Jane sat bolt upright, shock and sudden panic causing all color to ebb from her face. “I don't understand.”
He turned and gazed unseeingly out at the sparkling sea, his hands tightly gripping the rail. His profile was frighteningly implacable. “I'm sending you home,” he said ruthlessly. “I should have done it weeks ago.”
“That's crazy,” Jane protested dazedly, standing up and automatically slipping on her white beach coat. “Just because some little man takes our picture and manages to get it into a newspaper? It doesn't make sense.”
“I'm finding the game not worth it,” Jake replied harshly, still not looking at her. “You're just not worth the bother, Jane.”
She felt as if he had driven his fist into her stomach, so blinding was the pain. “I don't believe you,” she said numbly.
“Why not? You knew it had to end sometime. You've lasted longer than most.”
She stepped closer and reached out to put a hand on his arm, instinctively trying to penetrate his hard facade by touch where words were proving useless. He flinched away from her as if she had burned him. “Don't touch me,” he said through his teeth. “God, how I hate a woman who doesn't exit gracefully when shown the door.” He turned to face her, his face granite-hard. “Do I have to say it? You're beginning to bore me. I don't want you.”
Each word was like a whiplash on her raw emotions. Jane shook her head as if to clear it, feeling as though she were caught up in a nightmare. “It doesn't make sense,” she repeated blankly. “Not like this. Not so suddenly.”
He shrugged, his gaze once more on the horizon. “I want you on the plane this evening. You'd better pack.”
As she stared at him, the certainty grew stronger that her instincts were correct. This reversal was entirely too abrupt to be genuine. He couldn't have made love to her with such wild passion only this morning and then decided that she bored him now.
“You're lying to me,” she said huskily. “I don't know why you're acting this way; perhaps it's because of that photo in the paper. But I do know that you're not tired of me.”
She could see his hands tighten on the rail until his knuckles whitened, but when he turned to look at her there was nothing but scorn in his dark eyes. “My God, have you no pride? I've just told you that I don't want you anymore.”
Her eyes were shining with tears as she wrapped her arms around herself to still the trembling that threatened to destroy her fragile control. “Yes, I have pride,” she said simply. “If there ever comes a time when I believe that you don't want me, you won't have any trouble getting rid of me.” She took a deep, shaky breath. “Until that time, not all the scorn and rejection in the world are going to keep me from fighting for you. You can force me to leave the Sea Breeze. You can even force me to get on that plane, but as soon as I get off the plane, I'll be on my way to the Coast. If you won't let me into your private life, I'll work and I'll study and I'll make myself so invaluable to you that you won't stand a chance of shutting me out of your work.”
The tears were running freely down her cheeks now. “Damn you, Jake! Can't you see that what we've got is worth fighting for?”
For a moment there was a flicker of agony in the depths of Jake's eyes, and then he turned away. “I'll send someone down for your bags in an hour,” he said without expression. “Be ready!”
“The hell I will!” For the first time Jane realized that it was really happening, that no amount of persuasion was going to shake that iron determination. She was going to be sent away.
She whirled and walked blindly from him, so lost in a haze of pain and misery that she cannoned into Marc Benjamin. With a broken apology, her face a strained mask of agony, she pushed past him, stumbling dazedly in the direction of their cabin.
Benjamin gave a soundless whistle as he gazed after the vulnerable little figure, before he turned back and approached Jake Dominic with a grim smile on his face. He waved the folded newspaper in his hand. “I guess I don't have to ask if you saw this little item,” he said, tossing the paper casually on the deck chair. “I see Jane is pretty upset by it all.”
Jake turned to face him, and Benjamin inhaled sharply. Jake's face wore the expression of a man suffering the tortures of hell. The dark eyes, which usually mirrored only mockery and cynicism, were wells of pain and torment.
“Have the launch prepared, Marc,” Jake said dully, “and arrange to have someone go down and pick up her luggage in about an hour. Jane will be taking the evening plane to Miami.”
