Kitabı oku: «Island Fling With The Tycoon», sayfa 3

CHAPTER FIVE

‘THIS EVENING DID not go like I thought it would,’ Piper said.

It was after everything had ended at the rehearsal dinner. Jada and Tate had woven an elaborate tale about Liam going hunting for the perfect wedding gift on one of the Greek islands. Caleb and Piper had returned without Emma, assuring her they’d make something up about her disappearance, too.

They’d stumbled through an excuse. Something about her joining Liam on his excursion. He didn’t think many people believed them—some of them had seen the argument and, of course, rumours had spread—but then the entertainment had arrived and they’d been distracted.

The dinner had gone on as planned without the bride and groom. He and Piper had sat at the designated seats to make their emptiness less conspicuous. It had only succeeded in making him feel more conspicuous. He was certain it had nothing to do with how it made it look as if he and Piper were getting married.

‘You can say that again,’ he said, lowering to join her on the planks. He’d grabbed two bottles from the bar on his way there, and only now saw what they were. ‘I have a cider and beer. I’m not sure which one you want.’

‘Cider,’ she said. She waited for him to open it. ‘Nice of you to think of me.’

‘It’s been a long night. Figured we needed it.’

She clinked her bottle against his. They drank in silence for a few minutes.

‘Do you think Emma’s going to be okay?’

‘What do you think?’ he asked, a little too harshly.

‘This isn’t my fault, you know,’ she said after a beat. ‘Liam is his own person. He makes his own decisions. I had nothing to do with him leaving.’

She was right, and he was desperately trying to figure out why he was holding her accountable for her brother’s actions. Was it because that was what he’d done his entire life? He’d taken responsibility for his siblings’ actions even though he had no control over what they did?

But that was family, he thought. That was what his father had taught him about being part of a family. Long before his mother had left, overwhelmed by the responsibilities of being a parent of four when his siblings had come in quick succession, his father had taught them they were a unit. They looked out for one another.

When his father had died in a freak accident inspecting a property under construction, Caleb had felt that responsibility more than ever. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t felt capable of parenting three kids. He’d barely been an adult himself; had just finished school. But he’d stepped up. He knew it was what his father would have wanted. And there was no way he was going to let his siblings go into the system.

He only hoped it made up for how he hadn’t taken his father’s teachings seriously when the man had been alive.

‘I know,’ he answered, taking a long drag from his beer.

‘Do you?’ she asked. ‘I feel like you’re judging me. Or treating me like I told Liam to run away instead of face his responsibilities.’

Something in her tone made him look at her. Something on her face confirmed his suspicions.

‘He’s done this before, hasn’t he?’

She took a deep breath, set aside the cider. It was barely touched. For a long time she didn’t speak. The only sounds were the staff clearing up around them. A few people lingered, but not close to them. Instead, they chose to explore the beach further down. Lights flickered in the distance, the faint sound of music vibrating through the air.

‘He hasn’t run from his responsibilities,’ she said. ‘I’m not his responsibility.’

‘He ran from you?’

‘Didn’t you hear what I said?’ she asked quietly. ‘I’m not his responsibility so, technically, he didn’t run from me.’

‘Since when do technicalities matter when it comes to family?’

She angled her head, as if accepting his words. She didn’t verbalise the acceptance.

‘I will say that he runs from hard things,’ she said after a moment. ‘I imagine this experience has been hard for him. Then finding out he’s about to become a father...’

She fell silent.

‘You don’t run away from hard things,’ Caleb said firmly. ‘Not from family or responsibilities. You face them.’

‘You do, maybe. It’s not as easy for the rest of us.’

He looked at her. ‘What are you running away from, Piper?’

There was a beat. ‘I wasn’t talking about me. I was talking about Liam.’

He didn’t call her out on her lie. Figured she’d told it to him for a reason. The same went for when he’d carried her down that path that afternoon. He was still dying to know what had happened then. But Piper didn’t offer information for the sake of it. At least not about herself.

‘Piper—’

‘Look!’ she interrupted him, jumping up and pointing into the distance. He could only hear the motoring of a boat, but when he stood he could see one that looked familiar.

‘How did you know—?’

He cut himself off when he saw her lowering to take off the shoes she’d refused to remove earlier. Then she was running. Sprinting, actually, towards the dock.

A variety of scenarios went through his head. One was that if Liam had come back on that boat, Caleb would kill him. Two was that he couldn’t let Piper go down there alone. They had no idea what they would face, or who would be there. And they were in a foreign country, for heaven’s sake. One where they didn’t speak English as their first language. Cursing, he ran after her.

She was already speaking to a guy on the dock by the time he arrived.

‘I’m sorry, I don’t know who you’re talking about.’

The guy’s English was perfect, though he had a slight Greek accent.

Caleb stepped forward. ‘You’re sure you didn’t take a tourist anywhere today?’

The man shook his head. Caleb sighed, took out his wallet and a stack of euros.

‘I’ll give you all this if you tell me where he is.’

The stranger considered it for all of twenty seconds, before taking the cash from Caleb, counting it and pocketing it.

