Paradise Found Read Online Free Page B

a short time, the taxi would be arriving to whisk her off to the airport and a fifteen-minute airplane charter flight to a more remote paradise.
    “So, you are to view more property?” her mother asked with a biting tone.
    “Yes, there’s some land that interests me.”
    “One island is not enough for you?” Her mother stood firm, hands planted on her ample hips. She was as short and wide as her daughter was tall and lanky, her calico dress as loose as her daughter’s shorts and camp shirt were tight.
    Victoria rolled her eyes. Would her mother ever realize that there was more to a woman’s life than men and babies? Some women had careers and ambition.
    “Are you meeting Mr. Wells on Praslin as well?”
    Victoria stared at her mother in stunned silence.
    “Well, you did have lunch with him at the Shangri La the other day.”
    “One lunch, that’s all. Nothing more.” She met her mother’s steadfast, all-knowing gaze. “And how did you find out?”
    Her mother chuckled. “On an island, news hasn’t far to travel. I have friends at other Beau Vallon resorts who keep me informed.”
    “For their information and yours, helicopter pilots are not my type.”
    “He told you he is only a pilot?” Her mother’s brows arched and a smirk appeared on her face.
    “And that he owns the company.”
    Her mother kept staring at her.
    “What?”
    “Victoria, you are buying island property to develop, yes?”
    “Possibly. So what?”
    “You and Mr. Wells have more in common than you realize.”
    She stared at her mother, wondering what secrets her mother harbored and wasn’t revealing. “Excuse me? What are you driving at?”
    “You will find out.”
    The taxi arrived, honking its horn. There wasn’t time for confrontations or explanations from her mother.
    “We’ll discuss this when I get back,” Victoria said, grabbing her bag. All she needed was more kankan, island gossip.
     
     
    Victoria held special feelings for the island of Praslin. British General Charles Gordon deemed Praslin’s Vallee de Mai rainforest as the location of the original Garden of Eden. The island, subject to forest fires with large tracts of denuded red earth, was still mostly lush and green with a breathtaking natural harbor surrounded by crystal clear water. It was a land of opportunity.
    Victoria rented a taxi for the short ride from the airstrip to Grande Anse, hugging the shoreline of silver sand beaches and the azure Indian Ocean. She was deposited at a quaint guesthouse along the bay at Grand Anse. The quiet location would allow her time alone to think between negotiating the land deal and conducting research.
    After settling in her room with lanai overlooking the ocean, Victoria grabbed her tote and purse and headed out toward the beach. Once in the sand, she removed her sandals and stowed them in her tote. Raising her dark sunglasses for a clearer view, she surveyed the stretch of powdery sand. If she followed the shore a half-mile or so, she would be at the beachfront of the elegant Garden of Eden resort, another of Eden Resorts, LLC prized Seychelles properties. Formidable competition.
    As she strolled on the edge of the surf, the squishy sand and warm ocean waves, she thought of how she had missed the beauty of the Indian Ocean. The water went from
    turquoise in the shallows to sapphire blue in the depths. The temperature was constant, like bath water and the rolling waves lulling. There was tranquility in the Seychelles, found no place else on earth. Outside of the hurricane and cyclone belt, the Islands were protected from storms and even in monsoon season, the weather went from wet to sunny in moments and the temperature was always humid and hot.
    She looked about the beach feeling out of place in madras shorts and camp shirt. European women sunned and swam topless, without concern for size, sagging or shape. The men donned tiny Speedos with equal ease. She could spot an American tourist in an instant. American women kept