Chapter Nine
THE HEAD WAITER appeared in the centre of the restaurant, clapping his hands, getting the few remaining patrons’ attention.
‘Apologies, everyone, but I need to make an announcement. We’ve just been advised that the worst of the storm conditions will hit within the next two hours and may become quite dangerous.
We want all of our guests and workers to get back to their accommodation safely before then.
Consequently the restaurant will be closing a little early tonight.
At this stage, if the forecast that the weather is easing during tomorrow is right, we expect to be open tomorrow for both lunch and dinner.
Thank you for your patronage tonight. Get home safely and we’ll see you next time.
’ He nodded and returned to his station by the door.
The restaurant rapidly emptied. The Princess appeared, clearing tables, collecting plates and cutlery. He left his seat and joined her, picking up plates from the rest of the tables.
‘You’re not expected to do that,’ she said, frowning.
He shook his head. He wasn’t doing it out of the kindness of his heart.
He’d heard the tempest build outside. The Princess was his responsibility and all he wanted to do was ensure her safety.
‘The sooner this place is cleaned up, the sooner we can get back to the apartment.’ Their arms laden, they made their way to the kitchen, where Millie was busy loading the dishwasher.
She looked up as they approached, her eyes widening as she saw Theo following Izzy.
He caught the Princess give Millie a brief shake of her head, as if to warn, don’t ask.
Millie bit her lip, before smiling. ‘Thanks, guys,’ she said brightly, her voice at odds with the uncertain looks she sent from one to the other as they deposited their dishes on the sink. ‘Appreciate it. You two better get away while you still can.’
It was a slow journey back to the apartment, the car crawling along the road in the wild weather, barely managing to achieve the speed limit, let alone exceed it.
Even on the road bordering the protected lagoon, the seas were high, salt-laden spray and rain lashing the windscreen, the wipers battling to clear it before the next splatter.
Winds buffeted the car, just like the palm trees either side of the road, the gusts pushing it sideways.
Fronds torn from the palms crashed heavily onto the pavement around them.
It was wild.
Mad.
Scary.
The head waiter hadn’t overstated the situation. If anything, the worst of the storm was impacting earlier. No wonder he’d wanted the patrons returned safely to their accommodations.
Izzy shivered as she looked out at the wild, untamed night. Rain battered the roof of the car, so loud that it rendered speech impossible.
Until now, the island had provided her with sanctuary. Theo had threatened that when he’d found her, but Theo was not the least of her problems.
This storm was different. Instead of the island providing a sanctuary, for the first time Izzy felt threatened, not just for her future, but for her immediate safety.
She could feel her fear in her shallow breathing and escalating heart rate as the storm raged around them—the howling winds, the raging lagoon to their right, the foliage whipping around the car in the wind.
Be careful what you wish for.
The cautionary tale was known worldwide, and it was true. Izzy had wished for their departure to be delayed and it had been, and now it looked very much like the airport wouldn’t be reopening tomorrow, once again delaying Theo’s attempts to return her to Rubanestein.
She’d got what she’d wished for.
But there was no victory. She felt no success. There was no easing to her nerves.
Nothing would ease her nerves while this storm raged around them.
Right now it was only Theo’s driving expertise giving her a degree of comfort.
She snatched her eyes off the road ahead to glance over at him, his gaze fixed on the road ahead while the threats kept coming from above and beside.
He was frowning, she could tell in the soft light cast from the dashboard display, his jaw tense.
Concentrating hard on keeping them safe.
She was grateful for his skill, as he negotiated a path around the debris on the road and out of the way that was being flung down from the treetops. So grateful that she wasn’t driving. Even more grateful that she wasn’t trying to make it back to the apartment on her bike.
Strange, she hadn’t expected to feel grateful to Theo for anything. Theo was part of her problem. Escaping from him before he could take her back to her brother in Rubanestein was her mission. Maybe the storm and her nerves were getting to her.
Or maybe it was being trapped in a sedan with a man- mountain beside her. A warm man-mountain.
In the apartment she could get away from him.
In the restaurant she’d been busy, too busy to spend time next to him.
