“I know. It was the same for me.”
“It terrified me but I told myself it was only—that it was only—”
“Sex,” Liam said softly. “Yeah, so did I. A couple of hours in bed.” He pulled Jessie into his arms and held her close. “Then I got on that plane and saw the way you looked at me. Or maybe it was when I undressed you and you went into my arms so trustingly. I only know that I love you, that I’ll always love—”
Jessie pressed her mouth to his. He could taste her tears in her kiss.
“I’ll always love you, too,” she whispered. “But—but you know that this is all we can ever have.”
“No! Don’t say that.” He sat up. “I want to marry you, Jessie. I want to do all those things I never believed in. Buy a house. Have kids. Live happily ever after. Sweetheart, don’t you understand? Without you—”
“My life will be empty, too.” The words shuddered from her lips. “I tried to tell myself we could make a life together, Liam. But we can’t. William will always be between us.” She began to weep. “You know what we have to do.”
He did know. Each beat of his heart reminded him of his promise to Bill. “I’ll do the right thing,” he’d said. But the right thing had changed. The world had changed. Right was wrong, and promises were pain.
“I’m not giving you up,” Liam said fiercely.
“You love William as much as I do, and he adores you.” She took an unsteady breath. “You’re his hero.”
“God.” He let go of her, sat up and raked his fingers through his hair. “Some hero I turned out to be.”
“He told me once that you and I are the two most important people in his life.” Jessie knelt beside Liam and took his hand. “It would be bad enough if one of us let him down, but if—if we betray him—”
Liam couldn’t listen to any more. She was right but he wouldn’t admit it, not to her, not to himself. Instead, he sprang to his feet.
“There’s got to be a way!” He grabbed his jeans and stepped into them. “My mind’s going in circles. I have to take a walk.” He stopped and took Jessie’s hands. “I’ll come up with something. I’m not going to lose you, Jess. Not after I spent my life looking for you.”
Jessie laughed, but by the time she rose from the bed and put her arms around him, her laughter had turned to tears.
“I know,” she sobbed. “I’ll never forget you, or this time we spent together. I’ll always adore you, Liam, always.”
He kissed her as if the world were going to end at any moment. And, in a way, it did, because when he returned to the villa less than an hour later, Jessie was gone.
CHAPTER SEVEN
RAIN BEAT DOWN on the island, and a driving wind rattled the fronds of the palm trees that towered over the villa.
Inside, a grim-faced Liam faced three hapless hotel employees.
“It’s a simple question,” he said coldly. “Surely one of you can answer it.”
The desk clerk who’d arranged for Jessie’s flight to Miami, the driver who’d taken her to the airstrip, even the chambermaid who’d gone to the villa hours ago to make the bed and had ended up, instead, directing Jessie to the office, looked at him, then at each other. No one spoke. Finally the desk clerk shifted his feet.
“I’ve explained, sir. The young lady phoned the desk. She said she wanted to leave the island. She asked—”
“I know what she asked,” Liam snapped. “What I’m having difficulty with is that you didn’t think to inform me.”
“I’m sorry, sir. There didn’t seem to be any…” The clerk licked his lips. “We—we didn’t know that you’d object.” He looked to his companions for support. Both of them were nodding their heads vigorously. “We were only doing what your guest asked us to do, sir.”
“I see.” Liam folded his arms and glared at the man. “Do you always do what guests ask you to do?”
The clerk swallowed dryly. “We—we try to accommodate all requests, Mr. Malone.”
“Suppose a guest wanted to jump off the roof? Would you let her do that?”
“No, sir. Certainly not. But—”
You’re acting like an idiot, Liam said to himself, while the clerk stumbled for words. Just what was it he expected these people to have done? Tell Jessie she couldn’t fly out without permission? Wait for him to give his okay? Guests of the hotel were supposed to be treated with courtesy, and they’d done that. As for Jessie—she’d done what had to be done, what he hadn’t had the courage to do despite his promise to Bill, and now he was venting his anger on these poor people rather than dealing with the truth.
