Page 26 of The Tycoon's Diamond Demand

He heard the camera shutter whirr and looked right and into the lens of her camera. Why was she taking a photograph of him? He lifted his eyebrow. ‘Really?’

A mischievous smile appeared on her lips, one he remembered her wearing a lot more often when they were younger. ‘It would be a great stock photo, maybe its title could be “a billionaire on his boat”.’

He smiled, reluctantly amused. ‘You might earn enough royalties off it to buy a soda.’

‘You’re selling yourself short. I’d earn enough to buy a meal,’ she teased. He’d missed this, missed Maja’s sly and subtle humour. Twelve years ago, she’d tempered his ambition, reminded him to smell the roses, to slow down, relax. If they were together, properly, in a real relationship, he could easily imagine her mocking his wealth, reminding him not to take life so seriously, to slow down and enjoy the fruits of his hard work.

If she hadn’t left...if Håkon...

Just give it a rest, Nilsen.

It was late, the sun was finally dipping behind the mountains, bringing an end to the long summer’s day. The purple in the sky was now violet and the pinks were fading fast. It wasn’t the time to discuss the past...there was nothing todiscuss.

Jens downed the rest of his wine and put his glass on the deck next to him. He bent his knees and rested his wrists on them. He looked relaxed but he wasn’t. As he knew Maja was, he was conscious of the sexual tension buzzing between them, the need and the want. Like him, she was fighting temptation. He didn’t know if she was winning or losing, all he knew was that it was getting harder, by the second, to sit here and not touch her.

Maja placed her camera back in her bag, snapped it closed and placed it on the table behind her. When she looked back at him, her eyes locked on his. Would she make the first move? Would he? Who would cave first? Because someone would...

Jens rolled off the lounger and stood up, walking to the railing and gripping it, his knuckles immediately turning white.

If you sleep with her, you can’t jilt her. You can’t make love to her and then leave her at the altar. That isn’t fair...

None of this was fair. It wasn’t fair that his mum had abandoned him, that Maja had dumped him, Håkon had tried to ruin him. Life wasn’t fair, he knew and lived that truth. He’d done some things he wasn’t proud of, made some tough business calls that might’ve been legal but not, necessarily, honourable and he always regretted them after the deal was done. If he slept with Maja, knowing he intended to jilt her, he’d feel the same way.

He was a cold, unemotional bastard and blackmailing her into marriage was bad enough. But sleeping with her knowing that he would leave her at the altar later was a line he didn’t think he could cross.

Jens didn’t look back at her when he spoke. ‘I’ll tell the captain to take us back to port.’

Maja didn’t answer him and when he turned around to look at her, he caught the soft smile on her face. ‘Why don’t we stay on the boat tonight, and take the day tomorrow, maybe even stay tomorrow night too? It’s lovely out here, and so quiet. I think you need some quiet, Jens. I know I do.’

He did. He hesitated, weighing up the pros and cons. Con: being alone with her was a temptation, he didn’t know if he could resist her. Pros: the serenity and, as she said, the quiet.

Then Maja wrinkled her nose. ‘But the hotel manager did give me the honeymoon suite for free. I feel bad for not taking him up on his offer.’

If he could buy a bloody yacht, he could pay for a hotel suite they didn’t use. He looked around and knew he wasn’t ready to return to Ålesund. ‘I’ll make it worth his while,’ he told her. ‘And if we tell him we’ll have the wedding there, he’ll be more than happy.’

Maja stiffened and Jens winced. The talk of their marriage always managed to kill the mood. He sighed. ‘Shall we stay on the water, or shall we go back in, Maja?’

She hesitated, but when she looked at their amazing surroundings, he knew her answer. ‘Stay.’

He swallowed his sigh of relief. ‘You can have the cabin we looked at earlier, help yourself to clothes,’ he briskly told her. He wasn’t going to make love to her.He couldn’t.He’d reined in his imagination and was thinking clearly again. But in case he slipped again, he thought it better to put his cards on the table so there couldn’t be any misconceptions or misunderstandings.

‘No matter what happens between us, Maja, we’re still getting married.’ And he’d still jilt her. He gestured to the boat, then the view. ‘This is lovely, but it changes nothing.’

‘Message received.’ Maja nodded, her expression unreadable. Instead of speaking, she lifted her wine glass. ‘Could you get me some more wine? I plan on spending a few more hours here, inhaling the view and enjoying the quiet. Would you like to be quiet with me, Jens?’

He could do that. Just for a few hours.

Jens hadn’t expected to get much sleep—he never did—so he was surprised he slept a solid six hours on the wide lounger on the aft deck, covered by a light blanket. After a breakfast ofvafler, Norwegian waffles topped with cloudberries, he needed to exercise, and was desperate to stretch his muscles. He told the deckhand, Lars, to unload the yacht’s jet skis while he swam to the shore and back, an easy mile.

When he returned, Lars was attempting to teach a bemused Maja how to ride the jet ski. She looked completely befuddled by the powerful machine and Jens left Lars to it. The younger man had more patience than he did, so he climbed onto the most powerful of the two machines and took off, loving the wind in his hair and the power between his legs. He skimmed across the water, indulging his inner speed freak. After an hour of doing tricks and turns, hauling out some old skills, his body felt loose and his muscles warm, and he headed back to theDaydreamer. He stopped a fair way from the yacht and turned his back to the handlebars to watch Maja on the jet ski. She was barely going faster than he could swim, but she looked as though she was having fun.

Her curls were tighter, damp from sea spray, and her life jacket didn’t quite manage to hide her curves. She wore the scarlet bikini she’d found in the cabin, and he thoroughly approved.

Jens yawned and tipped his head up to the sun. When last did he take a day off? Ages ago. He’d last been on a jet ski ten years back. He grinned as Maja let out a screech as she took a turn too fast, smiling at her huge grin of delight when she managed to steady the jet ski without flipping it over.

It was nice to sit here, not thinking about his business, about the wedding. Oh, both hovered on the edges of his mind, but he refused to give them space. He was allowed, wasn’t he, to take a day off from the pressures of both?

Aunt Jane wouldn’t approve, she always felt deeply uncomfortable doing nothing. He smiled at the memory of his irascible aunt, seventeen years older than his mum, forced to take him on when she’d chosen to remain a spinster and childless. She’d been forthright and unaffectionate, but she’d loved him in her own way. As much as she could.

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