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Nikhil bit back whatever response he might have made. He’d spent the better part of a month trying to deny it, but the question of Isla’s ex-fiancé had plagued him ever since he’d seen that light band around her ring finger.
From that very first day it had begged the question of what kind of man let a woman like Isla Sinclair slip through his fingers. And that was why, from that very first day, he’d realised quite how much trouble he was in when it came to this remarkable, bewitching woman.
‘I met Bradley at med school, and I was with him for ten years. The last three of those years we were engaged.’
‘Let me guess; he cheated on you.’
‘He did.’ She nodded. ‘Many times, I discovered that final week before we broke up. But do you want to know the sickest part? That wasn’t even the thing that hurt me the most.’
‘Is that so?’ he managed, fighting not to let her see the unexpected anger which had begun to swell inside him at her admission.
Indignation on Isla’s behalf. A desire to find this idiot Bradley and show him how duplicitous cowards like him deserved to be treated. But, more than that, Nikhil had to fight a sense that Isla deserved more, better, than to be cheated on.
Just as she deserves more than being used as a booty call? a voice demanded in his head.
‘The worst part...’ She licked her lips as though she was finding this harder than she’d expected. ‘The worst part was that I let him dictate my life. I let him tell me that once we were married I was going to give up my medical career and become the kind of wife that could support his career.’
Nikhil blinked. Of all the admissions he’d expected from her, this was not one of them.
Isla was born to be a doctor; she clearly loved her work and she was good at it. It would be like throwing him off a ship and telling him to find a new career on land legs.
‘And you agreed to this?’
She tilted her head to one side thoughtfully. ‘I didn’t disagree. At least, not at first. He was saying all the things that my mother had always wanted, so for a short while I lost myself.’
‘I can’t imagine that of you.’
‘I was, frankly, an idiot. But I thought I loved him. And I thought that he loved me. It turned out he just loved my mother’s social contacts. I was little more than a means to an end. Albeit one who also looked good on his arm.’
‘I still can’t see you being the kind of person who would agree to that.’ Nikhil shook his head as Isla squeezed her eyes shut.
‘That’s the point. I was a different person back then. That moment was the catalyst for me to try to turn my life around. To become a ship’s doctor, to tour the world, and to have the career I’d always wanted. I didn’t bank on meeting someone like you.’
And though he warned himself not to react, that he shouldn’t like the way that sounded, Nikhil found himself carried away by her words.
‘I’ve changed, Nikhil. I’m not the girl I was a month a
go. I might not have quite noticed it, but my mother has. And she put it down to you, that night at the gala.’
And God help him, but he wanted to believe every word that she was saying. He just knew that he shouldn’t.
He had his own demons. And, unlike Isla, he didn’t have the strength to confront them.
‘That wasn’t the agreement,’ he balked. ‘We said no dating, just enjoying time together. We agreed no commitments.’
‘And now it has developed,’ Isla pointed out evenly.
He might have believed her, had it not been for the slight shake in her hands. He gritted his teeth as he fought to harden his heart—whatever heart he had—against her.
‘Not for me.’
He certainly didn’t expect her soft, almost regretful response.
‘You’re lying.’
‘Say again?’
‘I don’t know if you’re just lying to me or if you’re also lying to yourself, but you’ve felt something blossoming between us, just as I have.’
