Temptation Island (24 page)

Her brows lifted in surprise when she read about him getting caught when he tried to pick the pocket of a tourist who turned out to be a detective from Miami.  Luckily his step-father had interceded on his behalf and Marek had never been arrested.

But, he had been deported.  Stanley had married Maria a few months prior to that incident and still had his position working for UNC Wilmington.  He pulled some strings, used his tenior and employee status to get Marek accepted.  Steven and Maria had felt it was best to get him away from his associations.

Apparently it had worked because he’d gone on to transfer to Bowdoin College and graduate top of his class.  As Marek put it in his little side note “I got a bee up my ass and figured out what to do with it.”

Carm’s mouth dropped open when she discovered he’d spent a few years in New York City working as a stock trader.  He made a bundle, burned out, and came back to the island with a boatload of cash and his self-worth firmly intact.  Or as he’d put it “I left a troubled child and came back a man of the world,
cheri
.”

From a troubled youth to a very well educated, very successful businessman.  Carm could hardly believe what she read.  But it made sense.  It explained the veneer of polish and the rugged street attitude that lay just beneath it.

It explained almost everything.  Even how he’d learned to be ruthless and methodical in business.  It all tied together, finally.  And gave her a whole new level of respect for him. 

Carm sat down the notebook and stood up.  She ran her hands through her hair only to find it completely dry.  Had she been sitting there that long?

Her stomach growled telling her she’d missed breakfast.  Her mind grasped at all the information that Marek had given her and stuck on one thing.  A man didn’t divulge that kind of information to just anyone, did he?  Not just to get a woman into bed.  No, that was too much work and it gave away way too much information.

So if it wasn’t that, wasn’t about getting down her pants, then what was it? 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Carm looked at the clock on the dashboard as she made her way around the island to Road Town.  It had been pretty scary there for a bit while she’d learned how to drive a stick-shift on the wrong side of the road.  To keep herself from panicking she’d flipped on the radio and cranked up the volume. Marek had a cd in and Carm had laughed when she heard AC/DC screaming through the speakers.

She wouldn’t have taken him for a hard rock man, but sang along with “Hells Bells” as she wobbled her way around the turns and rode the clutch like it was glued to the bottom of her foot.  If she didn’t burn the thing out by the time she hit the Green Island Inn she’d be amazed.  What happened to good old automatic transmitions anyway?  Or was it a man thing?  Driving a stick-shift in the car and owning a stick and driving it in the sack and all that hoopla.  Maybe it was some sort of guy parallel she wasn’t aware of.

Carm sang her way through “Back In Black” as she rounded the western tip of Tortola, the sun bouncing brilliantly off the turquoise ocean.  A few white yachts bobbed at the small harbor and Carm watched a local fishmerman climb out of his small boat with the day’s catch.

“You Shook Me All Night Long” came on just as she entered the outskirts of town.  Grooving along with Brian Johnson’s eerie voice, Carm tapped her thumbs on the steering wheel and bobbed her head along.  Passing a pair of young boys riding their bikes, Carm waved and grinned.  She laughed out loud when one of the boys blew her a kiss in return.  Her glasses slipped down her nose and she pushed them back into place.  Turning her attention back to the road Carm flipped her messy ponytail back over her shoulder and slowed down.

It was a gorgeous day on the island.  Mid-eighties and balmy with a slight cooling breeze wafting in off the ocean.  Maybe it was her giddy heart and newfound love that made everything seem to sparkle so fantastically, but she doubted it. The light of the island was unmistakable.

There was just something about the way the sun glinted across the water and hit the deep green foliage.  There was magic in the way the palms waved in the gentle breeze as they towered over the ground.  There was something special in the way the lush foliage grew thick and tangled.

The vibrant flowers pulsed with life and vitality.  Even the birds chirping in the trees and flying overhead had feathers of brilliant colors.  And the dazzling blue of the sky with white fluffy clouds made the perfect frame for the small paradise she currently resided on. 

