Chyna looked at Kirk desperately. "Don't you see what he's doing? I rejected him, so he's trying to get back at me through you. He knows how I feel about you."
Kirk turned away.
"You're not to be blamed, Kirk. It's been a long time for you. You were bound to give in to her blatant seduction."
"Kirk, don’t listen to him,” Chyna pleaded. “He's jealous, can't you see that?"
Kirk whirled around and glared down at her. "All I know is you came down here half dressed getting me all hot and bothered. Making my blood boil, determined to get me into bed. I may not know everything that's going on, but I know there's a truth of some kind in there."
"Kirk, the truth is I'm here because I love you. I was in bed with you because I love you. No other reason."
"You love a monster? A freak? How can you? I might have lost my head for a while, but everything's clear now."
Quinn stood in the shadows enjoying the way he had destroyed this little match. A smile tugged at his mouth as he saw Chyna pleading, and his monster of a brother rejecting her.
"You're nothing but a trash-writing, bed-hopping little tramp. I should have seen through you right away. What were you doing, research? What's your next book going to be about? The love life of the contemporary Frankenstein? The setting was perfect, wasn't it? The dungeon, the darkness, and even the man himself. I'm glad I could look the part for you. Too bad there aren't any bolts in my neck."
Chyna was so crushed by his words that tears filled her eyes. She slapped him as hard as she could, then walked out.
Kirk lifted his hand to the sting, and a pang of doubt twisted his insides into a knot. Had he been lied to? Did she love him? What was the truth?
Quinn hid in the shadows—his work done.
Chyna’s house was slowly going back up, but with all the damage the hurricane had done, the workers were swamped. They had more than one contract to honor, and Chyna had learned to be very patient. In some ways it didn’t really matter, because she couldn’t forget how it felt having Kirk’s arms around her.
She’d come so close,
she thought,
then Quinn had come along as he always did and destroyed what she had built.
It seemed as if a kind of lethargy had set in, and all the fight had gone out of her. She had quit writing Kirk any notes or trying to see him at all. Several times she had wandered up on Cat's Paw to watch him walk the lonely beach, and her heart would go out to him. She’d wanted so much to go down and walk with him, but knew he didn’t want her around, so she contented herself with watching him from a distance.
Now, as she looked down at him for the last time, she whispered, “Goodbye, my love.” As soon as she’d said the words, the haunting wind whisked them away, taking them and whispering them into his ear, because suddenly Kirk stopped, turned, and looked up at her. By this time Chyna’s eyes were full of tears, and as they met his, she blew him a kiss, turned, and walked away.
Chyna’s kiss hit Kirk like a jolt in the stomach. Something was wrong. Somehow he knew she’d come to say goodbye. No, it couldn’t be. She’ll be back tomorrow, and the day after that. With her waves, her smiles, and her kisses on the air.
But she wasn’t.
Every day his eyes searched the bluff, raking over the mist-shrouded trees, but she wasn’t there. His hope would plummet, leaving him with an empty feeling. He’d come to expect to see her looking down at him. But after searching day after day for one glimpse of her coming over the hill, he had to face it, she wasn’t coming back. She’d given up on him. No more notes, no more smiles and waves from the misty bluff, and no more visits in the middle of the night. Was it his imagination, or did the shrill wind on Cat’s Paw whistle out a haunting song of lost love.
* * * *
In the days following, Chyna was unusually quiet while helping Elaine in the kitchen. She wiped down counters in silence, put dishes away, their clatter doing a poor job of filling up the deep hush. Finally Elaine turned to Chyna. “Chyna, what’s wrong? You’ve hardly spoken a word all evening.” She looked at her, worried. “Are you feeling okay? How is your head?”
“My head is fine, Elaine. I’ve just got a lot on my mind, I guess.” After folding up dishtowels, and hanging them on a rack, she dropped down into a chair as if she had the whole world on her shoulders. While dragging a tired hand through her hair, she looked up at Elaine. “Elaine, I want to thank you for all you’ve done, but I think it’s time for me to leave.”
Elaine’s eyes widened as she sat down beside her. “Chyna, you can’t.” Her eyes filled with tears. “If you leave, Kirk—”
“Elaine, I don’t know what else to do. I love Kirk, but it’s hard to fight ten years of self-loathing. He’s built a wall around himself, a fortress to hide behind, to guard against hurt. I’ve tried everything I know to get through, but as long as he hates himself, he’s not going to be able to accept anyone’s love. He resists me, calls me names—”
“He doesn’t mean it, Chyna, it’s his pain speaking. My God, you didn’t think this was going to be a walk in the park, did you?”
“No, of course not, but just when I make a little headway, Quinn comes along and destroys everything I’ve built.”
“I know Quinn is a problem, and Kirk is stubborn, but he cares, Chyna. I know he does. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t fight it so.”
“It won’t do any good, Elaine. Quinn will see to that. No matter what I do, he’ll just follow up with a bunch of lies and Kirk will believe him.”
Elaine agonized. “Well, it’s hard for him not to believe Quinn. They’re brothers, after all.”
“Yes, I know,” she said sadly. “Quinn has the advantage, and he knows it.” She looked at Elaine. “Would you just do one more thing for me?”
“You know I will.”
“Lend me some luggage. I don’t have much. I think one bag might handle it.
"Oh, Chyna, I wish you’d stay.”
Chyna took Elaine’s hand and squeezed it. “It’s better this way, Elaine. I’ll get the luggage back to you as soon as I can.”
“All right,” Elaine said. “But now you have to do me a favor.”
“If I can.”
“I'm giving a dinner party Friday night. I’ve invited Dr. Wilder and told him about you. Would you at least stay long enough to meet him? He’s looking forward to it.”
