Charmed By You ((Destiny Bay Romances-The Islanders 5)) (18 page)

“Good Lord, Heather.” Suddenly he went as stiff as
she was. He propped himself up and took a handful of
stretchy nylon material and pulled it away from her skin,
looking incredulously at it. “You’re still wearing these things. What are you so afraid of?”

She tried to twist away, but he took a firmer hold on
the nylon. He looked down into her face, his eyes stormy
with the conflicting emotions of anger and amusement. Slowly he began to laugh. “Only you would live with this misery just to prove a point,” he muttered, shaking his head. “What will it take to make you give them up?”

She stared up at him, unable to speak. For a long
moment she was sure he was going to rip them from her. But finally he let go, laughing softly. “All right, Heather,
you win.” He drew back away from her, watching her with a lazy gaze. “I won’t force myself on you. I won’t
force anything on you. You’ll have to decide for yourself
what you really want.”

He rose, straightening his disheveled clothes and
walking toward the door. Just before going out, he turned
back. “I only hope you decide soon, Heather,” he said quietly. “Very soon.”

He slammed the door shut behind him, leaving her to
stare into the dark corners of her lonely room, wondering
why she was such a fool.

Chapter Eight

Danny Cabrillo arrived at ten o’clock sharp, just as he’d promised. He wore his best white shirt and black
slacks and had an old, beat-up guitar slung over his
shoulder.

Heather felt anxious when she first saw him, but when
he smiled, lighting the day with his snapping black eyes
just the way his little sister did, she felt a sense of relief.
“How’s your mother?” she asked first. When he said she
was doing pretty well, she asked about Lizzie.

“Lizzie’s okay,” he replied. “She’s mad that I
wouldn’t bring her with me. The kids were teasing her
again about her foot, and she wanted to run away and
live with me here.”

Heather ran a tongue across her dry lips. Poor Lizzie.
She knew how cruel children could be, often without
really meaning any harm. But what worried her right
now was that Danny assumed he would be living here
in Ragonai village, just as Mele had predicted.

She took him into the empty dining room and told him to play something nice. For the next half hour, he
played song after song. She sat listening, enchanted. His
taste ran from rock and roll to classical melodies, and
he performed each with practiced style.

“Where did you learn to play so well?” she asked after
he finished a number with a Spanish flavor.

He smiled shyly. “I just copy from records or the radio,” he said. “I just play what I like.”

Heather shook her head. Imagine what this boy might do with formal musical training and a decent instrument.
“Mele,” she called into the kitchen. “Come on out here. You’ve got to hear this.”

“I’ve been listening.” Mele emerged reluctantly, her beads clacking, but she couldn’t resist the boy’s smile any more than Heather could. “The kid’s good. I know that.”

“Well, what do you think? Can you hire him?”

Mele assumed a
ferocious scowl. “You know I can’t use him in the bar. He’s too young for that anyway.”

Danny’s happy smile disappeared, and his face took
on the tragic look of a boy watching his dream evaporate.

“But I tell you what,” she added gruffly. “You can
play at Jake’s party tomorrow night. I’ll pay you for that,
and all your friends and relatives will have a chance to hear you. How’s that?”

The smile returned, reminding Heather once again of Lizzie. “That would be great,” he said enthusiastically. “Maybe if I play real good, you’ll hire me to play in the bar, too.”

Mele threw Heather a scathing look that clearly said,
“See what you’re getting me into?” But she obviously liked the boy. “Okay.” She grunted. “I’ll get you set up with a place to stay. Come on with me.”

Heather watched as they left. Danny was so good it was a crime he would have no chance to develop his talent here on Ragonai. To think a boy who had taught
himself to play on a cheap used guitar could reach such
a level of expertise. If only... She narrowed her eyes.
If only there was some way to help him, some way to
get him to where he could take real lessons from a master.

Then she remembered his little sister. Even more than Danny, Lizzie needed help. She was only five, and al
ready the cruelty of the world was closing in on her.

Heather considered her interesting face. She ought to
go out to Titano village and make some drawings of Lizzie. But how would that benefit the girl? The only
thing that would really help her would be the operations
that would correct the defect to her foot.

The tiny germ of an idea took root in Heather’s mind.
Why not? Lizzie had only to go to the surgeon. All it
would take was money.

Once again the urge to share her idea with Mitch sent her running across the road. Naturally, he was busy. “Is it important?” he asked, finding her at the door of his
clinic. “I’m in the middle of an examination.”

“No.” She swallowed her disappointment and smiled.
“It’ll keep.”

He leaned against the doorjamb as she started to turn
away. “I’m going out to Titano village in about half an hour,” he said. “Want to ride along? I’ll take you to a
beach that will fulfill your wildest fantasies.”

Suddenly she felt as light as a rainbow. “I’d love to,”
she said happily.

“Wear a bathing suit,” he advised as he started to turn away. He looked back with a grin. “On second thought,
don’t bother.”
 

It was silly that such a small thing could make her
feel so good. She seemed to be dancing back across the
road. She ran up to her room and rummaged in her suitcase for her bathing suit. While she was at it, she cast a quick glance at the litter basket in the corner of the room. On top of crumpled papers and discarded tissues were her last pair of panty hose.

She’d thrown them away that morning, determined to loosen up and be whatever Mitch wanted her to be. No more panty hose. No more missionary lady. She was going to bend with the trade winds. And so far Mitch hadn’t even noticed.

No matter. He would see evidence of her new leaf soon enough. She grinned to herself as she put on her electric blue two-piece swimsuit and pulled her yellow shift over it. After all, she only had the rest of the week with the man she loved. Why not make the most of it?

