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He dismissed that notion before it had time to take root but as he looked at her now he was struck by just how beautiful she was. Not beautiful in the conventional sense. There was no flamboyance about her, just a quiet intelligence that was far more potent.
How had he not seen that before?
Right now, he could feel her eyes feather over him, and his erection was suddenly as stiff as steel, throbbing and demanding, a physical ache that made him want to push his hand over it to still its insistence.
‘You’ve spent a long time keeping the outspoken side of you under wraps...what’s responsible for the sudden volte-face?’ He studied her face with leisurely curiosity until he noted the faint pink that crept into her cheeks. ‘And why do you say that?’
‘Sorry?’
‘That this place...doesn’t fit the image of the man I painted to you... Explain...’
Grace could feel the rum from the cocktail swimming in her veins. When the waiter approached to offer a refill, she nodded. Two cocktails! Tame by most standards for someone her age!
‘You described your uncle as someone...unsavoury, I guess. Out of control and on the wrong side of excess, and yet here...’ She looked around her to the wooden banister, smooth from the sun and the salty air, and the hammock to the side and the tasteful clusters of chairs and tables. ‘It’s so tranquil and atmospheric.’ She sighed. ‘It’s enchanting. In my mind I see a guy who loved the hotel he had started from scratch and everything to do with it, including the bar, which is like a proper fisherman’s hang-out. All the art on the walls and the furnishings and the rugs...how could anyone be responsible for all this if he was looking at the world from the bottom of a bottle? And the fishing business—it’s been very well run, very tailored to make the most of a commercial market...’
‘Which isn’t to say that his strenuous efforts to ruin his half of the family business didn’t justify his exile to this beautiful island. They did. Sander’s race down to the bottom of the gutter wasn’t just something that affectedhim. He had no qualms about dragging hundreds of employees in his hurtle towards self-destruction. So maybe he came here and managed all this because he knew that he was in the last-chance saloon. He’d already used up his three strikes. The choice must have been stark. Ruin his life here and there would be nowhere left to turn. People have a way of snapping out of things when their wriggle room has run out.’
Grace shrugged. ‘I suppose...’
‘There’s no supposing about it.’
No, there wasn’t, she thought. She would have liked to have asked him if that was why he was black and white when it came to separating work from his personal life. Two halves never destined to meet, with his personal life doomed to play second fiddle to making sure nothing jeopardised the business that provided an umbrella for so many people.
‘You’ve gone quiet on me,’ Nico said drily. He drained his second cocktail and relaxed back. ‘We’ve come this far, don’t leave me hanging on now...’
He was gazing intently at her face, as if he were mesmerised by her. The waiter came and he ordered a cold bottle of wine along with a selection of whatever tapas the chef recommended, and when the waiter left Nico was leaning into her, having swivelled his chair to face hers.
‘Or maybe,’ Grace said slowly, ‘your uncle, with all his bad habits, got here and discovered that this was what was meant to be. He wasn’t trapped and left without a choice.’
‘Anyone with a shred of common sense would know to resign themselves to the inevitable and make the best of it.’
‘It feels like more than that.’ Grace looked around her at the warm surroundings, the old hand-worn sheen of the wooden railings, the little lanterns on the scattered tables, which were attracting small, curious insects, the quirky chimes tinkling in the night breeze. ‘It feels like a lot of love went into this hotel and the same with the bar. I haven’t seen the fishing fleet yet...’
‘Fleetis a big word...it’s making me think of a large-scale operation instead of a handful of seaworthy boats with passable equipment on board.’ He held his hands up in mock surrender. ‘Or am I being a little dismissive here?’
‘Okay, maybe notfleet.But I’ll bet your uncle developed a liking for getting out on the ocean, for fishing.’
Nico gave that some thought. ‘I wouldn’t know. My father sorted out the business with his brother, sent him out here and I have no idea why this destination was chosen in the first place, and that was the end of the story. If Sander and my father communicated over the years, then those communications were not revealed to me.’
‘So your only version was of a dissolute uncle who had to be removed from the damage to the company he was doing and, thanks to your dad, that was what happened...’
‘Of course, dead wood must be dealt with,’ Nico said coolly. ‘You may think that I’m being harsh but, like I said, in the bigger scheme of things, it was what had to be done.’
‘I know,’ Grace said gently.
‘And...?’ Nico shifted.
‘And what?’ Grace shrugged, aware that the conversation had become dangerously intimate, possibly because the alcohol in the cocktails had gone to her head. She had encroached onto his guarded territory and now she anxiously wondered whether he might take offence.
‘And you’ve started this conversation, so don’t suddenly start being shy.’ He leant forward, his dark eyes glinting with teasing intent. ‘You’re not playing coy with me, are you? I’ve always admired your direct approach, and even more now you’ve decided to clamber out of your shell and peep over the ramparts.’
‘Of course I’m not beingcoy,’ Grace scoffed, pulling back a bit because his proximity was bringing her out in a cold sweat.
‘Don’t worry,’ Nico purred. ‘I’m not suddenly going to start weeping and wailing if you tell me what you think.’ He looked at her shrewdly, head tilted to one side. ‘And I won’t incarcerate you into a nearby dungeon for the crime of speaking your mind,’ he added for good measure.
Something feathered through her, setting off warning sparks even though the conversation was light and unthreatening.
Her heart began to beat faster and she licked her lips as nervous tension ramped up, melding into something else, a stirring of excitement that made her want to reach out and close the small distance between them.
