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He’d kissed her to shut her up, a kiss to demonstrate what she really meant to him, a gentle, soft kiss when he’d been hankering to devour her all day. He wasn’t toying with her, so what could he do to prove it?
He got out of the car and headed for the house. Considering Raj’s happy marriage and five kids, maybe his friend could give him a pointer or two.
As he reached the veranda of the whitewashed bungalow, Raj stepped out.“Hello, my friend. Had a good day?”
“Yeah. Thanks for the loan. I had a great time down at the cove.”
“I’m sure you did. Sujit phoned me and said you had a beautiful lady companion with you today?”
He groaned. “I can’t believe you two old gossips.”
Raj’s grin broadened. “He also said you were so besotted by this woman you could hardly finish yourdahl. Must be serious. Care to tell me more?”
“Maybe. Though I’d kill for a cold beer first.”
Raj shook his head. “Where are my manners? Come in.”
Zac followed him in, waiting for Raj to grab two beers from a cooler before they sat in the comfortable cane chairs in the living room.
Raj held up his beer bottle in a silent cheers. “So, my friend. Time to tell all.”
Zac had two choices: stay silent and listen to the hum of a ceiling fan or get an objective perspective on a situation that was complicated at best.
“Lana’s different from anyone I’ve ever met. I want to get to know her better but I only have a week before I head to Europe. Not enough time to get involved.”
Especially when the likelihood of her retreating back into her shell was high. He’d seen her growing confidence—the perfume, staying after the kiss last night, the hot new bikini today—but small changes didn’t mean she wouldn’t retreat at the first sign of an overeager sailor laying a possible future relationship on her after knowing him for a week.
He took a long slug of beer, savoring the icy brew sliding down his throat. “That’s the short version.”
“Do you have to return to Europe?”
He nodded. He’d let his uncle down once before, not this time. He’d make sure of it. “Jimmy’s sick again. The cancer’s back and it has spread.”
Raj’s bleak expression mirrored his. “I’m sorry. Is it—”
“Terminal, yeah.” He downed most of his beer in one gulp, hating the injustice of a disease that had no cure and robbed a man of his health, his dignity, his life.
“How much time?”
Zac shrugged. “He’s seen all the best docs in London and had varying opinions. Some say six months, some say a year max.”
Raj grimaced. “Very sad.”
“He says he wants to be left alone, but I know the stubborn old coot better than I know myself. That’s why I’ve signed on for the Mediterranean run for the next year. To check out a possible leak over there too, and to show him I’m taking an active role to set his mind at rest the company’s in competent hands. And to visit him weekly whether he damn well likes it or not.”
“Ah…” Raj nodded like a wise guru. “So this is the problem with your woman. She lives in Australia and you’ll be based in London for the next twelve months?”
Zac braced his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands. “It’s more complex than that.”
“Matters of the heart often are.”
Heart? Zac didn’t want to open his heart to anyone, least of all a woman he probably wouldn’t see again when she disembarked.
He leaped out of his chair and started pacing, wishing he hadn’t mentioned Lana to his friend. “Why are we even having this conversation?”
“Because you, my bachelor friend, have fallen, and fallen hard.”
Zac paused. “You know the biggest problem? I’ve lied to her and she’s a straightforward, no nonsense person. She’s been lied to before and it cut her up badly. How the hell am I going to tell her the truth now when she barely trusts me as it is?”
