‘I’m pleased, Kaitlin. That took courage. But I never doubted you had that.’
‘Thank you.’
‘You said that’s partly why you wanted to meet me. What was the other reason?’
Hurt touched her—clearly Daniel wanted to cut to the chase and close this down as soon as possible. Yet there was a tension in him, as if he were reining himself in, exerting every ounce of his iron will. There was a rigidity to his shoulders, a tension to his jaw that she couldn’t read. Doubts jostled and hustled her brain.
‘Could we stop somewhere?’ Glancing round, she realised they had wandered to the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc—one of Barcelona’s top attractions. ‘We could watch the show whilst we talk.’
Perhaps the beauty of the spectacle would give her courage or bring her luck.
Daniel nodded and led the way to the steps opposite the fountain, where they seated themselves in the anonymity of the throng of tourists.
‘Go ahead.’
For a moment she inhaled the spicy scents of the food being sold by the numerous vendors who hawked their wares. She watched the acrobatics of the street entertainers, sought and found the courage of her conviction that she needed to be honest with this man.
‘I wanted to tell you that Frederick and I—’
‘Don’t do it.’
The urgency in his voice effectively rendered her speechless for a moment, until understanding dawned.
‘I know you don’t think I should make an alliance, enter a gilded cage, and I wish I had told you in Venice how much I appreciated you confiding your mother’s situation to me.’
He made a dismissive noise, brushed his hand over his head and clenched his fists as he leant forward. ‘That’s not what I meant. I meant don’t marry Frederick because I love you.’
The words stunned her, and for a long moment she was sure her ears must have deceived her. ‘I...I... Excuse me?’
‘I love you, Kaitlin—I know you don’t want love, but there you have it. I love you. The past three months have been hell. I’ve missed you and nothing cures it—I’ve dreamt of you, thought about you. About the way you press your lips together, the way your face lights up when you smile, the glorious intensity of your eyes, the way you walk, your strength, your stubbornness, your...your everything. I love you.’
‘But...how?’
‘I don’t know.’
His expression was so flummoxed that it startled a small laugh from her lips.
‘I thought I was incapable of love, but then you came along and you changed everything. You slipped under my guard and under my skin right from that first night in Barcelona. I fought it all the way, bu
t now I don’t want to fight it any more. Loving you is a joy.’
‘But what changed your mind? Why do you want to stop fighting it?’
The first scratching of joy was beginning to unfurl inside her, but caution prompted the fear that this was an illusion—that Daniel had mistaken love for some other emotion.
‘Because I realised you were right. Life isn’t black and white and love isn’t a tangible thing that I can conquer or deal with the way I can deal with a court case. Which is why I went to see my mother.’
‘Oh, Daniel. Tell me.’
As he spoke the scene played out before Kaitlin’s eyes...
Daniel parked the hire car and climbed out, wondering why he hadn’t done this before. Did he truly believe his family would shoot him on sight?
Seeing the house he’d grown up in brought back a surge of memories that replayed in his mind like a cinematic reel.
Taken alone, they were happy memories, yet all tainted now with the knowledge of hindsight.
Kaitlin’s words echoed in his brain. ‘Life isn’t black and white.’