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She lifted her head and looked up at him, her blue eyes smoky and uncertain, searching his. ‘I don’t understand.’
He sucked in a breath. He wasn’t sure he understood either. But he knew that whatever power drove him to want her couldn’t be denied.
‘You’re right. I can’t keep you here. But I’m asking you to stay with me.’
‘What about your sister? What about all your concerns about me going to the press?’
‘You won’t sell your story. I know that.’
Her breath caught in disbelief. So finally he was giving her some credit for doing the right thing? But why now?
Her words came out in one breath. ‘I didn’t tell you all that just so you would feel sorry for me.’
‘Who said anything about feeling sorry for you?’
Her heartbeat seemed to triple in an instant. If he didn’t feel sorry for her then why else would he want her to stay? Here, nestled against Loukas’s body, she could almost bring herself to imagine he cared for her—at least a little.
And that would be enough. After all that had happened between them there was nothing he could say that would make a difference to their future, but it would be enough just to know that he felt something for her. Just so she could take with her at least the thought that their nights together had meant something.
‘Why else would you want me to stay?’ she asked tentatively, afraid of what he might say, afraid of what he wouldn’t say.
But in the end it didn’t really matter any more.
Because now it was all too late.
He rested his head on hers, his hands skimming her back. ‘It seems I’ve got a lot to make up for,’ he started. ‘I was wrong about a lot of things. I was wrong about you.’
She blinked, straightening her back, forcing away the tightness in her throat. So this was all about paying his dues? He believed he owed her for misjudging her, and he thought he could set it to rights by being considerate to her and offering her a place to stay.
Nothing more.
She squeezed her eyes shut. But why should this latest revelation be such a surprise. Loukas had loved Zoë all along. His actions had made that beyond question. His motivations were now crystal-clear.
Because he still loved Zoë, had loved her even through those passionate nights Loukas and Jade had shared, Zoë had been the one driving his actions, Zoë had been the one he’d been missing. Only in seeking to avenge himself against Grace had he bothered with her.
And so be it. He didn’t feel anything for her. At least they didn’t have that unnecessary complication to contend with.
She’d learned her lesson already in that department. Because she’d imagined for a while that she loved Loukas, had even hoped that her feelings might be reciprocated, but that was before she’d found out that her being in his bed was nothing more than part of his plan to pull down Grace.
And just as he’d succeeded, and Grace’s world had collapsed, so too had Jade’s emotional landscape—shattering around her, scattering everything she knew, everything she held precious.
And now she didn’t know what she felt any more. Now she didn’t know who to trust.
She’d trusted Loukas for a time. And what had that got her? A few nights of pleasure and the bitter aftertaste of betrayal.
And through it all she’d trusted Grace. She’d set her on a pedestal so high, established her so far up on a scale no mere mortal could compete with, never realising that if anything went wrong it was a very, very long way down.
And things had gone desperately, irreversibly wrong. Now there was no way she could trust her own feelings. Now there was no one she could trust.
Not Grace.
Not Loukas.
And least of all herself.
She pushed herself out of the circle of his arms with a sigh and turned to gaze out over the bay one last time.
‘I’m leaving,’ she said.
CHAPTER TWELVE
IT HAD been a long day, Jade thought, as she turned her yellow Mini Cooper into the parking bay of her modest Balmain apartment. A tiring day, and yet immensely satisfying. Even after only three months in her new job, already she was making a difference to the tattoos that marred the arms, hands and even cheeks of her patients, slowly eradicating any evidence of ill-thought-out adolescent decision-making or the result of peer group pressure.
