The Sea Maiden- Steamy Romance Story by Salty Vixen

He watched her from a distance.  She walked from the sea so easily, her body movements easy, smooth, and controlled.  She was naked, but that seemed secondary as he watched. She was so graceful, yet he could see that she was very physically fit, her muscles were sleek, just beneath the surface of her lightly tanned skin. He would have guessed she swam a lot from looking at her.  He had watched as she swam to shore.  And now as she moved from the ocean to land, she was still a graceful creature, he thought.   He set down his binoculars. He didn’t want the sun glinting off the lenses and giving his location away.   He gave one last look at the woman, and then moved to his hovercraft. It floated just above the grassy knoll he had landed on an hour earlier.  He had known she would be here today. And he had just decided to wait for her.

He moved into the hovercraft, and the near silent enjoyed sprang to life again.  He piloted the craft with skill, as he did most things in his life.  He had been raised in the “lap of luxury.” His family had been wealthy for many generations before he came along.  They had made their money in speculations, and later, in investments. And now, he was beyond wealthy.  His grandfather and great-grandfather had then began investing in inventions.  There had been many inventions over the years, but his family had had one ‘pet’ investment, that first his great-grandfather, and later his grandfather, had both become very personally interested in. His father had lost track of the experiment over the years, and then all trace of it had disappeared. It had been only after much research, money and time, which he had finally got the information he needed.

He steered the craft back to the private hover lot behind the beautiful resort hotel on the far side of the island. He had just finished the final paperwork that finalized his ownership of this resort.  It was all part of his plans, which were now, after almost 5 years of searching, coming to a conclusion.

He quickly covered the distance from the lot to the private entrance at the rear of the hotel. He was greeted warily by the employees as he made his way to the penthouse suite he now occupied. They were all concerned about changes he would be making and if they would soon be unemployed.  As he punched the elevator button and turned his access key for the penthouse, he made a mental note to have the manager send a memo stating no changes were anticipated in the near future. He didn’t want anything, such as disgruntled employees, upsetting his plans now that he was so close to his goal.

Once in side the lavish, but still impersonal apartment; he shed his clothes on his way to his bedroom.  He had worn cut-offs and a tank shirt so as to blend in with the other tourists.  Luckily he had seen no one, except her, and he was sure no one had seen him.  The hovercraft was still pretty unusual on this tropical island paradise, even though they were common back on the mainland.

He hurriedly shaved and showered, then dressed in a lightweight, off-white business suit. He was the only one who wore a suit of any kind o the island.  The employees, from the manager on down, were all very casual in their dress.  Lightweight pants for the men with island print shirts, and island print and muumuu’s for the women were the standards of dress for all the employees.

A few minutes later, he entered the manager’s office.  The blond-haired man who had been seated at the desk rose in surprise.  He hurriedly came forward, offering his hand in greeting.

“Good morning, Mr. Wade. Is there something I can help you with?” the manager asked nervously.

Jacob Wade shook his head and motioned for the manager, Tom Holmes, to sit back down. Jake sat easily in one of the chairs opposite his manager of the resort.  He knew Tom, like everyone else, wondered why he had purchased this resort so for from ‘civilization.’

The previous owners, an elderly couple, Bill and Dottie Hesei, had owned the resort for most of their married life. Bill had inherited from his father shortly after his marriage.  The resort had come with a very large portion of the island, but the rest was privately owned.  When he had questioned, casually, about his neighbors, Bill had told him that it was a consortium of some kind.  Jake had dropped the topic but had seen the glances Dottie had nervously exchanged with Bill.  He had asked Tom, and been given the same vague answer.

Jake asked Tom to send out a memo to all employees that no changes were foreseen, and so on, in the near future. He watched as Tom visibly relaxed his posture while he wrote Jake’s instructions.  Then he said that he wanted to have a party.

Tom looked up at him, unable to hide his surprise. “A p-party?”

Jake nodded. “A masquerade party I think, for this coming Saturday. All food and drink will be on the ‘house.'” He heard Tom’s gasp of surprise, but he went on.  “All employees not on duty will be invited, also.”  He ignored his manager’s now gaping, open-mouthed expression. “I’d also like it arranged so that there are split shifts during the time of the party, so that anyone who wants to attend will have the opportunity to do so. Just let it be known that only one drink if they have to work afterwards. Also, let everyone know that it isn’t mandatory that they come. This is just for fun, not business, okay?” He paused as Tom started to furiously write everything down he had said so far. “Contact Dottie and Bill and invite them and their families too.  And spare no expense Tom, no need to cut corners anywhere.  If you have any questions, leave them on my email and I’ll get back to you.”

Jake stood slowly, casually, heading for the office door.  He stopped with the door partially opened. “Oh, and Tom,” he said, keeping his voice deliberately even and controlled. “Could you get me a list of people who live and town, and elsewhere on the island. Maybe we could invite some of them also. This way we can assure everyone that things at the Ilikai resort are going to continue as under the previous owners.”

Tom grinned at his boss. “I think this is a great idea, Mr. Wade, and I know everyone else will too!”

Jake nodded his dark head, a small smile curving his hard, sensual mouth.  “Just get things rolling Tom.  You are in complete charge of things still. Oh, and send that list up as soon as you get it done, okay?”  He left his manager nodding eagerly. He spent the next two hours wandering over the resort interiors and grounds. He would pause to introduce himself to employees and guests that he met. He then returned to his apartment, dressed again in his cut-off jeans, and sat down in front of his computer. He unlocked the desk drawer and carefully withdrew the shining disk. After inserting the disk into the drive, the screen became filled with all the information he had been able to compile so far.

His great-grandfather, whom he had been named for, had met a scientist, researcher in the year 1999. The man had had some ‘crazy’ idea about creating a device that would allow a man’s lungs to function like a fish’ gills.  Most of the scientific community had considered Dr. Arnold Nissen a ‘crack pot,’ a ‘fruitcake’ and of course, a ‘fish out of water.’  But for some equally crazy reason, old Jake Wade had liked the professor and had invested in him, not so much his ideas. He thought the man was capable of some great things. Along the way, the professor had conducted many experiments and he had invented some useful changes to modern diving equipment and made some incredible discoveries about the lungs air exchange capacity below water, and certain depths. A lot of the inventions had been patented and paid off well, even very well, for the professor and his great-grandfather.

And when the professor passed away, his son-in-law, Carl Furling had assumed the research role in the professor’s deluxe laboratory in the small town in Oregon.  And his grandfather had by then controlled the family’s vast fortune.  Old Jake had specifically told him to keep on funding the professor’s research, he had said.  He even made a point to state that he wanted the research, even after the old Prof. died, to still be funded as long as there was someone from the professor’s family to continue it.

And so it had continued, his grandfather had told his son, Jake’s father, and the exact same thing.  And so Jake’s father, Harmon Wade, had still signed all the check’s for the funding. Only by that time, Carl Furling’s son-in-law was carrying on the research. His name was Joseph Carson.  When Jake’s father decided to retire early, he gave his son the same instructions.

But Jake wasn’t like his forefathers’ before him.  He wondered just ‘what the hell’ his family had been financing all these years. The original plans had long ago disappeared; there had never been anything in writing between the old man and Nissen.  Unlike most research projects that received special or private funding, his great-grandfather had not demanded a quarterly progress report.  Jake had soon discovered by digging through what he could find in documentation, that Joseph Carson was deceased, as was his wife Emma. But his father had still signed off the checks.  He then found out that Carson had established a fund that all the checks were paid into with an executor to cash them and administer the funds.  The fund had been established 25 years earlier, but Carson had died 5 years ago.

He could find no documentation when he began investigating deeper and deeper on the research the Nissen project had supposedly planned to conduct.  The private laboratory had closed about 5 years before Carson’s death. There had been no research assistants to be found for interviewing, it appeared that there had only been Carson and his wife. They had died suddenly in an airplane crash. It was their own plane (Jake had grimaced at that- he guessed that was where some of the ‘research’ money had gone!) And the FAA had listed the accident as ‘pilot error’ and no further investigation had been done.

