She looked ready to choke again.
‘Don’t worry,’ he rushed to reassure her. ‘I am not trying to make a move on you.’
That only seemed to make her discomfort worse. She leaned heavily on her elbow and muttered, ‘I should have ordered wine.’
‘I’m simply telling the truth,’ he tried again. ‘We flirted.’
Her cheeks reminded him of Carthusian pink dianthus – the flower of boldness, which didn’t fit this situation at all. ‘I don’t know what came over me,’ she mumbled. ‘I don’t flirt – not usually.’
‘Neither do I,’ he replied, trying to be neither insulted nor flattered by her words, when both were clawing at him. ‘It was an unfortunate misunderstanding, but before you decide what to do, I just want to be honest with you.’
She wasn’t looking at him, but the way she stilled and her shoulders slowly dropped made him satisfied that he’d soothed her. The feel of her skin under his fingertips remained – an imprint. She was a widow – a mother – and he was… well, certainly not the man for her. Recreating their safe friendship was the best option.
But he couldn’t deny thatotheroptions presented themselves when he looked at her.
‘Honest,’ she repeated with a grim nod. ‘I appreciate that.’
‘I shouldn’t have flirted with you. I am…’ He struggled to find the words to describe the mess of his personal life. ‘I am a determined single.’
‘Is that code for “divorced”?’
It was his turn to colour, but he knew he blushed more the red of the fruit of the strawberry trees that grew prolifically on this island. ‘That too. What made you think that? Perhaps I simply discovered I am not a person who thrives in a relationship.’
Her only reaction was a pointed look, which nevertheless communicated a world of doubt. ‘There’s only really one way to make that kind of discovery – a painful way.’
He could hear the hint of her own story in her voice.A widow.
‘And now you create lavish flower arrangements for weddings,’ she commented.
‘Yes, that happened by accident. I learned floristry as a hobby and then I had to step in for one of the I Do events at the last minute. That was the start of the business. Ironic, I suppose – I get divorced and suddenly have to prepare for wedding after wedding. But at least I don’t usually have to stay for the ceremony.’
‘Not as ironic as Great Heart Adventures merging with I Do, but some things work out unexpectedly well.’
‘And you?’
She’d told him online about the uneasy merger – a marriage of convenience, she’d called it – that had seen the adventure guides swapping harnesses and technical trousers for suits and buttonholes, but knowing she’d been married changed how he interpreted her feelings about the merger.
‘What about me?’ she asked warily.
‘Weddings. How do you find them?’
‘Oh, I— Fine. I’m the only one from Great Heart Adventures who ever embarked upon that particular… adventure, so sometimes, the team from I Do needs me to translate wedding-talk for the guides.’
Her throat bobbed and although he didn’t know her well in person, she wasn’t hiding her thoughts well.
‘Sounds like a difficult job.’
The shrug was even less convincing. ‘Actually, this is the first wedding I’ve attended.’ Her fingers moved on her glass, rubbing at the condensation. ‘Usually, I stay behind the scenes in England. I’m a little nervous.’
‘Your first wedding with I Do?’
Her answer was so quiet, he might have missed it if there had been more patrons at the restaurant. ‘That too.’
‘Your first wedding since…’Her own.
She nodded, the strain showing at her jaw, and he sat up in alarm.
‘How are you?—?’
