As she got close, she saw Rafael standing on the deck and Mamaw and Silas were nowhere to be found. How the hell had he gotten down here so fast? Why would he even bother? She didn’t react to his presence. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
She walked up the steps, past him to collect her sweater and then she started down the walkway that led to her own cottage.
“Bryony,” he called after her. “Wait, please. We have to talk.”
She picked up her pace. She knew he followed her because she could hear his footsteps behind her, but she blindly went on. When she reached to open her door, his hand closed around her wrist and gently pulled her away.
“Please listen to me,” he begged softly. “I know I don’t deserve anything from you. But please listen. I love you.”
She went rigid and closed her eyes as pain crashed over her all over again. When she reopened them she was grateful that no tears spilled over her cheeks. Maybe she’d finally cried herself out.
“You don’t know how to love,” she said in a low voice. “You have to possess a heart and a soul, and you have neither.”
He winced but didn’t let go of her wrist. “I’m not going to lie to you, Bryony. Neither am I going to sugarcoat what I did.”
“Well, good for you,” she said bitterly. “Does that ease your conscience? Just leave me alone, Rafael. You got what you wanted. You don’t have to deal with me anymore. Just make this easier on both of us. If you’re wanting absolution, see a priest. I can’t offer you any. You should be happy. You got the land. You’ll build your resort. Everyone gets what they want.”
“Not you,” he said painfully. “And not me.”
“Please, Rafael,” she begged. “I’m tired. I’m worn completely out. I just want to sleep before I fall over. Please, just go. I can’t do this with you right now.”
He looked so much like he wanted to argue, but concern darkened his eyes and slowly he eased his fingers from her wrist.
“I love you, Bryony. That’s not going to change. I don’t want it to change. Go get some sleep. Take care of yourself. But this isn’t finished. I’m not letting you go. You think I’m ruthless? You haven’t seen anything yet.”
He touched her cheek and then let it slide down her face before falling away. Then he turned and walked back down the path to her grandmother’s house.
She closed her eyes as pain swelled in her chest and splintered in a thousand different directions. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. But all she could do was stand there numbly while the man she’d given everything to walked away.
Twenty-Three
“It’s been a week,” Rafael said in frustration. “A week and she still won’t acknowledge me, much less talk to me. As much as I loathe the man I used to be, at least he would have no qualms about forcing the issue.”
Rafael stood on Laura’s back deck having a beer with Silas and brooded over the fact that Bryony still refused to see him. He was about to go crazy.
Silas chuckled. “You’ve got stamina, son. I have to give that to you. Most men would have tucked tail and left by now. I’m still amazed that you managed to talk Laura down from killing you and actually got her to side with you. I can’t figure out if you’re the dumbest man alive or just the luckiest.”
Bryony had holed up in her cottage and while Laura went over daily to check in on her, Bryony hadn’t ventured out except to walk on the beach. The one time Rafael had confronted her on the sand, she’d retreated inside. He hadn’t bothered her since because he wanted her to have that time outside without worrying that she’d encounter him.
“I’m not leaving,” Rafael said. “I don’t care how long it takes. I love her. I believe she still loves me, but she’s hurting. I can’t even blame her for that. I was a complete and utter bastard. I don’t deserve her but she’s the one who kept telling me I didn’t have to be the same man. Well, damn it, I’m choosing to be different. I want her to see that.”
Silas put his hand on Rafael’s shoulder. “Around here we have a saying. Go big or go home. I’m thinking you need to go big. Really big.”
Rafael frowned and turned to the other man. “What did you have in mind?”
“It’s not what I have in mind. It’s what you ought to be thinking about. You’ve already promised me and Laura that you have no intention of developing that land, but does she know that? Does the rest of the island know that? Seems to me you’re missing an opportunity to make a grand gesture and prove once and for all you’re a changed man.”
“Okay, I’m with you,” Rafael said slowly.