He had continued to dig in his spare time and discovered that they had been on an island in South Pacific, returning to Hawaii, when the plane had crashed on landing. But no matter where he looked, whom he had bribed, the paper trail had ended abruptly.  After two years of further investigation, limited to his free time from management, he had decided to cancel the payment of the checks. He thought that maybe that might cause some reaction, somewhere, with someone.  He had sent an official letter, drafted by the firm’s attorney, stating that according to a verbal agreement between his great-grandfather and Arnold Nissen, since there was no family left to continue the research, he would no longer provide funding.

He had waited to be contacted by the executor of the trust fund about this turn of events.  But he had heard nothing. For 6 months, he had diverted himself with other projects.  But like a siren’s song, he had been drawn back to the mystery. He had begun trying to find out whom, if anyone was drawing from the trust fund. But that had proved impossible to learn anything there.  So, he had purchased the bank.  He had then learned that since Carson’s death, no moneys had been withdrawn or paid out. The principal and interest remained untouched. He had cursed long and hard when that lead had not panned out as he had hoped.  He hated dead-ends.

Again he was faced with the void and the mystery was becoming all consuming. It was his mother, seeing how this mystery was becoming more than a passing interest.  He rarely went out socially, and spent all of free time on this ‘mystery’ as he called it.  His mother was unable to convince him to let it go, so she had suggested he hire a private investigator.  She had said if someone went personally to check out the laboratory site, the town, interview people, maybe that would give him the necessary information he would need to lay the whole thing to rest.

He had hired the best he could find and for awhile nothing came to light until the investigator finally got someone in the FAA to look up the old files.  It was then they learned that at first the crash had been suspected to be some kind of sabotage.  Now why, Jake had wondered, would someone want to murder a 50-year-old research scientist and his wife?

That information had convinced him to keep on looking, and dig deeper. In the beginning, he had been angry with his family being duped, as he told his parents.  The more he learned though, the more curious he had become.  His mother kept trying to convince him to let it go. She had felt sorry for this man and his wife.  To her, it appeared from all the research by the investigator, and her son, they had had no children, no friends.

And then six months ago, the investigator had returned to the small town in Oregon where the Nissen laboratory had been. As Mike Hall, the investigator, had explained to Jake, he had begun to wonder about the fact there had been no child. Usually, Mike had explained, parents set up a trust fund for a child.  So it seemed strange to have a fund established, but for whom? Mike had starting digging further afield, checking out surrounding towns, and birth records. He had discovered that an ‘Emma Nissen’ had given birth to a girl in a small town about 3 hours away from where they lived.  The date of birth had corresponded to a month prior to the date the fund was established.  The only information the hospital had was that the woman was unmarried, the father had been listed as unknown, and no permanent address had been given. And even more odd, Mike had pointed out; the bill had been paid in full on discharge, in cash. But how to trace that baby girl, with who knew what last name, to present times, was a totally new challenge, and one that looked insurmountable. The big break had come from of all people, his mother.

Elise Wade had looked over all the evidence her son had compiled.  Buried in the collection of old photos Jake had found was one of old Jake Wade with Arnold Nissen and his wife. She remembered thinking how young, happy and eager they had all seemed in that old and fading photo. But the woman had caught her eye.  She had had a beautiful, flawless face; her hair sleeked back in a bun at her neck.  And then one day, a few years later into her son’s quest for an answer, Elise had been at her hair salon, waiting for her appointment. A magazine called “Islands” had caught her eye.  It was full of articles and photos about the many islands of the South Pacific. And so she had been flipping through it when all of a sudden she froze. She started in disbelief at the photo. It was of a woman, coming out of the foaming ocean; her hair sleeked back from her face.  She was caught in the photo from the waist up, the rest tastefully concealed by the gently foaming ocean about her. She had looked and the date copyrighted on the photo had been last year.

And yet, this stunningly beautiful young woman was the image of Madeleine Nissen, Arnold’s wife. If this wasn’t Madeleine, then she was her granddaughter, or… 

Elise jumped from her chair and took off at a near run through the salon, and back outside. She hailed a cab and hopped in the first one to pull up. She never saw that Ramon, her stylist, and the salon’s owner had rushed after, calling her name.  Elise Wade was a very valuable customer, and one they didn’t want to lose.  But with the magazine clutched in her hand, Elise had heard nothing.  She directed the cab to her son’s office. 

It had taken her a long twenty minutes to the reach the family’s office block of buildings, in the center of downtown Los Angeles.  Once there, after grossly over paying the cab driver, Elise again was running into the building that held their corporate offices, straight past the security guard.

The security guard greeted her, but to his amazement and for the first time ever, she didn’t answer him back, nor stop to inquire how he was feeling, and how his family was doing.  He knew something had to be seriously wrong.  He automatically pressed the access button on the desk so she could then use the penthouse button to access the top floor where the boardroom and her son’s offices were. 

Elise barely stopped at his administrative assistants’ secretary to ask where her son was, and she was off again, at a near run, into the boardroom. She literally flung open the double doors, only one thought foremost in her mind.  She had found the so-called ‘missing link’ in her son’s ‘god forsaken’ quest, as she referred to it now. Her son, her husband, and all the board members, whom knew her well, were all surprised at the harried manner Elise Wade slammed a magazine down on the boardroom table in front of her son, and then proceeded to pointedly, and repeatedly, stab at the picture of a nude woman.

At first, Jake could only stare at his always calm, sedate and controlled mother, who was now throwing the picture of a nude woman at him. Well, she had been asking a lot more often recently about girlfriends, marriage, and children…  But slowly he looked down and focused on the picture.  At first, beyond noticing it was a naked woman, he had seen the ocean, the obvious tropical setting.  And then, his breath had caught in his throat. For a few seconds, it felt as if he had forgotten how to breathe.  He focused harder on the woman’s face.  God!  How many times had he poured over all the photos he had collected of the old professor and his family over the years, in his search for clues, answers of any kind?

The woman was Madeleine Nissen he thought.  Or rather, the woman had to be the missing child of Joseph and Emma Carson. She could be in her twenties, which would be the right age.  He quickly glanced and saw the picture had been copyrighted just a year ago. He didn’t hear the talking going around him. He didn’t hear his father questioning his mother. He didn’t hear the speculative tone or the words questioning why the CEO was looking at a nude woman during a board meeting.

Jake picked up the magazine without saying a word and just walked out. He did not stop until he had walked the 2 blocks to his penthouse apartment, in another building his family owned, this of very chic, and totally outrageously expensive apartments.  He had settled on his sofa, and just stared at the woman in the photo. He had found the missing link in his search.  He had found the missing child, now a woman.  He couldn’t believe that his quest was over, or nearly over.

He didn’t hear his phone ringing, as time passed, or the answering machine, or his email signaling from his computer. He just stared at the woman in the magazine photo. He couldn’t tell how tall she was, but from the waist up, she was as near perfection as possible, he thought.  Her skin appeared to be flawless, and lightly tanned.  But since her hair was wet and sleeked back, he couldn’t tell the color of it.  He remembered that Madeleine Nissen had been blond. But this woman’s hair appeared to be darker than that.  She didn’t appear to be aware that she was being photographed, her movements seemed to have been captured totally unaware. It was obvious, to him at least, that she was probably totally unaware that she was being watched at all. She was like ‘Venus rising from the sea,’ he thought. Her breasts were full, round, perfect. He could tell that her nipples were peaked and distended from the coolness of the water. Her waist was slender, and was just starting to curve into rounded hips, when the ocean concealed the rest of her from view. He thought that she was the kind of woman wars would be fought over, in ancient times. He wondered what kind of woman she was.  Was she bold and independent, or was she retiring, happy to stay at home and care for her husband and children?  He felt an ache cut through him just seconds after the last thought.  He didn’t want to think of her having a husband, or children.

This woman, redirecting his thoughts, was sure to hold the answers he sought.  Now, all he had to do was contact the magazine and discover the name of the photographer.  From there, it should be downhill all the way.  “Piece of cake” he thought to himself.  He suddenly became aware of a pounding on his apartment door.  Still holding the magazine, he walked over and opened the door. He was not surprised to find his parents standing there.  His mother pushed past him, as if she thought he would shut the door on them. 

