Feeling surprisingly relaxed, she swam length after length and then floated on her back with her eyes closed.
‘Don’t tell me.’ A familiar voice came from the
doorway of the villa. ‘He’s dumped you again so you’re trying to drown yourself.’
Her eyes flew open and she gasped in surprise and delight. ‘Tom! What are you doing here?’
He walked to the edge of the pool, a wry smile playing around his mouth. ‘Rescuing you from your folly?’
Deciding that the middle of a swimming pool wasn’t the place to conduct a conversation, Lauranne swam quickly to the side and pulled herself out, reaching for the nearest towel.
She wrapped herself up and then padded across to give Tom a hug. ‘So I ask you again, what are you doing here?’
She hadn’t even told him where she was going. Just that she was going to take a week off. How had he found her?
‘Yes, do answer that question, Farrer.’ Zander’s voice, hard and simmering with all-male fury, came from the doorway behind them and Lauranne pulled away quickly, feeling horribly guilty even though she’d done nothing wrong.
Zander prowled onto the terrace with lethal menace, his gaze fixed firmly on Tom, who’d gone incredibly pale.
‘I was worried. Lauranne dashed off without any explanation,’ he said stiffly, ‘and I wanted to see her. To check that she’s all right.’
‘And now you’ve seen her,’ Zander said silkily, ‘you can leave.’
Lauranne saw the raw anger in his dark eyes and held her breath, horror holding her fixed to the spot. It was like a replay of five years previously. And then she saw Marina in the background, her face alight with satisfaction as she stood next to her astonished boss.
Marina—
Anger shot through Lauranne and suddenly she knew exactly why Tom had suddenly arrived on the island. She turned to Tom, an urgent look on her face. ‘You didn’t need to come. I’m fine. I’d like you to go, Tom. I’m honestly OK.’
Dear God, how could Marina have done this?
Tom’s presence was the one thing guaranteed to goad Zander into an unthinking fury.
And that had been her intention, of course—
Tom wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were fixed on Zander. ‘I’m not leaving without you, Lauranne. I know you’re only here to help him clinch his precious deal and if you ask me you’ve done enough for the guy—’
Lauranne looked at him in confusion. ‘Tom, please—’
Tom was glaring at Zander. ‘I won’t let you hurt her again. She loves you so much she’d do anything for you. When you’re around she does utterly crazy things and I won’t let you take advantage of that.’
Lauranne gave a tiny moan. ‘Tom—’
He ignored her plea. ‘You broke her into a million tiny pieces,’ he said hoarsely, his hands curling into fists by his sides. ‘Every morning I used to have to drag her out of bed and force her to go to work, when all she wanted to do was curl up and die. And you did that to her, Volakis. You threw her out and you didn’t once check that she was OK. You left that to me. I was the one who had to put her together again.’
Zander sucked in a breath, his dark eyes glittering. ‘I’m well aware of that.’
Tom shook his head. ‘Well, you’re not doing it to her again,’ he growled, taking a step forward, his fists clenched by his sides. ‘She may love you too much to say no to you, but I won’t let you take advantage of her. If you want the island then you do it without this pretence of getting back together.’
Kouropoulos stepped forward, a disapproving frown on his face as he looked at Zander.
‘So Marina was right. This reconciliation was all a setup to persuade me that I should sell the island.’ He shook his head in distaste. ‘The deal is off, Volakis.’
Zander didn’t even look at him.
Instead his eyes were fixed on Tom. And then his gaze shifted to Lauranne, a funny smile that she couldn’t interpret touching his firm mouth. There was a strange light in his eyes and his breathing wasn’t quite steady. And then, without uttering a word, he turned and strode away from the villa without a backward glance.
Lauranne watched him go and anxiety ripped through her. Did he still think that there was something going on between her and Tom?