He and Jessie could never have a life together. One of them, at least, understood the meaning of the word honor.
“—did the best we could, sir, by accommodating the lady’s wishes, and—”
“That’s okay,” Liam said, interrupting the clerk’s stumbling explanation. “You’re right. I’m wrong.” He dredged up a smile. “In fact, I was way out of line.”
Color began seeping back into the man’s face. “If we’d known you wanted us to speak with you first, Mr. Malone—”
“Forget it. It’s a free country. The lady wanted to leave and that’s that.” Liam clasped the man’s shoulder, then shook hands with all three employees. “There’ll be something extra in your paychecks this week,” he said briskly, and herded them to the door. “How’s that sound?”
“Thank you,” they said, “thank you very much, Mr.—”
Liam shut the door, let the smile slip from his mouth and sank down on the edge of the bed. After a moment, he buried his face in his hands. Jessie was gone and he couldn’t go after her even if he wanted to. The smudge on the horizon had turned into a charcoal bank of clouds, spewing rain and wind. Until the weather cleared, there was no way off the island.
Besides, what was the sense in going after her? Their affair had been doomed from the beginning. Jessie had said it all in the last few minutes they’d been together.
“You’re his hero, Liam.”
Liam groaned and fell back against the pillows. Oh, yeah. He was Bill’s hero, all right.
If only he’d met Jessie a year ago. Six months ago. Hell, a day before Bill put that ring on her finger would have been enough. What a difference that little bit of time would have made. He and Jessie would have met, there’d have been that same wild, lightning-hot attraction….
No. He wasn’t going to do that, play a game of “if only” that would do nothing but make the pain worse. Liam sat up and scrubbed his hands over his face. He’d lost Jessie, lost her forever….
To hell with that. Bill was his oldest friend, yes, but Jessie—Jessie was everything.
He sprang from the bed, grabbed his leather jacket, reached for the phone. No way was he going to lose her. He loved her. He adored her. He…
He had no right to her.
The jacket fell from his hand. There was no way around the truth. He’d betrayed Bill, made a promise he hadn’t kept. Now he had to go back, face Bill as Jessie was going to do, admit his guilt and ask his forgiveness before fading out of the picture. Anything else—like loving Jessie—he’d relegate to the past.
Liam lifted his head. He could hear the faint sound of an airplane engine in the distance. He went to the door, opened it, looked up into a clear, rain-washed night sky. The small plane that ferried guests to and from the island, that had taken Jessie from him, forever, was coming in for a landing. He could tell the pilot to gas it up, turn it around.
Not yet.
Tomorrow was soon enough to fly west. Once he did, it would all be over. Could it really be only a couple of days since he’d first seen Jessie, days that had changed his life, forever?
Liam sank down on the bed again, lay back and put his arm over his eyes. Jessie, he thought, Jessie, my love.
Early the next morning, he was on a flight headed for Seattle.
* * *
IN MOST PARTS OF THE COUNTRY spring meant flowers, sunshine and birdsong. In Seattle, tucked be
tween the rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula and the towering Cascade Mountains, spring meant rain.
Jessie had never minded that. She’d heard some people say the gray skies were depressing, but she loved the misty feel of the air, and those moments when the clouds parted and Mount Rainier was visible on the horizon always made her spirits lift.
Nothing could make that happen, not this spring.
Except for a stop at her bank, where she’d picked up a new ATM card and used it to take some money from her account, and then an hour spent buying a few things to wear, she’d been huddled in her hotel room ever since she’d arrived in the city. She’d intended to face William immediately but once she stepped into the hotel, she’d realized she had to get herself in hand first. She felt as if her life had stopped when the plane carrying her away from Liam lifted into the air. She’d watched their villa recede and then the hotel until, finally, the island had been only a small dot in the vast ocean.
