She looked out of the window to the view of the huge, free-form pool, its surface scattered with storm debris, to the turquoise sea beyond. The island—hers and Matt’s island—was out there somewhere. But where was Matt? Why hadn’t he sought her out by now?
She forced her attention back to her friends.
“So, tell me about you guys,” she asked them.
“I’ve always loved Miriam,” confessed Howard. “Right from when I first met her in our freshman year at college. But she only had eyes for my buddy Phil.”
“Whom I married, as you know,” said Miriam with a painful twist to her mouth.
Cristy knew that Miriam’s marriage to Phil had never been a happy one. She’d often wondered why Miriam stayed with him.
“I never married,” said Howard. “I’d always hoped she’d wake up to what Phil was really like with women. But she didn’t. So I, uh…”
“Decided to marry someone you didn’t love,” Cristy finished for him.
“That… that’s not true…” Howard blustered.
Cristy smiled to put him out of his misery. “Well… didn’t love in the right way,” she amended.
Gratefully, Howard nodded.
“So… what next?” Cristy asked.
“Phil left me just two days before your wedding; went back to the States,” confessed Miriam, looking downcast.
“Miriam! How awful. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want the end of my marriage to blunt the joy of your special day,” said Miriam.
No wonder Miriam had been so low while the wedding preparations were going on. Cristy had put it down to the problems she’d been having with her bridesmaid dress.
Howard chimed in. “Miriam had to confide in someone. She’d just told me about Phil when you surprised us kissing.”
“Then he told me he’d always loved me,” said Miriam. “And I admitted that I’d loved him for a long time, too.”
Cristy thought of her elaborate wedding preparations, the guests waiting in the Orchid Room for the bride and groom. “So… what would you have done if I hadn’t caught you at it?”
Howard and Miriam exchanged glances and, once again, Cristy reeled at the depth of emotion between them. “I would have done nothing,” said Miriam firmly. “Howard had made a commitment to you. I would have insisted he honored it.”
“And sacrificed the love you’d longed for?”
“But I wouldn’t have let her,” said Howard. “With Miriam in my arms at last, I knew I could only marry her. For it to be a real marriage, that is. I’m sorry Cristy, I never wanted to hurt you but—”
“Ultimately, you would have hurt me more by going ahead with it,” said Cristy, knowing she was speaking the truth. And that she had been beyond foolish to think a marriage without real love could have worked.
“Cristy, we… we both care for you so much,” said Miriam. “If only we could make it up to you somehow.”
Cristy felt tears stinging her eyes and she wiped them with the back of her hand. “I love you guys. You don’t need to make up for a thing.” She stepped forward and hugged them both. “Group hug,” she managed to get out.
With her arms around her friends, she thought back to her question for Matt. Who would she miss most if she got stranded forever on a tropical island? Matt first and foremost, but probably then—after her mom and dad—Miriam. Her friend meant a lot to her. Howard too, but strictly as a friend.
“Thank heaven I did catch you at it,” she said, releasing them and stepping back. “So we all didn’t make one giant mistake. You’ve waited a long time for your happiness—you deserve it.”
She pulled the massive diamond ring off the third finger of her left hand and handed it to Howard. He refused to take it back. “It’s yours,” he insisted.
Cristy shook her head. “I kept it safe for you. I have no right to it. It belongs to your family. I was marrying you under false pretences.”
“Please, Cristy,” said Howard. “I gave it to you in good faith.”
“It was your grandmother’s. If Miriam doesn’t want to wear it, save it for your daughter when you have one.”
Cristy swallowed hard at the look of joy that flashed between them. She guessed that babies were on the do-soon agenda for her friends.
When would she ever have a love like that? A love strong enough that she could risk getting pregnant again? Matt had made it very clear he didn’t want marriage—could she settle for less?
Howard reluctantly put his hand out for the ring. “Only if you’re sure,” he said.
“I’m quite sure,” Cristy said. Howard took the ring and slipped it into his pocket.
“But what about you Cristy?” asked Miriam. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Of course I am.”
“What about those bruises on your thigh?”
Christy felt herself blushing at the memory of incurring them. “Just… just a little accident.” She prayed that her nipples wouldn’t harden and betray her as she relived the pleasure Matt had given her the morning she’d fallen from the canvas bed. And that afternoon. And in the evening. Multiples on multiples on multiples.
