Pirates' Lair Read online

  First she had to apply for a work permit, she told herself firmly, in order to evade the memories that threatened to swamp her and engulf her back in the past again. Next she had to find a job. She was a trained dental assistant, or had been before Michael had decided to pull up his roots and settle abroad. There were bound to be some dentists on the island, she told herself stoutly, and if she couldn't get a job in that profession, then she would take a receptionist job in one of the hotels on the island. She had heard there were nearly always vacancies in that capacity. Oh, there were plenty of job opportunities, she was sure. It only required getting the necessary permit for work.

  She knew that she would have to be seconded by someone resident on the island, and wished miserably that she hadn't been so adamant on refusing help from Marcus as she didn't really know anyone else to ask for the necessary endorsement. If it came to that, she didn't really know Marcus, she thought bleakly. Sapphire's cutting remark that she didn't know anything was proving absolutely correct.

  Her mind went back to the day she had first met Marcus and he had told her about Michael.

  Events after that were rather hazy. Thea could only remember that Marcus had given her no time to sit around and mope. First he had installed her in the flatlet that was part of the hotel complex that he owned, and only a stone's throw away from the main hotel area where he lived and worked. She had been taken out each evening for meals at small exclusive restaurants, and after a fortnight had passed, taken to parties that brought her in contact with many of his friends.

  By the time a month had slipped by Marcus became more attentive towards her. Then had come the evening that he had kissed her goodnight, a light feathery kiss on her lips that had left her with stars in her eyes. The same would happen each night after that, and Thea would find herself eagerly awaiting their partings and the light but very acceptable kiss he would give her.

  Looking back to that moment in time, she simply could not understand why she had not realised that Marcus was not in love with her. At no time had he said he was, but, moonstruck, Thea had never sought any such confirmation. She was too much in love with this handsome man who had singled her out for his attention.

  She closed her eyes and recalled the night that he had proposed to her, and her stunned but delighted reaction to his blunt, 'Marry me, Thea.' That was all that he had said, there had been no further embellishment, or declaration of his love for her.

  Thea sighed. What a crass idiot she was! She had been indulging in a daydream. The man she had

  fallen in love with was part of that dream, because he didn't really exist. Michael had once described Marcus as being the toughest boss he had ever encountered, adding that you had to be tough to survive in the jungle of commerce, but although he liked him well enough, he would not care to cross him. 'This is pirate country, my dear,' he had written, 'and I'm in the pirate's lair, so I'd better come up to scratch!'

  Thea had smiled when she had read this, but all the same she had felt a tiny tug of worry and wished that he had not accepted the commission.

  What Michael had said about Marcus made it very hard for Thea to reconcile the man she had come to know and the man Michael had described. He had certainly not sounded like the kind of man to take on the job of caring for his sister, even on the dictates of conscience.

  When she had managed to reduce the swelling around her eyelids, she walked back into the lounge, and as her eyes caught the ring on the table, she winced. Its bright gleam seemed to leer at her from a distance and she hastily picked it up and put it away in the drawer of the bureau. Marcus's last words taunted her as she shut the drawer firmly. `You may find a use for it yourself one day.'

  Thea stared at the closed drawer. Did he mean she might need to sell it? she wondered miserably. She would never do that, but she did wish that he had taken it. It was a very valuable ring and she would feel uncomfortable while it was in her possession. It was not the type of ring one could wear for special occasions either, for it was bound to cause comment from some innocent person and would

  bring about a chain of memories Thea would rather not recall.

  Her thoughts went back to Michael. He hadn't known Marcus at all, not really known him. There had been no piratical attitude towards her decision to back out of the engagement. He had not attempted to make her change her mind, and considering that they had only just celebrated their engagement it only went to show how considerate he was, and was surely a point in his favour, she thought sadly. Conscience or no, it must have been a blow to his ego.

