CHAPTER V

THE days slipped by and there was no further word from Johnny. In view of the bitter resentment her brother had displayed towards David at their last meeting, Robyn wasn't really surprised. She could only hope that once the place was remodelled and again in full working order, Johnny would think better of David; change his attitude of high-handed defiance.

"Don't worry about your brother being away so much of the time," Eve Daley told her cheerfully, "it happens all the time." But Robyn couldn't help the small niggle of anxiety. On the shabby desk in the dining room two letters addressed to Johnny and bearing an Australian postmark awaited him.

"Those will be from Pam," Mrs. Daley said. "It's too bad, those two being parted like this, and all over some stupid misunderstanding, I'll be bound. Pam's crazy about him and I was sure that Johnny felt the same way about her. He's a fool if he lets her go, a nice girl like that, and I told him so too! Pam isn't the type of girl to go on trying to patch things up forever !"

Robyn knew a moment's pity for the other girl, trying so desperately to put a lost love out of mind, then weakening and writing a letter to Johnny. Receiving no reply, she had written a second time, hoping ... Probably by now she despaired of ever receiving an answer.

"They say in Suva," the older woman murmured, "that Johnny and Noeline are always together these days. I never thought she would take him back, not after what happened. I simply can't understand it."

"Maybe she still cares for him." Robyn could imagine what had happened. A proud wealthy girl in love with a man who possessed little beyond a decrepit old guesthouse on the Coral Coast. A man who had the effrontery to cancel extensive wedding plans at the last moment. Johnny had told her that he would manage his problems his own way. Surely he wouldn't, he couldn't — Feckless and over-optimistic he might be, but to marry a girl he cared little about merely to settle a debt, relieve his intolerable position of being forced into subservience towards a stranger, a man he hated ... Oh no, Johnny wouldn't do that! Even his stubborn pride couldn't lead him to go to those lengths.

Aloud she said, "He's lucky to have two girls so crazy about him."

"Especially," the older woman's significant glance rested on Robyn's thoughtful face, "when they both know his failings!"

Oh dear, Robyn thought exasperatedly, she's just like David. She believes too that I'm mistaken about Johnny, but they'll both see how wrong they are. Just give him a little time and he'll prove to them that I'm right.

Meanwhile the time passed in a succession of sun-drenched days. Robyn explored the reef at low tide, collecting shells along the shoreline, lazed and swam in the turquoise waters of the lagoon. Between times she worked on her portrait of the small native boy she had seen in the village or experimented with stylized forms of palm trees and the local outrigger canoes with their matting sails.

"You're getting to be a real islander," Eve Daley told her, her glance resting on Robyn's smoothly-tanned skin, the long fair hair now gilded with a patina of lighter gold.

"Think so?" Robyn laughed. "Then how about letting me help more around the place? Couldn't I do the accounts for you?"

"No need," the capable older woman assured her. "Wait until David gets the alterations done, then there'll be more than enough for both of us to do. Right now you're helping out wonderfully with the coral viewing."

"I suppose." Daily trips out to the reef had now become part of a new way of life. She was accustomed to the controls, the short run out to the waves foaming over the reef.

Whether clear in the sunlight or shadowed by shifting cloud, the ever-changing world of tiny jewelled fish and vibrant coral never failed to fill her with wonder. Somehow too, taking the boat out with tourists gave her a satisfying feeling of working, of doing something towards easing the financial burden that had come to loom so large in her life.

"Who knows," Eve told her, "if you keep on like this you might end up by turning the coral boat into a famous tourist excursion, like the Olooloo cruise."

"What's that?"

"It's just about the most popular sea excursion in Suva. A cruiser takes tourists out to the reef. Then skin divers bring up the sea creatures from the deep. A pretty girl in a bikini sits on the deck and explains all about the live coral and fish that the divers pass up to her from the water. The boat makes a short stop at the Tradewinds Hotel, it's built right on the water, then the girl sings and plays her guitar on the way back to the wharves in Suva."

Robyn thought, I could do that, all except the guitar-andsinging bit. Her mind leaped ahead. Later on when the Islander was updated and better known, why not exchange the old Katrina for a cruiser? She could serve coffee and refreshments on board, take out a large number of tourists at a time. Finding divers would be easy in a place where the natives were at home in the water. Aloud she said, "I'd like to make that trip. Does the Olooloo go every day?"

Mrs. Daley nodded. "Every afternoon from the seafront at Suva. Why don't you go tomorrow? You'd enjoy it. Get a taxi here back afterwards, or if you like you could put up at my place in Suva for the night. There's a crowd of students living there, but they would make you very welcome. I go along whenever I get a chance."