His father spoke first.  “See Elise, he is not on a plane to the South Pacific.  You’ve been worrying for nothing.” He leaned forward to whisper to his son. “Thank God you were here, otherwise we would be on our way to the airport right now to check airlines for who had the last and the next flight out.”

Jake smiled at his dad, then leaned down to let his mother hug him and kiss his cheek. His next words didn’t help matters much though.

“I would have been, Dad, if there had been any identifying markers on the photo, or comments in the articles, but nothing.  I’m calling their editor first thing in the morning to get the name of the photographer and whatever information they might have on this picture.”

Elise took his hand, practically dragging him over to sit beside her on the sofa.  She implored him to forget all of this nonsense. It was no longer important, the money was gone, and they didn’t need it back.  This was a waste of his time, she went on. He was neglecting the rest of his life, for the sake of some unknown person.  “You have become obsessed over all of this, darling, and it has to stop.  Who cares about what happened so many years ago? Jake, it is all in the past, long over and done.” Elise turned to her husband, silently imploring him to add his persuasive abilities to convince their son.

Harmon cleared his throat. “Son, perhaps your mother is right.  You’ve become obsessed with finding out answers that aren’t really important any longer. For some reason, Old Jake believed in Nissen, and he probably should have just given him a chunk of money outright, and be done with it, but he didn’t. They are all long dead now, son, and I don’t give a damn about the money. It’s not as if we ever missed, and we certainly don’t need it now! I wish you would just forget it and drop the whole thing too.”

Jake didn’t say anything for a long time.  He knew his parents were right. This had become an obsession, a quest he couldn’t seem to turn away from, and he had tried, several times to ‘just walk away.’  But something indefinable, like a ‘siren’s song’ kept luring him back, with just a hint more of the truth, just enough to keep him going. His personal life didn’t exist anymore.  He worked, slept, ate and devoted all his free time and energy to this quest of his. And to be honest, he doubted he would be able to walk away, whole anyway, unless he found what he sought.

Jake looked from his father, to his mother.  “I will give this six more months.  If I don’t have her name and location by then, I will drop the whole thing. Okay?”

His father smiled and nodded, slapping him lightly on his back.  Elise though, looked less assured. She had begun to realize that she should never have shown the picture to Jake. But it was too late now. She feared what Jake might learn.  She finally nodded her head also.

And so, it was now almost six months to the day since he had made that promise to his parents.  Jake was so close to the truth, he was so absolutely sure, he almost taste the ‘sweetness of success.’ He still didn’t know her name, but he was confident he soon would. He knew she was here on the island.  He had been watching her every morning, from a secluded position on the beach, for the last two weeks. Almost from the first moment he had arrived, he had been checking out private coves and beaches scattered over the island. He had usually used his silent hovercraft in the early predawn hours, when the sky was still fairly dark, and the sun was not quite cresting the horizon for a new day.  And the morning of the second day he had spotted the beach, he was sure of it.  He had set the hovercraft down in the nearest clearing, and then hiked back to watch the beach from a hidden spot. He knew he could end waiting indefinitely. He had no idea if she was anywhere near there. He felt she was, but he still wasn’t sure.

He had sat hidden for nearly an hour when he heard a sound.  He shifted and turned.  The noise had not come from the beach but from the ocean. Rising from the waves, as she had in the photograph, the woman came. The ocean water rained down her body as she walked gracefully from its depths. She was nude, and she was just as perfect as she had appeared in the photo.  But with the sun coming up, he could tell her hair was a dark red in its wetness, and it nearly reached her waist. She was carrying a large shell in one hand, and what appeared to be some broken coral in the other.  She kept walking, straight out of the water, across the beach, and into the surrounding tropical underbrush that surrounded the area. 

He had sat in stunned silence for the longest time.  How had she gotten past him in the first place he thought?  Could she possibly have swam from the next bay over, but that was probably a mile away, considering you would have to swim out to miss some of the rockier outcroppings of beach.  When he finally regained his sense of composure again, he realized he should have followed her into the underbrush to where she lived. He could have confronted her, demanded his answers and be done with it.

But as he had sat there in the sand, the breeze cool and gentle against his skin, he began to realize that he was probably never going to be able to walk away from this whole thing, and especially the woman he had just seen. He knew nothing about her, but he was as attracted to her as he had never been before to any woman. She had intrigued him long before he knew of her existence.  It was almost as if it had a mystery, waiting for him to unravel, and find the answers, slowly but surely. Almost like he had peeled back one petal of a rose at a time.  And at the center was this woman.  He finally shook his head to clear his thoughts, and headed back to the resort in the hovercraft. But he had returned each morning before dawn since then.

He had contacted the editor of the magazine the very next morning after finding her photo. But the editor could only supply the name of the photographer and the address of his studio. He knew nothing about the photo, except that that one photo had gotten a lot of inquiries. So Jake had once again set Mike Hall on the trail of investigation.  The photographer had turned out to be a freelance, and he was currently out of the country on a photo shoot in Africa. But since according the photographer’s secretary, who answered his studio phone, he was due back the next week; Jake didn’t send Mike to Africa, though he had considered it.

Finally, Mike had contacted the man and learned that the woman’s name was unknown, and the photographer was very reluctant to reveal where he had taken the photo. He admitted he had not obtained the woman’s consent before taking, and then publishing her photo. And he had been trespassing on a private beach. But the photographer was open to monetary persuasion and admitted he had taken the photos on the island of Rotuma, one of the Fiji islands.

Jake had then set Mike off to gather all the information available on this island. And he had paid a visit to the photographer’s studio in New York City. Upon entering the studio though, he had been stopped short by the photo that was hanging opposite the entryway. It was of ‘his woman’ as he was coming to think of her, and the photo was nearly the same as the one in the magazine.  Except this one had been taken probably a minute later in time.  This one showed her to be at knee height in the water, and had been blown up to at least 24 inches in size.

In this photo, her hair was being slicked back by her raised hands, which highlighted her magnificent breasts even more fully than the other photo had done. With the blown up view, it was obvious her nipples were distended, and you could actually see the droplets of water forming on her skin.  But what truly arrested his attention was the fact that she was now nude below the waist, and he could see that she totally nude, all of her pubic hair was shaven away.  There was nothing to hide her beauty from the world.

My God! He had thought to himself, and he had actually felt his knees go weak. A few moments later the photographer came in.  Jake introduced himself and wasting no more time, said he knew the man didn’t have the woman’s permission for publishing her photo.  But then he offered to buy every print and all the negatives he had of the woman. A short time later, Jake left carrying a 2-foot square package, wrapped in brown paper.  And the photographer had enough money to not work for at least 2 maybe 3 years. 

Her photo had hung in his apartment from that point on, in his bedroom, opposite his bed. He had installed a special light to shine on the photo, and he could operate it from his bed. He often awoke in the night and flipped the light on to just stare at the woman.  Once the photo was on his wall, things seemed to change.  He often found himself waking at night, and staring at this woman’s picture.

Mike had quickly gathered information on the island, the small town there and the resort that was the main source of income for the island and it’s residents. It had been a stroke of luck, fate, even Karma, he thought, that the owners of the resort had been talking about selling, but had not anyone interested inquiring yet. So it was not surprising that his generous offer had been snapped up.  Once the plan was in motion, it didn’t take long for Jake’s lawyers and his administrative assistant to close the deal. He had quickly made his plans to move to the island, for as long as it took.  He had reassigned most of the daily business of running the firm to his vice-presidents, and chief operating manager so he could be gone for an indeterminate period.

It wasn’t until the next day, only three days before the party that he got the list of island residents.  On first glance, he didn’t see anyone with the name of Carson.  So he tried again, remembering that Emma Carson had used her grandfather’s name when she gave birth.  And then he saw it. He smiled to himself as he said her name out loud.

“Madeleine Arno.”

