A Woman with Secrets by Inglath Cooper

Author:Inglath Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2006-10-22T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Every path has its puddle.

—English Proverb

KATE GOT UP early, long before the sun reclaimed its spot in the Caribbean sky. Actually, she wasn’t sure she’d ever gone to sleep. She lay in bed with her eyes closed, lingering somewhere between full consciousness and a dazed state of fatigue in which her brain refused to shut down.

And little wonder.

Kissing Cole Hunter. That, she had not anticipated. And had no idea what to do about it now.

She left the room in search of coffee, and after purchasing a cup from the breakfast bar just off the lobby, she sat in a chair by the pool, replaying the night as she had a dozen times since he’d walked her to her room and left her at the door.

A single moment stood out in her mind. Standing there in front of him, the sconce light next to the door illuminating his face clearly enough that she could see something different in his eyes. A new awareness. A new interpretation of who he thought she was.

She’d shown him a piece of herself last night that she’d never really shown another living being. Let her guard down so completely, that even now, remembering it, she felt as if she had just run out in the middle of a New York City intersection without any clothes on. Just her. Right there for everybody to see.

It was painful to think about. She was tempted to sit here all day with her eyes squeezed shut, refusing to look at any of it. And yet, deep down, there was a little spot of something that almost felt like relief.

She thought about her relationship with her father. For so long, it had been the monster in her closet. She’d piled every large boulder she could find in front of it because letting it out wasn’t an option.

From this vantage point in her life, she felt ashamed of the road she’d taken. Ashamed of the fact that he had died without the two of them ever finding common ground. There was nothing but tragedy in that, in knowing she would never have another chance to make something wrong, right.

Last night, she’d let Cole see some of this. She’d opened the door, and he’d gotten a pretty clear glimpse of the interior. And here was the thing. He hadn’t run screaming into the night.

She opened her eyes now, and the sky lay above her in a ribbon of shimmering blue. And that was the color that best described her today. Bright blue. Just like the sky.

* * *

COLE AND HARRY headed for the marina at just after seven to check on the boat. Cole navigated the hotel’s Jeep convertible along the winding street through town and then hit the slightly wider road that ran beside the ocean.

He glanced at Harry who was resting his head against the back of the seat, dark sunglasses covering his eyes. “You’re awfully quiet this morning.”

“Thinking,” he said.

“About?”

“What else?”

“Women.”

“Women.”

“Any one in particular?”

“Maybe.”

“Margo?”

“I’m a jerk.”

“If you’re making that declaration with respect to the fairer sex, you can hardly expect me to contradict you.

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