Benjamin's face reflected his surprise. “I never thought she'd be that upset by this trash,” he said thoughtfully, gesturing contemptuously at the newspaper on the deck chair. “I'd have bet it would have taken considerably more than that to make her leave you.”
Jake's mirthless laugh was like the snarl of an animal in pain. “Oh, God, yes,” he said bitterly. “If I'd let her, the little fool would have stayed and let the world smear her with the same filth that they attribute to me.” His fist struck the rail. “Damn it, she even said she expected it!”
“She's a sensible girl in spite of all that idealism,” Benjamin said slowly. “Jane always knew what she'd be facing, but she didn't care.”
“Well, I care, damn it!” Jake said passionately. “I'm not going to stand by and let them hurt her. God, do you realize what a year as my mistress could do to a girl like Jane?”
“She wouldn't change,” Benjamin said confidently. “The girl is stronger than you think.” He looked at Jake's face speculatively, and the torment he saw there prompted him to make a suggestion. “Of course, there's another way that you could protect her if you chose. You could marry her.”
Jake looked at him scornfully. “Do you think that I haven't thought of that?” he asked bitterly. “Don't you think that I'd like to reach out and grab what I want, just as I have all my life?” He shook his head, his lips thinned in a line of pain. “My God, I'm seventeen years older than Jane and a hundred years older in experience. Even a dissipated bastard like me knows that she deserves better than that.” He smiled bitterly. “I've done her enough damage by making her my mistress.” His hand struck the rail again. “But damn it, I wanted something for myself!”
“You love her,” Benjamin stated, with wonder coloring his voice.
“Of course I love her,” he said impatiently. “Who the hell wouldn't?” His eyes narrowed to brooding darkness. “She's like a vase of the finest crystal, absolutely clear, with none of the distortions and impurities that plague most of the rest of us.”
Benjamin's lips quirked. Dominic was not only completely crazy about Jane, he was waxing lyrical. “I can't see the problem,” he said. “Lord knows, the girl is mad enough about you.”
“She'll get over it,” Jake said harshly. “You know as well as I do that she needs someone as fresh and wholesome as herself for a lasting relationship.”
“I'm not at all sure of that,” Benjamin said slowly, “I rather think that Jane might need someone older and more experienced to take care of her.”
There was a brief flash of hope in Jake's face before he shook his head. “Thanks for trying, Marc,” he said morosely, “but I know that I'm right about this. She'll be better off without me.”
“I'm not giving you some bull to give you an excuse for doing what you want to do,” Benjamin said bluntly, his voice rough with impatience. “For God's sake, shake off that martyr's air and look at the girl's record to date. She's gotten herself mixed up with a bunch of crackpots and almost blown up the Sea Breeze. She nearly got herself raped or killed at that cockfight in San Miguel. She came within an inch of being devoured by a shark. To top it all off, she's become the mistress of one of the most notorious men in the Western world. Now, this has all taken place in the space of less than two months. Heaven knows what other trouble she's gotten herself into that I'm not aware of.” He smiled grimly. “Personally, I don't know any wholesome young man on the face of the earth who could have handled all of that!”
There
was a stunned expression on Jake's face. “You're absolutely right, you don't have the complete list,” he breathed softly. “God, Jane's a walking time bomb!”
Coolly Benjamin regarded the dawning uncertainty on Jake's face. “You should also consider that a girl like Jane isn't going to recover from any love affair very easily. She's not the type to bounce back and locate this paragon you've mentally linked her with any time soon. It's far more likely that she would look around for some kind of work to take her mind off you.” Benjamin's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Yes, she'll probably revert to her original plan.”
Jake looked up swiftly, alarmed. “What original plan?” he demanded.
“The Peace Corps,” Benjamin answered blandly.
“The Peace Corps?” Dominic echoed blankly.
Benjamin nodded. “She confided to Simon that she'd been considering joining for some time. She seemed to think that they'd take her like a shot. She'd be a godsend to them, with all the languages she knows.”
