Kyle was there. If she’d had a prayer of actually managing the feat, she would have hit him. “No thanks to you,” she groaned.

Then, despite her spinning head and the agony she suffered, she rose to a sitting position, staring first at her hand, then at Kyle.

There was a narrow, plain gold band on her finger.

Kyle was seated at a table in a little breakfast nook that overlooked the palm-covered lawn sloping down to the beach. He had a newspaper and coffee, was showered and shaved, and had even been shopping. He was wearing a surf-logo T-shirt and cutoffs and new Teva sandals. He looked comfortable and relaxed.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded in what felt like a shout. The sound of her own voice crashed mercilessly against her skull. She was going to have to whisper.

“Reading about yesterday’s events,” Kyle said. She realized then that he wasn’t exactly happy. Something in the paper was disturbing him.

She wasn’t worried about the paper at the moment, though. Her own situation was taking precedence. “You tricked me. You got me drunk on purpose. Tell me that everything that happened last night was some kind of sham.”

“No. No, it wasn’t.”

“I’m an American citizen.”

“And you think our marriage is illegal because it took place in a different country?”

“I don’t know exactly what is and isn’t legal, but I can find out. I have a brother-in-law who is an attorney.”

“So?” he inquired politely.

“Kyle, what did you think you were doing? You can’t protect me every minute, all of my life!”

He poured her a mug of black coffee and brought it to her—along with two aspirin.

She looked from the pills he had dropped in her hand to his eyes. “You even planned it down to the aspirin,” she said resentfully.

“Madison,” he said, sitting by her side, “you weren’t unconscious—you did know what was going on. And the point here is that you’re going to put yourself and Carrie Anne at risk if you don’t let me protect you.”

“But marriage? Kyle…”

“It is legal. But you can always change that,” he told her quietly.

She sipped the coffee he had brought her, feeling strangely defeated. She stared into her cup. “I’ve been compared to Lainie all my life,” she said softly. “I loved her, but I never wanted to be like her.”

“Madison, you’re not—”

“She was married four times. I think Dad’s been married six times. Of course, he’s been living longer.”

“Madison, I’m sorry.”

“About marrying me?”

“That you’re so upset.”

She drank the rest of the coffee and headed into the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“I’ll order you some food.”

“No!” she cried.

“It will help. Trust me.”

“Trust you? Trust you? You must be insane.”

“I’ll order some toast. It will help.”

She showered, then came back out in one of the hotel’s big bathrobes. By the time she emerged, room service had come, and the toast did smell appetizing. There was also orange juice and more coffee. To her amazement, she discovered that she could eat, and afterward, she did feel better.

Kyle glanced at his watch. “Why don’t you try to go back to sleep for a couple of hours? Then we can go on the afternoon dolphin swim before we head back home.”

“We’re really going swimming with dolphins?”

“Yeah, we’re really going swimming with dolphins,” he said, rising.

“Where are you going?” she asked him.

“Just for a walk. Try to get some more sleep. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

He left her, and she wondered where he was really going. But where the hell could he be going on a small private island where the traitorous natives spoke French?

She lifted her left hand—it only shook slightly. She stared incredulously at the ring on it. If someone had asked her when she was young what she wanted more than anything else in the world, she would have said—if she’d allowed herself to be honest—that she wanted to grow up to marry Kyle. And now it had happened. He had tricked her, but she had let him.

She closed her eyes. To her amazement, she began to drift. And she didn’t dream.

She woke up to Kyle prodding her gently. “Hey, we have to be down at the pool in thirty minutes. You going to make it?”

She stared at him and nodded. She felt a lot better. “Yes, I’m going to make it.” She bounded out of bed and into the bathroom, where she dressed quickly in her airport-purchase bathing suit.

Kyle was waiting for her on the bungalow porch, and as they walked down the lawn toward the shore, he pointed out the inlet where the pool was located. “Gene’s lagoon is natural, but he’s fenced off an area. He thinks that some of the people who get so nuts about releasing dolphins and killer whales are crazy—they can’t make it in the wild any better than a French poodle. He’s raised all his ladies, as he calls them, and they’re affectionate, and accustomed to being fed. There’s Judy, the trainer we’ll be working with.”

“Where are the rest of the people?”

“This is a private dive. Just us.”

She arched a brow at him and realized that part of the reason he had left her that morning was probably to arrange for this private session. For a tough FBI guy not above pulling a few fast moves, he could be amazingly considerate.

“Mrs. Montgomery!” Judy called to her. The name was startling. She felt that she was playacting when she responded to it, but Judy just went on. “Welcome. I understand this is a long-time dream of yours. Come on over, meet the girls.”

Judy was about thirty, an attractive, slender woman with a master’s degree in marine biology from the University of Miami. She obviously adored the four dolphins in the pool—Heidi, Rachel, Debbi and Hannah. She introduced them one by one to Kyle and Madison, and warned them again that dolphins could be aggressive, even though the “girls” were naturally very affectionate. Madison and Kyle fed the dolphins fish, then led them in a few leaps and twirls under Judy’s supervision before donning snorkels, masks and fins to jump in with them.

Madison had the time of her life.

The dolphins were wonderful. She quickly discovered that they were very strong and could shove roughly while playing, but they were also as affectionate as Judy had said. They loved to be rubbed and touched, brushing against her and Kyle. She glanced at Kyle as they surfaced together, laughing delightedly, and she saw in his eyes that he was every bit as fascinated as she was, and having just as good a time. For a moment, as she stared at him, she was able to forget the rest of the world. She had loved him almost all her life, and now they were together, sharing an experience she had dreamed of for what felt like forever. If only…

Heidi nudged her, trying to get her attention. Madison stroked the animal, marveling at her sleek feel, and ducked again to swim with her. It was incredible.

Madison was aware that they spent much more than their allotted time in the water, and she was grateful. Her skin was completely pruned when Judy swam over to Kyle and warned him, “I’m afraid you’re going to miss your flight if you don’t get moving. And you said it was important that you get back tonight,” she added apologetically.

“Yeah, thanks,” Kyle told her. He gestured to Madison, and she nodded. She patted each of the dolphins goodbye, then emerged from the lagoon, stripping off her fins.

Judy was at her side. “You know, Mrs. Montgomery, you can come back to the island when you have more time.”

“That would be lovely,” Madison assured her. She glanced at Kyle. “I’ll have to brush up on my French first, though.”

As she and Kyle walked back toward their bungalow, he asked, “Would that have changed anything?”

“What?”

“If you’d understood French? I mean, there was a church, a priest….”

“I thought maybe it was a game, a charade….”