The Marati Legacy

by Dana James

Genres: Women's Fiction; Romance; Contemporary Romance

Synopsis

When Luke Avery needed a medically trained oceanographer to help him search for sunken treasure off the Madagascar coast, Melanie took the job ? reluctantly. She wasn?t worried about the work, despite its undeniable risks. It was Luke she feared. Luke with his perceptive probing questions, and his devastating kisses. Luke knew there was something Melanie hadn?t told him, some painful memory that made her cautious and fearful of love. `Trust me,? he told her. But could she?

Release date: August 19, 2015

Publisher: Accent Press

Print pages: 152

Sample

CHAPTER ONE

Like a molten gold ribbon in the afternoon sunlight, the waterfall cascaded from the escarpment in spectacular leaps and vanished amid the lush tropical vegetation that fringed the bay. But the exotic scenery could not hold Melanie’s attention.

A warm breeze teased her long honey-brown hair and moulded the pale green cotton skirt and blouse to her body.

Her sandals swung carelessly from one hand as she walked slowly along the ocean’s edge. As warm ripples licked her feet, tension tightened her forehead. It had been her constant companion for too many months.

Behind her, the bright houses of Fort Dauphin were scattered like gaudy beads against the green hillside. The two-storey buildings with their steeply pitched roofs reflected a French heritage. Yet this strange, unique island of Madagascar was less than three hundred miles from the coast of Africa.

Turning her back on the ancient town she stared out to sea. In the bay the water was a sheet of turquoise but beyond the surf, which marked the coral reef, a long swell surged ceaselessly towards the island, driven from the vastness of the Indian Ocean by the south-east trade winds.

The sea was her life. It had given her so much: hours of endless pleasure and a job she adored. She had always respected it, alert to its changing moods and to the elemental forces that within minutes could transform sapphire smoothness into a raging maelstrom of black water and white spume. She had loved it, dedicated herself to it. But it had exacted a cruel price: first her grandparents in a sailing accident, and then almost four months ago, Paul.

What was she doing here? The question was born of despair. Why had she come?

‘Mel! Hey, Mel!’

At the sound of her brother’s voice she glanced round, narrowing her eyes against the sun’s low rays. The sight of his familiar figure loping towards her across the rapidly drying sand, clad as always in T-shirt and faded jeans, took the edge off her doubts.

‘Hi!’ She waved and ran towards him, dropping her sandals and laughing as he swung her into his arms and whirled her around before setting her down again on the beach. ‘Oh, Marcus, it’s so good to see you again!’ She clasped his hands, surveying tousled, sun-bleached hair, brown eyes, high cheekbones and wide mouth, all so like her own. Her gaze flicked over a lean, rangy body that radiated health and energy and topped her five and a half feet by a good four inches.

‘You’re looking marvellous.’

His welcoming grin faded as he studied her. ‘I wish I could say the same.’ He shook his head. ‘You’re skinny, Mel. When did you last eat a decent meal?’

She winced but recovered at once. ‘We haven’t seen each other for two years and you’re nagging already? What about some respect for your elder sister?’

Marcus scooped up her sandals and, throwing his arm around her shoulders, began walking her back towards the hotel. ‘A ten minute age difference and I’m never allowed to forget it.’ His grip tightened for a moment. ‘You’re not ill, are you?’

‘No! I’m fine. Really, I’ve been working hard.’ She shot him a wry grin. ‘And the food we get at the Institute: cordon bleu it is not!’

‘Have you seen a doctor? Hell, you are a doctor. Why haven’t you done something about it?’

‘About what? I’ve lost a few pounds. Something most people would love to do. I’m okay, Marcus. I’m handling things in my own way.’

‘By starving? Working yourself into exhaustion?’ Marcus’s tone was dry but not unkind. He pulled her around to face him. ‘Mel, it wasn’t your fault. Paul’s death was an accident.’

She wished she could believe it. Because the alternative, that he had deliberately… How was she supposed to live with that?

‘How would you know? You weren’t there. You didn’t see what happened.’

‘Rick Benton wrote me after the inquiry.’

‘He had no right—’

‘Mel, he had every right. I’m your next of kin. Rick Benton is Director of the Institute. He’s not only your employer he’s been a good friend to both of us. He’s worried about you. The inquiry confirmed that it was an accident. You were in no way responsible. Hell, you weren’t even there. But nor are you in any fit state to complete the programme of experiments you and Paul were working on. Oceanographic research under that kind of strain? Come on, you know better than that. You were becoming a danger to yourself and to the rest of the team.’

She stopped walking and stared at him. ‘Is that why you sent for me? Because Rick Benton said I needed a break? Isn’t there a job here for me at all?’ The questions fired like bullets from her pale lips.

