LITMIR.BIZ

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his eyes, not certain what had awakened him, and squinted against the rising sunshine. He noticed several things at once. Melanie was no longer at his side, the day was hazy, promising rain, and a huge, smelly pelican stood over him, its expression rapt, staring at his naked body.

      Adam quickly scrambled back, scraping his bare butt on the fine sand. The pelican boldly scrambled after him, keeping pace. Jumping to his feet, Adam tried to intimidate the bird by making shooing motions with his arms and yelling, “Scat!” The bird lifted its enormous wings and opened its baggy beak in a silent but alarming threat.

      Adam froze. Where the hell was Melanie? Watching the bird with one eye, he called, “Mel!”

      She stuck her head out of the empty shack. “You’re awake!”

      He didn’t dare look away from the pelican. “I’m being attacked, damn it.”

      Dividing his glances between Mel and the bird, Adam caught the way Melanie stared, perusing his body in minute detail. A lesser man might have blushed, her look was so thorough. Of course, most men wouldn’t have been preoccupied defending themselves against a curious bird.

      Adam watched Mel leap nimbly out of the doorway and start toward them at an angle. She wore her halter and the silky tap pants and she was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen in his entire life.

      His palms began to sweat.

      “I think he might want food. I tossed some coconut and strawberries to him earlier, but he wouldn’t go away.”

      Adam inched closer to her, intending to protect her with his body if need be. “I think they only eat fish.”

      The pelican didn’t like him moving around and fanned his wings as a warning. Adam halted. He turned slightly to Mel, but she had her gaze directed on lower parts, which caused something of an immediate reaction in his body.

      “Sweetheart, there’s not a damn thing I’d like more this morning than to indulge your interest, but I don’t want my eyes—or more important body parts—plucked at by our feathered guest while I’m distracted by you.”

      “Oh.” She forced her attention to the bird. “He’s kind of cute, isn’t he?”

      “You must be kidding.”

      The bird took a small, mean leap at Adam and he yelped, stumbling back. Being naked, he felt even more graceless than otherwise.

      “Be still, Adam. You’re frightening him.”

      She had to be kidding. “Honey, find me a rock.”

      Appalled, Melanie turned on him and pointed a finger. “Don’t you dare!” The bird, startled by her command, turned to flee. But on his way, he snatched up her underpants, resting on a pile of palm leaves, and flew away with them.

      Melanie’s eyes were huge. “Now look what you’ve done!”

      “Me?” Adam did his best not to laugh. And he couldn’t very well hold a grudge against the bird. “You’re the one who shouted. And for your information, I had no intention of hitting the damn bird with a rock, I just wanted to scare it away.”

      The bird soared down the island, out of sight. Hands on her hips, Melanie stared after it. “I washed out our stuff and left it on the leaves to dry. Now what will we do?”

      “Our stuff?”

      “Our...respective underthings.”

      Adam, having resisted her as long as he could, drew her close in the circle of his arms. “Why’d you leave me this morning?”

      Mel toyed with the hair on his chest, avoiding his gaze. “I woke early so I decided to do some...stuff.”

      “What kind of stuff?” Already it was hard for him to carry on a conversation. She was soft and sweet and he knew her body well, knew how easily, how hotly, she responded to him. She’d combed her hair and made use of his toothpaste; he could smell the minty flavor on her breath. Her skin, sun-warmed and glowing, felt silky soft beneath his hands.

      “I washed out our clothes, like I said. And I tidied up the shack in case we need to go in. The air smells rainy to me.” She peeked at him, then away. “I also explored a little down the beach. A lot more of the same, except there’s a mango tree there that has—”

      Adam cut her off, his mood quickly changing when he thought of all the things that could have happened to her. “You took off down the beach without me?”

      She looked surprised by his accusing tone. “So?”

      Without even realizing it, he gripped her upper arms. “Mel, the sun’s just coming up.”

      “There was enough light for me to see.”

      He wanted to shake her. “What would you have done if you’d run into another snake? Or a swarm of those damn beetles? What if you’d fallen and hit your head, or stepped on something sharp?”

      She pulled away and stared at him. “I’m a big girl, Adam. I can take care of myself.”

      “Ha! Big girls don’t go running screaming down the beach because of a little cockroach—”

      “A swarm of huge cockroaches!”

      “—and they aren’t afraid to stick so much as a big toe in the ocean.” He no sooner said it and saw her face blanch than he felt disgust for himself. Her fear of the water was real, if exaggerated, and he’d found it endearing, not something to ridicule her over. But he could tell by her quivering lip and rigid stance that he’d crossed the line.

      He sighed. “Mel...”

      She bit her lip to still it, and her hands fisted. After two deep breaths she very calmly, very coldly, said, “I am a coward and I freely admit it. I’m afraid of the water, or rather, things lurking in the water. But I can damn well carry my own weight here. I’m not the pampered little girl you remember. I do all the things normal women do, like go to college, work—even break engagements!”

      “I didn’t mean—”

      That stubborn, adorable chin of hers lifted and she cut him off. “I cleaned out the shack so we can inhabit it, and yes, I did run into a few snakes. While I don’t like them, I am quite capable of shooing them off with a long stick.”

      “Honey...”

      “I also collected enough fruit for our breakfast and I got a dozen pricks on my fingers from my efforts.” She thrust her hands in front of his face, glaring.

      Smiling inside, Adam took her fingers and examined the small scratches. “Blackberry bushes?”

      “And some of that stupid grass. It’s as sharp as needles.”

      “You didn’t need to do all that, babe. And I’m sorry I said anything about the water.”

      She jerked her hands away in renewed pique. “The point is, if I choose to go exploring, I will. I don’t need your permission or your protection.” Then she sneered, “Or are you going to lie some more about wild boars?”

      “You read my Key to the Keys?”

      She thumped him on the chest with one small fist. “I’m not an idiot, damn it! I don’t need to read your dumb guidebook to know there aren’t any wild boars here.”

      She was so adorable in her anger, and he was naked and hard. It was difficult to take part in the conversation when all he really wanted to do was lay her down and slide into her body again. Last night he’d tried to make her see how different she was from any other woman he’d been with. Sheer physical gratification couldn’t compare with the deep, primal possessiveness he felt with her. But he knew by the look on her face she hadn’t understood. She thought she was just one more woman in a long line of conquests. And this morning, being in a saner frame of mind, he wasn’t about to tell her no other woman had mattered, not when he always pretended they were her. That was a little too heavy to lay on a woman after

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