Page 387 of The Black Trilogy

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

His face was wet against me as he broke, and we clung together as we tried to heal each other’s pain. Neither of us said a word. We didn’t need to.

Movement at the far end of the beach caught my eye, and I waved Marcie away. No, we didn’t need dinner, not right now. My appetite had deserted me, and Black’s would have too.

“Just take whatever you need,” I whispered to him.

Vanity had driven me to take my watch off, so I’m not sure how long we spent like that. Enough time for the sun to start its downwards descent, the horizon calling it in for the night.

Black moved first. He stood, still silent, and held out his hand. I put mine into it, and he led me across the beach, into the house, and up the stairs, all the way to the roof. That afternoon, as he curled up with me on our hidden sun lounger, his eyes were endless pools of darkness. I saw his pain, his hurt, and his sadness as he tried to lose himself in me.

And under it, there was something else.

Love.

Years ago, I’d doubted he could feel that emotion, but I knew the truth now.

We both did.

Once we were both lost, then we found each other, and now we’d each give ourselves to mend the other’s soul. It wouldn’t be an easy road, but we’d walk it together.

Until the day one of us died.

CHAPTER 33

LUKE WOKE WITH the same headache that had dogged him for the past week. The fear of Black finding out about him and Emmy was still very real although he’d won a brief reprieve. Because when he’d risked going downstairs the day after Akari had her baby, Emmy had disappeared again, and this time she’d taken Black with her.

Nate had been sitting at the kitchen counter when he found out. Black sent a text message saying Need some time to talk, back in a few days.

That was it.

Nate had read the message aloud, calmly set down his mug of coffee, then flung his phone across the table and put his head in his hands.

“Black’s taken a leaf out of Emmy’s book. She’s corrupted him.”

“They could probably do with a bit of space,” Carmen said, the voice of reason. “They’ve both been through a lot.”

“I suppose,” he’d grudgingly agreed. “An extra week won’t make much difference.”

At least they hadn’t completely disappeared like on previous occasions. After five days of wondering, Mack had tracked their phones to the Caribbean. Jed wheedled someone he knew into sending a satellite photo, and as he zoomed in, those clustered around the screen saw a tropical island several miles from the nearest land.

“Reckon that’s the place?” Jed asked.

“Definitely.” Mack pointed to one end of the beach.

Beside two sunbathing figures, someone had written “FOXTROT OSCAR” in giant letters in the sand.

“She knows us so well.”

Mack turned off the monitor. “Let’s leave them in peace.”

Emails went back and forth, and Black agreed to the Takedas temporarily moving into the guesthouse at the back of his property. Bradley flew into action, converting one of the three bedrooms into a nursery faster than Luke could iron a shirt.

Watching the man do his thing was something to behold. Emmy may have claimed he drove her up the wall, but Bradley could certainly organise stuff. In less than a day, he’d got a team of workmen in to make the cottage child-proof and install new furniture. Akari would sleep in the newly decorated nursery with the baby while her parents and brother took the other two bedrooms.

Kitty would be moving in with the Takedas too, much to Luke’s relief. He’d got used to the big cat now, but while it adored all the women in the house, it didn’t seem so keen on the men. Luke had been giving it a wide berth. Kitty also seemed quite taken with Emmy’s dog, Lucy, and the fact that a jaguar wandering through the house with a Doberman seemed quite normal now showed just how accustomed Luke had become to the crazy lives Emmy and her friends led.

Which was good, since it looked as if he and Mack would be staying at Riverley Hall for a while. The whole ceiling at Mack’s apartment needed replacing. Bradley was sorting that out, as well as the renovations on Emmy’s house, which had just been started. A lesser man might have had a breakdown, but Bradley simply donned a pair of sparkly dungarees and got on with things.

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