But trapped here in a small hire car, in the midst of a raging storm, he was too close, his masculine scent worming its way into her senses, the brush of his arm against hers as he changed gears in the small sedan ratcheting up the tension.
‘The storm’s getting worse,’ she said, in a lull in the tattoo on the roof of the car. She could hear the tremor in her voice, the shakiness that spoke of her fear.
‘Yes,’ he simply answered, not averting his eyes as he concentrated fully on the road ahead. ‘There’s no way the airport will be reopening tomorrow. I expect you’ll be happy about that.’
‘Right now, I’ll just be happy if you get us back safely. Tomorrow can take care of itself.’
There was no time to read his features, as another gust hit them, doing its best to blow the car off the road at the same time the beachside palms bent and thrashed under the onslaught.
Izzy saw it happen. Fast motion that seemed to happen in slow motion. A frond torn from on high that was careening downwards, spinning, toppling directly towards their windscreen.
‘Look out!’ she cried, covering her eyes in case it smashed into them.
Theo was already on it. He swerved wildly, pulling the car away from the path of the toppling frond.
Instead of the windscreen, it slammed with a sickening thud onto the hood and fender before crashing down onto the road.
The car bucked as the back tyre lurched over the thick stem, before jolting back onto the road surface.
Izzy let go a breath she’d been holding.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my life.’
‘Hey,’ he said, taking her hand in his, wrapping his long fingers around hers and squeezing her hand reassuringly. ‘I’m not going to let anything happen to you.’
Because he was afraid he wouldn’t get his reward money?
But the accusation she might once have immediately launched at Theo refused to emerge from Izzy’s mouth. There was no way she would aggravate him while her hand was encased in his, his hand lending her strength, his strength feeding into hers.
Madness. Theo holding her hand. They didn’t even like each other.
But that didn’t mean she was about to shrug his hand off hers.
Not while her skin tingled at his touch, and not just her hand itself, because warmth seemed to radiate up her arm, filling her body with a feeling unfamiliar to her.
There was warmth there. There was tenderness.
But there was also a thirst, as if it didn’t have to end here.
He only let her hand go to change gears as he pulled into the driveway.
Izzy closed her eyes and leaned back into her seat. She’d never experienced near cyclonic conditions before. Everyone had told her that this brush would be mild. But if this was mild… And then there was Theo’s generous gesture, to hold her hand and reassure her that all would be well.
And for the last few minutes of their journey, she’d felt completely safe.
He’d done that. Theo had made her feel safe.
Another deluge of rain unleashed on them.
‘Okay?’ he said.
She took a deep breath. ‘Thank you for getting us back safely.’
He looked over at her then, a frown adding to a look of surprise on his face. A look of surprise that evaporated a moment after she’d witnessed it, so much that she wondered whether she’d imagined it.
‘We got here,’ he said. ‘Are you ready to make a run for it.’
Izzy looked at the rain pounding the car. ‘You don’t have an umbrella?’
‘An umbrella would be next to useless in these conditions. Stay there.’ He pushed open his door and rounded the car to her door.
He pulled her door open, threw his jacket over her head and shoulders as she emerged from the car, and with his arm around her, set off to race the few metres through the pelting rain to the door.
Everything happened so quickly. They were racing for the front door, getting battered by the heavy wind and rain, when Izzy’s foot slipped on the wet surface. She stumbled, only for Theo to catch her, tumbling her into his arms to carry her to the sheltered space by the front door.
A moment later, they were inside, the door slammed behind them against the weather, both of them panting hard as Theo leaned with her against the wall.
He let go her legs, letting her find her feet, but he kept hold, his free hand going to her waist, as if to make sure she wouldn’t collapse to the floor.
She was still catching her breath after their frantic dash to the door, her arms still wrapped around Theo’s neck, when a bubble of laughter escaped Izzy’s mouth. At the madness of their desperate dash. At relief at being inside and out of the immediate danger of the storm.
‘Wow,’ she said, sounding as breathless as she felt, ‘you are quite the hero. Driving safely through the storm. Getting us both unscathed to the front door. Thank you.’