“Damn it, Bryony, I refuse to feel guilt for something I can’t remember.”
“We should get some sleep,” she said dully. “There’s little point in arguing over this when we’re both tired and I’m upset. I’ll show you to the guest room. It has its own bathroom. There are towels and soap, everything you should need.”
And just like that, she was dismissing him. She’d withdrawn and he was treated to the cold, angry woman she’d been the first night in New York when she’d confronted him at his event.
He drew in a breath, feeling like a fool for what he was about to say, but it rushed out before he could think better of it, before he could question his sanity.
“I’ll put a temporary halt to construction. Tomorrow. I’ll go to the site myself. Until we sort things out between us and I regain my memory, I’ll halt the groundbreaking.”
She blinked in surprise, her mouth forming a silent O. From all appearances it was the last thing she’d expected him to say, and he was suddenly glad of it. Fiercely glad that he’d caught her off guard.
“Really?”
He nodded. “I’d go tonight but no one will be at the site and I have no idea where they’re staying, but if I’m there at dawn in the morning, I’ll make sure nothing is done until I give the okay to begin.”
Once again she surprised him by launching herself into his arms and hugging him so tight he struggled to breathe. For such a small woman, she possessed amazing strength.
“Every time I think you’ve let me down, you do something to completely change my mind,” she whispered fiercely. “Every time I think I’ve lost the Rafael I fell in love with, you do something to make me realize he’s still there and I just have to find him again.”
He wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. As if he was some sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hell, maybe he was crazy. It was the only explanation behind the past few months of his life.
Most men bought a flashy sports car, had an affair or hooked up with a girl barely out of school in their midlife crisis. Apparently he did bizarre things like fall in love and throw away a multimillion-dollar deal.
Ryan, Dev and Cam were going to kill him.
Twelve
“You did what?”
Rafael held the phone away from his ear and winced at the string of expletives that flooded the airways.
“I’m coming down there. We all are,” Devon said. “This is precisely what I was afraid of happening. You get down there and she has you by the balls. Make me the bad guy. I don’t care, but construction has to begin immediately. We’re already months behind schedule.”
Rafael paced back and forth over the slight bluff overlooking the beach while Bryony waited in the car. The crew hadn’t been happy that they were being asked to stand down, until Rafael informed them they’d be paid full wages during the temporary layoff. He’d stressed temporary and hoped like hell that he would have this resolved in a few days’ time.
He didn’t offer that little tidbit to Devon. Devon would really lose his composure if he knew Rafael was footing the bill for a crew of construction workers to sit around and enjoy beach life for the next few days.
“You stay your ass in New York,” Rafael said. “I don’t need you and Cam and Ryan to babysit me. It’s the right thing to do, Devon. Until I know what the hell I promised or didn’t promise or whatever else happened while I was down here the first time, the right thing to do is wait.”
“Since when have you ever been concerned with doing the right thing?” Devon asked incredulously. “We’re talking about the king of get-it-done, it’s business, not personal, whatever it takes, score the deal. Are you getting soft in your old age or has she messed with your head so much that you no longer know up from down?”
Rafael scowled. “You make me sound like a complete bastard.”
“Yeah, well, you are. Why should that bother you now? It’s what’s made you so successful. Don’t go growing a conscience on me now.”
Rafael frowned even harder. “What do you know about this deal, Devon? What aren’t you telling me?”
There was a long silence. And then his friend said, “Look, I don’t know what happened down there. What I do know is that before you left New York, you said quite clearly that you’d come back with a signed bill of sale and you didn’t give a damn what you had to do to achieve it.”
“Son of a bitch,” Rafael muttered. “That’s not helping my case here.”
“Why do you want it to help your case? You’ve got the land. You’ve got our investors on board. The only thing standing in our way right now is you.”
Rafael stared back at the car to see that Bryony had gotten out and leaned against the door. Her hair blew in the morning breeze and it was a little chilly. She hadn’t worn a sweater.
“Yeah, well, for now I’m not moving,” he said quietly. “I’ll accept full responsibility for this.”
“Damn right you will,” Devon said in disgust. “We’ve all made sacrifices, Rafael. We’re on the verge of being huge. With this resort deal and the merger with Copeland hotels, we’ll be the largest luxury resort business in the world. Don’t screw it up for all of us.”