Once again Robyn was struck by the fact that her brother's frequent absences from the guesthouse must throw an extra burden on the older woman's capable shoulders. When could she ever leave the Islander for a night? The thought prompted her to say, "You haven't been away much lately, not at all since I've been here."

The cheerful face remained untroubled. "And that's not long, if you count up, but there's nothing to stop you having a day off."

But there was. She didn't want to be away from the house should David arrive. Somebody had to be around when he returned here with the builders. And if Johnny hadn't returned ... Unconsciously she sighed, telling herself that it was useless basing her movements on David. Already he occupied far too important a place in her thoughts ... and dreams. "I'll go tomorrow, after I've made the coral trip, and if the architect does come, well, I'll be back that night, or early the next day."

The Indian driver guided his taxi carefully around the hairpin bends of the rough metal road as he followed the Queens Road cutting between dense jungle-clad hills. At length when Robyn had decided there couldn't surely be any further curves on the route they swept along a straight stretch and came in sight of a wide blue harbour ringed with mountains. On the hills above the sea, white-painted houses gleamed amidst surrounding trees and bush. Soon they were moving towards the busy seaport with its profusion of yachts and catamarans, cruisers and overseas cargo boats. Accompanied by a constant tooting of the horn, the driver negotiated a bend, skilfully avoiding oncoming cars and trucks, swept into the main traffic, to draw up in the main street of Suva, the most colourful and cosmopolitan city of the South Pacific.

She paid the driver, then stood looking around her. Taxis were pulling in all along the seafront and the Olooloo rocked gently at her berth amongst the cluster of yachts and pleasure craft on the sheltered water. Reflecting that she had half an hour to spare before the departure of the tourist excursion, Robyn strolled along the wide main street shaded by an avenue of towering banyan trees. She paused to glance in at the windows of a modern store where a variety of high fashion imported clothing was attractively displayed. Nearby was a Chinese café, then a cluster of small bazaar-like stores with their exotic world of duty-free goods at low prices. There were cameras, jewellery, masks, perfume and yards of beautiful silk sarees and material, all printed in tropical designs in the alive-o colours of the South Pacific. A glance up a narrow byway showed her dingy dark shops where Indian tailors were busily treading sewing machines and craftsmen were weaving mats. It was all colourful and different. If only it wasn't also steamingly, humidly HOT! She pushed the hair back from her damp forehead and crossing the main street made her way towards the markets.

The strong smell of market produce, seafoods and fresh fish met her as she entered the dim interior with its long stalls and narrow crowded passageways. The air was filled with the chatter of Indian and Chinese merchants and huge coconut baskets were piled high with yams, taro, sea-snails and crabs. Native children extended great wedges of glistening watermelon to thirsty shoppers and Fijians stood behind towering displays of fresh bananas and pineapples.

Making her way through the jostling crowd of mixed races moving along the narrow space betwee benches piled high with produce and woven baskets, she paused at a native stall to purchase a pair of woven scuffs with their gay crimson pom-poms.

"Robyn!" A sense of excitement shot along her nerves. Only one man she knew possessed that particular lazy timbre in his deep tones. Only one man could flutter her pulses with just one word! She swung around to face David, his smile as heart-warming as ever, just as though it were the most natural thing in the world that they two should run into each other in the native markets. Pushing through the throng, he reached her side and all at once the babel of voices, the crowded long stalls weren't noisy and odoriferous and bewildering any more but exotic and colourful, a day touched with magic. It's seeing someone you know when you're in a strange city, she rationalized to herself in an effort to explain away the sudden wild excitement that was flooding her senses.

"Come on," he took the scuffs from her and stuffed them in the pocket of his tan cotton shorts. "Let me get you something. A souvenir? Everyone buys souvenirs at the market." Taking her arm, he piloted her through the milling throng. "Pearls? Beads? No? A bunch of bananas, then, just off the tree. Dried fish? Taro?"

She laughed up into his face. "Definitely not taro —" "Have you ever tried it?"

"No, but —"

"How can you tell, then? That's the trouble with you, Robyn, you lack the spirit of adventure ! How about these?" He guided her towards a great mound of ripe pineapples, golden, luscious and mouth-watering in the overpowering heat. "Only a few cents! A bargain if ever I saw one! You will?"

"Mmm, I'm so thirsty!"

"You'll get it in a minute, when we're on the way out. I'm not carrying that monstrous fruit in my pocket, even for you, Rob. Wait, I've got it! A basket! How about that?" He indicated a nearby stall with its assortment of cane merchandise. "Made on the premises, only the best pandanus leaf used, latest style —"

"Look, who's doing the selling around here?"

