Secret Paradise (Kimani Romance) by Girard Dara

Author:Girard, Dara [Girard, Dara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises
Published: 2012-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

She usually kept her walks to the day but liked the quiet of the dying light as evening came, and Lethe made a nice companion. Nikki stopped on the beach and sat down on a rock, listening to the soft sounds of the waves creeping up the shore. She petted Lethe, who suddenly became watchful.

“How much longer must I wait?” a familiar voice asked from somewhere in the trees.

Nikki turned and saw Iona with her arm around Basilio’s neck. Nikki glanced around for a hiding place, then darted behind a boulder so that she wouldn’t be spotted by them.

“Be patient,” Basilio said.

“I thought you loved me.”

“I do,” he said, then lowered his head to kiss her.

Nikki winced at the sight. Basilio and Iona? What an awful combination on so many levels. Yes, physically they made an attractive couple, but their temperaments were so different. Basilio could have any woman he wanted. Why would he choose his brother’s impertinent maid? But this new knowledge helped explain Iona’s saucy attitude. Did she expect to marry into the family one day and be the one giving orders? Nikki shivered at the thought and moved closer to the boulder. She stepped on a piece of driftwood.

Basilio looked around. “What was that?”

“Nothing,” Iona said.

“Quiet. I heard something.”

“Silly boy. You’d jump at the wind. Now, will you—”

“No.”

“Not even for me?”

“Things are going well and I don’t want to change that.”

“It’s that woman,” Iona spat out. “She’s changed your mind about me.”

“That’s not true.”

“You spend your evenings with her and take her out.”

“I have to.”

“No, you don’t. You do it because you like her company.”

“That’s true, but I want no one else but you.”

“Then do as I ask,” she said, then kissed him and ran away.

Basilio sighed, then soon followed.

Nikki waited a few moments, then crept out of her hiding place. She glanced down at Lethe and shook her head. “That sight completely ruined my evening.” She glanced at the horizon, having missed most of the beauty of the sunset, and headed up the beach.

Strong arms seized her and a hand clamped over her mouth. “Promise not to scream?” Basilio said in a dark voice.

She nodded.

He removed his left hand and spun her around, keeping his right hand on her arm. Fierce eyes bored into hers, the smiling, charming Basilio replaced with a man who scared her. “What are you doing out here this late?” he demanded.

Nikki swallowed. “I was just walking.”

“Not spying?”

“Why would I spy?”

He hesitated, as if processing her reply. “What did you see?”

“Nothing.”

He shook her. “Don’t lie to me. Tell me what you saw.”

“I just saw you with Iona.”

He glanced behind him. “And how much did you hear?”

“Nothing I could really understand,” Nikki said, getting angry. “What’s going on? What are you doing with her?”

“Stop asking questions. Just do what you came to do.”

“She thinks your brother is a murderer. Did you know that?”

“There are some things you don’t understand.”

“She sounded pretty clear to me.”

“It’s nothing. Stop trying to find a mystery that isn’t there.

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