People would probably mistake her for French with that name, and that in itself would be one layer of protective covering. She was listed singly, with no family, no children, no husband noted. He smiled. He reread her name again.  Madeleine Arno.  Clever, he thought to himself.  Almost like she was hiding in plain sight.  He decided to invite everyone on the list.  That would be less obvious, and perhaps if she heard that everyone was invited, she would be more likely to attend.

The morning of the party was the first since he had discovered the private beach, which he didn’t go down at dawn to wait for her. But besides wanting to check on everything for the party, he received two surprises in the middle of the day. The noon plane brought three unexpected visitors to the resort. The first ones he saw were his parents. Somehow he had known they would show up to see what he had found out, and how far things had progressed. He got them settled into a nice suite, and then returned to checking over thing for the party a second time. He kept running over and over in his mind just how he would approach her when he saw her at the party. He kept thinking over just what precisely he should say and what he should ask her. Finally, he shrugged knowing that he would get it right when the time came. He did admit to himself though, that he felt like a “gawky, gangly teenager going ‘stag’ to his prom.”

The second surprise was the arrival of Mike Hall. He saw him checking in from across the lobby. When he approached him, Mike greeted him for the first time not as ‘boss’ but as ‘Mr. Wade.’ He had explained that he needed a vacation, and this had seemed like an ‘ideal’ place to spend it. Jake had nodded and wished him a pleasant stay, but he had a gut feeling that Mike was here for more than just a ‘vacation.’ For the first time he wondered if Mike had seen Madeleine’s photo somewhere. He had never said that he had visited the photography studio. He remembered his reactions to the first photo, and then the second. He wondered whether Mike had become interested in more than just the investigation. After all, he admitted to himself, that at this point, it was much more than just needing some answers, that was driving him. He felt the knife of jealousy slicing through him. Mike Hall was younger than he was, only 28 years old, to his own 38 years. He was blond, tanned, and muscular. He had the attractive looks that a lot of women seemed to be attracted to these days.

Jake knew that many women had found him attractive, or they had before he became obsessed with finding Madeleine and the answers he felt he needed to have. He was a bit over 6-foot tall, in good shape (not great he admitted ruefully.) Some women had called his gray eyes mysterious, but he also knew that the number of gray strands in his black hair would soon be outnumbering the black. He had always been confident in his masculinity, and his ability to attract a woman. But suddenly, things were different. He wanted to attract this woman he realized with a start. He could no longer deny to himself that he would walk away once he had his answers. He was beginning to realize that he would not be able to walk away. The stakes were too high.

Jake, dressed as a swashbuckling pirate, complete with eye patch, had spent the first hour of the party greeting the new arrivals. He had not seen her arrive. He had kept looking for her, and he had not seen anyone that resembled her. He decided that everyone was having a good time, so he got a drink and headed to the private beach that belonged to the resort. He had just reached the beach when he stopped abruptly. A woman was standing at the water’s edge, looking out at the moon, hanging heavily over the black water. Her waist length hair swung freely. He knew that she thought she was alone. He crossed the beach silently. When he was but a foot from her, he spoke.

“Hello, Miss Carson.”

The woman froze at his words. He could kick himself. What a stupid thing to do? He had instantly caused her guard to come up.

She turned slowly to face him, and he saw for the first time that her eyes were a blue topaz color, or possibly a blue-green shade. Her full lips were parted as she looked at him. He knew that she was trying to decide what to do in those first few seconds.

Rayne looked at this man and wondered who the hell he was and how he knew who she was. No one on the island knew her real name. God, even she forgot it at times. She decided to deny everything.

“You are mistaken sir. My name is Rayne Arno.” She calmly held her hand out to him, desperately wanting to control of the situation.

Jake watched her in silence for a moment. “Jake Wade, Miss Arno. I am the new resort owner. I don’t remember seeing a ‘Rayne’ Arno on my guest list. I do recall seeing a ‘Madeleine.'” He paused wondering what she would do now.

Rayne nodded. “Madeleine is my first name, but no one ever used it. I have always gone by Rayne. I had heard that the resort had been sold. I had not seen Bill or Dottie for awhile.” She turned to look back out at the ocean, and took a step away from his overwhelming presence. This man was making her more than a little uneasy. In fact, she had very close to leaving the party. Now, more than ever, she was convinced coming here had been a mistake.

Jake stood and looked at her face bathed in the moonlight. The soft breeze stirred the tendrils of hair that curled softly against her cheeks and the sides of her neck. Her dress was a pareu, expertly tied in a knot between her full breasts. He could feel his desire rising for this woman the longer he looked at her. He wanted to reach out and yank that knot free so the silken cloth would fall into a soft pool at her feet, and her beautiful naked would be revealed in the moonlight. Instead he asked, “You looked like you were contemplating a swim. Did the party noise get too much for you too?”

He saw the guilty start she gave at his words. He thought he could see the faint blush that stained her cheeks. A good guest would never insult a host, but he wondered, so far from traditional civilization, if the same rules would apply.

Rayne glanced over at him. “Yes, I was thinking about swimming in fact.” What she didn’t say is that she had been planning on swimming home, which was probably close to 2 miles, swimming around the island, as she would be doing. To say such a thing would invite too much curiosity. And this man was getting too close already. She had to hope that remark about her last name being Carson was a mistake.

Jake next did something he never expected to do. He reached out and lightly touched her bare shoulder, brushing her hair back that had blown forward from the teasing ocean breezes. The touch seemed to have the same effect on them both. It was an electric current that jolted them both. Almost simultaneously, they jumped apart.

After a stilted moment, Jake spoke. “Would you like some company on your swim?”

Rayne turned and smiled for the first time. “You are the host, you are not supposed to run out on your own party.”

He almost confessed he had only had the party to meet her, but he luckily kept that remark inside. He smiled in return. “I doubt anyone will miss me. They are all too busy drinking my food and liquor to notice such a small thing as a missing host.”

Rayne laughed at his jest. She didn’t like it, but this man was making her feel more relaxed all the time. She had lived all her life in secrecy and loneliness. What could it hurt, she thought, for one moment of madness?

He watched in near disbelief as she raised her hands and slowly untied the knot between her breasts. “Are you going to swim in your clothes, or just stare at me?” The pareu fell away, just as he had imagined it would earlier. Her body was beautiful bathed in the moonlight. But just as quick she was already in the water, up to her knees, and disappearing more by the second.

Without another moment’s pause to think about what he was doing, and the ramifications of not telling her here and now, who he was and what he knew, he quickly shucked his own clothes, and raced into the ocean after her. Within a few moments of strong strokes he caught up with her. For a moment they stared at each other, and then she splashed him playfully. That was all it took and soon they were having a free for all in the ocean, splashing, laughing, and ducking each other when opportunity allowed.  

He loved listening to her laugh as they played like children in the water. And just as quickly, their eyes caught, and things changed yet again.  Rushing into him were all the emotions he had built up all along, and especially since he had first seen her picture.  In silence they stared at each other until he reached out and pulled her into his arms.  He kissed her ravenously, devouring her mouth.  He kissed her as if she were his first drink of water after 40 days and nights in the desert.  His tongue swept her mouth and possessed her totally in that brief moment of time.  She knew better, and she threw her lifelong caution to the wind, and answered him back kiss for kiss. They drifted slowly to shore, kissing, caressing.  When the water was waist high, he pulled back and gazed at her. His hands came up and caressed her full breasts, and her breath caught on a sigh and ended in a moan of desire.  He lifted into his arms like the pirate he had dressed earlier, and carried her to the beach. He lowered her to lie on the blanket of their clothes.

As he lowered himself next to her, he allowed his eyes to slowly travel from her toes and feet over her shapely calves, to her thighs.  When he reached her womanhood, his hand reached out in wonder and caressed her smooth, bare pussy. She was the most beautiful and wondrous woman he had ever beheld.  And he wanted her as much as he wanted his next breath.  And to deny himself would have been near to impossible, if she suddenly said no. But he would stop, if she whispered the words.  He would have to because he could no more hurt her, than he could stop living at that moment in time. 

