‘Granted.’
Kat’s head had sunk forward, her chin almost on her chest, so that her expression was hidden from him as she muttered, ‘I’m nothing like him.’
‘Prove it.’
She lifted her head in response to the soft challenge, making herself look at him, mainly because once their eyes were connected it was difficult to break that connection, she observed angrily.
‘You are a very manipulative man.’
He gave what she considered a heartless laugh, which sadly didn’t make it any the less attractive.
‘I’m impressed. It takes most people much longer to figure that one out.’
‘And by then it’s too late,’ she said bitterly as she realised it already was for her. Like it or not, she had been put in a position where she had to prove that the future of the refuge was more important than...what? She realised that it hadn’t been spelt out yet what her side of any bargain would be.
‘What does he expect from me?’
‘Alekis?’ His broad shoulders lifted in a negligent shrug. ‘You should ask him that.’
She squeezed her eyes closed, then opened them wide. ‘Do I have any other family?’ The sudden possibility that she had an entire family out there, aunts, uncles, cousins, felt strange...and yet exciting.
‘Not that I am aware of,’ he said, feeling quite irrationally guilty when the spark faded from her eyes. Another emotion broke through his defences that Zach couldn’t put a name to, didn’t even try. It took seconds for him to douse it, but the memory of that nameless feeling remained like a discordant echo as he responded to the question with evasion that came easily.
‘But again, I suggest you should ask the man himself. I am not privy to all his secrets.’
She nodded. ‘And if I do...see him...how does that work?’
Before he could congratulate himself on a job well done she gave a fractured little sigh and added, ‘Does he have any idea what sort of life she led? The places, the men...?’
Without warning an image of the little girl she had once been flashed into his head again, along with a compulsion to ask, ‘Do you remember?’
‘She used to tell me stories.’ Without warning her eyes filled with tears; the stories were true. ‘Does he live on an island?’ she asked, remembering the wistful quality in her mother’s voice when she told those stories. ‘He didn’t want us and now I—I don’t have a grandfather. I don’t have anybody.’
He clenched his jaw as the plaintive cry from the heart threatened the professional distance he needed to retain. ‘I know this has been a shock.’
She gave a bitter little laugh. ‘You think?’
Shock?Was that what you called making someone question everything she’d thought she knew about her life?
‘Look, I have no vested interest in this. I am simply the messenger boy. You make your decision and I’ll relay it.’
She took a deep sustaining breath and looked him straight in the eye. ‘I’ll do it.’ Oh, God, what am I doing? ‘So, what happens now? If I agree to see him, I’m assuming he can’t come here...unless that was a lie?’
‘He is ill.’
‘So that is real?’
He actually took some comfort from the fact that she was not quite as naive as she appeared, though even if she turned out to be half as naive it would be cause for serious concern.
‘I wasn’t lying. Alekis is seriously ill.’
‘Is he in pain?’
‘Not that I know of. Do you want him to be?’
Her eyes flew wide in comic-book shock-horror fashion. ‘What sort of person do you think I am?’
‘I think you’re—’