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‘Look. It’s clearing.’
Tilly yawned, her head pressed against his shoulder. He stroked her hair absentmindedly, his gaze settled on the wall opposite. It was not late, but a day in the darkened cabin, distracted by so much emotion, had left Tilly tired. The storm was finally abating, though, and a hint of sunshine crested through the window.
He shifted abruptly, placing her head against a pillow. ‘Stay here.’
It was a command she didn’t care to disobey. Her body was languid and floppy after being pleasured by him again and again. Her heart was full to overflowing with his suggestion of love.
She let her eyes drift closed, but didn’t sleep. How could she? There was a constant shuffling of things, and the regular slamming of the door to keep her awake.
She listened, though, with a smile playing about her lips. A smile that was wilfully ignoring the prickly path that lay before her.
She wasn’t who he thought she was. And if she revealed the truth to him how would he react?
Her heart turned over, and briefly a frown crossed her features. Imagining life outside the island had become impossible. She had joked, on her first day on Prim’amore, that it was as though they were the only two people on earth. Yet that was how she felt after a few days alone with Rio.
The pressures that
had brought this to be—worries about her brother, compassion for Cressida—all came to nought when she was with Rio. Could they not just remain on the island for ever? Pretending the outside world did not exist? With a few trips to Capri to secure essentials?
Life would go on; the world would spin. And she would spin with Rio.
Her heart.
Her soul.
Her other.
‘I’m ready.’
She blinked, opened her eyes, yawning as she focussed on him.
‘For what?’
‘Come.’
She followed him towards the door of the cabin and down the steps. The sand was cold and wet beneath her bare feet, but she didn’t care. She wanted to look up at him, but a glow in the distance called to her.
Several candles were set out in the sand, and in the middle a makeshift bed.
‘You did this?’
He linked his fingers through hers and lifted her hand to his lips, then pulled her towards the blanket.
They walked slowly, breathing in the scent of fresh air in the wake of the passing storm. It was on the horizon now—a dark cloud dissipating into the sea.
‘You must have mixed feelings about selling the island?’
He squeezed her fingers, perhaps to acknowledge that he’d heard the question, and then focussed his gaze out to sea. ‘No.’
‘Even though it’s where they fell in love?’ she murmured, saddened to imagine him selling it and that link being lost for ever.
‘Their love broke her.’
‘Cancer broke her,’ she corrected pragmatically, wrapping an arm around his waist as they walked.
‘I know that.’ He expelled an angry breath, then cleared his throat. ‘When she was dying, at the end, she spoke of him almost more than she spoke to me. He was so heavy in her mind and heart. I couldn’t ever forgive him for that.’
His smile was tight.
