‘The way I feel right now, I’d have to say no.’
‘How do you feel?’
She was absolutely sure that was one question he didn’t want answered. ‘My cab is going to be here in a minute and I have to book flights—’
‘I’ll give you a lift to the hospital and arrange for her to use the Gulfstream. We can fly direct to Boston and she can lie down all the way if she wants to,’ he said. ‘And I know a commercial pilot who flies between the islands, so that problem is also solved. Now tell me how you feel.’
‘Wait a minute.’ Lily looked at him, dazed. ‘You’re offering to transport Brittany home on a private jet? You can’t do that. When I told you I was going to have to do some financial juggling I wasn’t fishing for a donation.’
‘I know. It sounds as if Brittany’s in trouble and I’m always happy to help a friend in trouble.’
It confirmed everything she already knew about him but instead of cheering her up, it made her feel worse. ‘But she’s my friend, not yours.’
He drew in a breath. ‘I’m hoping your friends will soon be my friends. And on that topic, please can we focus on us for a moment?’
Her heart gave an uneven bump and she looked at him warily. ‘Us?’
‘If you won’t talk about your feelings then I’ll talk about mine. Before we left the island this morning, I had a long conversation with my father.’
Lily softened. ‘I’m pleased.’
‘I’d always believed his three marriages were mistakes, something he regretted, and it wasn’t until today that I realised he regretted nothing. Far from seeing them as mistakes, he sees them as a normal part of life, which delivers a mix of good and bad to everyone. Yes, there was pain and hurt, but he never once faltered in his belief that love existed. I confess that came as a surprise to me. I’d assumed if he could have put the clock back and done things differently, he would have done.’
Lily gave a murmur of sympathy. ‘Perhaps it was worse for you being on the outside. You only had half the story.’
‘When my mother left I saw what it did to him, how vulnerable he was, and it terrified me.’ His honesty touched her but she resisted the temptation to fling her arms round him and hug him until he begged for mercy.
‘You don’t have to tell me this. I know you hate talking about it.’
‘I want to. It’s important that you understand.’
‘I do understand. Your mother walked away from you. That was the one relationship you should have been able to depend on. It’s not surprising you didn’t believe in love. Why would you? You had no evidence that it existed.’
‘Neither did you,’ he breathed, ‘and yet you never ceased to believe in it.’
She gave a half-smile. ‘Maybe I’m stupid.’
‘No. You are the brightest, funniest, sexiest woman I’ve met in my whole life and there is no way, no way,’ he said in a raw tone, ‘I am letting you walk out of my life.’
‘Nik—’
‘You asked me why I was here. I’m here because I want to renegotiate the terms of our relationship.’
She almost smiled at that. Only Nik could make it sound like a business deal. ‘Is this because you know I have feelings for you and you feel sorry for me? Because, honestly, I’m going to be fine. I’ll get over you, Nik. At some point I’ll get out there again.’ She hoped she sounded more convincing than she felt.
‘I don’t want you to get over me. And I don’t want to think of you “out there”, a pushover for anyone who decides to take advantage of you.’
‘I can take care of myself. I’ve learned a lot from you. I’m Kevlar.’
‘You are marshmallow-coated sunshine,’ he drawled, ‘and you need someone with a less shiny view on life to watch out for you. I don’t want this to be a rebound relationship, Lily. I want more.’
Suddenly she found it difficult to breathe. ‘What exactly are we talking about here? How much more?’
‘All of it.’ He stroked her hair back from her face with gentle hands. ‘You’ve made me believe in something I never thought existed.’
‘Fairy tales?’
‘Love,’ he said softly. ‘You’ve made me believe in love.’