Fiona Harper - Save the Last Dance - The Ballerina Bride / Invitation to the Boss's Ball

Or was that just wishful thinking, that same disease that had plagued the character she’d brought to life on stage less than a week ago? Mermaid thinking. And that girl hadn’t really known when to give up and let go of the dream, had she? She’d let her hopeless desire for the wrong guy rob her of her very life.

‘Much better,’ she said, ignoring that thought. ‘How long until we reach our camp?’

Finn scrunched up his face and peered into the never-ending greenness in front of them. While he was working it out, her empty stomach decided to voice its displeasure with a loud and rather unladylike growl.

‘About an hour,’ he said, turning back to her. And then he smiled. ‘Why don’t we see if we can find some food along the way?’

CHAPTER SIX

‘HOW about a snack?’ Finn asked and waited for Allegra’s answer.

Dave, who had been on enough adventures with Finn to know exactly what sort of snack might be on the menu, positioned himself and his camera accordingly.

‘I’m ravenous,’ she said quickly.

Good. With what he had in mind, she’d need to be.

He kicked the rotted fallen tree he’d found with his boot and watched it crumble. Just as he’d hoped, when he cleared the bark away he found some grubs squirming there, bright and pearly-white against the dark wood. He picked a couple up and popped them in his mouth as if they were lemon drops.

‘Great source of protein,’ he said, before biting down into the firm flesh, feeling everything squelch out. He then got it down as quickly as possible. He grinned at his disciple, hoping he’d convince her to give them a go. No point in telling her they tasted like feet.

From the look on Allegra’s face, Finn knew that if she’d had any breakfast this morning, this would have been the point when she would have lost it.

He picked another wriggling grub up and offered it to her. She took a large step back.

Come on, Allegra. You’ve surprised me at every turn so far today. Don’t buck the trend and disappoint me.

‘You said you were ravenous.’

Allegra didn’t respond. She was too busy staring at the small creature tickling his palm.

‘It’s no big deal,’ he added, conveniently pushing aside his first memory of doing the same, when he’d decorated a fellow soldier’s boots.

‘I know you can do this,’ he said, lowering his voice to coax her further. ‘You’ve got it in you. All you need to do is choose to believe you can.’

Her eyes flicked up and held his gaze with an intensity that startled him. She inched a little closer. Not much, but a little.

‘Do you believe I can?’ She said it quietly and if he hadn’t known any better, he’d have thought he’d detected a tremble in her voice.

He glanced down at the grub, still blissfully unaware of its potential fate, and then back at her.

‘Yes,’ he said simply, knowing he was telling the truth.

Allegra’s mouth twitched as if he’d said something funny. Something funny and slightly wonderful. ‘You really believe I’ve got it in me to pick up this…thing…pop it in my mouth and chew?’

He nodded. ‘Yes. One hundred per cent.’

Something odd happened then. Her eyes sparkled, just as they’d done when she’d been standing on top of the island, drinking in all the beauty. They were full of wonder and promise and something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Didn’t matter, though. She looked amazing.

Without blinking, trapping him with her eyes, she pinched the grub between thumb and forefinger and threw it into her mouth. No hesitation. Then she clamped her lips together and moved her jaw.

He saw on her face the moment the larvae exploded and she got the full experience, but she didn’t open her mouth and spit anything out until her throat had moved and the ‘snack’ was gone. Then she braced her hands on her knees, bent over and coughed and spluttered.

Finn felt a pang of guilt as he clapped her on the back. ‘Probably should have warned you about the taste, huh?’ he said.

‘You don’t say,’ Allegra replied hoarsely before pulling herself upright again.

Finn laughed.

Brave, and funny, too.

Allegra Martin was shaping up to be the perfect castaway companion.

Allegra eyed the night vision camera bolted to the tree opposite the shelter entrance suspiciously. ‘How much can that thing actually see?’ she asked Finn as he dumped yet another bundle of palm leaves into her waiting arms.

He shrugged. ‘Everything. Why?’

She turned and spread the dry leaves on the top of the bamboo poles. This was at least the third layer. Finn had better be telling the truth about it being more comfortable this way. If she found out it was going to be as ‘okay’ as eating the bug had been, she’d kill him with his own machete.

A shudder ran up her spine and she couldn’t help wiping her tongue against her lips a few times. She could still taste the vile little creature, and she hated to think what it must have excreted inside her mouth to make it taste so bad. She shuddered again.

‘No reason,’ she replied as she finished spreading the leaves across the shelter floor.

‘That means you’ve got to behave yourself!’ he added. It was just a throwaway comment—he didn’t even look at her. Nothing in it. Just one of Finn’s jokes.

Instantly she spun back around and played with the bedding, flushing hot and cold. ‘You should be so lucky,’ she muttered, doing a passable imitation of not at all bothered.

She didn’t want to banter like this with Finn, even if it showed he was starting to feel comfortable around her. Teasing was too close to flirting, and flirting was too close to pretending she could have all the things that could never be hers.

Chore finished, she straightened and then headed down to the beach, stopping where the dry sand ended. The sun was starting to set, and since their beach faced west she had a ringside view. It made something inside her ache. But in a good way. As if something unused and stiff was waking up.

She sighed. An inadequate response, but it was all she had.

The crew’s speedboat had left more than twenty minutes ago, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to stay close to Finn unless she had to. She let out a hollow little laugh. How totally gauche and pathetic she was. Alone on a desert island with the man of her dreams. She knew plenty of girls who’d jump at the chance to jump onto Finn McLeod, fiancée or no fiancée, but unfortunately she couldn’t.

No. Actually, she wouldn’t. Her choice.

Because she didn’t want Finn to be the sort of man who’d cave so easily when temptation arrived on his doorstep. Because she thought she’d shrivel up and die if he replied, Yeah, honey. Let’s have a steamy tropical fling. He wouldn’t be the man she believed him to be then. At least this way she still had the idea of Finn to cherish.

She shook her head and concentrated on the descending orange disc on the horizon. That at least was all she had hoped it would be. However, the moment it disappeared completely she was forced to retreat up the beach. Night fell quickly here and she needed to get back to the warmth and light of the huge fire they’d built. And Finn, of course.

He’d stoked it up nicely and was cooking some fish he’d caught by sharpening a length of slim bamboo and splitting the end into a star-shaped spear. Allegra was surprised just how filling one fish, some boiled roots Finn had dug up on the trek back to camp and half a coconut could be. Once her stomach was full, her eyelids began to droop.

She stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. When she opened her eyes again, Finn was looking at her.