Charmed By You ((Destiny Bay Romances-The Islanders 5)) (20 page)

“Hi, Doctor,” one of them called, waving. They walked
tall and unselfconsciously, although neither of them had a thing on except a length of cloth tied around their hips.

“Hi, Maria,” Mitch called back. “How are you today?”

He pulled over and the girls stopped to chat, but Heather
didn’t hear a word they said. She’d plastered a false smile
on her face, but she could think of nothing but avoiding looking at the young girls’ prominent breasts. Why were
they walking around half naked like this?

The girls finally said good-bye and continued on their way. Mitch returned the Jeep to the road and turned them toward the next beach. The road began to wind uphill,
climbing to a ridge of cliffs. Heather stared straight ahead.

Mitch was chuckling. Of course, he’d noticed how
she’d reacted to the naked girls, and he thought she was
outraged. He was nearly right.

She bit her lip. “Just tell me why they were naked,”
she advised him at last. “Don’t give me any lectures.”

His laugh was low. “You don’t see that too often
now,” he told her cheerfully. “Girls closer to Ragonai village wouldn’t be caught dead dressing in that old-fashioned manner. But out here on the back side of the
island, the old ways still hang on in spots.”

“I see.” She nodded. “I should take it as an anthro
pological phenomenon, just another curious item to mark
down in my journal.”

He laughed again. “It does bother you, doesn’t it?
Oh, Heather, you’re so straightlaced, I’m surprised you
can breathe.”

“I am not!” she cried indignantly. “I have nothing
against nudity—in its place.”

“Your trouble,” he told her as he pulled the Jeep under
a thick grove of mango trees, “is that you equate naked
ness with sexuality.”

“I won’t concede that I have any ‘trouble,’” she pro
tested.

“Yes, you do,” he said, stretching back lazily in the
seat. “You can’t accept that those girls dress that way
just because it feels good to them. They’re not trying to entice anyone. They’re just out for a walk.”

“I can accept that,” she stated, though she really wasn’t
sure she could. “I believe it fully. Nakedness has nothing
to do with sexuality.”

“But you couldn’t do what they do,” he scoffed slyly. “You, with your Puritan background, would rather die than go without your top.”

“Don’t be silly,” she snapped, falling into the trap. “I could do it if I wanted to.”

“Could you?” He laughed scornfully. “Don’t try to put me on, Heather. We both know you’re much too inhibited.”

“I am not!” Her sense of pride was tangled with the thread of jealousy she’d felt while watching the girls talking to Mitch. For just a moment she felt it was really
important that Mitch think her capable of an equal freedom
of spirit.

“Prove it,” he said softly, his black eyes shining.

She opened her mouth for a new retort, but there didn’t
seem to be anything to say. “Prove it?” she echoed lamely.

He nodded. “Prove it:”

“But... Oh, I don’t think I need to...”

His hand shot out and took her wrist in an iron grip. “Prove it,” he repeated.

She tugged at his grasp, then gave up and glared at him. “And just how am I supposed to do that?”

He grinned wickedly. “By spending the rest of the afternoon with your top off.”

She gasped. “Oh, Mitch...” she pleaded desperately.

His dark eyebrows rose questioningly. “Can’t do it, can you?” he jeered.

She stared at him, wide eyed. How could she possibly
accept his challenge? Yet, what better opportunity to show that she’d changed, that she could face new ways
of living and working.

And she had changed. Suddenly she realized how true
that was. She’d learned things about Mitch and about herself that had surprised her. And she’d found a reservoir of strength in herself she hadn’t known she pos
sessed.

But was she strong enough to do something this silly—
not to mention embarrassing—just to prove a point?

“I knew it.” He dropped her wrist and turned away,
“Forget it.”

She hated the sense of having failed some enigmatic
test at the same time that she resented him making her feel that way. If only she could show him... what ex
actly? She wasn’t sure, but a nebulous longing filled her.

Mitch was preparing to leave the Jeep. “We’ll have to climb down to this beach. It’s one of the most private.
Not many people make the effort to get to it when there
are so many others around.” He dropped to the ground
and she followed.

“I didn’t bring along any food this time,” he warned
her. “Think you can cope?”

She tried to smile at him. “I’m not hungry.”

She couldn’t read his expression. “Good,” he said
shortly. “Let’s go.”

They walked through the grove of mango trees and began a sliding descent down the face of the cliff to the
black sand beach below. Mitch held out his hand, but
Heather refused it except when absolutely necessary. She
intended to do things on her own.

The view from the beach was enchanting. White foam
sprayed over the protective reef, leaving the waters of the turquoise lagoon to lap lazily at the fine black sand
of the crescent beach. A jungle of tropical trees and vines
grew at the foot of the cliff, providing cool shade from the relentless sun.

As they walked through the small jungle, Heather listened for the calls of exotic birds and wild monkeys. It seemed a perfect setting for them, but all she heard was the pounding of the surf against the barrier reef.

There wasn’t a soul to be seen, and only the seabirds
flying high above kept them company. They might have
been on a deserted island far from civilization.

Then they were walking across the warm sand. Heather
kicked off her sandals to enjoy the soft sifting of the grains beneath her feet.

“No panty hose, anyway,” Mitch observed casually as he spread the blanket he’d brought on the sand. “How brave you are today.”

Inside she was seething, but she held back the sharp retort that sprang to her lips. She’d argued too often in the past, jumped at his bait and let herself fall into rages that got them nowhere. She was learning, wasn’t she? This time it was going to be different.

Instead of retorting, she smiled at him, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes. “I may be braver than you think,
Mitch Carrington,” she said provocatively, reaching down
to take the hem of her shift in her hands and pull it slowly
over her head.

