Charmed By You ((Destiny Bay Romances-The Islanders 5)) (14 page)

Her scream jerked him away from her, and he leapt to his feet, staring wildly about the room. “What is it?”
he demanded. “What’s the matter?”

She couldn’t speak; she could only point soundlessly at the huge spider on the wall only inches from the bed.

Mitch relaxed immediately. “What, that harmless little
garden spider?” he scoffed, rejoining her. “He’s a pet.
I call him Herman. He only comes out after a rainstorm
to see how the hunting is.”

“Little?” she finally managed to gasp. “He’s as big
as your fist, and hairy...” She choked on the words,
revulsion shuddering through her in waves of near nau
sea.

Mitch found her reaction terribly amusing. “A mere
pup.” He chuckled. “I’ve seen others twice his size. I’m
waiting for him to bring home a mate.”

Heather was slipping out of the bed, her eyes glued
to the spider on the wall. There was no way she was
going to stay within pouncing distance of that monster.

“I think I’ll pass on that heartwarming sight,” she
muttered, feeling around for her clothes and slipping into
them without once dropping her guarded stare. “Come
on, Mitch. The papers, remember?”

He was quiet for a moment. “You won’t need them,
Heather,” he said at last. “Not if you’re staying here with
me.

She avoided his eyes, looking about for her panty
hose. “But I’m not staying,” she answered crisply. “I
have no intention of staying.”

She found her hose at last and sighed with disgust. Another pair ruined. That meant she had only one pair
left. Oh, well. She’d be on a plane shortly, heading back
across the Pacific. One pair ought to last until she hit Hawaii, where she could buy replacements.

Mitch was standing very close, but he didn’t touch her.
“Why?” he asked quietly. “Why won’t you stay? Is it
because of the spider?”

She tried to laugh. “Don’t be silly. Although I can’t
say he’s much of an enticement.” She wadded her panty hose into a ball and shoved them inside her purse. “You know what it is as well as I do.” She raised her chin and
looked him square in the eye. “You can’t stand my lifestyle and I can’t stand yours. We’re physically attracted,
but emotionally incompatible. It’s as simple as that.”

Something dangerous flashed behind the dusky hard
ness in his eyes, and she stepped back in alarm. But he seemed to want control himself before he said or did
anything to challenge her. He narrowed his glance and
tried to smile. “You’re wrong, Heather,” he told her quietly. “What can I do to convince you?”

If she stayed here looking at his beloved face, she
would start to cry. Determinedly she turned away. “Where
are the papers?” she demanded again, her voice forced.

“Just a minute. I’ll get them.” He pulled his clothes
on while she waited, gazing at the stereo, at the kitchen,
anywhere but at his strong muscular body.

“I left them on the table in the clinic,” he said evenly, opening the connecting door and ushering her into the
examining room.

At last she was going to get the papers signed. She
had to admit to herself that he was acting quite the gentle
man now. She supposed he knew he was beaten, that every trick he’d tried to pull on her had only turned her
further from his goal. Now he was ready to do what
she’d come for. It was finally over.

“Which table?” she asked, looking around.

“Where I keep the pharmaceuticals,” he replied, gesturing toward a corner of the room. “I dropped them on
top of a tray of penicillin.”

She walked quickly up to the table. “I don’t see any penicillin,” she said shortly. “And I don’t see my pa
pers.”

He came up behind her. “I’m sure that’s where I put
them.” Was there something a bit too smooth in his
voice?

She whirled and stared at him, but his expression was
one of bland accommodation. “When was that?” she
asked suspiciously.

He shrugged, a picture of casual unconcern. “Yesterday evening when I was closing down the clinic.”

Her thoughts returned to the previous evening. “And
you put them on a tray of penicillin?”

He nodded, as if expecting her to solve a puzzle. She frowned. “Didn’t Dede say something about taking your penicillin?”

Again he nodded, a tiny smile twisting the edges of his mouth.

She spun back to look at the table, then bent to look underneath and on the floor. “Was that the same tray?” she demanded.

“Must have been,” he drawled. “I guess she didn’t
notice the papers. Must have taken them right along with
the penicillin.”

Still standing with her back to him, Heather closed her eyes, gathering strength. “And when will Dede be back?”

“You never can tell. One week, maybe two.”

“Mitch!” She whipped around and glared at him. “You did this on purpose! I should have known you’d use some
trick...” She started toward him, fists raised.

“Wait a minute.” He raised his hands, palms out, to hold back her assault. “You can’t pin this on me. I’m an innocent bystander.”

“Innocent!” Her tone dripped with sarcasm, but inside
she was in mortal anguish. She’d worked so hard, been
so strong, and
she’d succeeded in holding off his attempts
to make her stay. Now, just when she thought she’d
reached the finish line, she found out it had been moved
around the track again. She wasn’t sure she could run that lap one more time. Impotent rage almost choked her.

“I came all this way... Mitch, what am I going to do now? I can’t go back without your signature on those papers. What am I going to do?”

His hands still covered her shoulders, and she could
tell he was fighting hard to hold back a delighted smile.
“I guess you’ll just have to wait until Dede gets back.
Sorry.”

She stared up at him, her mind in turmoil. Had he
done this on purpose? Had he sent the papers away with Dede? Were the papers even gone, or were they hidden
somewhere in his office?

But no, as he said so often, he didn’t lie. Still, he
was enjoying what had happened. Anger was growing
in her, an anger larger and more threatening than any
she had ever felt before. He might enjoy this, but she
would make damn sure he didn’t profit by it.