  Thea blinked suddenly. What was she doing? Trying to turn Marcus into a saint? It was her ego that had been bruised, not his. It would be her his friends would feel sorry for, not Marcus. He had probably grinned all the way back to the car and congratulated himself on his release.

  Her soft mouth twisted. He had made the gesture, and surely that would be enough to settle his conscience. He must be thanking his lucky stars that he had got off so lightly, and she was glad she had not disappointed him.

  How stupid of her not to have accepted his offer of help, she thought. He owed her that much, surely? There was nothing else she wanted of him, and she would take good care to keep out of his way as soon as she had found herself somewhere to stay, although there was little likelihood of seeing him in the future, as she wouldn't be moving in his exalted circles.

  Thea felt much better after this. She had been a fool, but at least she could admit it, and if it hadn't been for Sapphire

  Her phone rang just as she was getting ready to go out in search of a local paper to scan the advertisement columns, looking for a job and for accommodation.

  `I happen to know of a hotel that requires a receptionist,' Marcus's voice came over the line. `That's if you're still of the same mind?' he queried softly.

  It took a second or so for Thea to get her breath, and when she did she answered calmly enough. 'I'm still of the same mind. Where is the hotel?' she asked, telling herself that if it happened to be Marcus's hotel she would refuse.

  His smooth reply soon dispersed this fear, as he told her which hotel it was, and its location.

  Within a few minutes of Marcus's call, Thea rang the hotel and got herself an interview for the following morning. During the telephone conversation she had had with the manager, she had been asked her present address, and asked if she minded living in the hotel, as the work included shifts of duty and it was preferable for the staff to live in.

  When Thea put the phone down a few minutes later she felt a sense of accomplishment. If she were successful in obtaining the job, it would automatically solve her next problem, that of finding somewhere to live.

  The fact that it was Marcus who had told her about the job only convinced her that she had made the right decision. He was probably as anxious to get her settled and right out of his vicinity as she was to oblige.

  CHAPTER TWO

  BAY VIEW was one of several hotels situated on a hilltop overlooking the harbour, with lovely views of Charlotte Amalie, and was about five miles out of town, up a steep winding road.

  Although large, it was nothing like the huge complex of Marcus's hotel, and as Thea had looked up at it as the taxi that was taking her to the hotel for the interview began the upward ascent towards the large white cemented building that sat perched on the top of the hillside, much like an eagle on its nest, she found herself hoping that she would be successful in her quest for a job.

  Half an hour later she was being shown the room she would be sharing with the girl who had taken her on a tour of the hotel.

  Pauline Foster was a cheerful, nice-looking blonde American girl whose uncle managed the hotel, and as Thea listened to her animated conversation, she congratulated herself on her good fortune in not only having secured the job she needed so badly, but sharing accommodation with such a pleasant personality as Pauline.

  `There's really nothing to it,' Pauline said earnestly, after Thea had confessed that she knew nothing whatsoever about the
job and how delighted she had been when told that the job was hers. 'All you have to remember is that our guests are on holiday and it's up to us to make their stay as

  pleasant as possible. There'll be days when you won't feel like smiling, but you'll have to force yourself!' She had grinned at Thea as she said this. 'I'll try to wangle it that you're on duty at the same time as I am, and I can show you the ropes.'

  Thea was surprised that there should be more than two receptionists. The hotel boasted forty rooms and everything seemed to be smooth-running, but she had forgotten the shifts, as Pauline reminded her.

  `There's always someone on duty,' she explained. `There's a day shift and an evening shift. You won't do the evening shift yet awhile, not until you've got the hang of things.'

  All Thea had to do now was to move in, which meant that she had to go back to the flatlet and collect her luggage, for it had been arranged that she should start work the following day.

  Back at the flat she packed her clothes into her suitcases and tried not to think of what might have been, but concentrated on her future, a future without Marcus's guiding hand.

