"Trying to get rid of me again?"

She closed her eyes briefly against the injustice of it all. "I am not trying to get rid of you." Each word was enunciated with great care. She felt Jed's big hand close around her arm and opened her eyes to find him standing very close.

"I'm glad you're not trying to ditch me," he murmured, "because I'm not ready to leave yet."

"Why not?"

"Take a guess." He tugged her lightly into his arms.

Instinctively, Amy's hands lifted. Her fingers slid up along his forearms and she heard him suck in his breath as she touched the long scar above his elbow. "Jed? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He tightened his grip on her, intending to pull her closer.

But Amy had felt the heat around the newly healed wound. She touched him again, lightly. "There is something wrong. Come inside. I want to have a look."

"Amy, just leave it alone, will you?"

"No." She wrapped her hand around his wrist and drew him into the bedroom. He sighed impatiently but didn't argue as she pulled him through the shadows into the bathroom where she quickly flipped on the light. Instantly she saw the reddened area around the scar. "There's a clinic in the village. Tomorrow when we take my parents to the airport we'll stop in and have someone look at this."

"There's no need. It'll be fine."

She frowned at him. "Don't be silly. It will only take a minute and there's no sense taking chances. Why didn't you tell me you were having trouble with this arm?"

"Because I wasn't having trouble with it."

"When did it start getting red like this?"

"This evening," he growled. "I'm sure it will be fine by morning. Now, if you've finished playing nurse, let's get back to what we were discussing on the veranda."

She ignored him. "You probably shouldn't have gone into the water this afternoon."

"I'm sure it's got nothing to do with the diving. Amy, normally I like it when you fuss over me, but-"

"I do not fuss!"

He smiled. "Yes, you do. You try not to, but you do it anyway. It's sweet."

"Sweet? You think I'm sweet? Is that how you see me, Jed?" She released his arm and stepped back.

"Amy, I think an unnecessary argument is taking shape here. Let's stop right where we are, back up and start again."

"Not a chance. I'm not in the mood."

"Headache?" he taunted.

She lifted her chin. "Not at all. As it happens, I suddenly feel very sleepy. Given my insomnia habits, I can't afford to ignore any sign of genuine sleepiness. I'm going back to bed."

She swept toward the door before Jed could think of a way to stop her. At the last possible instant he had a thought.

"Amy?"

She paused in the doorway. "What is it?"

"About your sister."

"Sylvia? What about her?"

He took a couple of steps toward her and halted. "Her big announcement about expecting a baby made me realize that we..." He paused, searching for the right words. Finally he gave up. "That we haven't been taking precautions."

"A fine time to start worrying about it."

He heard the asperity in her voice and sighed. "I'm sorry, Amy. I should have thought about it earlier.

We went along for nearly three months as friends and then, all of a sudden, we were more than that.

Things just started happening very quickly between us."

"Don't worry about it, Jed. I know you don't want any strings. I paid a visit to Dr. Mullaney last month and got a prescription."

"Last month!" He was startled. "But nothing happened between us until I came home the last time."

"I know." She smiled faintly in the moonlight. "But I'm not a complete idiot. I knew something was probably going to happen sooner or later."

"And you didn't want to take any chances?"

"Neither of us can afford to take chances, can we Jed?" she asked wryly and turned to go.

"Amy, wait." He caught up with her, catching hold of her wrist. "Do you think I'd make such a lousy father?" Christ, he didn't know what made him ask such a dumb question, but it was too late to call back the words.

To his surprise, Amy didn't respond with the scathing retort he expected. Instead, she touched her finger to his bottom lip, her eyes misty with an expression he couldn't read. "As a matter of fact, Jed, I think you might make an excellent father."

He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He didn't know what to say. Before he could think of anything brilliant, Amy was gone.

He stood staring out into the darkness and thought about private demons. Amy wasn't the only one who had them.

Gloria Slater had herself and her husband packed and ready to leave late the next afternoon. Amy could only marvel at her mother's ability to accomplish such miracles, but her father had learned to take the talent for granted over the years. He was relaxed and good natured as he and Jed discussed the vehicle situation. "Follow us into town and return that rusted out rental MacCready gave you. Then you can use our Jeep for the rest of your stay. When you leave the island, just leave the Jeep with MacCready. He'll take care of it until we return."

Jed nodded, swinging suitcases into the back of the Jeep. "All right, sounds like a reasonable plan."

Slater glanced toward the house where both Amy and her mother were taking care of last minute details.

"I'm glad Amy decided to stay a while longer. She needs the vacation."

Jed hoisted another suitcase and asked bluntly, "You don't mind the fact that I'm staying with her?"

Slater regarded him a.s.sessingly. "No," he said quietly, "I don't mind. I have a feeling you'll take care of my daughter."

Jed stowed the last suitcase and turned to face Slater. "You're right. I'll take care of her."

Slater nodded.

The small island hopper plane left for Honolulu around four o'clock. Amy perched on the fender of the Jeep with Jed standing beside her and waved as the plane lifted off the runway. It took a wide, sweeping turn out over the sea and headed for the horizon. When it was almost out of sight, Amy jumped down from the fender and slid into the pa.s.senger seat.

"All right," she announced brightly, "let's make a quick stop at the clinic. It's not very far from here."

