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‘Did he insult you? Hurt you?’ Jake’s voice was a gravelly undertone.
He could hardly believe that he’d put Caitlin in such a vulnerable position. When he saw Kenny Swan again he’d have to be physically restrained from connecting his fist to his jaw…contract or no contract. And he was pretty sure the rest of the crew would feel the same.
‘Of course he didn’t. Apart from making me cringe at some of the comments he made about his sexual prowess and inviting me to join him in his hot tub he didn’t try anything. Anyway, Lia was with me,’ she answered. ‘Plus, like I told you before, I’m tougher than I look. Lucky for me I wear any bruises I acquire on the inside.’
The idea that he might be responsible for some of those invisible bruises affected Jake more deeply than he could say.
‘I’m sorry. But you should never have agreed to let him drive you home. You should have come to get me and I would have taken you and Lia back to the guesthouse straight away. Now, why don’t you go and say goodbye to Lia, then come back to my hotel with me?’
Caitlin couldn’t easily hide the resentment that flashed through her. She pulled her arm free and rubbed it.
‘What would be the point, Jake? If you want to talk about our relationship then there’s really not much to discuss, is there? Why prolong the agony? We had an affair…a meaningless affair. It happens all the time—especially in this business. You of all people should know that.’
‘Meaningless? Is that what you think this is?’
Jake hated hearing her talk like that…as if he made a habit of sleeping with different women just because he could. He’d never been a saint, but neither was he promiscuous—despite what the gossip columns might have suggested over the years.
For the first time since he’d acknowledged his feelings about Caitlin to himself Jake was forced to consider that perhaps she didn’t feel as intensely as he did. The thought was so unpalatable that it hit him with all the force of an express train travelling at full speed. Suddenly being uncertain of his ground shook him badly.
‘Like I said, you’ve made your feelings about me pretty clear.’ She sighed. ‘It was me that clouded things with my stupid hopes and dreams. You’d think I would have learned after Sean, wouldn’t you? Anyway, the band is the most important thing…not whatever’s going on between you and me. At least we’re agreed on that.’
Twisting her hands together, Caitlin managed a tremulous smile just before she turned away.
If I can just hold it together until he goes, she thought, then I might…just might…get through this with my pride and dignity intact. And I might stop him from ever finding out that he’s the only man who has my heart and always will…
‘You’re wrong, you know.’
Still with her back to Jake, Caitlin released a weary sigh. ‘Wrong about what?’
‘The band isn’t the most important thing to me.’
She froze. Then she slowly turned round to find him wearing a smile that was uninhibitedly warm and sexy, and it drove every single thought out of her head. His twinkling glance fused to hers and she couldn’t have looked away even if she’d wanted to. As her body was suffused with unexpected heat even the icy wind swirling round them seemed suddenly to grow less frigid.
Her mouth drying, she asked, ‘It isn’t?’
‘No, it isn’t. You are, Caitlin. You’re the most important thing in my life. I’m not proud of the way I’ve handled things between us, but to say I’ve never felt like this before would be the understatement of the century. An earthquake couldn’t have shaken me up more.’
‘I wondered where you’d got to, Cait. Now I see what’s delayed you.’
The front door opened to reveal the diminutive Lia, dressed in pink sweatshirt and jeans, her brown eyes alighting on Jake as if she’d inadvertently stumbled upon the devil incarnate.
‘What’s he doing here? Unless he’s come to talk to you about work then I think you should tell him to go. He’ll only upset you, and you’ve had enough grief from him already to last you a lifetime.’
