White Ginger (6 page)

His white shirt stood out in the light of the moon as he crossed to his jeep. With a brief wave, he was gone; the only sound was the jeep’s engine roaring up the track to Lookout Road.

Amelie stood looking out over the moonlit water, her fingers butterfly-brushing her lips. Closing her eyes she wrapped her arms around herself to hold the memory of his lithe body pressed firmly against hers. She tilted her head back and finger-tipped the path his lips had taken along her throat. And giggled. She had broken through his gentlemanly reserve and liked the results.

Oops.
Opening her eyes wide, she stared at the moonlight path on the sea. What if he hadn’t meant that to happen? Like her, he was recovering from a broken relationship and her own bitter experience had taught her time was the only solution.

Only a few days ago she’d promised herself she wasn’t going to rush into another relationship but take it slowly, stay in control.

Good one, Amelie. One kiss in paradise and you’re lost in the romance of the moment. Dumb, dumb, dumb. And he’s still hurting from being thrown over. Remember?

She gazed over the rolling moonlit waters of the Pacific, annoyed with her lack of resolve. But his lips, his hands on her skin had awakened her emotions. She wanted to explore this attraction between them.

If his phone hadn’t rung, would they have stopped at just kissing tonight? It seemed to her that the rising tide of passion had been equally strong on both sides.

She tried to be honest, having long ago learned how pointless it was to delude herself, and admitted that Arne had stirred deep feelings in her. Relaxing her recent strict self-control had shown her one thing–she still had a heart. And Arne had touched it, stirred it in a way that excited and, yes, frightened her a little too. She wasn’t sure she was ready to handle such a man, such a passion as he ignited. And yet, how heady were his kisses. If only his phone hadn’t rung. They might have surrendered to the passion that had flared so quickly. And she wondered if she would have cared when they reached the light of day.

Gathering her sketchbook and pencils again, she noticed his camcorder on her worktable and picked it up. Curious to examine the rest of the footage, she plugged the machine in and pressed play. As before, she was amazed by the color and diversity of the underwater world. Shapes and patterns leaped out.

Busily selecting and rearranging them in her mind, she paused when one image, an odd shadow at the edge of the camera’s vision, caught her attention. Trained to observe and analyze shapes, colors and proportions, it struck her as an anomaly. A man-made shape in a natural world. It wasn’t a shadow created by Arne; the angle was wrong, given the slant of sunlight from above. She reversed the run then put it in slow forward mode, advancing frame by frame until she had examined it as well as she could. Rectangular in shape, it appeared to be a plastic box. It could be part of Arne’s survey equipment, but he’d drawn her attention to his set up earlier in the footage. This box differed from the others.

Given Arne’s preoccupation with filming the reef, she wondered if he’d noticed the oddity. There was insufficient resolution to see more detail, but she would ask him about it in the morning.

A vague misapprehension took hold of her. He’d only returned that afternoon. Could the break-in at Arne’s equipment shed be coincidence or were the thieves after something quite specific, like the camcorder that may have recorded something that someone didn’t want to become general knowledge?

Amelie tried to remember. What had Lili said about Arne's battle with the billionaire developer the other day? Something that suggested James Sanderson was single-minded and unethical when it came to getting his own way. And perhaps also capable of ordering a break-in to ensure that Arne hadn’t acquired evidence against him? Amelie couldn’t contain her fears that Arne was walking into danger. If only she had a car or a cell phone.

Chapter 4

When Arne next pulled up in front of her cabin in the long shadows of early morning, she raced down the stairs to his jeep, even before he had time to alight and grabbed his arm. “Was anything taken? Have the police caught anyone yet?”

He raked a tanned hand through his hair as he led her back to the veranda and dropped onto the seats they had occupied at dinner the night before. A lock of raven hair fell over his forehead and shadowed eyes.

“Not yet. And nothing was taken as far as I have been able to check, but they threw my gear around and caused quite a bit of damage. Funny though. I don’t think they found whatever they were looking for.”

Amelie held her breath as she recalled her own thoughts on the subject last night. Preoccupied in the retelling, Arne continued.

“Forensics found a piece of cloth snagged on a nail inside, just below the window. And there was a smear of blood so they got a DNA sample. The thief caught himself on the nail when he slid through the window.”

He stood and walked to the railing, looking off into the distance for a moment, and then brought his gaze back to her. His thoughts seemed to be on something other than the break-in.

Looking up at him, with the sun shining so brightly on the verdant growth around her cabin and the world so fresh and alive, Amelie wished he would take her into his arms again. She ached to feel his lips drawing from her willing ones the pleasure they had shared all too briefly. The melting sensation each time they touched was proof he stirred a strong physical response in her, but they connected on a deeper level. Their relationship was instinctive, elemental.

Predestined.

Why had that word sprung into her mind?

She stood slowly and walked across to join him at the railing. He smelled of lime and sandalwood. Heat rose in her body at his nearness and she leaned in close, aching to wrap herself around him again.

“About last night…” His voice was hesitant, and he touched her hair lightly but maintained his distance. There was tension in the set of his shoulders, and a wariness in the way he looked at her. A pit opened in her stomach and her heart sank. Holding her breath she fought down panic.

Please don’t say you regret last night. Please don’t say it!

* * * *

He took her hand, brushing his thumb across her knuckles and looked down into her eyes. How could he have grabbed her the way he had last night; how could he have lost control so quickly?

They’d known one another barely two weeks and he’d pulled her down onto the couch intending to make exquisite, passionate love to her. Exactly what he’d promised himself he wouldn’t rush into. Fool that he was, he’d probably lost her.

