Wealth of the Islands by Isobel Chace Page A

horizon as well as—no, she was not going to admit that he affected her in any way at all! She would not!
    “ Oh, Helen, it ’ s so lovely to see you! ” Anita exclaimed as soon as Gregory had gone. “ You look a wee bit tired, if you don ’ t mind my saying so. Do you have to work most frightfully hard ?”
    Helen pokered up. She hadn ’ t noticed how tired she was and she didn ’ t want to notice. With Anita looking so pretty and gay, the last thing she wanted was a picture of herself as worn out, with her hair sticky from salt water, and with precious little control over her emotions to boot! How odd it was, she thought dispassionately, that having spent all this time since Michael ’ s death in an emotional limbo, she was now as edgy as a young girl waiting for her first date. She would have to do better than that, she told herself sternly, if she was going to be any good to Anita—or be able to do the job she had undertaken. She sighed. She had forgotten what painful things emotions could be. She had been much better off without them.
    “ Helen, you ’ re not listening! What are you dreaming about? My, I thought I was the dreamy one! Don ’ t you think Mr. de Vaux is a dreamboat of a man? Is he always as kind as he has been today? I thought you found him rather unyielding—you know, that he didn ’ t like women much— ”
    “ Whatever made you think that? ” Helen put in quickly.
    Anita considered the point. “ I don ’ t know, ” she said at last. “ It was something you said on the phone. Then you do like him? ”
    Helen shrugged her shoulders. “ He ’ s all right, ” she said inadequately.
    “ All right !” Anita screamed with laughter. “ Helen have you looked at him? I think he ’ s beautiful! Really beautiful! ”
    “ You ’ re just starry-eyed about everything, ” Helen told her firmly. “ You wait until he ’ s yelling at you because you ’ ve forgotten something that he needs at that particular moment! ”
    Anita looked prim. “ I don ’ t believe he would yell at anyone! ” she defended him, quite cross that Helen should make such a suggestion.
    “ Oh, wouldn ’ t he! ” Helen retorted.
    “ Even if he does, ” Anita continued defensively, “ it would only be because you deserved it. I ’ m sure of that! I think he ’ s as nice as anything !”
    Helen sighed. “ Good, ” she said finally. She cleared away their glasses, pumping up some water into the sink to wash them up. The Sweet Promise was the most beautifully equipped boat she had ever been on, she reflected. With a little money spent on her, to provide a few luxurious touches and to paint her outside and in, and she would be worthy of a millionaire and smart trips around the Mediterranean. Perhaps it was as well that she had to earn her living after all, for here, in the Pacific, she had to do that or Gregory wouldn ’ t have been able to keep her.
    “ Helen, ” Anita said suddenly, her voice breathless and dismayed. “ Oh, Helen, do you think I could possibly be seasick? ”
    Helen turned and looked at her with alarm. It was true that she looked more than a little green. “ You ’ d better go on deck, ” she advised briskly. “ Do you think you can get that far? ”
    Anita nodded desperately. She ran to the companionway and hurried up the narrow steps with Helen close behind her.
    Taine-Mal looked first of all anxious and then, when he saw what was happening, he roared with laughter with the full-throated laugh of the Polynesian. Anita gave him a look of dislike mixed with fear. “ D-did you see his teeth? ” she shuddered, holding Helen ’ s arm so tightly that it hurt.
    “ Hush, he ’ ll hear you, ” Helen whispered.
    “ I don ’ t care if he does! ”
    “ But I care, ” Gregory said relentlessly. He had come towards them, his feet completely silent on the canvas deck. “ What ’ s the matter? Helen, get her below! Haven ’ t we got enough amateurs playing at working on board this