Island of Darkness (16 page)

She had gone some distance and was beginning to despair of finding him when she heard a faint murmured curse from just ahead of her, beyond where a projection of rock jutted into the sandy strip. Closing her eyes briefly in a wordless prayer of thanks, she hurried on and saw him just ahead of her.

His blond head gleamed like gold in the bright Italian sun and his hands were held in front of him, feeling their way, cautious, hoping to avoid another stumble like the one that had brought a curse from him only a moment before.

His sandalled feet and the bottoms of the dark blue trousers he wore were stained with sea water, and there were patches of sand on his trousers and his shirt, as if he had taken more than one fall during his dangerous and erratic progress. He appeared quite cool and controlled, despite his cursing the rocks that impeded him, and she felt her own nervous anxiety of a moment before suddenly exaggerated.

For all that, she spared a moment to watch him as he made his way along the narrow strip of sand with surprising skill, and there was a mist in her eyes and a deep glowing warmth in her heart that she did not attempt to find a reason for.

“Jason!”

He stopped dead, his head up, listening, then spun round and almost lost his balance on the soft sand, his shirt flying open and the golden medallion swinging out as he turned. She noted the swift frown of dislike that greeted her cry and wondered if she was to be the one to take the brunt of his anger when he realised he had caused something of a panic.

Then just as swiftly he conjured up one of those crooked and infinitely bitter smiles as he faced her. “Search party?” he asked dryly. He stood with his feet wide apart and his hands on his hips, a brave, confident figure on that narrow, rocky strip of beach, and the sight of him brought the sting of tears to her eyes as she walked up to him.

“Just me,” she told him quietly, and he turned those blank dark lenses on her unerringly.

“I might have known,” he said wryly. “You
would
find me, wouldn’t you, you little angel of mercy?”

“You surely didn’t imagine you wouldn’t be missed when Scottie got back, did you?” she asked. She tried to keep her voice steady and cool, but it was so inclined to shake and sounded alarmingly breathless.

“I didn’t think it concerned anyone else if I chose to go for a walk,” he told her shortly.

He was so cool and matter-of-fact that it was difficult to believe he was blind, and her senses were responding to him in a way that disturbed her. There was an aura of strength about him, an irresistible maleness that she could not ignore, and which made her curl her hands tightly. She shook her head slowly, wishing there was something she could do about the way her heart was thudding against her ribs, for Jason was someone well out of her reach, no matter how near he was at this moment.

“You could have told Lucia that you were going to disappear the minute Scottie’s back was turned,” she told him, sounding much more cold and disapproving than she meant to.

“I wasn’t aware that I had to account for my movements to anyone,” he told her shortly, then shook his head slowly, reaching behind him for a rock tall enough for him to lean against, relaxing against its cool surface, quite at ease. “You needn’t have called panic stations,” he said with a hint of smile. “I simply decided that it was time I started preparing for the fact that I might not come through that carve-up with my sight back!” It was a step in the right direction, she had to admit, but somehow his air of quiet calm disturbed her - it was almost unnatural. “Oh, Jason,

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you—

He shook his head again, ignoring her attempt to speak. “I can’t lock myself away for the rest of my life, so I decided

I’d come out and see just how far I could get on my own. I’m getting bored with having my style cramped by not being able to see - I’m branching out!”

It was typical of him, Leonora recognised, and had to smile to herself, despite her innermost fears for him. It would never occur to him to start slowly and work his way up to more adventurous things. Jason would inevitably plunge in at the deep end right from the start, and the danger of what he was doing would not trouble him at all, even if it occurred to him.

“But there’s a good chance you
will
get your sight back,” she said quietly, and he smiled wryly.

“A fifty-fifty chance,” he reminded her. “That’s pretty long odds, and I have to be prepared for it to go either way.”

She said nothing for a moment but stood beside him while he turned his sightless eyes to the ocean he could not see, listening to it whispering over the sand and with heaven knew what thoughts going through his mind as he contemplated his future.

“Will - will you come back here?” she asked softly, after several moments, and was not at all sure just why she asked him that.

“If it doesn’t work?” He shrugged and seemed to be considering the idea for a moment, then he stretched out an arm suddenly, and put it round her shoulders when she moved within reach. She went willingly enough into his embrace and shivered involuntarily as she was drawn against the warmth of his body. A smile touched his mouth and was infinitely less bitter than she expected.

“I might come back here,” he said, and the arm that enfolded her hugged her briefly. “Would you come and stay with me, Leonora?” he asked softly. “Put up with my tempers and my wicked moods? I don’t know any other girl who would, but I think you might - would you?”

The very idea of his asking her such a question put her mind into a state of chaos and it was some time before she answered him. His question raised so many others -like what kind of a relationship he had in mind, and how soon he would become bored with only one woman in his life when Scottie had said he needed beautiful women around him.

It was hard to think straight too, with his arm about her shoulders and the warmth of that smooth tanned body enveloping her as she leaned against it. The strong curve of his jaw was angled defiantly, and there was the inevitable twist to that firm, straight mouth that could kiss her as she had never been kissed before.

She felt like crying again suddenly as she looked up at him. Trying to decide which of two evils she would choose if she was given a choice. Jason with his sight restored and happy never to see Isola de Marta again, or Jason as he was now, sightless but living close and wanting her near him because he thought she would put up with his many moods.

“I think I might,” she said softly, at last, and he hugged her close again, his face buried in the softness of her hair, laughing softly, teasingly against her ear.

“I do believe you would,” he teased her. “Now what would Scottie say about that?”

It was only then that she was reminded that Scottie and her uncle were still out searching for him, and her conscience pricked her. “Shouldn’t you be getting back, Jason?” she ventured, and he turned his blank eyes on her again.