Miriam looked at her through narrowed eyes. “Nothing you want to tell me about?”
“Really I’m fine,” Christy reassured her. “And I’m happier than you can imagine about you guys getting together. You see… now I know myself what it’s like to really be in love.”
Miriam’s mouth made an O of astonishment. “Cristy, no! Not Matt Slade?”
Cristy nodded. “Miriam, he’s so wonderful. Everything I ever wanted in a man but didn’t know existed.” She cast a look up at Howard. “Uh… I mean….”
Howard laughed. “No offence taken,” he said, squeezing Miriam closely.
The words bubbled out of Cristy. Talking about her love made it somehow seem more real. “Though I have no idea if he feels the same,” she concluded.
“Crazy if he doesn’t,” said Howard, comfortable back in the role of best guy friend.
“But you know nothing about him,” said cautious Miriam. “Do you realize that—?”
“He’s a builder,” said Cristy. “Quite a successful one, I believe.”
Howard surprised her with a short bark of laughter. “A builder? Well, I guess you could call Matt Slade that.”
“I can’t believe he didn’t tell you,” added Miriam.
Sudden fear clutched Cristy. Fall in love with a stranger and you could never be quite sure he wasn’t a serial killer. “What do you mean?”
“You don’t know?” said Miriam.
“Know what?” Her mouth was suddenly dry.
“Matt Slade might have started off as a builder but now he’s one of the biggest property developers in the Southern Hemisphere.”
Christy clutched Miriam for support. “I… I had no idea.” She had to swallow hard.
“So you don’t know he owns Starlight Island? And the island you were stranded on? And half the other islands around here?” asked Howard.
“He… he didn’t say.” Cristy’s head was spinning and Howard’s voice seemed to come from a long way away.
“Come on, Cristy. Don’t you remember Taipan Slade International? We dealt with them not long after we got to Sydney.”
Cristy collected her thoughts. “Taipan Slade International,” she said slowly. “Yes, I do remember them now, though I didn’t do much work at all on that job. A privately-owned company worth zillions.” She trawled her memory for details. “Headed by… by Matthew J. Slade.”
“Matt Slade,” said Howard unnecessarily.
“I… I didn’t make the connection,” she said slowly. And Matt hadn’t exactly been in a rush to make it for her.
Why?
“We didn’t either at first, of course. We didn’t know who the guy was who was taking you off on his boat.”
“You thought he’d kidnapped me,” said Cristy with a wry smile.
“We were frightened for you,” said Miriam. “When they traced the boat and we realized you were with Matthew Slade we thought you were probably okay—”
“And we told the police not to bother,” said Howard.
“But they took it seriously. And of course, by then, the press had picked up on it,” said Miriam.
“A runaway bride. A billionaire villain,” said Howard. “Then the storm.”
“And your father is a friend of the President,” groaned Cristy. “I can see how it happened.”
“One of the gutter newspapers ran a story that Matt Slade was demanding a huge ransom from Howard’s father,” said Miriam.
How could people make up hurtful lies like that?
All of a sudden it all seemed too much for Cristy. Why hadn’t Matt told her who he really was? Was there something ominous in his omission?
She felt weary beyond measure, her legs barely supporting her. Suddenly she longed to be by herself and think about all that had happened in the last few days. And to absorb what she’d just learned about Matt.
Perceptive Miriam immediately picked up on her change of mood. “Your room has been kept as you left it. All your stuff is there. C’mon. I’ll walk you up.”
C
risty let the shower run and run. She washed and rinsed her hair three times to get rid of the salty tangles. Finally she toweled herself dry with thick, luxurious towels, smoothed on her favorite rose-scented body lotion, and wrapped herself in a fluffy robe.
Back in civilization, she was surrounded by every luxury a five-star resort could provide. But, she realized with a sigh of longing, she’d rather be back in Seth’s primitive hut with Matt.
Her hand hovered above the phone for a long time before she picked it up and asked reception to put her through to Matt Slade. But back came the reply that Mr. Slade was out in a four-wheel drive vehicle, assessing the damage the storm had caused to the island. Would she like to leave a message?
