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shouting at each other a few minutes ago,' she muttered sulkily.
'All lovers have tiffs.' He pointed to the shore where Karl and Klaus had
returned in the dinghy and were picking up Rod and the other two girls.
'Look, your friends are back.'
The diversion worked.
'Hi, guys!' Sidonie called, and rushed to the side of the boat where she
commenced a shouted recital of. how she had had a narrow escape from
drowning an escape in which Josh played the role of knight errant and
Abby's inclusion was coincidental.
When the group arrived back on board, Abby provided drinks and later went
off to shower. The next, and final, stop of the day would be at Carriacou,
Grenada's sister isle and the largest of the Grenadine islands, and she spent
the short journey preparing the chicken casserole and accompanying
dessert.
'You look terrific,' Rod said, grinning, when they anchored in a sheltered
bay and she took round the aperitifs which had been ordered earlier.
After a day of being sartorially sensible, Abby had changed into a filmy
white jumpsuit trimmed with satin and cinched at the waist with a wide,
butter-soft black leather belt. Her eyelids shimmered pale lilac, and her
lashes had been brushed with mascara. She did not look as conspicuous as
Sidonie and company who, in back-baring get- ups, were not just dressed to
the nines, but to the ninety-nine-point-nines, but she considered that she had
the edge on elegance.
'Thank you,' she smiled.
Josh strolled from the bow of the yacht. 'She's beautiful,' he said and, taking
hold of her chin in proprietorial fingers, he kissed her on the lips.
Caught by surprise, Abby gazed at him. What had happened to a minimal
pretence? she wondered. The agreement had been to persuade Sidonie to
drop him from her sphere of attention, not to act out a full-scale romance for
Rod's benefit.
The older man frowned. 'Do I take it you two have something going between
you?'.
'You could put it that way,' Josh said, and shone her a charming, deeply
sexual smile. 'In fact--'
Fearful of what he might say next, Abby ransacked her mind for a
different safer topic. 'Are you a professional photographer?' she asked
Rod hurriedly.
He frowned down into his glass. 'Yeah.'
'Any particular speciality?' she enquired.
'I've broadened my range now--' he took a gulp of whisky ' but I used to be
in fashion. My photographs have appeared in all the major American
women's magazines and some British ones.' He gave a sudden grin. 'I did
several assignments for Vogue, and on one occasion we went to Bangkok. Is
that some city! We--'
His tales of the international shoots he had done were varied and beguiling.
When the girls wandered up even they seemed intrigued, and so his
escapades dominated the conversation throughout dinner. In due course,
coffee was drunk and liqueurs offered, and both the raconteur and the
evening gradually wound down.
'Time I hit the sack,' Rod declared, finishing the last in a long line of drinks.
He turned to his companions. 'You three need your beauty sleep, too.'
'It's early,' Sidonie grumbled, but, like the other girls, she rose to her feet.
'Goodnight,' she said, her eyes fixing on Josh. All evening she had been
subdued. She had not touched him nor tried to flirt, though with him sitting
next to Abby at one end of the table while she was parked at the other, there
had been little chance. But now, as the redhead strolled past, she trailed her
fingertips across the back of his neck. 'Sleep tight,' she purred.
Josh's shoulder muscles stiffened. 'Will do,' he replied.
When the clients had gone, Karl and Klaus helped Abby clear the table and
wash up and then went off to bed.
'How about a breath of fresh air before we turn in?' Josh suggested when
everything had been stacked away.
Out on deck, Abby gazed around. High in the sky a silver moon shone
among a million scattered stars, while on the dark bulk of the island palm
trees swayed and lights twinkled in the streets of a small town. The sound of
laughter from another moored yacht carried across the water. A fish jumped,
plopped, and was gone, leaving behind ever-widening circles. A soft chiffon
breeze caressed her skin.
Abby sighed. 'I like the Caribbean.'
Josh reached out and touched her hair. 'I like you,' he said.
Her response was abrupt and indignant. 'Don't play games. There's no one
around, so there's no need for--'
'There's every need,' he murmured, and, placing a hand on either side of her
head, he kissed her.
It was an adult kiss of unexpected ferocity. Abby's pulse-rate accelerated.
Every nerve-end throbbed. He mustn't do this, it isn't fair, a part of her
protested. She must stop him. She must step away. But did she want to? Yes.
No. For a frantic moment, mind and body tugged in opposite directions, but
then, as Josh's hands moved to her shoulders, her heart traitorously connived
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