Raw Deal

His face was in shadow, but the moonlight gleamed brightly on her pale skin, leaving nothing to the imagination. She moved to cover herself, but he caught her hands, trapping them as he stared at her hungrily.

‘You’re perfect,’ he rasped, ‘a moonlit goddess. Maggie, I want you. Now. Tonight.’

Her throat was dry from need, and the only word she could manage was his name. It was enough.

Tugging the shoulders roughly back into place, his trembling fingers refastened the button.

‘Come on,’ he said gruffly. ‘Let’s go somewhere where we won’t be disturbed.’

Mindlessly she followed him, her defences in tatters. Her legs were trembling so badly that they were almost out of control, and if they had been alone in the lift she had the distinct feeling it would have been all over there and then.

But they weren’t alone, and somehow managed to survive the endless descent without reaching for each other.

He was inserting the key in her cabin door when a steward called him and came hurrying towards them.

‘Dr Ben, excuse me, there is a man urgently needing your attention.’

Ben groaned quietly under his breath.

‘OK, Ah Seng, thank you. I’ll be with you in a moment.’

He pushed open the door, followed Maggie in and folded her against his chest with a ragged sigh.

‘I’m sorry,’ he muttered. his voice rich with frustration and apology. ‘Duty calls. I won’t be long. Wait for me.’

With a brief kiss, he was gone.

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_a3f75963-496c-55ce-b898-1bb0c42f296d)

MAGGIE waited, as instructed, and as the minutes ticked by and turned into hours so her heart slowed and common sense returned.

Whatever was she thinking about? He was an inveterate flirt, a rootless, itinerant playboy with some nameless hang-up about his past—no, she was better off without him.

Ignoring the tug of disappointment in the region of her heart, she hung up her dress, climbed into bed and then got up again to lock her door.

In fact she needn’t have bothered, because Ben didn’t come back that night and she didn’t see him again at all the following day, although she did see the Barbie-doll from the poolside leaving the medical centre still dressed—if you could call it that—in the scrap of tinsel she had been draped in the night before.

By dinner that night he still hadn’t appeared, and, feeling rather miffed, she squandered some of her grandmother’s more-than-generous spending money in the casino.

So he had thought better of it—well, so had she. He was obviously not worth wasting her energy on—especially not if he was prepared to settle for that ghastly tart! She was going to make a New Year’s resolution to avoid him for the remainder of the cruise. It shouldn’t be difficult.

Her ankle was much better, and she decided to take a stroll on deck. It was too crowded for her taste, and, slipping quietly away, she took the route she had followed with Ben and went through the gate marked ‘Authorised Personnel Only’.

Perhaps it was instinct that led her to him, but she was unsurprised to find him standing there alone in the moonlight, his arms propped on the teak rail, staring out over the night sea. So much for her resolution!

‘You didn’t come back,’ she said accusingly before she could stop herself.

He straightened and turned towards her, and she was shocked to see how tired he looked.

‘Maggie,’ he murmured absently, and, lifting a hand, he caught the stray lock of hair blowing across her face and tucked it behind her ear.

‘I thought you’d fallen overboard,’ she said brightly, trying to make light of the wild tumult his touch had caused.