"All right then, you choose one !" She strolled along the bench. "Can I have this one, David?" The feather-light basket wasn't a large one but definitely attractive with its decoration of pink and white and brown shells.

When he had paid the smiling Fijian stall owner, they strolled on, listening to the mixture of foreign voices, intrigued by the colourful scene around them.

"Now this you could do with —" He paused at a small stall with its assortment of woven sunhats.

"How about yourself?" Robyn laughed back.

"Why not?" Taking a wide woven sombrero from a big Fijian woman, he placed it at a rakish angle over his tanned face. "Like it?"

Smilingly, head on one side, she studied him. "Uh-huh,

there's a gorgeous shell ornament on one side."

"You're hedging. Let's see how it would look on you!" Very gently he slipped the sunglasses from her eyes and placed the hat over her bright hair.

She laughed, looking up at him.

"Keep it, Rob, it's just the thing for the Olooloo cruise —"

She stopped laughing and stared at him, lips parted in surprise. "Now just how did you guess that I was —" But he was paying the plump Fijian woman standing on the opposite side of the stall.

Admit it, she told herself. It's just wonderful to be going on the excursion with David! Awful how she kept forgetting that she shouldn't like him so much, feel so happy whenever she found herself in his company. But it was merely an outing, nothing of any importance, so why not make the most of the hot, sunshiny day?

"Let's get out of this mob," he was saying. A hand placed on her smooth tanned arm and he was guiding her through the throng of Indians, Fijians, and overseas tourists. Out in the open again they strolled along the seafront where Indian taxi-drivers were pulling up at the wharves and tourists were gathering near the various excursion vessels.

Although the glass-bottomed cruiser was rocking gently on sun-dappled water, the gangplank was not yet up. They dropped down on the wharf steps in the sunshine and David, taking a knife from his pocket, sliced the fresh pineapple, cutting away the prickly skin. The cool fruit with its sweet tangy favour was thirst-quenching and delicious. Afterwards they joined the group of tourists who were moving over the gangplank to the cruiser with its gay blue pennant, Olooloo, fluttering at the masthead.

"What does the name mean?" Robyn asked as they strolled along the deck.

"Can't you guess? Say it slowly. . . . loo . . . loo . . . the sound of doves." The soft haunting music of native guitars followed them as they moved along the deck beneath a canvas awning.

With relief she realised that he hadn't asked the question she dreaded. "Is Johnny back at the house yet?" Perhaps he had given up asking

A smiling Jijian crew welcomed them aboard and soon they were moving over the rippling blue sea. Presently the engines were cut and they drifted over the coral reef that made the water here free from sharks. They watched from the deck as youthful Fijian skin-divers dropped over the side, surfacing to bring with them from the deep, clusters of coral. A pretty native girl in a coral-pink bikini arranged the treasure from the sea on a small platform, then held up for observation a tropical jewelled fish before placing it in a small tank of seawater with other tiny fish. Heads craned eagerly forward and Robyn slipped from her shoulder the leather case holding her Instamatic. In the crowd pressing around her on all sides she found it impossible to view the exhibit the native girl was holding up until all at once David cleared a space for her and propelled her gently forward.

His tone was perfectly normal, so why was she so overwhelmingly aware of his nearness? How could you focus your gaze on a rubbery starfish when all you could think of was David's arm around you, his breath on your face? Blindly she clicked the shutter, then realised that he had no intention of releasing her until she had taken further shots. How could he guess the way in which he was affecting her? In quick succession she snapped a striped yellow-and-black butterfly fish, a coral-encrusted wine bottle and a puffer fish, an incredible sea creature with the strange ability to blow itself up when danger threatened until it resembled a baby's pink head.

"Did you ever —" Swinging around to David, she found she couldn't quite meet that bright gaze.

At length the skin-divers climbed aboard the cruiser, the attractive native girl threw fish and coral back into the deep and the throng of onlookers dispersed over the decks. The next moment engines throbbed into life and the cruiser was moving across the harbour in the direction of the Tradewinds Hotel, where the sea lapped against the dining room. A few steps over the floating jetty, then they were entering the Quarterdeck Restaurant with its wide balcony looking out over the sun-flecked water. Alongside, famous oceangoing yachts were tied up at the Anchorage Bar and a fleet of small craft moored nearby waited to take visitors by water-taxi to Suva.

