Chapter Three
Rachel hurried to her room and changed out of her formal dress. Maybe she should’ve stayed in it but she wanted to enjoy the time spent with Abe on the beach, not feel poured into her custom-made formal gown. She put on a comfortable white sundress, pulled her hair over her left shoulder and frowned. Pushing it back she looked at the scarring, the bumpy, discolored skin. The only good thing she could see about it was it was only on the bottom of her cheek, her chin, the side of her neck, and the very top of her shoulder. The scarring was easily covered, but she was already getting sick of covering it. She’d never been a girl that hid in the shadows and she hated what that explosion and Flint Brooks had taken from her.
Now was not the time to psychoanalyze herself or decide to throw caution to the wind and put her hair in a messy bun. Pulling her hair back in place over the scars, she hurried to blot the shine from her nose and apply some cinnamint lip gloss. Her makeup was a little heavy for a stroll on the beach, but she wasn’t going to waste time taking it off.
She didn’t put on shoes as she slid out of the bungalow. Abe hadn’t said what part of the beach to meet on, but he knew where her room was so she decided to head straight out to the beach past her private pool. Her pool glowed blue in the night and a half moon graciously sent light from above through the thick trees.
She threaded through one of the paths in the trees back toward the main building. Suddenly, she heard voices coming her way. Rachel slid behind a palm tree. Partially because she didn’t want to get hung up talking to anyone and delay being with Abe and partially because she hadn’t forgotten her mission of finding out if Preston was hiding anything from his employer, her brother. So far, the employees had all been smiling beacons of happy service and hadn’t responded to her fishing. She might have to be a bit sneakier and overhear some conversations like Luke and Mar’s friends had.
She recognized Preston’s voice and caught a glimpse of his handsome profile. Goldmine. She couldn’t place the blonde who was with him. It was too dim to see her face clearly but she was definitely not an employee in that fancy dress. A guest? Preston’s lover?
The woman stopped on the path and turned to Preston. “I had to eat alone in my room.Whyare you shutting me away?”
Definitely the lover. And he was hiding her away? Interesting.
“Because, my angel love,” Preston’s voice was soft and conciliatory, as if he were explaining something to a young, frightened child. “You’ve burned through most of the money we … procured and now I need to trick him again so we can get more.”
Oh, my, definite goldmine. Preston had “procured” money before? He was an embezzler. This woman was his accomplice? Rachel tried to see the face of the woman Preston called his love, but she was turned away from her and in the shadows.
The woman pushed out her hip and tossed her long hair. “Trick him, steal from him, what do I care? Just get us the money. Ugh! I hate hiding out. I hate that he’s still controlling my life.” She folded her arms under her very generous bosom and harrumphed. Rachel felt like she was watching a soap opera, with even worse than normal acting. Who were they talking about? Luke? But Luke wasn’t here. Rachel didn’t know that this lover’s quarrel, if it could be called that, as Preston pandered to this woman worse than he did to the guests, had anything to do with Luke. Maybe Preston wasn’t embezzling from his boss but from someone else?
“I know, I know, love,” he said all placating and phony. “But if he sees you, he might try and have you arrested.”
Arrested? This just got deeper and uglier.
“Ha! He’d be putty in my hands in seconds, just like he always was, just like you are every day.” She grabbed Preston’s suit coat and yanked him in. Preston didn’t resist and soon the sounds of embarrassing slurping noises had Rachel wanting to dry heave. She thought she would be safe to slip away and tiptoed toward the beach. Rather than their conversation being a piece to the embezzlement puzzle it was an entirely new puzzle to solve. She didn’t mind. She liked the challenge. It sounded like Preston was involved with a woman he was keeping hidden to protect her from being arrested if somebody saw her. Who could they be hiding from? She didn’t think it had anything to do with Luke or his worries of embezzlement, but it was intriguing. If only she could’ve seen the woman’s face or, even better, gotten a name.
As soon as she couldn’t hear them any longer she headed straight for the water, walking in the moist sand with an occasional soft, warm wave breaking over her feet. Tomorrow she promised herself she’d pretend she was her brave former self and swim in the ocean, go snorkeling, go do the adventure course, the ziplines, hike and bike. It didn’t matter if she did it all alone and it didn’t matter if her scars showed. That was another bonus to this amazing island, anonymity. If a celebrity wanted, they could book the entire resort and never worry about paparazzi snapping pictures of them not sucking their gut in for two seconds.
After seeing Preston and his woman, she’d changed course and walked away from the main part of the resort. She couldn’t glimpse any more lights through the trees from the bungalows. Where was Abe? What if he stood her up? She flinched at the thought. She’d never been stood up before. Men had crawled over each other trying to get her attention. Before … She put a hand underneath her hair to her scars, hating the feel of the bumpy skin and trying to tell herself for the hundredth time that it didn’t matter, couldn’t affect her. Sadly, she hadn’t bought the lies yet.
“Rachel!”
The call came from behind her. Abe. She whipped around to face him. A soft breeze lifted her hair. She tucked her hair in tighter and walked back toward him.
Abe jogged up to her, a grin on his handsome face. He stopped in front of her. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself.” Rachel returned his smile and then tilted her head. “You want to explore the beach in this direction?”
“I’d love to.”
They fell into step together in the soft sand, neither saying anything as they walked along the beach, the lights and sounds of the resort disappearing behind them. Rachel had a brief thought that she shouldn’t be walking into the dark with a man she barely knew, but there was just something peaceful and reassuring about Abe. She couldn’t imagine he’d ever done anything unsavory, or would, especially not with her. Preston had alluded at dinner to something happening to Abe, but she knew it wouldn’t be anything he’d done wrong. Maybe he’d lost someone close to him and that had given him the depth she’d seen in his eyes. Maybe some idiotic woman had broken his heart. She snuck a glance at him. Nah. No woman would be that dumb.
“How was dinner?” Abe broke the silence.
“Delicious, but some handsome guy kept distracting me. How was yours?”
“The same.”
“Some handsome guy kept distracting you?” She couldn’t hide the smile in her voice.
He chuckled. “It was a beautiful lady.” He reached out and took her hand. A pulse of warmth and desire swept through her. “Exquisitely beautiful.” He squeezed her hand.
Rachel grinned. They walked hand in hand and she felt like the accident had never happened. With her hand in Abe’s she was complete, whole, and confident.
“Tell me more about you,” she requested.
“Nothing too exciting to tell. Two great parents, one annoying sister.”