Page 47 of Strangers She Knows

Yes, Jamie had him cornered here, and the only way he could slip away was to waste his life with drugs and alcohol.

“I’m set up in Paradise Cove.” At the far end of the island fromthe folks up at the big house.“I think I found Bill’s spot from last year. Protected from the weather, if there is any, by the boulders and that overhang?” She looked at Dylan for confirmation.

He nodded sagely. “Been there. Used to visit Bill there.”

She placed her hand briefly on his knee and stood. “That’s all, then. I’ll be off. I’ve got seaweed to inventory and peregrine eggs to count.” She needed to look like she was doing the work, and besides, with nothing else on the agenda, she might just do it.

Jamie followed her to the door. “Be careful. Three years ago, we had an intern get too close to the nest. The mother dove, talons out, and slashed him across the cheek. Just missed his eye. He got an infection and had to be medevaced out.”

Mara faced Jamie. “You can’t blame her. A mother will fight to the death for her chick.”

“You can depend on that,” Jamie said.

“Oh, I am.”

Jamie surveyed her husband, sprawled on the couch, smiling at his boner like it was a thing of beauty. When they met, he was all charm and ambition, telling her what she wanted to hear.

Liar. And loser. He was both of those, and a drunkard and wastrel to boot.

Yet if she wanted to stay here, she was stuck with him. The Di Lucas demanded a couple to care for the island, and justifiably. One person couldn’t handle the maintenance, although she did the majority of the work, and if one of them got hurt, the other would have to deal until help arrived.

Shehopedif anything happened to her, Dylan would be sober enough to do just that.

“Are you going to tell the folks up at the big house that the intern has arrived?” She waited, hoping he wouldn’t say exactly what she anticipated.

“Why tell them anything?”

He never changed.

“Honey, come on over here.” He patted his lap. “Let’s…talk.”

Like she needed him pawing at her because Miranda had turned him on. Jamie didn’t budge. “We tell the big house folks because that’s the rules, and the Di Lucas make the rules. This is the only job we’ve got. I’m not getting fired over that woman.”

“She’s a nice girl.” He was still smiling at Jamie, trying to cajole her.

So drunk he couldn’t stand up and chase her around, not even for sex. “If she’s a graduate student, she’s got to be around twenty-six. She’s no girl. Look, Dylan, you want to tell them or shall I?”

“Tell who about what?”

The bad part was—he wasn’t faking confusion. “Did you take the food basket up to the house yet?”

His eyes shifted to the side. “I don’t remember.”

“I’ll take it up and tell them.”

“You hate to go up there.”

“You didn’t do it, so I have to.”

He put his head on the back of the couch and watched her out of slitted eyes. “I don’t know why you loathe them so much.”

“Then you haven’t been paying attention!”

He groaned. “Sorry I mentioned it.”

“Rich people! They’re scum, a drain on the environment. Here we’re trying to save one tiny spot on the earth and keep it pristine, and they arrive and use up the resources—for avacation.” Jamie did loathe them, all the rich people, the ones who treated the earth as if it was an endless resource for their pleasure. “They’re here to see about turning Isla Paraíso into a resort. People tromping all over the island, littering the beaches, shooting at the native birds—”

“Um, they said something about a restricted place for some people to, um, view the untouched land and resources to properly appreciate—”

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