“Why?” he demanded.

There was no other way but to tell him that she was not the only one looking for him, but she knew he would find the idea irritating. “I - I think Scottie will be worrying about you,” she said, and he

frowned.

“Did he organise you into searching for me?” he demanded, and she felt him tense in anger.

“Clive suggested we should help him look for you,” she explained, hoping to shift some of the blame from Scottie, but he made a short, impatient noise with his tongue.

“Who else is scouring Terolito for me?” he asked. “The whole damned village?”

She looked up at him and the arm about her shoulders was taut and hard. “Only Clive and me,” she told him quietly. “You don’t have to sound so resentful, Jason, we were worried about you.”

“Really? I can’t imagine why, you haven’t been near for days!” He laughed shortly and went on before she could say a word in her own defence. “And I can’t think why Scottie should be flapping around like a mother hen, either, roping in all and sundry to look for me. I thought he’d resigned from his nursemaid duties in favour of being his own boss!”

“Not until you’re fit again,” Leonora insisted, refusing to be baited into quarrelling with him. “Be fair, Jason!”

He drew his brows together and she could well imagine that his eyes were narrowed behind the dark glasses. “You
knew
he was thinking of going, didn’t you?” he asked in a flat, cool voice, and she nodded. Remembered, as she always did, and put a hand over his where it lay on her arm, the long fingers taut and strong.

“I knew,” she agreed. “But I hadn’t the right to say anything until Scottie was ready to tell you.”

“I don’t have to guess why he told you first and not me,” he said in that same cool voice. “I said he was crackers about you and I’m right, aren’t I? I suppose he’s taking you with him?”

“No, Jason, he’s not!” She felt the strong brown hand she held tighten its grip on her arm and looked up at him. “Scottie asked me to marry him,” she explained briefly. “I said I couldn’t -that’s all there is to it.”

“Couldn’t?” He questioned her meaning, as her uncle had done, and she wondered why
he
was questioning her.

“I don’t - I don’t love him,” she said simply. “I couldn’t marry anyone unless I did.”

For a moment he neither moved nor spoke, only the taut, muscular strength of his body close to hers betraying the tension in him, and the arm that curled round her shoulders, the hand lying on the softness of her upper arm, like an iron band encircling her. Then he laughed. “No,” he said with a hint of mockery, “I can imagine you couldn’t - you’re a romantic, aren’t you, Leonora?”

His mockery stung her almost to anger, but it hurt too, and she looked up at him with wide, bright eyes. “You don’t understand at all,” she told him huskily. “I don’t think you ever could, Jason.”

“Try me!”

The challenge, she felt, was made half in jest, but she felt dangerously close to tears for some inexplicable reason and not at all amused. “I’d rather not,” she said, a catch in her voice betraying how she felt, and the arm about her shoulders turned her slowly to face him.

“Leonora?”

His sudden gentleness was even more disturbing, and she put her hands flat against his chest, unconsciously pushing against being drawn any closer, looking up at the brown rugged features with hazy eyes. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, and the temptation to lay her head on that broad tanned chest was almost irresistible, but resist it she must, for before long it was certain his mood would change again and she would be left even more vulnerable to his sometimes cruel taunts.

More and more lately she had to remind herself that Jason’s world was not hers, nor could it ever be, if he regained his sight, and she was a fool to allow herself to even think the way she did lately. It was hard to realise that in only a few days now she would have to face the fact that his next visit to a hospital would probably result in his never coming back to Terolito again, and her visits to Isola de Marta would be at an end. Both Scottie and Jason gone for good and only that tall, towering rock to remind her of the futility of loving a man like Jason Connor.

“I - I think it’s time we went and let the others know you’re safe and sound,” she said in a small husky voice, and for a moment he held her tight in his arm, his brows drawn as if her reasons puzzled him.

Then he shrugged and pushed himself away from the supporting rock behind him, apparently ready to comply with her suggestion. His movement was swift and unexpected and it brought his body into hard, close contact with hers before she could step back, bringing a gasp of a dismay from her that seemed to anger

him.

He frowned, then, before she had time to evade him, he pulled her even harder against him, one arm holding her inescapably tight. With his other hand he held her firmly at the back of her head, the fingers twined tightly in her hair, then he bent his head and his mouth found hers unerringly.

She did not struggle, but rather yielded to the inevitable and simply allowed him to kiss her. No matter what turmoil disturbed her inwardly, outwardly she fought to remain merely passive, with her hands straight down at her sides and her mouth cool and unresponsive, something which took a great deal of effort and which obviously both puzzled and angered him further.

He released her mouth at last and his own was straight and tight-lipped as he looked down at her with blank eyes. “Now you’ve put me firmly in my place,” he said in a cold, hard voice, “perhaps you’ll tell me why!”

It took her a moment or two to find breath enough to answer and she fought to keep her voice steady as she stood within the hard, resentful circle of his arms.

“We’d better go back, Jason,” she said quietly, and for a moment he did nothing, then he shook his head slowly and a bitter smile distorted his mouth as he looked down at her unseeingly.

“O.K., have it your way,” he said in that same harsh voice. “Lead on! Do your angel of mercy act and see me back to the villa! I’ve got the message!”

“I don’t think you have,” she said quietly, and he laughed harshly.

“Oh, indeed I have, little Miss Jackson! These dark glasses are hard to forget, aren’t they? Even for an angel of mercy, like you!”

“Jason!” She was appalled at his reading so much into her lack of response and wanted nothing more than to reassure him, to let him know that it was not revulsion for his blindness that had made her react as she did, but fear for her own hint if she allowed her feelings for him to go any further.