Читать книгу The Wedding Party And Holiday Escapes Ultimate Collection - Кейт Хьюит, Aimee Carson - Страница 21

TEN

‘I don’t like it,’ Lena said at nine forty-five a.m. as they stood at the base of the eastern wall of Bodrum castle. Beyond the wall, a wharf teemed with tourists. Beyond that, a dozen tourist boats bobbed gently on the water.

‘Plenty of cover,’ said Trig. ‘Lots of exits.’

‘Lots of women and kids,’ countered Lena grumpily. ‘We don’t know what kind of watercraft they’ll be coming in on or when. What if we miss them?’

‘The craft is going to be ocean-going, expensive, and the woman and kid have bodyguards. They won’t be hard to spot, Lena. They’re just not here yet.’

‘I hate waiting,’ she muttered. ‘What time is it?’

‘Nine-fifty.’

They’d been there since seven thirty, playing tourists, finding seats, taking pictures of the castle. The wharf was a beautiful, bustling place to have breakfast, but breakfast was long gone and nervousness was taking hold. ‘I have a bad feeling about this,’ she said. ‘And I don’t even know why. Something’s off.’ She looked up at Trig and didn’t miss the swift flash of humour in his eyes. ‘And don’t say I don’t have enough gut left to have gut instincts, because you’re wrong. Half the touts here haven’t taken their eyes off us for at least half an hour. They can ID us.’

‘Why would they need to? We haven’t done anything,’ said Trig, and pulled her to her feet and slung his arm around her shoulder and guided her towards the tourist day boats—the ones that went out at ten and returned late in the afternoon. ‘We’re not going to do anything.’

Ten minutes later they’d reached the end of the wharf and there was still no sign of Jared. They stopped and looked out over the water. ‘How’s your leg?’ asked Trig.

‘Aches like a bitch.’

‘And the rest of you?’ Trig had a hand to the back of his neck and he would not meet her gaze. ‘Does that ache too?’

‘You mean from the sex?’

Trig cleared his throat and a slow flush crept up his neck. ‘Yeah.’

‘Those particular aches and pains were hard earned and I’m savouring every one of them,’ she murmured. ‘I can’t believe I forgot how truly talented you are. Or how responsive.’

Trig looked as if he wanted to disappear. ‘Hey,’ she cajoled softly. ‘I’m really sorry I couldn’t remember any of it. I should have been able to, because it was mind-blowing. I’m saying this just in case you happen to have any performance anxiety left and in case it was connected to me not remembering our lovemaking. Trust me, your lovemaking is not something a woman would ever strive to forget.’

He laughed at that. A curt, embarrassed bark, cut short when his attention snagged on something out in the bay.

‘What is it? Is it Jared?’ Nineteen months since they’d last seen Jared, Trig had said, and all of a sudden Lena fiercely needed to see him and know that he was alive.

‘Three hundred metres to the left of the tall ship,’ murmured Trig. ‘Six-seater orange power racer. Huge.’

Lena scanned the water for the vessel Trig had described and found it. ‘Whoa. Not exactly hiding its light under a bushel, is it?’

‘Please don’t tell me you want one.’

‘Couldn’t afford it,’ she said simply, for that was a billionaire’s toy, no question. ‘There’s a kid in one of those seats.’

Trig nodded.

‘I can’t make out any faces.’

‘Yet,’ he said, and all of a sudden Lena desperately wanted one of those faces to belong to Jared. She wanted it with a ferocity that surprised her.

‘Looks like it’s heading for the far berths.’ Lena wanted to hurry, but Trig was having none of it. He took her hand in his and swung her round to face him and waited until he had her full attention.

‘Lena, you gave me your word that you only wanted to sight Jared and let him sight you. You promised me that you’d stay the hell out of whatever he’s into.’

‘I can’t even remember that promise,’ she snapped back.

‘Then it’s lucky I can.’

‘Can we at least get a little closer?’

‘Yes, but you need to stay close.’

‘Done! Don’t make me bruise you. C’mon.’

She pulled him forward and he came reluctantly. The powerboat drew closer. Four men, a woman and a kid.

‘Pilot,’ said Trig and the pilot was Jared, as darkly tanned and sinewy as she’d ever seen him. Lena stumbled and Trig shot out his hand to steady her.

‘I’m okay,’ she said faintly, but she didn’t feel okay. Jared seemed to be aiming the boat for a berth at the very end of the wharf, a berth with a pier and a steel gate where the pier met the wharf. Trig made her stop short of it, still well within the tourist throng. Lena turned back towards the castle as Jared manoeuvred the cruiser closer, her eyes suddenly filled with tears. She couldn’t even see Jared any more.

