Bound by Their Lisbon Legacy by Ella Hayes

Author:Ella Hayes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2024-04-12T16:27:56+00:00

* * *

Because having seized the moment, forced herself to tell him everything, she wanted a reaction. Something—anything but this nerve-jangling silence. And then—finally!—his gaze was reanimating, reconnecting.

‘Yes, I am...’ He sighed. ‘I will... I’m just trying to get my thoughts in order.’

What thoughts, though? He didn’t look as if he was about to explode, but he didn’t look delighted either. He was being annoyingly cryptic—and cryptic wasn’t doing her nerves any good. She could feel her arms folding across her front, anxious prompts rising on her tongue.

‘Are you upset? Cross?’

‘No!’

Straight back at her. Frowning as if she was mad for thinking it but then, in the next moment, he was rubbing his head, offering up a weary-looking smile.

‘Don’t get me wrong. I was for a moment but I’m past it now. Now, I’m just trying to assimilate...’

Trying to assimilate something he should have known already, would have, if he and Anthony had ever talked properly, if Anthony had connected with him like a father should, forced himself past his emotional hangups for his son’s sake.

She felt her heart softening. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I wanted to, but I didn’t know how you’d take it, if you’d blow a fuse, or feel hurt, or...’

‘All of the above?’

‘Exactly!’

Her chest went tight. And it wasn’t fair, was it? Never knowing which way the wind was blowing. Always having to walk this tightrope between him and his father. And maybe it would clear the air if she just let it all out, told him.

‘Will, you’ve got to understand: this thing between you and your dad makes it hard for me—hard for me to say certain things, to know how to be with you about him, or about anything concerning him, like the hotel. We’re coming from such different places, you and I...’

Acknowledgement in his eyes. No need to elaborate. He knew what she was saying.

‘I wanted to tell you from the get-go, not only because it was the right thing to do, but also to honour your dad, because it was our plan, his dream...’

A dream he would never see realised now because the cancer had rubbed him out, the way it had rubbed Dad out. She felt her sinuses tingling. Precious lives cut short. Precious time lost—time that Anthony could have used to make things right with Will, that Will could have used...

She swallowed hard. ‘But for that exact same reason I couldn’t raise it with you! You’re all about getting the hotel done quickly, getting rid of it because Anthony forced it on you, and I can understand that...’ She could feel grief and anger thickening in her chest now, hot tears clogging her lashes. ‘But you also want to throw it off for the simple fact that it was his dream, because you can’t stand it, can you?’ Something pulsed behind his eyes that made her own well hotter, wetter. ‘I don’t know what all your issues were with him, and I’m not asking you to tell

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