Ellie Darkins – Falling Again For Her Island Fling (страница 4)

Seven years. That was how long it had been since he had seen her. And yet he couldn’t see any sign of it on her face. Her cheeks, rosy beneath the warm bronze-brown of her skin, were still the smooth apples that he remembered. Her eyes were as golden and as full of challenge as they had been then.

What would she think of him, he wondered, if she remembered the man—boy—he had been? Would she find him much changed? His body was no softer—he had worked hard to ensure that. His heart, however, was harder—she was responsible for that. He shook his head. That wasn’t fair. He couldn’t entirely blame her for the way he had behaved after they had broken up. He had to carry that alone.

He held her gaze for a moment longer. He needed to know that she had seen him—really seen him. To give her one last chance to recognise him. To remember.

The blush faded from her cheeks as he refused to look away and her expression changed. He didn’t know her well enough any more to guess what she was thinking. But in that moment it wasn’t indifference. Curiosity, maybe. Desire. Did he want that? Would this feel better if she wanted him? If he was the one to walk away this time? Probably not, he conceded.

Anyway, those wounds had healed a long time ago, he told himself. He didn’t need them to be reopened. ‘So, goodbye, then,’ he said, and turned from her, walking back towards his speedboat, knowing this would be the last time that he saw her. It had to be.

CHAPTER TWO

‘COME IN.’

Guy glanced at the schedule on the computer monitor; he wasn’t expecting a meeting and the knock on the door had taken him by surprise. In fact, he hadn’t been expecting still to be on the island at all, but the search for a replacement project manager was proving to be more difficult than he had hoped. He’d already delayed his departure from the island by a fortnight, and the replacement that he’d hired couldn’t fly out for another week at the earliest. Guy was going to have to get the environmental permissions he needed before he could get back to Sydney. Whoever was at the door had better be quick. He had three days’ worth of work to do that evening. The last thing he needed was an unscheduled five o’clock meeting.

In the promotional brochures he’d had mocked up, he’d billed his island as paradise. But most of what he’d seen of the country in the last two weeks was the inside of its government buildings and his air-conditioned office. He could have been in the offices of any of his corporate buildings for all he’d seen of the local environment.

The door opened and he glanced up; his body registered her presence before his brain did. Before her name formed on his lips, his heart was beating wildly in his chest and there was a tightness, low in his belly, that seemed a response unique to being close to her.

‘Meena, what are you doing here?’

Way to play it cool, he chastised himself, angry that she still had that hold over him, the ability to make him say what he was thinking without any regard for whether it was a good idea. When they’d been younger, it had felt like a blessing: their mutual honesty helping them past the barrier of dive instructor and pupil. Past the social conventions of a conservative culture and into the realms of something much more personal.

‘Your environmental reports,’ she replied, her brow furrowed into a curious expression. ‘I emailed them over to Dev and he told me you’d want me to come and talk through my findings in person.’

‘And why is that?’ he asked, wondering why his assistant had thought that another meeting would be the way to cap off today. ‘Never mind. Just give me the highlights.’ He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. The last thing this project needed was more delays.

‘Well, the headline is, I’m not giving the approval for your permits.’

Guy sighed, leaned forward again, rested his elbows on his desk and gestured towards the chair opposite, inviting her to take a seat.

‘Why not? What’s the problem?’

She crossed to his desk and laid out the paperwork in front of him. ‘The main problem right now is that the reef won’t withstand an increase in boat traffic or sedimentation from the building work. There’s been extensive bleaching and it needs to be stabilised and then an ongoing regeneration plan put in place.’

He gritted his teeth. Ongoing. ‘Ongoing’ wasn’t a word he wanted to hear in the context of this development, and not from Meena of all people.

‘Anything else?’

‘There’s still no sign of hatchlings from the possible turtle nesting site. We need to wait out the incubation period and see what we’re dealing with before I could give the go-ahead.’

‘How much time are we looking at?’

‘A couple more wee—’

‘Unacceptable,’ he interrupted. ‘This needs to be wrapped up within a week maximum, Miss Bappoo. I can’t leave the island until they’re done, and I need to get back to Sydney.’

‘With all due respect, that isn’t for you to say,’ she replied, crossing her arms. ‘This will take as long as it takes. It’s not something you hurry. It’s not something you can hurry. This is my call.’

He looked at her, assessing. Was she doing this on purpose? he wondered. Because of their past? And then he had to remind himself that she didn’t even remember their past. She wasn’t angry with him. She didn’t feel anything for him. He envied her ignorance. He wished that he could see this as she undoubtedly did: a simple business matter with no personal feelings involved.

‘That’s not good enough,’ he stated, leaning back in his chair.

She mirrored him, implacable. He remembered that look and he knew that it meant that there was no changing her mind. ‘Unfortunately for you, your feelings on the matter aren’t a criterion in my report.’

He shook his head. A standoff wasn’t going to get them anywhere fast. Cooperation was the only way that he was going to get this project moving again. ‘Tell me what I can do to make this happen faster.’

He saw his more relaxed demeanour soften her. ‘You can stop asking questions like that for a start,’ Meena said. ‘Faster isn’t the aim here; environmental conservation is. I’m not letting this island come to harm because you want to throw your hotel up faster.’

‘I’m not throwing anything,’ he retorted. ‘And you say that like you think I want to cause harm. I don’t; that’s why you’re here.’

‘Good to know. I’ll note it in the report.’

He paused. ‘Meena, I...’

She was doing all this to protect the island. Their island. The tiny speck of sand and rock in the Indian Ocean. Could it be that she remembered it? That that was why she was being so fiercely protective of it? The thought warmed him somewhere deep but he shook off the feeling. That wasn’t what this was about. She didn’t remember him. She didn’t remember anything about who they had been to each other.

‘Look,’ Guy said. ‘I want this application to go through and I have no interest in doing any harm to Le Bijou,’ he lied. ‘Tell me what I need to do to make that happen.’

She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him. ‘You really want to do this right?’

He nodded. ‘I really do.’

‘Then you need a marine biologist on your team once building starts. Someone to ensure you are considering environmental impacts at every stage. You need short-term and long-term sustainability plans, and someone to hold you to account.’

He gave an ironic smile. ‘You seem to be doing a pretty good job of that.’

‘For now.’ She smiled back. ‘But my job’s done when the reports are completed. This island needs a permanent guardian.’

‘You’re right. And you’re perfect for the job.’

As he said the words he knew that it was true. Much as he hated to admit it, she would be the perfect person to make sure that the island was protected through the building of the resort, and after. And once his new project manager started he would be gone and he wouldn’t have to see her again. If this was what it took to get the permits approved, he would do it. He could see from her face that she was surprised by the offer nonetheless.

‘I have a job,’ she said abruptly.

‘True.’ He shrugged. ‘But here’s the offer of another. Because you’re right. An in-house marine biologist should always have been a part of the plan. I think this offer shows how serious I am about getting these permits. Your report proves you know what you’re doing. And you love the island.’ He knew what love looked like on her. He had seen it before. He remembered lying on that beach, seeing her look at him and knowing—knowing—that she loved him. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve it then. He knew that he didn’t deserve it now.

Which was why it was such a spectacularly bad idea to offer her the job. He should be putting as much distance between them as he could right now. Not creating yet another bond.

It was fine, he reminded himself. As soon as he had a replacement project manager in place, he would be leaving this island and not coming back. In his headquarters in Sydney, he would have no more contact with Meena than with thousands of his other employees and contractors. She wouldn’t be his problem any more. Wouldn’t be in his life any more.