‘I dropped him off at the other end of the island.’

‘This island?’ Caleb asked. ‘He’s still on the island?’

‘He said he needed some things.’

Caleb turned to Piper. ‘There’s no way he went back to the villa.’

‘Why not?’ Piper asked, though mutedly, he thought. ‘Everyone would have been at the party. We were comforting Emma for a long time. He could have come and gone and no one would be any the wiser.’

‘But where would he go?’

‘He asked about ferries when I dropped him,’ the guy offered. ‘I saw him walking to the ticket counter.’

Caleb studied the man, hoping his gaze would show how unimpressed he was that he’d only been given that information now.

‘So he bought a ticket.’

‘Where to?’ Piper asked.

‘That’s the question,’ Caleb said. He wondered how the hell he was going to tell Emma her fiancé had bought a ticket off the island. He shook his head. It wasn’t an option.

He formulated a plan, thanked the man and walked a few metres before waiting for Piper to join him.

‘We should go talk to the person at the ticket stall.’

‘Good idea,’ she said. ‘You should do that.’

‘Great,’ he said, relieved she’d agreed. He’d been prepared for a fight. Then his brain caught up. ‘Wait—did you say I should do that?’

‘Yes.’ Her gaze didn’t waver. ‘You’ve taken charge of this whole thing anyway. Giving instructions, asking the questions.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Don’t do that,’ she said with a shake of her head. ‘Don’t pretend like this is in my head. It isn’t. I know what you’re doing. I’m telling you what you’re doing.’

‘I wasn’t doing that either.’

‘No?’ she asked. ‘So being in control of your sister’s relationship by allowing my brother to marry her, or telling us what to do after Liam left, or instructing me to follow you to speak with Emma, or now, when you took over a conversation I was having—you’re saying none of that shows how you’re controlling things?’

He opened his mouth to reply, but he started thinking about what she’d said and closed it again. He wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. Taking charge, taking control was what he did. It was what he’d had to do since his father’s death. It was what his siblings needed him to do. It had helped them all through unimaginable grief. So why was someone he’d just met making him feel guilty about it?

‘Fine,’ he said, his patience snapping. ‘I’ll do it alone. Because I don’t run when things get hard. I take my responsibilities seriously and do what needs to be done.’

* * *

She hadn’t been able to fall asleep, not until so late the sky had started lightening. When she’d woken up an hour later, she’d realised breakfast had started and she probably needed to be up. It would be a day of looking for her brother. And trying not to think about the night before.

Wonderful.

She took a quick shower, did her best with her make-up since her face gave away that she hadn’t slept much. She didn’t know what had kept her up. Was she anticipating a knock on the door? Either from Liam, coming to tell her he needed to talk, or from Caleb, coming to update her?

Or perhaps it was the concern that she’d overreacted at the dock? The persistent thought that she should apologise to Caleb and tell him why she’d overreacted? It was true that he was taking control. She was more sensitive to it than most. Every time something like that happened, her body stiffened. Since her muscles had been tight and achy almost the entire day, she knew she wasn’t making it up.

But she didn’t know if taking it out on him was fair. A pesky voice in her brain insisted it wasn’t, and pointed out all the good things he’d done the day before as proof. Things that told her he wasn’t like the men in her past. That he didn’t deserve to be painted with the same brush. At the same time, he still triggered that...that fear inside her. She didn’t know the cause of it entirely, but it was as good a reason as any to make sure things between them remained cordial.

She resisted the involuntary snort.

Thirty minutes later, she was locking up and walking to breakfast. She didn’t have to walk very far. Breakfast had been set up next to the pool in the centre of Pleasure Villas. One long table had a breakfast bar with food. Servers stood behind it, ready with spoons, a steady stream of others replacing empty containers. Another table had been set up as a coffee station. A short distance away from that, a long table decorated with fruits and flowers stood where people sat and ate.

Piper found Caleb almost immediately. Relief slid through her. Until that moment, she didn’t realise how worried she was that he’d found something at the ticket stall last night and left without her. Not that she wanted to be involved with this mess. She was still planning on killing Liam when they found him. But he was still her brother. Plus, she was sure that if Caleb found him first, Liam’s death wouldn’t be as merciful as she intended on making it.

She didn’t go to Caleb like she wanted to. Didn’t demand any answers either. Instead, she headed for the coffee station, poured herself a cup, then leisurely made her way back to the table. She sat across from Caleb, Jada and Tate, the latter of whom were looking at her with a glower. It must run in the family. Caleb, however, watched her coolly. She returned the favour, bringing her cup to her lips.

She wasn’t sure how long they sat like that, staring at one another. It was only when Jada released an irritated breath that Piper looked over.

‘You’re still upset with me,’ she said.

‘Yes.’

‘Jada,’ Caleb warned, but Piper waved a hand.

‘It’s fine. I get it.’ She directed her attention to the younger Martin siblings. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know this would happen. There’s no excuse for his behaviour.’

They blinked. Jada looked around. No one seemed to be interested in them. She turned back to Piper.

‘It sucks.’

‘It does.’

