Hours to Cherish Read Online Free PDF Page B

friends and customers had swarmed around her, assuring themselves that she had survived her spill in full health. But after she had cheerfully assured them all she was fine, those same fickle friends turned enthusiastically to the mystery man to offer admiration and heartiest congratulations. Even Sam, damn him! Cat thought. Why couldn’t he be just a little partial when it came to her? But Sam’s honor meant more to him than even Tiger Cay. And he would expect Cat’s honor to be the same.
    Sighing as she viewed her sodden reflection in the beveled mirror of her dressing table in the large master suite of the main house, Cat began to nibble at a nail. What the hell was she going to do now? She decided she was as shell-shocked as her first, planned contenders had been with their losses. If she wasn’t in shell shock, she would be standing here screaming in panic.
    She turned from the mirror and stared blankly at the nail she had just torn ragged. Legally, she decided, she didn’t owe the man a dime. In fact, their gambling had been il legal. But legalities weren’t the point. Here in the out islands, one’s word and honesty meant everything. The man—wasn’t it ridiculous, she owed him more than she owned and she didn’t know his name—apparently didn’t have a moral qualm in the world. And for a man engaging in a “gentleman’s agreement,” he sure as hell wasn’t any gentleman. If he were the least courteous, he would have claimed a mismatch.
    The discomfort of still being soaked finally permeated through her mental dilemma. Sighing her frustration and turmoil, Cat moved into the old but elegant Victorian bathroom and stripped off her soggy clothes. For many moments she stood perfectly still, almost incapable of action, as hot water poured over her chilled body.
    What the hell had she done? Too late, the question seemed to scream in her mind. She had known all along he had been goading her and she had fallen into the trap. Pride, she thought remorsefully, does goeth before a fall. He was supposed to be flat on his face. Instead, she was up to her neck in quicksand, floundering worse than she had been in the water.
    This can’t really be happening; I couldn’t possibly have done anything so stupid! But she had. And so now, as she mechanically worked shampoo through the heavy length of her hair, she desperately pondered the stranger. What did he want? He had known she didn’t have the money; in fact, it was if he planned on her not being able to pay up. Bargain to pay her debts, he had said. Bargain what? And when would she get to discover just what he did have up his sleeve? When they had come up to the lodge from the dock, he had cheerily informed her they’d talk later. When was later? Later had best be soon. Forgetting all about her hair, Cat was tearing away at another nail.
    Lord, things weren’t half as bad as they were going to be. Jules was due to return to Tiger Cay tomorrow. Maybe that was good. If he irritated her any further, Cat could just tell the stranger to go to hell. She began to laugh, imagining herself calmly asking Jules for five hundred thousand dollars. She’d have to endure a two-hour lecture on the idiocies of her sex.
    But Jules had let her down before. She wouldn’t have been gambling in the first place if he had put a little faith in her abilities. Maybe, she thought a little desperately, she could push the wedding. Jules couldn’t possibly refuse to pay his wife’s debts and the five hundred thousand dollars couldn’t be that much of a hardship to him.
    Cat sighed and stuck her head beneath the shower spray. She couldn’t do that. Not to Jules. She loved him, even if he did have his quirks. Honor, she told herself bitterly. Sam would be glad if he were to know that she did have a certain sense of honor.
    Only if she were desperate would she think of not stalling her upcoming marriage. What do I mean, desperate? her mind shouted. I am desperate!
    And waterlogged.
    Cat