David chose a nearby table and ordered drinks. They came served by a Fijian girl with a hibiscus in her hair and a wide and friendly smile. The drinks were cool and frosted with a lilac orchid clinging to the side of each tall glass. Robyn sipped idly, her gaze moving over the scattered atolls of the harbour, then back towards the luxury craft moored so close. "Dreamy island setting. You know, there must be some famous international yachts tied up here. Just look at that super one —" Her voice trailed away as a group appeared on deck, amongst them Johnny and a slight, sandy-haired young woman. A few moments later the two were strolling over the jetty towards them. Robyn, taking in the immaculate outfit of white slacks and nautical blue and white striped sweater, mused that for all the expensive garments and exquisite grooming, the other girl presented a painfully nondescript appearance.

Johnny appeared as surprised as herself at the unexpected encounter. For a few seconds he seemed at a loss for words, then the old rakish grin crossed his bronzed features. "Rob ! What on earth are you doing here? No, don't tell me, let me guess! You're on the Olooloo cruise, I bet! This is Noeline ... my sister Robyn ... David Kinnear Coolly assessing greenish eyes, cold as river pebbles, met Robyn's smiling greeting Somehow she had pictured the girl who Johnny had once cared for enough to want to marry as someone poised and attractive or, at the very least, pretty. What special quality could have drawn Johnny to this plain, sandy-haired girl with the discontented, pettish twist to her thin lips? Only ... money? The thought came unbidden and she thrust it aside.

Johnny was talking excitedly, almost as though he were trying to avoid an awkward pause or a question.

"Care to join us?" David asked in his affable tones.

"Sorry," Johnny answered quickly, "but we're due to sail in half an hour and time's running out."

"Pity," David observed easily, "I've got the plans all drawn up for the Islander alterations. They're just waiting for your okay before I get the builders on the job and we're away !"

In a moment Johnny's face had changed, all the light-hearted laughter wiped away. "Another time —"

"But, Johnny —" Noeline laid a thin, freckled hand on his arm.

"It doesn't matter," he told her. "It's nothing of any importance." Swinging around to David, he said in tense, angry voice, "Like I told you before, do as you like! You will anyway, so why keep on about it?"

"You're the owner, mate."

"I'm not the only one! Seeing you two are so friendly," there was an ugly twist to Johnny's lips, "why don't you get Robyn on the job instead?"

"I'll do that," David said quietly.

With no alteration in his even tone he had succeeded in putting Johnny firmly in his place, Robyn reflected, and his place at the moment was very definitely that of an ill-tempered, vindictive small boy. How could he be so insufferable?

"Go right ahead!" Robyn noticed the high flush on his cheekbones, "and good luck ! Come on, Noeline, time to go !"

Sick with humiliation, Robyn watched the other two as they threaded their way through the small tables. "He looked as if he'd a bit too much to drink," she offered lamely, "and besides, it must have made him furious seeing me ... with you. I mean, he'd never believe that we ran across each other by accident."

"Do you believe it, Robyn?"

At last she was forced to meet his smiling gaze. "I never dreamed —"

"I have, often! That's why when I got through to the

Islander this morning and Mrs. Daley told me, where you were heading for in Suva —"

"I might have known !" But the next moment other thoughts crowded in, the anxious mortifying recollection of Johnny's behaviour that drove everything else from mind. "Now he'll think — he'll think —"

"What does it matter what he thinks?" David laid a firm brown hand over her fingers. He added with his unshakeable good humour, "Too bad if he takes off. I'll have to make do with you instead for giving me a go-ahead with the plans. Not that I mind, you understand ?"

But she was too humiliated by Johnny's behaviour to listen to what he was saying. Thoughtfully she stirred the long cool drink with a sugar-cane swizzlestick. She said uncertainly, "He could be working on that yacht. You know? One of the crew?" Her tone gained confidence. "He often goes away like that, signs on a boat for a trip around the islands."

His voice was very gentle. "Haven't you noticed the name, Rob?"

She followed his gaze to the luxuriously appointed white yacht riding at anchor so close beside them. How could she have failed to see the black letters of Noeline?

"Oh!" There wasn't much else she could say. After a moment she murmured, "Wasn't that the girl who Johnny was going to marry, only he changed his mind right at the last moment before the wedding?"

"So they tell me. I wasn't here at the time. I shouldn't imagine a girl would forgive that sort of treatment, but apparently they're the best of friends now. Would you overlook a thing like that? Take him back, just as though nothing had happened?"

"Perhaps," Robyn said very low, "nothing else would matter, if I cared enough."

