Paradise Wild by Johanna Lindsey

Author:Johanna Lindsey [Lindsey, Johanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 1981-10-13T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Jared tilted the bottle of rum and took a long drink. He had gone through half the bottle since he had left Corinne in his room. But it didn’t help to drown out the pounding going on upstairs that he was trying desperately to ignore. When the devil would she settle down?

He sat at his desk, pen in hand, trying to compose a letter to Leonaka explaining about his wife, explaining that he would be gone for a few days. The right words wouldn’t come. There was just too much to tell.

Corinne’s baggage from the carriage had been placed in the corner of the room, along with the things she had dropped in the yard. Jared’s eyes kept straying to the corner. A large case, a small one, and a single hat box was all. It didn’t seem to be enough. He just couldn’t picture his stylish wife traveling with so few belongings.

He took another swig of rum and got back to the letter. Soon Ho would deliver it in the morning. In the end, it turned out to be just a short note leaving Leonaka in charge while he was gone. He didn’t say anything about his wife.

An hour later, the bottle empty, and Jared was pacing the room like a frustrated animal. The pounding upstairs had stopped. Was she sleeping?

Her baggage still drew his attention and curiosity. He finally went to examine the contents and was even more puzzled than before when he found only two dresses and some underthings in the large case, powders, rouge, and perfumes in the smaller case, and just one hat in the hat box. Where were the jewels she had mentioned earlier? Or the dress she had worn last night?

He knew the answer. These things had come from the hotel, that’s why she had them with her. The rest of her clothes must be at that house up in Punchbowl, where Drayton stayed. So she had obviously spent a good deal of time there. Somehow the thought of her living with the man she seemed to love was worse than her bedding countless strangers at her hotel. But for the life of him, Jared couldn’t explain why.

Jared looked up at the ceiling, knowing she was just above him. For a moment he considered going up there and having his way with her. She wouldn’t like that. She had shown the whole island that she preferred any man except the one she married. He started towards the stairs, then stopped abruptly.

What was the matter with him? Corinne was the last woman he wanted. She had used her body for revenge against him, had purposely let other men have her, not because she wanted them, but just to even a score. He wouldn’t touch her, no matter how damnably desirable she might be. She meant nothing to him.

“So why don’t I just let her go and be done with it?” he asked himself aloud.

Jared went back into the living room and hunted out another bottle of rum, then dropped down on the sofa.

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