A Virgin for a Vow

‘But I will know,’ Abby said. ‘I’ll be here wishing you were with me because…because I love you.’

He flinched as if she had hit him. ‘Stop it. Stop it right now.’

‘I won’t stop it,’ Abby tried to keep her tone calm. ‘I can’t hide it or pretend any more. I love you. The last few days have cemented it for me. I don’t want our fling to end when the week is over. I want to be with you for ever.’

The frown between his brows brought all the tense lines back to his forehead. ‘I told you what I was prepared to give you and a future wasn’t a part of it.’

‘But I think deep down you want what I want,’ Abby said. ‘You want it but you feel you don’t deserve it because of what happened to Kimberley.’

‘This has nothing to do with Kimberley,’ he said. ‘You’re shifting the goalposts because you’ve had a great time playing in the sun and the sand, but it’s not real, Abby. None of this is real. It hasn’t been real from the start. It’s just one big charade and I foolishly went on with it because—’

‘If you say because you felt sorry for me I will scream loud enough to break all the windows,’ Abby said. ‘I don’t want your sympathy. I want your love.’

Luke’s phone rang and he put his bag down on the floor.

‘Don’t answer it,’ she said. ‘Surely this is way more important than a stupid phone call?’

He threw her an exasperated look and turned his back and answered his phone. ‘Yes, I’m on my way. Yes. It’s all under control.’ He ended the call and turned back around as he pocketed his phone. ‘I have to go.’ He picked up his bag. ‘There are people waiting for me.’

People far more important than her. He didn’t say it but then he didn’t have to. He had shown it by his choice to leave her here all alone. He hadn’t asked her to go with him. Why not? It wouldn’t have taken her long to pack. No, he wanted to leave without her because he had never been here with her. Not willingly. Not wholeheartedly.

‘You were never truly here with me on this island, were you, Luke?’ Abby said. ‘Your refusal to be in any of the photos is proof you weren’t with me in every sense of the word. I might as well have had a cardboard cut-out of you because that’s all you give of yourself. The outer shell but not the innermost part of you. The part that wants what everyone else wants: love, connection, a future, a family. You’ve locked that part of yourself away and thrown away the key.’

‘Abby.’

‘Don’t use that lecturing voice with me,’ Abby said. ‘I hate it when you do that. Why didn’t you ask me to go back with you? No, don’t answer that. I’ll tell you why. You want out of this fling, don’t you?’

‘I never wanted to be in it in the first place.’

His coldly delivered statement was like a sledgehammer on the thin ice of her hopes. Each word caused a deep fissure in her heart until she could barely draw breath. ‘Right, well, that’s it in a big fat crinkly nutshell,’ Abby said. ‘Sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you.’ She unclipped the pendant from around her neck and handed it to him. ‘Here. Take it back. The box is upstairs. I don’t suppose you’ll wait until I get it for you and pack up all the clothes you bought for me?’

‘I don’t want the pendant or the clothes,’ he said through tight lips. ‘They were gifts.’

‘Oh, yes, for services rendered,’ Abby said, casting him a look that could have frozen Mercury. ‘Thanks, by the way, for helping me on that front. I’m sure my future partner will also be enormously grateful.’

There was a storm brewing at the back of his eyes but that was the only sign he was struggling with his anger. ‘Enjoy the rest of your stay on the island.’

‘Don’t worry.’ Abby inched up her chin. ‘I will.’

* * *

Luke’s flight was delayed heading back to London so by the time he got to his office one of his junior staff had solved the programming problem that had threatened his multimillion-pound project. He’d always thought Sanjeev had talent but this proved it beyond a doubt. He should’ve felt relieved everything was sorted, but with Abby’s words still rattling around his brain like loose marbles he could feel another migraine coming on.

He didn’t believe for a second she was in love with him. She was worried about her job and all the silly lies she’d told. They were two days from ending their fling and she was panicking about how she was going to maintain her reputation.