She wanted to scream at him, shake him for worrying them the way he had. For disappearing so completely. For blaming himself for her injuries.

Damn but her head hurt.

‘Lena?’ Trig said gruffly.

‘I’m okay. Headache.’ Every muscle in her body wanted to turn around so that her eyes could drink in the sight of Jared. It wasn’t as if the boat wasn’t stare worthy. Plenty of others would be looking at that beautiful superfast boat. She’d turn and look too. Soon. As soon as her tears went away. Damned if she’d let Jared see her crying. ‘What are they doing?’

‘Docking.’

‘Who’s getting off?’

‘The woman and the kid. Two security types.’

‘Not Jared?’

‘No.’

‘Has he seen you?’ Trig was the most obvious one that Jared would look for. His size made him stand out.

‘Yes.’

Lena turned, ignoring the stabbing pain behind one eye. She perused the boat, taking care to look impressed. It wasn’t hard. And then she let her hungry gaze rest on Jared. He’d taken his sunglasses off and was using the hem of his T-shirt to clean them. He was looking straight at her.

‘Go toss your water bottle in the bin over there,’ Trig ordered gruffly. ‘You wanted Jared to see you walking, so walk. Make sure he can see you.’

The words rang true. So true. Lena straightened and started towards the bin, smoothing out her gait as she went, trying to make walking seem effortless. ‘Standing,’ she wanted to say to her brother. ‘Walking, you moron.’ She tossed the empty bottle in the bin and turned so that the boat would come into view. Jared was watching her, a tiny smile tilting his lips. ‘See? I’ve done my part,’ she wanted to say to him. ‘Don’t kill yourself doing yours. Matter of fact how about you get yourself home and give up this business of...this business of...’

Revenge.

Memory tugged at her, sharp and piercing, maddeningly out of reach. What the hell did any of this have to do with revenge?

Jared’s passengers were just passing by, the security types lazily alert and carrying concealed, the woman digging in her purse and never breaking stride. The little boy looked straight at her, smiled and bent down to tie his shoelace. He didn’t look sick. The woman stopped and looked back as if she’d sensed the disruption. ‘Celik!’ she said sharply, a name and a reprimand all tied up in a bow.

Celik stood and hurried to catch up to the woman. He didn’t look back.

Neither of them looked back.

Lena looked to Jared and the other man in the boat. They were pulling away from the wharf, leaving, and she felt a swift tug of regret. She wanted her brother back within reach. Finding out who was responsible for her getting shot was all well and good, but not if it cost him his life and not if it meant him staying undercover for years.

‘Let someone else go save the world,’ she muttered and knew in that moment that she was done with ASIS, even if Jared wasn’t. Even if Trig wasn’t. She’d had enough.

Pain struck her just behind the eye again and she stopped and swayed and brought her fingers up to her forehead to try and chase it away. Blackness began to close in on her as her vision narrowed down to tunnels, the kind of tunnels that came with migraines, and all she wanted to do was get back to Trig and borrow some of his strength. Trig, who was her best friend and lover and...

Husband.

‘God damn son of a bitch,’ she muttered as knowledge slammed into her like a sucker punch.

Adrian Sinclair was many things to Lena but he wasn’t her husband.

The proposal she hadn’t been able to remember.

No wedding pictures to remind her of the big day.

The sex...

The sex.

She had barely enough time to glare at him; he’d barely taken half a dozen steps towards her before the world around her turned black.

* * *

Lena came to in Trig’s arms, cradled to his chest. He was sitting on one of the benches scattered along the wharf. No humongous crowd surrounded them, and for that she was inordinately grateful.

She struggled up, out of his arms, and he let her go, but only as far as the space next to him on the seat. She smoothed back her hair and tried to make sense out of the jumble of memories crashing over her. ‘I just—’

‘Fainted,’ said Trig, and handed her his half-full water bottle.

‘For how long?’

‘Couple of minutes.’

‘Did Jared see?’

‘Don’t know, but he’s gone. I caught you. There wasn’t much fuss. Need to get you to the hospital here, though.’

‘You planning on telling them you’re my husband too?’

‘You remember,’ he said flatly.

Lena nodded slowly. ‘Just then. Funny thing, memory loss. Bits and pieces kept coming back but not everything, not until I saw Jared and then they rushed back in like a tsunami. I remembered getting shot. I remembered you telling me to hold on. I remember waking up in the hospital in Darwin and everything else that came after... All the missing pieces, they slotted in as if they’d never been gone.’