She pulled swiftly out of his grasp. “Mitch Carrington,”
she hissed through clenched teeth, “I’m going to stay
and wait for those papers to return. But I’m not staying here with you; I’m staying at Mele’s. And if you come
near me once—“

“Heather,” he interrupted, “don’t be ridiculous. I won’t
put any pressure on you. Just let—“

“No,” she insisted. “I don’t want anything to do with you. Don’t you dare try to bind me to you with your
seductive ways.” She jumped back as he reached for her
again. “Keep your distance, Mitch,” she ordered. “I’ll
never forgive you for this.”

She knew he tried to stop her as she gathered her
things and went raging out the doorway, but she didn’t
look at him, didn’t bother to react in any way. From now
on, as far as she was concerned, he was invisible.

She raised her head as she walked across the road to the Coconut Club. The thirsty earth had soaked up the
water from the rainstorm, but there was a freshness in
the air that felt good, despite her frazzled state. She was
strong, and she would survive even this setback.

She met no one on the lanai and managed to slip upstairs without having to talk to anyone. Music from the bar filtered up through the walls, the sad, longing
notes of the country western music matching her mel
ancholy mood.

Once in her room, she went swiftly to the window to look down on Mitch’s clinic. He was coming out of the
building, but he headed straight for the Jeep, not looking
up to where she was standing. She watched him drive out of the village, then turned to look around her room feeling like an animal caged against its will.

This was absolute insanity. How could she stay here for a week waiting for the papers? But what choice did she have?

Mitch might not have given them to Dede by design, but he’d certainly known she’d taken them and he’d said nothing until he had to. It made her furious to think of
how he must have been laughing up his sleeve when she
told him so confidently that she was leaving right away.

She was stuck on this miserable island, stuck in this little bedroom... A horrible thought came to her, sending fresh shivers down her spine. Gingerly, she went to the walls, thoroughly searching every nook and cranny in her room. If one of those tremendous spiders was hiding somewhere inside, she wanted to know about it.

Not an insect nor an arachnid was to be found, however, and she breathed a relieved sigh. The freshness of the rainstorm had dissipated, leaving behind the heavy, heavy heat, and she lay down on her bed, intent upon thinking a way out of her dilemma.

It was strange how completely she believed him after
so many months of doubting him. He wasn’t having an affair with Dede. He never had been. Just bringing her
suspicions out in the open and seeing his incredulous
denial had convinced her.

Yet where was the euphoric relief she should be feel
ing? Its absence puzzled her.

But of course she knew the answer. It never had been Dede, not really. The truth was, she’d always been jeal
ous of anything that took Mitch away from her, whether
it was his work or his dreams. Just because Dede wasn’t
one of his distractions didn’t make him loyal to Heather again. He was still involved in too many activities that
excluded her completely.

In Flagstaff, his compassion for the less fortunate had
kept him from her. During the first blissful months of
their marriage, he’d thought of nothing but her night and day. But gradually he’d returned to the real world, leav
ing her behind.

She’d tried to compensate by immersing herself in her
art, and when she’d achieved success, she’d somehow
thought she would win back his attention, too. Remem
bering, she realized now that her goal had always been to interest him again, to hold his eye, monopolize his
time.

It had worked for a little while. He’d been proud of her, and she’d tried to draw him into her world. She’d
dreamt of the splash they could make, he as the fastest-rising young physician on the hospital staff, she as a
successful artist.

But once again he began to withdraw. He made fun of the society people she’d begun seeing, and he grew
bitter. The more he worked with the poor Indians and transients in Santa Fe, the more he resented the wealthy
people who paid her good money to draw pictures of
their houses.

“Face it, Heather,” her cousin Trevor had said, “he
feels out of place with successful people. The man won’t
ever make a name for himself, and he resents having to go around under your banner.”

She wouldn’t have accepted a statement like that with
out a blazing battle from anyone but Trevor. The two of
them had been companions since childhood. Trevor had always been more a best friend than a cousin to her. And he knew he could say almost anything and get away with
it.

“But he’s a good doctor,” she’d protested stoutly.

Trevor had smiled indulgently. “Good doctors get good
positions,” he reminded her. “Mitch hasn’t even been offered a place on the staff.”

It was true. His residency was drawing to a close and she’d heard nothing about offers, either from the hospital
or from local medical corporations. She hadn’t allowed herself to think that Trevor might be right, but a little worm had gnawed away at her resolve.

The only job Mitch had ever mentioned had been Dede’s
plan to return to Ragonai. When Heather had said she didn’t want to live on a tropical island, he’d stared at her as though he didn’t believe her.

“Think of Tahiti in the twenties,” he’d told her. “Think
of Hawaii a century ago.”

“Think of Flagstaff right now,” she’d snapped back.
“This is where our life is. This is where we can put down roots and build something. Not on some piece of flotsam
in the middle of the ocean.”

Those memories were still painful, and she tried to wipe them from her mind. She had to think of a way out of this mess. She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate. In a moment, she was asleep.

Heather woke to the strains of the Jackson County song again. She was stiff and a little sore from the un
accustomed position she’d been sleeping in, but she knew
a brisk shower would knock out the kinks. She washed
her hair and dressed slowly, putting on the sundress once
again. She had very little choice. What was she going to wear for an entire week on this island?

This time the dining room was crowded with people. Kevin was seated with two other men, and he waved to
her as their eyes met across the room. “Heather, you’re
still here!” All three men rose as she approached the table. She gestured for them to sit down again.