No wonder Marek had come back to this place.  It was such a beautiful island, from the dryer east side with the many varieties of cactus and tall guinea grass to the much wetter west side with the lusher greenery and mango and fruit trees.

Carm knew she could be happy living on Tortola.  It called to her and she wanted to make it home.  She just had to make Marek agree. 

That’s one of the reasons Carm was on her way into town.  She wanted to check on the status of Big Bubba and see if she could catch Maria at the inn.  She still had some questions about the night she and Marek had met and wanted to ask Maria about the employees that worked there.  Find out if there was anyone who’d been working that they’d missed talking to.

It still didn’t sit well with Carm that her first time had been under such seedy circumstances.  Granted it eased most of the humiliation and inner turmoil knowing that she was in love with the man she’d given it to.  But still, she’d much have preferred a different sequence of events and she sure as hell would have liked to remember her first time.

Nothing like a girl waiting for that special moment only to have it pass by in a drunken blur.
  Carm shook her head at her musings and pulled into the brick driveway to the inn.  Things could have turned out a whole lot worse than they had.  She could have been drugged and married off to Big Bubba himself.

She shuddered at that thought and thanked her lucky stars that she’d wound up with Marek.  Somehow, someway, she’d messed up bigtime and managed to find the man of her dreams
. 
Now all she had to figure out a way to convince him that she was the woman of his dreams.  Marek had opened up to her and let her in.  He had to be pretty close to the edge of love himself.  Didn’t he?

Well, if he wasn’t she was going to help him there.  And push him over the cliff if she had to.

She refused to get all stupid and silly now simply because she was in love for the first time in her life.  No, she was going to keep her head and her wits about her.  Stay strong and focused until she’d achieved her goal.  Then when he was as much in love with her as she was in love with him she’d let herself act stupid. 

It still amazed her how quickly her feelings for Marek had grown.  How they’d changed from utter loathing to love in such a short time.  But then again, she’d always figured that when she found her man it would happen fast.  Quick as the snap of her fingers.  And it had. 

Part of her wanted to dance around and squeal like a boy-crazy girl meeting her favorite movie star, but she knew had to keep it under wrap.  For now.  It wasn’t easy though, especially when she couldn’t stop smiling and her heart wouldn’t stop singing.  But, there were still things to be done.

Carm parked the jeep in the small parking lot next to a Vespa scooter and climbed out.  Her flip flops crunched on the gravel as she made her way around the side of the house to the front brick walkway.  She let her hand brush across the tip of a yellow hisbiscus as she passed. 

No one was outside on the wide front porch, the dual rocking chairs empty.  Carm stepped inside and took off her glasses.  Her eyes scanned the foyer a waiting room, searching for Maria, but came up empty.  The room was empty but for a young black woman sitting behind the antique desk used for check-in.

As Carm approached the young woman she looked up from her paperback novel and grinned.  “Well, hello der, Mrs. Stokes.  Good ta see you feeling much betta.”

Carm stopped short and studied the young woman.  She must have been around eighteen years old and had a plump, solid figure and a pretty round face.  Large gold hoop earrings hung from her ears almost to her shoulders.  A bright red scarf was wrapped around her head covering her hair and fell down her back.  A thin blouse in shades of red, orange and yellow complemented her mocha coloring.  And her nails were painted the same scarlet red as her scarf.

She didn’t look in the least bit familiar.  “Excuse me, but do I know you?”  Carm inquired as she walked over to the desk.  She sat in a highbacked wood chair across from her as a frown darkened the young woman’s face.

“You don’ remember me Mrs. Stokes?  I helped Marek get you upstairs about a week ago.”

Hot damn, a witness to that night
.  Carm placed her elbows on the desk and leaned toward the young woman.  Glancing at the nametag over her left breast Carm smiled and replied, “Forgive me, Shaunda.  I was a bit out of it that night.”  She ignored the girl’s snort of amusement over her choice of words and continued, “Would you mind refreshing my memory?”

