Like she needed him pawing at her because Miranda had turned him on. Jamie didn’t budge. “We tell the big house folks because that’s the rules, and the Di Lucas make the rules. This is the only job we’ve got. I’m not getting fired over that woman.”

“She’s a nice girl.” He was still smiling at Jamie, trying to cajole her.

So drunk he couldn’t stand up and chase her around, not even for sex. “If she’s a graduate student, she’s got to be around twenty-six. She’s no girl. Look, Dylan, you want to tell them or shall I?”

“Tell who about what?”

The bad part was—he wasn’t faking confusion. “Did you take the food basket up to the house yet?”

His eyes shifted to the side. “I don’t remember.”

“I’ll take it up and tell them.”

“You hate to go up there.”

“You didn’t do it, so I have to.”

He put his head on the back of the couch and watched her out of slitted eyes. “I don’t know why you loathe them so much.”

“Then you haven’t been paying attention!”

He groaned. “Sorry I mentioned it.”

“Rich people! They’re scum, a drain on the environment. Here we’re trying to save one tiny spot on the earth and keep it pristine, and they arrive and use up the resources—for a vacation.” Jamie did loathe them, all the rich people, the ones who treated the earth as if it was an endless resource for their pleasure. “They’re here to see about turning Isla Paraíso into a resort. People tromping all over the island, littering the beaches, shooting at the native birds—”

“Um, they said something about a restricted place for some people to, um, view the untouched land and resources to properly appreciate—”

“Bullshit! Those people don’t care anything about anything except making a profit.” She paced to the window and looked out at the golden grasses, the ancient green of the oaks and, in the distance, the silver glimmer of the Pacific. “If they can make money off Isla Paraíso, they will, and this place will be ruined, like all the other beautiful places of the earth.”

Dylan let out a snore.

Jamie turned. He was deeply asleep, mouth hanging open, head lolling to the side.

He didn’t care about Isla Paraíso. No one cared like she did. No matter what, she had to remain here, and that meant serving the folks up at the big house whatever they wanted whenever they wanted.

She went out to the root cellar and found the food basket exactly where she’d left it. Picking it up, she started up toward the big house, walking rather than using the electric cart, using her own energy rather than wasting the earth’s energy.