AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘What if you’re married?’ she added, watching with grim satisfaction as his face become carved out of stone.
Three years ago, he had been a confirmed bachelor. The slinky blonde had been only one of a parade of women through his life. Katy had confided that she had never known her brother to fall in love.
‘Women are always claiming to be in love with him. They all make it too easy for him,’ she had complained to Nina, trying to explain why Ryan was incapable of understanding the very special love that she and Karl shared. ‘He’s such a cynic I don’t think he’ll ever get married except for practical reasons—like, you know, buffing up his family image.’
‘You could be married,’ she repeated vengefully.
A dark shadow moved behind the pale eyes. ‘So could you,’ he quietly pointed out.
‘Me?’
‘Who’s to say that in those two years you say that you can’t remember, that you didn’t get married?’
She was furious at him for turning the tables, nauseated by the suggestion. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I didn’t. Karl would have told me!’ she snapped. ‘I’m hardly likely to have got married without letting my brother know—’
‘Foster-brother—’
‘Whatever!’ She shrugged angrily. ‘Even if it happened while I was in the middle of the Aussie outback, I would have at least sent him a postcard about it.’ Karl had vaguely mentioned getting a few postcards from her while she was away, but he wasn’t one for filing his correspondence and she had never bothered to ask him where they had come from or what they said. If it had been important, he would have told her. ‘Besides, I wasn’t wearing a wedding ring when I arrived.’
Ryan raised his splayed hands. ‘Neither was I.’
‘Some men don’t!’
He smiled cynically. ‘Some women don’t, either.’
He’d know all about that! she thought snidely. Katy had said that not all the women who threw themselves at his head were single, although the ones he deigned to catch were invariably unattached.
‘If I were married, I’d wear a ring,’ she announced definitively, hands on her hips.
He stood up, towering over her, adopting an identical stance. ‘So would I.’
Stalemate! He wasn’t going to be pressured, or persuaded by appeals to his nonexistent conscience, into leaving Shearwater Island until he was good and ready to go.
For God’s sake, why couldn’t he see there was nothing for him here? And now she was in the invidious position of holding the key to his identity when the last thing she wanted to do was help him. Why should she humiliate herself by revealing the circumstances of their brief acquaintanceship? She had every right to despise him. What he had done to Karl was unforgivable!
‘Look at you two!’ Ray chuckled, his white hair fluffed up into a halo by the breeze. ‘You look as if you’re about to put up your dukes! I would’ve thought you’d have been dead keen on the idea, Nina. You’ve been after me for months to get some maintenance done—those warped front steps of mine, for instance. And after Ryan’s finished here, maybe I can get him to give your roof a bit of a going-over. I noticed there’s a patch or two of rust starting to show up….’
This sounded as if it was turning into a long-term position, Nina thought, aghast. ‘I don’t think you should risk using someone who doesn’t know exactly what they’re doing up there,’ she muttered. ‘He’ll probably fall off and break his neck!’
‘Is that concern for me, or wishful thinking?’ Ryan asked sardonically. ‘Ray’s shown me what needs doing and I’m willing to have a go. You’ve told me that a lot of people around here work a barter system—that’s what I’m doing. It seems a fair exchange of favours to me. Or do you think that I’m going to exploit the trust of a helpless old man for some nefarious purpose of my own?’
‘Hey, less of the “helpless” there, Sonny Jim!’ Ray barked, rapping his stick on the hollow boards, demonstrating that his hearing was still as sharp as his comprehension. ‘I may look like a decrepit old wreck, but I’m not ready for Davy Jones’s locker yet. And as for you, Nina, stop fussing—I know what I’m doing!’
