actually.’
She stepped through the door into a tiled, airy room, and rounded on him, aghast.
‘What do you mean house?’
‘Just dump the bags by the table, Raymond. I’ll take them to her room in a little while. See you tomorrow. Tell your wife there’s no need for her to show up before nine.’
‘You told me we’d be staying in a hotel!’ Melissa said shrilly, as soon as they were alone.
‘How does it feel to be back home?’
‘Now you inform me that we’re sharing a house?’
‘You look as though you could do with a shower. You’re perspiring. It’s those clothes you’re wearing.’
‘This is a ridiculous situation! I can’t stay in a house with you for the next two months!’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I just can’t.’
‘Even if I promise not to touch you? However tempted I might be by your sizzling sex appeal and that wicked little way you have of looking at me out of the corner of those big, brown eyes?’ He grinned and she glared at him. ‘Okay! I reserved two rooms at the nearest hotel but even the nearest was too far away from the land, so in the end I had to rent this house. It’s more convenient. Now why don’t you go and freshen up and then join me outside on the porch. I’ll fill you in on what the general schedule’s going to be over the next week or so.’
‘Robert…’ She sighed and folded her arms. The thoughts in her head were too big to explain rationally and her most disturbing thought was the one that was the least possible to elaborate. How could she tell him that she could cope with all his moods, keep up with the frenetic pace he set himself, remain as cool as a cucumber when he stormed through the office because something was bugging him, but the thought of being in his company when work no longer comprised the four walls around them, sent her into a state of mild panic? How could she ever explain that his deliberate teasing threw her into a tizzy, even though she didn’t know why?
‘Yes?’
‘Where’s my bedroom?’
‘Along the corridor to the right. Last on the end. See you in a minute.’
He was whistling as he walked away.
This had not kicked off to a good start. This had all the promise of being one of her bigger life mistakes. No safe hotel with lots of people around, no sanitised conference rooms booked for work and meetings. Just the two of them and without the trappings of an office, who knew what mischief he might feel inclined to indulge in. His warm, sexual teasing could be as intrusive as fingers along her body and although she had always made sure to keep the lines between them very clear, she hadn’t cared for a couple of his insinuations earlier on. She would have to be as business-like as possible, even if she risked seeming a bore in the process.
She showered quickly and hurried outside, where the night air felt cool against her and the sound of the sea was steady and rhythmic, like an African drumbeat. From the open patio, she could look down the small slope and glimpse beach through the coconut trees and bush that fringed the little inlet.
‘I’m on the beach!’ His voice floated up to her mingled with the sound of the surf and when she squinted into the darkness, she could make out a shape standing ankle-deep in the water. ‘Stairs down to the left!’
Melissa licked her dry lips and tentatively made her way down the concrete steps to the beach, holding on to the iron railings on the side with one hand, clutching her notepad and pen with the other.
The dark shape on the beach was waiting patiently for her, looking at her slow progress down, his arms folded, his feet planted solidly on the sand, slightly spread apart. It was too dark to see the expression on his face, but his silhouette was reminiscent of something powerful and indestructible.
‘I thought we were going to do some work,’ she said, when she finally hit sand. The inlet was small, with a thick fringe of bush and trees spreading densely back from the sand, climbing up the small incline that led to the house. The sand felt firm and compacted under her feet and the sea was a black swell beating against the sand.
‘I changed my mind,’ he freely admitted, walking towards her, then past her to what she now saw was a towel spread on the sand, and upon which he flung himself, linking his hands beneath his head and staring up at the starless sky. ‘Actually, I thought you could tell me a bit about the country. After all, you lived here for…how long…? Five years? Six?’
‘I don’t remember much about it,’ Melissa said warily, watching his prone shape on the sand, the way his short, baggy T-shirt rode up to expose the firm skin of his torso, the length of his muscular legs. ‘We left when I was eleven.’
‘Why was that? Daddy got a transfer back to England?’
‘No,’ she said flatly. ‘What are your plans for tomorrow? Will I be staying put here and working or do you need me to come with you to meetings?’
‘Sit down. My neck’s beginning to hurt looking up at you. Besides, I can’t see your face when you’re standing so far away. It’s too dark.’ He shifted a bit and patted a little free patch of towel next to his hip. ‘It’s very disconcerting addressing a faceless disapproving voice. Come and sit by me and tell me all about what you do remember of the place. Come on,’ he said persuasively, ‘I don’t bite, you know.’ He laughed throatily. ‘So you can relax. Look at where we are, for heaven’s sake! Warm night air, sea, sand, stars in the sky…no place for frosty disapproval!’
‘I’m here to work, Robert,’ Melissa reminded him. ‘If you wanted someone to enjoy a romantic, tropical setting with you, then you should have considered bringing your… your…’ Her voice, firmly assured when she had started her little speech, petered out into awkward silence.
‘My…my…lover? Was that the word you were searching for, Melissa? Haven’t got one at the moment, actually. Besides, the last thing I need out here is a lover. I just need you to relax a bit. This isn’t an office now. We’re both going to have to adjust to that fact.’
‘We only came as far as this beach a few times,’ she said eventually, yielding to his request for information simply because she knew that if she didn’t, he would pester her until he got what he wanted. She made no move to sit next to him, though. That was taking relaxation a little too far for her liking. A sudden, graphic image of her thigh bumping against his made her brain temporarily cease functioning, then it recommenced, sending messages to her mouth that it should continue speaking, whatever the content.
‘Most people tend to stop at Maracas Bay which is further back. This is just a little too far for a day trip. I…it’s a lot more developed than I remember. Are there any shops around here? There weren’t fourteen years ago. Just vegetable and fruit stalls by the side of the road. Any shopping entailed a trip to the city.’
In between her babbling, her mind toyed with the delicious and illicit image of his body brushing against hers, the feel of his hard, muscular flesh pressing against her, the touch of his fingers along her stomach and thighs and breasts. She gulped and felt faint. Rather than perch on his towel and send her already fevered mind into further overdrive, she slid down onto the sand and pulled her knees up to her chin, hugging
