‘I wish we had time to go to the volcano and see the sunrise. It’s very spectacular.’ ‘We don’t, unfortunately. Any other ideas?’ She was silent for a long while, staring
thoughtfully down at her folded hands. ‘Kanola and I were swimming off Makila Point when Wilkes kidnapped us. I thought I would be frightened to swim here again, but I wasn’t. Is that … unnatural?’
She was such a curious little thing, he thought, staring at her. ‘No,’he said finally. ‘It means that you’ve got lots of common sense.’
‘That or no sensibilities,’ she said. ‘When Mrs. Baldwin took me upstairs last evening, I told her about it – Makila Point, that is. I thought she was going to faint.’
‘You didn’t tell her any of the rest of it?’ he asked carefully.
‘No, of course not.’ She lowered her eyes. ‘She asked me if there was anything I wanted to know about my wedding night.’
Saint swallowed convulsively. ‘And?’
‘I already know everything, Michael! I just asked her if men stuck that thing into
She broke off, her face as red as if she’d been in the sun too long.
He smiled, unable to help himself. ‘I understand. What did Mrs. Baldwin say?’ ‘She said yes, that was true, and that it
wasn’t too bad, not really, but that she was certain that you would be very careful. I told her that it sounded very strange to me.’
‘Did she say anything else?’
Jules nodded. ‘Yes, she said that it wasn’t strange really and that you were a doctor.’ ‘Those two things go hand in hand? I’d
never considered that before.’
She saw the amusement in his eyes, and grinned. ‘Now that you mention it, it doesn’t make much sense, does it?’
‘Not an ounce,’ he agreed. ‘Now, Jules, since you haven’t any ideas to speak of, I think I’ll go swimming.’
Saint decided that Jules’s idea of the male thing that was stuck into women had originated with him. At least Wilkes hadn’t
paraded about in front of her naked. He suddenly remembered her few words about the sailors. She’d seen a sailor’s penis – the sailor who had raped Kanola, probably. He also wondered a few minutes later as he was stroking through the water if Jules would mind lovemaking with him. She certainly seemed interested. He hadn’t seen a patch of fear in her eyes when they’d spoken of her conversation with Mrs. Baldwin. Yes, he thought, she had all the frankness of a child, a child who had been desperately hurt. Despite the chill of the water, he felt himself harden. ‘Damned randy bastard,’ he snarled at himself.
That evening, they strolled to the beach to watch the sunset. ‘I’ll miss this,’ Jules said as the sun dipped finally over the horizon, casting the sky in vivid red for a few moments. ‘I feel a bit like Eve being tossed out of the Garden of Eden.’
Saint, who was wearing only a shirt and his cut-off pants, dropped down on the sand and leaned back on his elbows. ‘Do you cast me as Adam?’ he asked.
‘I don’t think so,’ Jules said, turning to stare down at him. ‘I didn’t corrupt you.’
‘I don’t think you could corrupt anyone, even if you tried your damnedest.’
‘I looked at you, very closely, Michael.’
He knew immediately what she was talking about. He said, ‘Yes, I know.
Am I the only man you’ve ever seen with no clothes, Jules?’
She shook her head, a quick, dismissing gesture, and said, ‘You’re beautiful.’
‘That’s a novel thing to say about a man, particularly a huge hairy beast like me. But I thank you.’
Jules looked away from him, out over the water. ‘You changed, even while I was watching you.’
Deep waters, he thought, shifting his weight a bit. ‘A man,’ he said very carefully, ‘is very simple in terms of function. When he wants a woman, he becomes larger.’
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘you did.’ She suddenly turned her large emerald eyes to his face. ‘Did you want me?’
‘I think I just hoisted myself on that evil petard,’ he said, striving for some humor. ‘What I should have said is that sometimes a man’s body reacts even when he doesn’t want it to. Sometimes a man can find himself very embarrassed, and for no reason at all.’