Page 382 of The Black Trilogy

Black wrapped his arms around me. “Diamond, I’m so sorry. I’ll fix everything when we get back. And what’s more, I’ll enjoy doing it. I suppose if something good’s come out of this, it’s the realisation I’m not genetically related to that woman.”

“We still need to talk about that, about who your real family might be. If you want to, that is.”

“Later. We’ll do all that later. I just want to enjoy being ‘us’ for a few days first, okay?”

That sounded great to me.

We jumped on board the Black Diamond, kicked off our shoes, and started exploring. I loved boats. Something about the way they were put together appealed to my inner sense of order. Basically, they were really expensive jigsaws.

Below were four double bedrooms, two with en-suites, and a separate bathroom. The main deck housed the galley plus a large salon and dining area. Oh good—someone had stocked the drinks cabinet. Behind the bridge on the top deck lay more seating and sunbeds. Tell me Bradley had remembered to pack my sunblock? Now that Black had washed the dirt off, he was super pale, and he wasn’t the only one who needed some colour.

The swim platform at the stern held a small zodiac boat, and when I poked around in the lockers beside it, I found a dive compressor and a full set of scuba gear. This holiday got better and better. I hadn’t dived since my accidental trip to Dahab earlier in the year, and I couldn’t wait to get back underwater.

I found Black poking around below decks, checking the bilge pumps and the seacocks. While others might look at the massive engines and wonder how fast the boat went, Black’s mind worked differently. As always, he wanted to know how he could disable the boat and sink it if necessary. Old habits died hard.

“Are we setting sail?” I asked.

Black’s answer was to toss me over his shoulder and carry me to the stateroom.

Two hours passed before we came up for air, and by then we were starving. So much for the whole sailing thing. We found a little cafe at the edge of the marina and ordered a lunch of fresh fish and grilled vegetables. Black ate two portions. He’d lost at least twenty kilos, and he needed to bulk up again.

“I guess the food wasn’t great in Colombia,” I said.

“Could have been better. There wasn’t a lot to do in my cell except exercise, so I stayed fit, but I also got hungry. Getting enough to eat was the problem, despite Akari’s best efforts.”

She’d kept him alive. That was what mattered. I reached out and squeezed both of his hands in mine, amazed my cherry red manicure had survived a gunfight intact. Whatever Bradley’s pet manicurist had put on my nails, they’d probably survive an atomic bomb.

“Are we having dessert?”

Black picked up the menu. “I could be tempted.

After lunch, I took a shower to rinse away the sticky remains of the chocolate gateaux Black had eaten off my stomach, while he studied the operating manual for the yacht. Typical. No sense of adventure.

“Ready?” I asked once I got back to the salon, flicking the damp ends of my hair over my shoulder.

He gave me a look. That look. One day into the new us, and I’d already become well acquainted with what it meant. I shook my head and pointed at the bridge. “No. We’re going sailing.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Mrs. Black.”

We eventually got around to taking the yacht for a sail. As neither of us had driven the thing before, Black hired a pilot to take us out of the marina then we were on our own.

“Have a good day, ma’am,” the pilot said as I waved him off.

“Oh, I will.”

Black steered while I sat on his lap, his arms reaching around me to the wheel. He punched coordinates into the navigation unit, and we headed out to sea.

“Are we going somewhere in particular?”

“It’s a surprise.”

Oh boy, another surprise. But the last few had been good, so I could live with that.

In fact, I still couldn’t believe I was here, with Black, closer than we ever were before. The yacht cut through the waves, and I pinched myself as I gazed at the crystal blue water twinkling on the horizon. Ouch.

“Stop that,” he growled in my ear.

“Stop what?”

---