Nina had heard Karl’s promises before. Maybe this time he was sincere, she thought wearily.
‘You keep on saying you wanted to see me happy again. But I don’t understand. I know I loved him, Karl—I still do. So why was I so unhappy? Why couldn’t I cope with our life together? What was it that I was running away from?’
Karl tried to check if he was still bleeding and winced as the rag stuck to his lip. ‘I can’t tell you that,’ he grunted.
‘Can’t—or won’t?’ she asked grimly.
He was stiff with his unaccustomed restraint. ‘I’m trying to do the right thing here, okay?’ He had never been physically demonstrative, but now he gave her a quick hug, as if he was afraid a longer one would be rejected. ‘He said he didn’t want me to tell you…but I’m not going to tell you anyway.’ His attempted humour at his own expense fell totally flat.
‘Blame me all you like, but don’t take it out on him. He’s never let you down the way I have,’ Karl said soberly. ‘He told me I’d done enough damage and he’s right, so I’m taking myself out of the frame—going right back on the next ferry.’ He gave her a little push in the direction of the house. ‘You wanted to go after him, so go. He’s a proud man. He won’t wait forever….’
CHAPTER NINE
‘YOU can’t mean to leave now!’
Nina watched in dismay as Ryan meticulously folded his few items of clothing and put them into his leather bag on top of the bundles of money that she had given him the previous day.
‘I have a business to run,’ he said, collecting his toiletries from the dresser. ‘I’ve been away too long.’
She was bewildered by the excuse. Even though she had heard him discussing business on his cell phone several times over the past few days, he had never given any sign that he was impatient to return. One of the reasons that his string of individualistic galleries had been so highly successful was his ability to delegate: he hired the brightest talents in the business and trusted them to do their jobs.
‘But you’re supposed to still be on holiday—’
‘Some holiday,’ he said wryly, touching the contusion just above his eye that Nina spent ten minutes icing after she had rushed back to the house. Truth to tell, she had done it more for the chance to touch him and force him to listen to her than for reasons of first aid.
At least tending his facial bruises had given her a chance to explain face to face why she had appeared to be defending Karl. Ryan had seemed to believe her, his black mood slowly dissipating under her wifely fussing. But although she had told him what Karl had prompted her to remember about the day she had left him, he had resisted any in-depth conversation about the state of their marriage, and Nina had been too aware of the frightening fragility of their relationship to force the issue with an argument.
She had naively consoled herself with thought that they would have all the time in the world to discuss their future and their past…especially when he had later taken her to bed and made love to her with a tender savagery that made her heart soar with love.
‘This island is proving rather hazardous to my health,’ he continued ruefully. ‘Perhaps it’s your magical place trying to protect you from unwelcome intruders.’
‘I’m sorry—’ she began.
‘I’m not,’ he cut her off bluntly. ‘This time it was purely my own fault. I hit him first. And I enjoyed it…especially since your interference meant I didn’t get to land many more righteous punches.’
‘It’s kind of you to allow him time to pay the money.’
‘Kindness has nothing to do with it. I’m giving him a loan on his investment—the longer he takes to pay, the more interest he owes me, so I can’t lose.’ He zipped up the bag and looked around the empty room. ‘I have one or two more things to do for Ray and then I’ll take the afternoon ferry.’
The same one on which he had arrived. In a week, life had gone full circle. But he was a man of his word, she told herself…whether it was a promise to an old man or a vow to his wife.