He grinned his easy grin. "Could be it's love — or revenge." "Revenge?" She was startled out of her thoughts. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Forget it. Just a crazy idea that ran through my head. I'm probably way off the beam. Anyway, what does it matter? Forget about Johnny, shall we? He's not really all that important in our scheme of things."

"Oh, but he is !"

"Think so?" His gaze was all at once tender. It said quite plainly that where her brother was concerned, she was very young and stupid . . . and vulnerable.

Soon it was time to reboard the excursion boat, but for Robyn a little of the magic of the day had slipped away. She kept remembering Johnny, and wondering. Watching the water rippling around them, she reflected that Johnny hadn't confided to Noeline the true position in regard to his financial losses. To the other girl he was a young man who owned a more or less prosperous guesthouse. Something else concerning the other two worried her, and at last she pinpointed it. Something was missing in their relationship, she sensed it. There was no real feeling between them ... she knew she wasn't mistaken ... so why . . . Of course there was no accounting for love, but she had an inner conviction that love didn't enter into their relationship. Convenience perhaps, advantages on Johnny's side financially. What was it that David had suggested? Revenge, but that was absurd. One thing, she had no need any more to make excuses for her brother's absence from the guesthouse. It was all too clear to David that Johnny preferred enjoying himself in the company of people to whom money was no problem, rather than pulling his weight to retrieve the position in his own property. To ease her conscience, she said suddenly to David, leaning on the rail at her side, "Maybe I will look over those plans. I mean, if Johnny isn't around to okay them —"

"And mightn't be for quite a while."

"I didn't say that —"

"I did, but never mind," for her face had fallen despairingly, "you'll do, Robyn. After all, you're the other half of the partnership."

Her heart gave a sudden lurch, then she realised that of course he wasn't referring to himself but to Johnny.

"We can take a run over them when we get back," he was saying.

As the cruiser moved towards Suva harbour Robyn eyed the attractive native girl who had explained and exhibited the findings of the divers out at the reef. Now it appeared that her duties were over, for she was perched on the deck rail, her brown fingers plucking the strings of her guitar while her strong sweet voice rose in a foot-tapping rhythm that was joined by the passengers.

David had left his car parked on the wharves and soon they were driving through the wide, colourful streets. They dined in a small Chinese café and when they emerged into the street the heat met them. Guiding the car out of the city, David took a steep hill overlooking the harbour where old homes and new apartment blocks were screened amongst the tropical greenery of trees and bushes.

Outside a high block of modern units he braked to a stop and soon they were climbing a flight of stairs. He turned the key in a lock and they were in a spacious lounge room, delightfully cool with air-conditioning after the humidity outside. Softly lighted, the room was furnished in tonings of browns and golds. A man's room, she thought, glancing around her as he went to a desk and picking up a roll of blueprints brought them back to a low table. He indicated a low chair, then held a light to her cigarette. "Now you can get some idea of how the finished place will look." He spread out the detailed drawing. "Here's the pool, bang in front of the entrance. I don't want to do anything to interfere with the natural environment, so we'll have it here. That way we won't have to cut down more than a couple of palms."

Robyn studied the outspread plan, then glanced up in amazement. "But you've made the pool turtle-shaped!"

"Of course. That's what you wanted, wasn't it?"

"Oh yes, but it was only a suggestion."

"A good one ! Round the edge of the pool I thought we'd have lots of hibiscus bushes, all in one shade."

"Lemon yellow?"

"Couldn't be better! And over here by the entrance, an open porch shaded by hanging purple orchids. The modern units will be scattered amongst the coconut palms. They'll look like bures, but inside they'll be the last word in comfort and convenience. The old ones can be pulled down, they've had their day. Now over here is where I propose to place the restaurant." He came to stand beside her, bending over her shoulder as he indicated a place on the plan.

"I see." It was very hard to follow his warm tones when his dark head was so close to her own and her foolish heart was thud-thudding so hard she was terrified he would hear it. All she knew was that the proposed project, blending in with natural surroundings, would be probably the most attractively designed building on the Coral Coast ... and that he was much too near her at the moment for her to be able to make any clear judgement. With an effort she dragged her whirling thoughts back to his enthusiastic voice.

"I'm planning the new restaurant as a dine-and-dance place in native decor, with a separate snack bar for odd meals. Staff will be no problem with all the labour that's available here and for the key-line position, I'm counting on a friend of mine to take over as hostess-receptionist. Maria's tied up looking after a chalet-type outfit in Switzerland at the moment, but she's promised to take on the job at the Islander just as soon as we're ready for her. Actually," his voice warmed, "we're in luck to get anyone of Maria's calibre. She's a fluent linguist too, and that counts for a lot in a place like this where a French tourist may be giving a meal order to a Fijian waiter, to be prepared by an Indian chef! If anyone can manage staff problems and keep things on an even footing, she can. You'll like her !"

