The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (55 page)

She looked peeved, ‘what and admit that I’m a wimp, a wuss, a big girl?’ She panted,

you think I’m not up to it, you think I’m a feeble, insipid female who faints clean away at the drop of a hat. ‘

He was taken aback but grinned and said, 'there are only two adjectives in all you’ve just said that I agree with.’

‘Wuss? Wimp?

‘No, big.’

She stuck her tongue out and he screwed up his nose, ‘that’s very unladylike.’

She crossed her eyes and he laughed. ‘I meant “girl and “female”.” Someone who can walk fifteen miles in one afternoon is obviously no wimp or wuss, or indeed insipid or feeble.’

‘Come to think of it, it was further than fifteen miles, more like sixteen.’

‘
Definitely
no wimp or wuss.’

She laughed then cleared her throat. He said, ‘well, I must be a wimp or a wuss because I’m suffering too, let’s sit here a moment.’ He sat down on a rock and patted the space next to him and she sat down. He didn’t even seem out of breath and had hardly broken a sweat, so she knew this was his way of getting her to take a break and she was grateful. She was very thirsty so had been taking constant sips from her water bottle and now had hardly any left. Acting all strong and resilient was one thing, keeping it up in this heat was something else. He took off his sandals and shook the sand from them saying, ‘you’ve hardly any water left, I have two in my bag, help yourself.’

She thanked him and opened his bag feeling around for a bottle of water but instead her hand gripped something else, something cold and metallic. She pulled it out but when she saw what it was she gasped and immediately dropped it back in the bag then jerked back as though it had stung her. He said, ‘it’s all right, the safety’s on.’ He cursed himself for forgetting the gun was in there. He must concentrate on his job and not on her and her fine ass, her ample bosom and her tanned legs.

She said, ‘I’m sorry, I just…it was just the shock, I hope it’s not broken.’

He grinned, ‘doubtful, guns don’t break very easily.’

‘That’s good.’

‘I’m sorry if it gave you a fright, but I did tell you that I take a weapon with me most places; especially if I’m going into uncharted waters,’ he glanced around, ‘excuse the pun.’ He picked up the bag and retrieved the water bottle which he handed to her. She thanked him and drank thirstily still shaken from unintentionally touching a gun for the first, and she hoped, last time. He smiled and said, ‘I’m honoured that you didn’t wipe the top before taking a drink.’

‘Oh didn’t I? How unhygienic.’

He chuckled and took the bottle from her taking a large swig then handed it back to her. She looked mischievously at him from under her eyelashes then she too drank from the bottle. 'Now we’re both honoured, either that or we’ll both get colds.’

He laughed and she smiled and standing up said, ‘if you’re quite finished wimping and wussing, shall we continue with our walk?’

He gave her a mock aggrieved look before getting up. He had to admire her tenaciousness, she was certainly game for anything, well, not anything, not yet. A short time later they arrived at the Fort. Hennessey was right there was more shade here hence it was cooler.

They walked around and Adela admired everything and asked a lot of questions of the tour guide. Hennessey was amused by her enthusiasm as was the tour guide.

They spent a very pleasant ninety minutes looking around until Hennessey convinced her she had seen everything they could possibly see in the fort. They found a place to sit and drink a glass of refreshing lemonade before heading back to the ferry, which left at five.

As they walked suddenly she grabbed his arm and cried, ‘look, oh look, dolphins.’

He turned to look where she was pointing and sure enough there they were two dolphins leaping in and out of the water, obviously having fun and showing off to the watching crowd. They stood and watched as the dolphins performed their tricks.

Hennessey turned to Adela watching her face as she in turn was watching the show laughing, completely delighted and enraptured by what she saw. Then she seemed to sense he was looking at her and turned to him. She looked a little embarrassed as she saw him smiling at her enthusiasm. She said, ‘I’ve lived by the sea all my life and never seen a dolphin, and I’ve been here five days and seen two. This must be my lucky place.’

He stared at her for a moment, amused and inexplicably moved by her. But at the same time he was thinking, if you mean bad luck lady then yep, lucky all right.

He said, ‘I don’t want to rush you but we only have forty five minutes to catch the last ferry.’

She seemed reluctant to leave. He said, ‘unless you would like to stay and camp here for the night.’

She looked at him to see whether he was joking but his face was straight. She decided to call his bluff. ‘Well I would of course, but we don’t have any equipment with us, tent, sleeping bags etcetera.'

‘They hire them out over there,’ he pointed to his right.’

Caught out she said, ‘oh, right. But then if I don’t go back Dean might raise the alarm and the good sheriff will have to gather a search party to come looking for me, then you’ll be arrested.’

‘Me? Why would the sheriff arrest me?’

‘Because he can.’

He slanted his eyes in her direction, ‘you’re probably right about that. But you’d back me up of course and tell him that you were here at your own volition.’

She shrugged nonchalantly.

‘You wouldn’t?’ He asked.

‘I might like to see you arrested for all the teasing you put me through.’

‘How long would I serve for that do you think?’

‘Oh, at least twenty years.’

‘That long huh.’

‘At least.’

‘As horrifying as that prospect is I can’t promise not to tease ever again, I enjoy seeing you blush too much.’

She looked at him in exasperation, ‘oh you.’

He laughed and after a moment she joined in then said, ‘you know I actually meant it, I really wouldn’t mind camping out here.’

He looked surprised at her admission, ‘really, you’d like to camp on the island?’

‘Not by myself, ‘she laughed and he smiled. She went on, ‘I wonder what it’s like at night here.’

His smiled faded and he seemed reflective as he said, ‘it’s actually pretty quiet.’

