‘Do you go up to London often?’
‘Well, I haven’t used the London flat in nearly six months. I didn’t like leaving Robert here on his own so I used to make sure that I finished whatever business I had and returned in
time for dinner.’
James came in with a tray. Ivan thanked him and took his drink.
He raised it slightly. ‘To you,’ he said softly.
I looked at him warily.
‘Well, what will you do now that Robert’s gone?’
‘I’ll do what he wanted me to do.’
He stared at me with blankly. ‘What was that?’
‘For the last three years Robert bought islands with the intention of turning them into turtle sanctuaries.’
Ivan looked at me from narrowed, openly skeptical eyes. ‘Robert was setting up turtle sanctuaries?’
I nodded. ‘You seem very surprised.’
‘I am,’ he admitted. He leaned forward and the light from the candles seemed to flicker and shimmer in his extraordinary eyes. His eyes became alive and … hauntingly beautiful. I blinked
at the amazing transformation. With the shadows thrown under his cheeks he was … suddenly … wickedly hot! So hot that a strange urge from somewhere unknown dared me to reach forward and
lick those curving, sensuous lips. I stared at him, my mind burning with the thought. He leaned back abruptly. ‘What?’ he asked looking at me suspiciously.
‘I shook my head. ‘Nothing. Er … you were saying,’ I croaked.
He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms. ‘I was saying Robert was like a father to me for ten years, but in all the time I knew him he never once showed himself to have an
altruistic bone in his body.’
‘He didn’t want anyone to know.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know. It was like his redemption or something. If he had told everyone about it, it might have morphed into something else.’
A thought occurred to him. ‘Did you ask him to?’
‘No, he once went to Asia and someone took him to watch turtles laying eggs. He saw a giant leatherback turtle heave itself up the beach well past the high tide mark, dig an eighteen-
inch hole in the sand, lay about a hundred eggs in it and cover it. To his horror, he then saw the locals not only torment the exhausted creature by shining torchlights at it, kicking
sand into its face, picking up its flippers and riding it, they also immediately dug up its nest and stole every single egg from it. He said it hurt him to see her cry. At that time, he
didn’t know then that her tears were actually a jelly-like mucous that she excreted to keep the sand out of her eyes, so he was much moved by her plight.’
He shook his head in wonder. ‘Fancy that. The old boy was moved by a big reptile.’
‘Leatherbacks are very beautiful,’ I said.
‘Well, I’m glad for him that he found something to love in his old age.’
I finished my drink. ‘He loved you too,’ I said softly.
He frowned and looked as if he was about to speak, but James appeared to announce that dinner was served.
I stood and Ivan held out his hand stiffly. I threaded my hand awkwardly into the crook of his, and together we went into the dining room. The long table had been set for two. For a
moment I felt a pang of pain. This was our dining room. Robert’s and mine. We used to laugh until tears poured down our cheeks.
I sat quietly while the soup was served.
‘Bon appétit,’ I said, and carefully slipped my spoon into the creamy leek and potato soup.
‘Why did you stop visiting Robert?’ I asked.
He picked up his glass of Sancerre and took a sip. ‘I spoke to him on the phone.’
‘I see.’ I paused. ‘Did he ever mention anything about Dr. Jensen?’
He didn’t raise his eyes from his food. ‘No,’ he said quietly.
‘I just can’t understand why he was so mean to him in his will. He always spoke so highly of him.’
‘The contents of his will were a surprise to me too.’
It was the weirdest thing. Nothing in his expression had changed, but I knew that he was being deliberately evasive. He knew something that he did not want to share with me. I stared at
him until he raised his eyes and looked at me. ‘He missed you,’ I said softly.
His eyes flashed. ‘And you? Do you miss him?’
I put my spoon down and looked him in the eye. ‘With all my heart.’
He went quiet. Something powerfully intense simmered and rippled underneath the perfectly calm surface. A heavy, sizzling heat hovered in the air between us. We stared at each other.
Then his gaze left my face and swept down to my breasts. My heart jumped in my chest and the tips of my breasts started to tingle and ache.
For his mouth.
Suddenly there were crystal clear images of my mouth on his throat, down that hard chest, and lower still. My tongue trailing, my fingers dragging down a man’s tight skin. My lips parted
involuntarily and though I did not mean for the small moan of surprise and lust that escaped, it did. I was prepared for everything, but not this. What was this? I didn’t go around
lusting after men?