She stood at the mirror and critically appraised the figure in front of her. Derek had said to dress for dinner, so she was going to give him an eyeful. The dress was a new one that she had bought on a quick shopping trip with Rachel before they left San Francisco. It was a brightly flowered short dress, with a flounce along the hem. The skirt moved nicely with her, and the low-cut back accentuated her shape, as did the cross-tie straps at the top.

These earrings were wrong, though. She pulled them off and tried another pair. Her hands shook slightly as she fixed her new earrings, and she took a deep breath, Why in the world was she this nervous about dinner with Derek and the others. They've had lovely dinners before. But these were far from previous circumstances. Derek promised to tell them what had happened at the portal�

A cold chill washed over her as it had whenever she allowed herself to go back to that terrible night. She had been so frightened at the look on the faces of Nick and Rachel when they helped her up from the ground. And why had she been on it? She soon became aware that Derek had knocked her out to lure the others to rush to her side� and out of the house. They had then looked back at the castle in horror to realize that he was in there alone, to tackle the portal alone�

She had held her breath as she waited, then jumped at the flash of white light, half expecting to hear the blast of the C-4 following it. But it was quiet, except for the pounding of her heart as they continued their vigil. Had she breathed in the long minutes of it? She only knew that the air had rushed out of her lungs when she had spotted him at the top of the stairs. Screaming his name, she had suddenly found herself in his arms, as hers wrapped tightly around his neck. Then she had kissed him, as naturally an action as it had been at the portal earlier. And he had responded�

Neither of them had said anything about it after that or acknowledged it. They had all gone back into the house, and she was surprised when she could immediately sense a difference. She no longer felt the heavy darkness within it, but only a sense of peace. When Derek had somehow sealed the portal, the evil must have drained out of the house because of his action.

They had celebrated his survival with a special bottle of cognac and a very early breakfast. She laughed softly, recalling the scene of the four of them in the kitchen. Rachel had set the table, while Nick prepared one of his special juice drinks for all of them. Derek had volunteered to scramble the eggs, so she had tossed one of Dom�s aprons on him and the team had laughed at how well it fit him. When he was satisfied that the mixture was ready, she had cooked the eggs, only slightly burning them. It was a wonderfully relaxing meal, and he had laughed more those few hours in that kitchen than she had seen him do in some time.

After several hours, however, the adrenaline had worn off and the stress of the past two days caught up to them. Exhaustion had settled in, and they were ready for bed. They had said good night to each other� or actually good morning since dawn was peeking its light through the windows. Derek had looked at her so� strangely then. The smile was gone and he had spoken so softly. It had not been easy to sleep after that. The evening�s events had kept swimming in her head, including the kiss. He had likely seen it as Rachel had said later -� a knee-jerk response to her joy at his survival.

Yet his arms had been tight around her and he had definitely responded. His reaction to her since that time had changed as well� She looked in the mirror and sighed. Or maybe it was simply her imagination.

She fluffed her hair and pulled out a flower from the bouquet on the table. Spraying her hair with a spritz of hairspray, she then added the flower behind her right ear. One quick turn-around to check the back of her dress, and she was just about ready. Perfume and lipstick completed her appearance and she was at last all set. She checked her watch. Rachel, unfortunately, wouldn't be ready for another ten minutes.

She walked out onto the balcony to wait, and to gaze on the lovely view in front of her. A mountain rose on the� What had Derek called it? A motu. A hotel porter said that the mountain on the motu across the lagoon was called Mt. Otemanu and it was one of the largest in the area. She would love to see it and some of the ruins of the ancient Polynesian civilization. Other, more fun activities were on her list as well, including snorkeling and tennis. This time in paradise must not be wasted. She had vowed to do things that she had rarely the chance to do in San Francisco.

What a wonderful first day in paradise it had been. She and Nick had explored the area around the hotel. Nick wanted to get "the lay of the land," while she had simply wanted to explore. The hotel had several boutiques and she had dragged her friend into them. One was a basic tourist trap with souvenirs and every-day items, but the other contained native crafts for sale along with gems and the famous black pearls for which the island was known.

A short time later they had joined Rachel by the pool, but not before some difficult choices had to be made. She had trouble deciding what coverall to wear over the one-piece bathing suit that she had finally selected to wear. It was her first day in the sun and she had to be careful, she told herself; it didn't have anything to do with being seen in a bikini so early in their trip. She picked one, than checked herself in the mirror. No, it made her look too frumpy. Another was chosen, then another, until she had ended up with a solid black, one-piece suit with a paisley scarf around her hips.

Walking out to meet her friends, she had been surprised to see a water cascade at one end of the large pool, and close by was a small bar and restaurant. The waterfall gave the illusion that it was constantly filling the pool with fresh water. At the other end in a semi-secluded area was a Jacuzzi. Three young couples were enjoying it and each other, oblivious to their surroundings. Honeymooners�

The dark woman had also passed along Derek's message. Nick and Rachel had been surprised to hear that Derek was finally going to explain what had happened at the portal. And soon they would know�

�Alex?� A soft knock interrupted her thoughts.

�Coming, Rachel,� she called out as she rushed to open the door.

They walked along the walkway to the beach, then followed a shorter path to the hotel. The Tevairoa Restaurant was humming with the noise of guests and Tahatian music. Nick waved to them and headed their way.

�Derek�s not here as yet,� the ex-SEAL said, �but I�ve got us a spot outside in the back while we wait.�

Nick led the way to the terrace, and they were soon settled around a table with tropical drinks in front of them. He soon had them laughing with his tale of almost crashing into a young woman when he went swimming after Alex had left him.

�I can�t leave you alone for a minute, can I?� She shook her head, trying to control her giggling. �So what did she say to you?�

�Well, after I apologized profusely,� he grinned, �she agreed to let me buy her dinner tomorrow night.� That got them laughing again, but Alex began to wonder what was keeping the man they were expecting to join them for dinner. Where was Derek?

A soft Dutch accent spoke softly behind her. �Alex, you look lovely.�

End part 9