To exorcise the demons, she had turned to the one true love she could always count on—her writing. She knew now that Sarah and Margaret had been right when they said she had allowed her work to consume her these past two and a half years. One needed balance in life if one was to survive and stay sane.
Amazing how clear that was tonight, Kate thought with a smile. Perhaps her friends had been right. A vacation was exactly what she had needed.
Holding her sandals in one hand, she trudged through the sand toward the path that led up from the cove. It was an easy, well-lit walk, and she would have been back in her room within fifteen minutes if she’d stayed on it.
But she didn’t stay on it because she came across a fork in the path. One branch was barred with a heavy chain and a sign that warned trespassers not to proceed any farther unless accompanied by an approved guide from the hotel staff.
Kate knew instantly that she had just found the path that led to the mysterious private castle.
There was no way in the world she could resist taking a peek. She was no fool, however. She certainly wouldn’t risk her neck exploring the ruins alone at night. But she couldn’t see the harm in catching a glimpse of the castle. An old pirate fortress drenched in moonlight was more than any romance writer worth her salt could possibly ignore.
She slipped under the heavy chain that barred the way and managed to get several feet along the steep, dark path before she heard the soft, masculine voices behind her. She froze, recognizing one of the voices instantly.
Discretion, at times, was the better part of valor, Kate decided as she ducked into a clump of thick ferns.
She could not really explain, even to herself, why she decided to hide rather than confront Jared Hawthorne. Kate just knew that in that moment she really did not feel up to defending her reasons for flagrantly violating his edict.
Besides, it would be embarrassing to be chewed out in front of a stranger, and she could hear the second man quite clearly. She was fairly certain that Jared would have no compunction at all about reading her the riot act in front of others for daring to climb the castle path.
The rich, humid jungle scent of the ferns enveloped her as she crouched motionlessly. She smiled as Jared and an overweight man dressed all in white went past within a yard of where she hid. Jared was moving easily, but the portly man was breathing heavily. Kate hugged herself and grinned. She suddenly felt as if she were involved in a small, delightful adventure.
It wasn’t until the two men had vanished along the trail and Kate had quickly escaped back toward the resort that she found herself wondering why Jared was breaking his own house rules.
She could think of no reasonable explanation for the owner of the Crystal Cove resort to be escorting anyone up the dark, forbidden castle path at this hour.
Chapter 3
Kate picked up the skirts of her diaphanous, high-waisted gown, adjusted the silver mask that concealed the top portion of her face and crossed the small bridge over the lagoon. She walked into the lantern-lit resort lobby and was instantly transported back to a time and place she had frequently visited in her imagination.
It gave her a disorienting sense of déjà vu. Things looked remarkably familiar, even though she knew she had never walked into such a scene before in her life.
She had stepped into a charming recreation of a Regency-era ballroom. Men dressed in austere black and white circled the room to the strains of a waltz. The ladies in their arms were all wearing low-necked off-the-shoulder gowns that floated around their ankles. Here and there a variety of other costumes added flavor to the colorful mix. Wealthy nineteenth-century planters, pirates, grass-skirted ladies and one or two ship-wrecked sailors bobbed amid the elegant crowd. Everyone wore a mask.
No doubt about it, the costume rental business was a thriving one here on Amethyst Island.
Kate instantly dismissed the exorbitant price she had paid to rent her own lovely yellow gown. It was worth every penny, she decided as she moved into the airy room.
She was asked to dance before she got halfway across the lobby. Smiling, she stepped into the arms of a masked stranger and found herself waltzing for the first time in her life. It was surprisingly easy, she discovered. It was as if she had always known how to waltz.
“This is really something, isn’t it? I mean, I came here to go diving, and I end up at a masquerade ball. I almost didn’t spring for the costume, but at the last minute I decided to give the thing a whirl.” The redheaded stranger grinned beneath his mask as he swung Kate around in a wide circle. “I’m glad I did. Been here on the island long?”
“No.” Kate really didn’t feel like talking. It broke the spell. She just wanted to drift around the room to the glorious strains of the waltz and pretend she was in another world.
“Diving’s terrific around here. You dive?”
“No. I’ve never had the opportunity. I wouldn’t mind learning, though.”
“The resort provides instruction, if you’re interested. Even if you don’t want to go the whole route, you could rent a snorkel and mask. The reefs are unbelievable. It’s like being inside a saltwater aquarium filled with the most spectacular fish in the world.”
Kate smiled at the man’s enthusiasm. “I’ll give the snorkeling, at least, a try,” she said as they drew to a temporary halt and waited for the music to resume.
“Do that. I’ll be glad to show you the ropes. Unless you’re, uh, here with someone special?”
“No. There’s no one special, but I do have a snorkeling instructor lined up.”
“Just my luck. Maybe I could buy you a drink in the bar instead?” the redheaded man persisted.
“Later, perhaps.”
“The name’s Jeff Taylor.”
“Mine is Kate Inskip.” She was searching for something else polite to say and wishing the music would start again, when a miniature pirate tugged on her arm. She looked down to see Jared’s son, David, in an elaborate costume complete with eye patch and plastic cutlass.
“Hi, David.”