“Liam,” she’d whispered, and she’d wept for what could never be, the lifetime of love they might have shared. If only they’d met some other time, some other place.
Jessie sighed.
Perhaps not.
What she’d shared with Liam couldn’t possibly last. She’d always known that. Such fire, such heat, would only burn out over time. For all she knew, it had already turned to cold ashes, otherwise why wouldn’t Liam have come after her?
No. No, she didn’t want him to do that. She wanted to set things right. If William was willing to take her back, she’d—she’d…
She’d never let it happen.
Yes, she’d beg his forgiveness, tell him he was a wonderful man and that he deserved to find a woman who’d make him happy, but she wasn’t that woman. She loved Liam. She always would, for the rest of her life, even though she’d never see him again.
A sob caught in her throat.
“God,” Jessie whispered, “help me, please.”
She reached for the phone, punched in the number for the big house on the lake before she had too much time to think about what she was doing. Her heart was thumping; her hand was so wet her fingers slipped on the plastic handpiece. Who would answer? The maid? The cook? Or William, himself. What would she say to him? What—
“Thornton residence.”
Jessie blinked. “Carrie?”
“Jessica?”
“Yes. It’s…did I dial the wrong number? I’m sorry. I’ve been so—so upset that—”
“You’ve been upset?” Carrie gave a cold laugh. “I hardly think so. William’s the one who’s upset.”
Jessie closed her eyes. “I know.”
“You don’t know. How could you, when you and that man have been—have been…”
“William—William knows about—about Liam?”
“Certainly he knows. That man called from the airport. We know you and he flew to Florida. Together.”
Each word was a brand and an accusation. “Carrie.” Jessie took a breath, expelled it and rose to her feet. “Put William on the phone, please.”
“I don’t know that he’ll want to talk with you.”
“Maybe not. But ask him, will you?”
“He’s busy. If he has time later, maybe he’ll call you back.”
The line went dead. Slowly, Jessie hung up the phone. William couldn’t call, not without her phone number, and Carrie hadn’t requested it.
Something had changed while she’d been gone, some delicate shift of power and loyalty. Jessie thought about it for a minute. Not that it mattered. William might, in fact, despise her, refuse to see her. He certainly had the right.
Still, she had to face him.
Jessie put on her jacket, picked up her car keys and locked the door to her room behind her.
* * *
LIAM PULLED TO THE CURB just before Bill’s driveway and sat staring straight ahead as the car idled.
“Come on, Malone,” he muttered, “get it together.”
He had to before he faced Bill. It had all seemed so clear back on Flamingo Island. Confront Bill, explain that what had happened was nobody’s fault but his, that he’d never intended to betray their friendship, wish him well and walk away. He’d worked it all out during a couple of endless hours spent pacing the first-class lounge at the Miami airport, refined it during almost six hours of flying time.
So how come he still didn’t know what he’d say when Bill opened the door?
Liam smiled grimly. All things considered, he might not have to worry about it. He’d ring the bell, Bill would open the door and their conversation would begin and end with Bill delivering a hard right to Liam’s jaw.
That was what he’d do, if a man stole Jessie from him. Not that one punch would do it. He’d want to kill the bastard. Jessie was his. She’d always be his. Nobody could ever take her from…
Liam crossed his hands on the steering wheel and pressed his forehead to his wrists.
She wasn’t his. That was the point of this whole infuriating exercise. He’d come back to acknowledge the truth, that he had no claim on Jessie, even though he’d never stop loving her, that he was the worst friend a man had ever had, a lying, cheating, double-dealing, no-good bastard.
“Just admit you’re a rat,” he muttered, “and then get the hell out.”
He straightened in his seat, put the car in gear, shot up the driveway—and looked up just in time to see a small white car come hurtling up behind him.
“Son of a—”
He jammed his foot on the brake pedal, felt the jolt and heard the glass breaking as the white car’s headlights shattered. He threw open the door and jumped out.
