Inconveniently Wed

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“I’m sorry, I’ll clean them up. Mom must have—”

“Hey, don’t panic. It’s okay.” He reached out a steadying hand to her and clasped her forearm before she could bend down. “Relax, okay? I think a few rose petals are only to be expected with a bride and groom aboard, don’t you?”

Heat flared along her arm. Heat that tantalized and teased her already overwrought senses. Imogene pressed her lips together before answering, “But we’re not your typical bride and groom, are we?”

“We never were typical,” he agreed.

His words sent another rush of color to her cheeks. She groaned inwardly. Why did she continually blush around him? No one else had ever had the capacity to wring that kind of reaction from her before. She gestured to his towel.

“Are you planning to sleep in that?”

“It might give our cabin crew a bit of a shock if I did. No, I have some pajamas in my case. When you go to the bathroom I’ll change in here, if that’s okay.”

Ah, so they were back to being polite again. That suited her just fine. Right now she didn’t know what to think or say or do. All she knew was that she needed to create a bit of space between herself and Valentin before she did something stupid, like press her lips to the small brown discs of his nipples, or lick off that tiny droplet of water that followed the indentation of his abdomen.

“I’ll say good-night now, then,” she said stiffly and gathered up her toilet bag.

“Good night, Imogene,” Valentin replied.

His voice was gentle and deep and almost her undoing. It would take only a second to lift her face to his. To claim a good-night kiss. But if she did, she knew exactly where that would lead and she knew she definitely wasn’t ready for the ramifications of what would follow. Not mentally. Not yet.

Valentin looked out the aircraft window at the glorious coastline that appeared beneath them. Turquoise waters edged by foaming waves crashed against a reef that appeared to encircle the island they were approaching. As the plane drew lower still, he could make out white-sand beaches and towering palm trees that waved their fronds in the onshore breeze.

“Look at that,” he said to Imogene, gesturing outside.

“It’s beautiful,” she answered, leaning across him to get a better look. “And it’s certainly not like the New York winter we’ve left behind. Still, I guess, being in the southern hemisphere, it’s summer down here, right?”

He grunted in response, barely able to speak right now. Did she know her breast was pressed against his arm, he wondered, or realize what her closeness was doing to him? How her subtle fragrance invaded his mind and made him think all kinds of inappropriate things he’d rather be doing with her right now? Her very nearness was going to be a major test of his ability to practice abstinence while they worked toward understanding each other better. It was something they were going to need to discuss very soon or he’d go crazy.

He moved slightly and Imogene immediately pulled away.

“Sorry,” she murmured.

She fiddled with her seat belt, tugging at the strap and ensuring it was firmly done up.

“No problem,” he responded, even though her touch had rapidly become a problem for him, indeed. He gestured out the window again. “Looks like we’re coming in to land.”

Imogene reached for his hand. “Do you mind? I always get nervous.”

He curled his fingers around hers and was surprised at how tight her grip became as they descended through the clouds. “I never knew that about you.”

“Well, we’ve never flown together before, so I guess you never got the chance to find out.”

Her words came out lightly but he knew there was a lot more behind them.

“You’re right,” he conceded. “We didn’t get to know a lot about each other at all, did we?”

The wheels touched the tarmac and her grip tightened even more. The plane felt like it was fighting the brakes as they eventually began to slow down and taxied toward the terminal building. One of the cabin crew came toward them, a warm smile wreathing her pretty face.

“We’ll be disembarking soon,” she informed them. “Once the stairs are down I’ll come and get you and direct you to customs and immigration. It should only be a few minutes.”

“Thanks, Jenny,” Valentin acknowledged.

He felt Imogene disengage her fingers from his hand one by one.

“She’s attractive, isn’t she?” Imogene commented. “Do you know her well?”

Valentin shrugged, suddenly aware that any comment right now could be a potential minefield. “As well as I know any of the Horvath Aviation crews. I fly a lot with my work and I’ve gotten to know a few of them. Jenny’s husband, Ash, is one of our pilots. It’s company policy that if staff are a couple, they be assigned together whenever practical.”

He felt Imogene relax a little. Was it because she now knew that Jenny was married? Until that supposed incident with Carla, jealousy had never been an issue, but was it going to be an issue now? Obviously Imogene felt vulnerable—she’d taken a major leap of faith in marrying him again, but then again so had he.

As soon as they were settled into their accommodations they’d be having a serious discussion about the boundaries of this new marriage of theirs and what they each expected out of it. Failure wasn’t something that Valentin accepted, which was what had made him an excellent student, a brilliant doctor and an astute businessman. The fact that his first marriage had failed had always been a thorn in his side. He knew he’d been the innocent party all along but his failure in not being able to make Imogene see that had been hard to bear. Her insecurity had driven her away from him, which, in turn, meant he’d failed her. Now it was up to him to make sure she never felt that way again.

Before long they were descending the stairs of the aircraft and stepping onto the steaming-hot tarmac at the airport. It was a short walk to the small terminal building, and clearing customs and immigration took only a few minutes since they’d landed at a quiet time at the airport with no commercial airliners arriving or departing. The air around them was thick with humidity but a steady breeze blew off the nearby ocean and tugged at their clothing as they exited the terminal building to find a driver waiting for them with a sign.

“Kia orana!” the woman said in greeting as she slipped a lei of fragrant blooms around each of their necks. “Welcome to the Cook Islands. I’m Kimi and I’ll be your contact and your driver during your stay with us. Please, come with me.”

Valentin put a hand to Imogene’s elbow as they followed Kimi to a van. Their luggage was loaded in the back and in a few moments they were off. After twenty minutes they were at their destination: a secluded villa just back from the sand on a private lagoon.

“Everything here is at your disposal,” Kimi said expansively. “You have your own pool and you’ll find water toys to use in the lagoon in the shed behind those bushes. There’s an outdoor shower for you to use in complete privacy when you come back from the beach and if you need anything else here at the house, please just lift the phone over there and someone will handle your query. I’m available to drive you anywhere you want to go.

“There’s fruit and drinks in your kitchen, together with a few breakfast items, and you’re welcome to use the neighboring resort restaurants for breakfast and lunch and just charge it back to the villa. Tonight, dinner will be brought to you at seven. We can serve it here on the patio or down on the sand if you’d prefer, although we’re expecting a bit of a storm tonight. Oh, and there’s a car or scooters for you to use if you want to drive around the island yourselves. Just remember to keep left and watch your speed. It’s only thirty-two kilometers round-trip to get around the island, but you can take as long as you like. You’re on island time now.”