Rafael sighed. Yeah, he knew they’d made sacrifices. Devon was even marrying Copeland’s daughter to cement this deal. They were close to having everything they’d ever wanted. Success beyond their wildest imaginations.
And he’d never felt worse or more unsure of himself in his life.
“Trust me on this, Dev. Give me some time, okay? I’ll make it right. I’ve never not come through before. But this is my future we’re talking about here.”
Rafael heard the weary sigh through the phone. “One week, Rafe. One week and if ground isn’t broken, I’m coming down there and I’m bringing Ryan and Cam with me.”
Rafael ended the call and shoved the phone into his pocket. One week. It seemed a ridiculous amount of time to decide the fate of his entire future. And Bryony’s future. The future of his child.
He blew out his breath and walked away from the beach toward Bryony’s car. She was probably tired. He’d bet that neither of them had slept much the night before. He’d seen dark circles under her eyes when they’d left her cottage before sunup to drive to the construction site.
With a week’s reprieve, it was time to concentrate on the most important issue at hand—regaining his memory and figuring out his relationship with Bryony Morgan.
As Rafael strode back toward the car, Bryony regarded him warily. He looked angry and determined. Whatever phone call he’d made, it hadn’t been pleasant. She could hear his raised voice all the way inside the car, though she couldn’t make out what it was he said.
True to his word, he’d given the order to suspend groundbreaking. It hadn’t taken long for her cell phone to start ringing. Rupert had been first, congratulating her on keeping Rafael de Luca in line. Bryony had rolled her eyes and bitten her tongue. As if anyone could leash Rafael de Luca. No, whatever reason he had for agreeing to postpone construction, it hadn’t been because she’d asked him to.
Her pride had already taken enough of a beating. She wasn’t going to beg him.
Then Silas had called to confirm that construction had indeed been halted and then expressed his concern that the workers were now on the island with nothing to do for the next however many days. He worried about the implications. As if Bryony had any experience with enforcing the law.
Still, she had to remember that a lot of people counted on her to keep things running smoothly. It was what she did. Never mind that her life was in shambles. She didn’t offer any guarantees about keeping her own affairs straight.
When Rafael arrived, he didn’t say anything. He took the keys from her and guided her around to the passenger side.
When he got in, she eyed him sideways. “Everything okay?”
“Fine.”
He started the engine and drove over the bumpy dirt path back to the main road and then accelerated.
“Feel like so
me breakfast?”
It sounded like he grunted in return, but she couldn’t be sure. Still, he hadn’t said no, so she took it as an affirmative.
“I’ll make your favorite.”
He glanced sideways at her. “My favorite?”
“Eggs Benedict.”
“Yeah, it is,” he mumbled. “I guess I told you that before.”
“Uh-huh.”
Clearly he wasn’t in a talkative mood. He looked downright surly. She was more of a morning person, but Mamaw wasn’t, and she often told Bryony she was too cheerful for her own good before noon. Mamaw didn’t have any compunction about telling her to shut up and go away, but Bryony guessed Rafael was too polite to do the same.
Funny, but she hadn’t noticed him being particularly grumpy in the mornings before, but then more often than not, they’d slept late after a night of making love.
Just the memory of them waking in bed, wrapped around each other, had her cheeks warming and a tingle snaking through her body.
She missed those nights. And the mornings. Most of the time she’d cooked for them both, but at least twice, Rafael had risen while she still slept and brought her breakfast in bed.
So instead of saying anything further, she reached over and took his hand, squeezing it before lacing her fingers through his.
He looked surprised by the gesture, but he didn’t make any effort to extricate his hand from hers. “Thank you.”
He cocked his head.
“For doing that. It means a lot not just to me, but also to the people on this island.”
He looked uncomfortable. “You need to understand that this is only a temporary solution. I can’t suspend operations indefinitely. There are a lot of people counting on me. They’ve trusted me with their money. My partners are heavily invested with me. This is… This is huge for us.”
“But you understand I would have never sold you the land if you hadn’t given me your promise,” she said. “The result would be the same. It’s not as though I sold you the land under false pretenses.”
Rafael sighed but then squeezed her hand. “For now let’s not talk about it. There’s no simple solution to all this whether I regain my memory or not.”
For the first time she weighed his position in the matter. If all he’d said were true, then it couldn’t have been easy for him to call off the operation.