Enthralled (4 page)

“Nothing." He released her
slowly. "How would you like to go snorkeling? Then you could really see
the underwater life."

For a moment, in
her distraction, Teel forgot to tread water. She sank like a lead weight.
Immediately two strong arms brought her to the surface. But even when she was
treading water once again, his hands remained at her waist, exploring it
restlessly and moving upward. Teel pushed hard against Chazz, sending him
backward but splashing water into her own mouth at the same time. "I told
you I can swim," she gulped, coughing. Irritated, she slapped water at
him, hoping he too would get a mouthful.

Chazz threw back his head, his
dark hair glistening in the sunlight. "Playful?" he asked,
"Good. I like to play games." He floated toward Teel, his teeth bared
in a menacing grin. Years of training came to Teel's aid. Her body knifed
through the water with a strong racing stroke. The surge of power surprised
her, but she knew she couldn't keep up the fast pace. If only she could make
the beach before she faltered.

Victory seemed a
distinct possibility when she felt a sudden tug around her calf. Chazz had
caught her! She stroked even harder, trying to kick her leg free, but all to no
avail. She turned to face him, breathless from the unaccustomed exertion.
"You—said—we—were— going—snorkeling." She put one hand on his
shoulder to ward him off as he pulled her closer, his laugh a muted growl.

"And so we are." His
grinning face came closer. "That was quite an exhibition,
Sister.
Do you coach swimming
at this school of yours?"

Hearing the mocking inflection
in his voice, Teel frowned. His glittering golden eyes dared her to question
him.

She breast-stroked
away from him. He swam ahead of her. She dove deep in the opposite
direction—and surfaced inches from his bare chest. No matter which way she
turned, he was there. She had no choice but to confront him.

"Yes, you could say I
teach swimming," she told him. "I help coach our children, who
compete in the Special Olympics, not just in swimming but also in the broad
jump and the fifty-yard dash. In the winter I coach them in cross-country
skiing and snowshoeing." Teel touched bottom as she and Chazz entered
shallower water. She felt his eyes on her as they emerged but refused to look
at him.

When she leaned down for her
towel, he took it from her hand. Before she could protest, he was drying her
off. He turned her to face him, his grin irritating her but taking her breath
away just as the swimming had. "I can't allow you to catch cold," he
said. "Darby would kill me."

"Your concern
is touching," she retorted sarcastically, trying to pull the towel from
his hands. When he wouldn't release it, she glared up at him.

"At least now
you're looking at me," Chazz said, his eyes narrowing on her as they moved
over her from ankle to eyebrow. "Your eyes are like green fire," he
mused. His eyes turned to liquid gold, his neck and shoulders tightening with
some hidden strain.

Teel opened her
mouth to make a willing retort and froze. Her eyes had a will of their own as
they looked at his broad, muscled body. It didn't matter how many times she
told herself she didn't like the kind of man Chazz Herman was. He still exerted
a powerful hold on her. He was too tall. She didn't like looking up at men. She
felt more comfortable if they were on eye level... or lower. She didn't try to
analyze why Chazz had such an unsettling effect on her even when he wasn't in
her company, but she knew her former peace of mind would not return until she
had put him behind her for good. Why in heaven's name did he wear those silky
briefs? They made his thighs look even more muscular than they were already.
Teel turned her back on him on the pretext of drying her hair.

"Shall we go?" The
gentle question was whispered into her neck, making her stiffen.

"Ah—yes."

They crossed the beach in
silence, the walk seeming even farther because of the shifting sand under
Teel's feet.

"I should have gotten the
dune buggy for you," Chazz said, giving her a long look.

"No. It feels
good to do something as safe and sane as walking on a beach on a hot, sunny
day." His arm went round her waist, an impersonal support. She watched
many of the bikini-clad women stretched out on towels stare as Chazz walked
past. They irritated Teel.