She wore her two-piece bathing suit under it, but he watched with amused enjoyment. When she pulled free of the shift and dropped it to the blanket, he stepped forward as though to take her in his arms.

“Heather, darling,” he told her lightly, “I’d rather see you in a blue bikini than a dozen other girls in nothing
at all.”

“That’s very kind of you, Mitch,” she said archly,
quickly sidestepping his advance, “but I’m not going to be wearing my blue bikini.”

Holding his surprised black gaze with her own, she
unhooked the top of her suit and let it drop to the ground.
“You see,” she told him evenly, “I’m taking you up on
your challenge. I’m going to prove I can be as uninhibited
as the the girls we saw on the highway.”

Her heart was beating so loudly, it seemed to drown out the noise of the surf, but she had to keep him from knowing how much meeting his challenge was costing
her. Her inate modesty was making her cringe inside. She had to pretend this wasn’t really happening so that
she could go through with it.

She watched, fascinated, at the changing emotions
reflected in Mitch’s face. At first he was surprised, then
amused and suitably impressed by the picture she made standing half naked in the sunlight. But quickly on the
heels of those feelings came a bright surge of desire,
which was what she’d been waiting for.

“Now,” she said firmly, moving away again as he tried to close the gap between them, “the rest of the
ground rules for this little experiment.” She put as much
confidence in her smile as she could. “We’re proving
how uninhibited I am. We’re also proving your case— that nakedness has nothing to do with sexuality.”

His grin vanished in a look of absolute dismay. “But,
Heather, wait, that was just a theoretical discussion. It
had nothing to do with you and me.”

“Ah-ah,” she warned him, waving a finger as he reached for her. “No touching. I’m not going naked to entice you. Remember that. To prove my point, I’ll stay this way as long as we remain on this beach. And to prove your point, you won’t touch me. Fair enough?”

Another warring of emotions was mirrored in his eyes.
Anger, then consternation filled through his eyes as he stood before her, arms at his sides. Finally a low laugh
rumbled from his wide chest, and soon he was laughing
heartily, his head thrown back.

“Okay, Heather, you got me,” he admitted at last. “I’ll admit defeat. We’ll do the experiment your way.” He shared a smile with her. “But just be careful, lady,”
he murmured warningly. “Watching you like this is going to build such a vast reservoir of lust in me, I may become
unmanageable.”

She ran her tongue over dry lips. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she answered. “Shall we go for a swim?”

They walked slowly across the sand, close to each other, but not touching. A wild excitement fluttered in her breast as she felt the intensity of his desire reaching out to her as strongly as the hot sun was beating down on her shoulders. A few feet from the edge of the water she began to run, as much to escape the compulsion to turn to him as to reach the cooling water. She splashed
along with giant steps, sending a silver spray high around
her and threw herself down into the silky blue lagoon.

He splashed in beside her, diving into the deeper basin
farther out and coming up like a porpoise, only to dive again. She followed him, opening her eyes beneath the surface, finding a whole new world hidden below the waves.

They both broke back through into the sunny day at the same time, laughing into one another’s eyes as water cascaded down about them in bright sheets.

“Did you see that purple fish?” Heather gasped, short
of breath. “Wasn’t he beautiful?”

“Come on,” Mitch urged, gesturing for her to follow
his lead, “I’ll show you where to look for beautiful fish.”

He began a slow graceful crawl that she imitated in her own more haphazard style. The effort of looking up to see where he was taking her left her falling farther and farther behind, but she caught up quickly enough once he’d stopped.

“These pieces of wood sticking out of the water are pilings left from a pier used during the Second World War,” he told her. “Fish and other sea animals consider this sort of thing the latest in condominium dwellings.”

They dove down again and again, watching bright colored crabs scuttle for cover and sea anemones wave
their fluorescent tentacles in the ocean currents. Schools
of fish flashed by in electric blue, then marmalade or
ange, then zebra-striped elegance, wheeling and turning
like precision marching teams.

“Next time we’ll bring snorkeling equipment,” Mitch promised. “You can see so much more that way.”

He dove down again, leaving Heather to catch her breath. This time when he returned, he had something in his hand. “What’s that?” she cried, repelled by the large purple-brown banana-shaped animal.

“It’s a sea slug. Hold it for a moment and watch what it does.”

That was the last thing in the world she wanted to do,
but she was determined to try whatever he suggested. Swallowing hard, she held out her hand.

He placed it carefully in her palm, and she found it remarkably firm, not soft and squishy as she’d feared.
“Don’t touch this end,” he warned, and suddenly a plume
of white, feather-like tendrils blossomed from the place he’d warned her to leave alone. “Don’t touch them, they secrete a painful poison.”

Great. She was holding a poisonous sea slug in her hand, and she had to pretend she liked it. With tremendous effort, she forced a smile. “Isn’t it beautiful?” she said, blinking rapidly. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Mitch grinned at her, and the look in his eyes was reward enough. “Here, I’ll put him back,” he said helpfully, taking the animal from her with carefree deftness and diving down to replace it in its natural realm.

Heather lay back in the water, floating with her head above, the rest of her body just below the surface. She
narrowed her eyes against the brilliant blue sky, enjoying the velvet waters as they lapped about her. She felt very
free half naked as she was, very free and very sensual.

She felt Mitch coming up from underneath to rest be
side her. Widening her eyes, she turned her head slightly
to look up to where he towered over her, his dark face blotting out the sun. His hand was coming through the
water toward where her soft breast rested just below the
silver water. His fingers grazed the tender tip and she slipped away, letting her feet sink to the bottom.