  Only when everything was packed did she feel a pang of uncertainty about what to do about Marcus. She ought to ring him and tell him that she had been successful in getting the job, but the chances were that he wouldn't be in his office. He preferred to be on the move, and hated having to be tied down. She gave a light shrug. Well, she could try anyway, and if he was out she would have to drop a note into the hotel on her way out.

  To her surprise he was in the office, and she gave him the message, adding with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, for the sound of his deep voice

  had brought unwelcome reminiscences to her, 'I'm going to like the job, I'm sure.'

  `How about a celebration lunch, then?' Marcus asked.

  Thea swallowed. 'I don't think so, Marcus,' she replied slowly. 'I've things to do,' she added lamely. Seeing him again would not help her to come to terms with her new future.

  `What things?' Marcus demanded autocratically.

  For a moment she was stumped for an answer, then she rallied with, 'There are things I must get. I'm starting work tomorrow, remember.'

  `So we'll go on a shopping tour,' Marcus said quietly. 'I'll pick you up in fifteen minutes.'

  `No, you won't!' Thea said hastily, hating the way he had assumed the role of guardian again, as if she were a little girl he must provide for. 'I said I was on my own now and I meant it. Try to understand, please. I'm very grateful for all you've done for me, and I'll never forget you,' she ended on a cracked note.

  `Sounds like an obituary,' Marcus said dryly.

  `Oh, I didn't mean it like that,' Thea cried. 'You know I didn't. Don't make things difficult for me, please!'

  There was a long silence at Marcus's end after this, and Thea, feeling the tension and unable to bear it a moment longer, said timidly, 'Marcus?'

  `Very well,' he replied slowly. 'If that's really what you want.'

  `It's what I want,' she told him firmly, feeling her nails biting into the soft flesh of her palm.

  `Good luck with the job,' Marcus said softly, before he put the receiver down. 'You know

  where to find me.'

  Thea replaced her receiver with a feeling of finality bordering on grief for the loss of a loved one. Marcus's comment on an obituary had been very near the truth, as far as she was concerned anyway. With Marcus out of her life, her dreams would die. She straightened up slowly and walked to her cases—the taxi should be there any moment—and picked them up and took them to the door of the flatlet. Somehow she would manage to make a new life for herself; she had to.

  The next few days were busy ones for Thea, and gave her no time to mope on what might have been. At the end of a week she was sufficiently able to cope with an influx of guests without having Pauline at her side to watch over her, and to answer the various questions the guests might ask, either about accommodation or places of interest to visit on the island.

  The work was entirely to her liking. Pauline's presence helped her over her first few hazardous days, and from then on she started to enjoy her work, that wag vastly different from her last employment where nervous patients had had to be soothingly led to the dental chair, and she was in no hurry to take up her previous occupation.

  The expectancy and the gaiety of the holidaymakers was infectious, and it was only during her off-duty periods that she fell into a lethargic despondency. It was Pauline who helped her through that first week, but the weekend was an exceptionally lonely one for Thea, as Pauline's steady boy-friend was on leave from the luxury cruise ship

  that had just docked in the harbour and where he worked as a steward.

  If Thea had had her way she would have much preferred to work that weekend, for the thought of Marcus intruded continually into her solitude, and the thought that she only had to pick up the telephone and request his company, a request that she knew he would not refuse, made things worse for her.

  The following Monday Marcus made a visit to the hotel. Thea had been in the act of handing a guest his keys when her eye had caught his familiar figure entering the lobby, and she had turned away hastily to look at something on the keyboard in order to give herself time to compose herself before she faced him.

  It had been hard enough the last few days trying to forget him. The work had helped, of course, but it was not a remedy she could use in the long evenings when Pauline had been out on a date, during which time she had spent wondering which exotic woman Marcus was entertaining, and invariably a vision of Sapphire would appear before her.

  When she turned back to the desk he was standing in front of her, his green eyes meeting her grey ones. 'Well, how goes it?' he enquired solicitously.