"Darby tells
me you're quite a mixture and not the purebred Irish girl he took you
for." Chazz chuckled.

"I'm not a
girl at all, Mr. Herman," Teel replied. "I'm a twenty-seven-year-old
woman with a very satisfying career."

"Sorry,
Sister,
I didn't mean to tread
on your toes. I was just making conversation."

Teel shrugged. "I'm jumpy
about my age, I guess. A few of the board members think I'm too young to handle
the job adequately." She glanced at him. "I didn't mean to bark at
you. I'm really very grateful for all you've done for me."

"The pleasure
has been all mine." His deep, smooth voice made her skin tingle.

"Ah, you mentioned my
background. Tell me about yours. What sort of name is Herman?"

"My father
was Jewish—German Jew on his father's side, Sephardic Jew on his mother's side.
My mother was of English descent. She and my father met at school in the Bronx. Father sold musical instruments. My Mother taught piano. They were killed in a fire
at the store when I was seven. I stayed with an aunt who was kind to me but
very poor. I grew up a little on the wild side, determined to be rich so that
my aunt could have a few of the finer things. When things began to go well, she
allowed me to move her into a brownstone, but she won't move again. She would
rather I get married and have children than provide her with a fur coat, car,
or any of the other luxuries she considers unimportant."

"She sounds nice."
Teel smiled at Chazz and was surprised to see him suck in his breath.

"Here we
are." His voice was ragged. He went over to a large tent and brought out
some equipment.

"Do you think I could try
scuba diving too?" Teel asked, staring at a man near them who was sorting
through a pile of more sophisticated equipment.

"No,"
Chazz exclaimed, glowering at her. "Scuba diving requires special training
and lots of practice. You're not to attempt it until I've had the chance to
teach you. Maybe in two or three weeks, when you're much stronger."

"I won't be on the
Deirdre
that long," Teel
pointed out, wary and uncertain in the face of his sudden anger.

"No?" Chazz snorted.
"We'll see."

Teel was about to
ask him what he meant by that remark when he scooped up a mask from the blanket
and fitted it to her face. She gulped at the sudden lack of oxygen. But the
ringing in her ears subsided as she realized that she was in no danger. She
listened carefully as Chazz explained how to breathe and soon felt ready to
enter the water, but Chazz restrained her, insisting that she repeat his
instructions. She did as he told her, and at last he was satisfied. Then he
motioned for her to sit on the blanket and proceeded to fit the fins to her
feet.

"I can do it
myself," she protested.

He smiled, slipping on his own
fins with practiced ease, then waiting for her.

"Oh." Teel sank down
on the blanket several times before she was able to rise to her feet. She
scowled at Chazz when he laughed.

He seemed to have
no trouble walking to the edge of the water. To Teel it was like trudging
through miles of desert. Several times she staggered and almost fell. She
cursed Chazz for not telling her it would have been easier to carry the
flippers to the shore before putting them on.

In the water Teel
followed Chazz's example by using a breast stroke. She was close behind him,
and when he pointed downward, she nodded and dove with him, remembering to blow
through the tube as he had shown her.

The sparkling sea world awed
her so much that at first she almost forgot to surface partway to clear her
breathing tube. Then the motions became automatic. She delighted in the aquatic
panorama spread below her. She lost all sense of time passing as she cruised
through the sea grass and past crustacean life.

When Chazz
motioned that it was time to rest, she shook her head and turned away, but
steel hands grabbed her waist, brooking no resistance.

As they waded ashore, Teel
yanked the mask from her face and glared at Chazz, whose hand still gripped
her.

"You've been
ill. It isn't wise to exhaust yourself," he explained, his voice bland.

"I'm not tired,"
Teel declared, but she swayed dangerously and immediately his hand tightened at
her waist. She clutched his shoulders as he removed her flippers.

"You're more tired than
you know," he warned her. "That's the seduction of the water world.
Haven't you heard of 'rapture of the deep,' the disorientation that deep divers
suffer from the combination of water pressure, lack of oxygen, and, of course,
the beauty of the ocean?

