‘I didn’t. I don’t.’
But he was right. And she hated that he was right. All she did was run away. The moment a relationship got too real, especially now. Getting over Simon had taken everything she had left. She had broken apart, collapsed entirely, and it had taken more than a year to pull herself back together. Now, running away was a survival technique. From her old life, her career, her brother, her memories…
And now from Rafael, if she had to.
And shehadto. What had she been thinking? Just falling into bed with him like that. Well, she hadn’t been thinking, had she? She’d been on fire, desperate, so overwhelmed with need for him that she hadn’t thought at all. All she had done was feel.
And that always led to disaster.
His phone rang. Rafael groaned and turned back towards it, glowing on the bedside table. He must have left it there before going diving, or else it was some kind of backup. That would be like him, wouldn’t it?
‘You’re going to answer that?’ she snapped. ‘Now?’
‘I have to,’ he replied, as if repeating her own words back at her, and before she could say another word, he did so. ‘Oui? Louis, yes, I’m here. Tell me.’ Concern flickered through his eyes and he frowned again. Without another word to her, without even a glance, he headed for the door.
Ari stared, her mouth hanging open as he vanished. What the hell?
‘Ari…’
The voice was no more than a sigh. If the room wasn’t so quiet, she wouldn’t have heard it. It was probably just the wind outside. Only the wind had died down now. And it still sounded like Simon.
Wrapping her arms around her chest, trying to will herself to be brave, she glanced out of the window to her left. Dawn was staining the horizon, a bleak and grey morning, cold and bitter. So still after the night before. The gardens stretched out towards the sea.
A figure stood there, watching her, his shoulders slumped, his black coat and white hair whipping in an unnatural wind, even though the foliage around him didn’t move at all. Ankou. Simon.
Ari sucked in a breath, her heart slamming up to the base of her throat. He knew. He was there. He knew what she had done.
Of course he did. He was Ankou now, Dahut’s consort, the spirit of this place, the Servant of Death, the lost soul doomed to haunt it…
Slowly, he turned and walked towards the back of the house, out of sight.
‘Shit,’ she whispered. What was she doing here? What had she done? She’d just jumped into bed with Rafael du Lac. The man who was funding everything, the man used to buying whatever he wanted… Did he think that included her?
And was he wrong?
He’d paid off the school so she’d stay, and she had. He’d funded the expedition, joined her on the dive, found the cavern and then…
He accused her of running away. How dare he? Who wouldn’t run from a man so determined to control her life?
She sank down on the bed, trembling. It still smelled of him, of the two of them together, reminding her of every touch, every caress, every gasp of ecstasy…
‘There you are,’ said Laure brightly.
Ari surged to her feet and dizziness swamped her.
Laure stood in the doorway, a pile of clothes balanced on one hand. ‘Rafael asked me to find you something to wear.’
‘He…what? When?’
She smiled. ‘Just now, on the stairs…’ She ran her gaze down Ari’s body and back up to her face. ‘Well, so long as everyone got what they wanted.’
‘What does that mean?’
But she knew what it meant. How could she fail to understand?
‘Don’t be naïve, Ari. He’s a Frenchman. He has wanted you in his bed from the first moment he saw you.’
She had more or less said the same thing last night, as they undressed each other. But he had been thinking it all along. And now…now he had what he wanted…