Jake's dark eyes were dazed. “Jane in the Peace Corps!”
Benjamin smiled gently. “It's more than likely they would assign her to the Middle East. Kahlid was very impressed with her command of Arabic, wasn't he?”
Burying his face in his hands, Jake groaned. “Good Lord, even the United States Government couldn't make that big a mistake!”
“They'd snap her up, and you know it,” Benjamin said bluntly. “Young, intelligent, charismatic, and fluent in several languages.”
“No!” Dominic almost shouted, his hands dropping from his face as he whirled to confront Benjamin. His dark eyes were wild and blazing. “In six months' time she'd be in a Middle East bordello or decorating the post outside some head hunter's hut.” He ran his hand through his crisp dark hair. “Do you think that I'm going to spend the rest of my life worried about what kind of trouble she's going to get herself into next? No, by God!” He turned and strode furiously away, every line of his tall muscular body breathing fiery determination.
Benjamin gazed after him with a curiously enigmatic smile on his face before turning and strolling back to the bridge.
Jane was still in the peach bikini and the white terry beach coat when Dominic stalked into the cabin. She looked up from throwing things haphazardly into an overnight case on the bed, her cheeks wet with tears. “My hour isn't up yet, but I'm almost finished packing,” she said defiantly. She closed and snapped the lock on the suitcase. “This is all I'm taking. You can give all the rest of those Diors and St. Laurents and whatevers to someone else.”
“I suppose camouflage denims and khaki jungle shorts would be more practical for what you have in mind,” he spat out, glaring at her furiously. “Well, you can just forget about it. Do you hear me? I'm not going to stand for it!”
She looked at him, puzzlement mixed with indignation in her golden eyes. It wasn't enough that the man was destroying her life, rejecting her, tearing her emotions to shreds. Now he had the gall to march in here and shout at her!
“I have no idea what you're talking about,” she said belligerently. “I wish you'd just get out of here so that I can finish dressing. I wouldn't want to be late for that plane you're so anxious for me to catch.”
“To hell with the plane!” he muttered. “You're coming with me, damn it!” He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her, struggling and protesting, from the cabin. He strode purposefully down the corridor and up on the deck.
“Jake, let me go!” Jane gasped furiously. “I'm tired of being carried and pulled and pushed around like some sort of glorified piece of luggage. Will you please treat me with a little dignity?”
“Be quiet,” Jake said between his teeth, pushing her ahead of him into the lounge. “You're insane if you think I'm going to let you make my life hell on earth. You can just forget about that bloody Peace Corps. You're going to marry me, damn it!”
Jane shook her head dazedly. Peace Corps? Then his last statement sank in.
“Marry you?” she whispered, her eyes widening so that they were enormous in her pale face.
“Marc has full authority to marry us on the high seas,” Dominic said, striding toward the phone at the bar and dragging her along behind him. “I'm giving orders for us to get underway. In thirty minutes we'll be out of Mexican territorial waters.” He reached for the phone, but she suddenly put her hand on the receiver and stopped him.
“Why, Jake?” Jane asked quietly, her face pale and tense. “Why do you want to marry me?”
“Why do you think?” he replied bitterly. “Because I'm a selfish bastard who can't even do one decent, unselfish thing to ensure your well-being. I don't give a tinker's damn anymore if I'll be good for you or not. I'm grabbing you and holding on, come hell or high water.”
Jane felt hope flower in her, its golden petals tentatively opening to a beautiful, unbelievable possibility. “But why?” she persisted, her eyes shining like jewels in her heart-shaped face.
“Because I love you!” he snapped, his face grim. “Because I don't care what's right or wrong, or even what's best for you, as long as I can keep you with me for the rest of our lives.”
Jane closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It seemed too gloriously, wonderfully perfect to be real. When she opened her eyes, Jake caught his breath at the glowing, starlike radiance in their depths.
She moved forward slowly, her arms slipping around his waist and her cheek nestling against his chest with a touching childishness. “You're not joking?” she asked huskily. “You really love me?”