She picked up on his sudden change of mood, ‘you’ve camped out here?’

He nodded, ‘when I was a kid.’

‘Who were you with?’

‘No one.’

‘No one, you mean you came here as a child all by yourself, at night.’

He turned away so that she couldn’t see his expression and said quietly, ‘it was necessary.’ He said those three words in such a way that Adela instinctively knew that it was the end of that conversation.

She sensed the change in him, he was thoughtful and preoccupied and she wondered what it was that had made it necessary for him to spend time on the island alone when he was only a child. They didn’t speak much as they walked and she was disappointed that he had lost his bantering air.

Once on board the ferry he reverted back to his earlier mood and talked to her about the day and asked if she had enjoyed her visit to
Ship Island and Fort Massachusetts.

She assured him that she had enjoyed herself very much and asked him the same question. He said that although he had been to the island many times he had never enjoyed it as much as he had today. But maybe it was the company that had made it so special then he had laughed when she said, “oh you.”

She was pleased that he had regained his earlier good spirits as for Hennessey he cursed himself for falling into his own trap. His plan had been to get her to go camping with him, not Ship Island but somewhere more isolated, where they could be really alone, with no interruptions. Where they could spend the night, maybe even in the same tent.

He had a plan in mind for just that particular contingency. But when she had asked if he had ever camped on the
Island it had brought back those memories, those memories he had thought long forgotten, buried deep in his subconscious. Perversely he had blamed her for causing him to recall that time, although he should have known that going back to Ship would have done that anyway, even coming back to Gulfport should have been enough to thrust him back to that time. But he had deemed it worth the risk, he had thought that as long as he stayed away from Crystal Springs he would be all right, that he was strong enough now to deal with anything, apparently he had underestimated the strength of his memories and overestimated his willpower.

He was brought out of his reverie by Adela saying, ‘you mentioned earlier about your cousin’s wedding, when exactly is that?’

He smiled pleased; he knew that she was trying to discover when he would be leaving Eden. He said, ‘the wedding is in three days.’

He saw the disappointment in her eyes and was sure she thought he might accompany her on the next leg of her tour.

They were watching Gulfport coming closer; he turned to face the other way and leaned back on the rail. He decided to turn the screws a little and said, ‘but I think I’ll get there a little earlier, make sure my cousin doesn’t do anything stupid on his bachelor night. I should really leave tomorrow.’

‘Oh.' Was all she said but there was a wealth of meaning in that one small word.

‘I never really intended to stay this long in Mississippi; I intended to make my way slowly to North Carolina. But something happened and I was irresistibly compelled to stay.’

‘Oh what was that? The soft beds in the Horse and Hind? The karaoke? Annie Bloom’s warm welcome?’

He looked sharply at her but her expression was impassive. He said, ‘well Annie Bloom does have that certain attractiveness and allure of the older woman, I was instantly drawn to her obvious experience.’

Her head snapped round to look at him but in an imitation of her his face was also impassive. She looked at him with disdain then made a “huh” sound and said, ‘well it’s up to you of course, but personally I think she’d kill you.’

His lips twitched as he said, ‘but what a way to go.’

She looked away from him to conceal the laughter she felt rising in her. He watched as her shoulders began to shake then she turned to him and laughed out right and he joined in.

She said, ‘you’re an awful man, making fun of that nice woman.’

‘Who said I was making fun?’
She pushed him and he staggered back a step then laughed again, ‘anyway you know damn well who I meant, so stop fishing.’

Her face flushed and she said, ‘you’re daft.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Daft, it’s another word for silly, an idiot, a nincompoop.’

‘I get your point. But daft, I like that, “full stop” and “daft,” that’s two sayings I’ve leaned since I met you, my vocabulary will be twice as big by the time we say goodbye.’ She smiled but to his great satisfaction there was undeniable regret in her eyes. He turned around and looked out across the sea to where Gulfport approached. He cast a glance in her direction and it was as though he could read her mind, although that wasn’t too hard she was in fact very easy to read. He knew she was thinking that when they docked he would go his way and she would go hers and they would never see each other again, or rather she was thinking
she
would never see
him
again. He deliberately let her stew for a few minutes then said, ‘do you fancy dinner some place?’

He was gratified at the look of relief mingled with pleasure that was in the look she gave him. She immediately tried to cover it with humour but it was too late. ‘But what about Annie? She’ll be so disappointed that you won’t be spending your last night in
Eden with her.’

He shrugged, ‘I know, but what can a good looking man in demand do? He has to choose.’

‘She put her hand against her chest and fluttered her eyelashes and in a breathy voice said, ‘and you chose me, why, I don’t know what to say, this is so sudden, I’m overwhelmed.’ She fanned herself as if about to swoon.

He pursed his lips and said, ‘all right, I know when I’m beaten, Miss. Over Actor.’

She giggled and he felt that strange tickling sensation at the back of his neck he had experienced before when she giggled like that. He said, ‘so, what’s your answer?’

‘I’d love to have dinner with you, thank you. But…’ She hesitated.

‘But what?’

‘Well, and please don’t get annoyed, but you paid for dinner last evening and for the pub grub and also for everything today so please let me pay for dinner tonight. It’s not that I’m some sort of feminist who hates a man being in control. No, it’s just that I want to thank you for everything, for your company and for arranging this wonderful day. Please.’

He looked into her eyes and she held her breath wondering whether he would get angry. He said, ‘I don’t want you to pay me back for today or any other time,’ then he smiled, ‘but I accept your offer to pay for dinner and thank you.’

She let out a sigh of relief that he hadn’t acted as he had the other evening when she had offered to pay for dinner. She gave him a bright smile, ‘thanks.’