not?”
“There was a full crew.”
“But you snuck around to come back here,” she accused him.
“I didn’t sneak anywhere.”
“Then why didn’t I see you before?”
“Probably because you weren’t paying any attention. There was no secret about me staying behind. I didn’t jump off the boat when no one was looking and swim back.”
She stared at him, shaking her head. “There’s something wrong with you.”
That brought a wry smile to his lips. “I’m not exactly sure how you mean that, but…You should certainly hope not. You’re alone with me on an island, and all help is far away.”
She took a step back again.
He sighed, reaching for her. She jumped; he let his arm fall, shaking his head.
“I’m going to give you some advice, whether you want it or not. Stay away from this area of the island. Obviously it’s of interest to someone, and we don’t know why. Keep your mouth shut about seeing Sandy and Brad looking around here. In fact, if you have any suspicions about anyone, pretend that you don’t.”
She narrowed her eyes, staring at him hard. “Someone might have been killed here.”
“And you wouldn’t want to join them.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Good God, no. It’s a warning.”
“Right. And you should be trusted?”
“Actually, yes.”
She studied him long and hard. He was a man in the prime of his life, muscled and hard. She was suddenly certain that, if he had chosen, he could have wrenched the machete away from Brad without breaking a sweat.
To her discomfort, she also remembered the strength with which he had held her.
She spun around, striding for the trail.
He caught her arm, swinging her back. She didn’t open her mouth to protest, only narrowed her eyes at him in serious warning, arching her brows slowly as she gazed from his eyes to the place where his hand rested on her arm.
“I was serious. Keep your mouth shut.”
“You know something, so you’d better be planning on talking to the police,” she warned him.
“If I knew something, I wouldn’t need to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations.”
“I think we should call the police.”
“And tell them what?” he demanded.
She faltered. “That…that…”
“That there might have been a skull on the island? That a young couple was scrounging around, looking for something? So far, they haven’t done a thing that’s illegal. And so far, you haven’t got anything at all to tell the police. Guess what? You need to get your nose out of it. You need to keep your mouth shut and pretend that you haven’t seen a single thing on this island.”
“You are threatening me.”
“I’m not the threat!” he protested angrily. “But just maybe there is a threat out there.”
“Then we need to stop them. Now.”
“There’s this little thing called the law. You think you can just tie up Sandy and Brad and call the Coast Guard, and they’ll arrest them for acting in what you’ve decided is a suspicious manner?”
She felt herself flush. He was still holding her. She swallowed, strangely far more afraid now than she had been at any time before. Odd, it felt far too good, especially under the circumstances. She wanted to close her eyes. Lean against him. Let the moment go on. She loathed the concept of basic instinct, but she realized that she was feeling one right then. There was something so right about feeling his touch. She told herself it was just because she hadn’t so much as dated in a very long time, but inside she knew it was because she had simply never felt anything so right.
He released her suddenly. “All right, you don’t trust me. Stick with your brother. Tight. And keep your mouth shut.”
He wasn’t touching her anymore. That should mean that sanity would return. Instead she felt startled, like a doe caught in the headlights.
She stiffened, determined to follow a course based on sense and reason.
He started to walk past her, but she wasn’t done with him.
She found herself running to catch up with him, then caught his arm, swinging him back to face her.
“What does all this have to do with you?” she demanded.
“Nothing. I came to this island to camp, just the same as you,” he told her.
“Then why were you searching the clearing?”
“I told you. It seemed obvious you had hidden something.” He had been impatient, almost ready to pull away. But suddenly he became the one determined to carry on the conversation. He moved toward her. There was a tree behind her, and she backed up against it. He set a palm on the trunk to trap her, leaning close.
“What were you hiding?” he demanded.
“Nothing.”
“A skull?” he queried.
“Of course not!”
He pushed away from the tree and once again started back toward the beach. She followed him, irritated and uneasy.
And oddly determined to keep up with him.
To remain close.
They reached the trail. For a moment Beth was afraid they would run straight into Sandy and Brad, but the couple was nowhere to be seen.
Amber and Kimberly were lying on the beach, exactly where they had been when she had left them. Roger, too, seemed not to have stirred from the hammock.
“Hey, girls!” Keith called out.
Amber rolled over and looked back, seeing Keith. “Hi,” she called, smiling.
“Hey, guys,” Kimberly said.
The girls looked at him, then Beth, then one another. They smiled.
No, she thought. They smirked.
“Did you find any good coconuts?” Amber asked him.
It was Beth’s turn to look from him to the girls and back again. Obviously the girls had known that he hadn’t gone on the boat. Where the hell had she been?
Not paying attention. A