Already Robyn had a feeling that Maria wouldn't be one of her favourite people, though it was clear that in David's opinion there was no one to equal her. Probably there wasn't —in her own sphere. Did she mean a lot to him in a personal -sense as well? His pleasant smiling face as usual gave nothing away, but she had an uneasy presentiment that Maria's arrival wasn't going to make her own invidious position at the Islander any easier.

"Is she ... pretty?" The words were past her lips before she could stop to think.

His quizzical glance rested on Robyn's downcast face, and she knew he had noted the pink that was flooding her face. "I think so." He stubbed the ash from his cigarette. "Her husband was a particular mate of mine."

She glanced up at him in surprise. "Was?"

"Keith was killed in an accident last year in the Alps. That's why I've been keen to get Maria here to take over. Might get her mind off Keith ... give her a fresh interest."

Waspishly Robyn found herself hoping that the other girl's interest wasn't centred in David himself. A dark tide of jealousy, sharp and bewildering, attacked her. Absurd to imagine that a man in his early thirties wouldn't have women friends; in all probability a special one he was fond of. He could please himself, couldn't he, in regard to feminine company, and no doubt he did ! Maria would be older, sophisticated, someone with whom he would feel at ease. Not a young girl who felt younger still when she was with him, and had no talent for smart conversation or quick repartee with which to counter his teasing remarks.

"What do you think of it all?" His voice jerked her from her unhappy thoughts.

"Fabulous! I've got an idea of my own too to tell you about. That's why I went on the cruise today, to get an idea as to how it's done."

"How do you mean?" He was regarding her with his lazy stare.

"Oh, it's a big idea I've dreamed up." He was listening attentively now, she realised as she ran on. "It's a bit of a long-term plan, but when the place is all done up I thought we could get a much bigger boat than the old Katrina, one large enough to take a crowd, about the size of the one we were on today. Then we could take the other hotel tourists as well as our own guests on regular excursions out to the reef. I could act the part like the girl we saw today. I could do everything she did, except the musical part. All I'd need would be a couple of bikinis — and a nice smile ! There are lots of natives around who could do the diving for coral. Don't you think it's a good idea, David?"

"No!" She had never seen him so roused. All unwittingly, it had seemed, she had crashed that cool composure. "I wouldn't hear of it."

"You wouldn't ! "

"That's what I said! Make no mistake about it, Rob, that notion of yours is out — definitely ! You can put the idea right out of your head. I wouldn't allow you to do it !"

"But it has nothing to do with you!"

"It has, you know."

"Oh yes ... thanks for reminding me." The dark despairing expression that could come so suddenly darkened her averted face.

"Be sensible, Rob. It wouldn't work."

"Sensible ! " All at once she was nettled. Why should she allow herself to be ordered about in this high-handed fashion? "I don't see why not," she persisted stubbornly. "I think it's a real brainwave. Imagine all the dollars it would bring in !"

"It wouldn't, you know. Look at it this way. A cruiser of that type would cost a packet. It would take years to get the cost back in excursion fares. Oh, it's all right in Suva, of course, where they get the tourists from overseas liners, but out at the coast where it's more or less isolated, it would be a different story. Anyway, I wouldn't allow you —"

"What did you say?" She stared up at him, eyes bright with defiance.

"You heard, Rob. I wouldn't dream of letting you in for a job like that."

"Other people do it."

"Other people are trained for the work. They know how to handle the situation, any situation —"

"And I suppose," she suggested bitterly, "that I don't?"

"Forget it. If you're thinking along those lines, it's out!"

While she was casting about in her mind for a sufficiently crushing reply, he added carelessly, "Anyway, the position doesn't arise. I've other plans for you, Rob."

"Such as?"

For a moment he was silent, his gaze resting on her flushed face. "I'll let you know ... later. But for now, if you've made up your mind to be a working woman, what's wrong with taking over the craft shop?"

She stared across at him in amazement. "But I don't know a thing about shop work !"

"You'd learn quickly enough. That artistic ability of yours would be a real asset there. In a couple of months everything will be ready and you can start ordering stock. It's going to work out, Rob, you'll see. We'll make pots of money —"

"For you!"

"And you!" He flicked her nose. "I told you before, you're a funny kid. Don't you want to make a go of things at the Islander?"

She sighed, avoiding his gaze. "In a way."

