And it had been waiting for him all this time.
CHAPTERFOUR
Ari had almost made it back to the gîte before she’d managed to get her thundering heart under some form of control.
What had she been thinking?
But she had stood there, on the crest of the hill overlooking the cove, she’d seen the body in the water and she’d known, just known. An awareness deep inside her, a terrible sense of dread, a hollow ache…
She sometimes thought she’d known when Simon died, before the phone call, before Jason had told her what happened. Even though she had been in another country, she had felt it. A sense of foreboding, maybe. The letter should have been a clue that something was wrong, but she’d been too caught up in her own pain.
And that poor man had just been trying to have a swim.
A very naked swim. A very handsome man.
Her face burned with the embarrassment of it. She’d made a fool of herself. A total fool.
And then the flirting. Once it had started, she couldn’t help herself. He was good at it too. Good at lots of things, she was sure of that.
Had she completely lost her mind?
It was a defence mechanism, that was all. A way of turning people aside so they didn’t ask questions, of defusing situations, of making light of what had just happened.
Which was nothing really. She would never see him again. Even his threat of dinner was empty. He didn’t even know where she was staying. Once she had sorted all this out with her brother, she’d head back home and hide herself away. She’d go back to being that elusive and tragic teacher the students hoped to get until they actually met her and saw the workload she had for them.
She had a couple of weeks or so before school actually reopened. Technically, she could do her preparation from here. And, of course, Jason knew that. He’d been counting on it.
There was a hotel in Dinan she liked. She’d go there. Short notice meant it would cost her, but she didn’t care. Anything to get away from Sainte Sirène and her brother.
And her memories.
But Nico wasn’t about to be that easily put off. He never had been. He was waiting for her in the door of the house. Whether Jason had sent him or not, she didn’t know. And she didn’t care.
No, that was unfair. Nico looked out for her brother no matter what. And her.
‘There you are. Did you walk it off?’
She sighed, pushing her hands into her pockets, and didn’t answer. Water dripped from her sodden clothes.
‘You’re soaked,’ he said. ‘What were you doing?’
‘Nothing. I just went for a walk.’
He nodded slowly, still staring at her, taking in the wet clothes and hair. ‘Well, you aren’t Jesus anyway, so maybe you should stick to dry land for now. Down at Pors Sirène, were you?’
‘Are you my dad now?’ She wasn’t in the mood for this. She hadn’t been in the mood for it from the start. This just made it even worse.
‘Sure.’ He dropped his voice to a gruff rumble. ‘Get yourself indoors, young lady, and change into some dry clothes before you catch your death of cold.’
She couldn’t suppress the laugh. Nico could always do that, cheer her up. ‘You sound more like Mum,’ she told him.
The faux voice didn’t change. ‘Don’t you talk about your mother that way, Ariadne Walker.’ He grinned, that gentle, easy-going grin she knew so well. ‘Come on,’ he continued, his own voice soft music. ‘Get changed, come and spend the day with us and try to relax a bit. Let us show you the dive area. You used to love to dive.’ She still did. At least she hadn’t lost that. ‘You can stay for a few days anyway, can’t you?’
Could she? The thought of the hotel still tempted her. Maybe she could even change the ferry to a nearer date. She’d get a flight instead if it didn’t mean leaving her car behind here. She’d never see it again. Jason would probably sell it for spare change.
‘Nico, I don’t want—’
‘—to be here. It hurts. I know. But you are here. Besides, there’s something else.’
