“You guys need some food, I bet, huh? How about if we head to the kitchen and get you some more rice and whatever I can scrounge up, okay?”
She stopped in the bathroom and scrubbed her face, brushed her teeth and immediately felt much more presentable. It would be nice if she had some of her makeup and prettier clothes with her, but this was the best she could do.
Darcy took a deep, bracing breath before she opened the door to her room and found her way to the kitchen, going slowly so the puppies could follow. It occurred to her that the dogs hadn’t been in her room when she’d first entered it. So that meant that one of the servants must have let them in at some point. But she’d also fallen asleep on the floor. She didn’t think Adele could lift her, being an elderly woman and not very muscular despite her gritty personality. Manuel might have done it, but he wasn’t much bigger than she was.
She knew there were a couple of other people on the island she hadn’t yet met, but deep down inside, she knew exactly who had the strength to pick her up and place her on the bed. The man was the very person she was trying very hard to avoid right about now.
“Good afternoon, Adele,” she called out, poking her head into the kitchen and enjoying the warm, enticing scents wafting from the room. Again, she’d slept through a meal and was now starving. “Would you mind if I made a bit of food for myself while I get something for the dogs?”
Adele smiled brightly and waved Darcy into her domain. “Don’t worry about grabbing yourself something to eat. I’m just about to serve the appetizers. No need to fix the rice and leftovers for the dogs either. Dog food and puppy chow were delivered just after lunch today,” she said happily and pointed to the corner where a large bag of high quality dog food as well as cans of puppy food were stacked up. “Oh, how sweet of you!” Darcy said, moving swiftly to the wall so she could fix the animals a meal. “I didn’t know you could ask for things to be sent over to the island.”
“I didn’t ask anything of the sort,” she sniffed. “The dogs are Jose’s responsibility and you’re a saint to take over their care while he’s off gallivanting around wherever he is. Mr. Anchova ordered the dog food, deary.”
Darcy’s heart soared, then plummeted. That was awfully sweet of him to think of her dogs, but that also meant she would have to seek him out and thank him for being so considerate. Which seemed pretty odd to thank a man for giving her something, when he was holding her against her will on his island. Beautiful Island, she amended as she poured out a bowl for the momma, then opened cans for the puppies. Unfortunately, everything that had happened by the pool would make that speech a bit more embarrassing.
“Mr. Anchova is in the living room,” Adele replied, reaching down to pat the momma dog before she washed her hands. “I’ll bring in the appetizers in a few moments. You go ahead and I’ll watch these mischief makers for you.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Darcy said. “I’ll take care of them.”
Adele looked at Darcy for a long moment, then shook her head. “You go sit down. You’re too skinny to be taking care of them. And you haven’t caught up on your sleep yet.” She pulled the large steel door of the refrigerator open and disappeared for a moment before re-emerging with her arms full of ingredients. “Besides, I’m making something special tonight and I don’t allow anyone to see my secret ingredients. You’ll love it though, I promise.” With that, she dumped the ingredients on the steel counter and gently nudged Darcy through the door. “I’ll bring the dogs when I bring the appetizers so you don’t worry, okay?”
Darcy looked back at the dogs, longing to stay with them instead of face her tormentor and lover. But there was little choice, she knew. She couldn’t hide, so she’d just have to tough it out. Act like nothing out of the ordinary happened, be brave. She’d simply pretend Sergei was just another lover and treat him with polite kid gloves, and then escape as soon as was possible. It was for his protection as well as to limit her own heartache.
Stepping into the living room, she found him behind the bar, mixing several things into a large glass pitcher. “Good evening,” she said and almost flinched when his eyes pierced hers. With as much dignity as she could muster, she walked carefully over to the sofa and sat down. “What are you drinking?” she asked, just trying to break the tension.
“I’m making you a pitcher of martinis,” he said, his voice sending delicious shivers down her arms, pooling in the pit of her stomach.
Then his words hit her. “Martinis?” she asked nervously. Uh oh, she thought. Dave, her normal bar tender always secreted her “martinis” for her. This wasn’t going to be good, she thought.
“Of course. According to the tabloids, martinis are your favorite drink. A very sophisticated choice, I suppose.”
He brought a glass and the pitcher over to where she was sitting, then poured the mixture over a twist of lemon, handing her the glass.
Darcy took the glass, careful not to touch his hands in the transfer. From her experience touching him this afternoon, there was something about his contact that disturbed her too much, and transferring a large glass of liquor wouldn’t be pretty if she came into contact with him.
“Thank you,” she said softly, then sat and stared at the very full glass.
“Did I make it incorrectly? My secretary called the last nightclub you attended and asked for their recipe. Apparently you downed about ten martinis that night so I’m guessing you prefer their mixture to some of the other nightclubs.”
“Why would you say I prefer one over the other?” she asked weakly, knowing that all her martinis were plain water. She chose martinis as her “drink” because the liquor used to make them was clear, just like water, and she could down them quickly and hand the glass back so no one suspected what she was doing. Her “dates” always had the true martini so if they smelled something, it would be their drink instead of hers.
“Why don’t you try it and see if it’s correct,” he said as he tossed some ice cubes into a glass, then poured amber liquid over them.
Darcy stared, swallowing hard and wondering if she could do it. Truth was, she hated martinis. She actually hated most alcohol, except for an occasional glass of wine. Too often, she saw how alcohol changed people, and generally not for the better. They usually made fools of themselves, or even worse, became belligerent and sometimes violent.