got me started. It grows on you.“
“Uh huh. Everything about the islands seems to have grown on you!“
She grinned. “Who knows? If you stayed here long enough, you might become a willing victim, too!“
Instead of a sharp, negative rejoinder, Trev was silent. So silent, in fact, that Reyna lowered her field
glasses to turn her head and look at him. He was concentrating on some object out at sea, holding his lenses
with his elbows propped in front of him.
“Something interesting? Trev, if you’re using my field glasses to stare at nude bathers, I’m going to take
them away from you!“
“Spoilsport Actually, I’m looking at a bird. A real bird. Large wings, dark, a sort of whitish throat…“
“Sounds like a female frigate bird Known locally as an iwa. Let’s see.“ Reyna lifted her glasses and
followed his angle of sight “Ummm. A beautiful one. They have wingspans of around seven feet“
“This tourist who got you interested in birding…“ Trev murmured carefully.
“Ummmm?“
“Was it a sweet little old lady in tennis shoes?“
She felt the small, lapping waves of his potential jealousy and didn’t know how to react to it She ought to
be impatient After all, he had no right…
“No.“
“A little old man in tennis shoes?“ he tried, still watching the frigate bird.
“No.“
“Someone you’ll probably be seeing again?“ he suggested with a deceptive blandness.
“Maybe.“
“Reyna, please!“
Her mind went to the pleasant, forty-year-old, recently divorced man who had stayed for two weeks at
the hotel Tyler Bond had been an enjoyable diversion and his enthusiasm for birding had been contagious.
But he had gone back to his law practice in Phoenix and neither of them had missed the other sufficiently to
even invest in a long-distance phonecall. By mutual agreement the relationship had stayed light, friendly and
very temporary.
“He’s a forty-year-old lawyer from Phoenix,“ she explained equably.
“And did he try to take you home with him?“
“A little souvenir of the islands? Hardly. He was in the process of getting over a divorce and the last
thing he wanted was a serious relationship.“ Reyna laughed She could feel Trev relax.
“You don’t sound as if you’re eating your heart out over him,“ he observed cheerfully.
“I’m not“
“And your beachboy?“
“What is this? An inquisition? Look, Trev, if you’re tired of bird-watching already, we can go back to the
hotel…“
“I’ll be good,“ he sighed. “Besides, I already have my answers. You gave them to me last night It’s just
the territorial instinct in me that has to keep pressing. God! If you knew how many times I’ve tortured
myself wondering if some k ind male was letting you cry on his shoulder!“
“I haven’t been crying on anyone’s shoulder! And don’t give me that line. If you’d really changed your
mind after I left, you’d have been over here a lot sooner, Trev,“ she declared, using the field glasses to hide
her unaccountably fierce expression. There were no birds in her line of sight at the moment so she stared
hard at the horizon instead.
“It took me over a month to find out where you’d gone,“ he said gently, continuing to stare at something
through his own pair of glasses. “Before that I was swamped trying to rescue that dumb brother-in-law of
mine. Not to mention all the time I took trying to talk myself out of coming after you at all.“
“Poor Trev. You’ve had a difficult time, haven’t you? You should use this trip to the islands to try and
relax,“ she shot back with determined briskness. “Look!“ she added in the next breath, “a white-tailed tropic
bird. PhaSthon lepturus, to be technical about it See the large, black wing patches and that beautiful, long
white tail?“
“No.“
“You’re not trying,“ she accused, lowering the glasses to admonish him with a mischievous smile. Once
again she felt in charge of the
“Uh huh. Everything about the islands seems to have grown on you!“
She grinned. “Who knows? If you stayed here long enough, you might become a willing victim, too!“
Instead of a sharp, negative rejoinder, Trev was silent. So silent, in fact, that Reyna lowered her field
glasses to turn her head and look at him. He was concentrating on some object out at sea, holding his lenses
with his elbows propped in front of him.
“Something interesting? Trev, if you’re using my field glasses to stare at nude bathers, I’m going to take
them away from you!“
“Spoilsport Actually, I’m looking at a bird. A real bird. Large wings, dark, a sort of whitish throat…“
“Sounds like a female frigate bird Known locally as an iwa. Let’s see.“ Reyna lifted her glasses and
followed his angle of sight “Ummm. A beautiful one. They have wingspans of around seven feet“
“This tourist who got you interested in birding…“ Trev murmured carefully.
“Ummmm?“
“Was it a sweet little old lady in tennis shoes?“
She felt the small, lapping waves of his potential jealousy and didn’t know how to react to it She ought to
be impatient After all, he had no right…
“No.“
“A little old man in tennis shoes?“ he tried, still watching the frigate bird.
“No.“
“Someone you’ll probably be seeing again?“ he suggested with a deceptive blandness.
“Maybe.“
“Reyna, please!“
Her mind went to the pleasant, forty-year-old, recently divorced man who had stayed for two weeks at
the hotel Tyler Bond had been an enjoyable diversion and his enthusiasm for birding had been contagious.
But he had gone back to his law practice in Phoenix and neither of them had missed the other sufficiently to
even invest in a long-distance phonecall. By mutual agreement the relationship had stayed light, friendly and
very temporary.
“He’s a forty-year-old lawyer from Phoenix,“ she explained equably.
“And did he try to take you home with him?“
“A little souvenir of the islands? Hardly. He was in the process of getting over a divorce and the last
thing he wanted was a serious relationship.“ Reyna laughed She could feel Trev relax.
“You don’t sound as if you’re eating your heart out over him,“ he observed cheerfully.
“I’m not“
“And your beachboy?“
“What is this? An inquisition? Look, Trev, if you’re tired of bird-watching already, we can go back to the
hotel…“
“I’ll be good,“ he sighed. “Besides, I already have my answers. You gave them to me last night It’s just
the territorial instinct in me that has to keep pressing. God! If you knew how many times I’ve tortured
myself wondering if some k ind male was letting you cry on his shoulder!“
“I haven’t been crying on anyone’s shoulder! And don’t give me that line. If you’d really changed your
mind after I left, you’d have been over here a lot sooner, Trev,“ she declared, using the field glasses to hide
her unaccountably fierce expression. There were no birds in her line of sight at the moment so she stared
hard at the horizon instead.
“It took me over a month to find out where you’d gone,“ he said gently, continuing to stare at something
through his own pair of glasses. “Before that I was swamped trying to rescue that dumb brother-in-law of
mine. Not to mention all the time I took trying to talk myself out of coming after you at all.“
“Poor Trev. You’ve had a difficult time, haven’t you? You should use this trip to the islands to try and
relax,“ she shot back with determined briskness. “Look!“ she added in the next breath, “a white-tailed tropic
bird. PhaSthon lepturus, to be technical about it See the large, black wing patches and that beautiful, long
white tail?“
“No.“
“You’re not trying,“ she accused, lowering the glasses to admonish him with a mischievous smile. Once
again she felt in charge of the
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