Diana Palmer - Escapade

The difference between the two brothers was striking: one blond and tan and handsome, the other a little shorter with brown hair. But both had dark eyes, and their builds were equally strong.

Brad held up his hand and grinned before Josh could speak. “I know I’m risking assorted body parts, but isn’t she a little dish? She speaks French and likes to go riding on her father’s Arabians, and she thinks that men are perfection itself!” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Josh was amused, but only briefly. “She’s engaged to one of the Rothschilds, and her father has an army.”

Brad shrugged. “Easy come, easy go. What do you want?”

“Wrap this up,” he said, jerking his head toward the balding sheik he’d been talking to all day. “Tell him the last price I quoted him is rock bottom. He can take it or go home and dust his camels. I haven’t got the time to bargain any further.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Brad asked. “This is an important market.”

“I know it. So does he. But I’m not going to sacrifice my profits. There are other marketing avenues open to us. Remind him.”

Brad chuckled. He loved watching his older brother in action. “I’ll make your wishes known. Anything else?”

“Yes. Get Morrison on the phone. Tell him I’ll want him to fax me those last cost estimates for Anders’s new operation in Montego Bay by midnight. I don’t care if he’s not through,” he interrupted when Brad started to speak. “I want what he’s got by midnight.”

“You got it,” the younger man said with a sigh, his mind drifting away to a disturbing phone call he’d made before coming downstairs. His worries were playing on his mind, but he couldn’t afford to let his brother find out what they were. At least not yet. He forced his attention back to Josh.

The older man misread his expression. He narrowed his dark eyes and smiled sardonically. “You think I’m a tyrant, don’t you, Brad? But business is best left to pirates, and we’ve got two in our ancestry. Cut and thrust is the only way.”

“As long as you’re sure the other guy isn’t wearing plate armor,” Brad reminded him.

“Point taken. I’ll be on the beach with Amanda. How is she?”

“Putting up a good front, as usual,” Brad said. “She’s hurting. Harrison wasn’t much of a businessman and less of a father. Still, blood is blood.”

“Maybe she’s mourning what Harrison never could give her—a father’s love.”

“When I have kids,” Brad said firmly, “they may not get much else, but they’ll get that.”

Josh turned away abruptly. “I’ll be on the beach.” He nodded politely to the balding Arab and left.

Moonlight sparkled on the softly moving water near the white sand. Amanda was standing in the surf, her shoes in one hand, her hair blowing in the breeze. There was the scent of blooming royal poincianas and hibiscus and jasmine in the night air.

Because of the noise of the surf, she didn’t hear him approach until he was right beside her. She looked up, her green eyes faintly covetous on his tall, powerful body in the elegant dark evening clothes. The white of his shirt made his tan seem even darker. She’d known this man forever. All the long years of her cloistered childhood she’d admired him. Through his public and private affairs, through the anguish of her home life, it was dreams of Josh that had kept her sane. He didn’t know. That was her secret.

“Sorry I ran away,” she said, feeling the need to apologize in case she’d seemed rude. He’d been kind to her, and she felt ungrateful. “I’ve got a rotten headache.”

“Don’t apologize,” he replied. “I hate the damned noise myself, but it was unavoidable. They’ll all be gone soon, one way or the other.” He looked down at her. “Why did Ted take so long to ask if you needed anything? Is he the reason you came out here?”

She stared at him blankly. “I beg your pardon?”

“Did he do something to make you uncomfortable?” he asked impatiently. “He’s too outspoken sometimes.”

She laughed in spite of herself. “As if he ever would. Don’t you know how you intimidate your employees?”

He cocked an eyebrow and smiled. “I don’t intimidate you.”

“Ha, ha,” she said. “Then why am I here?”

He shrugged. “You needed a rest. Mirri couldn’t get you out of town, so she called me.” His eyes narrowed. “She’s a good friend. I can’t figure out her wild taste in clothes, but I like her.”

She smiled. “So do I.” She stretched lazily, feeling as safe with Josh as she always had. “I love it here.”

She looked at ease, and that relaxed him. Turning back to the sea, he stuck one long-fingered hand into his slacks pocket and lifted the cigar he’d just lit to his mouth. “I bought Opal Cay for this view,” he remarked. “Prettiest damn stretch of beach and horizon in this part of the islands.”

She had to agree. In the distance, the dark outline of trees on the next island was plainly visible, along with the colorful neon lights of the casino that had been built there. It was one of Josh’s holdings, and he liked looking at it at night. The brilliant lights shone in the thick darkness that clung to the horizon, yet the complex was barely visible in daylight.

“I like trees and sunsets,” she remarked.

“I like the look of money being made,” he mused, watching her.

“That’s rotten, Josh!”

“I love to watch you rise to the bait.” His dark eyes admired the low cut of her sleek silver dress with its thin straps. “You shouldn’t dress like that around this sophisticated crowd,” he cautioned. “No wonder Ted took his time getting back.”

“It’s very modest, compared with what that redhead had on,” she accused, though it pleased her to know he noticed. She wanted to impress him, and she wanted him to see her not as a child, but as a woman.

“That redhead is a stripper.”

“Why did you invite her?”

He shrugged. “One of the sheiks took a liking to her, as they say back home. I didn’t imagine it would hurt the deal to let him bring her along.”

“That’s disgusting,” she said shortly.

His face went bland and vaguely wicked. “No, it isn’t. It’s business.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t worry, they won’t be staying the night,” he said knowingly, and smiled.

She flushed, glad he couldn’t see the color in her face. “Why do you always put me in the room next to the main guest room? The last couple you entertained kept me awake all night. She was a redhead, too. And she screamed,” she muttered.

“And that brings back a memory, doesn’t it?”

She hadn’t expected him to bring it up. In eight years they’d never talked about it. She shifted her stance, trying not to let him see her face.

“Aren’t you going to answer?” he chided.

“There’s nothing to say. What I saw happened a long time ago.”

He put his smoldering cigar in his mouth and forced the broad tip back into bright orange life. “It isn’t a memory I like,” he said gruffly. “It shamed me to know you’d seen me with Terri on the beach. I was aroused enough to be careless.”

“I didn’t even realize you were out there with her,” she replied tersely. She tried to blot out the memory of Josh’s aroused, nude body poised over Terri’s writhing form, but it was impossible.

She looked away, shivering with reaction. How that memory had haunted her, the sight of his big hand on Terri’s hips as he’d jerked her up to him in a sharp rhythm. When she’d cried out and convulsed, Amanda had been horrified. Then Josh had found his own satisfaction and the sight had burned into her brain like acid. She’d run away, so fast, trying to escape the erotic images.