Encouraging.
Because he wasn’t immune to her. She knew that, from his reaction last night, and from the stolen glances he was so eager to pretend were all about making sure she wasn’t trying to run away. She knew that he wouldn’t suddenly dart out of view and pretend he wasn’t there if he was simply keeping an eye on her to ensure she didn’t try to escape.
And now she had one more night.
This time was a gift. Another opportunity to convince Theo to care enough for her that he would listen to her and believe her and wouldn’t return her home.
One more night, that’s all she had. She just prayed it was enough.
Talk that night at the café was all about the storm. Flights home cancelled. Climbs of Mt Gower, fishing and coral viewing tours cancelled—and the weather outside might be wild, but even with the cancellations, nobody present was complaining about their forced detention on Lord Howe Island. A delay in leaving was a positive. Even if the weather was rubbish, an excuse to extend a holiday was a win. Because nobody really wanted to go home to work and study. The complaints were happily relegated to the holidaymakers on the mainland with bookings to get to the island who were seeing their holiday shrinking by the day.
Nobody seemed glum about their forced retention on Lord Howe Island—apart from Theo.
He sat at table thirty with a dark look of thunder plastered to his face. ‘What will it be tonight?’ Izzy asked, when she went to take his order. ‘The paella again?’
She was sure she almost heard him growl. ‘The kingfish,’ he said.
‘Good choice,’ she said. ‘And a drink for you, sir? A glass of wine perhaps?’
‘Just table water.’
‘Wise choice. So that’s it?’
He grunted and she spun away back to the kitchen. Millie stopped her behind the bar after she’d delivered the order to the kitchen. ‘How’s it going with Mr Dreamboat?’
Izzy snorted. She looked back over her shoulder and caught his glare. ‘Mr Scowly-Face you mean. Sorry to disappoint you, but nothing’s going on.’
‘But he’s back here tonight and he can’t peel his eyes from you.’
She shrugged. ‘He’s stuck on the island like we all are, and at a guess I’d say he’s not happy about it.’
‘Do you know he left last night just after you did?’
So, it had been noticed? ‘Really?’
‘Do you think he’s stalking you?’
She shook her head. Not anymore. Theo had already done that. He’d already found her.
‘But maybe better safe than sorry. Maybe we should call the police? Get him to have a word.’
She caught one of the diners at one of her tables gesturing for attention and Izzy, grateful for the change of topic, put her hand to her friend’s shoulder. ‘Thanks, for worrying about me, but no. There’s no need for that. Besides, there’s a cyclone causing all kinds of problems on the island. I’m sure the police are busy enough as it is.’
She made her way to the table requesting service. She’d thought about appealing to the police, of course, because she could do with another person in her court and to run interference, but she wasn’t convinced the police were going to help her. She was no political prisoner seeking asylum. She was a runaway princess who’d gone missing from her country—and if that wasn’t enough to raise a goodly number of questions—she’d escaped to the island using someone else’s identity. That was going to provide another uncomfortable line of questioning surrounding identity theft. It might have delayed her departure from the island, but in the end, they would probably have handed her back to Theo, happy to see the back of this troublesome princess.
So no, seeking help from the police was no guaranteed way to protect her and prevent whatever Theo had planned.
She had worked out a fallback plan though. If nothing else that she attempted worked between now and their time of departure, she would make a last-ditch attempt at freedom by making a scene at the airport. Hang the uncomfortable consequences, accusations of kidnapping tended to get the attention of security.
Meanwhile she was going to have to find another way around her current problem.
And she was seriously crossing her fingers that she had…
Outside the restaurant the wind howled, buffeting the windows and doors and sending gusts of wet and wild air through the restaurant every time someone attempted to enter or exit. And then the rain started pelting down again, pounding a tattoo on the roof. At the back of the restaurant Theo was protected from all but the mightiest blasts, but still the spray was a bitter reminder of why he was stuck here, on this dot of an island in the middle of the Tasman Sea.
He was so close to closing this deal. He’d managed to hunt down the Princess. He’d located her when nobody else had been able to. How could such a simple thing as the weather be his undoing? And now, instead of delivering the Princess home, as he had been contracted to do, he was stuck here watching his target wait tables.
Wait tables.
