“I’m not a criminal or anything,” she promised him, laughing now, the sound bursting into the room relaxing him, pleasing him, mending the tear Claudette had forced between them. “It’s just…something I’m still making sense of,” she offered. “And I prefer to keep to myself. You know?”
He lifted one brow, her words echoing his own mantra. “I do.”
She bit down on her lip so he had to ball his hands at his side to resist the temptation to reach across and smudge his thumb over the soft pink flesh.
“How long have you been here? Or is this something you’d prefer not to answer, as well?”
“No,” she shook her head, a smile playing about the corners of her lips. “About six months.”
Surprise shifted inside of him. “I haven’t seen you around.”
“No,” she lifted her shoulders.
“Because you like to keep to yourself?”
He put a teabag into the cup and poured the water over it.
“I guess so,” but she was smiling. “Part of the appeal of the place I rented is that it’s secluded. I love that. I feel like I’m right on the edge of the earth.” She angled her face towards the window, staring out at the stormy view. “I go into town for supplies, but other than that, I like my own company.”
“For six months?”
“Uh huh.”
“And you walk.”
“Yep.”
“Why here?”
Her skin paled perceptibly and he wondered about that, about what she wasn’t saying.
“I mean, my villa? Not Ondechiara.”
“Oh.” She sipped her tea, her eyes holding his over the edge of the mug. “I remember seeing it the first day I arrived. This big, beautiful building high on the cliffs. I was fascinated by it – the way it seems to be cast from the stone that surrounds the town, yet totally modern at the same time. It’s a beautiful contradiction.”
“But you haven’t been here before?”
“No,” she shook her head. “I felt like a long walk today,” she shrugged. “I don’t remember even consciously deciding to set out for this place.”
“There’s security fencing.” Admittedly, it wasn’t particularly robust, but it should have served as a deterrent, nonetheless.
“I came up the steps. From the beach.”
He swore under his breath. “They’re disused for a reason, Maddie. They’re incredibly dangerous. Didn’t you notice the fallen rocks?”
She flinched – just a small, involuntary movement that had him softening his tone. “There’s a locked gate.”
“It was an open gate when I got there.”
“The wind must have blown it off its hinges.” He shook his head, because that shouldn’t have been possible and yet the only option was that she’d scaled a six foot construction – which didn’t seem likely.
“I didn’t notice,” she admitted, a hint of guilt crossing her face.
“I’ll have it fixed.”
“So how do you get down to the beach?”
“I would drive, if I wanted to go there.”