But Rayne watched his enthralled face in wonderment of her own.  She had only known one other man, and that had been a fiasco.  Could this handsome man really be attracted to her?  Even though she was so different from everyone else… She pushed that thought away as quickly as it surfaced.  He didn’t know, and for now, she didn’t care.  Her arms reached up to him and pulled him down.  His body slowly crushed hers into the clothes and sand. His mouth met hers in a soft kiss, which quickly turned ravenous and devouring for them both.  As his tongue caressed hers, his hands stroked and massaged her full, round and sensitive breasts. And when his hand moved down over her soft, still wet belly, her skin shivered and she moaned her response.  And when he reached her upper thighs, her legs spread for him easily.

His hand caressed her smooth pussy.  Her body fascinated him.  He found her shaven pussy a delight, and he told her so.  He laughed softly when he saw the soft blush that stained her cheeks in the moonlight. He didn’t say anything as he took her hand and pulled it downward to his manhood. He just looked into her eyes as he pressed her hand to himself.  Her eyes widened as she discovered that he was just as wonderfully smooth and bare as she was.  Her soft fingers stroked him eagerly, moving with wonderment to discover he was as smooth all over.  When she cupped his sac, he moaned his own desire out loud. And when she grasped and began pulling and stroking his hard cock, he shouted out hoarsely that he wanted her. She smiled and kissed him lightly. But when he caressed her smooth lips more deeply and searchingly, it was her turn to fall away, back onto the sand and gasp in ecstasy.  And when he found her clit, and touched and pulled and teased her, it was her turn to shout this time. He covered her mouth with his own, catching part of the cry. 

When he raised above her, positioning her thighs and hips to receive him, she smiled up at him.  And when he thrust deep inside her and met some resistance, he went to pull back, but she held him tight with her inner muscles and her legs wrapped around him eagerly.  Her womanly flesh held his manhood as snugly as her arms and legs held him to her body.  He began thrusting deeply inside her. And then he reached between them and touching her passionate flesh, he brought her to climax just moments before he thrust deeply to completion inside of her. 

He slowly lowered his head to rest on her upper chest, his breathing just as rapid and strained as her own. When he started to pull free of her, she held him fast for another moment, not wanting this precious moment in time to end.  But it had to, and he slid to the clothes beside her. Jake pulled her close, letting her head lie on his chest. Talk about mind-blowing sex! Guess this is what the writers’ and poets’ were always talking about.

They lie there silently under the stars and moon for the longest time. When Jake shivered from the breeze cooling his fevered flesh, Rayne suggested they get dressed again. She watched Jake don his dashing costume, while she retied the pareu. She smoothed her hair back, but it was curly from the ocean water, and drying in the wind.  As they stood looking at each other, Jake said he wanted to see her tomorrow. 

Rayne smiled.  She wasn’t sure what she should do, and smiled nervously to cover up her indecision. She couldn’t get involved with anyone. She had known that all of her life.  But then Jake reached out and pulled her into his arms for another kiss. She forgot what she had always known to be true, and began to question what really might be true. When he pulled back, she nodded that they could meet tomorrow. And the next thing, she was giving him directions to what he knew to be her private swimming area.  He agreed to meet her there early, just past dawn.  He said he would bring a picnic breakfast.  She had laughed and nodded in agreement.

Jake then said he would take her home. She froze for a moment, then insisted that she would be fine.  She had walked to the party, and she would walk home.  He finally, reluctantly agreed. He watched as she disappeared into the underbrush.  Against his better thoughts, he waited a few moments, and then followed her.  He was that only about 100 yards along, she had returned to the beach again. She had easily untied the pareu, and then tied it into a triangular sash at her waist only.  He watched as she walked into the sea and began swimming in the opposite direction as the resort.  He watched, and then she seemed to disappear. He thought it was the moonlight. A few moments she reappeared and continued swimming. When he finally turned to go back to the party, he found Mike Hall standing behind him.

For a long moment, neither man spoke.

Finally, Mike said,  “You didn’t tell her who you were, did you?”

Jake considered telling him it was none of his business, but he nodded his head. “No, I didn’t tell anything beyond my name, and that I was the new owner of the resort.” He stepped around Mike, and started back towards his resort. Mike followed.  “But then she denied being a Carson.  She is going by an assumed name.”

Mike walked next to him in silence for a few minutes.  When he next spoke, Jake could hear the repressed anger in the younger man’s voice.  “I saw you on the beach earlier.”

Jake didn’t miss a step, and kept on walking.  When they reached the outreaches of the resort, he turned to face the younger man. “Why don’t you tell me why you are really here, Mike? I don’t believe for an instant that you came here for a vacation.  Did you come out some kind of misplaced sympathy for her? After finding her, do you feel responsible in some way to protect her from the shark, namely me that is?”

The two men took each other’s measure in those moments.  Mike realized that what had driven Jake when he first met, no longer seemed to be present.  Instead he saw something else the older man’s eyes.  “Did you fall for her Jake, after you saw her picture at the studio? Is that what happened?”

Jake had his answer to an earlier question.  Mike had seen that incredible photo of her.  Jake met Mike’s stare with a level look.  “Yes, I think I have. I sure as hell didn’t plan it, and I sure as hell didn’t want to, but my obsession has turned into something else entirely.” Jake leaned back against the low stone wall behind him.  “I didn’t plan what happened on the beach either. But I am not going back.  I will fight for her.”

Mike stood silently. He recognized that Jake had just thrown down a gauntlet, even if it was only verbal, it was still just as real. He nodded and turned and walked back down to the beach alone. Jake watched him for a few moments, then returned to the party.

The following morning Jake was waiting on the beach. He had spread a blanket, and had a gourmet-style breakfast, prepared by a very sleepy chef at the crack of dawn this morning. He sat watching the ocean, not sure if he had missed her and she was swimming somewhere, or whether she would be coming from behind him. He heard a rustling sound finally, and turned just as she stepped free of the underbrush.  He watched her walk gracefully across the sand towards him. Today she wore white T-shirt and cut off jeans.  He almost laughed because he was wearing the almost identical style of clothing, except that he had discarded his T-shirt already.

Rayne walked towards him slowly. She had not had much sleep last night, tossing and turning in indecision over what had happened on another beach last night with a total stranger. She finally decided she must be insane.  All this solitude had finally done it, she had gone stark raving mad. And seeing him sitting in the sand, waiting for her now, only increased her assurance that she was truly mad. She was still attracted to him and had the wildest idea of tackling him on the blanket, ripping his jeans off and having her way with him.  But instead, she stopped at the edge of the blanket and said a simple ‘good morning.’

Jake smiled back.  “I wasn’t sure if you would want to swim before breakfast, so I haven’t unpacked anything.”

“I think a swim would be nice, if you want to?” 

Jake stood up lithely, and started to unsnap and unzip his jeans.  As she watched him, she soon realized that he wasn’t wearing any trunks.  She quickly put her hands out and said a breathless, “Whoa!”

Jake stopped and frowned back at her. 

“I was planning on wearing my swimsuit,” she said in explanation.  Jake smiled and shrugged.

“Fine with me if you want to, but I didn’t bring one.  And I don’t relish sitting around in wet, salt soaked jeans.” And then he dropped his jeans to the ground. Rayne couldn’t stop but admire his manly physique. He was more impressive to her in the sunlight. Once again she was entranced by his smoothness.  She knew that this was not a common thing among most people, but once she had tried it herself when she was a young teen, there had been no going back for her. When Jake cleared his throat, Rayne blushed as she realized she had been staring, and been caught staring too. He just looked at her for a long moment, and then he turned and started to the water.

Rayne paused for a moment, and then she peeled off her shirt, and dropped her shorts.  She had worn a simple, one-piece suit underneath. She hated swimming in a suit, and rarely did so.  She quickly pulled the suit down and off. She ran towards the water and quickly swam the short distance to where Jake was treading water.  He smiled, but said nothing.  She splashed him instead of saying anything, and that started off a long playful time in the water for them both. They both worked to keep the emotions calm around them, and a couple of times, when their eyes met one or the other would turn away.  Nearly an hour later, they both stumbled out of the water and collapsed on the blanket. The sun beat down on them as they lay there catching their breath.

