Free Antigua Kiss by Anne Weale Page B

confirmed when, about an hour later, leaving John playing ball with another child, she walked to the main block to mail the postcards she had bought in town that morning.
    As she arrived in the entrance hall, where there was a letter box by the reception desk, she was just in time to see Ash and Bettina leaving the building. She was dressed for an evening out in a long narrow backless red dress with a side-slit skirt. Her hair was loose on her shoulders, and Christie glimpsed a cascading shell ear-ring as she turned her head to speak to her tall companion. He was probably one of the few men with whom Bettina could wear high heels and still have to look up slightly, thought Christie, watching them disappear in the direction of the car park.
    When Ash arrived the next day, he tossed a paper bag on to Christie's lap.
    'I hope it's the right size. If not, I can change it.'
    She opened the bag and pulled out a bright pink cotton bikini. Her reaction was a mixture of the feeling that she ought to be grateful to him, and a certain resentment of his assumption that a bikini of his choosing must be acceptable to her.
    Before she could say anything, he told her to go and try it on.
    Slim as she was, Christie would never have chosen a bikini cut as this one was. The top was gathered into a ring between her breasts, and the thin strings which held it up were attached to the ring, thus exposing the skin normally covered by the ties of an ordinary halter top. The bottom part left the sides of her hips completely bare except where the strings tied. It also exposed a great deal more of her behind than did her other swimsuits. Even so she would not have been embarrassed to wear it in front of anyone but Ash. It was the thought of his seeing her in it which made her shrink from reappearing on the verandah.
    However, when she did go back he was amusing John by making a playing card appear and disappear, and he barely glanced at her.
    Even when she said, 'It fits perfectly. Thank you very much for bringing it. What do I owe you?' he continued to watch his nephew's baffled face.
    'Nothing,' he said. 'It's a welcome to Antigua present.'
    'But Ash, I can't possibly accept—'

    'Oh, come now, Christiana, this isn't the nineteenth century and, if not related by blood, we are both in loco parentis to this young fellow.
    That allows us to dispense with most of the conventions, don't you think?'
    'Some of them, I suppose. But why should you pay for this bikini as well as everything else? It must be costing you a fortune to keep us in luxury like this. I can't feel comfortable about it.'
    'Ah, but you see I have a scheme to recoup my outlay".'
    Having made the card materialise behind John's ear yet again, he put it in the pocket of his shirt, ruffled the child's hair, and stood up.
    'Are we ready for the beach? I brought you something else; an American sun-screen with an extra high protection factor for those areas you haven't exposed yet.'
    Now his dark gaze did scan her body, and she felt her colour rising, although not in the fiery blush which had suffused her face yesterday morning at Darcy's.
    Striving not to lose her composure, she said, 'What sort of scheme?'
    'I'll explain it some time when we're a deux.'
    He unbuckled his belt, unzipped his shorts and stepped out of them.
    Taking a tube from the pocket, he handed them to her, and asked,
    'Could you put these inside for me somewhere before you lock up?
    There's some money in the back pocket which I don't want to leave lying around.'
    'Of course.' She took them into the cottage, and spent a few moments checking that the other doors were locked.

    What could he mean by a scheme to recover his outlay? They hadn't discussed the future yet, but already she knew in her heart that Ash was right about this being the best place for John to grow up. How could she deny him the chance to live in this wonderful climate where, already, she felt vitality bubbling up inside her like a spring.
    Before going into