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what might have been a gesture of farewell, he walked away
along the corridor that led in the opposite direction to Abby's
own room. Clearly he considered the matter settled, but Abby
was still doubtful and, taking a deep breath, she set off after him.
Jake turned halfway along the corridor and saw her following
him, and he scowled. 'This is not the way to your room,' he said
pointedly, tightening the belt of his bathrobe. But Abby was not
perturbed.
'I know it's not,' she said. 'But don't you think I ought to
know where you sleep? After all, I might need you unexpectedly
and not know where to find you. In the night, for example, when
everyone else is asleep.'
'You won't be here long enough for that to be a problem,'
retorted Jake bleakly, evidently assuming the harshness of his
response to be a sufficient deterrent. Without waiting to see how
she reacted to it, he inclined his head and continued on his way,
only discovering Abby was still behind him when he reached the
door to his apartments.
'Look, are you trying to annoy me?' he demanded as she
came up to him, but Abby refused to be deflected. She was still
not convinced of his reasons for avoiding lunch, and besides, she
was curious to know which rooms he now occupied.
So, instead of pausing in the doorway as he had done, she
stepped past him into the room, ignoring his startled intake of
breath as she gazed with interest around the room.
Unlike the rooms which she and Jake had once shared, and
which were now so grossly over-furnished, this room was not
dissimilar to her own. Actually, it was smaller, the sitting area
separated from the bedroom by only a curved arch decorated
with wrought-iron mouldings. In the sitting-room there was only
a table, near the window, with a couple of fan-backed woven
chairs, and an armchair with a book upturned on its seat. And the
bedroom was similarly functional, with a fruitwood chest of
drawers, and a pair of matching tables beside the bed. The bed
itself was rather more than functional, she admitted, noticing that
it had recently been occupied. She doubted it would even fit into
her bedroom at her apartment in London, but in these
surroundings it did not look out of place.
However, her gaze only skimmed over these observations.
Curiosity was one thing; voyeurism was another. She had no
wish to know who shared Jake's bed, she told herself. Not now;
not ever.
'Will you get out of here?'
Jake was standing just inside the door, but it was still wide
open, and it was obvious he had no intention of closing it. Abby
almost smiled. The unlikely thought crossed her mind that Jake
wasn't altogether sure how to handle this situation, that she
briefly held an advantage, if she could only figure out what to do
with it.
'We need to talk,' she said at last, casting an innocent glance
in his direction before walking towards the sheer muslin curtains
billowing at the open doors to the balcony. Pulling the vest out of
the waistband of her shorts, she moved it like a fan against her
midriff. 'Mmm isn't it hot? But isn't this view terrific?'
The door slammed shut behind her, but as Jake hadn't moved
she couldn't be sure whether he had pushed it or the breeze from
the open window had accomplished the feat. In any event, they
were alone in Jake's bedroom, and Abby couldn't help the
treacherous memories of other afternoons, exactly like this...
'What makes you think I won't have you thrown off the
island again?' demanded Jake harshly, but there was a pinched
look about his lips now, and his eyes moved towards the bed
almost desperately. He ought not to be out of bed at all, thought
Abby uneasily, torn between the urge to take advantage of his
weakness and the equally strong desire not to exacerbate his
condition.
'I think we should suspend our differences for the time
being,' she declared, moving away from the window to run a
questing finger over the brass rail at the foot of the bed. 'I'm here
now, and there's not a lot you can do about it without upsetting
Dominic, I mean.' She paused. 'And yourself.'
Jake uttered a frustrated sound. 'I've told you,' he snarled. 'I'm
not an invalid! I realise you'd like me to be, because it would
make it that much easier for you. But, I'm sorry to disappoint
you, I'm still in full possession of my faculties! And I know why
you really came here. I guess you couldn't wait to jump on a
plane when Julie told you I was in the hospital. You thought it
was an ideal opportunity to get at Dominic, while I wasn't around
to stop you. What did you plan to do, Abby? Take him back to
England and start immediate custody proceedings?' He shook his
head. 'It doesn't occur to you that he might be happy here, does
it? You have this sick notion that a child that a child belongs
with its mother, no matter how how undesirable that mother
might be, and nothing nothing's nothing's going to
shift...'
By this time, Jake was gasping for breath, and the
spontaneous anger his words had provoked was instantly
dispelled. Whatever Jake said, he was ill, and Abby's first
instincts were protective.
Ignoring his agitated gestures for her to leave him alone, she
took his arm and urged him firmly towards the bed. Then,
pressing him down on to the mattress, she bent and unfastened
the cord of his dressing-gown, sliding the towelling robe off his
shoulders and easing him back against the pillows. She was
momentarily disconcerted by the realisation that he was naked [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]