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As pain rocketed through him, he knew he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t leave her that long, he loved her too much.
He was a man of action; prided himself on it. Business plans, mission statements, corporate policies, he could take a plan and turn it into reality. And that’s exactly what he would do here.
He loved Lana, would prove it to her whatever it took.
And as much as he wanted to chase after her now, sweep her into his arms, cradle her close and tell her everything would be okay, he wasn’t that stupid.
She needed time to calm down, time to evaluate what had happened here tonight. Before the photos, before the accusations, before the truth.
Simply, they were meant to be together, and he had every intention of making that happen.
* * *
Lana had been summonedto the Bridge by the captain to thank her for taking the classes. Great, just what she needed. Instead of disembarking as fast as she could, she’d have to go through the final rigmarole of playing the dutiful employer.
What a crock. This whole trip had been a bust from start to finish and she wished she’d never won the darn thing.
Knocking at the door, she grimaced at her reflection in the glass. Lucky things had ended with Zac last night, because if she’d been plain before and he’d still been attracted to her, he’d swim a mile regardless if he saw the frightful mess she looked today.
Placing both hands against the glass, she peered into the massive room, and glimpsed a flash of uniform on the other side.
All those gadgets probably made a lot of noise and muffled her knock so she opened the door and stepped into the huge control centre.
“Captain?”
She heard a footfall, sensed a presence behind her ,and her skin prickled like she’d eaten a crate of strawberries.
A captain she’d never met wouldn’t have that effect on her. Only one man did, the same man she never wanted to see again as long as she lived.
“I needed to see you, the captain was kind enough to do my dirty work.”
“That’d be right.” Her voice quivered as she turned and faced Zac, hating that after all the heartache, the sight of him could still reduce her to a nervous wreck.
“I need to know if I’ve missed the boat.”
She stared at him as if he’d taken leave of his senses, glancing out the huge windows at Circular Quay on her left, the Opera House on her right, and the ship firmly berthed at its moorings.
He gazed directly into her eyes. “Have I?”
In an instant, she knew he wasn’t referring to the ship. “What’s this about?”
He tugged on his tie, totally skewed as she noticed he didn’t appear the consummate professional for once, with dark stubble covering his chin and bleary eyes surrounded by dark rings. He looked as bad as she felt.
“I’ve been going out of my mind since last night.”
She shrugged, unprepared for the swift stab of pain at the recollection of what they’d shared and lost last night. “You should’ve thought of that before you lied to me.”
“Please, let me finish.”
He sounded like a little boy asking for the last toy tug for his bathtub and though her head told her to run, her heart said stand and deliver.
“You shouldn’t have discovered the truth by those photos. I—”
“It wasn’t about the photos, damn it.” She took a steadying breath, as surprised by her outburst as him. She never shouted or lost control. Not unless she counted the times he’d made sweet love to her last night.
He opened his mouth to respond and she held up a hand. “It’s the fact you’re based in Sydney, the fact you’re mega rich, the fact we could’ve had more than two weeks if you hadn’t let me believe—”
Let her believe he was a sailor, let her believe his precious job was all important, let her believe for one, tiny fragment in time she might actually mean more to him than a handy lay.
