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‘That’s what matters...’ she repeated slowly, trying to square his words, the remoteness in his voice and the rigidity in his spine with the hot-mouthed lover of moments earlier.
He stared down at her. ‘I’m not saying it wasn’t enjoyable in the short term. But that’s the point of a distraction. It’s not the main event. It doesn’t matter enough to last. I would have thought you of all people could understand that. Try not to take it personally, Dove. It’s just business. It always was—although maybe you didn’t understand that.’
She surged to her feet, swaying slightly as she clutched her dress around her trembling body. This was the man who had broken her heart all those years ago. The man who had ruthlessly blackmailed her into working for him to punish her for revealing his worst self to the world.
‘You’re contradicting yourself, Gabriel. You’re the one who said this was personal.’
Her face felt hot, and she was acutely conscious of how she must look, with her hair spilling onto her shoulders and her dress gaping at the front, but she was too angry to care. Too shocked and horrified by how close she had come to letting her hunger take her back to the past.
‘But I guess that’s how you live with yourself, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘By twisting and distorting things to fit your purpose—’
‘I didn’t twist anything.’ His face was like stone, the high, flat cheekbones a cliff face of contempt, and his words were like hard little chips of rock. ‘You just don’t like having to accept responsibility for your behaviour.’
They were facing each other, their bodies straining, their anger circling them, pushing them closer like a fang-toothed creature.
‘Mybehaviour?’ She said the word slowly, not quite able to believe what she was hearing. Her lungs felt as if they were on fire. ‘I’m not the guilty party here, Gabriel.’
‘Why? Because you sent your snobbish father to do your dirty work? You’re such a hypocrite.’
‘And you’re a fraud.’
‘At least I own my mistakes.’
‘If by “mistake” you mean our relationship, then you didn’t own anything. You sneaked away like the coward you are.’
‘Except I’m not the one who sent Daddy to make my excuses.’
‘I didn’t send anyone!’ she snapped.
He was shaking his head. ‘Sent. Asked. Coaxed. What’s the difference? You’re just trying to shift the blame.’
‘I know exactly who’s to blame.’ The injustice of his words clawed at her soul. ‘Youtook a bribe.Youtook my father’s money.’
‘And what? You think you were worth more?’
His voice scraped over her skin like a serrated knife and she heard her breath escape in a tiny, ragged gasp. Suddenly she felt as if she might throw up. A flare of anger exploded inside her, white and hot and so bright it could have lit up the night sky.
‘I could ask you the same question. After all, you’re the one who got paid off, Gabriel—not me. You’re the one who put a value on our relationship and your part in it.’
His expression didn’t alter, but when he spoke she could hear the rage in his voice, feel it rolling towards her in waves.
‘But I didn’t have a part in it—did I, Dove?’
Their eyes met—hers shocked, his blazing with fury, and a pain that took her breath and her anger away. But before she had a chance to respond, a chance to ask him what he meant, he turned and walked swiftly off the deck.
Heart pounding, she stared after him. Her head felt as if it had been punched. After the sound and fury of moments earlier the deck felt preternaturally quiet and still, like a stage after the curtain had fallen and everyone had left the theatre.
Everyone but her.
She was still there...alone, abandoned, again.
Her legs started to shake uncontrollably and she sank down onto the sofa. Beside her, his jacket lay discarded against the cushions, and she had to fight an urge to pick it up and hold it close.
Beyond the pale wood the sea was dark and smooth. A black mirror that swallowed up ships and secrets. Including, she realised with a jolt of misery, those of the man who had just stormed off the deck.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘COFFEE?’
