"He did good work," Jo muttered, struggling not to sulk.
"He sure did. I found one in there of Nathan, Brian, and I suppose Nathan's younger brother. Such handsome little boys. They were holding up a couple of whopping trout and had grins on their faces that stretched a mile wide. You ought to take a look at it."
"I will." Jo found herself smiling, thinking of Nathan at ten with a trout on the line.
"And you could think about doing a photo book on the island yourself," Kate went on. "It would be just wonderful for business. Sam, you take Jo over to the marsh, that spot where the sea lavender's fu in bloom. Oh, and if the two of you go through the forest, along the southwest edge, the path there's just covered with trumpet vine petals. That would make such a nice picture, Jo Ellen. That narrow, quiet little path just dusted with fallen blossoms."
she went on and on, chattering out suggestions without giving father or daughter a chance to interrupt. When Brian trooped in the back door and stared, baffled, at the cozy family group, Kate beamed him a smile.
"We'll be out of your way in just a shake, sweetie. Jo and Sam were just deciding which route they were going to take around the island today for Jo's pictures. Y'all better get started."
Ic-ate got up quickly, gathering Jo's camera bag. "I know how fussy you are about the light and such. You just tell your daddy when it strikes you as right. I can't wait to see what kind of pictures you get. Hurry along now, before Brian starts to fuss at us. Sam, you get a chance, you take Jo down to where those baby terns hatched a while back. Goodness, look at the time. You two scoot."
she all but dragged Sam to his feet, kept nudging and talking until she'd shoved them both out the door.
"just what the hell was that, Kate?" Brian asked her.
"That, with any luck at all, was the beginning of something."
"They'll go their own ways when they're five feet from the house."
"No, they won't," Kate disagreed as she started toward the ringing phone on the wall. "Because neither one of them will want to be the first to take that step away. While they're each waiting for the other one to back off first, they'll be heading in the same direction for a change. Good morning," she said into the receiver. "The Inn at Sanctuary." Her smile faded. "I'm sorry, what? Yes, yes, of course." Automatically, she grabbed a pencil and began scribbling on the pad by the phone. "I'll certainly make some calls right away. Don't worry now. It's a very small island. We'll help in every way we can, Mr. Peters. I'll come on down there to the cottage myself, right now. No, that's just fine. I'll be right along."
"Mosquitoes getting in through the screen again?" Brian asked. But he knew it was more than that, much more.
"The Peterses took Wild Horse Cove Cottage with some friends for the week. Mr. Peters can't seem to find his wife this morning."
Brian felt a quick stab of fear at the base of his spine. He couldn't ignore it, but told himself it was foolish overreaction. "Kate, it's not quite seven A.M. she probably got up early and took a walk."
"He's been out looking for almost an hour. He found her shoes down by the water." Distracted, she ran a hand through her hair. "Well, it's probably just as you say, but he's terribly worried. I'll run down there and calm him down, help him look around until she comes wandering home."
she managed a thin smile. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but this means I'm going to have to wake Lexy up so she can take the breakfast shift in my place this morning. she's liable to be snappish about it."
"I'm not worried about Lexy. Kate," he added as she headed for the door, "give me a call, will you, when Mrs. Peters gets home?"
"Sure I will, honey. Like as not she'll be there before I make it down to them."
But she wasn't. By noon Tom Peters wasn't the only one on Desire who was worried. Other cottagers and natives joined in the search, Nathan among them. He'd seen Tom and Susan Peters once or twice during their stay and had a vague recollection of a pretty brunette of medium height and build.
He left the others to comb the beach and the cove while he concentrated on the swath of land between his cottage and Wild Horse Cove. There was barely an eighth of a mile between them. The verge of his end forested then, giving way to dune and swale. He covered the ground slowly and saw, when he reached the stretch of sand, the crisscrossing footprints of others who had come that way to look.
Though he knew it was useless, he climbed over the dunes. The cove below was secluded, but anyone there would have been spotted half a dozen times by now by others who were searching.
There was only one figure there now, a man who paced back and forth.