Unexpected Places (8 page)

‘I’m fine.’

‘I mean, has the burning stopped?’

He could see this woman had a fine sense of torture.

‘Not yet, Ariana. That’s why I’m sitting here with my dick shoved in this sour cream. Just in case you think I’m right into really kinky stuff and that this is what I do for fun.’

‘I’m sorry.’

Was that a tremor in her voice? Luke glanced at her sharply, but she’d turned her head.

‘Are you laughing, Ariana?’ he asked, suspiciously.

‘Mmm mmmm.’ She shook her head and her long, blonde ponytail swished at him. Grabbing that convenient, long length of silk, he twisted it in his hand and hauled on it, forcing Ariana down onto her back, where he could see her face. Her lips were pressed together and her eyes were watering.

‘It is not funny.’ Glaring at her, daring her to laugh, he tried taking away the cream. Instant burn. ‘Shit.’ He pushed himself back into the sludge.

Ariana shook her head. ‘No, no it’s not funny.’ Then she giggled until her eyes ran with tears. ‘I’m sorry,’ she gasped, turning over to hide her face. ‘I know it must hurt, and I am sympathetic, but I can’t help it.’ Her shoulders shook.

His dick was okay really, while it rested in the cream. His lips twitched as he watched her. Her laughter was infectious, and to a girl it might seem funny. A guy would have been a lot more sympathetic. But he didn’t want a hairy guy in bed with him. Lovely, smooth curvy little Ariana was fine, giggling or not.

He smacked her hard on her rounded backside.

‘Ow!’ She turned, and sat up to face him. ‘That hurt.’

‘It was supposed to. That’s another side of kink we can explore later. Do you enjoy being spanked, Moonbeam?’

Her eyes rounded in horror. ‘No. And it’s Ariana.’

He laughed. ‘Just kidding about the spanking.’ But, as she laughed shakily, he added, ‘For now.’

She stared at him uncertainly. Laughing, he shook his head. ‘You’re in no danger right now, Moonbeam. Percy here is still very upset. You can have that shower now, and make sure you wash off all that chilli oil before you come anywhere near him again, okay?’

Her face cleared and she giggled again as she stood. ‘Could I borrow a spare T-shirt and shorts from you?’

He pointed to a set of drawers beside the bed. ‘Help yourself. I don’t think I can help you with the shorts though.’ His eyes narrowed on her tiny backside. ‘Nope. Anything I own would fall down. You’ll have to go commando.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Goodness, even with a burnt penis, you’re incorrigible.’ She bent and pulled out the top drawer. Where he had his lifetime supply of condoms. Hurriedly, she closed it, and pulled out the next drawer where his shirts were.

‘Hey, what can I say? I’m a guy. And the way you say ‘penis’ is cute.’

She yanked out a shirt. ‘You only have black T-shirts in here.’

‘So I’m not into variety with my treasure-finding clothes.’ He admired her curvy back view as she walked toward the shower.

Penis? Incorrigible?

As Luke suggested, Ariana had a long shower, and washed every trace of chilli away. She washed her panties while she was at it. Which meant, for this night at least, commando it was. When she emerged into the cabin, dressed in Luke’s T-shirt – which came down to her knees – she tensed. But Luke wasn’t there. She lay down on his bed, like the sacrificial virgin she was, and waited. And waited.

Next morning, she was alone. No memories of Luke during the night. No stroking, no groping. Rumpled sheets showed he’d slept with her. So why did she feel insulted?

What is wrong with you, Ariana? Don’t you have any pride?

Ariana shrugged sulkily.

Stepping into her now dry panties, and throwing her torn shorts into a bin, she walked past what Luke had assured her was called the galley. It looked like a kitchen to her; a very well-appointed kitchen. She noticed Luke had done the washing up. She raised her eyebrows, impressed.

After climbing the steps, she arrived at the top deck and blinked at the sunlight and the view of the river from where Luke had parked the boat. She turned to the back of the boat and searched the horizon. The horrible little village had disappeared. The undulating, green countryside surrounding her seemed unpopulated. The huge, meandering Whylong River flowed between its gently sloping banks. She could see why Luke had said the navigating bit was tricky. Sandbanks broke the surface in every direction.

But she saw what Luke had been aiming for before he’d put down the anchor. It was a much narrower river that flowed into the Whylong. And there were no sandbanks. Deep-looking water snaked through high cliffs into the distance. She heard a wolf whistle and glanced around. Luke was sitting at the pointiest end of the boat, his feet dangling over the side. Ariana made her way around to him and smiled as she sat down.

