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Chapter Eighteen
Dale paced in front of the windows of the big office he and his brothers shared in the hotel on Mahé. He’d spent the day at their hotel on Praslin; he couldn’t stay in the same one where Zoe was. Now it was early evening and he felt restless.
He had made the right decision, damn it. Zoe knew he didn’t want her to have a copy of the plans, but she went ahead and got it anyway. He couldn’t work with someone like that, and he certainly couldn’t be in a relationship with someone he didn’t trust.
So why wasn’t he elated about the whole thing, glad it was over, looking up any of the willing women in the hotel?
The door to his office flew open and Darryn strolled in. “Don is looking for you, why don’t you answer your damn phone?”
Dale took out his phone and saw there were about five missed calls from Don. Damn it, he’d put his phone on silent. He didn’t want to talk to anybody today, least of all to Don.
“I heard Zoe has left? What happened?” Darryn asked. “Last time I saw the two of you, you couldn’t keep your hands to yourself. I’m telling you, those Sutherland women are trouble.”
Darryn’s phone rang. He handed it to Dale. “It’s Don again. He’s looking for you.”
Dale swore but took the phone.
Don was livid. “I told you, if you mess with Zoe, you mess with me,” Don’s voice boomed over the line.
Dale straightened, heartily fed up with the whole thing. “I didn’t mess with her. I told her if she needed the plans, she’d have to come to the office. She went behind my back and got them anyway. She just used me! I can’t work with someone like that, damn it!”
*
“Just so I’mclear, we’re talking about the plans for the hotel near the Kruger?”
“Yes, of course we are.”
“And you don’t want to give the plans to the person who has to know every little detail of the place in order to come up with a proposal for the interior? And when she asked someone else for it, who by the way, seems to have a much better understanding of how this works, you fire her? Are you insane? Who does that?”
Behind him Darryn started laughing.
Swearing, Dale gave him the finger.
“She got to you, you poor bastard, and you don’t even know it.” Darryn got up, pushed his chair back, and grabbed the phone from Dale’s hand to talk to Don.
“Dale has that same stunned expression on his face you had before you realized you’d been snared. You’re a sorry lot, all of you.” He laughed as he handed the phone back to Dale.
“Look, I don’t know what the hell is going on over there, all I care about is that my wife is upset. And I don’t want that. You better fix this, Dale, and quickly.” Don growled in his ear and ended the call.
“I don’t know why everyone finds this so strange,” Dale said, highly irritated with his brothers. “After that incident with Tammy, I never let my plans out of my sight, you all know that.”
Darryn was still smiling and shaking his head. “Let me get this straight. You fired Zoe, a well-known interior decorator with a pristine reputation—your words—and the person you have chosen to work with, because she wanted the plans to the hotel she has to decorate because she wants to… what? Sell them? Give them to someone else?”
“Damn it, it’s not that. It’s just she… I…” He tried, but now that he had to put his fears into words, it sounded so farfetched and so, well, ridiculous.
Darryn slapped him on the shoulder. “Exactly. You’re behaving like a damn fool because you fell for this woman. And because it scared the hell out of you, you used the first excuse to get her out of your life. Right?”
Dale stared at him. “I didn’t fall for anybody. She used me to further her own career, damn it. I can’t work with someone I can’t trust, let alone have a relationship with her.”
“Oh, so now we’re talking about a relationship?” Darryn grinned. “And sorry to burst your inflated ego, but from what I hear, Zoe doesn’t need your job to further her career. Her firm has been doing very well without you. I’m taking the plane and flying back tonight. Are you coming with me?”
Dazed, Dale shook his head. He had to see Zoe again. Hopefully, she was still on the island even if she’d left the hotel. Darryn left, muttering under his breath.
Dale sat down on the nearest chair. Zoe was right—he had been looking for a way out, and, yes, what he felt when he was around her scared the hell out of him, just as Darryn had said.
He didn’t do relationships. He liked Zoe, found her attractive, he’d spent time with her, enjoyed her in bed, but it had to have ended at some point, right? He was not in the market for marriage, babies and white picket fences.
Suddenly the picture in his head was real and he was chasing a giggling, chubby-legged little girl on a lawn, a cocker spaniel yapping at their heels. Stunned, he dropped his forehead in his hands. The little girl had Zoe’s laugh, her hair, her eyes.
