Temptation in Paradise

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‘Salud!’ she echoed in a quiet voice, and then began to waver under that intense, heated stare. She sipped her drink slowly, breaking off that eye contact.

He didn’t say anything more but downed his wine and then, almost reluctantly, turned his attention to setting the boat in motion. She was relieved the moment had passed.

They sped across the water, heading towards a green outcrop some half a mile away, and after a few minutes José brought the boat to a halt at the dive site. Several men milled about on board another boat that was moored there. They were wearing wetsuits or shorts, and they were helping each other with equipment, compressed air tanks and masks and so on.

‘Holà! Is everyone all right?’ José called out, and they nodded. ‘That’s good. Permission to come aboard?’

‘Aye, come on over.’ The skipper grinned.

José retrieved his case and pulled out a large medical bag from one of the storage units on board, and then helped Jessie off the yacht and onto the dive boat. ‘Let’s hope the dive goes smoothly,’ he said.

They stood on the open deck and watched as the men took to the water. ‘What are they looking for down there?’ Jessie asked. ‘I mean, this is a conservation project—so what does that involve?’

‘A few of the reefs in the Caribbean have been damaged over the years, for a number of reasons,’ José explained. ‘If the sea warms up too much because of climate changes, for instance, it can cause the coral to die off, or certain species of fish can cause problems by overfeeding. In time, algae and seaweed cover the reefs and block out the light.’

‘Can something be done about that?’

He nodded. ‘We reseed the reef with fast-growing coral species—we’re having some success out here, and with luck we’ve managed to turn things around.’

He waved her to a chair on the deck by the guardrail. ‘Please, sit down.’ He took a seat next to her and opened the case he had brought with him, revealing a hamper full of mouth-watering food. ‘I thought you might be getting hungry by now,’ he said, ‘so I stopped off at the restaurant and put together a hamper. Help yourself.’ He handed her a plate and serviette, along with some cutlery.

‘That was very thoughtful of you,’ she said. It was totally unexpected, too, and she warmed to him even more. She’d been wondering when she might get to eat again. ‘It looks delicious.’ Her eyes widened at the variety of the contents—tortilla wraps filled with chicken, peppers, red onion and salad greens, along with potato salad and what turned out to be spicy corn bread. ‘Mmm, this is good,’ she murmured appreciatively, biting into a tortilla a moment later. ‘I didn’t realize I was quite so hungry.’

He opened a bottle of wine, filled a glass with the sparkling liquid and then passed it to her. ‘There’s coleslaw, as well,’ he said, searching in the case and bringing out a container. ‘And a tropical fruit salad for afterwards, as well as some fruit tarts.’

‘You’ve thought of everything,’ she said, smiling. ‘This is wonderful.’ She sent him an impish look. ‘Is this how you spend all your working days out at the reef?’

He laughed. ‘Not exactly. But today is rather different.’ He looked her over, smiling. ‘Today you are here.’ The look he gave her made her insides tingle.

She blinked and swallowed hard. To bring things back on to an even keel, she asked quietly, ‘So what does the work involve?’

He spooned black bean and rice salad onto his plate. ‘I have to check the general health of the divers on a regular basis, and sort out any problems they might have. I need to keep up-to-date records, and I have to be here in case they get into difficulties. Mostly, the problems we see are to do with ear troubles and pressure injuries, as well as the occasional graze or scrape. These men are experienced divers, so on the whole they know how to avoid trouble. Even so, diving is a dangerous activity and we have to be constantly alert to things that might go wrong.’

She sipped her wine and looked out over the glittering blue water. A glint of silver caught her eye and she gave a small gasp of excitement as a flying fish leaped from the water and glided through the air on wing-like fins for a few moments before descending once more.

‘That’s one way to avoid being caught by underwater prey, I suppose,’ José said with a smile.

‘It’s amazing, so sleek and graceful. I’ve never seen anything like that before.’

She peered into the clear water and was rewarded by the passing of a shoal of exotic, brightly coloured parrotfish. She could see how they got their name—the external teeth formed what looked like a beak.

‘Ben tells me about his dives sometimes,’ she said, animated by everything around her. ‘He says there are pinnacles down there, draped in seaweed, that look like trees and sway about in the water. And he showed me an underwater video he’d made of the reef, where you can see giant clams, sea anemones and sea fans—there was even a turtle trying to eat a sponge. It made it look as though diving down there is a wonderful experience.’

‘It is. You could try a dive yourself one day, or maybe look at the reef by spending some time on a glass-bottomed boat.’

‘Yes, I might do that.’ She picked up an apricot-glazed fruit tart and bit into it, savouring the sweet taste on her tongue. ‘Oh, I think I’m in heaven,’ she murmured, closing her eyes briefly.