She’d come to that decision during a mostly sleepless night. Thinking things over, she’d realized what a fool she was being. She loved Mitch. She’d lost him. But now she had a chance to capture some of that joy again. So what if it cost her a bit of renewed heartache? He was worth it.

She thought of his gentle touch, his maddening kisses,
his dark eyes, his soft laugh. She loved him more than life itself. She would pay the price, and gladly.

She wouldn’t stay with him. No, that would be asking too much of herself. She knew her love would deteriorate under the tenuous conditions of that sort of relationship.
But for now, for this week, she would give him everything she could.

She slipped her feet into low sandals and ran back down to meet him at the Jeep. In a few minutes they were roaring out over the countryside, just as they had two days before.

It was hot again, but for some reason the heat didn’t
bother her. It seemed a soft cushioning pillow rather than a harsh assault. It was almost as though it had become
more benign once she’d stopped fighting it. Now she
could relax and enjoy what the island had to offer.

“Look.” Mitch pointed out a marshy field through which
lumbered a huge water buffalo carrying three children.
Three little hands were waving wildly, and Heather leaned
out of the Jeep to wave back.

“Don’t they ever get off?” she asked Mitch, laughing.

“I don’t know,” he answered over the engine’s roar.
“I’m not sure I’d recognize them on foot.” He gave her a sidelong glance. “This is nice,” he said casually. “I
like having you along.”

She wanted to reach out and touch him, to feather the
back of his head with a soft massage, to kiss his neck.
But she was still a little shy for that. She just smiled
back. “I like being along,” she replied.

The village spread across the side of the mountain
like a multicolored lace shawl. As they drove slowly
down the main street, past a dusty grocery with teenagers
sitting in front and a shiny gas station, waiting to service the cars that accumulated more wax on their hoods than miles on their odometer, she turned to look at him again.
“Are you stopping at Lizzie’s?” she asked. “I’d like to
see her.”

He nodded. “My first stop, in fact.”

She wanted to tell him her idea, but she hesitated. Would he think it was just another fanciful whim?

“Mitch, if Lizzie saw a competent orthopedic surgeon,
could her foot be corrected?”

He shrugged, looking at her curiously. “I couldn’t say for sure, but there would be a good chance. Why? Plan
ning to invite one to visit?”

“No,” she answered slowly, “but what if I took Lizzie
back with me?”

His face clouded. “What makes you so sure you’re going back?” he asked quietly.

She waved his question away. “Do you think someone
in Flagstaff could help her?”

He nodded, pulling the Jeep to a stop beside the road.
“Certainly. But how are you planning to get her there?”

She licked her lips. “I brought along enough cash to pay for a plane ticket for her. What if we collected more money at Jake’s party?”

She searched his face, trying to read his reaction. At the same time, she was so excited by her idea that she could hardly sit still.

“We could have cans around with her picture on them,
just like they do for the March of Dimes kids, and place them strategically—one right in front of where Danny
is playing his guitar. We could make an appeal to every
one to pitch in to help a little girl, one of their own.”

He frowned, moving restlessly. “That’s all very well, Heather. You might collect a tidy little sum.”

He wasn’t taking this as she’d hoped. Why wasn’t he a little more enthusiastic? After all, he was the one who always wanted to help others.

He was still talking, but she knew before he said the words that he was trying to discourage her. “You’ve got
to understand, Heather, that operations of the kind you’re
contemplating cost a lot more than you’ll ever collect on this island.”

“You think so?” She’d thought of that, too. “Then I’ll start a special charity drive for Lizzie once we get back
to Flagstaff. I know a lot of wealthy people. Once they’ve
met her...”

He looked annoyed. “How do you know it would be
what she wants? You can’t just come in and take over
this way, Heather. Just because you’re new doesn’t make
you the expert on solving everyone’s problems.”

She sat back, stung. Why couldn’t he see that she
only wanted to help?

He climbed down from the Jeep. “I’m going to check
on her mother. Want to come with me?”

She shook her head, avoiding his eyes. She needed time to think. After he’d left, she sat staring at the tops of the swaying trees, wanting to get up and follow him
but still too stubborn.

Why was she staying behind when she really wanted
to be with him? This sort of behavior was going to ruin
everything if she wasn’t careful.

She had a sudden memory of herself sitting just like
this in the pine-paneled living room of their Flagstaff
house, listening to his car driving away, holding back
the tears as he left for the airport. Why hadn’t she stopped
him? Why hadn’t she run after the car, driven out to the
airport herself, and pulled him from the plane? Was half
their problem her own stubbornness?

Filled with a new sense of purpose, she jumped down
from the Jeep, but before she could rush up the walkway
and burst into the house after the man she loved, she
saw a small familiar figure coming toward her.

“Hi.” Lizzie was walking quickly and waving merrily.

“Hi, yourself,” Heather called back, smiling as the
girl approached.

“How did Danny do?” Lizzie asked, almost shouting
since she was still too far away for easy conversation. “Did he do okay?”

Heather grinned. “He did just great. Mele hired him to play at Jake’s party Thursday night.”

Lizzie reached the Jeep and came to a stop. “Not in the bar at the Coconut Club?” Disappointment swept across her face.

“Honey, Danny’s really too young to be playing in a bar.”

“Oh, well.” She shrugged her thin shoulders. “When they hear him play, they’ll all want him.”

Heather laughed, suppressing an urge to hug her. “You
know, I think you may be right.”

“Dr. Carrington sent me to the store to check the mail,”
she said, her black eyes shining. “Want to come with me?”