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of dust, they were gone.
    Amelie poured herself another glass of wine and carried it to the swing seat, curling her bare feet under her. So Arne had loved and lost the blonde woman? What pain he must have endured. She remembered hers clearly, the overwhelming numbing loss. She would tread carefully around his bruised heart. Maybe they would find mutual consolation in one another.
     

     

Chapter 3
     
    Arne returned from the outer reef late in the afternoon. By seven o’clock, he’d unloaded his gear, cleaned down his boat, Leilani , named for his bright-eyed niece, and was driving faster than he should up the old Lookout Road in order to see again a pair of sea-blue eyes a man could drown in and die happy. Were they really so deep and blue, or was his memory playing tricks on him? It was difficult to think about much else.
    If the failure of her hire car had not conveniently provided him with the initial excuse to help Amelie, and to spend time with her, his ingenuity would have been called on to create some means to get to know her. Probably he would have roped in Lili. She was a romantic at heart who would have been delighted to play Cupid for her brother. Certainly she’d jumped at the opportunity when he’d asked her to keep an eye out for Amelie, keen to get to know the beautiful young stranger who had captivated her brother.
    Funny how he’d known, the moment she literally walked into his arms in the grocery store. The jolt of recognition had been like a bolt from the blue. As their eyes met, he’d seen an answering flash of recognition in hers, whether she was aware of it or not.
    Long ago his grandmother had told him and Lili that it only took a single glance to know when your soul mate stood before you, that you would feel that all you ever needed in this world was there in front of your eyes. It had sounded very romantic at the time, but Arne now understood.
    It had happened for him.
    He wanted to be all she ever needed, to care for and protect her. Indeed, Amelie had called him her white knight that first night he had rescued her, but his present thoughts were rather less than chivalrous.
    He wanted to hold her, to stroke her corn-blond hair and soft skin, so luminous under the tropical moon. What he wouldn’t give to have those blue eyes looking adoringly into his. And her mouth, full-lipped and sensual, inviting yet innocent. He wanted to crush her in his arms and kiss her until she knew that she was his and his alone. He had never wanted any woman as he wanted Amelie. Recognizing in her his soul mate, just as his grandmother had described, he had fallen in love with her without needing to know her.
    But he had to win her love.
    Lili had confided the details of Amelie’s failed relationship when he phoned her upon his return to shore. He knew now why Amelie seemed vulnerable. And why he must take this relationship slowly. His heart’s desire waged war with his brain’s common sense.
    All the time he’d been out on the reef, she’d been in his thoughts. Certainly his mind had not been completely on his job. Taking a reading underwater, he would realize he’d already written it down. Filming the underwater life, he would imagine her face as he showed this world, with which he was so familiar, to her for the first time. Or, writing up his reports at night, he found himself staring out at the stars and moon and seeing them reflected in her wondrous eyes.
    For a man so used to being in total control of his life, he realized that this slip of a girl from down under, as she described her homeland, had taken over his every thought. However much he wanted her, he mustn’t allow his desire to make him fall into the trap of rushing her. She had been hurt badly and he would not, must not frighten her with the force of his attraction to her. Love is patient after all. Time enough to make love to her when he’d won her love.
    He turned into her yard. No lights shone from the windows although night had fallen.