Desire in the Sun (18 page)

“Was it the same hill?”

“Yes.” Lilah unwrapped the petticoat from her head, wadded it up, and pushed it under his head for a pillow.

“Mmmm.”

She took that as a thank you. After that he was silent for a moment as he lay there with his eyes closed. Finally his eyes opened a slit.

“You realize what that means, don’t you?”

“What?” Lilah frowned. She really hadn’t thought much about it. except to be pleased that she had so easily found water again.

“We’re on an island—no, not even an island, it’s not big enough for that. An atoll in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. We’ve walked all the way around it and seen not a solitary sign of life except for ourselves. Unless there’s someone in the interior—and I don’t think there is, or we would have seen evidence of that—we’re all alone.”

Lilah’s eyes widened. “All alone?” She swallowed as the various ramifications played through her head. “Do you mean we’re … marooned?” The last word was almost a squeak.

“Exactly,” he said, and shut his eyes again.

XIX

I
t was almost dark, and they had shifted position so that they were nestled in a little depression at the very base of the promontory. Joss still felt dizzy every time he stood up, and it had been an effort moving him this far. But he had felt it was better to be closer to their only supply of water, and she had agreed. That the puddle was rapidly diminishing Lilah had not the heart to tell him. There was still enough in it for perhaps another day or two, if they were careful. And tomorrow maybe he would feel better and they would go looking for more.

She was hungry, and she knew he must be too. But making a meal out of a crab or a lizard or a bird was beyond her. First she would have to catch it, then kill it and find some way to cook it—or eat it raw. The very thought made her shudder, hungry as she was. And Joss was in no shape to undertake the task for them both. Surely they could go one night without food. It occurred to her that it had actually been far longer than that since either of them had had a meal of any substance.

Another bodily problem was taken care of on the far side of the promontory at the edge of the trees. When she had finished, she was rewarded by stumbling over a coconut. Another nut was nearby, and she scooped them up with all the triumph of a successful treasure hunter. Looking above her, she saw that the leafy fronds swaying
some thirty feet above belonged to coconut palms. The sight was so wonderful that she wanted to jump up and down for joy. At least now they would not have to worry about starving.

Pausing only to break open one of the nuts on a large rock—she hadn’t been raised on Barbados for nothing!—she hurried back to Joss. He was sitting up when she returned, his back propped against the grassy dune. It was amazing how safe just the sight of him made her feel.

“Where have you been?” he asked disagreeably, but she was too overjoyed at her find to respond in kind.

“Look,” she said, almost skipping as she approached. She carried half of the broken coconut in each hand. The other nut she had left beside the rock, to be reclaimed later.

“What are those?” Joss eyed the hairy brown half-moons with something less than the enthusiasm they deserved.

“It’s a coconut.” Lilah sank to her knees beside him, holding one out to him. “Here, take it. The milk is good to drink and the meat is good to eat and we can use the shell for a bowl when we’re done.”

Joss took the shell in his hands and stared down at the milky fluid swimming in its nest of white meat with the same expression he might have worn if she’d suggested he eat a worm.

“It’s delicious!” she told him impatiently, and showed him by taking a sip. Watching her, he sniffed warily at his own half. Then he took a small sip, and made a face.

“You don’t like it?” Lilah was surprised. On Barbados coconuts were universally beloved. Everybody ate them just as they fell to the ground. They were like fruit in an English garden.

“Not much.”

“Drink it anyway.”

He did, and then she showed him how to break off the meat into small chunks so that it could be eaten easily. Instead of finishing hers off, she saved a small piece of meat and rubbed it on her burning nose.

“What are you doing?” He was looking at her as if she had suddenly lost her mind. She had to smile.

“There’s an oil in the meat that’s good for your skin when you’ve had too much sun. You should rub some over your shoulders and arms. It’ll take some of the sting away.”

He grunted, looking unconvinced, and continued chewing unenthusiastically on a piece of coconut. Lilah shook her head at him, and moved closer to perform the chore for him. He suffered her to brush the sand away, and then rub the oily meat over his shoulders and back, and down his arms, but his expression was skeptical. For her part, Lilah tried to ignore the pleasure she got from touching him. Despite the fiery heat left by the sun, his skin was as satiny smooth as fine leather. Finally she dabbed a bit on the end of his nose. He ducked, winced, and swatted at her. She laughed at him as she moved away.

“Haven’t you ever seen a coconut before?”

He shook his head. “I grew up in England, which, unlike the places where you’ve apparently lived, is quite civilized. We don’t have giant hairy nuts growing on our trees—and we don’t have slaves either.”

Lilah met that glittering green gaze, and her good mood died. A sudden fierce flare of resentment sent her surging to her feet.

“Look, I’m sick and tired of hearing you whine about being a slave! I can’t help what you are any more than you can! It’s fate, and I’m not responsible for fate, so you can just stop being so angry at me all the time! You should be grateful to me, if anything! I saved your hide at that auction back there in Virginia, Joss San Pietro.

But if I had it to do over again—I’d have let them nail it to the wall!”

Sitting there with his back propped against the grassy dune, he had to tilt his head to look up at her as she stood, arms akimbo, shouting down at him. Instead of getting angry in turn, as Lilah expected, his expression turned pensive.

“Do you know, I think that’s the first thing I liked about you: that fiery temper of yours. You cursed when you hit that bush and then when I did the gentlemanly thing and pulled your skirt down for you, you tried to punch my nose. It was charming, especially from such a pretty little thing. I’ve always liked women who were ready to take on the devil.”

