'Certainly not less than ten days.'
Quite. The exact length of time she had left at the Isle of Hawks. He definitely wanted her off the island.
'What about the people in the other side of my bungalow? Are you kindly putting them up here, too?' she demanded.
'Their booking was made prior to yours, so of course they had first option on the only alternative suite that was available,' he said suavely. ‘Is there some problem with the arrangement? Our quarters here are quite separate, except for this adjoining door. And you won’t be charged for the inconvenience. In fact, to demonstrate the sincerity of the hotel's apologies, as manager, I can arrange for the total cost of your holiday to be refunded for you...'
There was no question about it now. He was letting her know that if she left it would be greatly to her financial advantage. Elizabeth was torn by two powerful urges. One was to grab the offer and retreat while she still had a shred of integrity left, the other was to fling his bribe in his mocking face.
‘In fact, Beth, you should consider yourself privileged because it's usually only friends of the family who use this suite,' he added, watching her expressive face.
That prompted another unpalatable thought. 'And would I be expected to share my "privileged" accommodation with Mrs Corvell?' She knew that Serena had been using the room, and guessed that the other woman would be no keener than herself at the idea of enforced companionship.
'Serena is no longer staying at Ile des Faucons.'
Elizabeth locked her jaw to prevent it from dropping. 'Oh!'
'She flew back to New Zealand this morning. My brother won’t be visiting the island after all.'
'Oh.' Elizabeth's uninterest overwhelmed her momentary surprise. She was just grateful that she was no longer involved in any way with the distasteful triangle ... or was it a quartet?
'So now you will be able to relax after all, and enjoy the facilities we have to offer for their own sake,' Jack said silkily.
'And if I said I wanted to leave New Caledonia no doubt you'd offer to pay for that, too,' snapped Elizabeth.
'Oh, no, Beth, for you it's not going to be that easy,' he said, to her total consternation.
'What do you mean?' She had been sure he was trying to make her so uncomfortable that she would jump at the first opportunity to leave.
'Well, to leave one requires a passport...'
'But I have a-' She didn’t, of course. The hotel had it. He had it.
He watched the realisation hit her. ‘I regret to inform you, Miss Lamb, that owing to an... administrative oversight your passport has been temporarily misplaced. I'm sure it will soon be found, especially if you... co-operate.'
'Co-operate?' The way he pronounced the word made it sound deeply ominous.
His mouth was a hard curve of satisfaction as he studied her utter confusion.
'Yes. You do know what co-operation is, don’t you, Beth? You give me something I want, I give you something you need—i.e. your passport?'
'Are—are you trying to blackmail me?' Elizabeth's voice was shrill with outrage.
'Ah, you say that as if you've never even heard of such a shocking thing, chérie, let alone contemplated doing it yourself-'
‘I have never blackmailed anyone in my life!'
'Oh, very good! Excellent!' He rewarded her with a slow, insulting clap of his hands. 'Such surprise. Such blushing innocence!'
Elizabeth's flush was one of fury, not innocence. 'Are you saying that you won’t give me my passport back, even if I offer to leave?'
'And such intelligence, too!' He applauded again.
'Will you stop that?' She swatted wildly at his hands. He raised them in a gesture of surrender, laughing at her frustration. Suddenly the reason for their surroundings became all too clear as she recalled their last encounter.
‘If you think I'm going to let you threaten me into your bed-'
The arrested expression on his face told her that she had just made yet another ghastly mistake in judging him. She had allowed her own sensual awareness to invest his words with a completely different meaning from that intended.