sitting on the balcony wondering what she had done to deserve
such an idyllic start to her day.
Watching dolphins
while I eat breakfast and drink freshly squeezed orange juice she texted to
Jenny, hoping that would be sufficiently exotic to distract her friend from her
self-imposed role as marriage broker. She had already sent Claire a stream of messages, most of them asking
whether she and Daniel were an item yet.
Just as well she doesn’t know about the beautiful Scott or
I’d never get any peace at all, Claire smiled to herself as she pressed the
send button. Then she collected her belongings and set off for her second
working day.
* * *
It started with Scott suggesting they visit the local
Wildlife Refuge. “I know you’ve lots of reading to do,” he said. “But it’s not
the same as actually seeing the birds in their own habitat. You need to do it several times in
succession, and at different times in the day, so that you develop a feel for
the place.”
“Does that mean I get to sail the dinghy again?” Claire
asked.
He gave her a startled look. “Have you been out in it already?”
“Well yes…Daniel took me out to look at the white pelicans
yesterday morning. Didn’t he say?”
“No, but no matter. At least you’ve seen them already so I can concentrate on showing you
some of the other wildlife that’s out there. And yes, you will get to sail the
dinghy again, because you need to become proficient enough to take it out on
your own. This week is not too bad but
soon the place will be so overloaded with tourists we’ll be lucky to find time
enough to talk to one another, let alone spend a whole morning together at the
Refuge.”
* * *
Beth was too involved with a series of phone calls to
acknowledge the fact they were leaving the office together, so when Daniel
arrived forty minutes later she didn’t have the slightest idea where they’d
gone.
“They might have gone to the islands,” she guessed. “Or maybe Scott is just showing her around
the area.”
Thwarted in his attempt to see the woman who had invaded his
dreams so badly the previous night that he had eventually given up all pretense
of sleeping and been out in his boat well before sunrise, Daniel looked for
something to do. None of the hundred and
one jobs that were waiting for him held any appeal. Nor did the prospect of hanging around until
Scott and Claire returned. He didn’t want to see them rosy-cheeked and full of
a joint enthusiasm for whatever adventure they had been involved in, not now
that he had started to worry about how well they seemed to be getting along.
Why hadn’t he given Scott a thought when he had moved heaven
and earth to get Claire to Dolphin Key? How could he have been that
stupid? How could he have placed her in
an everyday situation with someone who, he knew from the gossip he had picked
up from Beth, was so high up there in the male attraction stakes that he was
like a walking, talking babe magnet. And as far as he could tell, Scott milked
it for all he was worth, the same as any red-blooded man would unless he was
hooked on a tall, slim woman with a cloud of blue-black hair and an enchanting dimple
at the corner of her mouth.
In the past Daniel had seen Scott work a room full of female
tourists to such effect that the organization was better off to the tune of
several hundred dollars by the time he had finished. At the time he had found
it amusing, but now that he was worried Scott might target Claire, he didn’t
feel like laughing one little bit.
“Are you okay?” Beth peered at him over the top of the
glasses she wore when she was working.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Just tell Scott I’ll come back later on this afternoon so we can go
over the figures for the work we’re doing with the university.”
“But…” Beth didn’t finish what she was about to say. Instead she watched his retreating back in
puzzlement. He and Scott had
such an idyllic start to her day.
Watching dolphins
while I eat breakfast and drink freshly squeezed orange juice she texted to
Jenny, hoping that would be sufficiently exotic to distract her friend from her
self-imposed role as marriage broker. She had already sent Claire a stream of messages, most of them asking
whether she and Daniel were an item yet.
Just as well she doesn’t know about the beautiful Scott or
I’d never get any peace at all, Claire smiled to herself as she pressed the
send button. Then she collected her belongings and set off for her second
working day.
* * *
It started with Scott suggesting they visit the local
Wildlife Refuge. “I know you’ve lots of reading to do,” he said. “But it’s not
the same as actually seeing the birds in their own habitat. You need to do it several times in
succession, and at different times in the day, so that you develop a feel for
the place.”
“Does that mean I get to sail the dinghy again?” Claire
asked.
He gave her a startled look. “Have you been out in it already?”
“Well yes…Daniel took me out to look at the white pelicans
yesterday morning. Didn’t he say?”
“No, but no matter. At least you’ve seen them already so I can concentrate on showing you
some of the other wildlife that’s out there. And yes, you will get to sail the
dinghy again, because you need to become proficient enough to take it out on
your own. This week is not too bad but
soon the place will be so overloaded with tourists we’ll be lucky to find time
enough to talk to one another, let alone spend a whole morning together at the
Refuge.”
* * *
Beth was too involved with a series of phone calls to
acknowledge the fact they were leaving the office together, so when Daniel
arrived forty minutes later she didn’t have the slightest idea where they’d
gone.
“They might have gone to the islands,” she guessed. “Or maybe Scott is just showing her around
the area.”
Thwarted in his attempt to see the woman who had invaded his
dreams so badly the previous night that he had eventually given up all pretense
of sleeping and been out in his boat well before sunrise, Daniel looked for
something to do. None of the hundred and
one jobs that were waiting for him held any appeal. Nor did the prospect of hanging around until
Scott and Claire returned. He didn’t want to see them rosy-cheeked and full of
a joint enthusiasm for whatever adventure they had been involved in, not now
that he had started to worry about how well they seemed to be getting along.
Why hadn’t he given Scott a thought when he had moved heaven
and earth to get Claire to Dolphin Key? How could he have been that
stupid? How could he have placed her in
an everyday situation with someone who, he knew from the gossip he had picked
up from Beth, was so high up there in the male attraction stakes that he was
like a walking, talking babe magnet. And as far as he could tell, Scott milked
it for all he was worth, the same as any red-blooded man would unless he was
hooked on a tall, slim woman with a cloud of blue-black hair and an enchanting dimple
at the corner of her mouth.
In the past Daniel had seen Scott work a room full of female
tourists to such effect that the organization was better off to the tune of
several hundred dollars by the time he had finished. At the time he had found
it amusing, but now that he was worried Scott might target Claire, he didn’t
feel like laughing one little bit.
“Are you okay?” Beth peered at him over the top of the
glasses she wore when she was working.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Just tell Scott I’ll come back later on this afternoon so we can go
over the figures for the work we’re doing with the university.”
“But…” Beth didn’t finish what she was about to say. Instead she watched his retreating back in
puzzlement. He and Scott had
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