‘Hey,’ Marcus shook her lightly. ‘Take it easy! I’m on your side.’ He tightened his arm around her and they started walking again.

Melanie kept her head down not wanting her brother to see the tears that burned yet would not fall, refusing to allow her their healing release.

‘Mel, about the job—’

‘There is a job, then?’ She glanced up. ‘You didn’t get me out here under false pretences?’

‘No, I didn’t,’ he affirmed, smiling. ‘It’s perfect for you. Someone with medical training needed to assist with testing new diving equipment.’

‘You told me that much in your letter,’ Melanie pointed out. ‘But why did you ask me?’

‘Why not?’ Marcus lifted one shoulder. ‘You’re qualified.’

‘Yes,’ she interrupted, ‘but I’ve never practised medicine. I went straight into research.’

‘Exactly, and your research was into the effects of pressurised gases under water. You’re also a qualified diver. So who better? Besides,’ Marcus said, and squeezed her shoulder again, ‘everything has worked out perfectly: this job coming up, Rick booting you out of the Institute for a much-needed break. You get several weeks in the Indian Ocean with sun, sea, good food, and a challenge that won’t give you time to lie around and brood. What’s not to like?’ he grinned.

Melanie couldn’t help smiling. It was good to see him again. ‘When do I meet whoever’s in charge, and what will you be doing?’

‘I’m supposed to be making a film record of the dives and the equipment in use. Actually I’m combining this job with a series of photo-articles on marine life around the coral reefs for Wildlife magazine. I reckon I might have a chance at the award this year.’

‘Marcus, that’s wonderful!’ Melanie hugged him. ‘You always were my favourite underwater photographer,’ she grinned impishly, ‘after Michael Pitts, Peter Scoones, Ralf Kiefner.’

‘I’ve heard they’re quite good. Though I’m too young to know their work. Having an older sister is so useful.’

Melanie was startled by the happy sound that erupted from her throat. It was such a long time since she had laughed. The bands of tension around her head and heart loosened and a great weight slipped from her shoulders. She tossed her hair back and felt it lifted by the soft, clove-scented wind.

‘You know what?’ She smiled at her twin.

‘No, what?’

‘I’m beginning to feel glad I came.’

‘Keep working on that positive attitude.’ Grinning, Marcus ducked as she aimed a playful punch at him.

They were about fifty yards from the hotel, whose gleaming white facade was tinted rose by the sun as it sank towards the forested hills. Built in French Colonial style, the hotel had a broad veranda supported by slender columns and fronted by a waist-high balustrade. Wide shallow steps swept down to a vivid green lawn. Clusters of tall palms cast gently waving shadows. Jasmine, citronella, and hibiscus bordered the grass in showy profusion, and beside the veranda a stunted tree bowed beneath the weight of fragrant yellow blossoms.

As Melanie gazed at the hotel, admiring its design and proportions, a tall figure wearing faded denims and a black T-shirt came out of the main entrance. Resting his outstretched arms on the balustrade, the man surveyed the beach. His gaze lingered on them. Melanie saw him grow very still. He straightened up, left the veranda, and started towards them.

Without knowing why Melanie was suddenly apprehensive. ‘Marcus, do you know him?’

‘Mmm?’ Marcus had been watching a rust-streaked freighter chugging across the bay towards the entrance to the lagoon. He swung round. Seeing the man he hissed a muffled curse.

‘What’s wrong?’ Melanie kept her voice low. The tension was back, tightening the muscles at the nape of her neck. It wasn’t simply Marcus’s reaction; something about the approaching stranger, whose long, powerful strides made light of the yielding sand, disturbed her.

‘I didn’t expect—I thought we’d have more time,’ Marcus muttered. His voice grew urgent. ‘Listen, Mel, about the job—’ He broke off as the man reached them.

The stranger stood over six feet tall. His black hair, threaded with silver at the temples, was thick and glossy, curling untidily on his neck. The dampened T-shirt revealed hard-muscled arms glistening with sweat. His skin was the colour of teak.

Piercing blue eyes beneath straight black brows swept briefly over Melanie and she sensed herself appraised and discarded as of no importance. His slightly hooked nose was white around the nostrils and deep lines were scored on either side of a mouth whose chiselled lips were compressed. His chin jutted, his jaw was hard, and there was anger in every sinew of his lithe body.

‘I was under the impression you came ashore to meet your brother.’ The stranger’s deep tones frosted the air as he fixed Marcus with a glowering stare that sent a shiver down Melanie’s spine.

‘Luke,’ Marcus held up a placating hand, ‘allow me introduce you—’

‘No.’ The word was a whiplash and Melanie flinched. ‘I have no wish to be involved in your private affairs. Your social life is your own business, but not on my time.’

