“How soon does the doctor say you can ski again?”
“Never again.” There was a wealth of emotion in those words.
“Knowing you, you’ll probably end up an Olympic swimmer.”
Before she could blink, he’d jerked out of her arms and had turned so he was treading water in front of her. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know of you,” she fought against the bitterness in his accusation. “Despite the fact that you almost lost your leg in that accident, Cesar told me how you gave CPR to several of the injured skiers and kept them alive until the paramedics arrived. Your action saved their lives. That kind of heroism is rare.”
His eyes clouded with emotion she couldn’t decipher. “It couldn’t save Nina’s.”
“According to Cesar, no one could have done anything for Nic’s fiancée. Your little brother lives in awe of you, you know.”
She thought his face lost color. “Then we’re not talking about the same person.”
The next thing she knew, Luc had rolled over on his stomach. Like a torpedo, he took off for deeper water, leaving Olivia to ponder his words.
She felt the weight of them as she headed for the boat and pulled herself up the rungs of the ladder. Joy had gone out of her day because she realized that something terrible had torn the two brothers apart.
If Luc had serious issues with Cesar, then it explained why Cesar was so intimidated by his elder brother despite his hero worship of him. And somewhere in the middle of all this sat Olivia.
It killed her that two wonderful, remarkable brothers had reached such a terrible impasse in their lives. Though her sisters irritated her at times, Olivia couldn’t comprehend being estranged from them. Life wouldn’t be worth living if that were the case. No wonder Luc and his brother were both suffering.
She could see him in the distance. It didn’t look as if he would be coming back for a while. Since she couldn’t bear to sit around on the boat in agony because of all the things she didn’t know about the Falcon brothers’ complicated relationship, she decided to get started on her latest project.
Once she’d pulled on Luc’s navy T-shirt and had found her sneakers, she grabbed another of her own T-shirts and went ashore to hunt for rocks. There were all kinds with interesting pink and red colors the size of Ping-Pong balls strewn across the island.
It took her a couple of hours to gather them into a sizable pile. She carried them in the T-shirt she’d made into
a pouch, and took it down to the water’s edge to wash them off.
If they were polished, they’d be quite pretty.
Pleased with the results, she lugged them back to the boat. To her surprise, the sun had dropped a lot lower in the sky. She’d been out longer than she’d realized.
When Luc saw her on the ladder, he put the book aside and took the pouch from her while she climbed into the boat.
He lifted it up and down, as if trying to guess its weight. That mocking smile was in evidence once more. “What have we got here?”
“Treasure. Want to take a peek?” She plucked the pouch from his hand and put it on the bench to open it.
He stared at the contents. “I don’t see anything but a pile of rocks.”
“Your psyche’s too scarred to see their individual beauty.”
She felt his body stiffen and rejoiced that she’d hit a nerve. It was about time she won one round in the battle for his love.
“For your information, I’m going to start a new business with these.”
“What happened to your calendar business?”
“It was Greer’s idea, and Piper’s the artist. I’ve decided I want to do something solely on my own for a change.”
“These stones are too big to make into pendants.”
She let that intentional dig go by. “Not pendants. Paperweights. The perfect gift for the discerning customer.”
A deep chuckle rolled out of Luc.