A/n's: Ok, I said I'd have this up a couple of days ago, but things have been a little crazy. I've had basketball games to attend and I haven't had a lot of time. But, it's up now of your reading enjoyment.

Chapter Seven

Sharni had a confused impression of having been hurried away from the reiteach, followed by the curious eyes of the other guests. She knew what a sensation they must have created, but she was beyond caring.

He drove like a madman along the moonlit roads, until at last she saw the outline of Mint Castle. Mark had screeched to an abrupt halt outside his own front door. He sat there gripping the wheel.

"I suppose I've offended everybody by rushing off like that," he said.

"I doubt it," she tried to reassure him. "They won't have expected you to make more than a formal appearance-"

"Yeah, that's just it," he broke in with muted savagery. "They don't expect me to stay, and they don't want me to. They hate me," he brooded.

"Well, do you care about a bunch of Irish rustics? If you don't succeed on Mint, you can always buy up another island and try again."

He shook his head. "Never!" he said. "It has to be Mint." He slammed a hand on the wheel.

"Why, Mark?" she said urgently.

Instead of answering, he helped her out of the car and took her hand. "Do you know your way down this path?" he said.

"Ay, I've taken it many times. But why?"

"Just follow me, and you'll see."

At the bottom the sand was firm. He drew her along the rock wall to where some large stones provided a natural seat.

"You might say I bought Mint in order to own this beach." He fell silent for a moment. At last he said, as if the words were forced from him, "My mother was a Mint girl. She fell in love with a man from the States, a tourist." His voice was harsh. "He went home leaving her pregnant. When she caught up with him, he called her names and threw her out."

Unconsciously, he had taken hold of Sharni's hand.

"My mother never came back here. She assumed the name of Calloway and passed as a widow. She talked about this beach, how beautiful it was. She died when I was seventeen. I hitchhiked and got the ferry to Mint. I found the beach without any difficulty, and for the first time in my life I felt I belonged somewhere."

He was silent for a long time.

"And then," he said at last, "Franklin Laidley came storming down the cliff path and told me to get the hell off his beach. He picked up some stones and began to throw them at me. I'd have killed him if I could for what he'd done to me. I don't mean a few stones-"

"I know," she said gently, "he'd ruined everything."

He made an almost imperceptible movement. "He called the police. I spent the night in jail and was escorted off the island the next morning. And I promised myself that somehow I'd get enough money to buy this place, and then no one would ever be able to turn me away again."

"I went to night school and took business courses and fought my way to the top. I came here five years ago, hoping to buy the place. Laidley wouldn't even consider selling. But I had the satisfaction of knowing that he didn't recognize me from our last meeting. How could he? I hardly recognized myself, I'd changed so much."

"But you got what you wanted," she said.

For the first time he smiled at her. "The thing I'd forgotten in all those years of dreaming was the people. I never thought of them rejecting me." He raised his hand as though making a discovery. "It's funny-you wouldn't believe how much that hurts."

"It could be different," she urged. "If they know you're one of them-if you tell them everything you've told me."

"No!" The world seemed to exploded from him like a gunshot. "They can never know about that. Try to understand-they have to take me as I am."

"Then why not do the same for the islanders? If people are hostile, it's because you've made it so plain that you're a threat to everything we hold dear. Of course Mint needs bringing up to date. It's only the way you're going about it that's wrong."

He looked at her curiously. "What would you do if you were me?"

"There are five farms lying idle of Mint right now because there's no one to farm them. I'd give the first tow years rent free, and I'd make interest-free loans to buy stock and farm machinery. I'd tell folks they can stop worrying about their rents. And I'd tell Joey he can stay where he is on the dame terms as before."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. I'd build a cottage hospital so that women wouldn't have to go away to Dublin to have their babies."

He got up and came to stand in front of her, taking her by the shoulders. Through the hard grip of his fingers she could feel him shaking.

"It means a lot to you, doesn't it?" he said intently.

"It's the most beautiful place in the world."

His eyes glinted curiously. "I'll do everything you want."

She laughed. "You're quite mad. You don't mean it."

"I mean every word. I want something from you which will more than repay me for what I'm giving. If you marry me and have my children here on Mint, they'll accept me. I'll belong."

"It's impossible!" she said violently. "We've only met twice. We don't love each other. There's nothing between us-"

"That's not true, and you know it. You haven't forgotten our last meeting any more than I have. You remember that I desire you, and you're too honest to deny that you desire me."

She sighed and dropped her head into her hands, suddenly weary. Memories came and went-Sally Fergusion, telling her troubles, knowing that Sharni was the one person who could help; Joey, complaining about the factor; the strange way everyone looked at her. They had all seen this coming, and they were all depending on her. They were he old friends, the people she loved. Could she let them down now that she held their fate in her hands?

"Tell me one thing," she said, turning to face him. "Was it an accident that we met at Dublin Airport this afternoon?"

"Of course not," he said impatiently. "I don't leave important matters to chance. I knew from Carol what plane you were booked on."

"You've thrown a net over me, haven't you?" she cried passionately. "Any you think I can't get away."

She turned from him, but he stopped her with an arm that was like a steel band round her waist. He pulled her towards him, and his voice rasped with a passion that she had heard once before.

"You've belonged to me since the moment I first held you in my arms," he said.

She made one last effort to deny herself to him, but he kissed her with terrifying skill. She recognized something in him too-a desperation that amounted almost to pleading.

"Mark," she said at last in a voice that she barely recognized as her own. "I'll marry you."