Free Stranded! by Pepper Pace Page A

people but my Mom is not going to have dreams in which she'll wake up screaming that Marshall is alive." He could already picture the funeral without a casket, and the shrine that they probably already had on the mantle—with pictures from his baby album. And when their friends come over they will tell them stories about how their only child was lost at sea. He frowned. "My boss..." He added slowly. "Frank." Yeah, Frank might search for him. Not because he cared but because he didn't like loose ends.
     
     
     
    "Your boss?" She prompted. He looked at her again and smiled in reassurance. "Frank Marcone. I'm his personal accountant. Frank knows exactly what the travel plan was because I'd phoned him with the information that morning."

He didn't add that Frank Marcone was a dangerous man. He had never told her any details about the work he did for Frank. One didn't generally announce that they fixed the 'books' for a very influential man.

He placed a kiss on her full lips. He put thoughts of Frank out of his mind and focused on this woman that he loved. She was afraid and he knew that she didn't need to be. He would risk his life to protect her and that was a thought that surprised him. Maybe it was the Island? He was willing to consider that their circumstance is what made his desire so much more intense. Regardless, he wanted her in his life; whether he was on the Island or off of it, he knew that Oceans was going to be a permanent fixture.

"Oceans, if you want to explore we can do it, but, I'm reluctant to leave until we've given sufficient time for someone to find us." More than that there was something else that kept him from exploring. Marshall was just plain scared.

"Okay." She nodded. She could wait a while longer. She gave him a shaky smile. "About two months?"

He nodded. "Sounds like a plan. In sixty days we'll go." But at the end of sixty days only one would be leaving for the other side of the Island.
     
     
     
    "You know what I miss?" Oceans said as they went foraging through the forest for edibles.

"Steak? Ice cream? Heineken-" Marshall rattled off as he examined a rotten mango.

"No." Oceans chuckled. "A hot bath. No, a hot BUBBLE bath."
     
    "Heat is something I can do without." Marshall pitched the rotten fruit deeper into the forest. "I want to be in Colorado right now, in a ski lodge. And the only heat I want anywhere near me is from the fireplace where I'm toasting my marshmallows." He used his long spear/walking stick to prod a clump of bushes. Nothing came scurrying out and he continued scavenging.

"I've never been skiing before. Is it fun?" She sniffed a papaya, then placed it in the basket that she had woven for this purpose. Marshall stopped and stared at her.

"Oceans, when we get off this Island, I promise to take you skiing."

"Um, hun, I don't really consider sliding down the side of steep hill desirable. That's what white people call fun. You know what I'd rather be doing Marshall?" Her voice had taken a decidedly sexy turn and his body came to attention.

"What?" His mind was picturing all kinds of things.

"I want to go to Vegas and see a show."

"Vegas?"

"Yeah. I used to go to the casino back home. They had nickel slots. Then I could afford it." She laughed.

"Don't tell me that you were one of the mindless drones, feeding your hard earned money straight into the casino owner's pockets."

"Hey!" She threw a nut at him but it bounced harmlessly a foot from him. "For your information this mindless drone once won five hundred dollars playing the slot machines."

He smiled. "Bet you lost more than you ever won. The real money is in blackjack, baby."

She scowled. "Too much thought. You have to do mathematics. How is that fun?"

He saw an ackee tree that seemed manageable and began climbing it. This he had perfected out of necessity. The ackee fruit ripened on the tree and needed to be picked therefore he needed to learn how to climb a tree in order to pick them. "Oceans, you are speaking