‘You never told me how Art took the news?’ Tilly murmured, her eyes trained on the water, looking for the first sign of Prim’amore.
He squeezed her hand and she looked up at him, her heart tripping over itself with its spasming response to the love in his eyes.
‘I softened the blow a bit.’
She lifted a brow, waiting for him to continue.
‘Arketà,’ he explained. ‘Why do I need two islands?’
Her smile was broad. ‘You sold him your island?’
‘I have it on good authority that two is excessive.’ He grinned. ‘It is a much better buy for him. It already has infrastructure and it is an easier commute to the mainland.’
‘That was kind of you,’ she said, but embarrassment at the unceremonious way she’d been dumped from her job still made her cringe.
Rio understood. ‘When you are ready, we will visit him together. He was wrong to fire you, and even more wrong to blame you for his daughter’s duplicity. I believe he is aware of that, and regrets his actions.’
She shrugged, her eyes turning back to the water, seeking the island. ‘I worked for him a long time. I really came to care for him. It’s strange to think that he blamed me... And yet without me it would have been a lot more difficult for Cressida to run off and get married.’
‘Do you think that would have stopped her?’
Tilly lifted her eyes to his, her expression thoughtful. ‘No,’ she said finally, shaking her head. ‘When Cressida wants something, nothing will stand in her way.’
‘Speaking of weddings...’ He changed the subject subtly. ‘I thought we could marry on the island. But, on reflection, this presents two problems.’
She jerked her head to his, her eyes showing that she didn’t completely understand. ‘Marry?’
‘Our wedding,’ he said with a nod, as though it were a foregone conclusion.
She laughed. In the two days since he’d arrived at her apartment they’d barely been separated. But she was pretty sure she hadn’t missed a discussion about getting married.
‘Did I sleep through a proposal?’
He blinked rapidly. ‘I told you, didn’t I? That I want to love you for ever?’
She laughed. ‘Yes.’
‘What did you think that meant?’
‘I... That you love me?’ she replied with a shake of her head.
‘I said I would love you for ever, and I asked you to let me love you,’ he said, his lips twitching at the corners. ‘Is that not a proposal and an acceptance?’
She tilted her head to the side. ‘I don’t recall a bended knee.’
‘I do,’ he grinned. ‘I was crouched at your feet, wasn’t I?’
She slapped a hand to her forehead, her cheeks hurting from smiling so widely. And behind his shoulder she saw the tip of the volcano crest above the ocean, and then, rapidly, the island.
Rafaelo turned the boat sharply, pushing it around into the cove that housed the cabin.
She let her eyes drift back to Rio’s face and saw he was watching her.
‘We’ll see,’ she said with another laugh, too enthralled by being back at the island to give the conversation her full attention.
As the boat slowed into the shallows Rio stood, moving to the back and pressing a button to let the anchor down. It made a mechanised noise as it began to drop, and then Rio leaped from the boat, landing with confident ease in the shallows of the ocean.
He lifted a hand up to Tilly, and she looked at it for a brief moment before jumping overboard, happily landing on her feet before dropping into the water, grinning from ear to ear as the water wrapped her, fully clothed, in its depths.