"Only you'd rather it was Johnny who was doing it?"

His tone was as easy, as friendly as ever, but underneath she was aware of the truth in what he had said. To change the subject she said, "What about the coral boat if I have to take over the shop?"

He shrugged. "Johnny can take over the Katrina if he feels like helping out. If he doesn't there are plenty of local native boys who would jump at the chance of making a few dollars." He eyed her downcast face. "You're not mad about the idea, I take it?"

"All right then, I'll do it," she murmured unwillingly. "I haven't much choice in the matter anyway."

"It was your idea to help," he pointed out cheerfully.

"Yes, I know, but ..." Suddenly it all came to a head. The shock of finding Johnny living in such different circumstances from what he had led her to believe, her shame-making excuses for his behaviour — excuses that she knew hadn't deceived David in the least — and now his ridiculous opposition to the harmless project she had dreamed up. "It's just Johnny," she blurted out in a voice choked with emotion. "You always talk about him in that funny way — Oh, it's not what you say," she was tripping over herself in confusion, "but the way you say it ... as if you didn't trust him to do anything at all !"

"I don't, actually, but don't let it worry you." He spoke in those deceptively easy tones. "I could be all wrong about Brother John. You know something?" He grinned engagingly. "I hope I am."

"But you don't really expect him to pull his weight? You know you don't!"

He put out a hand to touch her, but she jerked herself away. In a low voice she said bitterly, "You haven't really got much faith in either of us, Johnny or me, that's what you really mean, isn't it? It's just a big excuse, not letting me get the new boat and working on it. Just because we got stranded —" She checked herself, realising that "stranded" was an unfortunate way of describing their plight, giving an impression that what had happened had been their own fault instead of a simple accident that no one could foresee. "You really don't think much of either of us, do you?"

He was still smiling, that hateful, unshakeable smile, almost as though her futile efforts to defend the Carlisles amused rather than annoyed him. "You've got it all wrong, little one —"

"And stop treating me like a child !"

"Would you rather I treated you — like this!" She found herself imprisoned in strong arms. Angrily she stared up into his laughing face, then the next moment his kiss sent everything else from mind for the light embrace changed to something roughly tender . . . and meaningful . . . and heady.

When she could speak, "I guess I asked for that." Her voice was unsteady.

His arms still encircled her waist and he was looking down at her flushed face with an expression she couldn't fathom. Almost ... with tender concern. But when he spoke his voice was low and oddly intent, like that of a man who has himself well in hand. "Come on, child, I'll run you down to a taxi."

It was funny, but she didn't seem to mind him calling her "child" now. Maybe it was because of the way he was looking at her. The outspread plans lay forgotten on the table as they went in silence out of the room and out into the scented darkness of the Pacific night. Robyn said nothing about staying the night at Mrs. Daley's home. IA her present turbulent state of mind the thought of a houseful of strangers was unendurable. All she wanted was to get back to the shelter of the Islander, no matter how late when she arrived there.

On the long drive over darkened roads, her thoughts milled endlessly around the man who had just left her. Humiliating enough to be under financial obligations to him. Now she had to admit that he affected her in another, more personal way. Else why was she still burning with anger towards him? Once she had thought that he was someone special, she'd liked him a lot, yet tonight she had been stung into a quarrel that had surprised herself as much as it had him. And it had got her nowhere. For when it came to a matter of arrangements at the remodelled motel, all her arguments and hot anger couldn't alter the fact that he definitely had the say in the running of the place. It was just as Johnny had told her —David was the boss and he meant to assert his authority in no uncertain terms. The dark landscape slid by and all at once she was tired and fed up — and jealous. Now what could have put that idea in her head? How could she be jealous of a woman she had never met, and regarding David, of all men?

But he knows her well and he likes her a lot ! You could tell that by his tone of voice when he spoke of her. Obviously he had terrific confidence in her abilities. He would trust Maria to do the right thing for the Islander every time, whereas he regarded her efforts to improve the financial position of the guesthouse in a rather different light. Once again he had made her feel useless and where matters of business were concerned, childishly inexperienced.

Why not come right out with it, admit that what was really on her mind was his kiss, his

touch, the disturbing nearness that led her to say such silly dumb things when she should be tossing back smart replies ! She turned her head towards the outline of dark jungle-clad hills and attempted to dwell on other less personal matters, but it was no use. The smiling face, the warm voice was there in her mind and she could think of nothing but their meeting in Suva and the hours they had spent together.

