Captive in Her Arms

I NEVER would have gone if you had told me. Maggie Delaney was upset as she headed back to Zayrinia's hostel with her roommate, Suzanne. Maggie, red-haired and very pale-skinned, had had too much sun in Arabia, but that wasn't what worried her at the moment; rather, the innocent boat trip she had hoped for had turned out to be something very different. "It was practically an orgy," he protested. "I didn't know it was going to be like this," Suzanne explained. "I honestly thought we were going snorkeling . Oh, come on, Maggie, loosen up a bit!" Maggie had been told that many times in her life, especially in the last year. She wasn't Suzanne's closest friend. They had met a few months earlier when they worked at the same bar and had met by chance there in Zayrinia. For Maggie, it was the end of a full year of working vacations, and it had been the most incredible year of her life. She'd traveled around Europe and Asia and saved enough money to get off the beaten path a little on the way home. She'd included a stop in Zayrinia on the final leg of the trip and had fallen in love with the place before even landing. Through the plane window, she'd seen the desert give way to a spectacular city, where gleaming skyscrapers contrasted with an ancient walled citadel. And then, on final approach, they'd flown over the shimmering ocean and the marina filled with luxurious yachts. Maggie had fallen in love with Zayrinia at first sight. That day was the anniversary of his mother's death, and he'd woken up feeling a little sad. Then Suzanne had told him she had a spare ticket for a boat trip to the coral reef. Maggie's unease had begun before they even boarded. Instead of a snorkeling boat , they had approached a luxury yacht, But Suzanne had dismissed Maggie's concerns. "It's on me," he'd said, smiling, "before you go back to London. Are you looking forward to going home?" Maggie hadn't had time to answer before Suzanne interrupted her. –Sorry, that's an awkward question, considering there's no one waiting for you there. That insensitive apology had been more painful than the initial comment, but Maggie hadn't known how to respond. She'd long ago told her friend that she'd been in foster care since she was seven and had no family. "Or is there someone waiting for you?" Suzanne persisted. "Are you still in touch with any of your host families?" -No! Maggie's response was quick and a little harsh. She was very aware that she sometimes seemed brusque. That was something she'd tried to work on during that year. But she didn't find it easy to open up to people, and Suzanne had touched a soft spot. When she was twelve, Maggie had been promised the earth. For a few months, she'd believed she was part of a family. It had happened once before. A year after her mother's death, she'd been taken in by a young couple, but the marriage had broken up, and she'd returned to the shelter. For a while, she'd received birthday and Christmas presents, but that was over. It had hurt, of course, but nothing compared to what happened a few years later, when another family had taken her in. Maggie hadn't expected anything by then, but Diane, her adoptive mother, had insisted on giving her everything only to coldly take it away.