“Oh.” Debbie’s gaze followed him as he walked to the far end of the jail, then turned and strolled back again, like a man in absolutely no hurry at all. Of course, why would he be bothered? He wasn’t the one in the jail cell. Impatience fluttered to life inside her. “So you’re the police chief or something?”
One corner of his mouth quirked. “Or something,” he allowed as he stopped directly opposite her and stared down into her eyes. “We don’t really have a police force on the island. Just security. If we happen upon some real criminals, we hold them here until we can ferry them over to Bermuda. But the little stuff, we handle ourselves.”
“And what am I?” she asked. “Small stuff or ferry-worthy?”
“Well, now, that’s something we have to figure out, isn’t it?”
“Gabe,” she said quickly, “you know me. You know I’m not a criminal. Heck, I don’t even jaywalk.”
His smile faded and he shook his head. “Ten years ago, I could have said I knew you. At least, I thought I did at the time…”
He let that statement hang there for a moment and Debbie knew he was remembering their last night together ten years ago. Just as she knew he wasn’t smiling at the memory. She’d turned down his proposal, despite the fact that she’d loved him madly. She’d walked away from him when everything in her had yearned to be with him.
“Gabe,” she said softly.
“But now,” he quickly interrupted whatever she might have said, “who’s to say? It’s been a long time, Debbie. People change. Maybe you’ve become a master thief.”
“I have not.”
He shrugged. “Or a smuggler.”
“Gabe…”
Fixing his gaze on hers, he said, “Look, bottom line, you’re not going anywhere until the owner of the island says you are. He makes the rules here.”
Debbie’s hands tightened on the slick, cold metal bars. She wouldn’t be getting any help from her long-ago lover. She could see in his eyes that he wasn’t exactly thrilled to be seeing her again. So, fine. She’d handle this on her own. All she needed was five minutes with the mysterious island owner and she knew she could talk her way out of this mess. But it would help if Gabe would at least give her a little information on who she might be facing.
“So there’s no police here. No courts. Just some rich guy who owns his own little universe?”
“Pretty much.”
“So he’s like a king?”
“He thinks so.”
He gave her a quick grin and just for an instant her fear eased off. Gabe was a good guy. No matter how things had ended between them, she knew he’d never let her come to any real harm.
Of course, she was still in jail.
“Fabulous.” Anxiety churned with anger and became a frothy, unsettling mix in the pit of her stomach. “Is he reasonable? Will he listen to me?”
“Probably depends on what you have to say.”
“Damn it, Gabe, at least tell me what he’s like. What I can expect.”
A slow, lazy smile curved his mouth and his green eyes darkened until they were the color of shadow-filled forests. “I think you should expect to be staying at Fantasies for a while, Deb.”
“What?” Her stomach dipped again and her mouth went dry as she watched his features tighten. “I can’t stay. I have a life. A job. Responsibilities.”
“All of which will just have to wait until you’re allowed to leave.”
Debbie snorted despite the trickle of fear dripping through her bloodstream. “Allowed to leave? What? You think the island’s owner can somehow keep me here?”
Gabe lifted one shoulder in a shrug that said clearly he didn’t care one way or the other. “You’re the one in the cell. What do you think?”
“He can’t hold me in here forever,” Debbie argued. “He can’t just kidnap people and—”
“He didn’t kidnap you,” Gabe reminded her, “you came here on your own.”
Her hands tightened on the bars. “And now I want to leave.”
He grinned at her, but the shadows in his eyes remained dark, fathomless. “Hell, Deb, you’re the one who taught me that you don’t always get what you want.”
Guilt pinged inside her despite her own precarious position. “Gabe, this isn’t about us. But I can see that you’re still angry about how we left things. And if you need to hear me say I’m sorry, then I am. Sorry, I mean. I wasn’t trying to hurt you that night and—”
He laughed out loud, the sound rich and booming as it rattled through the tiny jail like a party with nowhere to go. Shaking his head, he said, “You’re amazing, you know that? Deb, do you really think I’ve been pining away for you for the last ten years?”
Frowning and feeling just a little foolish, she said, “No, but—”
“I moved on a long time ago, babe.” His gaze speared her. “Until you showed up here, I hadn’t given you a thought in ten years.” Wow. That little dart hit home. Debbie didn’t like knowing that he’d never thought back. Never remembered. But how could she expect differently? Just because she’d spent a lot of nights over the years, won dering if she’d made a huge mistake in leaving him…didn’t mean he would have felt the same.
After all, it was she who’d ended everything between them. Why would he want to remember having his heart handed to him?
Gabe planted his feet wide apart, folded his arms across his chest and studied her for a long, thoughtful moment as his smile slowly faded. “You’re right about one thing, though. This isn’t about us.”
Nodding, she told herself to let go of old times. To put the past where he had—behind them. All that mattered at the moment was the fact that she was in jail, for Pete’s sake.
“Fine.” Debbie let go of the cell bars, stuffed her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and rocked back on her heels. “Then why don’t you tell me why the island’s owner sent you here in his place? Why isn’t he here himself if he’s so interested in talking to me?”
“What makes you think he’s not here?” Gabe’s voice came low, a whisper of ice.
She looked past him, as if she could stare through the closed door to the outer office beyond. “He’s out there? Then why…”
“Didn’t say that.”
Debbie’s gaze shifted back to him and it felt as if there were a couple dozen lead balls rolling erratically around at the pit of her stomach. The truth slowly, inexorably, dawned on her and as it did, she noted that Gabe’s green eyes went colder, darker, as silent seconds ticked past. “You mean—”
He stepped closer to the bars, looked her up and down, then his gaze locked with hers. “I mean,” Gabe said, “I own this island and everything on it, babe. Including, at the moment, you.”
Two
Her eyes went wide and horrified and Gabe wasn’t ashamed to admit, at least to himself, that he was enjoying this. He could almost see her thoughts flashing through her mind as her features shifted from amazed to confused to fury all in the blink of an eye.
Of course, being Debbie Harris, it didn’t take her long to erupt.
“Are you nuts?”
He laughed shortly. “Is