She saw the stubborn look in Jed's eyes, but she refused to be deflected from her goal. "I'm not taking no for an answer, Jed. Your arm should be looked at."

He got in beside her. "My arm is okay."

"Your arm is not okay. The scar is still red and I think it should be seen by someone who knows what he's doing. Dr. Stearn is a competent man. He's been running the island clinic for fifteen years."

"I don't doubt his competency. What I doubt is the need to have him look at my arm." Jed let out the clutch with a swift, impatient movement. The Jeep leaped forward.

"Jed, you shouldn't take chances. This is a tropical island. There are a lot of weird organisms floating around in the water."

"You know, a month ago-or even last week-you wouldn't have nagged me like this." But there was a wryly amused twist to his mouth.

"A month ago I was just your friend." she said sweetly. "Friends aren't supposed to nag."

"But lovers are allowed the privilege?"

"Of course. Lovers also have the right to lose their tempers the way you did yesterday after the dive,"

she added magnanimously. "The way I see it, you brought this all on yourself. If you don't like being nagged, you should never have made love to me in the first place."

"The logic of this is defeating me."

"Just drive. And don't forget to have Stearn take a look at your leg, too."

Forty minutes later Amy flipped through the last of the ancient magazines in the clinic waiting room and got to her feet to pace toward the screened window. What was taking Dr. Stearn so long? Perhaps the injury on Jed's arm was more infected than Amy had thought. Lani, the nurse, had gone home twenty minutes before. Through the door of the tiny examination room Amy could hear the low murmur of male voices, but they hadn't bothered to inform her what was going on. She was about to go across the street to get some things for dinner at the small grocery store when the examination room door opened. Dr. Stearn, a man in his mid-sixties with a comfortable paunch, a wide bald spot and a bad cigarette habit came through first. He beamed at Amy. Over his shoulder she could see Jed b.u.t.toning his shirt.

"Amy, my girl, good to see you again. It's been a while. I hear your folks just left the island?"

She nodded, smiling. "They're on their way to see my sister and then they're headed for Europe. How have you been, Dr. Stearn?"

He chuckled. "Same as always. Nothing changes here on Orleana, you know that. It's one of the reasons I came to stay fifteen years ago. The rest of the world is changing too fast these days. There aren't many places like Orleana where a man can escape. People like me need islands. Thanks for bringing me some business."

Amy laughed. "You're welcome. How is Jed's arm?"

"Oh, nothing too serious. One of the st.i.tches wasn't removed and was festering under the skin. It probably would have emerged on its own in a couple of days. St.i.tches are the least of your man's problems. If you want to keep him in one piece you'd better learn to discourage him from playing around with sharp knives and loaded guns. That bullet in the thigh was a close call. A little higher and he might have been singing soprano in a boys' choir."

Amy kept the smile frozen on her face as Jed came into the waiting room. She knew he'd heard the doctor's words. He looked at her, his gaze revealing nothing. He silently and methodically finished rolling up the sleeves of his khaki shirt.

Dr. Stearn turned to slap his patient on the back, giving Jed a comradely, man-to-man look. "Just keep the wound clean for a couple of days. You won't have any more trouble with it, I'm sure. I don't see any problem with diving in a day or two."

Jed nodded, his eyes still on Amy's politely smiling face. "Thanks, Stearn. I'll take care of it."

"You do that." The doctor turned to nod once more to Amy. "So long. Take care of yourself, Amy.

I hear you're a big-time writer now?"

"Not exactly big time. More like very small time."

Stearn chuckled. "That's not the way your father tells it. He's very proud of you. After all those years of wondering whether you were ever going to find yourself, he's quite relieved to see you settling down to a genuine career. Even if it is something flaky like writing science fiction."

"Good-bye, Dr. Stearn," Amy said politely.

'Take your man home and give him a drink. Nothing like a little alcohol to disinfect things, eh, Glaze?"

"Thanks for the advice." Jed didn't move, though. He was staring at Amy, waiting for her to take the lead.

Amy nodded once more to the doctor, then turned toward the screen door. "Come on, Jed, I think Dr.

Stearn is right. Let's go have a drink."

He followed her slowly into the late afternoon sun. When he realized she wasn't heading for the Jeep, he fell into step beside her.

"Where are you going?" His voice was tight and clipped.

"For that drink Dr. Stearn recommended. Don't worry, Hank and Rosie don't serve white wine." She moved briskly along the sidewalk, past the small shops that were being closed up for the evening.

Several people nodded to her in greeting.

Jed said nothing as Amy led the way down to the waterfront. She made for the familiar, ramshackle, open air bar that overlooked the quay. The comfortably worn interior was already filling up for the evening. Several of the locals waved at Amy as she headed toward a table near the railing.

Jed sat down slowly, still apparently riveted by her calm, remote expression. Tension crackled in the air.

Silence stretched between them for a long moment and then he said quietly, "Stearn has a big mouth."

Amy looked out over the fishing boats bobbing in the harbor. "Maybe I should have known all along that you weren't really an engineer. You never talked about your work. I guess I just didn't want to ask too many questions. I was afraid of the answers."

"And now?"

"Now I feel rather like a wife whose husband comes home with a venereal disease. It's impossible for her to pretend any longer that he's not having an affair with another woman. The issue is out in the open.

Who do you work for, Jed? The government? The Mafia? Or are you just a freelance mercenary?"

Chapter Eight.