Tomorrow Will Be Too Late (32 page)

‘That’s fine with me, Becky
.
’ Kate
’s
face muscles hurt as she stretched them into a wide, brilliant smile
. She was
grateful for the softening shadows of the darkness. At least it would be hard to see the trembling of her mouth as she added, trying to sound cheerful
,
‘I mean, I’d think they must have enjoyed their stay here, Justin and Vic. Who wouldn’t?’

They
all laughed, the awkward moment passing away before it became relevant.

‘Speaking of the man in question, I think he
’
s looking at us right now,’ Susan, the redhead, giggled. ‘Or
,
rather
,
at
you,
Kate.’

She was right. He
was looking
at her,
the
strange intensity of his gaze making
Kate
shiver in sudden premonition. She smiled, hoping to disperse the tension
,
and to her relief he smiled back, his handsome face even more breathtaking.

‘Oop
s, he’s coming
. We’d
better go and check out the food
.
’
Giggling
like two teenagers, the other women left her alone
.

H
er chest
was
suddenly too small to hold her wildly beating heart.
She looked down at her glass, the golden liquid of her whisky on
the
rocks glimmering softly in the
glow
of the lampions lighting the patio. She
’d
had one drink already, this second
one
not something she was planning to finish. She was a very cautious drinker, usually going for wine or champagne if given a choice. Still, being here was extremely stressful
,
and she hoped to
give
herself some
Dutch
courage by having a sip of something stronger.

Watching Justin approach
made her spontaneously change
her mind. God knew
,
she needed as much bravado as she could muster, she thought as she swallowed the fiery liquid, grimacing in pain as it
burned
her throat. The warm sensation in her stomach started almost immediately, the blissful sense of not caring quite as much as before definitely rewarding.

‘Hey
.
’
She
knew she sounded breathless as she rushed into speech, but as he approached
,
silence was not an option. ‘
The
food is divine. I never
knew
I was a scallop fan until I tried them here, from the grill.’

‘
I’ll be sure to mention it to Lucas
.
’
He
smiled, nodding. Still, something was off, she could tell. The smile never reached his eyes, his gaze pensive and cautious. ‘
Would
you like to see some more of the grounds?’

A
n innocent enough question, she thought as she nodded, eager to restore the easy camaraderie that
had
felt so good on their ride
t
here.

‘What about
Marcy
?’

S
o
,
she was an official masochist, she scolded herself, not
quite
sure why she
brought
up
Marcy
. Still, she had to mention her if she was to justify her stay here. She felt guilty enough knowing that if she
were
really honest, she’d
have told
him about Victoria’s visit. It
would have
changed the whole dynamic of their agreement,
wouldn’t
it?
He had absolutely
no need to worry about
Marcy
anymore, his business with Lucas in no jeopardy whatsoever. She should’ve mentioned it, but she
had
chose
n
not to.
Deep
down she knew why, the realization as embarrassing as the stares she
drew
while they walked
across
the patio, his fingers
intertwined
with hers in
an
intimate gesture reserved for lovers.

‘She is somewhere out there, for sure
.’ H
is lazy answer
bade
her no good, as he
led
her to the path disappearing into the shadowy gardens. The sprawling house was perched atop a hill overlooking the water of the passage between the island and the mainland
,
built on a slope leading to the shore
. Walking under the canopy of old, gnarled trees towards the beach felt unreal, the glimmer of the water bathed in the moonlight haunting in its beauty. They didn’t pause
along the way
, their walk taking them around the lush, overgrown thicket of the naturalized forest
to the white strip of sand, where soft waves lapped against the beach in a repetitive motion.

‘Wow, it’s amazing
.’ S
he stared across the water to the distant lights on the
opposite
shore, the peaceful surrounding
s
calming her nerves for the first time since they
had
left her house earlier that day. It was impossible not to react to the tranquility of the water.

‘Yep
,
it sure is.’ He sat down on one of the large logs of driftwood, the pale, smooth wood as inviting as the chairs back at the patio. She watched him kick off his shoes and followed his example, reveling in the slightly abrasive sensation of
fine-grained
sand getting between the sensitive skin of her toes.