Jake finally sat up and pulled the picnic basket close and opened it up. Rayne followed and sat up also, reaching for her shirt.  Jake’s voice stopped her. “Don’t bother on my account,” was all he said.  She dropped the shirt and turned back to see what goodies were in the basket. This was the first time in her life she had ever sat naked with a man, eating breakfast.  

Rayne nibbled on a strawberry, from the bowl of fruit Jake had set out.  She finally said softly, “I don’t normally do things like this.”

Jake glanced up briefly to meet her eyes.  “I never for one moment thought you did. Here, try this croissant.” Rayne took a bite from the croissant he was holding out to her.  He laughed softly as she bit through the delicious bread.

Rayne finished off her strawberry, as he poured them each some chilled juice.  She sipped it and found it was a delicious blend of pineapple, orange and papaya fruits.  She complimented his chef.  Jake laughed, and recounted how disgruntled he was at being roused out of bed before noon.   He usually left breakfast to the assistant chef.  Rayne laughed and he could see she was relaxing with him more each moment they were together.  In that moment, he realized he didn’t care about the past.  To hell with the money, the questions that had plagued him for so long.  The only thing he wanted was Rayne; anyway he could have her.

“So tell me Rayne, what brings you to live out here in the middle of nowhere?” Jake finally asked as they both ate.

She laughed. “My parents brought me here was quite small. I lived here with my father’s sister until she died, and by that time I was 17, and able to live alone. My parents came to visit, but they never lived here.”

Jake took a sip of his juice, then looked into her eyes. “Why?” he asked simply.

Rayne didn’t answer for several long moments.  She had always been cautious about strangers, but she felt compelled to confide in this man.  Even though she knew that this could be adding to her mistake of relaxing her guard last night, she still didn’t seem able to stop the words.

“My parents were research scientists, up until a few years before they died. Their laboratory was on the West Coast.  I can’t remember the name of the town.”

“But why didn’t they have you living with them, Rayne?”

“I asked them once, and they said that there were things I shouldn’t know, and that I was to live here with Aunt Winnie.  I never brought it up again.”

Jake leaned over to refill her glass with more juice.  “Where are they now?”

He wanted to kick himself when he saw a single tear escape her eyes, and slide slowly down her cheek. She didn’t wipe it away though.  It was almost as if she was unaware that she was crying. “They died about 5 years ago, in a plane accident.”

“I’m sorry,” Jake said.

“That is okay. Life goes on, I have learned that. They wouldn’t have wanted me to mourn them forever. That is not how they were.”  She finished her juice, and seeing Jake had finished eating also, she began packing up the basket. Jake helped her silently. After he set the basket to the side, he pulled her into his arms.  She resisted for a split second, then relaxed and enjoyed the sense of homecoming being in his arms gave her.

“Now it is my turn,” Rayne said softly.  Jake looked down at, a frown forming on his forehead.  “Why did you buy a resort at the end of the world?”

Jake laughed.  “This is not the end of the world, Rayne. And I thought it would be a good investment.”

Rayne nodded.  “So, that means you will be leaving.  That you won’t be living here and running the resort as the Hesei’s did?” She couldn’t keep the disappointed tone out of her question. She hated sounding so… needy.  Yet she needed to know the answer. If this was going to be weeklong affair, she wanted to know now, not at the end of the week, when he told he was leaving.

“I’ll be honest, Rayne.  That was my original plans. But I am having second thoughts.  The island way is nice. I think I could get used to this relaxed and more casual way of living life.”

She smiled.  “Well, they do say living stress-free will lengthen your life span.”

Jake lowered her to the blanket, and leaned on one elbow above her.  His eyes travelled slowly over her face.  “You should be working as our public relations expert, Rayne.”  And then he leaned down and kissed her lightly, teasingly.  But as they had last night, they struck sparks off one another, and things between them escalated at the speed of light.  His caresses became more intimate, as did her responses. And when he slowly kissed his way over her full breasts, massaging the tender, sensitive flesh, she moaned softly.  And when he kissed her soft belly sighed deeply.  But when he spread her thighs, and kissed her sweet, smooth pussy lips, seeking what was hidden, she cried out her passion. He found her clit and he cleverly stroked and licked her to climax within a matter of moments.

He rose back up her quivering body to hold her close and tenderly kiss her.  He finally said he really needed to get back to the resort, but he wanted to see her later. Would she come to the resort to join him for dinner, in his suite? Rayne nodded breathlessly, and they agreed on a time.  She watched as he gathered his belongings then walked to the jeep parked at the edge of the beach.  She waved as he started to drive away.

She waited until his jeep was long gone from site. She finally started walking towards the ocean. She had come so close to telling him the whole truth.  The words had on the edge of her tongue, and then the time had passed to reveal all. She slowly walked into the ocean.  She dove into the water in one smooth motion. Her body sliced through the water effortlessly for a short distance, and then, she dove beneath the surface.  If Jake had been standing watching her, he would have had to race to save her, for she had stayed submerged for over 10 minutes. When she surfaced, she was not the least bit out of breath, and in her hand she held a beautiful shell. She swam back to shore, thinking that this shell would fetch a nice price at the resort’s gift shop.

When she reached the shoreline, she bent down to swish all the sand from within the shell. Then she walked over to her clothes and redressed. After using her fingers as a comb for her hair, she bent back down for her shell.  Yes, she thought to herself, this shell would fetch a very nice price, especially if she put this one in the resort’s gift shop, instead of one of the town shops.  She paused though; perhaps the new owner wouldn’t let her have the same arrangement as Dottie had.  The gift shop and the clothing stores on the resort grounds had been Dottie’s to run. And Dottie had treated her as one of her own children, since she had known her so long. Dottie had also been her Aunt Winnie’s best friend on the island.  She decided she would talk to Jake tonight, at dinner. After all, selling the shells she collected and cleaned, was one of the ways she earned what little money she needed to get by here.

Suddenly, a sound from the bushes surrounding the beach caused her to spin around.  She froze as she saw a tall, young, blond-haired man walking towards her across the sand. He was quite muscular, his T-shirt strained tightly over his chest muscles and his thigh muscles flexed and bulged visibly beneath his shorts as he walked towards her. A pair of sunglasses was shoved to the top of his head.  He stopped when she spoke.

“You are trespassing on private land,” Rayne said assuredly to this young, blond “sun-god.”

His smile surprised her, as did his words. “I know, and I’m sorry.” But he didn’t leave.

“This place is pretty hard to find and the signs are well posted,” she pointed out to him patiently.

Again, he agreed.  “I know.”

Feeling a little frustrated by his attitude, and a bit angry at his flagrant disregard for the privacy signs, and getting a bit more nervous by the moment, she then asked. “Then shy are here, if you know all that?” She hoped she wouldn’t have to try out the self-defense she had learned many years ago, as a child. She had often visited a shop in town, run by a dear, elderly, and a bit irascible, Japanese man. Once he figured that he couldn’t scare her away, chase her away, nor bribe her, he gave in and let her hang around him as much as she had wanted. She had spent many hours in his shop, and eventually he had decided to prepare her for the world, he would teach her some very old Japanese fighting techniques.  Only to be used defensively, he had always said. He had learned them from his great-grandfather, who had served the Empire of the Sun, during World War II. Rayne had a feeling this incredibly fit young man would not be subdued by what she knew in self-defense.

Mike looked at the woman opposite him. He had seen just enough to know there was much more to this whole investigation than he had been led to believe in the beginning. This woman was more than just the daughter of a man who had been scamming the Wade family. And he had been watching long enough that he had been within seconds of heading into the ocean himself to rescue her just a short time ago.  He didn’t know how long she had underwater, but he knew that he couldn’t have held his breath for that long.

“I’ll be totally honest with you, Miss Carson.”  He stopped when he saw the scared look enter her eyes as he had said her name.  He extended a hand towards her, but she quickly stepped back from him.  “Please believe me, I mean you no harm.  I just think you have a right to know the truth.”

