Mail-Order Matty. Emilie Richards

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СКАЧАТЬ poured over honey-colored walls and made feathery tracings of the palm fronds that were dancing in the Caribbean breeze just off Matty’s balcony. Matty had been watching the shadows for longer than she cared to admit. She wasn’t sure what she hoped for. That their hypnotic sway would put her back to sleep. That if she concentrated hard enough she would find she was asleep in her lonely bed in Minnesota and that yesterday was just a disturbing dream. That someone would come into her room and tell her that she had not disgraced herself again and again on the trip to Inspiration Cay, that she had not blacked out at the kitchen table at the trip’s end.

      That someone, and she was afraid to speculate who, hadn’t carried her up to this room last night and undressed her as she’d slept the sleep of the dead.

      She tried to remember the events of last evening. She had tried to make friends with Nanny. She had humbled herself to the point of neurosis, drinking a tea that could have done far more than put her to sleep. Damon had come into the room. Thinking about it now, she suspected that he’d had Heidi in his arms. He had been angry at Nanny, then…nothing.

      Except that at a deeper level of awareness she thought she remembered arms around her, arms that had laid her gently on this bed, and hands that had smoothed away her clothes. Warm, strong hands that had lingered against her skin. Had she really moved against those hands, arched her back and sighed as they stripped away her sweater?

      She was never going to find the courage to leave this room again.

      The light seemed to grow brighter and the shadows sharper. At home she could have judged the time easily, but here the light was bright enough to destroy her frame of reference. It might be morning or late afternoon. She could have slept for days or weeks. As the warm honey of the walls lightened to palest gold, she realized that however long she had slept, it was time to get up. She might wish that she could avoid facing the population of Inspiration Cay, but she was trapped here with that tiny and decidedly odd band, and with her own humiliation. If possible, it was time to start putting yesterday behind her.

      A soft rapping sounded at her door, then a voice. “Matty?”

      She sat up and pulled a sheet over her breasts just as the door swung open. Damon stood in the doorway, a Damon completely transformed since yesterday. Gone was the man in the tropic-weight sportscoat and neatly pressed slacks. This Damon was barefoot, his hair tousled as if he had just dried it with a towel, wearing ragged cutoffs and a faded green T-shirt. This Damon, too, was outrageously gorgeous. “Good,” he said, with no ceremony. “You’re still alive.”

      She hadn’t decided what to say today or how to act. She said the first thing that came to mind. “Am I supposed to be?”

      “Look, there are just a few rules here. Don’t let Nanny play doctor, and don’t let Kevin scare you.”

      She tucked the sheet under her arms. She was still wearing a bra and panties. That was one of the first things she had made sure of this morning before she set about wallowing in her memories and embarrassment. But she felt curiously naked facing Damon this way, her legs drawn up to her chest, her shoulders bare except for flimsy lace straps the color of her skin.

      She was a master at sounding as if nothing bothered her. She was unflappable Matty, everyone’s rock of Gibraltar. “Was Nanny trying to kill me?”

      “They’re both harmless. But if I were you, I’d watch my back for a while. And don’t worry. I’ve spoken to Kevin about the suitcases.”

      With a sinking heart, she registered the plural. “Do I have anything left to wear?”

      “Nothing inside them was damaged. Apparently Samuel retrieved them before they sank. Kevin was just making a point.”

      “Well, I’ll have to tell Kevin it’s all right to talk to me if he’s upset. The suitcases are old. I don’t know if they can stand much more.”

      “He won’t talk about his feelings. He won’t talk to anybody.”

      It was time to talk about her own, or at least some small part of them. “About yesterday…”

      “I’m sorry, Matty. I should never have asked you to come.”

      Her eyes didn’t flicker. She supposed she had anticipated this, that she hadn’t gotten out of bed before this to avoid it. How could Damon possibly want her after everything that had happened? She was a complete failure. Even if Damon had still been willing to give her another chance, Nanny and Kevin weren’t going to. And she had already seen how fiercely and surprisingly loyal he was to them. “It’s all right, Damon. I understand.” She continued to keep her voice light and struggled with a smile.

      “I wouldn’t blame you if you swam back to George Town. I’ve been so caught up in my own problems, I just didn’t try hard enough to put myself in your shoes.”

      “You couldn’t have.”

      “I should have made arrangements for us to stay in George Town last night. Heidi would have managed without me. And you could have rested. The trip here wouldn’t have been so awful. You wouldn’t have had to face Nanny and Kevin when you were sick and exhausted. I won’t blame you if you tell us all to go to hell.”

      She managed a feeble joke. “That would be a long way from paradise, wouldn’t it?”

      “Will you give us another chance, then?”

      Moments passed before she realized what he’d said. There was no particular warmth in his voice, and he wasn’t looking at her directly. Despite his casual clothing, his posture was anything but. He looked like a man who was preparing himself for an assault.

      “You mean you’ll let me stay?”

      “Let you?”

      “I disgraced myself, didn’t I? Why would you want me?”

      “I still need you, Matty. The question is whether you’re willing to live here under these circumstances. I doubt if you see any reason to after yesterday.”

      She was flooded with relief, swimming in it, surfing in it. She didn’t know what to say. When she could speak, she continued to keep her voice light and make no emotional demands with her tone. “I can think of one very big reason.”

      “What?”

      “I don’t think I can swim as far as George Town.”

      “Thank you,” he said gruffly.

      “Just so you know. I almost never get sick. And I never faint. And I don’t usually succumb to a cup of tea.”

      “You don’t have to be superhuman. You just have to be here.”

      “A warm, maternal female body?”

      This time his gaze met hers directly, nearly pinning her to the spot. “The maternal part remains to be seen.”

      Heat rose in her cheeks, but before she could say anything, he went on. “Have some breakfast, but I’d advise fixing your own. Then I’ll introduce you to Heidi, and you can see just how maternal you feel.”

      He closed the door, and she was left alone to wonder exactly how warm and how female he had found her.

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