Stormy Vows/Tempest at Sea (36 page)

“It's you who's raising a fuss over nothing,” she said indignantly, trying futilely to pry those iron hands from her shoulders. “All I was trying to do was perform my duties as efficiently as I was able, and all you can do is yell at me and order me around. I didn't want to be there, you know!”

“It wasn't enough for you to come prancing into the lounge
wriggling that cute little bottom in front of Kahlid, but you had to coo sweet nothings in Arabic to him,” Jake said furiously. “Have you no sense at all?”

“Prance? Wriggle?” she squeaked, outraged. “I do not wriggle, and I was merely being courteous to the man. What was I supposed to do, ignore it when I spilled the wine?”

“You were supposed to serve lunch, keep your mouth shut, and stay the hell out of Kahlid's way. Now look what you've done, with all that melting tenderness and cooing.”

Cooing? It was the second time he had used that nauseating word. “I do not coo,” she said between her teeth. “I was merely being sympathetic to the poor man. He was obviously homesick and a little lonely. What harm did it do to show a little concern and kindness? I only uttered a few words to your friend.”

“They were evidently the wrong words,” Dominic snapped. “Ahmet was most persistent about having you assigned to him. What would you have done if I'd let him have you?”

“It wouldn't have been so bad for a few days,” she said defiantly. “The poor man just wanted to have someone to talk to.”

He shook her again, his face dark with exasperation. “Don't you realize that you'd have been in Ahmet's bed tonight if I hadn't refused to hand you over to him?”

Her golden eyes were astonished, and her mouth dropped open. “That's crazy,” Jane said faintly, when she could speak. “He couldn't have meant that when he asked for me. He wouldn't have assumed that you could snap your fingers and order me into someone's bed just because I happen to work for you. This is the twentieth century!”

“Not in Kahlid's country,” Jake replied grimly. “It's a different culture and a different century. Oh, he's got a surface sophistication, thanks to his Western education, but the basic beliefs are still very much alive in him. Did you know that he had two wives, last time I counted?”

That cozy teddy bear of a man? She had known from her
stay in Kuwait that such arrangements existed in the East, but it appeared slightly incongruous in connection with Kahlid.

Dominic continued relentlessly. “It might interest you to know that he also keeps three or four pretty female servants at his home in Algiers in case his male guests want a woman.”

“Is that what he meant when he said he provided you…” Jane's voice faltered.

“Why not?” he said, his voice hard. “As I said, it's a different culture. The women are more than willing, and they're free to leave Ahmet's house at any time.” His dark eyes flickered. “I doubt if you would have proven so compliant.”

Jane shook her head dazedly. “I still don't believe it,” she protested. “I don't even have the looks Arabs admire. I'm much too thin.”

“Kahlid has developed a variety of sexual appetites,” Jake said meaningfully. “Believe me, you'd appeal to quite a few of them.”

Her face was puzzled. “I don't understand.”

“Forget it!” he snapped impatiently. “Just accept the fact that we have a problem, thanks to your blasted naïveté.”

“But there's no problem now,” she protested. “He accepted it very well when you convinced him you really meant your refusal.”

“Heaven help me!” Jake swore. “He accepted it because I told him you were my personal servant. In other words, I've reserved you exclusively for my own bed.”

Jane's face was now as scarlet as her hair. “Surely that wasn't necessary.” She choked, her eyes not meeting his. “I could have just told him no. He seemed an understanding man when I spoke to him in the lounge.”

“Kahlid is charming as long as he gets his own way, but in case you haven't noticed, he doesn't know how to accept a refusal. He just keeps plowing ahead like a bulldozer. Ahmet informs me he'll be with us at least until we reach Cozumel, and I
assure you he'd be after you a large portion of that time. I have no desire to set a guard outside your door. Ahmet would consider it an insult.”

“And I suppose that would be simply terrible,” Jane said ironically. “We mustn't offend the man just because he may have the intention of raping me.”

