"What's wrong with my perfume?" she asked with a frown.
"What?" he asked, the confused one now.
"You sniffed me and cursed," she explained. "What's wrong with-"
Carolyn's words died as he urged the chocolate into her open mouth. It seemed she would eat or he would shove it down her throat. Scowling at him around the bar, she took a bite, relieved when he let go.
"There's nothing wrong with your perfume," Christian said grimly as she chewed. He stood up, muttering, "It's your blood that's the problem."
Carolyn stared after him with amazement as she chewed. He was walking slowly up the aisle, his gaze moving over the people on the bus as he went. She had swallowed and taken a second bite when he suddenly paused and turned to an older couple on the right. She didn't see his lips move, but suddenly the woman held up a bottle of orange liquid to him. Christian took it and immediately headed back to her, moving much more swiftly.
"Here."
She stared blankly at the bottle of orange juice when he opened it and held it out. "How did you-"
"Drink," he insisted quietly. "It will get the sugar into your system faster than the chocolate and you need it, cara. Your blood sugar is bottoming out."
Carolyn blinked. His anger appeared to be gone now, concern and caring in its place.
"Drink," he repeated, pressing the bottle to her lips.
She took over holding it and opened her mouth to allow the liquid to pour in. It was cool and sweet and she drank it quickly. The moment she lowered the empty bottle, Christian took it back, recapped it and set it on the seat between them. He then gestured to the chocolate bar, and watched silently as she continued to eat it. He just sat there staring at her as if she were a child and he needed to be sure she ate the bar and didn't shove it down the side of her seat or something.
"Stop staring at me," she muttered. "You're as bad as Captain Jack."
That made his mouth twist with displeasure and annoyance creep back to replace some of the concern on his face. His voice was tart when he said, "You appear to have made a friend in Captain Jack. He was all over you on the boat."
Carolyn raised her eyebrows at his testy voice and eyed him silently as she popped the last bite of chocolate into her mouth. If she didn't know he was gay, she'd have said he was jealous of the man. But he was gay, so there was no reason for this reaction. Unless...
* * *
Uncomfortable under her narrowing gaze, Christian took the chocolate wrapper from her, balled it up and glanced around, wondering if there was a garbage container at the front of the bus. His gaze found the woman standing beside the driver. She'd been droning on for a couple of minutes about the highlights of Soufriere and its history.
He hadn't caught a word of it.
"You're jealous."
That accusation from Carolyn made him glance to her sharply with surprise. It was true. Jealousy had been eating at him like acid since he'd seen her laughing and chatting with the boat captain. But it had positively devoured him when the man had put his arm around Carolyn as she'd placed a necklace of flowers around his neck.
He'd wanted to wring his neck, and he probably would have had he been on the boat. She was his lifemate. No man should touch her.
Christian's reaction had been just as visceral when the man had lifted Carolyn off the boat. He couldn't move quickly enough to get her out of his hands, and when the fellow had resisted his taking her and held on, he'd seen red. Christian had been about to slip into his thoughts when the fellow had said that bit about her blood sugar.
Christian had forced himself to relax then, but it had been a struggle. The captain was entirely too comfortable touching his woman.
And Carolyn hadn't protested it either, he thought grimly. But then she had no idea yet that she was his. She thought he was gay, which was why he was surprised that she recognized he was jealous.
"It's okay." She patted his hand now. "I understand. He is a hottie. All those tan, rippling muscles and the piratey hair."
Christian ground his teeth together and considered wringing her neck instead of Captain Jack's. How dare she think the man a hottie? And what was she doing noticing his rippling muscles? She was his, dammit, whether she knew it or not.
"Not my type," she continued. "I mean, he seems nice enough and all, and probably loads of fun, but there was just no spark for some reason."
While Carolyn was now frowning, apparently perplexed as to why that would be the case, Christian felt himself relax and even begin to grin at these words. She wasn't attracted to Captain Jack, rippling muscles and piratey hair or not. Ha!
Heaving a sigh, she said more cheerfully, "The good news is, he was only flirting with me because Genie told him to make sure I had a good time, so who knows, you may yet be in luck. He could be g*y too." She looked dubious even as she said it, but then added encouragingly, "Or maybe bisexual at least."
Christian blinked as it slowly dawned on him that she thought he was jealous of her rather than of Captain Jack.