Roarke's Kingdom
His wife—his ex-wife—had lied to him. She’d needed a way to get back into his life and she’d found one.
She’d bought a baby and passed it off as theirs.
As his.
Jennifer’s throat constricted.
The time for holding back, for secrets, was over.
“Roarke,” she said urgently, “Roarke, I have to tell you something…”
His cellphone rang.
He cursed, plucked it from his pocket and looked at the screen.
“It’s Constancia,” he said, bringing the phone to his ear. “Constancia. Is Susanna…” His face whitened and he shot to his feet. “We’re on our way.”
“Roarke?” Jennifer said. “Is it Susu?”
“Susu’s fine.” His expression was grim “It’s Alexandra. She’s back.”
Chapter Ten
Jennifer stared out the window as the helicopter swooped across the dark Caribbean en route to Isla de la Pantera.
There was something almost surrealistic about leaving the rest of the world behind and hurtling through the night toward a dot in the sea.
She thought of all the people below, lying safe in their beds.
Some might be dreaming, but even their worst dreams would end in an instant of awakening.
She couldn’t expect the same deliverance.
She was trapped in a nightmare and she could see no way out of it.
If only she’d never let Roarke talk her into staying on Isla de la Pantera. If only she hadn’t fallen in love with him.
Jennifer closed her eyes.
There was no sense in that kind of thinking. It wouldn’t change anything, and besides, even if she could go back and undo things, where would she start?
There were far too many ifs involved. The only one that would have made a difference was the one at the beginning.
If she’d never met Craig, none of this would have happened.
But then there’d have been no Susanna. And it was impossible to envision a world that was empty of the child she loved with all her heart. And there’d never have been these few wonderful weeks with Roarke, either. With the man she adored…
A sob rose in her throat. She put her hand to her mouth, but it was too late. Roarke had heard the muffled sound. He turned to her quickly and took her hand in his.
“Everything will be fine, sweetheart. I’ll see what she wants and get rid of her. Okay?”
She drew a deep breath. No, she wanted to say, nothing will be okay. My life is coming undone, and there’s nothing I can do to fix it.
She’d waited too long.
“Jen?”
“Don’t worry about me,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I have a headache, that’s all.”