‘Oh,’ Lexi pouted. She didn’t really want to leave the boat to eat in a restaurant. ‘I didn’t bring anything to wear suitable for eating out.’
He looked down at her, not fooled by her regretful tone in the slightest. ‘I was not intending for us to eat there,’ he drawled. ‘I was merely describing the place we are heading for. I have other plans for dinner.’
‘Zeta’s pasta?’ Lexi suggested.
Since she was glued to his front she knew exactly what he had planned for dinner. When he raised an eyebrow in that arrogant way he had she just laughed, kissed his chin, then turned around so she could lean back against him.
‘Like the old times,’ she murmured softly after a few minutes. ‘I like this starting again.’
‘No more questions? No more doubts?’
He spoke lightly, but Lexi knew there was a serious enquiry behind the question. They both knew they still had a lot of things to trawl out and work through, and they still had not talked about what had really happened when the White Streak crashed, but—
‘I meant it before, when I said I wanted to talk about us—our feelings, not everyone else’s feelings. They’ve messed up our lives enough as it is, but right now I just feel—scared.’
‘Scared of what?’
She felt him grow tense behind her. ‘That we’re trying to recapture something here that shouldn’t be recaptured. ‘
‘You don’t believe I still love you,’ he declared after a second.
‘I don’t believe we’ve been back together long enough to know for sure what we are feeling,’ she confided unhappily.
She watched his fingers tightening on the wheel. ‘So I’m still on trial here?’
‘I didn’t say that—’
‘You might as well have said that,’ he countered.
‘You should’ve told me what Marco said about me.’
‘I know.’ Lowering his head, he pressed a contrite kiss to the top of her head.
‘I had a rig
ht to defend myself,’ Lexi murmured.
‘Si,’ he agreed.
‘And I had a right to have you trust me more than you did.’
‘I know that too,’ he accepted heavily. ‘Marco knew all my weaknesses and he played on them. He was the only person I’d confided in that you were the one. I told him I was going to marry you, and do you know what he did?’ Putting his bottle on the bulkhead freed him up to draw her even closer. ‘He laughed like a drain. Then he asked if I would still want to marry you if I knew you had slept with him while I was away. I beat him up and threw him in the pool. When he climbed out he was still laughing. He wanted to know where the hell I got off, thinking I had exclusive rights on you. A bet was a bet.’
‘But he must have known by then that you’d already won the bet!’ Lexi protested. ‘We hadn’t exactly hidden the fact that we were lovers.’
‘I wasn’t thinking straight. I wanted to kill you. I wanted to kill him. Instead I turned myself into the ice man and brought the group together so I could claim my prize. I knew Claudia was recording the moment on her mobile, and I knew she would not be able to resist sending it to you. It was the salve for my wounded pride. The worst punishment I could come up with. I was saying, Look how little you mean to me, Lexi Hamilton.’
‘It worked.’ Lexi sniffed back a sob. ‘I was devastated.’
‘Then all the other stuff happened,’ Franco continued bleakly. ‘Your mother and Philippe Reynard were killed. I had distanced myself from you by then but you looked so lost I couldn’t get back in there quick enough to give you support.’
‘Then I discovered I was pregnant.’
‘And I behaved like a spoilt, heartless brat. I loved you, but it scared me to love you. I couldn’t marry you fast enough, but I made you feel like you had ruined my life. When you left me I beat myself up for driving you away, but my bruised pride would not let me go chasing after you. When I did eventually pluck up the nerve to come and see you I got to see Dayton instead.’
‘Let’s not go there,’ Lexi said quickly. ‘I’ve spoken to him. He knows I know what he did, and he knows our friendship is over for good.’
‘As Claudia knows,’ Franco concluded. ‘As Marco knew when we argued before the race.’ He took in a deep breath, then told her what had happened. ‘I knew he was going to do something crazy when he said goodbye to me,’ he said thickly. ‘I never meant to drive him to the point of—’