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ill. She promised to be back with the evening plane unless there was a message from her to the contrary."
    He got to his feet.
    "I'll check," he said abruptly. "Reception could only tell me that you'd both gone out early this morning, presumably together, but that was two hours ago."
    She had kept him cooling his heels in the foyer for two whole hours, Elizabeth thought, following his progress towards the desk. Unforgivable!
    He returned with a dip of paper in his hand.
    "This has just arrived," he said, frowning. "It was handed in at Spreckelsville early this afternoon. My grandmother couldn't make the plane. Henri Duroc must be seriously ill." He was still reading the message.
    "She shows a deep concern for you."
    "When will she get back?" Elizabeth wondered.
    "Possibly tomorrow."
    "This must be most inconvenient for you," she suggested, "if you wanted to see her. You're a very busy person."
    He smiled at the description.
    "I take time off occasionally, especially if I've been held up on a schedule," he informed her. "What did worry me was the fact that you were not together on the tour. Anything could have happened. Grand'mere won't admit it, but she's no longer a young woman able to fend entirely for herself. When she takes off into the blue like this there could be complications, though at the present moment she appears to be safe enough."
    Elizabeth stared at him incredulously.
    "What's the matter?" he asked, sitting down beside her.
    "You're really quite human," she said without thinking. "You really are concerned about your grandmother."
    He laughed abruptly.
    "So that's what you thought?" he said. "I had a fair idea after your initial outburst in Sydney, but it's nice to know that you can reverse your opinion on occasion. Shall we have something to eat in about an hour's time?" he asked. "You'll probably feel hungry after you've washed and changed."
    She could hardly believe that he was inviting her to share a meal with him.
    "Why did you come?" she asked.
    He considered the point for a moment.
    "Because I was stranded in New York with nothing to do," he decided. "My business contact will meet me in San Francisco instead."
    It had been a matter of convenience, after all, Elizabeth reflected as she picked up the pineapple and fled towards the lift. He would stay in the hotel now until the morning, meeting his grandmother off the plane, and go away again as fast as he could.
    Gazing at her dishevelled reflection in the bathroom mirror, she ceased to wonder why he had suggested that she should wash and change. The wind had played havoc with her hair and a scattering of golden freckles bridged her nose, called out by the sun. Her cheeks were flushed and her skin moist and she looked vulnerably young.
    What she needed most was a relaxing shower and time to consider the odd turn of events which had thrust her into Charles Abercrombie's company so unexpectedly.
    He needn't have asked her to dine with him, of course. He could have ignored her once he had seen her installed in the hotel and had been assured of his grandmother's safety.
    When she had washed and dressed she selected two small orchids from the posy Ed Bugle had given her, putting the others into water before she turned back to the mirror. The girl she saw reflected there was very much different from the windswept creature who had rushed towards the lift with a pineapple clutched to her breast an hour ago. The long pale green linen dress flattered her . colouring, and when she had pinned the little orchids to the low-cut neckline she knew that she needed no other adornment.
    The eyes looking back at her from the mirror were suddenly shining. Wherever Charles decided to take her she would make the most of the experience. After all, it wasn't every evening that one dined romantically under a Hawaiian moon!
    Charles was waiting in the foyer when she went down, and her heart gave a quick lurch of surprise as she looked at him. He wore the conventional white dinner