Page 68 of Suddenly Tempted
Devlin glanced at Claudia, her smug smile making him feel sick. All he had to do was agree with her story, tell the reporters that he still loved her. Then he could get out of here and get on with his life.
His sad, lonely, emotionless life.
“I had a reason to come back,” he said again, faltering.
He looked down to collect his thoughts, and that’s when he noticed the card in his hand. The edges were slightly crumpled from where he had been gripping it without realising. His eyes fell on the red hearts and the queen’s crown and around the edge were small, neat letters — just six simple words.
I’m not afraid of adventures anymore.
A jolt of electricity flowed through him as he understood who had left it. He scanned the crowd, searching for Darcy, but there was no sign of her. She had already disappeared into the sea of faces.
He glanced down at the note again, reading those six words, knowing instantly what she was telling him. And if Darcy wasn’t afraid any more, then why should he be? He folded the paper up, sliding it into the pocket of his suit jacket. He felt lighter, freer. As if he had crawled back beneath the blanket in the cabin where they had spent their first night together, the fire roaring. The chill he’d felt since waking began to melt from his bones, his body thawing.
He sat up straighter, his heart steady, and the bitterness of the cold faded. He was ready.
“Let me tell you all a story,” he said, his voice louder than before, full of the strength that Darcy had given him. “Let me tell you a story about a man called Devlin Storm.”
The reporter nodded, everyone in the crowd pointing their cameras and cell phones at him. Claudia clutched his hand even harder, her nails digging into his skin.
“This man, he isn’t the man you think he is. He has a reputation for arrogance, for selfishness, for causing trouble. And he deserves that reputation, sure.”
“Devlin,” said Claudia with a beaming smile. “They were asking about me and you.”
“I’m getting to that,” Devlin said. “But I need to say this first. That man . . . He’s a lie.”
Small gasps rose from the crowd.
“What are you doing?” Claudia hissed.
“I’m not this arrogant, impulsive man I’ve made myself out to be,” he went on, ignoring her. “I became him because it was easier being alone where no one could sell my stories to the highest bidder.” Devlin glanced at Claudia before continuing. “But in doing that, I forgot how to trust people, I forgot how to let people in. And I forgot how to love.”
“But now you’ve remembered,” said Claudia, her voice full of desperation. “You’ve remembered that you love me. Coming so close to death in the mountains, it was inevitable really.”
“Claudia is right,” Devlin said, and he felt her hand relax a little. “Coming so close to death in the mountains did make me remember something. It made me remember the man I used to be, made me remember the things that I used to find important. I . . .”
He had to pause, feeling overwhelmed. He searched the crowd again for Darcy, but there were just too many people.
“I went into the mountains to scatter my mum’s ashes,” he said, taking a breath. “Many of you will know she died a few weeks ago, and she wanted to be laid to rest there. I kept that part quiet because it’s private, but also, to the world, I was this unfeeling giant of fashion and it didn’t fit the picture you all had of me.”
The formal garden was perfectly quiet, everybody waiting to see what he was going to say next.
“And Claudia was right about something else,” he said. “Being out there, nearly dying, I did fall in love again.”
He pulled his hand away quickly, before Claudia could react.
“Just not with her.”
Chapter 39
DARCY
The crowd broke into such a cacophony of chatter that Darcy couldn’t be sure she’d heard Devlin right. The voices from the radio meshed with the thrum of the car’s tyres on the road, and for a moment, everything felt distant, surreal. Her heart was racing, her fingers gripping the edge of her seat as if bracing herself for whatever came next.
“Can you turn it up?” she asked, and the driver obliged.
With a quick twist of the dial Devlin’s voice blasted from the speakers, clear and strong, pulling her back. She closed her eyes, picturing him there in front of that army of reporters, letting his words wash over her.
Be strong, she thought.