‘Hi,’ he said, smiling in return. ‘The T-shirt looks a lot better on you than it does on me.’

Well, maybe. But Luke, with his identical black T-shirt clinging to every lovely muscle, looked pretty darn good to her. ‘You’re feeling better then?’ She nodded down in the direction of his pants and tried to appear concerned and failed. Hard to seem worried when you’re biting your lips to stop smiling. ‘No sour cream in sight,’ she explained.

‘Ah, she’s back.’

‘Who?’

‘The cheeky little lady who tried to seduce me up in my penthouse hotel room in Sydney. The same one who hit me over the head with a champagne bottle.’

‘But you
told
me —’

He laughed and skimmed her bottom lip with his thumb. ‘Let’s not go there again. And to answer your question, Percy is fine, but still affronted. He doesn’t want to make any reappearances for a few hours yet.’

‘So that’s why —’ She stopped herself in time. No way was she going to hint she’d been thinking about him. He was arrogant enough.

He grinned. ‘So that’s why I left you unmolested last night.’

Ariana sighed.

‘Plus you looked exhausted,’ he added. ‘But I’m pleased to say you seem very bright-eyed this morning.’

Feeling herself flush, she ignored his broad hint. ‘Percy? Is that really your pet name for your…your penis?’

‘Yep, Percy the Penis, as in ‘Point Percy at the Porcelain’.’ He grinned lazily down at her. ‘Though he has other names. Willy, Old Boy, Handy Travelling Companion…’

She burst out laughing. ‘Wow, so many names for such a little thing.’

‘Little!’ he said in mock affront. ‘I’ll show you ‘little’ when he’s feeling better. That’s when I’ll call him my Throbbing Python of Love…’

Clinging onto the stainless steel railing, she giggled helplessly.

He laughed too. Then, raising an enquiring eyebrow, he reached down to the hem of her shirt and lifted it. Shaking his head, he sighed. ‘No commando?’

She tried to frown. ‘No, Mr Donahue. Sorry. Do you think you can be serious for a minute?’

‘Sorry, Moonbeam. Are you going to call me “Mr Donahue” when we’re having sex?’ he asked with apparent genuine interest.

‘Ariana,’ she snapped.

He grinned.

She fell in every time. ‘Will you stop teasing me? I wanted to know why you’re sitting up at the pointy end like this, and parked here. Aren’t you in a hurry to find the emeralds?’

Luke closed his eyes. ‘Firstly, my little sailor girl, this pointy bit is called the bow, and…’ he nodded behind him, ‘…the blunt end is called the stern.’

‘Sorry.’ She shrugged. ‘I’ve never been on a boat before.’

‘I can tell. Because we’re moored or anchored, not parked. And secondly, no, I’m not in a mad rush. The emeralds have been hidden for two centuries. A few hours aren’t going to make any difference. It’s one of the advantages of being the boss. You do what you want, when you want.’

Ariana sighed with envy, thinking of the long, boring hours she’d put in during holidays, getting experience in various accountants’ offices.

‘Also, while I don’t actually have the emeralds in my hands, I can more or less trust you.’

Well, he had that right.

He stood with lithe grace, reached down and grasped her wrist. ‘Come on, little Ariana, come with me to the bridge.’ His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. ‘That’s where I drive.’

‘Thank you, Luke, I did know that,’ she said. Actually, she didn’t. She probably would have called it the cockpit, or something stupid. She followed him into the room.

‘This,’ said Luke, pressing a large button, while holding onto the steering wheel with one hand, ‘tells the electronic winch to raise the anchor.’ There was a whirring, clanking noise, and then Luke turned a key, pressed another button, and the motor roared into life. He inspected the narrow entrance of the river he had to turn into.

Ariana contemplated all the instruments in front of them. ‘How do you know all about this stuff?’

He shrugged. ‘I got my captain’s ticket a few years back.’ He pushed the handle and the boat moved forward at a leisurely pace, away from the shallow Whylong River, up into its far deeper, narrower tributary. First scanning the computer screen in front of him, he studied the map stretched out beside it. It was
the
map, the one he’d re-stolen from her. Then he concentrated his gaze on the water ahead. ‘My license came in handy when I went diving for “pieces of eight” in the Caribbean.’

‘That sounds like so much fun,’ Ariana said enviously. She bent her head and studied the map. There was a thin blue wriggly line branching away from the main river. ‘So I can see that left turn we’ve taken, but what’s that drawing of an elephant’s tusk about?’ She tapped her finger on the odd drawing about half way along the new river.