He shot her a quelling look. “As I've already explained to you, he wouldn't look at it the same way another man would. He would think your refusal was merely to tease him.” He frowned. “I have no intention of antagonizing Kahlid if I can help it. He has enormous influence, and he was very useful to me last year when I was filming in Tunis.”

“Charming!” Jane replied caustically, “Perhaps you should hand me over to him. After all, one must maintain one's contacts.”

“Be quiet,” Jake gritted, his black eyes flashing. “You've caused enough of a problem without adding your damn insolence to it.” His lips thinned as he said ruthlessly, “I warned you I like things my own way, and that's exactly how I'm going to have it. I'm going to keep Kahlid resigned to the situation and moderately content. I'm going to keep my Middle East contact”—his eyes flickered cynically—“and if we're extremely lucky, I may keep you out of Kahlid's bed until he leaves the ship at Cozumel.”

“And how do you intend to accomplish all this?” Jane challenged. “Move me into your bed instead?”

“That won't be necessary,” Jake retorted coolly. “Ahmet won't expect you to sleep with me permanently or move into my cabin. That privilege is reserved for a mistress. A woman of your status would receive only an occasional invitation and a moderate amount of personal attention. Most of the time he would expect you to be treated exactly like any other servant.”

“Then it will be quite easy to deceive him,” Jane said, relieved. “We need only continue as we are now.”

“Not entirely,” Jake said dryly. “Kahlid is no fool. We must spend some time alone together to give an appearance of intimacy.” His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “I think perhaps you'd better meet me each morning for a swim and have breakfast with me on deck. That should be adequate.”

“Are you sure this is really necessary?” Jane asked unhappily, biting her lip. “You know what the crew is going to think if you start paying attention to me.”

“Exactly what Kahlid is going to think,” Jake said indifferently, then his eyes hardened. “Who are you worried about, the crew or Simon?” he asked harshly. “Do you think it will turn him off to think he may be sharing you with me?”

There was a look of shock and hurt on Jane's face, and quick tears filled her eyes. “There's nothing like that between Simon and me,” she said huskily. “We're just good friends.”

“Just good friends,” Jake echoed. “Then you won't mind if he thinks what the rest do about you.”

“I mind very much what he thinks about me,” she said quietly. “I wouldn't want anyone to believe I was anything more than a member of the crew. It will be very painful and embarrassing to know that they think I'm just another one of your playmates.”

For a moment there was a curious flicker of regret in Jake Dominic's eyes. “You should have thought of that before you involved us both in a situation that presents no other solution,” he said curtly. “I can't get you out of
this
mess just by knocking a few heads together, Jane.”

“I suppose not.” She sighed despondently. “I just wish—”

“Too late for that,” he interrupted tersely. “Meet me on deck at seven tomorrow morning and we'll begin our little charade.” He dropped his hands from her shoulders and stepped back. “I rather expect your attitude should be respectfully adoring in public,” he continued mockingly. “Work on it, will you?”

“I'll try,” she said wryly. “You may have to use all your directorial
skill to wring a plausible performance from me. I'm no actress.”

“I'm fully aware of that,” Jake said resignedly. “Why do you think I picked early morning for our supposed romantic trysts? Ahmet will be up and about only occasionally, and it shouldn't be too much of a strain on that blasted transparency of yours.”

“Shall I tell Mr. Brockmeyer that I'm to be replaced as your meal steward?” Jane asked.

He shook his head. “Kahlid will expect you to continue, under the circumstances. In my place he would display you with a certain discreet pride of possession.”

“You seem to understand him very well,” Jane said slowly.

“Perhaps I do,” he said cynically. “Kahlid and I aren't so very far apart in our rather primitive reactions to certain situations. You'd be wise to remember that.”

Jane's eyes were troubled as she asked hesitantly, “Is there no other way? Couldn't you just release me from our agreement and send me home? I promise that I'd send you payments every month until the panel was paid for.”

