Page 9 of One Forbidden Night In Paradise (Hot Winter Escapes)

He held out his hand and, caught off guard by this sudden formality, she took it. Like everything else about him, his handshake was confident, masculine, firm. Although his mouth looked as if it would soften to kiss a woman.

Her pulse twitched madly as he released his grip, and she flexed her fingers beneath the table to try and shake off the tingling imprint of his touch.

‘And you are...?’

‘Jemima,’ she said stiffly. ‘Jemima Friday.’

‘Really?’ In the pulsing light, his eyes glittered like emeralds. ‘Interesting name for a stranger on an island.’

Her mouth was suddenly dry, her throat too tight. ‘And you get one Robinson Crusoe joke, so use it wisely.’

He nodded slowly. ‘I’ll bear that in mind.’ Somebody shouted his name and he glanced over his shoulder but he didn’t leave. He just stood there looking at her, his green eyes searching her face as if he was making a decision about something.

‘Look, about before, I was out of order at the Cycle Shack. I shouldn’t have done what I did and I’m sorry.’ His eyes dropped to the empty glass in her hand. ‘Why don’t you let me buy you a drink, to apologise?’

‘You don’t need to do that.’

‘I’d like to. Please, what are you drinking?’

Her insides tightened as he stared down at her. She had told herself that he wasn’t that beautiful. That if she met him again she would be underwhelmed. But she had been wrong. Beneath the soft pulsing lights his face was shockingly, arrestingly beautiful.

And she wasn’t the only one to notice. Theoretically it was so crowded in the bar that it should be impossible to pick a face from the crowd but Chase was not just inconspicuous, he seemed to exert a gravitational force over the room, judging by how many women were glancing over at him with surreptitious and not so surreptitious glances.

‘It’s just lime and soda.’

She half expected him to protest, to insist that she have something more exciting from the list on the chalkboard, but he simply nodded. And it was then, watching his shoulders as he made his way to the bar, that she realised he was making the crowd part, he was responsible for the ebb and flow she had seen earlier.

Her heart thudded against her ribs. This was madness.It’s just a drink, she heard Holly’s voice inside her head.Just enjoy the vibe.

More than anything she wanted to watch him walk towards her again, but she knew that seeing him move towards her with that tantalising, casual grace would undo her completely. Instead she forced herself to stare across the room at the photos on the wall. They were different sizes and some were curling at the edges with age but the thing they had in common was that they all seemed to picture grinning men standing beside giant suspended fish.

‘Are you interested?’

Her pulse jolted forward as Chase appeared beside her. ‘In what?’ She stared at him in confusion.

‘Fishing.’ He was holding two glasses of lime and soda, and as he dropped down onto the chair opposite, he slid hers across the table. ‘You know, sport fishing. Wahoos, tuna, marlin. The whole Hemingway schtick. Not that he came to Bermuda. He was out in Bimini and the Keys, but sport fishing is a big part of the tourist industry here too.’

He’d read Hemingway. That was a surprise. But why? Fishermen read books too.

She shook her head. ‘No, sorry. Is that what you do on your boat? Take tourists out fishing?’

His mouth ticked up at one corner. ‘No, I fish for myself.’ His green eyes narrowed and she felt his gaze rake over her again.

‘So why have you come to Bermuda, then?’

It was a simple enough question but the answer was anything but. Then again, Chase didn’t need to know anything but the basics.

She shrugged. ‘I just needed a holiday. And I’ve wanted to visit Bermuda since we didThe Tempestat school.’

Really? She winced inwardly, hearing the twins’ groan of despair inside her head. Had she actually said that out loud? But it was true. Ever since that term when she studied the play she’d been fascinated by shipwrecks and Bermuda was the shipwreck capital of the world.

‘And now you are,’ he said softly.

Her heart thudded. The table suddenly felt too small. Or maybe they were sitting too close. She felt something stir inside her as his eyes met hers. He was a stranger and yet no one had ever looked at her so intently as if they were trying to reach inside her. It felt oddly intimate.

Too intimate.

And far too soon. There was still some of Nick’s stuff at the cottage.

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