a little
like a deer caught in the headlights.”
Now he was making her feel self-conscious, Amy thought, annoyed. “Sorry, it’s the best I can do under the circumstances.”
Devlin spread his hands wide in innocence. “Not complaining,” he said.
“Funny, it sure sounded that way to me,” she responded, then shrugged carelessly. “But then, I always managed to misunderstand you, didn’t I?”
He knew what she was doing. She was trying to goad him into saying something that would make her feel further justified about dissolving their union. But he wasn’t going to fall for it, wasn’t going to willingly walk into the bear trap she’d set for him. Instead, he leaned in so that, once again, only she could hear the words he whispered into her ear.
“Not all the time. I can remember some really special times when you understood everything I was saying....” The grin on his lips looked positively wicked from where she was sitting. “And intuiting everything I was thinking. There was a time when we were very, very much in sync,” he reminded her.
Amy galvanized her inner resolve. She wasn’t going to allow herself to think about the references he was making, wasn’t going to allow him to trick her into remembering the good times. They were all in the past and she was determined to face the future. Even if she believed him, believed nothing had happened between him and their neighbor, or any of the other women who responded to him, it was only a matter of time before he was enticed by someone. He wasn’t about to get homely-looking anytime soon and she wasn’t exactly a raving beauty. It was better this way. She’d made up her mind, filed for the divorce and she was going to go through with it, no matter what it took.
To accomplish that, she was going to maintain a very tight rein on her emotions so that she wouldn’t let her guard down and be overcome by the fact that she missed him like crazy.
Hang tough, she told herself.
“Yes, well, things change,” she said out loud to Devlin, doing her best to appear disinterested in anything he might have to say.
With that, she buried her face in the magazine that offered her all sorts of bargain prices for things she had absolutely no use for.
Island Promises: Hawaiian HolidayHawaiian ReunionHawaiian Retreat Page 9