In the morning when she had slipped into her swimsuit and strolled down the beach, she was surprised to find someone already there. A girl lay motionless, face down on the sands. She looked, Robyn mused, like someone who wanted to be alone with her thoughts — or who was waiting for someone to join her? Something about the figure in the black bikini struck her as familiar. Of course ... Pam. The next moment the other girl jerked to awareness. For a moment an expression of wild hope lighted her dark eyes, then it was gone. "Hi !" Listlessly she lay back on the sand, hands crossed behind her cap of dark hair. "I got in late last night and Eve told me that you'd taken off for Suva. She said you were planning to go on the ()Mao° cruise. Enjoy it?"

Robyn dropped down at her side. "Oh yes, it was super! And what do you think? David was on the boat too."

Pam raised enquiring dark eyes. "Again?"

"How do you mean?"

"Oh, just that ages ago I happened to run across him in Suva and he told me he was tired of that particular excursion — but of course that was before he met you!"

"Me? He couldn't care less about me. It just ... happened that way."

"Did it?" Pam's derisive smile was disquieting. It raised a question in her mind, but the answer was so incredible it was simply ridiculous.

"Anyway," Robyn went on lightly, "it was fun. The boat called in at Tradewinds and it was heavenly, right on the

water's edge. Then we went back to Suva and a native girl sang and played her guitar."

Put into words there was nothing spectacular in the afternoon excursion, at least, not in this part of the world, and certainly not enough to warrant the deep happiness that had coloured the day — until they had quarrelled.

She was unaware of the sudden droop of her lips, the sadness in her transparent face.

"Then you two had an argument?" Pam prompted softly.

Robyn swung around, startled. "How did you know?"

"Just your expression. Don't look like that. You'll make it up again, or he will. It couldn't have been all that important."

"It was — to me. You see," she ran on in a rush of confidence, "I had this-fabulous idea of getting a bigger boat, when the place is all modernized, I mean, and I could do just what the native girl does on the Olooloo cruise. I know it would be a success."

"But he wouldn't let you?"

"No ... and the awful part of it is that I can't do a thing about it. Seeing he's in charge of everything now I have to give in whether I want to or not." It was such a relief to speak with someone who was aware of the true position of affairs at the Islander. The injustice of it all swept over her afresh. "It makes me mad!"

"Why wouldn't he agree?"

"Oh, I don't know. Some absurd notion he had about it not paying . . . and other things."

"I can make a guess as to what the 'other things' were. And it must have mattered to you quite a bit or you wouldn't be in such a state about it !"

"I'm not in a state," Robyn protested hotly. "It's just so unfair!"

Pam gave her sad mocking smile. "Is that what you call it? When is he coming down here again?"

"Don't ask me ! When the builders start work here, I suppose. I don't know. And I don't care either ! " she said with feeling.

But the other girl wasn't listening. There was an intentness in her glance. "I don't suppose you happened to come across Johnny when you were around the wharves in Suva?"

"I did, actually." Robyn picked up a handful of sand and watched the heavy grains drop through her fingers.

"You don't have to spell it out," Pam said thickly. "I can see from your face that he wasn't alone. It was Noeline, wasn't it? They were off for a cruise with her parents on their palatial yacht?"

Robyn didn't know what to say.

"Oh, I've heard all about it," Pam's voice was unsteady, "but I didn't believe it. You know how it is, you don't believe a thing because you don't want to, yet all the time deep down you know perfectly well that it's true. You keep hoping ... and hoping ... thinking that one of these days he'll come back with arms wide open, telling you it was all a mistake and he's loved you all the time — he didn't ask about me?"

Robyn shook her head. "There wasn't time. I only saw him for a minute or so. He — they — were due to sail in half an hour." She was shocked to see the other girl had paled beneath the tan. "I'm sorry, Pam," she murmured awkwardly, "I wish I could do something to help."

Pam tried in vain to steady her trembling lips. "You can't. I've just got to get over him, somehow. It's his being with her that hurts so much. He must have cared for her all along. That's the part I can't take."

"David said it could be revenge?" The words came to her lips unthinkingly.

For a moment an expression of hope lighted Pam's features, then she sighed. "No such luck, I'm afraid."

"It must be terrible," Robyn said quietly, "to love anyone as much as that."

Pam rose to her feet, stooping to brush the sand from her legs. "How do you know you don't?" she said, and began to walk away towards the house.

Robyn stared after her. What a thing to say ! Whatever could she mean? Close on the thought came another — the shame-making conviction that she could very easily feel that way about David. Placed as she was, it was a risk she would have to take ! Running down to the water, she struck out with firm strokes, trying with physical activity to dispel the disturbing thoughts Pam's words had evoked.