“Damned idiot,” he snarled, as he strode toward the other car. “Where’d you learn to drive?” This jerk needed driving lessons. That was fine. Better than fine, considering his mood. If Bill slugged him, he couldn’t slug back, but if this idiot so much as made a sound—
“Get out of there,” Liam said. He yanked open the door, reached in…and saw Jessie. Her face was pale, her eyes were red rimmed. From tears, he knew, because he’d cried, too, in his heart, and he knew, too, that the person he’d really been lying to was himself.
No matter what happened, he would never let her leave him again.
“Jessie,” he said, and she was in his arms before her name had left his lips.
“Liam,” she sobbed. “Oh, Liam, my love.”
“Why did you leave me?”
“Why didn’t you come after me?”
“I didn’t want to leave you, but—”
“I wanted to go after you, but—”
They spoke together, words, voices, crossing in a hurried blur. Then they fell silent. Liam’s arms tightened around her, Jessie raised her face and they kissed.
“I love you,” Liam said fiercely against her mouth. “And I’m not letting you go.”
“Don’t.” She sighed. “Oh, don’t. Not ever. I need you, Liam, I need you and love you and—”
The door to the house swung open. Liam and Jessie turned and saw Bill and Carrie standing in the entrance. Jessie started to pull away, but Liam kept an arm around her waist, anchoring her to him.
“Well,” Carrie said, “isn’t this a pretty sight?”
Liam ignored her. “Bill,” he said steadily.
Bill Thornton’s expression was unreadable. “Liam.”
“William,” Jessie said, “William, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s my fault,” Liam said. “Not hers.” He dropped his arm from Jessie’s waist and took her hand. Her fingers were icy, and he squeezed them reassuringly. “Jessie had nothing to do with what happened.”
Bill’s mouth thinned. “How noble.”
“Bill, look. Neither of us planned this. I mean, we didn’t expect…”
“And that’s supposed to make it okay?” He took a step forward. “My best friend. And my fiancée. What a fine pair you make.”
“William.” Jessie’s voice broke. “We never meant to hurt you. You have to believe
that.”
“The only thing I have to believe is that I never knew either one of you. I’d have trusted you with my life, Liam. And Jessica…I thought you were the most wonderful woman in the world, but now—”
“Watch what you say to her,” Liam said, his voice hardening. “I’m the one who made a mess of things, understand? You want to take a shot at me, go ahead.”
Bill stared at the two of them, then shrugged his shoulders. “What would be the point? It wouldn’t change anything.” A tired smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “Besides, the last time I tried that, Malone, I ended up almost needing to have my jaw wired shut, remember?”
Some of the tension eased from Liam’s stance. “Yeah, but that was ten years ago, and you were dumb enough to think you could tackle me five yards from the goalpost.”
“It was just a game of pickup football,” Bill said. His eyes went to Jessie, then back to Liam. “You weren’t defending something as basic as your right to fall in love with Jessica.” He cleared his throat. “That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? You’re in love with her.”
Liam’s jaw knotted. “Yes.”
“And you, Jessica? Do you love him, too?”
“Yes,” Jessie whispered. “I love him with all my heart.” Tears rose in her eyes. “But you’ll always be special to me, William. I want you to know that.”
“Special,” Bill said, and gave a bitter laugh. “And I’m supposed to take comfort in that?”
“I promised you I’d do the right thing,” Liam said, his eyes steady on Bill’s. “It’s true, I made some detours along the way, but in the end, I know that what I’m doing now is the right thing.” He paused, twined his fingers through Jessie’s. “I love Jessie. And she loves me. She can’t marry you because it would be a travesty. Everyone would end up cheated—you, me, and her—and not one of us would be able to live down the shame for the rest of our lives.”
After a long moment, Bill sighed. “I guess that’s one of life’s toughest lessons, that the right thing isn’t always easy to figure out.”
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