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DESPERATELY upset by their confrontation, Grace walked quickly into the forest, following the path to the waterfall and pool that had proved so tranquil the evening before.
What right did she have to be upset?
What right?
Had he made her promises? No, he hadn’t.
So why did she feel so let down, so completely disappointed?
Because she’d thought she’d seen something in him.
She’d never felt so confused in her life. Her newly awakened body was humming and part of her wanted to rush back to the lodge, crawl into bed beside Rafael and forget the complications of her life. He was able to see their relationship in simple, straightforward terms—so why couldn’t she?
The answer to that lay in the fact that there was one fundamental difference between them.
Despite everything that had happened in her life, she’d never lost hope, whereas Rafael.
She felt something sad inside her as she finally acknowledged the truth about him. Rafael appeared entirely disillusioned with women and life in general. Somewhere in his past, he’d lost all hope.
She walked on, her vision blurred, and it took about twenty minutes for her to realise that there was no sign of the forest pool. Nor could she hear the waterfall. Which meant that somehow, somewhere, she’d taken the wrong path.
Ignoring the flicker of unease that sprang to life inside her, she stopped and looked around her, searching for something, anything, that she recognised, but it was all horribly unfamiliar.
Had they come this way the day before?
Had she passed the forest pool without even realising?
Deciding that her best option was to turn round and retrace her steps, she plodded back along the path, suddenly aware of all the shrieks, calls and sounds that filled the air around her. The leaves and branches beside her feet seemed to rustle and above her she saw a large spider, clinging to its web.
Yesterday, with Rafael’s powerful body striding ahead of her, she’d felt strangely secure. Now, totally alone in the dense, almost oppressive rainforest, she felt a flicker of fear that she struggled hard to contain.
Panicking would get her nowhere, she reminded herself firmly, but then stopped in despair as the path forked. Left or right? She didn’t remember even seeing a fork in the path on the way. And now it was almost impossible not to panic.
She couldn’t be that far from the lodge, she reasoned, giving the spider a wide berth. She’d been walking for less than half an hour. Which meant that sooner or later someone would come and find her.
Or would they?
Was Rafael tucked up in front of his computer screen, working, oblivious to the fact that she was even missing?
It didn’t make sense.
With mounting frustration, Rafael dropped the phone back onto his desk and stared out of the window, his mouth set in a grim line.
Now what?
He’d spent an hour on the phone and it had proved to be the most exasperating and perplexing hour of his life. And, far from being answered, the questions had multiplied. The manipulation of the figures went deeper than he’d first imagined.
r /> But one thing had come through loud and clear. At no time had Grace Thacker been a beneficiary of the money that had been removed from the company.
Which meant that she’d been telling him the truth all along.
He ran a hand over his face and cursed softly as he forced himself to face facts.
She hadn’t stolen anything, nor was she guilty of fraud and deception.
Which made her not dishonest, but quite astonishingly naïve.
He found it impossible to comprehend that she hadn’t noticed the discrepancies in the company accounts. She was young, yes, but she was running a business. How could she not have suspected? Hadn’t she looked?
