Baby Included

Oh, come on—who are you kidding? she asked herself roughly as she trod water for a moment, adjusting her snorkel. While the future direction of her career was very important, it was no good trying to pretend that it was the sole reason for taking such a long break from her work. Because, of course, the main impetus behind wanting to ‘get away from it all’ had been the urgent need to help cure her broken heart.

Unlike most of her fellow actresses, who seemed to have no problem flitting from one lover to another, Lois had finally forced herself to face the facts. She was, it seemed, one of those boring creatures: a nice, old-fashioned girl. Not that she was actively looking for a husband, she assured herself hurriedly. But one-night stands were definitely not her ‘thing’. Which meant she’d found no problem turning down some of the well-known male Hollywood stars for whom ‘commitment’ was clearly a dirty word.

And that only goes to prove that pride comes before a fall! she told herself with disgust. Because what had she done? She’d just gone and fallen head over heels in love with a married man—that was what she’d done!

As the star of her last film, she might have been expected to fulfil that old Hollywood cliché and fall in love with her leading man. But, not her—oh, no! She had to be different, right? She had fallen hook, line and sinker for Ross Whitney—author of the best-selling novel Fear No Evil on which the film was based, who’d also written the screenplay.

It wasn’t until they were halfway through shooting the film that she met Ross. He, as it turned out, actively hated the whole Hollywood scene, only agreeing to join the film crew on location to make necessary alterations to the script. So it was there, miles away from civilisation—and only too easy to forget the real world—that Lois had suddenly found herself fathoms deep in love with the tall, dark and diabolically handsome Englishman.

To be fair, Ross had behaved like a perfect gentleman. And that had been the trouble, of course. Maybe, given an ounce of encouragement, she might have cast her scruples to the wind and indulged in a really hot, scorching affair. Unfortunately, he’d kept her very firmly at arm’s length.

In her own defence, it was fair to say that Lois hadn’t known Ross Whitney was a married man. Well, not at first, anyway. And by the time she did find out it was far too late. In fact, when she’d gone completely over the top, and arrived uninvited at his privately owned Caribbean island, she had been in grave danger of making an absolute fool of herself.

Luckily, Ross and his estranged wife, Flora, had proved to be really nice people. And, of course, as soon as she’d sussed out the real situation, Lois had managed to find some hidden depths of pride and resolution. Just enough to enable her, however shakily, to retire from the field with her head held high.

In fact, she wasn’t at all sure that it hadn’t been her best performance: acting the part of a woman with clearly not a care in the world—and blithely wishing the two of them the very best of luck—before returning to the sanctuary of her own home and giving way to deep misery as she tried to mend her fragile, broken heart.

Still...no matter how hard she’d tried, and the many strict lectures she’d given herself, Lois had found it almost impossible to put Ross out of her mind—and her heart. Which was why this vacation had seemed such a very good idea. And. of course, that old proverb ‘time is the best healer’ had eventually proved to be true.

Somewhere...somehow, between viewing the Aztec ruins in Mexico and exploring the old city of Delhi, she’d managed to pull herself together. By the time she was recovering from a nasty dose of food poisoning—and being so kindly nursed back to health in that wonderfully luxurious hotel in Jaipur—Lois had woken up one morning to discover, to her complete astonishment, that she was no longer totally and irrevocably in love with Ross Whitney.

He would always have a special place in her heart, of course,. But now she felt confident of being able to take that flight home to America tomorrow—quite safe in the knowledge that she was now ready to start a new life.

All the same...just make sure that in future you stay well away from any tall, dark and ruthlessly attractive Englishmen! she warned herself grimly, before turning to swim slowly back to the shore.

‘That’s odd...’ Ace muttered, frowning as he glanced down at his wristwatch. It was the first time, during the past four days, when the weirdly dressed woman had not kept to her rigid timetable.

Not that it was anything to do with him, of course. Absolutely not! In fact, it was definitely about time he learnt to mind his own business.

However, some ten minutes later he was still feeling slightly uneasy. He didn’t want to make a nuisance of himself, of course. But perhaps it might be a good idea to take a stroll along the beach? Just to make sure that the woman really was all right... ?

Rising from his seat behind the desk, he walked slowly down to the water’s edge. And then, just as he was taking himself to task for being a fool, and about to return to his own casita, he heard a faint cry in the distance.

‘Are you all right?’ he called out some moments later as he ran swiftly towards the crumpled figure sitting hunched on the sand beside the ocean.

‘No...I guess I’ve got myself into some...some sort of mess,’ the woman replied, her American-accented voice sounding muffled beneath the hat and the voluminous gauzy outfit. She appeared to be concentrating on gripping hold of her foot with both hands.

It was only as he approached her and bent down that Ace was able to see blood seeping from between the fingers of the hands clasped so tightly about her ankle.

‘Good Lord! What’s happened?’

‘I don’t know how I could have been such an idiot.’ The woman’s voice was stronger now, and heavy with self-disgust. ‘I didn’t look where I was going. And I forgot just how sharp the coral can be.’ She nodded towards the ocean, where the line of her footsteps, intermingled with some spots of blood, was clearly visible on the white sand.

‘I think...well, I’ve got a horrid feeling that I may have cut into a vein, or something,’ she continued with a slight wobble in her voice. ‘Because, however hard I try, I can’t seem to stop it bleeding.’