Shaunda set down her novel and Carm noticed absently that it was a romance.  It was one she had packed to read by the beach but had been torn to shreds when her room had been raided.  A tragic thing, really.  Destroying books was practically a sacralidge.

Her eyes met Shaunda’s over the desk.  “You wouldn’t really remember much dat night I suppose as you was passed out.  Marek had ta carry you up da stairs ta your room.  I happened ta be on da second floor and saw him with you.  He looked pretty boozed up too, I tell ya.  You two musta had some fun dat night.”

Carm mumbled, “If only I could remember how much.”

When confusion clouded Shaunda’s eyes, Carm rushed on before she could question her, “Were you the one that put the newlywed basket in our room?”

Shaunda nodded her scarved head and tapped her killer red nails on the glossy desk surface.  “Dat was me.  When he was weaving down da hall I saw him struggling ta hold on ta a piece of paper and hold you so I took it from him.  I noticed it was a marriage certicate, so after I opened your door for him I rushed downstairs ta get one.  We keep dem in da back all made up, just in case.”

Carm nodded, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.  It was the most she’d learned about that night so far.  Please, please, please let Shaunda know what else happened.

Carm placed her hands in her lap and crossed her fingers.  Using her yoga breathing to calm her racing pulse, she managed an easy smile and said, “It was wonderful, thank you.  I don’t recall placing it on the dresser, however.  Did Marek do that?”

Shaunda laughed, her young voice full of humor, and shook her head.  “By da time I came back with da basket you to was passed out colder den a dead fish on da bed.”

Carm leaned forward, her brow wrinkled and whispered, “Were we naked?”

Shaunda laughed again, her deep brown eyes twinkling merrily.  “I would bet money on it.  Clothes was all over da room.  Yours and his.  But you both was covered by da bedsheets all da way up to da chin, so I’m not positive.  Boy, you and Marek had one wild night, huh?”

Carm tried to swallow around the not in her throat.  Her heart almost hammered right on out of her chest.  She had one final question to answer and her gut clenched at the thought.  Maybe things hadn’t happened they way they both thought they had.  Please God, let it not have happened like that.

Leaning far over the dark stained desk, Carm lifted a hand and crooked a finger at Shaunda to come closer.  When they were a few inches apart, she glanced around to make sure no one could hear her then asked in a small whisper, “Do you think, I mean in your opinion, could Marek and I have done. . .you know. .
it
. . by the time you made it back?”

The young woman’s eyes grew large and round with understanding and she bit her plump bottom lip to keep from laughing.  Her round shoulders shook inside her thin blouse as she tried to contain her amusement.  Her eyes glimmered with joy.

As she waited for Shaunda to answer Carm’s stomach flipflopped like a fish out of water.  So much rode on the answer.  Mainly her dignity and peace of mind.

Shaunda cleared her throat and Carm whipped her eyes back to her and waited.  Finally the answer came in an amused chuckle.  “You was passed out cold and Marek was darned close too.  He couldn’t even manage to open da door himself.”  Shaunda grinned and shook her head.  “I was only gone a minute or two.  No, I don’ see how he could have managed to get you both undressed and do da deed dat fast under dat condition.  Besides, if da rumors are true, den Marek is anyting but a minute man, you know?”

Carm’s stomach bottomed out and hit the floor.  She thought she might faint from the force of her relief.  They didn’t do it that night.  She couldn’t believe it.

Looking at Shaunda, Carm gripped her dark hand with hers and demanded, “Are you certain about this, Shaunda?  You came back in a minute or two and we were passed out?  No time for hanky panky?”

When Shaunda nodded her head Carm let out a sigh of relief that almost toppled her out of her chair.  Then Shaunda quipped, “If you don’ want Marek anymore, you go right on an divorce him.  Der is a lot of woman waiting for a chance at dat man.  Cuz we all heard what a good time he is in bed.  Rumor is dat man can make a woman walk funny for days, if ya get my meaning.”