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at her wastrel cousin sold us out? I really doubt it. Go enjoy your vacation, Tilda. Have a nice life.”
“So that’s it?”
“You and me? Yes. I’m done here. There’s no reason for me to stay. Back to normal life for both of us.”
Though it stung, she shrugged that off. “Don’t think I don’t know that you’re working your same tricks on me—cornering me into leaving. You don’t have to do it. We agreed all along that this would be a time-limited arrangement.”
“Then what?” He sounded tired.
“What happened to the guy who won at all costs?”
“Sometimes the costs are too high.”
“So you could have won, had you been willing to pay the price.”
“You don’t understand law, Tilda.”
“Don’t patronize me with your macho bullshit,” she snapped. Even in the dark, she saw the surprise in his face. “I may not know law, but I know sales. Everyone has a price. What it really comes down to is what you’re willing to pay.”
“My uncle bought the shares. I’ve tried everything. He can sell the property against the objections of the entire family and I can’t do a damn thing to stop it. Believe me, I’ve tried every damn thing.”
“Then buy him off.”
“He doesn’t deserve it!”
“Who cares?” She threw up her hands, her sore breasts protesting. “How precious is that island—to you, to your grandmother? When you had me bent over the couch, did you hesitate to do what you wanted to me?”
“That’s different.”
“I don’t think it is. Either you want something enough to pay the price or you don’t.”
“And your job is to make people want it enough. I see what you’re doing—making me want it.”
“You’re wrong. It serves no one to sell them something they don’t truly want.” She unfolded herself from the chair and stood. “My job is finding the right price. It’s like the song, right? All those gifts upon gifts, until it becomes ridiculous. Who wants all that stuff? No, the precious part is the true love. I saw how you looked at that place. It means a great deal to me that you wanted to share it. I even understand why it felt to you like it would be sullied by sex. It’s sacred to you.”
He snorted and she shrugged. “Yeah, speech over.” She walked over and held out a hand to him, shaking it as they had that first night on the plane to Cozumel. “Thank you for everything—for gifts beyond price.”
He turned her hand over and pressed a kiss to the center of her palm, then closed her fingers over it.
Then looked up at her, dark eyes shadowed.
“I think I underestimated you.”
“Thinking I’m uncomplicated isn’t a bad thing. It just isn’t all of who I am.”
“Are you leaving?”
“Aren’t you?”
He sighed. “Would you do something for me?”
“Almost certainly.”
He laughed at her equivocation. “Stay the rest of the night. I need to think and it...helps to know you’re in there, sleeping. Does that sound crazy?”
She cupped his cheek and kissed him on the forehead. “No. It sounds eminently sane.”
* * *
