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‘Are you okay?’ he asked, seeing her frown.
There were so many answers to that question it was safer not to speak at all. When she stared into his eyes all her problems seemed to disappear. Kris was compelling in a way she’d never encountered before, which made it totally useless telling herself that, having spent all her adult life shying away from forming more intimate relationships, she was going to forget all her fears now.
‘Are you frightened of sex? Is that why your fiancé was unfaithful to you?’
‘Wow!’ She drew her head back with surprise. ‘You don’t hold back, do you?’
Kris shrugged. ‘It’s a simple question.’
‘And one you have no right to know the answer to.’
He conceded this with a dip of his head, but the steady beam of his eyes didn’t let up.
‘I think it’s probably time I went back now,’ she stated.
‘If you want, or you can tell me more. It’s entirely up to you. I’m in no hurry,’ Kris assured her.
‘What do you want to hear about?’
‘You could start with your early childhood.’
‘What are you? A shrink?’
‘No, but I know which buttons to press. So tell me or don’t. It’s up to you. Shall we sit down again?’ he suggested when she remained silently brooding.
‘Can I trust you?’ she said at last.
Kris shrugged. ‘Time will tell. Meanwhile, what do you have to lose?’
‘Not much,’ she agreed with a humourless laugh.
‘Then we’ll begin.’
‘I have a few questions for you first.’
‘Shoot.’ Leaning back on his elbows, he waited for her to begin.
‘I just want to know—are you a local fisherman perhaps working as crew when fish are scarce?’
He burst out laughing.
‘Are you or not?’ she pressed.
Kris’s eyes were still dancing with laughter. ‘I’m your sultan and you’re Scheherazade buying time for your friends, remember.’
‘Like you said, I’m bored with that story.’
‘Me too.’ Resting back, he waited.
‘I can’t be long or my friends will send out a search party,’ she warned.
‘I doubt that somehow. They know where you are and who you’re with.’ Kimmie was changing her mind about telling him anything more, he guessed, and that was a shame. She had to want to tell him and if he didn’t learn about her he couldn’t pursue the admittedly wild idea that Kimmie might prove to be the answer to his uncle’s request. ‘Do you want to spoil their fun?’
‘No,’ she admitted. ‘I don’t.’ She followed this by glancing in the direction of the music blowing on the wind in short, irregular bursts.
It must have occurred to Kimmie that she was with a man she hardly knew. It was his duty to reassure her. ‘Chapter One. Kimmie’s Life Story...’ he murmured.
‘Okay,’ she murmured back.
‘Talking things out is therapeutic,’ he reassured.
It took a while for Kimmie to get into her stride, but eventually the fact that she was opening up to a relative stranger became less important than opening up. It was like lancing a wound. Once the pus came oozing out, it started to flow faster and faster, and with each new fact the telling became easier. And it wasn’t all doom and gloom. She had lots of anecdotes about her childhood that made her laugh as she looked back.
He didn’t laugh. He remained quite still, listening intently.
CHAPTER THREE
‘SO YOUR FIRST memory is...?’
‘Staring at a brass poker while having my nappy changed,’ she joked, ‘but I’m not sure you want to hear that.’
He laughed. ‘Moving on. Let’s try for something else.’
‘Okay, then... I’m in a dark room, crawling on the floor...’
‘Crawling in your bedroom?’ he prompted.
‘No, I don’t think so.’ She screwed up her face as she thought back. ‘It doesn’t smell nice and there are empty bottles on the floor. It’s sticky. I remember picking up a cigarette butt, though I didn’t know what it was at the time. There was a lipstick stain on the end of it that made me think of my mother. I put it down again because it smelled nasty. And now I remember I was hungry... I wanted something to eat, and I’m cold—’
‘Okay.’ Shocked, he cut her off. ‘Why don’t we leave it there? I didn’t mean you to relive a time when you were frightened and alone, and I apologise for pushing you. You must think me insensitive.’
‘No, I think you’re curious,’ she said.
‘This isn’t a joke.’
She smiled ruefully. ‘You’re telling me. Or maybe I embellished the tale to keep your interest a little longer so the party could continue...?’
‘I don’t believe that for a minute,’ he said, springing to his feet. ‘Come on...let’s go.’
‘What have I done wrong?’
‘Absolutely nothing,’ he told Kimmie firmly. ‘You’ve done nothing wrong.’
What about his uncle? What about his agreement to at least consider the suggestion that he, Kris, should get married and settle down?
He’d never found himself in a situation where scruples overruled his natural instinct to seduce, but by the time Kimmie had finished relating this first chapter of her life, where she’d clearly had a less than ideal childhood, he was committed to protecting her from further harm, and nothing else.
‘So? How did I do?’ she asked as she stood too. ‘Are my stories good enough to keep your interest so we can let the party continue?’
‘They’re pretty good,’ he said, feeling a pang of anger and pain on her behalf.
‘Are you ready for the next instalment?’
‘Honestly? Not right now.’
‘I’ve bored you,’ she said immediately.
‘Far from it.’ Having appeared so feisty when they’d first met, she now seemed vulnerable in the extreme. Cupping her face, he stared into her eyes. ‘You’re quite the survivor, Kimmie Lancaster.’
‘And more than a match for you,’ she assured him with gusto.
‘Of that I’ve got no doubt,’ he said as he released her and stood back.
He could buy anything on a whim, do anything at a moment’s notice, but he couldn’t match Kimmie. She was unique in a world of grasping insensitivity and he’d be a fool to let her go, but she was clearly a free spirit and he doubted anyone could tame her. That she’d been hurt so badly today had only added to her determination never to be tied down. There wasn’t a chance she’d fall into his arms and marry him just because it suited his uncle. To produce the longed-for heir would be a lot harder than Uncle Theo imagined if Kris decided on Kimmie.
* * *
