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“Damn it, Guy!” She stamped her foot. “How can you do this?”
“You did this,” he responded. “You are simply reaping what you sowed.”
“So it is revenge?”
“It is … justice.”
His lips were grim as he strode across the room to the desk opposite Addie. He reached into a drawer and pulled something out.
A chequebook.
Her pulse fired through her, thick and fast. She shook her head. “Don’t. Don’t make this – what we are – about money.”
“That was all you!” He reminded her, tearing a page from the chequebook and leaning forward as he inscribed it. “You came to me for money. You wanted a handout. I just made you work for it.”
Her heart dropped low in her body, a wasted, deformed entity of what it had once been. “This wasn’t work. That’s not what this week was.” She shook her head. “I told you, I’m not for sale. Money can’t be given in exchange for what we… what we are.”
He arched a brow, and his look begged to differ.
Colour drained from her cheeks. His believing her was utterly imperative. “I came to the island because I wanted to. I slept with you because I wanted to. Because I love you. Because I love you as much now as I did then.” She lifted a palm and pressed it to her mouth then shook her head sadly. “You need to know that before you end what we are.” Her words were coming in fits and spurts and she was shaking all over. “Please, Guy. Please say you believe me. That you know I love you.”
His eyes darkened and colour slashed his cheeks. “Oh, I’m sure you do,” he muttered, signing the cheque with flourish and holding it out to her. “I’m sure you love me now you’ve seen the island and the mansion and the yacht and all the delightful, valuable things that could be yours if you can only seal the deal. If only you can convince me, a second time, to be so stupid.” He tilted his chin at an angle of furious defiance. “But I know what you are.”
“Do you really think you have so little to offer a woman that your impressive wealth would be the only possible draw card?”
She’d surprised him. He looked at her with a mix of consternation and impatience. “This isn’t about my ego.”
“Have I ever done anything to make you think it’s your money I want?”
His laugh was harsh, derisive. “You are here because you want money…”
She shook her head. “I’m here,” she corrected slowly, “because I thought it would be a chance to remind you of what we share.” The words were thick in her too-tight throat.
“Don’t.” His response whipped around the cabin, and she felt his pain in the single syllable. She felt his hurt. “I can’t forget what you did.” His eyes held hers and she had the strangest sense that she was being tipped off the edge of the boat. “I swore, after Maria, I’d never be a gullible fool. And I was, with you. I won’t be again.”
“You fell in love with me,” she said simply. “And I fell in love with you. That’s not a crime.”
“You are a beautiful woman and I was captivated by you. Your body, your face, all of you. I didn’t see you clearly, Ava, for what you were. But now I do, and I can’t ever forget that.”
He glared at her, anger apparently the salvation for Guy, saving him from his pain and sense of betrayal. “If you won’t agree to be my mistress, then it’s over. I want you to leave, and never contact me again.”
She wanted to fight! She wanted to rail against his coldness and make him see things as they really were. But he never would, and Addie was done begging. It was over; she had to accept that.
“Okay,” she agreed quietly, unable to keep the hurt from her voice. “I’ll go.”
His eyes held hers for a fraction of a second too long. “Here. I’ve added a little extra for your… performance. You really were very convincing.” He strode across the room and pressed the cheque into her hand.
She didn’t look at it.
She had no intention of banking the thing; what did it matter how much he’d made it out for? Instead, she took his hand in hers. “Guy?”
He didn’t answer, but he stared at her long and hard.
“I do love you.” Her voice was surprisingly firm. “I don’t want you to believe the things you do about me. I hope that one day you’ll know that I’m telling the truth.”
*
“Guy? Have you got a moment? I just have a question for you.”
