hotel and why.’ She smiled airily, watching him through the tinted lenses, enjoying the way his big body stiffened at her open mockery.
‘Yes, I worked it out It wasn’t difficult. I’ve seen it happen before, watched men who make fools of themselves over women like you, women who don’t give a damn about anything as long as they get what they want. You should carry a health warning, Louise, because you destroy lives!’
His anger was almost tangible, filling the confines of the small plane, adding a new dimension to the conversation that startled her.
‘That sounds as though you’re speaking from personal experience. Did some woman take you for a ride?’
He laughed harshly, such contempt in the sound that it destroyed the last vestiges of amusement she felt ‘No. I’m not fool enough to let any woman do that to me. Oh, women have their uses, I’ll admit, but those are purely physical, and that’s all I’m interested in.’
She felt suddenly cold, despite the heat from the sun, her skin tingling with an icy chill that stemmed from deep inside. How could anyone sound as totally devoid of feelings as he had? In some indefinable way, it shocked her almost as much as when he’d made those ridiculous accusations against her.
Suddenly she didn’t want to continue with this disturbing conversation a moment longer, and cast round for something to say to fill the uncomfortable silence. ‘How long will it be before we land now?’
‘About twenty minutes or so, depending on how many other planes are due at the island.’ He checked his watch, a faint mocking curl to his mouth, as though he understood her reasons for wanting to move the conversation along different channels. ‘The airstrip at Paradise Island is purely that, a strip for the benefit of people who have houses there.’
‘I see.’ She turned to stare out of the side-window, forcing herself to push the unsettling. exchange to the back of her mind. She wasn’t interested in digging deeper, in trying to discover what had made Wyatt so cold and unfeeling. It wasn’t any of her business, and she had to remember that and not allow natural curiosity to draw her into something she might come to regret. ‘What are all those islands down there? There must be hundreds of them, some so tiny they’re little more than a few rocks, I imagine.’
‘They are. There are about seven hundred islands plus over two thousand cays down there that form the Bahamas, most of them so flat they are barely a hundred feet above sea-level at their highest points.’
‘Good heavens! I never realised there were so many!’ Astonished by the information, Louise turned back to the view, following the scattering of land in the deep turquoise sea, like jewels glistening against satin. ‘Are they all inhabited?’
‘No. Some of the smaller cays are privately owned, but most of them are uninhabited. There are no rivers or streams on any of the islands, so fresh water can be a problem. What little there is is usually found close to the surface, resting on salt water, so if wells are dug too deeply it can taste brackish and be quite unpalatable.
‘If you look down there to your right you’ll see New Providence Island, where the capital of the Bahamas, Nassau, is situated.’
Louise followed his directions, leaning over so that she could see better, but it was hard to distinguish the island through the haze of sun bouncing off the water. ‘Do you mean there?’ she queried, pointing to a spot to their right, then nearly jumped out of her skin when he caught her hand in his and moved it a fraction further, holding it steady as he guided her pointing finger. Heat ran along her veins so swiftly, so fiercely, that she caught her breath at the sheer unexpectedness of the sensation. Just for a moment her eyes lifted to meet his, and she wished that she could see the expression in them, but with the mirrored glasses firmly in place that was impossible.
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