You can lose your
inhibitions, your wariness, and all your good sense. Even while snorkeling a
mild effect of that same phenomenon can overtake you. You're particularly
susceptible, having been recently ill." "I see," Teel answered,
feeling chastened. "I didn't understand." She put her hands on
Chazz's arm as he rose with both pairs of flippers in his hand. "Thank you
for taking me," she added. "It was wonderful." She grinned.
"And you're right, I do feel a little slow and sleepy."

She was taken
aback when he wrenched his arm free of her hold and strode toward the tent
without answering. Stunned, she pressed her lips together to keep from shouting
that he was a capricious barracuda and she couldn't stand people who blew hot
and cold. Teel watched him drag the gear into the tent. Hurt and angry, she
kicked at the white sand.

"What are you doing
here?"

The terse question made Teel
spin around. Two women stood in front of her shedding scuba gear. Realizing
that the voice was Elise's, Teel assumed that the other woman must be Clare.

"I was snorkeling,"
Teel explained, keeping her voice flat.

Their unfriendly stares raked
her coldly. "Oh, is that where Chazz disappeared to?" Clare said.
"I don't recall ever meeting a nun with such a good figure, honey. Or do I
call you, Sister?" The two bikini-clad women laughed, then turned to share
the joke with several men behind them.

Suddenly an arm
snaked around Teel's waist. She stiffened under Chazz's tight fingers, knowing
his touch and sensing his anger. When she looked up at him, she saw that his
anger wasn't directed at her. Red streaks had appeared on his high cheekbones
and his jaw was clenched as tight as a vise.” Darby is arranging for a plane to
pick you up later this afternoon," he told the others. "I suggest you
get back to the
Deirdre
and get your gear together."

"But
Chazz," Elise wailed, "we were going to gamble at the casino tonight.
Did you forget? Besides, Clare and I wanted to shop for some clothes, and I
wanted—" "If you don't make the afternoon plane," he
interrupted, "you'll be stranded here. If you don't pack your things,
Darby will fling them overboard. Good-bye."

Teel felt almost sorry for the
sulking women and the truculent men, but she couldn't help but be glad that she
wouldn't have to see them again.

When Chazz took her arm and
led her up the beach, Elise called after them, "Fooling around with a nun
is playing with fire, Chazz—even for you." The high- pitched voice had a
nasty ring to it, but when the others laughed and Chazz turned toward them, a
snarl on his face, they fell silent.

Chazz and Teel
traversed the beach in silence, but she had trouble controlling her breathing.
Elise's rude words had injected a personal note that quivered between them like
a live wire.

"Would you like to swim
again?" Chazz's voice was harsh.

"No." Teel tried and
failed to keep her voice steady. "I think I've had enough sun. I'd like to
go back and lie down."

"Good idea. I'll get
Darby to bring the dinghy."

"There's no need. I can swim to the
yacht."

"No!" Chazz roared.

"Don't shout at me!" Teel burst out, her chin
jutting up. "Then don't talk like a damn fool."

Teel stamped her foot on the hot sand. "I was trying to
save Darby the trouble."

"Don't bother. That's his
job."

She opened and closed her
mouth, struggling to think of something suitably scathing. "I'll be glad
to leave this beach just to get away from you."

Chazz turned his
back on her, his neck red, his shoulders stiff. He strode over to the cabana,
reached inside for a two-way radio and spoke into it in terse sentences.

Chazz stayed with Teel, not
speaking, until Darby came ashore, then he mumbled something incoherent and
strode away up the beach.

Teel was seething, angry with
both herself and Chazz. She blinked back tears. She wasn't crying because he
was a boor, she told herself, but because she was still a little weak from too
much sun. When she was stronger, she was going to tip him over the side of the
Deirdre
with an anchor chain
around his neck.