‘There’s no need to panic. Just try and stay calm,’ Ace told her, swiftly assessing the situation. ‘However, it’s important to maintain pressure on the wound. So, keep holding on while I fix some bandages to tie around your ankle. OK?’

‘OK.’ She nodded. And then, as he quickly seized hold of some of the thin material swathed about her body, and began tearing it into strips, she cried, ‘Hey—don’t do that! I’ve got to keep out of the sun. Otherwise I’ll burn to a crisp.’

‘God preserve me from damn stupid women!’ he muttered grimly. ‘Do you want to get slightly burnt—or do you want to bleed to death?’ he added, taking no notice of her protests as he carefully removed her fingers before binding the gauze ‘bandages’ tightly about her ankle.

‘OK—OK...’ she sighed. ‘I guess I’ve been a bit of a fool. And I really ought to thank you for coming so promptly to my rescue.’

‘That might not be a bad idea,’ he agreed, with a sharp bark of sardonic laughter.

‘I’m sure I’ll be all right now,’ she said as he rose to his feet, frowning anxiously down at his amateur handiwork, not at all sure how long it would hold the wound together.

‘No. I think you’re very far from “all right”,’ he told her firmly. ‘You’re going to need some professional help—and as soon as possible. Have you got a first aid kit in your bungalow?’

‘I...I don’t think so,’ she muttered, burying her face in her bloodstained hands for a moment.

Ace’s mouth tightened grimly. It was difficult to see anything under that damned hat. But, from what little he could see of her face, it was obvious that the woman’s cheeks were deathly pale. Clearly there was no time to be lost in getting her some serious medical attention.

‘Well, there’s no point in hanging around here,’ he told her firmly, before quickly bending down and scooping her up into his arms.

‘Hey—what do you think you’re doing?’ she shrieked in a much stronger voice, the heavy voluminous garments hampering her movements as she tried to wriggle out of his grip. ‘Put me down at once!’

Ignoring the frantic twisting and turning of the lightweight figure in his arms, Ace began striding rapidly back up the beach.

‘I take it that you’re not entirely stupid? So, don’t you think it’s time you started using your brain?’ he demanded curtly.

When her only reply was a short, startled intake of breath, he continued grimly, ‘That’s only a temporary bandage which I’ve placed around your ankle. I don’t expect it will hold the bleeding for very long. And especially not if you try to walk back up the beach to your bungalow. Got the message?’

‘Oh, sure, I’ve got the message—you bully!’ she retorted with a shaky laugh, before muttering something else under her breath.

‘I’m sorry...I didn’t quite catch what you said.’

‘You weren’t meant to!’ she retorted. ‘But if you must know I was reminding myself that I’d vowed to stay well away from tall, dark-haired Englishmen. And especially ones who are clearly hard, tough and very bossy!’

He glanced down at the girl in his arms. Somewhere along the line, possibly due to her frantic struggling, she seemed to have lost her wide-brimmed hat. However, it wasn’t possible to tell the colour of her hair, since it was totally covered by a thick black scarf, knotted at the back of her head. Her face didn’t look particularly appetising either—her bloodstained fingers having left ugly-looking russet-brown streaks across her pale cheeks and forehead.

Only the wide blue eyes, heavily fringed by dark lashes, which appeared to be glinting with some emotion—although he wasn’t quite sure whether it was anger or laughter—gave any hint that there might be a lot more to this woman than appeared obvious at the moment.

‘Well, if it’s any consolation,’ Ace drawled as he mounted the steps to her veranda, ‘I’m normally a very polite man. In fact, I wouldn’t dream of being either “hard” or “bossy”. Unless, of course, I find myself rescuing a grumpy American lady—who’s clearly determined not to listen to any of my good advice!’ he added with a dry bark of sardonic laughter.

Striding swiftly into the cool, dim interior of the cottage, whose lay-out was similar to that of his own, he entered the bedroom and laid her gently down on the large four-poster bed.

‘Oops! I guess that’s put me well and truly in my place...huh?’ She gave a heavy, almost theatrical sigh as she leaned back against the pillows. ‘It must be really, really great to know that whatever happens in the big, bad world—you are always right.’

Staring grimly down at her, Ace had no problem in thinking of several crushing remarks which would put this irritating female very firmly in her place. And then, as he viewed the pale face, and slightly trembling hands, he realised that he’d been far too rough on this poor girl, who was now looking a lot younger than he’d at first supposed.

‘I’m sorry. I should apologise for being so rude,’ he said quietly. ‘It’s just that I was worried about the wound to your ankle. Believe me, you really must have it seen to by a doctor—and as soon as possible.’

‘Yes, well...I guess it’s my turn to apologise. I’ve obviously been a real pain in the neck,’ she admitted, gazing up in some bewilderment at the deeply tanned, hawk-like features of the tall, dark and remarkably handsome man who’d just rescued her from a nasty predicament.

‘I...I can’t think what’s come over me,’ she continued in a slightly weak, breathless tone of voice. ‘Because, I don’t...I really don’t usually behave like this.’

‘I’m sure you don’t. And—although you may find it difficult to believe—neither do I!’ He grinned. ‘So, I’m just going to ring through to the main hotel and ask them to provide some medical assistance. Once I’m satisfied that help is on the way, I promise to leave you well alone. OK?’