His unexpected words froze her in time.  “What do you mean the truth?” She asked him slowly, carefully, afraid to hear the answer, and yet sure that she couldn’t ignore what he had said so far.

After checking his watch, the wall clock, and finally the resort switchboard, he acknowledged that Rayne was nearly an hour late. He didn’t think he had been stood up, but rather he was more worried something might have happened to her. After leaving word with the desk clerk, just in case she still came, he headed out the back of the resort and within a few minutes was guiding the silent hovercraft in the direction of her property. He had gotten a glimpse of the roof of a house one-day, not far from the beach, so he headed there first, sure that that was her home.  He could that there were no lights on at the house, even though it nearing sunset.  He circled around twice, looking for any signs of activity, but he could see none.  Feeling less sure by the moment, he turned and flew the craft in the direction of the beach.

He saw two silhouettes on the beach, highlighted by the setting sun. Jake recognized Rayne because the rising breeze was blowing about her fiery hair. His insides tightened as he saw the setting sun glinting off the blond hair of the man seated next to her on the beach. “Damn!” he said softly to himself. He had looked for Mike twice during the day today, but no one had seen him or give any information about where he might be. He knew then he should have gone with his gut feelings, and gone back to Rayne then. He should have known, after last night, that the other man might try and seek her out. “Dammit!” cursing both himself, and Mike Hall. He landed the hovercraft skillfully and silently at the edge of the sandy beach. As he hopped down, Mike rose and turned towards him, to face him.

Jake stopped within a few feet of them.  Mike stood tensed, poised for action, his hands knotted into fists at his side.  Jake knew that whatever Mike had told Rayne, he was sure that it wasn’t good for him.  He guessed by the other man’s defensive posture that he had probably told Rayne everything, or at least, everything that he knew. What really scared him was the fact that Rayne had yet to move. She had not even glanced in his direction. Instead of confronting Mike, he moved closer to her.

“Rayne?” He spoke softly, his voice breaking just a bit with emotion. He started to touch her shoulder, but the shaking of her head stopped him.

Her voice was stiff, and she spoke slowly, to keep a tight control over her raging emotions, and her breaking heart.  She nearly laughed at herself.  Surely she couldn’t have fallen in love with this man, in such a short time?  Surely that kind of thing didn’t happen outside the romance novels, did it?

“I’ll call my father’s bank tomorrow.  I’ll have the trust’s executor release all the funds back to you and your family. All you will need to do is contact them with where to transfer the funds.”  She wanted nothing more than to stand right then, and walk away. But she was afraid her shaking knees wouldn’t support her. And God knew she didn’t want to accept help from either man, right at that moment.

Silence filled the air.  Rayne listened to the sound of the ocean. The waves lapped the shoreline gently, moving inward as the tide continued to ruse. She wasn’t sure what to do now. She didn’t have anyone to ask for advice.  She had been so well protected here, that her parents hadn’t thought anyone would ever find her.  Her mother had always called this “the edge of the world.” There wasn’t much farther you could get from the rest of the world, except to live alone in a cave somewhere, she had often joked. Of course, her mother had never lived here.  It always just was her Aunt Winnie and herself. Her parents would come and stay for short periods of time. But somehow, for her, all the fears and worries her parents had always espoused for her, and how important her anonymity was for her safety, she had never really felt the impact of what it all had meant. Until now, that is.  She could hear all their warnings replaying in her mind, but like a typical child, she had usually ignored 90% of what they had said. She felt panic welling up inside herself; she just had to get to her home. There was a special hiding place at the house, where her father had shown he placed many old notebooks, and records, for protection.  He never protection from what.  And that one day, when she might wonder about certain things, he had told her, she should come here to look for the answers to her questions.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone sit down next to her on the sand, only about 2 feet away.  She didn’t have to look, for she sensed that it was Jake. Or maybe it was his male scent that she recognized.  She didn’t turn to glance at him. She was not a fool, no matter how foolishly she had acted over the last 2 days.  She warned herself that he was not the person he had led her to believe.  He now represented danger, a threat that needed to be dealt with.  He may be able to still affect her physically, but she was determined to not let him control her through her emotions.  When he finally reached out towards her, Rayne jerked away, scrambling to her feet.

Jake stood just as quickly, facing her.  “Now look here Rayne, I can explain everything.  Whatever Mike may have told you, I can explain why I did what I did.”

Rayne finally met his eyes.  He saw the pain, the hurt and the distrust for a moment in her topaz-colored eyes. And then she blinked and glanced away from him.  God, it felt like a knife stuck in his gut and sliced upwards through his heart in that split second when she had revealed her feelings. She shook her head then.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Not really, not now, does it? You’ll be leaving here, with your money. It might be even more than you expect!”  She stopped for a moment as she remembered something Mike had told a short time ago. She gave a short, bitter laugh. “But then, you bought the bank, so you probably know already how much there is.”  She turned away and started to walk away from both men. Jake saw her stiffen when she saw his hovercraft, but she kept on walking. He took a couple of long strides and grabbed her arm, spinning her back around to face him. He didn’t like being walked away from, and this needed to be settled now, before she had anymore time to build up false ideas about what his true intentions might have been.

“We have to talk, Rayne.”  He kept a tight hold on her arm as he turned and said to the other man on the beach. “Would you leave us alone?”  He asked of him, and then he added. “Please.”  He worked hard to keep his voice even, with no sign of his anger. And God knew he was seething with a lot of anger at the moment.

Mike didn’t surprise him though, when he stepped over to Rayne’s side. “I won’t leave Rayne alone with you unless she tells me to go.” Mike glared at the older man, crossing his arms across his chest defiantly.

“Now look here, Hall…” Jake dropped Rayne’s arm to meet the other man’s unspoken challenge.

But it was Rayne who spoke up.

“Stop it, both of you! This is private property and both of you are trespassing.  I didn’t invite either one of you here, ” she paused, looking at Jake. “This time.  If you don’t leave, I’ll call the police captain. We have a one jail cell, and I promise you, if I ask him, he will put you both in there.  And even though you may now own the resort, Mr. Wade,” Rayne spat his name out.  “He will hold you for the night. He owes me a favor.” She knew that was pressing the point.  Granted, the police captain was very grateful to her, due to her helping solve a case not to long ago, he probably would not arrest them, just pick them up. But they didn’t know that!  She turned abruptly, and started walking again towards the bushes surrounding the beach.

Jake strode after her again, this time stepping in front of her, moving when she tried to walk around him.  Rayne stopped and glared at him.

“Damn you, Jake Wade!” she shouted at him.

Rayne glared at the tall, handsome man in front of her.  He pulled at her heart strings, and she didn’t want him too.  She didn’t understand how this had happened.  She certainly had not been looking for romance of any kind, so why now? Finally, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly reopened them… He was still there, dammit.

“What the hell do you want from me, Jake?  You can’t have this land, it is mine. Just go back to your world, and leave mine alone.”

Jake reached out to touch her cheek, but she jerked away from him quickly. He felt the sting of her rejection, deep in the hidden areas of his heart.  He lowered his hand slowly to his side. “It is too late to just walk away from each other, Rayne.  Too much has happened to turn back the clock.  You can never pretend that we didn’t meet.”  He lowered his voice so only she would hear.  “You can not pretend that we never made love, or that it didn’t mean anything to you.”

Rayne felt her tears well up again in her eyes, but she fought them back.  “Ha!  I can and I will Jake. You will leave here, and I will go on as before. You will be like a footprint in the sand, after the tide washes you away.  New sand will be nice and smooth, as if it had never had any impressions in it whatsoever.”

Her words were cool enough to worry him. Maybe she could forget him, wash away the memories of him, but he knew he would never forget her. God knew he didn’t want to forget her. “Look Rayne, I can’t walk away from you. There are a lot of reasons I sought you out. But the only thing that matters is how we feel about each other now.  And there may be other consequences from our having met also.”