Looking at the uncertainty on her face now, he couldn’t believe he’d rushed her. Reason disappeared in the face of his desire for her. Would she trust him again?

“Amelie, I’m really sorry. I never meant to rush you.”

An uncertain half smile touched her lips and she surprised him.

“I didn’t feel rushed. In fact, I really enjoyed last night. Oh, and don’t worry about not collecting your sitting fee. I’ll finish paying whenever you’re ready.”

“My sitting fee? I meant–”

Her smile grew. He grinned and relaxed as the weight lifted from his shoulders.

Holding his breath, he held out his hand to her.

“Can I collect another installment now?” She took his hand and he pulled her closer, reveling in the warmth of having her in his arms.

“Never let it be said that I welsh on my debts.” Amelie ran her hands up over his chest to his shoulders.

He’d been sure he’d blown it last night. Now, he vowed to stay in control of his emotion around her, at least until she was sure of herself and her feelings. And he would work to ensure he was the new man in her life.

The only man.

Slowly, he lowered his head to hers, offering a kiss soft and full of promise in the bright light of the new Hawaiian day.

After a moment, she pulled away and, with a half smile, drew back from him. Immediately, he released his light hold on her arms and smiled ruefully.

“Payment deferred until a more convenient time?”

“And I always pay my debts.” She took his hand and led him into the lounge. “Something’s been playing on my mind. I was looking through your reef footage after you left last night. I’m not one hundred percent certain, but I saw something in a few frames that looked out of place. Would you look at it and tell me what you think?”

She fast-forwarded to the moment when the strange shadowy shape had first appeared in the picture.

“There. It doesn’t look like the rest of your monitoring equipment.”

She advanced frame by frame until both image and resolution reached optimal size and then paused. He studied the image, wondering how he could have missed a box of that size. His gut tightened. That last unscheduled visit to the reef had provided evidence after all, but not what he’d expected.

As she explained the light, the angles, the refraction of the water, the positioning of the shape and its relationship to his camera, he understood the extent of her knowledge. His little blonde beauty was full of surprises.

She turned to face him. “Well, what do you think it is?”

It took him several moments but he reached the same conclusion as Amelie. “You’re right. Whoever broke into my equipment store was probably after this footage. They can’t be sure what I saw and might have captured.”

“Is this sufficient proof?” Amelie asked.

“It’s man-made and definitely not mine.” Arne thought for a moment. “I need to consult with Terry Danbury and let him see this. He’s head of the reef research program at the university. Luckily, he’s due to visit tomorrow. I think he’ll agree it doesn’t belong there.”

How had he missed seeing the box? Where had his brain been while he was supposed to be checking data?

Right back here with Amelie.

Amelie touched his arm. He looked down into her eyes, feeling the connection between them more strongly than ever.

He had to get his head back in the game. The situation was becoming serious if someone was willing to break into his shed to stop him. “What about the police? Shouldn’t they see this too?” Amelie pressed her hands together over her stomach. Arne nodded.

“I’ll drop this memory card off to Jeff Jessup, the local policeman, on our way out to the airport. He can keep it in the police safe until tomorrow. I’m betting that whoever owns that box suspects I captured footage of it yesterday.”

“How could they know?”

“It’s easy for anyone to find out when I’m going to the reef from the harbor master’s log. Yesterday was an off schedule visit. Perhaps someone hadn’t hidden something and now they’re scared that I’ve got evidence of something that shouldn’t be there. I’ll have to go out to the reef again as soon as I can.”

“Will you take someone out with you? You won’t go alone, will you?” Amelie watched him intently.

“I’ll take care, but it’s better if I don’t drag anyone else into this just yet. Now, I think we’d better be moving if we’re going to do the return trip today. You want that new car, don’t you?”

* * * *

The trip into the city was, for a time, overshadowed for Amelie by her concern for Arne’s safety. Why wouldn’t he take sensible precautions, like having someone with him to keep an eye out for interlopers at the reef? She didn’t want him to go alone, but what right did she have to tell him what to do? She bit her thumb, worrying a chip in her nail.

Arne had invited her out to dive and see for herself what the world of the reef was like. Her stomach churned at the thought of the creatures inhabiting that underwater world. She shivered. No, she couldn’t do it.

“Amelie? You’re far away in your thoughts. Is everything okay?” She met his concerned gaze then squared her shoulders. With far more to worry about than her, he was still considerate of her.

Arne would probably throw up all sorts of objections to her presence on his boat if he thought there was the least possibility of danger. He might even refuse outright to take her, in which case she wasn’t sure what she could do. But she would insist on accompanying him if he wouldn’t consider taking anyone else. With that decided in her own mind, she settled down to make the most of his company.

After delivering the camcorder card to the police, Arne drove with an almost carefree abandon through long green tunnels of trees beneath the towering bulk of the volcano. He talked about growing up in the islands, and of his friend, Jimi and they were soon at the esplanade in the city.

Arne had arranged to meet his friend, Jimi, for an early lunch at The Bayside Inn before they collected Amelie’s car.

“We’ve been friends since junior high school. We even considered going into some sort of partnership before I decided I wanted to do research in marine biology. Jimi preferred business. He worked his way up through the ranks until he purchased this franchise. He’s made a real success of it. Last year, he married his senior coordinator. They’re expecting their first child soon.”

They pulled into a parking lot at the front of a restaurant that resembled an old whaling boat, complete with flags fluttering from a mast and rigging. Arne ushered Amelie through the doors of the dining room. Retro in design, pictures and models of whaling ships, old-fashioned schooners, fishing nets and floats decorated the walls and ceiling. Ambient lighting added to the sensation of walking through a watery world.