‘Luke, hold it, I can explain—’ Marcus began.

‘I’m not interested.’

‘Oh, shut up!’ Melanie blurted, the words out of her mouth before she could stop them. She felt hot colour flood her face.

Both men looked at her, Marcus with sudden anxiety and the stranger with surprise.

Melanie dropped her arm from around Marcus’s waist and clasped her hands together. Marcus touched her arm in a warning gesture, but she ignored the pressure and glared up at the taller man.

‘I don’t know who you are, nor do I wish to.’ Her knuckles were white, her tone cool. ‘But I’m curious to know why you think you have a right to talk to Marcus in that manner.’

The man’s expression had altered subtly. His features were still bleak, but the icy stare had been replaced by fleeting amusement and a more lingering speculation.

‘I hired him to do a job. It’s an important and complex project for which he’s being paid extremely well. For his part, certain equipment he operates has to be ready for use as and when I need it. To ensure that it is, he needs spares. It was partly to collect those and partly, so he told me, to meet his brother who will also be working with us, that he came ashore.’

‘Just a minute.’ Confused, Melanie raised a hand as if to physically stem the brisk flow of words. She turned. ‘Marcus, what’s he talking about? What brother?’

‘Mel, I’m sorry,’ Marcus grimaced and shrugged awkwardly, ‘I planned to tell you earlier. I did try, but there wasn’t time.’

‘Mel?’ the stranger said, looking sharply at Marcus and then at Melanie as bewilderment softened the harsh lines of his features.

‘Tell me what?’ Melanie demanded. ‘Marcus, what’s going on?’

‘Driscoll,’ there was a note of warning in the other man’s voice. ‘If you’ve done what I think you’ve done—’

Marcus took a couple of paces back, hooking his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans as he shrugged. ‘Luke, I never once used the word: brother. What I actually said was that I was going to meet my twin, and that Mel was the answer to our problem.’

‘But you told me your twin was a doctor and a qualified diver.’

Melanie noticed that he didn’t once glance in her direction, speaking of her as if she wasn’t even there.

‘I did, and she is.’ Marcus grinned. ‘Luke Avery, meet Dr Melanie Driscoll, my twin sister, presently on loan from the Oceanographic Research Institute.’

Disbelief clouded Luke’s strong features as he and Melanie stared at one another. Realising this was the man for whom she was supposed to be working, Melanie felt heat climb her throat as she recalled telling him to shut up. Embarrassment was swiftly followed by indignation. She had nothing to apologise for. His bad manners were surpassed only by his arrogance. Her expression must have revealed her thoughts, for Luke Avery’s expression grew chilly.

‘Shouldn’t you shake hands?’ Marcus suggested. ‘You know, like boxers before the first round?’ His attempt to lighten the charged atmosphere fell flat as his accurate reading of the situation had both Luke and Melanie turning on him.

‘Driscoll,’ Luke’s voice was tight with anger, ‘of all the stupid—’

In the same instant Melanie, smarting at her brother’s trickery, said quietly, ‘That was a rotten thing to do, Marcus.’

‘Damn it,’ he cried in exasperation. ‘What is it with you two? What’s the problem? Luke, you’ve had non-stop hassles over the insurance conditions. Melanie has all the qualifications you need.’ He turned to his sister. ‘Everything I said to you a few minutes ago still stands. This job is exactly what you need right now and you could do it standing on your head. OK, I admit I didn’t come right out and tell Luke you were female. He’s got this bee in his bonnet about all-male crews. But I didn’t lie. I just allowed him to think… I intended to set everything straight before you met.’ He spread his hands and shrugged. ‘I didn’t get the chance.’

‘You got me out here under false pretences, Marcus.’ The sun had disappeared behind the hills and purple dusk rolled down to envelop them. The heat of the day lingered in air as soft as silk and heady with the perfume of exotic flowers. But Melanie felt chilled. She looked up at Luke Avery.

‘It appears we’ve both been misled. I’m sorry you’ve been inconvenienced, Mr Avery. Please excuse me.’ She started towards the hotel, but her brother’s arm shot out to stop her.

‘Mel, I’ve said I’m sorry. Honestly, I didn’t think you’d take it like this.’

She spun round, her eyes blazing. ‘You didn’t think at all, did you, Marcus? Now let me pass. I’m going to pack.’

‘Pack?’ He looked shocked. ‘What the hell for? You only arrived yesterday!’

‘I have no reason to stay.’ She tried to hold her voice level, but the familiar tightness was gripping her throat. She should not have come, should never have allowed herself to be persuaded either by Rick Benton or by her brother. She had important work to do at the Institute. Rick would understand that she had to come back. He hadn’t meant his threat to fire her if she didn’t take at least two months off. He had her welfar. . .