Tycoon's Unexpected Caribbean Fling by Ella Hayes

Author:Ella Hayes [Hayes, Ella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-01-10T17:33:30+00:00

* * *

‘Here! Let me help you...’ Joel was on the jetty, holding out his hand. A smile hung about his lips, but his eyes looked cool. Maybe it was just the glow of twilight bouncing off the pale hull of the boat.

She shouldered her bag and slipped her hand into his. It felt warm and strong. Dependable! She leaned into it, letting him guide her out of the boat and then she smiled. ‘I had a nice time today.’

‘Me too.’ His fingers flexed around hers and then he stepped back, busying himself with the mooring ropes.

She felt the air trickling from her lungs. He seemed preoccupied. Maybe he was like her, wondering how they were going to say goodnight. She felt her belly trembling and turned, looking back across the sea to the winking lights on Tortola. If she’d come back with Erris there’d have been none of this awkwardness...but there’d have been none of the joy either, none of the soaring happiness she’d felt when Joel had said he’d got the powerboat.

After she’d phoned Erris, they’d walked to the café overlooking the bay, parking themselves outside, drinking iced tea, and then maybe because Joel had opened up a little bit about his family, she’d opened up too, filling in the thumbnail sketch she’d given him earlier, telling the full story of how Tom had persuaded her to leave Le Perroquet so they could strike out on their own and about how Rachel had stepped in to help. She’d told him how Tom had shifted the goalposts, about the scathing review and about how she’d tried to make things work, but she didn’t tell him about Tom and Rachel’s baby. That was too raw, too hard to talk about.

She’d hoped he’d tell her about Astrid in return, but on the walk back to the distillery he’d seemed intent on telling her about his youthful sailing escapades. He’d made her laugh, mimicking countless body blows from the swinging boom, but then guilt had started pooling around her ankles because she was supposed to have been on Buck Island, cooking for him. He’d picked up on her fretting, brushing her worries aside with a twinkly smile. He’d said there was a great street food place in Road Town she’d like—Clara’s Kitchen—and that he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

She’d more than liked it! Bare bulb strings looped around the canopied dining area, the rustic tables, the sizzling platters, all the spicy, smoky aromas. And she’d loved the look on Joel’s face, the glow of the sunset on his skin, the way his eyes had been shining. She felt her heart twisting slowly. The light in Joel’s eyes pushed everything into the shadows, but Tom had dazzled her like that once, blinding her. She felt a dry edge in her throat. Had she been walking blind for all this time...? Something to think about, but this wasn’t the time or the place.

She turned. Joel was bent to one of the mooring posts, tying off a rope, tugging it tight.

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