Jake's dark eyes sparked dangerously. “No, damn it, you stay here!” he said harshly, his face suddenly satanic in intensity. “You belong to me for the rest of the cruise. We'll handle the problem exactly as I've indicated.”

Before she could answer, he had turned and walked away.

seven

JANE SHOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT ANY PLAN
that Jake Dominic had devised would be a total and unequivocal success. The morning rendezvous obviously thoroughly convinced Kahlid of Jane's supposed position in Dominic's life. After joining them two or three times during the next week for breakfast and a swim, Kahlid evidently decided his presence was an invasion of their privacy and subsequently ordered breakfast in his cabin.

Though his absence relieved Jane from the strain of acting the adoring paramour Jake had described, their meetings were still charged with the same burning restlessness that had characterized their association before Kahlid's arrival.

Jane looked back wistfully at those first uncomplicated evenings they had spent in the lounge, bent in amiable conflict over the chessboard. Now it seemed that everything she said to Jake was wrong. She seemed to have a talent for setting off that famous mercurial temperament without the least effort, and her own temper responded like a brushfire in a strong wind.

She had reluctantly come to the conclusion that Jake Dominic was entirely correct in his assessment of Kahlid's attitude toward her and the necessity for their charade. Though Ahmet was perfectly charming to her in their brief encounters
when she acted as steward, a few times she had noticed an appraising glance that was totally foreign to the innocent teddy-bear image. Once, when he joined them for a swim, his frank approval of her in the tiny bikini verged on pure lechery.

It had struck her as positively ludicrous that a girl of her quite ordinary appearance should provoke passion in the breast of the sheikh, and she had tried to make Jake see how funny it was. She had finally faltered and fallen silent before the stormy anger in Jake's face. It appeared that she had blundered again, she thought morosely. It seemed everything she did these days was wrong.

During one of her periods of depression, she had asked Jake if it might not be safe now to stop their morning rendezvous, since Kahlid had ceased his visits with them. The answer she received was rude, explicit, and ended with Jake's telling her icily that he would decide when they would call a halt to their meetings, and would she please refrain from making stupid suggestions.

After this savage, unprovoked attack she did, indeed, refrain from making any suggestions at all, as well as much conversation. Their time together, before she could escape to the less demanding duties required by Brockmeyer, rapidly became a painful chore.

Jane had even taken to arriving on deck a few minutes early and diving into the sea before Jake Dominic arrived, so that she could have a few minutes by herself in the silken serenity of the cobalt water. She desperately needed that time alone before she faced the tension that his presence aroused.

Marc Benjamin was at the rail, staring absently at the swimmer whose slick red head bobbed in and out of the waves as she cleaved through the water with smooth, economical strokes, when Jake Dominic appeared on deck one morning. The captain had formed the habit of occasionally dropping by to have a cup of coffee and chat with the two of them before he went about his
duties. He turned at the sound of the other man's footsteps and appraised the bronze, muscular figure in black swim trunks, a white terry-cloth robe slung carelessly over one shoulder. Marc Benjamin's calm eyes drifted up to Dominic's face, and he saw there the tense, restless frown he wore constantly of late.

“She's really very good,” Benjamin commented casually, nodding toward the figure in the water.

Jake gave Jane a cursory glance before throwing his robe on the deck chair and turning to the captain. “A veritable water baby,” he said caustically. “She tells me she learned to swim in Tahiti. One wonders how the island survived.”

Ignoring the sarcasm, Benjamin continued to stare at Jane's distant figure. “It's strange that a girl who has knocked around the world as much as she has still retains that almost crystal simplicity.”

Dominic did not reply, but his dark eyes turned to gaze at Jane's red, seallike head, his face taut. Benjamin glanced keenly at that face before asking softly, “Why don't you let her go, Jake? You're making her miserable.”