Luke rolled his eyes. ‘Left turn, eh?’ He laughed, peering through the windscreen out at the sparkling water. ‘This tributary is the Dandenar. You were obviously too busy stealing my plane tickets to have time to do any research.’ He tapped the map as well. ‘You see that mountain drawn there? When we approach that, we start watching out for some kind of formation that vaguely resembles an elephant’s tusks.’

Ariana squirmed at his reference to her stealing his plane tickets. The green countryside slid past.

‘Don’t get me wrong, Moonbeam. I’m enjoying my time here with you. I’ll enjoy it even more once Percy is completely recovered. But I’m very interested to know who cancelled my plane flights. Someone had to hack into my computer to do that.’

‘I told you,’ she began, studying the map intently. ‘Mr Pu—’

‘Yeah,’ Luke interrupted. ‘Changpu keeps you separate. You told me.’

As she raised her eyes to his, she winced. Mr Grim had returned.

‘The trouble is, Moonbeam, you’re a bad liar. Did anyone ever tell you that?’

Nearly everyone at the commune and the convent at some time or another.

Silence.

Luke took a step closer to her, practising his accomplished intimidation skills. ‘When I find the bastard who Changpu planted in my office — and I’m guessing it’s a he?’

Ariana shrugged.

Luke ground his teeth. ‘If it’s a
he
, I’ll wring his neck and send the body gift wrapped, back to Changpu.’ His lips pressed together, and if he’d been in a cartoon, steam would have been coming out of his ears. She didn’t think this was the moment to ask the academic question of what he’d do if the perpetrator were a woman. But it gave her some comfort to know Luke seemed to have a committed policy of no violence toward women.

Then he narrowed his gaze on her, his eyes mocking. ‘Go and make me breakfast, Ari.’

She glowered up at him. ‘
Please
.’

‘
Please
make me my fucking breakfast, Ariana,’ he said, smiling, his eyes hard.

‘I will gladly make you breakfast, Mr Donahue,’ she said frigidly, as she exited with dignity, ‘but I would appreciate it if you’d
stop swearing
.’

She ignored his rude laugh.

* * *

Ariana was a fantastic cook, Luke reflected, as he savoured his third coconut pancake, sweetened with honey. They were soft and doughy at their base, and thin and crisp around the edges, and tasted fantastic. ‘How do you know how to cook all this stuff?’ he asked, breaking the silence.

Ariana shrugged. She’d brought his breakfast up to the bridge and had been doing a good impression of an iceberg. ‘When I was growing up, there were lots of people from different countries who used to stay with us for a while. Plus, I’ve worked in heaps of restaurants.’

Suddenly impatient with her crap, Luke exploded. ‘Why am I the bad guy here? You’ve drugged me, knocked me unconscious, stolen my map and plane tickets and the boat I’d hired. You’re employed by a guy who wants to kill me. And you know perfectly well who the plant is at my office. Are you seriously pissed off, just because of my swearing?’

She nodded, scowling at him.

He glared right back at her. ‘We do have a bargain, if you recall. You know—I get you off the island, so I have you any time I want. You remember that agreement, Ariana?’

Ariana flushed, lowered her head, and nodded.

He grasped her chin, and forced her to meet his eyes. He hated the wary expression he saw there. Sighing, he released her chin. ‘Okay, you drive a hard bargain. I’m not going back on the sex agreement. After your cruel assault on Percy, fuck—I mean,
hell
, do you owe me. But I’ll
try
not to swear, if it’ll make you happier. Okay?’

As he’d hoped, Ariana relaxed, smiling, her eyes crinkling at the corners and sparkling with sudden laughter. ‘Thank you. I will appreciate your efforts. Why
do
you swear so much, Luke?’

He stared out at the narrowing river, wondering why pleasing Ariana should matter to him, and furious with himself for caring.

As the land grew more mountainous with every passing minute, grey granite cliffs formed on both banks, towering over them. Up ahead, the mountain that was marked on the old, animal skin map, loomed. He mulled over the question she’d asked. Then snorted, for the answer was embarrassing. ‘I’m rebelling against my parents.’

She stared at him incredulously.

‘Yep, twenty-nine years old, and I’m still acting like a teenager.’ He paused, smiling as memories of his Mum and Dad flitted through his brain. ‘My parents were wonderful people. Dad still is. Mum died a few years ago. They were both kind. And ambitious. I went to the best schools. Captain of everything in sight. Guaranteed CEO when Dad retired, which he did straight after his heart attack.’