Blooming in the Wild Page 0,71

streaming around her shoulders, and the crown and lei of flowers setting off her golden skin and black eyes, she looked like the Hawaiian princess Joel had called her.

And a Ho’omalu, she reminded herself fiercely. From a family who had been called by Pele. She might be just a half-haole newcomer, but she would get through this. And when the Ho’omalus came to see where the group was and why they hadn’t shown up at Nawea, they’d see the yacht. Bella just hoped everyone would be alive when her cousins and uncles arrived.

Resolve firming her steps, she turned to pick up the grass skirt and tie it around her hips. It didn’t feel so bad once it was on, the dried grasses swishing softly about her bare legs. She even thought she heard the faint echo of her forest voices whispering to her. She closed her eyes, biting back a sob. The forest couldn’t help her now.

The door opened. Li stood there again, now dressed in a sleek black jacket and slacks, his pale hair gleaming with pomade. He looked her over insolently and smirked.

“Nice. Now gimme your top.” He held out his hand.

Bella recoiled in horror and distaste. “No!”

His knife snicked open in his other hand. He waggled the fingers of his outstretched hand.

Was this part of Camille’s plan, to humiliate and demoralize her? Or was this just a whim of this knife-wielding creep? Either way, she couldn’t afford to argue.

Fuming silently, Bella glared at him. The flowers on the bedside table quivered as if a breeze had passed through the cabin. Reaching up, she unfastened the ties of her top at the back of her neck, and then unhooked it behind her back. She shook her hair forward over her breasts and then threw the top on the floor at his feet.

He ignored it, his eyes on the hair streaming over her breasts. “Push your hair back,” he rasped. “No fair hiding,” he added in a sing-song voice.

She glared at him, her hands fisting at her sides, and the bedside bouquet trembled. She glanced over at it, suddenly remembering the sharp florist wire she’d often used to brace long stems in a bouquet. If she could make it to the bedside table…

“Now,” he ordered, stepping closer, his knife flashing threateningly between them. “Or I give you a haircut you won’t forget.”

Glaring at him defiantly, Bella did as he ordered, pushing her hair back, baring her breasts to him.

He stared at them for a full moment while her skin crawled, and she fought tears of impotent rage. Somehow she found the courage to stare back at him while he looked her over. She could not control the hot blush of humiliation that covered her face and chest, however.

She held her chin high, her teeth clenched. She would not let them use this to intimidate her. It was only a little more skin than she usually bared, and she was more than the sum of her female parts. She was herself.

The others were all gathered on the outer deck. They did indeed look as if they’d gathered for an onboard cocktail party. Cassie and Tanah, huddled on a divan, wore flowered sarongs tied about their necks halter-fashion. Joel and Matt still wore their swim trunks. The four still had bare feet, as Bella did.

Camille wore a silver silk-tissue pantsuit, and her hair was styled elegantly, her face made up.

A new man had joined her. Tanned and beefy, like a once-fit athlete gone to fat, pouches under his cold eyes, he wore a dark Hawaiian shirt and slacks, his gray hair expensively styled. He lounged on the divan beside Camille, a highball glass in his hand.

Everyone stared at Bella as she stepped out onto the deck, followed by Li, who melted away to the fringes of the group. The other girls’ eyes widened with horror, and Matt shook his head once, his handsome face tight.

The stranger stared avidly, his mouth curving up in amusement. “So this is your new toy, Camille.”

Camille looked Bella over, her face lighting up with satisfaction. “Yes,” she purred. “Isn’t she amusing? Rather like one of those little dolls one sees glued to dashboards, swaying back and forth.”

Fighting the urge to wrap her arms over her bare breasts and shrink into a small huddle of flowers, curl into herself in the L where the wall met the door, Bella found Joel. She focused on his face like a lifeline, because despite his coolness earlier, somehow he was