Page 216 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

Her feet slowed. Set back slightly from the shoreline was a small stone building. It looked too small to be a home, and anyway who would be living there?

Sliding her feet back into her sandals, she walked towards it cautiously, but as she got closer it was obvious it was empty. Abandoned? Tiger had kicked the owners off when he bought the island?

And then as she turned her head a fraction, she saw him. Her stomach plummeted and she lifted a hand to cover her pounding heart.

He was standing there, watching her, his dark head tilted to one side as if he wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing there.

He still wasn’t sure why he had gone after Sydney, just that watching her leave had pulled at something inside him. Without any kind of conscious decision, he had made his way through the villa and onto the terrace, his gaze fixed on the comet’s tail of Sydney’s hair.

‘It used to be a fisherman’s cottage. If that’s what you were wondering. It was empty when I came here.’

It was actually one of the main reasons why he had bought this particular island. It was a reminder of how fragile the things you took for granted could be. For years people had pushed their boats away from this shoreline to cast their nets. They had made their homes here, earned a livelihood and then just like that it was gone.

And Venice itself was one of the most perilously situated cities in the world. Anything could be lost and you had to remember that and do anything and everything to stop that from happening.

Sydney was staring at him as if he were a particularly dangerous animal that had escaped from some local zoo and he couldn’t really blame her. Even as he had been talking to her, he’d known that he didn’t like how he was acting but he’d still been riled by that comment she’d made at breakfast. Casually mentioning how she derailed businesses as if it were nothing. As if she hadn’t been planning to do that to him. It was a blunt reminder of who she was, only, with the imprint of that kiss still front and centre in his brain, he had let himself forget.

And then he had expected her to be excited and grateful when he’d shown her the clothes, but she had acted as if it were a bad thing. What woman didn’t like new clothes?

Glancing up, he found Sydney watching him, her face pale and still, her hands clenching at her sides.

‘Don’t let me keep you.’ Emotions he couldn’t name moved swiftly across her face and he felt a flicker of irritation that he couldn’t read them and that she could keep herself out of reach, defying him, even now.

‘You know this would be a lot easier if you stopped turning everything into a fight.’

‘There is no “this” any more,’ she said, lifting her chin in that maddening way of hers.

‘Because I bought you some clothes?’

She didn’t answer, but she didn’t need to. He knew that the clothes were not important. As for the money?

Her hair had come loose and the breeze lifted it away from her small, stiff face, and he held back. Not to savour the moment but because he knew it would hurt her. He knew because he’d heard the hurt in her voice when she had talked about her family.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ he said quietly.

‘Tell you what?’ Her voice was fierce, hostile.

‘About your brothers?’

Her skin looked like paper. ‘Because people like you think you’re different from people like them. Because you don’t want to hear that you’re the same.’

His heart twisted, which was strange because that particular organ usually functioned solely as a life force but she was so defiant, standing there with her brown eyes.

‘What if I did?’

Her hands were like tight balls now and for a moment he thought she wouldn’t answer, but then she took a step closer, her eyes narrowing on his face.

‘They run a chop shop. They buy and sell stolen parts.’ Her voice was fierce, combative, as if defying him to show his disgust, but it only seemed to root him deeper to the spot. ‘They do other stuff. Stupid, small-town, small-time stuff with their idiot friends. And now they’ve been arrested and with their record they’re going to go to prison.’

He opened his mouth to speak but she cut across him, fiercer still, ‘Let me guess what you’re thinking now. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Only it’s not a tree, is it? The Truitts have a whole orchard. Misdemeanours. Warnings. Arrests. We’re all the same. Rotten to the core.’

‘You don’t know what I’m thinking. We’re talking about your brothers and you. And given how much you loathe being here with me, I’m guessing you must love them very much.’

Her eyes were storm dark but there was a tremble to her mouth that made his chest pinch because she was trying to hide her feelings and failing. Only he wasn’t sure if it was the trying or failing that felt like a blow.

‘I know how it looks but they’re not bad people. They just make bad decisions. I don’t expect you to understand,’ she said after a moment, as if she needed to manage her voice.

But he did understand. Tiger felt his chest tighten. He understood only too well.

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