“Hi, Ms Inskip. You recognized me, huh? I recognized you right away, too. You look great tonight.”
“Thank you. You look pretty sharp yourself.”
David glanced at Jeff Taylor and Kate could have sworn she detected a hint of disapproval in the boy’s eye. “Seen Dad, Ms Inskip?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“He’s supposed to be around here someplace.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for him,” Kate promised. The more she got to know David, the better she liked him. They had become instant friends. Twice during the past two days he had turned up to chat with her while she sat on the beach in the shade of an umbrella. He’d settled in next to her for some time this afternoon and rattled on about everything from the small island school he attended to his shell collection. He had even taken her beachcombing, and she’d returned to her room with some lovely specimens.
Now David seemed disinclined to leave, though he was supposedly looking for his father. The boy eyed Jeff Taylor again. “So,” he said, clearing his throat and trying for a nonchalant pose. “You having a good time, Ms Inskip?”
“I certainly am. Mr. Taylor and I were just talking about the great snorkeling around here.”
“Right,” David said quickly. “Remember I’m going to teach you how to snorkel.”
“I wouldn’t mind giving her a few lessons,” Jeff volunteered.
“No offense, Mr. Taylor, but you’re just a visitor here. I’ve lived here all my life, and I know the waters around here like the back of my hand.”
“I’m sure you do,” Jeff Taylor said diplomatically. “But I’d kind of like to show Ms Inskip some of the places I’ve discovered on my own.”
“Perhaps after I’ve had my lessons from David, I could see some of the reef with you, Jeff,” Kate said, making her own attempt at diplomacy.
“My dad could show you the reef,” David said quickly. “If you want to snorkel with a grown-up, that is.??
?
So much for diplomacy. “I’m sure he’s a very busy man,” Kate murmured.
She prayed that much was true. More than once during the past two days she had felt a strange tingling sensation at the back of her neck. When she’d turned around, she’d found Jared Hawthorne watching her with a narrowed, intent gaze. It had happened at poolside and two or three times in the restaurant where Jared apparently ate lunch and dinner with his young son. It had also happened again last night in the lounge. She had gone back to her room, aware of an unsettling sensation of being pursued.
A writer had to work hard to keep her imagination under control, Kate thought.
“I’ll bet he could find the time.” The boy glanced at Jeff Taylor again and then back at Kate. “Maybe we should go ahead and set a time for the lessons. How about tomorrow morning?”
“Well,” Kate began hesitantly. Then she saw the anxious look on David’s face. “Tomorrow would be fine.”
“Great. It’s all settled. Guess I’d better say hello to my friends Travis and Carl. They’re here tonight with their parents, along with some other folks I know. They always come to these masquerade parties.”
“That’s nice. Do you have a lot of friends here on the island?” Kate asked.
“Lots,” David assured her brightly. “Dad and I know everyone here on Amethyst.”
“I see. I’m sure they’re all very nice.”
“Yeah, they are. Well. See you later.”
Kate nodded. “Goodbye, David.”
The boy still looked reluctant to leave her alone with Jeff Taylor, but he finally turned and darted off through the crowd. Jeff chuckled. “I think the kid’s got a crush on you.”
“Unfortunately, he’s a little young for me.”
“I, on the other hand, would appear to be just about the right age. Shall we try another waltz?”
For the next hour Kate danced to her heart’s content, first with Jeff and then with a very nice middle-aged man who had obviously been wedged into his evening clothes with a shoehorn. After him she found herself in the arms of a nineteenth-century sailor who wore a gold earring in one ear.
Kate lost track after the sailor. The truth was she didn’t care who partnered her. She was lost in the fantasy. She floated around the floor in the arms of strangers and imagined herself to be a fine Regency lady who had been kidnapped and carried off to the island kingdom of a wealthy, dangerous pirate, who was secretly the son of an earl.
The man had his reasons for turning pirate, Kate decided, automatically plotting a novel in her head while she danced. Vengeance, perhaps. Whatever the reason, someday he would return to England to claim his title and his estates. But in the meantime he lived a life of violence and elegance here on a tropical island. And he was tired of living it alone. Hence the kidnapping of the lovely lady. How else was such a man to obtain a bride?
At the end of the first hour of steady waltzing, Kate finally allowed herself to take a short break. Edging through the crowded lobby, she made her way outside into the scented, balmy night.
She just wanted a few minutes alone in the moonlight to catch her breath, she decided, as she moved along the garden path. She was feeling oddly enthralled, almost lightheaded. She wanted to savor the fantasy. Tomorrow she would dig out a notepad and jot down all the plot ideas that were occurring to her tonight.
For a moment she thought she was dreaming when she rounded a bend in the garden path and saw the rakish, dark-haired buccaneer waiting for her. He lounged in the shadows of a palm, his wide-sleeved white shirt giving him a ghostlike appearance in the moonlight. He wore a leather belt and gleaming leather boots. The handle of a surprisingly lethal-looking dagger gleamed at his hip. His black half mask shielded the upper portion of his face. The polite inclination of his head was both elegant and arrogant. Kate halted a few feet away.
