Page 83 of 2 Books in One Bundle

You could fall in love with Orion.

The thought streaked through her brain like a comet streaking through the night sky, a brief burst of glowing light that she quickly shoved away. No, she wasn’t going to fall in love with Orion. Absolutely not. He didn’t love her and while that wasn’t necessary, she did want someone who’d stick around for the duration. And he definitely wouldn’t. He’d already told her that she was only here so he could get to the bottom of his fascination with her and then once he had, he’d move on.

Plus, he’d said that he hoped she’d find her family one day, obviously implying that it wouldn’t be with him. Which was fine. Absolutely fine. She didn’t want to be with someone who didn’t want her and didn’t want what she wanted.

Their marriage had to stand for a year, according to his promise, but after that she’d be free to find someone else. She didn’t know why that thought made her throat close up.

Orion shifted her head so it rested on his shoulder and then pointed out a few of the major constellations, murmuring softly in her ear.

‘Where’s your belt?’ she said, hoping to make him laugh.

And he did, a soft rumble in her ear. ‘Very funny.’

‘I bet you get that a lot.’

‘Not as much as you might think.’ His hands drifted over her beneath the water, undemanding and gentle.

The sky was black and deep above them, the stars glittering pinpricks of light.

Except she couldn’t concentrate on the sky, not when she was resting against his hot skin and his hands were on her, making her shiver and ache, making her long for something she couldn’t name.

‘Are you going to tell me any secrets?’ she asked him idly. ‘Or do I only get a fun itinerary of excursions?’

His hands stroked down her thighs. ‘Do you want secrets from me?’

She wasn’t sure why she was asking him about it. Probably because all her gifts to him seemed lame in comparison with volcano tours, skating and hot pools. Plus, he said he was fascinated with her and wanted to know her, but she wanted to know about him too. And he hadn’t told her much about himself.

‘I like what you’ve given me so far, don’t get me wrong,’ she said. ‘I’ve loved the volcano and the skating, and this pool is magical, but... You know quite a lot about me, but I don’t know anything about you apart from the fact that you were in the foster system.’

His hands slid up over her stomach and cupped her breasts. ‘I wasn’t aware you were interested in more than excursions.’

There was no heat in the words and yet she could sense a sudden tension in him. ‘Perhaps I am.’ She tried to sound as if she didn’t care one way or the other. ‘Perhaps I’d like to hear a couple of secrets. I can’t be the only one to give up mine.’

He didn’t say anything for a long moment. ‘That would constitute an extra present.’

‘I know, but I gave you an extra one yesterday,’ she pointed out. ‘A kissandme.’

His thumbs circled her nipples lazily. ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have something else?’

He was trying to distract her. Which meant that he didn’t want to tell her. So, did that mean he did have secrets? And did that also mean that they were painful? If his childhood hadn’t been easy then his life couldn’t have been, so maybe they were.

‘I might,’ she allowed, since she was starting to feel hot and it wasn’t just the water in the pool. ‘But I’d rather have a secret first.’

For a long moment he was silent. Then his hands dropped from her breasts and he slid an arm around her waist, bringing her over to the side of the pool where there was a stone seat beneath the water.

He sat her down on it and then sat beside her, tilting his head back as he stared up at the sky. ‘When I was sixteen I fell in love, and she fell pregnant unexpectedly. She came from a wealthy family, and I was just a sixteen-year-old foster kid working in a garage, and her family didn’t approve. When they found out about the pregnancy, they stopped me from seeing her, and when our son was born, they stopped me from seeing him too.’

Isla went very still. His voice was smooth and even, betraying no hint of his feelings. He said the words as if they’d happened a long, long time ago and to someone else.

‘I was furious, of course. When Cleo’s father told me I couldn’t see my son, that I wasn’t even named on his birth certificate, I took a baseball bat from home and smashed up his car with it. That naturally enough earned me a police warning and a non-molestation order.’

The breath went out of her, a soundless sigh of shock. Again, his face betrayed nothing but casual interest as he stared at the sky. But the fact that he was searching it so intently told her everything she needed to know.

This was painful for him. Terribly, exquisitely painful.

‘I swore that I’d get him back at some point,’ Orion went on. ‘When I had enough money and power, and about ten years ago, that’s exactly what I did. Or at least that’s what I intended to do.’

Isla realised she’d gone tense in the water, staring at him fascinated. ‘What happened?’ she asked, because something had. She hadn’t heard anything about him having a child.

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