Eyes of Fire

They had drinks in their hands. And they both stared at her strangely as she joined them.

“Is everything all right?”

“Yeah,” Adam said. “Well, other than the fact that something’s going on. Actually, nothing’s right, but then, you know that already.”

She glanced at her watch. “Seven!” she exclaimed. She looked at them both accusingly.

“I just got back here myself,” Adam said. “I had to change,” he explained awkwardly.

“Dinner will be on. Yancy should have come for me. I can’t just ignore this entire business.”

“It’s not going to make any difference if you miss the cocktail hour and show up late for one evening meal,” Jem assured her.

“I’ve still got to shower,” she began, looking at Adam. She felt color filling her cheeks. “And dress.”

“We’ll wait,” Adam said.

She nodded. “I don’t believe I fell asleep like that. I don’t believe that…” Her voice trailed away. “I…excuse me.”

Sam showered in the hottest water she could find, then dressed quickly in a calf-length, teal silk off-the- shoulder dress.

She didn’t allow herself to think the entire while.

When she walked into the living room, she still felt that Adam was watching her peculiarly.

The strange thing was that he looked away when he caught her staring at him in return.

Was he feeling guilty again? she wondered. No, he’d never behaved so strangely before. Not now, not in the past.

“Are you sure nothing else has happened?” she demanded, walking toward the door and waiting for the men to follow.

“Nothing,” Jem said.

“At all,” Adam added.

They were lying.

Well, it didn’t matter. They weren’t going to tell her anything.

“Let’s go to dinner then, shall we?” Dinner. A meal. Everything felt different. She’d been with Adam again. She was different.

No control, she mocked herself.

Yet…

Had the past been her own fault? Could things be different now that she was older and wiser?

Sure, she told herself. She could just go for the good sex now.

Like hell. She cared about him, she was entwined with him. She wanted more than what she’d had.

And her business, her island and her life were falling apart.

“Dinner, guys,” she persisted, since they seemed to be moving slowly. “That meal that everyone else will be eating or getting ready to eat by the time we get there. I’ve already missed cocktail hour. You two have had yours while you were waiting, I see.”

She spun around, leaving the two of them. The hell with them if they weren’t ready to come. This place was her business. Her livelihood. Jem’s, too.

They were right behind her, then beside her, Jem to her left, Adam to her right.

Handsome guys, she thought. Both so tall, well-built, immaculately dressed, Jem ebony dark, Adam so bronze, with his clear gray eyes. Flanked to protect her.

She was lucky.

Jem would stay. Her friend for a lifetime.

While Adam…

He would always be a main force in her heart and mind, whether he stayed or sailed away tomorrow. She couldn’t change him, but one way or another, he would be with her for a lifetime. She felt a tightness beginning to burn within her chest.

Stay, Adam. This time, stay.

She had to remember, she had sent him away herself.

Adam cleared his throat, suddenly stopping, pulling back on her arm so that she stopped in front of him. Jem stood silently, waiting for him to speak. “I told Jem that Yancy thought someone had been in the house. He’s going to take the room next to hers until…”

“Until?” Sam stared at him.

Adam shrugged. “Until we know who was in the house with her.”

“Then I’ll be alone?” she queried, knowing his answer.

“No.”

“Because you’re going to stay in my cottage?” Sam asked.

“Yes.”

“But you haven’t stayed there before?” she asked. “Jem hasn’t just been letting you in? Or did you arrive early this morning so you could come sit by my bedside? Is that it?”

Jem choked.

Adam didn’t reply, just stared at her evenly. “Do you have an objection to my being there this evening?”

“Would it matter if I did?”

He looked at her, smiling slightly. “In a way.”

“Yes?”

“It would affect where I actually slept,” he said, his voice low.

No secrets here. Jem was too close. Jem knew. Jem had known.

Jem had probably been expecting this ever since Adam O’Connor had set foot on the island.

The hell with them both.

She managed to meet Adam’s eyes for several seconds, staring hard. But then her eyes dropped. She looked ahead and kept walking. “I don’t have an objection to you staying so that Jem can keep guard on Yancy.”

Jem made a choking sound.

Or outright laughed.

Sam wasn’t at all sure which.

Adam stepped closer to her. “Would you have an objection if Jem wasn’t going to guard Yancy?” he asked politely.

“Only regarding where you sleep,” she replied sweetly, and hurried by him, anxious to reach the main house.

Or to have the last word—at least this once.

11

D inner seemed so normal.

By the time they reached the main house, Yancy was lighting the flame under one of the buffet dishes. “Fiesta night,” she said, making no note of the fact that they had arrived so late. “Fajitas, burritos, quesadillas. Just a touch of Cajun to the salsa. It’s all absolutely delicious. Dig in.”

“Looks wonderful,” Sam commented. Adam and Jem were already making up plates of food. When she finished with her own, she discovered that the seat next to Jim Santino was open. He smiled when she joined him, tossing his hair back.

She smiled in return. Once upon a time, Jim had seemed cute. Sweet. Now she felt her skin crawling—just a little bit. Did she believe that the sins of the fathers were visited upon the sons? No.

But then again, she didn’t completely trust him anymore, either.

“You look lovely, Sam,” he said.

“Thanks.”

“Different, somehow.”

“Oh?”

“Flushed, vibrant,” Jim said.

“Well-served,” Sukee drawled from across the table.