“I trust you are enjoying yourself, madam?” Jared asked, smiling faintly. He didn’t stir from the shadows.
Did he know who she was, Kate wondered. Possibly. She had recognized him instantly, even before she heard his distinctive, rough-textured voice. She realized with a small shock that she would have known him anywhere.
“I am enjoying the evening very much.” Kate was suddenly afraid to move lest she shatter the shimmering magic.
“Did you know the ball is in honor of my birthday?”
Kate regarded him with deep interest. “I was told the ball was in honor of a certain pirate’s birthday,”
“I never liked the word pirate myself. Too difficult to define. One man’s pirate is another man’s loyal privateer, still another’s hard-working sea captain.”
“Now I myself have never had any trouble spotting a true pirate the minute I see one,” Kate said.
“Have you ever actually seen one?”
She thought of the man who had haunted her dreams most of her adult life, the pirate who existed only in her imagination. “Oh, yes. I’ve seen one.”
“Ah, so you consider yourself an expert on the subject?”
“I like to think so.”
“But even experts make mistakes.” Jared held out his arm. “Will you walk with me in the gardens, Madam Expert?”
Kate hesitated for an instant, a delicious sensation of adventure making her cautious. The entire evening was beginning to feel like something out of a dream and though she was in the business of creating dreams she had never before found herself in the middle of one.
But dreams, she was discovering, had a power all their own. On impulse she stepped forward and curled her fingers around Jared’s arm.
“Tell me about yourself, my lord pirate,” she said as they began to stroll through the scented tropical greenery.
“What would you like to know?”
“Well, to begin with, why did you come here to Amethyst Island?”
“I think you know the answer to that.”
She nodded. “You wanted to carve out your own kingdom.”
“There are not many places left in the world where a man can do that. Some men were not born to live in cities or to work for corporations or to answer to others. Some men prefer to live on their own terms and keep civilization at arm’s length.”
“I can understand that.”
“Can you?” Jared sounded intrigued.
“Of course. I write about such men all the time.”
“Ah, yes. The heroes of your books. Maybe you do understand. Tell me, Kate, why do you set your stories in the past?”
She smiled. “That’s a good question. I’m not certain of the answer, but it’s probably because so many modern men seem unsure of themselves, so easily intimidated by strong women.” Kate thought briefly of her ex-husband.
“Do you prefer strong men?”
“Most of the women I know prefer strong, centered men. I’m no exception.”
“Tell me something, Kate. Do you think you could ever stop doing battle with a strong man long enough to let him make love to you?” Jared asked softly. “Could you take the risk of letting such a man touch you?”
Kate caught her breath. She looked up at him quickly and was dazzled by the sensual warmth in his gaze. “I’m not sure I should answer that.”
Jared gave a muffled exclamation that could have been part laughter and part oath. He drew her closer to his side, so close that Kate’s hip brushed his muscular thigh and her bare shoulder grazed his arm. He was a hard, powerful man, and underneath the physical strength was an equally fierce sexuality. She could feel that raw energy radiating from him. It enveloped her, enthralled her, excited her. She sensed the primitive response deep within herself, and the knowledge that she was capable of such a reaction shook her to the core.
“Maybe you’re not quite as daring as you think you are,” Jared said.
Kate shrugged lightly in the low-necked gown and saw his pirate’s gaze drift to the curves of her breasts. She felt suddenly very exposed. The gown was no worse than a swimsuit, she told herself firmly, but that didn’t lessen th
e vulnerable sensation. “Maybe I just haven’t had a lot of experience with strong men. There never seem to be very many around.”
Jared drew her to a halt in the shadows of a wide-leafed tree that towered over the path. “Women like you are rare, too. Maybe we both have a few things to learn.”
She looked up at him and experienced another jolt of awareness. She was startled to feel herself trembling with anticipation. “Are you going to kiss me?”
“Yes,” Jared said slowly, as if he had reached an important decision, “I am. I have to do it. I’ve been thinking about this for two solid days and it’s been driving me crazy.”
He bent his head and brought his mouth slowly down on hers. There was no hurry about it. It was as if he was content to take his time and discover all he wished to know about her.
Kate closed her eyes as the compelling fantasy in which she was moving suddenly became as solid as reality. A deep, sensual tug in the pit of her stomach caused her to almost lose her balance. Instinctively she wrapped her fingers around Jared’s upper arms, seeking support.
He groaned in response and eased her back against the trunk of the tree. His mouth was warm, strong and searching, and when he moved close, Kate could feel the heat in his body. The fire in him was lighting a blaze within her.
She sensed his hands moving up from her waist, gliding along her rib cage until his thumbs rested just beneath the curves of her breasts. The touch was exquisitely intimate, inviting a response.
Kate parted her lips and surprised herself by nearly panicking for a brief, nerve-shattering moment. The hungry, captivating manner in which Jared took deep possession of her mouth was a revelation to her. She had never had any man’s kiss jangle her senses this way. It set off distant alarm bells.
The panic subsided almost at once, to be replaced by a longing unlike anything Kate had ever known. Her arms tightened around Jared’s neck, and she whispered his name in a small, choked voice when he freed her lips. She clung to him more tightly and kissed his throat.