Chapter Nineteen

She’d felt his arm along the back of the white leather sofa behind her, so close to her body, and she’d trembled. Every time he looked at her, the intensity and heat of his dark gaze turned her inside out.

Sylvia didn’t want to think about it now. Or why she’d not only noticed his favorite flower in a lush garden, but she’d also picked a Sylvia for him and placed it in water.

Looking up from her book, she noticed the dark-haired, plump young housekeeper struggling to carry a table across the beach to a spot overlooking the surf. Relieved to leave the lanai and lounge chair and all her disconcerting thoughts behind her, Sylvia got to her feet and hurried down to the beach. “Wait! Can I help?”

The housekeeper, who looked only a few years older than Sylvia, shook her head, even though she looked as if she were fighting back tears.

“Really?” Sylvia bit her lip. “Please, Mrs. Vadi, won’t you let me help?”

“No,” the woman said, then burst into tears. Within minutes, Sylvia had learned the w