‘That’s good,’ he said.

‘I still don’t remember marrying you.’

Trig said nothing.

‘We’re not married, are we?’

‘No.’

She nodded and twisted at her rings with clumsy fingers. She ducked her head because she didn’t want him to see her cry. ‘Why’d you let me believe that?’

‘Your wallet was gone, you had no ID. I became your spouse at the hospital to get you treated faster. I didn’t realise you actually believed we were married until we got back to the hotel.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me then?’

‘I didn’t want to worry you. I wanted to protect you. I also thought that you’d most likely wake up the next morning and remember everything.’

‘You lied to me.’

Trig nodded.

‘I trusted you.’

‘You still can.’

‘How? You let me make a fool of myself with you! You encouraged it.’

‘Is that what you think?’

‘What else am I supposed to think?’ She wrenched the rings off her finger and they sat there in her palm, shining dully. ‘You let me believe in these.’

‘You said you wanted them.’

‘I was delusional. How could you let me believe in something that wasn’t real?’

‘It wasn’t like that.’

‘I was there. It was exactly like that.’ The rings sat in her hand, softly gleaming. All she had to do was tilt her hand and they’d fall to the ground, but he wrapped his big hand around hers and gently closed her fingers over the rings.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

‘You should be.’ She wrenched her hand away. ‘I trusted you. I bedded you. And you let me!’

‘You made it difficult for me not to.’

‘Oh, so it’s my fault.’

‘No. The fault’s all mine.’ He ran his hand over his face. ‘I know I should have put you on a plane back to Australia the minute the doctor declared you fit to fly. I didn’t. I brought you here instead in the hope that you could have a moment with your brother and see for yourself that he was okay. It’s why you came to Turkey. It’s the only reason you came here. I know that some of the decisions I’ve made over these past few days haven’t been good ones, but I made that decision for you. I knew it would mean another night with you, but I honestly thought I could handle it.’

‘Handle me.’

‘I should have known better.’ Trig’s eyes beseeched her to listen. ‘It wasn’t all lies, Lena. I want that kind of relationship with you. My ring on your finger. You taking life in both hands and racing speedboats because it excites you and because you can. The farmhouse on the banks of the lazy river. The whole damn fantasy.’

‘Maybe you do.’ Lena’s eyes began to fill with tears again. ‘Doesn’t give you the right to just reach out and take it.’

‘Or we could dial it back a notch or two and you could agree to go out with me.’

She laughed at that. A bubbling, stumbling hiccough at his audacity. ‘I trusted you.’

‘You still can.’

‘No.’ She took his hand in hers and tipped the rings into his palm. She carefully closed his fingers around them and then withdrew from him altogether. She brought her knees to her chest and put her head to her knees, blocking out the world around them but the pain of betrayal stayed with her. ‘I can’t.’

* * *

On the subject of Lena going to the hospital, Trig stood unmoveable. Upon hearing of her recent concussion, the medical staff decided to monitor her overnight. Trig brought in clothes and toiletries. He called her family and gave them the happenings of the day. He changed their flights and had the Istanbul doctor forward her medical records on to this new hospital. He took control. Quietly. Efficiently. He didn’t pretend to be her husband.

‘I’m feeling okay,’ Lena told him when the nurse came in to tell him that visiting hours were over and that Lena needed her rest. ‘I honestly think I’m fine now. He’s leaving.

‘No lie. I’m feeling okay,’ Lena repeated as the nurse withdrew from the room. Tension hung there between them, a tension built on all the things they hadn’t said these past few hours. He’d helped her find Jared, and that was worth something. But he’d betrayed her trust too, and that hurt; God, it hurt. A nameless stranger had put a spray of bullets in her gut and almost destroyed her. This man had put a bullet straight through her heart.

‘I want to thank you for today,’ she began. ‘Jared’s alive and I know that now. I’ve seen him and he’s seen me. Whatever he’s doing... I can’t stop him from doing it. He wants to save the world, one bad guy at a time, and that’s a noble ambition. It’s just not my ambition any more. Mine are smaller now. Right now I just want to get through the day without falling apart emotionally. I always have had an emo streak.’

‘You’re doing fine,’ he said gruffly.

‘No. I’m not. I need you to not be here any more. I need you to hear what I’m saying. You should go home.’

When visiting hours came around the next morning, Poppy was there for her.

And Trig was not.