‘
That feels great
.’ S
he smiled at him, some of her tension melted away.
S
ome very pleasant buzz
in the back of her head
was
making her braver than usual.
S
he
briefly
pondered
whether
having
the
second, rather large drink
had been
such a great idea after all, especially since her meal
t
here
had been
the only thing to land in her stomach in the last twelve hours. She dismissed the
thought
,
her eyes distracted
by
the way the light of the moon
gilded
his face into some kind of absolutely beautiful silver mask.

‘You look great
,
too
,
’
she
added, letting herself slide lower of
f
the log and into the sand. The back of her head rested against the smooth, worn wood while the rest of her enjoyed the welcoming firmness of the white sand. ‘I mean, every girl here would love to be me at the moment
. You
must know that, Justin.’ She giggled again, her eyes teasing. ‘I bet they think we
escaped
to make wild love on the beach
.
’

‘
Really?’
A
musement
was
in his voice, laced with concern. He watched her blissful smile and shook his head. ‘I shouldn’t have left you alone for so long, Kate. Still, I had to settle something with Victoria
.
’

‘She
wants you back, doesn’t she?’
Being honest
came much easier right now, she noticed, enjoying
a
sense of freedom that was new to her.
‘She looks
at you like a cat looking at a bird.’ She saw him laugh, his white teeth glowing in the dark. ‘No, don’t laugh, Justin
,
’
she
insisted, unwilling to let it go. It was awfully important to make him see
that
he was in danger, she thought stubbornly, raising her slim hand to silence him as she added
,
‘I know this look, believe me. I’ve had enough cats to watch them hunt, stalking the birds for hours
,
if needed. There is the same kind of stillness to her, exactly the same… like just before she might
pounce. You
have to be careful.’ She was blabbering, she knew it. But she wanted him to understand and be safe.

‘I’m not that easy to manipulate
.
’
He
shook his head, his voice mellow. ‘I can usually tell when people try to cheat me, Kate.’

‘Well,
you didn’t with me, did you?’ S
he gasped as she let the words slip out, even her slightly intoxicated state making no excuse for such a gaffe. ‘
Sorry
, I didn’t
mean to
—
’ she started lamely, only to be silenced by his hand.

‘
Fair enough
.
’
Amazingly
he was smiling. ‘I did fall for you, I admit.’ His fingers reached out to stroke her bare arm, slow repetitive moves drawing lines on her skin. ‘Still, in the end things worked out pretty
well,
wouldn’t you say?’
His
eyebrows
rose
as
he looked into her upturned face, his gaze quizzical. ‘
Here
we are, together and enjoying a pleasant
,
if short lived
,
relationship. What else could a man ask for? I made it happen,
Kate
.
’

‘That was my idea, don’t you forget that
.
’
C
aution abandoned her as she felt miffed to be
regarded as
a weak female with no power at all. ‘
You
could only blackmail me into coming here, but if I didn’t want to have sex with you before I die
d
, we’d still be at first base.’

‘Before you die
d
?’
He
looked at her as if she
had
lost her mind, his outraged words
shattering her blissful bubble and sobering her up in an instant.

‘Just an expression
.
’
S
he tried to
shrug
it off, her palms sweaty with fear.
S
he had just seconds to set
things
back on the right track, before it was too late. ‘
Forget
it.’

‘No way,
Kate
.’ H
is
fingers went to her face, lifting her chin to his searching gaze. ‘I think you
said
exactly what you meant
,
and I
’
m not leaving here until we sort it out. I’ve got time
.
’

‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ How was it possible to go from lazy bliss to painful tension in barely
a
few seconds? She tried unsuccessfully to twist her face out of his
hand
, the pressure of his
fingertips
making it impossible to think.
Yet,
she had to, if she was to keep it under wraps.

‘
Too
bad
.
’
His
pleasant response left little hope he’d play along. ‘
As
I said, we can stay here for as long as it takes to get you to talk,
Kate
. It might get a bit chilly, but otherwise
,
we should be fine.’

‘I’m not dying,’ she said after a long pause, glancing at him reluctantly. His face was a closed book, just the fleeting emotion of relief skimming through his features before he pushed it under, away from her gaze. Maybe she was wrong
.
Maybe it wasn’t relief at all, her wishful thinking conjuring images of something that
didn’t
exist
.

‘Why
would you say it
,
then?’
h
e
pressed on, the caution in his eyes not relenting. ‘And don’t insult my intelligence by telling me it’s an expression. I’ve never heard it before
.
’