Cristy put the phone back in its cradle only to start as it began to ring. Her heart pounded furiously and her mouth went dry. Maybe he was back already. Maybe he wanted to talk to her as much as she did to him.
“Hello,” she said tentatively.
She was greeted by hissing static and finally her mother’s voice. “Oh honey, you’re there. We’ve been worried sick about you.”
“You… you knew?”
“Of course we did, honey. We get CNN at the ashram,” said Heavenly Lotus Blossom, formerly known as Janet.
“I made CNN?”
“An American bride kidnapped during a tornado in the wilds of Australia? Of course it made the news. Thank the deity you’re okay. You are okay, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Cristy managed to get in before her mother went on.
“Do you want us to fly on over? My poor baby. Kidnapped!”
“It wasn’t a kidnapping, Mom. I don’t know how many times I’ve told people that.”
“Well you didn’t tell us, honey, so don’t take that tone with me.”
“Yes, Mom,” Cristy said meekly.
“So what did happen?”
“I ran away from my wedding.”
“Well hallelujah. That was the best idea you’ve had all year. What happened with that stuffed shirt Howard?”
“I caught him kissing Miriam.”
Her mother’s squawk of outrage flew all the way from India. Cristy held the phone away from her ear until it subsided.
“I didn’t know the boy had it in him,” her mother said, after she’d recovered herself.
“Neither did I,” agreed Cristy, surprised to find herself giggling. “You were right Mom.” She paused, for the first time in twenty-eight years suddenly shy of her mother. “Getting married to someone you don’t love isn’t a good idea. I… I should have listened to you.”
“That’s a change of tune,” said her mother. “Wouldn’t have anything to do with that handsome hunk you were shipwrecked with, would it?”
“Oh Mom,” wailed Cristy, “of course it doesn’t.”
“Which means it does,” said Heavenly Lotus Blossom. “Is he there with you?”
“No, he’s not.”
“So he doesn’t know how you feel?”
Cristy held the phone away from her and stared at it. “How did you know that?”
“Because I’m your mother, honey. If he doesn’t know, get out there and tell him. I have a feeling in my bones that he’s the one for you.”
“How can you—?”
“I just know.”
“Because you’re my mother, right?”
“Right,” said her mom and Cristy dissolved into laughter.
She started to speak again but her mother’s voice broke up and the static noises took over again.
Cristy put down the phone in its cradle. Yes, she wanted to tell Matt how she felt about him. Trouble was, now she was not so sure exactly what she did feel.
The Matt she was cast away with wasn’t the Matt the rest of the world knew. Matt a billionaire?
Curiously, she felt disappointed. She’d fallen in love with a man she thought was a bricklayer, an ordinary builder. Now it seemed he was a property tycoon and that would take some getting used to. Rather how Beauty must have felt when her beloved Beast had turned into a prince who was suddenly a stranger.
So much for the butt-cleavage shorts and work boots. Matt the billionaire and Matt her island castaway might be two very different men. Before she went making declarations of love she knew she’d have to find out just how different.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The
hotel manager told Cristy she’d find Mr. Slade briefing his team in the foyer of the hotel, near the atrium where the indoor water feature cascaded down the wall.
But Cristy didn’t at first recognize Matt. In her mind’s eye she was seeking a rugged man with long hair wearing butt-hugging underwear and a T-shirt. Or nothing at all.
Instead she had to look twice at the sophisticated executive with short, groomed hair, wearing tailored pants and an expensive shirt. He was addressing a group of staff and his every gesture emanated power and authority. Not Wall Street killer—this was a tropical island in Australia after all—but undeniably the boss.
He wouldn’t be able to see her from where she stood. She stepped closer and heard him give instructions regarding the clean-up operation for the storm damage. His staff listened to him with respect and deference.
This was Matthew J. Slade, head honcho of Taipan Slade International, owner of this island. Not Matt the small-time builder and sometime beach bum she’d imagined him to be. It was going to take some getting used to.
Fascinated, she watched him as his people took his direction and then started to exit the room to carry out orders. He was familiar and yet frighteningly unfamiliar. With his hair cut so stylishly and wearing his CEO-type clothes he looked quite unlike the Matt she knew.