She looked deflated. ‘I’m sorry we’re taking this out on you. It’s not your fault.’

Piper gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘I understand.’

Jada and Tate exchanged a look, before both looking at Caleb. Something wordless passed between the three of them. Piper felt an inexplicable turn of jealousy in her stomach. No, not inexplicable—she knew the reason for it. She wished she could have had such a bond with her family. She would have settled for Liam, but she was still upset with him. Partly because he’d left her to deal with this. Another part was that she could see how upset Emma’s family was. Knowing how upset Emma had been the day before, too, Piper was most upset that Liam had hurt Emma.

He was repeating their father’s mistakes. Hurting the people he loved. Because, despite all this, Piper knew Liam loved Emma. But moving forward meant leaving the past behind. He’d managed some of that, untainted by their father, in the way his relationship with Emma had been before he’d run. If he wanted a future with her, he’d need to learn to stop running completely. She felt some responsibility for teaching him that. She might no longer have hope for herself to be unscathed by the past, but she did for Liam.

She looked up in surprise when Tate and Jada got up and, with murmured goodbyes, left.

‘Did you chase them away?’ she asked lightly, only then noticing that somehow they were alone at the end of the table. The closest guests were sitting four seats away.

‘I didn’t say anything to them.’

‘Oh, you said something. Not verbally, but you told them something.’

Caleb’s mouth pulled up at the side. ‘You’re perceptive.’

‘When you’re raised not to have a voice, you learn how to pay attention to what isn’t said pretty well.’

Now his eyebrows pulled up. It took that for her to realise she’d said something revealing.

‘Did you find anything last night?’ she asked, changing the subject.

There was a moment of silence as he adjusted.

‘You know,’ he said slowly. ‘One of these days, you’re going to tell me what happened instead of alluding to it.’ She barely had a chance to snort at the arrogance—or to register the thrill it brought—before he was continuing. ‘And yes, I did. Liam bought a ticket to Santorini last night. He left on a ferry an hour before we caught up.’

‘Santorini?’ she repeated. ‘What would he be doing there?’

‘I don’t know.’ Caleb paused. ‘I’d like to say he needs time to process, but he could do that here.’

‘Except Liam likes to process away from the problem. As far away as he can get, actually.’ She frowned. ‘Santorini isn’t that far, is it?’ she asked. Caleb shook his head. ‘Okay, so he intends on coming back.’

‘You sound sure of that.’

‘I’m not,’ she said with a little laugh. ‘But, based on what I know...’ She trailed off when she considered she didn’t know that much. Not really. ‘When Liam runs, it’s clear when he’s not coming back. If he wasn’t planning on coming back now, he would have gone back to Cape Town. Probably,’ she added, because she wasn’t sure. ‘Point is, there’s a chance he’ll be here for the wedding.’

‘Do you want to take that chance?’ he asked, his voice distant. ‘There are only three days left.’

She frowned. ‘It’s not like we can go around Santorini trying to find him.’

‘Why not? We did it here.’

‘Because this island is small, and we knew what his steps were.’

‘We know what his next step was. That’s good enough for me.’

She exhaled, trying not to overreact again. Cordial, Piper, she reminded herself. With another breath, she nodded.

‘I’m trying to help my sister,’ he said after a moment. He’d been watching her. And he must have seen accusation on her face despite her attempt to school it if he was defending himself. ‘I spent the entire night with her, waiting for her to wake up. When she did, I held her as she cried.’ His jaw clenched. ‘So—will you be coming with me?’

When she didn’t answer immediately, he made a move to leave. Her hand shot out, startling both of them when it settled over the hand he had on the table. She ignored the heat of it, how it felt as if it were searing through her body from that small point of contact.

‘Don’t go,’ she said softly. ‘For one, you’ll make a scene. You already have.’ She smiled at him for the sake of the watching eyes, as if she were placating him somehow. ‘The last thing Emma needs is for her guests to suspect something’s wrong.’

His face settled into a blank expression—a smile was too much to ask for, apparently—but she could still see his anger in the way the corner of his mouth twitched.

Oh, why had she looked at his mouth? Despite the turmoil of feelings and tension happening inside and around her, that small gesture had her wondering what it would be like to kiss him. Would he be as demanding a kisser as he was as a man? Would his tongue ask her things and expect her to obey? Would she protest?

Startled by the intensity of her thoughts, she snatched her hand away. Midway through, she realised people were probably still watching and ran a hand down her ponytail instead. There was little chance of it looking natural, but at least she’d tried.

‘What would you like them to think instead?’ Caleb asked casually. He leaned back, watched her with interest.

It should have had alarms ringing in her head. It didn’t. And it worried her. Worried her that she couldn’t resist that look when she knew she should be able to.

‘That we’re having an argument?’ he continued. ‘Two lovers having a tiff?’

She fought to keep herself as calm as he appeared to be. ‘We can be having an argument. I doubt anyone here would believe the nature of it to be romantic though.’

‘Why not?’

‘They’re your friends and family,’ she said simply. ‘They know you.’

She left it at that, offering him a satisfied smile as she went to get herself some breakfast.