Pride After Her Fall

She suspected it was one of the big reasons she hadn’t had a relationship since Raymond’s arrest. Why she had put distance between herself and her friends.

She should be putting distance between herself and Nash—especially when he was being so mysterious about exactly what they were doing here. The problem was, she couldn’t separate mind and body. Her emotions were involved, as last night attested. If she slept with him again she was going to open more of herself up and there would be consequences.

‘So these mysterious meetings—are they going to take up all of your time?’ She tried to change the subject.

‘Not entirely.’ He smiled at her, as if he understood she was finding this difficult. ‘I can, however, assure you you won’t be bored, Lorelei.’

‘Non?’ she said snippily, knowing exactly what he was implying. ‘I’m sure the island offers many attractions for tourists.’

Unexpectedly he tugged gently at the rogue curl she could never keep out of her eye, sliding it carefully behind her ear.

‘Still fighting me, Lorelei?’

She looked away, out of the window at the land coming ever closer, and thought, no, she wasn’t fighting him—and that was the problem.

* * *

‘I can’t get over how gorgeous it all is,’ Lorelei confided as they drove the beachfront road in a Jeep. She’d teased him when he’d dumped their driver on the tarmac, telling him Freud had a few theories about his need to call the shots.

‘Yeah, and I’ve got a few theories about Freud,’ he’d responded, lifting her into the Jeep, enjoying her shriek and subsequent laughter. It was as if she’d decided all on her own to stop fighting him. It was impossible not to take in the scenery through her eyes as she chattered and pointed out landmarks that in the past he’d taken for granted.

Tall latania palms swayed along the roadside, and tropical flowers flashed out of the undergrowth as they sped past.

‘You’ve brought me to paradise.’

Nash smiled to himself, finally comfortable with where this was going.

Lorelei had shied a little on the seaplane, and put on a bit of a performance, but he wouldn’t have expected any less from the show pony she most definitely was. He realised he enjoyed that about her—the unpredictability. His life was usually so ordered. He didn’t mind accommodating Lorelei’s eccentricities. Outside in the late-day sunshine, with the fresh air whipping her curls into a frenzy, she seemed to have shrugged off her insecurities and was now embracing what he had to offer.

‘Consider it part of the service,’ he responded easily.

She flashed a smile at him and he was surprised at how good it made him feel.

He wanted her to be happy, he realised. He didn’t like seeing that weight in her eyes as if the load she was carrying had been with her for too long. He suspected it was to do with that gaol bird father of hers. He could suggest to her cutting the cords that bind, as he’d done years ago with his own, but he doubted Lorelei would thank him for it.

He’d known since last night that she wasn’t quite the hard-headed little mover and shaker those reports he’d initially paid attention to had painted her to be.

As they drove the leafy road circling the resort Nash watched some of the animation leave her. It wasn’t his favourite place. A world-famous destination, sure enough, but they might as well not have left Monaco. The place dripped glamour and elitism, with groups of women in couture beachwear and jewellery, and men driving low-slung ego-extension cars.

‘If you’d prefer we can stay here,’ he commented as they cruised past the ostentatious entrance, ‘but I’ve got a place on the beach. It’s a lot more private.’

‘Naturellement.’ She gave him a small smile. ‘I would much prefer that.’

Unable to credit how good he felt, Nash increased speed and they shot down the beach road, heading up and over a rise. He heard Lorelei catch her breath as they plunged into tropical rainforest.

‘Oh, this is beautiful,’ she gasped, and as if to verify her words a brightly plumed bird swooped through the canopy of tree branches above them.

His bungalow was down on the shore—one of several private homes along this exclusive stretch of east coast beachfront. He had designed it himself with a local architect, the focus being on bringing the tropical forest right up to the doorstep and the ocean into the west-facing rooms.