A Time To Love by Barbara Delinsky

Author:Barbara Delinsky
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780061841873
Publisher: HarperCollins

It was a tribute to how far she had indeed come. When she had first arrived on St. Maarten, had first encountered the sharp eye of Christopher Howe, she had cringed and cowered. Now she lay freely and openly beside him on the sand, clad in nothing but the small bottoms of a beautiful brown bikini. And, to her lingering astonishment, she felt perfectly at ease.

The aftermath of that morning was an afternoon of soul-searching as Arielle, alone in her cottage, tried to understand the changes that this vacation had wrought. It was as though the ugly duckling had finally seen her reflection. Though she would never believe herself a true beauty, she did feel beautiful—new, wild, and sensuous. Chris had done these things for her, had been her very flattering mirror. Would she once more become that old, very proper self once she returned to Rockport?

Determination that such should not be the case filled her. Impulsively, she climbed behind the wheel of the Chevette and followed the familiar road into Marigot, pulling up before the very shop in which Chris had purchased the bikini. An hour later, when she emerged from the exclusive store, her arms were laden with bundles, her wallet relieved of a number of traveler’s checks, and her conscience free of all guilt. Smiling, she felt alive and soaring, a bird winging its way upward on a warm current of air. It seemed that nothing could dim her pleasure . . . until she arrived back at the villa to find a dark and ominous cloud hovering on her doorstep.

“What is it, Chris?” she asked in alarm, jumping from the car and approaching his taut form.

“Where have you been?” he yelled, frustrated and cross, his narrowed gaze a razor-sharp edge.

The smile that had softened her lips throughout the afternoon became a thing of memory. “I was in Marigot,” she explained softly, frowning. “What’s the matter?” Her whisper carried its share of fear. Though Chris had showed signs of temper from time to time—most recently this very morning—he now seemed unreasonably agitated. If only he would explain.

Straightening, he towered menacingly before her. “I was busy working in my darkroom when the mailman delivered this!” He produced a letter from his back pocket and thrust it into her hand. At a glance, Arielle saw her id on its front. But she quickly looked up at Chris, knowing that there had to be more—which there was. “Not only did I rush to the door and ruin the print I was working on at the time—a very special print, one I’d already spent a good deal of time with—but by the time I returned, there was no water.”

“No water?”

“You heard me,” he growled as though she were in some way at fault. “No water.”

Her brows drew together in puzzlement. “I don’t understand. You mean, the water simply stopped running?”

“That’s it!” His unrelenting anger kept her in a state of bewilderment.

“I didn’t do anything to the water,” she offered lamely, shrugging to show her innocence.

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