Page 24 of A Diamond for My Forbidden Bride

Valentin didn’t move, still lounging in his chair, yet the flames in his eyes leapt high. He was so fierce, so intense. So bright. He was the brightest thing I’d ever seen, and he still was.

‘Aren’t you, though? Isn’t that why you’re walking away?’ He put down his wine and shoved his chair back, getting to his feet in one smooth, powerful movement. ‘If I got close to you now, what would you do? Run away?’ He came towards me unhurriedly, as if he had all the time in the world. ‘Or stand your ground the way you used to?’

Something was bubbling up inside me, the fury I thought I’d put on a leash earlier that day. Fury at the impossible choice he’d given me, because walking away now would reveal far too much. Yet standing my ground was exactly what he wanted me to do.

It was all his talk of the past, of course. Somehow, he’d used that to reach inside me, bypassing my diamond armour and touching the soul of the girl I’d once been.

He’d manipulated me and I’d let him.

My father had always hated open, uncontrolled anger. It was a sign of weak character, he’d said. And, because I wasn’t weak I’d never got angry. I’d only gone cold.

But I wasn’t cold now. That fury was welling up inside me and I couldn’t control it. Fury at him for reminding me of who I’d once been, for taking those old yearnings and desires and making me want them again. For putting me in this impossible position, where I could be a coward, like my mother doing whatever my father told her.

And, most of all, fury at myself for allowing myself to let him do this to me.

He was still coming towards me and the edge of the jetty was near.

So I didn’t wait. I had to do something.

I took two steps, gave him a hard shove and pushed him off the edge into the sea.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Valentin

IKNEWWHATshe was going to do. If nothing else, those long summers on our beach had taught me that when Olivia was going to push me, shove me or throw something at me, she’d dart a glance round at her surroundings, as if to check no one was watching.

To be fair, I had been expecting another slap in the face, not a hard shove into the ocean—though, given how close the edge of the jetty was, I certainly should have predicted it. Especially when this wasn’t the first time she’d pushed me into the sea.

She used to do it quite regularly, as if she couldn’t help herself. I’d be innocently exploring some rock pools on our beach and out would come her arm, giving me a push. It was a game we’d played and, since it had made her laugh, and I’d loved making her laugh, I’d let her push me far more than was necessary.

She hadn’t even minded when I’d pulled her in too. In fact, she’d laughed the last time I’d done it.

She wasn’t laughing now, though, as I grabbed her just before I went over, a reflex I couldn’t stop. But then, perhaps I wouldn’t have stopped even if I could have. I wanted her to remember what we’d had together, all those bright days on the beach, playing and laughing together.

Domingo had policed the contact Constantine and I had had with other people. We hadn’t been allowed friends or acquaintances. But he’d relaxed his guard on our Caribbean holidays and so I’d been able to slip away to the beach.

Olivia had been my first and only friend and, despite all the years that had passed and all the things I’d done to get where I was now, she was still the only one.

She’d always be the only one.

The only one for me.

So I pulled her in with me and she shrieked in outrage as we fell into the sea, the water as warm as a bath. Her skirts wrapped around my legs and her hair was everywhere, and there was a moment where she was obviously struggling to orient herself.

I was an excellent swimmer, so I held her in my arms as I found my feet on the sandy ocean floor, taking care to make sure she didn’t swallow any water as we surfaced.

She was furious, yet her hands clutched onto my shoulders, as if holding on for dear life. Her eyes were brilliant in the flickering light from the candles in the hurricane lamps, sea water like jewels on her skin. Her hair streamed over her shoulders, the ends floating in long, silky skeins on the surface.

She was so beautiful, she stopped my heart.

Then she hit me hard on the shoulder. ‘You pulled me in. That was so unfair!’

She sounded just like she had all those years ago, when I’d won whatever game we’d been playing, often accusing me of being unfair or cheating. And sometimes I had been.

But her fury had been just as mesmerising to me as her laughter, so I did what I’d wanted to do so many times on that beach long ago.

I bent and covered her mouth with mine.

---