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alking about.” Scarlett averted her eyes.
“We drove him to say that,” said Thea, sounding miserable. “He got tired of us harping at him, and he just said those things so we would shut up.”
Scarlett shook her head, unaware of the sadness in her eyes. “I doubt that, Thea. Carter has made no secret of his impatience with me. He doesn’t like me, and he doesn’t trust me. You don’t have to worry about him falling in love with me.”
“That wouldn’t be the end of the world,” Ekaterini said. “Though he hates your father, he doesn’t necessarily hate you.”
Scarlett’s skepticism was evident, and she subsided into silence. The trip into Athens was a wonderful success, and they returned after several hours, laden with bags of purchases. Their stomachs were full from the excellent seafood they’d consumed, and their eyes were half-closed from the heavy wine.
She was considerably more relaxed than she’d been when they had left. Scarlett felt accepted by the sisters and dared to hope that it was a good omen. Surely Carter would tell her how he felt so their future could be settled. Scarlett hoped his sisters were right about his feelings for her.
They returned to find the house in an chaos. Athena drew Ekaterini slightly apart from the group, grasping her hands. “Don’t be alarmed.” Scarlett remained within easshot.
“What’s wrong?” Ekaterini demanded, clearly assuming the worst.
“Cat has wandered off.”
“No,” Ekaterini wailed. “We have to find her.”
“We will.” Athena squeezed her hands. “The others are searching for her. I was waiting here for you.”
Scarlett accepted a two-way radio from Athena and hurried to her room to change into more practical clothes. Everyone had departed, so she set off on her own. Cat was just a baby, so Scarlett assumed she couldn’t have gone very far. She listened to the radio as positions were given, and updates were made.
Selecting the rough trails that led away from the house and to the center of the island, Scarlett began to search for Cat, stopping every few minutes to call out the little girl’s name. The vegetation became progressively denser, and it was evident that this part of the island received little care. It was uninhabited, and Scarlett seriously doubted Cat would have gone this way.
After pressing on for almost two hours, Scarlett was about to return to the villa and choose a new area to search. She’d just turned around when she heard a mewling sound off to her left. Not believing it could be Cat, but still knowing she had to check, Scarlett eased through the thick growth. The mewling fell silent and Scarlett was unable to find the source.
“Scarlett,” her radio hissed as Carter spoke to her.
“Yes?”
“Dario found her, asleep in the speedboat. She’s all right.”
“I’m happy to hear that,” Scarlett said sincerely, her relief evident.
“Where are you?” Carter asked.
“The interior of the island. I’m returning now.”
“How long?”
“Maybe two hours,” Scarlett guessed.
Carter sighed. “Do you want me to come find you?”
“No, I can handle it,” Scarlett assured him before looping the radio through her belt. She turned around to find the trail, worrying she might have lost it. To her relief, it was easily visible, right in front of her. Scarlett thought she saw a way to reach the path with fewer obstacles. She walked through the undergrowth a few feet, veering toward the trail.
After resuming her course on the trail, Scarlett let her mind wander a bit, no longer worried about finding Cat. She was busily thinking about Carter, imagining him saying he loved her, when she realized she wasn’t walking the same direction as she’d come. She turned around in a circle, unable to see where she’d come from or establish the location of the correct path. If she was lost again, Carter would think she was a complete idiot.
“It’s an island,” Scarlett said aloud, trying to be logical. “Eventually I’ll come to the shore and can find my way back to the villa.” With that sensible course in mind, Scarlett followed the trail she’d accidentally taken, growing more tired as the time passed.
Just when she thought she couldn’t stand any more walking, Scarlett heard the sound of water lapping on shore. Impatient to get in a hot bath, Scarlett increased her pace, bursting out of the overgrowth, expecting to see the beach, and the Aegean.
One moment both feet were solidly planted, and the next she was balancing precariously, one foot extended into space. Scarlett flailed her arms, trying to regain her bearings, but she continued to plummet forward, falling down a high hill. It wasn’t quite a cliff, but it ended abruptly in a sheer drop.
She crashed onto the rocky shore, lying there, winded, and her breath was slow to return. Her jaw ached from the impact with the hard packed sand, and she’d cut her shoulder on a jagged rock. When her breath returned, Scarlett gingerly sat up, wincing as assorted aches and pains made themselves known. She wasn’t dying, but she sure felt like hell.
“Why do these things keep happening to me?” Contrary to her recent luck, she was not generally prone to accidents. She looked up the hill she’d fallen from. The side was almost as smooth as glass. She wouldn’t be making it up by herself.