Rayne looked up at him for a second. “I don’t know how you feel about me, but I know that what I felt for you will go away.  I’ll make it go away!”  This time she darted away from him sharply to the right and he failed to catch her.  She took off running towards the path that led to her house.  Jake followed her at a steady lope.  Somehow he was sure that Mike was following also.

The front door was wide open when he reached it and he ran in after her. He called out her name, but no answer.  Mike entered the house a few seconds behind him.

“Where is she?”  Mike asked him aggressively.

Jake gave him an impatient look. “I don’t know. She doesn’t answer me. Could she have some hiding place in the house you think?”  He moved away from  the other man, starting to explore the lower floor of the house.  He didn’t find any doors that led to stairs below ground. He saw a staircase that led to a loft, but that was wide open and he didn’t see her up there.

Mike started looking in the opposite direction from Jake.  He turned once and said, “Here we are again, the two of us, looking for this women. Is this our destiny you think?”  Mike laughed at himself.  After a few seconds, Jake just shrugged and agreed with him.  This did seem to be both men’s avocation for the last months anyway. 

Suddenly, Rayne was standing in the room with both men.  Neither saw where she had come from, nor heard anything. She was holding some papers in her hands, and then told both men to follow her into the kitchen.  Once they were seated at the small table, she laid the papers on the table.

“These are some of my fathers last letters home to me. I never really paid all that much attention to what he was saying about his work, typical child I guess.” Rayne wandered over to the stove and put water on to boil. “I have always managed to remain apart from people. That is how I was brought up.  After my parents were gone, and then my aunt, I never saw any real reason to change.  But something you said Jake…”

She got out 3 cups, and added tea bags to each one.  She set one in front of each of the men.  She returned a few moments later with her own cup and the water.  She silently filled each cup.  After she sat down, Jake prompted her to go on.

“I don’t know if I trust you Jake, after what has happened.  If Mike had not told, well who knows what might have happened.”  She went on, ignoring the glare the men exchanged. “I am not like you.” She held up her hand as both men started to speak. “I went to my dad’s work room and found his papers.  I knew there was something there, that your words jogged my memory on.  My father told me to always, no matter what happened, go to your family if I ever needed help.  He said he was sure your grandfather would have passed the information onto your generation, and that you would help me.” She laughed softly, and ran her hands nervously through her hair. 

“If you found me, doesn’t that mean that the people my family strove to hide me from can just as easily find me. The world is getting smaller all the time. This is probably no longer the ‘ends of the earth’ my mother once thought it was.”

Mike reached out and covered Rayne’s hand where it rested next to her cup. He ignored Jake’s reaction and stiffening of his spine. “Do you know the people your family referred to Rayne?  Maybe if I knew, I could help you.”

Jake spoke without waiting for Rayne’s reply.  “Rayne, let Mike and I go through all your dad’s things and I’m sure we can help you.”

Rayne looked the one man to the other, her glance ending with Jake.  “You can look all you want… And even though he spoke about others finding out, that isn’t what has me worried.”  She stood up and walked away from the table to stare out the kitchen window at the darkening night. “No, this has to do with me, not others.  Something my aunt said one time, so I asked my mother about it and she said it was true.”

Jake stood up and walked over to her.  He turned her to face him.  “What is it Rayne? Just spit it out!”

“Alright dammit. All the women in my family, remember how times have changed of course, got pregnant on their wedding nights. Granted we aren’t married, but I am worried that I might now be pregnant. That is the last thing either of us needs right now!”

Rayne stood at the kitchen window, arms wrapped tightly around herself, staring into the gathering dark. The tea in the cups behind her grew cold. Neither man spoke for a long moment. Outside, the ocean kept its steady rhythm, indifferent to the wreckage of secrets that had just spilled across her table.

Jake was the first to move. He crossed the small kitchen and stopped a careful distance from her, close enough that she could feel the heat of him but not so close that she had to flinch. “The letters,” he said quietly. “What else do they say?”

She turned. Her topaz eyes were bright with unshed tears and something harder—resolve. “My father wrote that the research succeeded. Not with machines. With people.” She drew a slow breath. “Arnold Nissen’s early work on lung capacity and oxygen exchange was real. By the time my parents took it over, they had refined it into a genetic sequence—something that could be introduced in utero. My mother carried it. I was born with it. My body extracts oxygen from water the way a fish does. That is why I can stay under so long. That is why they hid me here. Certain people wanted the formula. Military. Corporate. They were willing to kill for it.”

Mike exhaled sharply and leaned forward, elbows on the table. “The plane crash.”

Rayne nodded once. “Sabotage. My parents knew it was coming. They left the notebooks here, and the standing instruction that if anyone ever found me, I was to go to the Wades. Your family funded the work when no one else would. Old Jake Wade believed in it. My father believed the Wades would protect me if the worst happened.”

Jake’s face tightened. The obsession that had driven him across years and oceans rearranged itself in an instant. It had never been about reclaiming money. It had been about the unfinished promise his great-grandfather had made. And about the woman standing in front of him, who had lived her entire life as a secret.

“I never wanted the money,” he said. “I canceled the funding because I thought the trail was dead. I bought the bank and the resort because I was chasing a ghost. Then I saw you.” He swallowed. “Everything after that was about you.”

Rayne searched his face. The hurt was still there, but it no longer looked like betrayal. It looked like fear of losing something she had only just allowed herself to want.

Mike stood, scraping his chair back. “I’ll leave the two of you. But I’m not walking away from this completely. If people are still looking for the research, they’ll eventually look here. You’ll need someone who knows how to watch for that kind of heat.” He glanced at Jake, then at Rayne. “You have my number. Use it.” He paused at the door. “And for what it’s worth… I think he means it.” Then he was gone, the soft sound of the screen door closing behind him.

Silence returned. Rayne moved past Jake, collected the three untouched cups, and set them in the sink. Her hands were steady now. “You said there might be other consequences,” she said without looking at him. “The pregnancy.”

Jake’s voice was low. “I won’t walk away from that either. Whatever happens.”

She turned, leaning against the counter. “All the women in my family conceived easily. My mother told me once, almost like a warning. I never thought it would matter. I never planned on letting anyone close enough.” A faint, wry smile touched her mouth. “Then a pirate in an eye patch showed up on my beach.”

Jake crossed the remaining space and took her hands. His thumbs brushed the insides of her wrists. “I love you,” he said, the words plain and unadorned. “I didn’t plan it. I didn’t want an obsession turning into this. But it did. And I’m not leaving this island unless you come with me—or I stay. Your choice.”

Rayne looked down at their joined hands, then back up. The last of the resistance in her chest loosened. “Stay,” she whispered. “At least for now. We can figure out the rest—the notebooks, the risk, whether there’s a child—together. I’m tired of being the secret that has to be protected alone.”

He pulled her in. She came without hesitation this time, burying her face against his shoulder. Outside, the tide continued its slow rise. Inside, the kitchen was quiet except for the soft sound of two people breathing the same air.

Later, they sat at the small table again with the notebooks spread between them. The pages were dense with formulas, observations, and one final letter from Joseph Carson to his daughter, written the week before the crash. It ended simply: If a Wade ever finds you, trust the bloodline that believed in us when no one else did. And live freely. That is the only success that matters.

Jake closed the last notebook and met her eyes. “We keep these safe. We don’t sell them. We don’t weaponize them. And if anyone comes looking, we handle it. Together.”

Rayne nodded. The fear that had lived in her bones since childhood had not vanished, but it no longer defined the edges of her world. She reached across the table and laced her fingers through his.

“Tomorrow,” she said, “we swim. No secrets. No watching from the dunes. Just us.”

Jake’s smile was slow and real. “And the morning after that?”

“We decide what kind of life we want on the edge of the world.” She squeezed his hand. “I think it might include a certain resort owner who looks ridiculous in an eye patch… and surprisingly good out of one.”

He laughed, the sound low and warm in the quiet house. Outside, the moon rose over the black water. For the first time in either of their lives, the future felt larger than the past.

They did not solve every danger that night. They did not need to. They had chosen each other. The rest would come with the tide.

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