He put the coconut down beside him and got slowly to his feet. The move brought him unexpectedly close, and suddenly it was she who had to tilt her head back to look up at him. Dusk was settling over the island, the sun had set, the moon not yet risen, and the only points of light were his eyes. They glittered at her through the gathering darkness. Lilah took a step backwards in sudden alarm.

“Afraid of me, are you?” He laughed suddenly, the sound grating. She realized with a shock that he was furious. His hand shot out to catch her by the arm and drag her close even as she took another step away. Feeling that steely grip, helpless to free herself as he pulled her so close that no more than a handsbreath separated their bodies, Lilah was suddenly, frighteningly aware of how strong he was and how helpless she was in the face of that strength. He could overpower her easily. …

“You’re lucky my mother raised me to be a gentleman, did you know that? Because we’re all alone here, there’s no one else on this whole damned island, and I’m sick and tired of playing the slave to your lady of the manor. I’m sick and tired of you looking at me like you could eat me up, and putting your soft little hands
all over me under one pretext or another, then jumping away as if I have leprosy if I look back, or dare to lay so much as a finger on you. That’s a dangerous game you’re playing at, Lilah my dear, and if I weren’t a gentleman I’d damned well take you up on it. I may anyway if you keep it up, so I suggest you keep your viperish tongue between your teeth and your haughty little nose out of the air and your eyes and hands where they belong. If I find them on me again, I’m going to give you what they’re asking for!”

He spoke in a dangerously soft voice that was as smooth as silk. Lilah had never heard quite that tone from him before, and at first she stood frozen as he bit the words out at her. But by the end of this speech her initial surge of nervousness was swamped by a combination of humiliation and sheer rage.

“Why, you conceited beast … !” she gasped. “How dare you imply that I … that I… when we get back to Heart’s Ease I’ll have you whipped for saying such things to me!”

“Oh, will you now?” he growled, and then he was jerking her all the way against him and his mouth was crushing down on hers. The force of his kiss thrust her head back against his shoulder; the fury of it parted her lips as he staked a harsh claim to her mouth. Shocked and furious, she struggled wildly in his grasp, but he was too strong for her and controlled her struggles with ridiculous ease. She was panting, her breath filling his mouth, while he was as little disturbed by her frantic fists and feet as if she’d been a small child in a tantrum. He wrapped his arms around her, surrounding her with hair-roughened, sweat-dampened bare flesh and the scent of man. One long-fingered hand went up to thread through the thick tangle of her hair, cupping the back of her skull, pulling her head back to allow him easier access to her mouth. Then, shockingly, his tongue was
thrusting its way in between her teeth and filling her mouth. …

Never in her life had she been kissed in such a way! It couldn’t be right, it couldn’t be proper, it couldn’t be the way decent men kissed ladies they cared for, or respected. … A thrill of pleasure shot through her loins as his tongue touched hers, and then Lilah panicked completely.

She bit him. Right on his encroaching tongue. Bit him so hard that he yelped and jumped back, his hand flying to his mouth.

“You—little—bitch!” he ground out, withdrawing his hand from his mouth and looking down at his fingers to find traces of blood on them. His eyes came up to lock with hers. The look on his face was furious enough to give brave men pause, but Lilah was too angry to be afraid.

“Don’t you ever dare touch me like that again!” she hissed, and while he still stared at her with that evil look in his eye she whirled, snatched up her petticoat from where it had been serving as a seat on the sand, and marched off into the night.

XX

L
ilah spent that night and the next huddled under a palm tree away from the promontory. How Joss spent his nights she neither knew nor cared. Savagely she hoped that some giant land crab would crawl up to him while he slept and drag him away. Realistically she knew that that was too much to hope for. He was too blasted big for any such happy occurrence. But oh, with how much relish did she await rescue! He would be singing a different tune when he was her slave again! Though she wouldn’t really have him whipped—no slaves had been whipped at Heart’s Ease for as long as she could remember. But she would certainly exert her power over him to the fullest! How he would grovel at her feet when she was restored to her proper place!

The third morning on the island dawned bright and hot and clear. Lilah ate another coconut, drank from the pool that was really more like a puddle now, and washed her face with the dampened end of her petticoat, all the while keeping a wary eye out for Joss. He didn’t seem to be anywhere on the beach, and she was wondering if perhaps she had gotten her wish and he had been dragged off by a land crab when she spied him standing up to his thighs in the bay, a sharpened stick in his hand. As she watched him in puzzlement, he thrust the stick into the water with a lightning-fast movement. When he pulled
it out she saw that he had impaled a squirming fish. Grinning with triumph, Joss headed for shore with his prize.

Lilah climbed down her side of the promontory before she could be seen. God forbid that he should accuse her of eating him with her eyes again! Just remembering his coarse insults and the disgusting way he had kissed her was enough to make her burn with anger, and her anger was enough to steel her against the delicious odor of roasting fish that soon wafted her way. Curiosity, not hunger, she told herself, was what drew her to the top of the promontory, where she dropped to her belly and looked down at him with as much stealth as if she were an enemy scout. He had somehow managed to get a small fire going, and was roasting the cleaned fish on two flat rocks set in the middle of the flames. The thought of a hot meal made her mouth water, but she vowed that she would starve to death before she asked him for so much as a morsel. There were plenty of coconuts on the island. She could make her own way!