Jake's arms went around her, and his voice was suspiciously ragged when he said, “I love you, redhead.” One hand left her waist to press her head closer to his heart. “And may God help you, because I can't let you go.” His hand tangled in the silky curls and tilted back her head to look down into her glowing face. His features were curiously vulnerable, and the dark eyes held an uncertainty that was foreign to them. “Last chance, sweetheart,” he said thickly. “Tell me no now, and I might be able to muster enough willpower to stop myself. Once you're committed, I'll be the only man in your bed and in your life for the rest of your days.”
“I told you once that I'd never say no to you,” Jane replied firmly. “That hasn't changed, and it never will.”
Dominic lowered his head and covered her lips in a kiss that was as solemn and binding as an exchange of wedding bands. When their lips parted, they were both shaking and clinging to each other like two lost children.
“You don't have to marry me, you know,” Jane whispered. “All I ever wanted was for you to love me. I can understand if you'd rather not be tied down.”
Jake kissed her lightly on the tip of her nose. “You may not mind living in sin, you shameless woman, but I find my reactions are verging on the primitive and the puritanical where you're concerned,” he said, only half joking. “I want to tie you to me with every bond I can lay my hands on.” His crooked eyebrow arched mockingly. “I hope you're not having second thoughts, because I've shed my last scruples. You're mine now— forever.”
“You don't think that you may regret it later?” Jane persisted, a worried frown on her face. “I don't think I could stand it if it didn't last.”
Jake's face was unusually solemn as he said, “You're my first love, my last love, and my only love, Jane. I didn't even think the emotion existed, until you walked into my life and turned it upside down. I'll never be able to do without you now.”
He released her hair and reached over her head to pick up the phone receiver. Holding her close with one arm, he gave the order to get underway.
After he hung up the receiver, he slid his other arm around her and lowered his head to kiss her with a honeyed sweetness. Pushing aside the beach coat, his hand slid inside to caress the bare satin flesh of her waist and back. Then suddenly his lips were no longer sweet but hot and hungry, parting her lips with his tongue to probe and explore with suffocating passion. Jane instinctively arched to meet his body's arousal, and his hand wandered down to cup her
rounded buttocks in his palm and bring her up against his thrusting loins.
Suddenly she pressed both hands against his chest and pushed, wriggling out of his arms at the same time. “No,” she gasped breathlessly, her face flushed and her golden eyes clouded with passion. “I want to talk.”
Surprise at her sudden rejection was mirrored in Jake's eyes, and his face reflected the temptation to ignore her verbal plea and attend only to the message that was still emanating from her aroused body. Then his own body relaxed slightly, though his eyes were glazed and hungry as they fixed on her full, swollen breasts in the tiny peach bikini.
“There's distinct evidence that you have ambivalent emotions on that score,” he teased. “But I'll let you get away with it for now, redhead. Talk!”
Jane closed the beach coat hurriedly and backed away from him, her cheeks pink. She walked over to the brown leather couch in the center of the room and sat down. Tucking her feet under her, she looked over the back of it at Jake, still standing by the bar. She patted the seat beside her invitingly, and he obediently strolled over and dropped down beside her.
His dark eyes were dancing with mischief as he said softly, “Now you really know that I love you, sweetheart. I've never stopped at a moment like that in my entire life.”
“How long have you loved me?” she asked eagerly, folding her hands before her on her lap. An expression of warm tenderness lit up Jake's cynical face; it would have astounded those who thought they knew him.
“Forever,” he said simply.
“No, really, Jake,” she demanded.
“I suppose that I knew for sure that night in San Miguel when I ran out the door and saw you buried under that pile of men,” he said, grinning. “I didn't know whether to beat you or pick you up and run away with you. I'd never felt like that before, and it scared the hell out of me.” He reached out to rub a finger along the sensitive curve of her lower lip. “Before that I was aware that you affected me more than any person I'd ever met—man, woman, or child—but I wouldn't admit that it was anything more than liking and a strange sense of protectiveness.”