LITMIR.BIZ

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in were money and women and gambling, although I imagine the order changed according to the situation.’

      And even in the dim light of early evening reflected off the sea she saw the pain on Keanu’s face, the stricken look in his eyes. She remembered something strange that Bessie had said about it being better if Kari kept her distance from Ian, and started to connect the dots …

      ‘Oh, Keanu, not your mother?’ She reached for his shoulders and pulled him close, wrapping her arms awkwardly around his body. ‘Is that why you left? Why didn’t she tell my father? Or the elders? Or the police? Do something to get him stopped?’

      Keanu eased out of her grasp and looked down at her, his face now wiped as blank as she’d ever seen it.

      ‘He didn’t assault her, if that’s what you’re thinking,’ he said. ‘What he did was worse.’

      Bitterness as harsh and hurtful as Caroline had ever heard leached from every word so each one was a separate prick of pain—into her skin, through her flesh and into her heart.

      But worse than rape?

      What could she say?

      Much as she longed to know more, she knew by the cold finality in Keanu’s voice that the conversation was finished.

      He had turned and was moving on and although she longed to ask him if that’s why he’d never contacted her, she knew she wouldn’t—couldn’t. In fact, she knew the answer.

      Somehow or other, a Lockhart had hurt his mother—an unforgiveable sin.

      They stumbled their way down to the beach then, staying in the shadows of the fringing coconut palms, made their way to the rockfall.

      The tide was in, the small ripples of water inside the reef splashing up against the rocks.

      ‘So we swim,’ she said brightly, wishing they could get back to the not easy, but easier atmosphere they’d shared as they’d started down the cliff. ‘But I doubt Dad’s camera’s waterproof so what if I go around first then climb up on the lower rocks on the other side and you pass it to me, then you swim around?’

      ‘Haven’t changed much, have you? Bossy as ever!’ Keanu muttered, and Caroline hid a smile—the old Keanu was back with her again, if only temporarily.

      It was far worse than he’d expected, Keanu realised as Caro, the thin wet shift clinging to every curve of her body, appeared on the other side of the rockfall, reaching up and out for the rucksack.

      He’d taken off his shirt but his shorts would be wet as he clambered ashore, so his reaction would be obvious, though it was darker now and maybe she wouldn’t notice …

      Well, he could hardly leave her alone on the other side of the rockfall—not with his mother’s order, the ‘take care of Caroline’ one, still echoing in his ears.

      He swam, emerging from the lagoon and flapping at his shorts to conceal the evidence of his reaction.

      ‘We’d better move into the shadows of the palm trees,’ he said, deciding it was time to take charge. ‘And walk quietly. You don’t know who might be around.’

      ‘What, like fierce Alsatian guard dogs that will rip us to pieces without a second thought?’ Caroline muttered. ‘I wonder if I can still shin up a coconut palm.’

      Keanu smiled at the image, although he was thinking more of the darkness the shadows would provide. At least in the shadows beneath the palms he wouldn’t be able to see the way her full breasts were outlined by the wet shift, or the way it was indented into her navel, and raised slightly over the mound of her sex.

      He had to stop thinking about wet shifts and sex and concentrate or they’d be caught for sure.

      As they approached the first of the bures that had once housed visiting scientists they heard voices, but not close.

      ‘That sounds like people over beyond the kitchen where the little staff bar used to be,’ he murmured to Caroline.

      The helicopter pilots, back when there had been three or four and so they’d had more time off than other staff, had always frequented it, not by creeping down the cliff and swimming around the rockfall but by walking down the track from the airfield—the track now fenced off, guarded and gated.

      A lone light shone in the first of the bures, but even from outside Keanu could see the place had had a lot of money spent on it. Stone walls where mud had been, a marble deck with a deep spa bath shaded by thick vegetation.

      ‘This isn’t accommodation for visiting scientists,’ Caro whispered to him. ‘It’s luxury accommodation for the very wealthy who want absolute privacy and can afford it. See how each bure has been separated from the next by a thick planting of shrubs, most of them scented, like that huge ginger plant over there.’

      ‘But what of the laboratories and the communal kitchens and dining rooms?’ he argued. ‘Surely people paying the kind of money they’d pay to stay here aren’t all going to eat together?

      ‘Let’s see.’

      Keanu took her hand, ignoring the shock of excitement such an impersonal touch had caused. He led the way towards the kitchen area, although always off the path that, even in the dark, looked freshly raked and would show their footprints.

      What had been the kitchen and adjoining open eating area seemed shrouded in scaffolding, until they crept closer and realised the old longhouse had been included in the renovations. It was now a longer, wider building, still open at the sides to catch the breezes, exactly like the meeting halls on the other islands, where feasts were held and elders met to make rules or administer judgment. Only better—fancier …

      The kitchens must be behind it, but so was the bar because the noise was louder now.

      ‘We can’t go farther,’ Keanu said firmly. ‘We’d be caught for sure. We’ll have to rely on Sam to report on the laboratories when he’s able to go back to work in them. And there’s no way we can take photographs, the flash would alert someone for sure.’

      He half expected Caro to argue—she’d always been the one more willing to take risks—but to his surprise she turned back into the bushes.

      ‘Come on, we’ll go back the way we came before someone finds us.’

      Caroline smiled to herself, realising Keanu was now as intent on this expedition as she had been.

      But holding Keanu’s hand was distracting, and he was pulling her along, far too close to his body, which was beyond distracting. She began to tremble and suspected it wasn’t nerves or cold, although he stopped in a particular dense patch of shadow and pulled her into his arms.

      ‘You’re cold,’ he whispered, folding her against his body, the action making her tremble even more. His bare skin was warm against hers, his body hard where hers was soft. And her reaction to it was so startling she probably would have done something stupid like kiss him if he hadn’t been rubbing his hands up and down her arms, obviously trying to warm her, although the trembles had nothing to do with the cool night air.

      A boulder—it confirmed her suspicions. No matter what weird reactions she was having to this reunion—to his closeness, his body—he was feeling nothing for the woman trembling in his arms.

      A rustle in the bushes broke them apart, and although it was only an inquisitive lyrebird, it was enough to remind them of where they were and the inherent danger of being caught there.

      But red flags of warning of another kind waved in Caroline’s head as they crept back to the beach. Her reaction to Keanu holding her had to be a rebound thing. Devastated by Steve’s rejection and reunited with her childhood friend, she’d really only wanted comfort.

      Right.

      So why was her body throbbing with what felt very like desire, not to mention an even deeper regret that the kiss hadn’t happened?

      Ridiculous! A relationship

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