Chyna smiled. “Of course. I guess I could do that.”
Elaine laughed softly. “Gosh, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you're so beautiful, you're going to make me look like Apple Annie."
Chyna frowned. "My God, Elaine, doesn't anyone in this house realize their worth? Don't you know what a beautiful, woman you are?"
“Chyna,” Elaine said shyly, lowering her lids while a bashful grin played along her lips. “You don’t have to say that."
“I mean it. My advice to you is to look in a mirror once in a while."
Elaine lifted her hand and felt her face as if she had just discovered it.
"In fact, and I hesitate to say the word
book
since it’s come to be such a dirty word in this house, but I've considered using you as a character in one of my novels." Chyna looked at her with a mischievous smile tugging at her lips. "You know, as the dark and mysterious heroine?"
Elaine’s eyes widened. "You can't mean it."
"Of course, I mean it. Elaine, do you remember when we saw each other at City Lights a while back?"
"Sure."
"When I saw you with Quinn, I thought you were his beautiful fiancée. Let me tell you, I was so jealous. Later when Kirk brought me in from Cat's Paw and I met you again, my heart sank because I thought you were Quinn's wife. When I finally found out that you were his sister I wanted to shout hallelujah,” she chuckled, “and almost did."
Elaine frowned. "Then you
were
attracted to Quinn.”
"Sure, but that was before."
"Before what?"
"Before I got to know him. Before I found out what an arrogant ass he is, and how he treats Kirk."
"Are you still attracted to him?"
"Only physically. I mean, it would be pretty hard not to be. He's so handsome, and…well, you know, such a sexy devil."
Elaine tried not to smile when she looked beyond Chyna to Quinn who was standing at the door and had heard everything.
Chyna turned when she saw Elaine's eyes looking behind her. The husky frame of Quinn Grayson stood there, his lips turned up in a knowing grin. She jerked herself back around and glared at Elaine. "How long has he been there?"
Quinn folded his arms across his chest and smirked. “You can speak to me, Chyna. I heard everything from
hallelujah
to
sexy devil
."
A look of anger made her eyes flash as she looked at Elaine. "I thought you were my friend. You could have warned me." Jumping up from the table she lowered her head and ran past Quinn with a red face.
When Chyna got up to her room she had angry tears in her eyes. She sat for a moment trying to get control of herself and just happened to glance up at a writing tablet on the shelf of her closet. Feeling betrayed, a rebellious thought came into her head.
What the hell am I?
she asked herself.
I’m a goddamned writer, that’s what I am, and if they don’t like it they can damn well lump it!
She jumped up and went over to the closet and pulled it down, then looked through the drawers of the night table and found a stubby looking pencil that would have to do. Sitting on the bed, she thought about Kirk, the basement, and how many times she had seen him lurking around the mansion in shadows. If she could just get all that down on paper, she would have a story that would be unlike anything she had ever written. She was becoming excited just thinking about it, and her pencil began it’s furious scratching across the page.
If she hadn’t learned anything else since she had become a writer she had learned that if she can’t get excited writing her book, no one was going to get excited about reading it. Many times she had started a book but the excitement just wouldn’t kick in and she would have to abandon it until she found a plot that not only excited her, but one that literally burned her fingers until she got it down on paper. That’s how she knew when she had a bestseller. And judging from the way her adrenaline was pumping now, not only would this be a bestseller—it would be a blockbuster.
Before she knew it, she had filled several pages, bringing her up to date. She’d written down only the bones, but when she had access to a computer again she would flesh it out—perfecting it—making it sing. She stopped for a moment, reading over what she had written when a knock sounded on her door. She looked down at the scribbled words, and a guilty feeling came over her. She looked around for a place to hide it, then quickly leaned over and pushed it under the bed and out of sight. She sat back up abruptly, then shifted her eyes down alongside the bed to make sure it couldn't be seen. "Come in," she called out.
Elaine opened the door and stepped in hesitantly.
When Chyna saw her, she lowered her lids and was silent, stiff and unsmiling.
Feeling a bit timid, Elaine walked over and gingerly sat on the bed, looking at Chyna with a weak smile. "I just wanted to come up and apologize. Really, Chyna, when we began talking, I had no idea it was going in the direction it did. Then before I knew it you were saying things I knew you wouldn't want Quinn to hear, but by that time it was too late. It just happened. I don't know why. I'm so sorry, please forgive me."
Chyna smiled. "I understand. The problem is not you. It's me and my big mouth. I didn't give you much of a chance to say anything. I was determined to make you feel better about yourself, so I just kept on talking."
Elaine looked at her timidly. "I hate to ask, but, will you help me with my hair?"
"Sure,” Chyna said. “Your makeup too, if you want."
They sat at Chyna's mirror all evening, applying makeup, trying different hairdos, and even looking into Chyna's closet for something Elaine could wear. When they had done all they could, Elaine stared in the mirror at herself.
"You know, I'm no Chyna Marsh, but I'm not bad looking."
"Sure. You're a knockout, Elaine. Just pay a little more attention to yourself and you can have any man you want."
As soon as Elaine left, Chyna pulled out her tablet again and continued writing. Suddenly a thought came to her. She looked up at the closed door Elaine had left through and remembered what she had said to her about being in one of her novels. Chyna smiled. Little did Elaine know, but the dark, sexy, brunette was going to get her wish. She was going to be one of the major characters in Chyna's next book—in fact they all were!
* * * *
When the evening of the dinner party arrived, Chyna was busy getting ready, but not looking forward to it. After hearing her and Elaine’s conversation the other night Quinn’s arrogance seemed to reach an all time high, and he was constantly making obscene suggestions to her. She had been tempted to stay in her room rather than face him, but decided she wasn’t going to let that SOB rule her life.