  Thea's gaze remained steady in spite of the pounding of her heart at the close proximity of the man she so desperately loved even though he was not for her. 'Fine,' she replied noncommittally. 'It took a day or so, but I think I've got the hang of it now,' she added, wishing someone would come for their keys or ask her a question, although the chances were she wouldn't be able to answer it, but it

  would give her a breathing space from those watchful eyes of his.

  Marcus seemed to sense her discomfiture and gave her a smile that showed his strong white teeth. `I was only passing, but I thought I'd look in to see how you were faring. You know where I am if you want anything,' he told her, and with another long searching look at her, he left.

  `What did he want?' Pauline's voice broke through Thea's fixed concentration on the lobby door through which Marcus had just passed and she turned to look at Pauline.

  `Marcus?' she asked.

  Pauline blinked and gave her an odd look. 'Did you call him Marcus?' she demanded, 'or did I imagine it?'

  Thea pulled herself away from her miserable musings. She had hoped that Marcus would ask her out for an evening, or suggest lunch or something. She hadn't seen him for a week now, and he could have suggested something, even though she would have to refuse, she thought contrarily. 'It's his name,' she replied quietly. 'He's Marcus Conan. He owns the Pirates' Cove hotel complex.'

  Pauline gaped at her. 'Well, I know that, don't I?' she replied indignantly. 'He's on the board of directors of this place too. What I want to know is how you know him.'

  It was Thea's turn to stare at Pauline. Marcus on the board of directors? So that was why she had got the job!' It was all so simple when you knew the answers, she thought bitterly. 'Why shouldn't I know him?' she asked Pauline with raised brows, not willing to disclose just how well

  she did know Marcus.

  Pauline continued to look at her. 'He doesn't exactly move in our circles, that's why,' she replied slowly. 'I don't know how you came across him, but I'd advise you to watch your step and don't go getting mooney over him or you'll get badly hurt. He's a gorgeous brute, I'll admit, but he's hard and wouldn't waste time on the likes of us.' Her eyes narrowed. 'It's rumoured that he's just got engaged to an
English girl and it's the sensation of the century. He's not exactly the hearts and flowers type, more the cut-and-dried, take-it-or-leave-it brigade. Whoever she is, she must be quite something to have landed him.'

  A thought then struck her and she looked back at Thea. 'You're English, aren't you? You wouldn't by any chance know her, would you? She's a newcomer to the island, like you,' she added hopefully.

  Thea was in a quandary. If she told Pauline the truth she would ask endless questions, and she wanted to forget that part of her life. She hadn't really needed any confirmation of Sapphire's bald disclosures on why Marcus had proposed to her, but she was getting it all the same. It could surely do no harm to tell a white lie, and it would serve to explain Marcus's interest in her. 'As a matter of fact, I do,' she replied quietly.

  Pauline's brown eyes widened a fraction as she exclaimed, 'Do you really! Is she pretty? Well, of course she'd have to be,' she half muttered to herself, 'probably beautiful,' she added wistfully.

  Thea now wished that she had said that she didn't know the girl, but it was too late now and Marcus's visit had had to be explained as might other visits in

  the future. 'Well,' she edged, 'I wouldn't say she was all that pretty, Passable, perhaps.'

  `Passable!' Pauline almost shrieked. 'You're not being catty, are you?' she queried suspiciously.

  Thea swallowed. She badly wanted to smile, but the smile would have been a bitter one. 'I only met her on the plane coming over,' she explained carefully. 'I don't really know her, and you know what it's like on those long flights, it's so tiring,' she added lamely.

  To her relief Pauline accepted this explanation, and an influx of guests who had just arrived on the morning flight from Miami excluded any further conversation.

  For the rest of that week Thea and Pauline were on the first day shift from eight until two, and had the afternoons off. At first Pauline had suggested that she take Thea on a tour of the island, and this had been rather tricky for Thea, since Marcus had made a point of acquainting her with her new home during her first fortnight on the island, and as the island was only thirteen miles long and approximately three miles in width, it could be safely said that she had visited all the tourist haunts.