“No, I don’t think you are. Call a town meeting. I’ll let it leak out that you have a big announcement about the resort. Folks will show up because they’ll want to launch their objections and nothing gets people out to a town meeting more than getting to air their grievances. Trust me, after twenty years of being the sheriff here, I know what I’m talking about.”
“That doesn’t help me when Bryony refuses to leave her cottage,” Rafael pointed out.
“Oh, Laura and I will make sure she’s there. You just worry about how y
ou’re going to humble yourself before everyone,” Silas said with a grin.
Rafael sighed. He had the feeling this wasn’t going to be one of his better moments. He might have no desire to be the unfeeling bastard he’d been before but it didn’t mean he wanted to air his personal life in front of a few hundred witnesses.
But if it would get him in front of Bryony so she’d be forced to listen, he’d swallow his pride and do it.
“Are you crazy?” Bryony sputtered out. “Why would I want to go listen to his spiel about his plans for the resort?”
“Now, Bry, I didn’t imagine you for a coward,” Silas said in exasperation. “By now everyone knows what happened. They don’t blame you.”
“I don’t care what they think,” Bryony said in a low voice. “I was prepared to be the brunt of their censure when I went to New York to tell Rafael to go ahead with the plans, that I wouldn’t fight him.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Mamaw asked.
“I don’t want to see him. Why can’t either of you understand that? Do you have any idea how much it hurts to even look at him?”
“The best thing you can do is show up with your head held high. The sooner you get it over with, the sooner you can start coming out of that cottage of yours. It’s just like a bandage. Better to rip it off and have it done with than to delay the inevitable.”
Bryony sighed. “Okay, I’ll go. If I do, then will you please leave me alone and let me deal with this my own way? I know you’re worried but this isn’t easy for me.”
Mamaw squeezed her into a big hug. “I think things will be a lot better after today. You’ll see.”
Bryony wasn’t as convinced but she allowed Silas and Mamaw to drag her to the municipal building where the meeting would be held. It took everything she had not to run back out the door when Silas led her to a front-row seat.
Talk about being a masochist. She’d have a front-row seat in which to listen to the man she loved announce his plans for a resort made possible by her stupidity.
She sighed and sank into one of the folding chairs. Mamaw and Silas took the spots on either side of her. Several people stopped by to talk to Silas. Some even shot sympathetic looks in her direction.
Yep, it was clear everyone knew what a naive fool she’d been.
At least no one was yelling at her for allowing the outsider to come in and develop the island. Yet.
Rupert strode in a minute later, an uncharacteristic smile plastered on his face. It wasn’t his politician smile. It was a genuine one filled with delight. He looked, for lack of a better word, giddy.
He held up his hands for quiet and then frowned when the din didn’t diminish. He cleared his throat and scowled harder. He was forever complaining to Bryony that he wasn’t given enough respect by his constituents.
Finally Silas stood, held up his hands and hollered, “Quiet, people. The mayor wants your attention.”
Rupert sent Silas a disgruntled look when everyone hushed. Then he looked over the audience and smiled. “Today we have Rafael de Luca of Tricorp Investment Opportunities, who is going to talk about the piece of property he recently acquired here on the island. Give him your undivided attention, please.”
It took all of Bryony’s self-restraint not to swivel in her seat to see if he was here. Many of the assembled people began to murmur, and then Bryony heard footsteps coming up the aisle.
Rafael stepped to the podium and Bryony was shocked by his appearance. First, he was wearing jeans. And a T-shirt. He looked tired and haggard. His hair was unkempt and it didn’t look like he’d shaved that morning.
There were hollows under his eyes and a gray pallor to his skin that hadn’t been present before.
He cleared his throat and glanced over the audience before his gaze finally came to rest on her.
He looked…nervous. It didn’t seem possible that this ultraconfident businessman was nervous. But he seemed uneasy and on edge.
She watched in astonishment as he fiddled with something on the podium and when he looked up again, there was a rawness to his eyes that made her chest tighten.
“I came to this island for one thing and one thing only. I wanted to buy property that Bryony Morgan had put up for sale.”