Her Irresistible Protector by Michelle Douglas

Author:Michelle Douglas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mills & Boon Forever
Published: 2014-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

THE NEXT DAY Mitch took Tash fishing—another new experience. They sat on the rocks at one end of the bay and dangled fishing rods into the water for two hours.

The air barely moved and the sun warmed her skin with a customary benevolence she’d started to relish. Occasionally a swell of water would hit the rocks beneath them in a way that would lift it and send a fine spray of droplets over them. She could almost feel herself breathing in time to the swell of the sea, dragging in the mingled scents of salt, sea and eucalyptus into her lungs.

She and Mitch barely spoke. She operated under the premise that talking would scare away the fish. Rather than making her squirm, she relaxed into the silence. And the more she relaxed the more air it seemed she could draw into her lungs.

She caught two fish. Mitch identified them, but one of them was too small so they tossed it back. Mitch caught three fish—a tailor and two mullet. He turned to her with a grin that cracked her chest open wide. ‘Guess what we’re having for lunch?’

She stared, and then her throat thickened. She had to swallow before she could speak. ‘Fish and chips?’

‘The very one.’

Her favourite.

She’d never have fish and chips again without thinking of this day. And him.

‘Why are you being so nice to me?’ she blurted out. She didn’t mean to break the summer-holiday spell, but she couldn’t hold the question back.

He gazed at her and she couldn’t read a single thought in his face.

‘I mean you could’ve just left me to my own devices, stayed out of my way as much as you could while still keeping an eye on me. But you haven’t. You’ve tried to take my mind off the fact that someone wants to hurt me. You’ve tried to give me the holiday I’m missing out on. You didn’t have to do any of that.’

He looked away. ‘I’m enjoying it too.’

‘I know, but it’s not what I asked.’

He turned back and, while she couldn’t make out his thoughts, she recognised the turbulence in his eyes. She could let the matter drop. She could say it didn’t matter and that she wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to know why.

And why do you want to know that?

Without warning, the blood started to thunder in her ears. Mitch lifted one broad shoulder. ‘On Saturday it was because I felt bad that you were in this situation.’

Pity. She tried to keep her face unreadable.

‘And you can add guilt to the mix when I found out about your father...about how I’d read that situation so wrong.’

She bit back a sigh.

His gaze speared to hers.

‘I like you, Tash.’

Her heart threatened to pummel its way out of her chest.

‘I liked you eight years ago. I wish I’d—’

He broke off and stared out to sea.

‘You used me eight years ago.’

‘Yes, I did. And I’m sorry.’

She lifted a shoulder; let it drop.

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