The Holiday (10 page)

He loved
her
.

His heart full in a way he'd
never felt before, he slowed them down. He accepted the frenzied kiss she gave
him and deepened it, slowing it. She gasped into his mouth, clutching him.

He felt it—how much she
needed him. He needed her too. He undressed her, faster than usual, taking off
every last scrap of clothing for a change, until she lay under him completely
bared to him. The bright light filtered into the room, making her look luminous
and golden, a sun goddess.
His
sun
goddess.

"It's bright in here,"
she said, as though reading his mind.

"I like it. The better to
see you."

She laughed. "You sound like
the big bad wolf."

"I'm not bad, but I
am
planning on eating you up." He
quickly shoved his own clothing off, put on a condom, and covered her.
"First things first though."

And he slid in to the hilt.

"Just like that," she
murmured, her nails biting into his shoulders as she arched her back to meet
him.

He curled his hand in her hair,
holding her close, watching her eyes glaze over with each thrust. Slowing even
more, he murmured wicked things to her, keeping her gaze so she knew it was
him.

She did, and they came together.
After, she held him close, their hearts pounding together. It was a feeling he
wanted to feel forever.

Lifting his head, still feeling
shocks of pleasure, he looked at her. His heart squeezed and before he could
stop himself he blurted, "Marry me, Leilani."

Her eyes flew open. In her face,
he didn't see the love he felt in his chest. He saw fear and panic.

His heart sank. She was going to
say no.

Leilani lay panting on the cover
of the fluffy pink bed. She'd never been made love to like that—words
defied the passion. If she had to pick a painting to describe it, she would
have selected Chagall's "Lovers in a Red Sky."

It made her uncomfortable.

Wasn't a holiday fling supposed
to be hot and anonymous? Because there wasn't anything hot or anonymous about sex
with Colin. It was slow and deliberate and in the open. They didn't usually
have sex in such bright lighting.

She chided herself. She was overreacting,
and she blamed Mary's latest email. Aaron's mom had been emailing her regularly
since she'd arrived in London, but the past few days the number of emails
requiring her "immediate attention" had risen. Leilani had been
largely ignoring them, sending brief, noncommittal replies.

Today's email was dipped in guilt
and topped with a sprinkle of shame. Mary demoted Leilani from spokesperson to
announcer, assuming Leilani would return for the event. Leilani answered with a vague, noncommittal reply.

She felt Colin shift, but she
held him tight, keeping his weight on her. She liked it there, and she also
liked that he was mindful enough of her to not want to crush her. He was easy
to be with, and she appreciated that.

"Marry me, Leilani," he
said softly but firmly.

Her eyes flew open. The niggling
feeling of discomfort became panic at the look in his eyes.

His expression sobered, and he
sat up, muttering a curse under his breath. He raked his hair back. "I
didn't mean for it to come out like that."

She pulled the comforter from the
side and wrapped it around her body. "You didn't mean to ask me?"

"I didn't mean to say it so
inelegantly." He got up from the bed and went to his bag. "It was the
heat of the moment that made me rush into it."

"Oh. Good." She relaxed
a little. She could understand impulses—that was what this affair was,
after all. But she liked what they had. She didn't want to complicate it when
it was perfect this way.

He came back to the bed, kneeling
next to her and taking her hand. "I'd planned on a nice dinner and wine
and candles, and I was going to have this ready to give you."

She froze when she saw the little
velvet box he held in his free hand. Her heart bottomed out, and her breath
stuck in her throat.

He opened the box and took out
the ring. "I was going to do it romantic and smoothly, but I've bungled
it. Still, the thought has to count for something," he said as he slipped
the ring on her finger and kissed her hand.

She looked down at her hand in
horror.

"It's a blue diamond. Rare
and lovely, just like you. It reminded me of your beautiful eyes." He
paused, hesitating. "It's a family heirloom, but we can change the
setting. Or you can pick a different ring if you'd like."

She shook her head. It was
beautiful, a large Robin's egg stone sitting in a delicate platinum bed that
looked like entwined vines. Anyone who'd want to reset this ring was insane.

She swallowed, unable to stop
staring at it. With each thud of her heart, she held the panic in. She didn't
want this. She only wanted a holiday fling.

Colin cleared his throat. "I
sprang this on you. Don't answer me now. Think about it first."

She nodded, because she couldn't
say anything else. She'd give the ring back and think of a way to let him down
gently.

Only it wouldn't budge.

She struggled to pull it off, but
it gripped her like a noose.

He put a calm hand over hers.
"Keep it for now. Test it out. See how you feel about it. We can discuss
it in time."

She didn't want to discuss it.
She'd wanted a fling, and this felt like a betrayal of their agreement. But she
couldn't bear to see him look any more disappointed than he did then, so she
nodded. Easing away from him, she tried to smile brightly as she opened the
window to let air in. "Are you hungry? I'm hungry. I'll take a shower and
then maybe we can go down for tea."

He smiled faintly and nodded, but
the look in his eyes broke her heart.

Ducking her head so she wouldn't
see the havoc she'd wreaked with his heart, she hurried to the bathroom and
closed the door behind her. She looked down at the ring.

It was completely different from
the ring Aaron had given her. This was a beacon, a visual claiming of her
person.

She soaped her hand and tugged at
it. This time it slipped right off. She waited for the relief to flood her, but
all she felt was the walls closing in on her.

"Take this."

Leilani looked at the glass Mel
shoved in her face. It contained a dark liquid, on ice. "What is it?"

"Scotch."

Closing her laptop, she took the
glass, sniffed, and immediately made a face. "It smells like
medicine."

"That's a good way to think
of it. Scotch cures what ails you." Mel sipped from her own glass, her
gaze never leaving Leilani's face.

She took a tiny sip and grimaced.
"That's vile."

Her friend arched her brow.
"Somewhat like your mood."

"I'm sorry." She
sighed.

The British woman threaded her
arm through Leilani's and guided her toward the white couch area in the center
of the gallery. "Come tell Auntie Mel what's on your mind. You should have
come back from your weekend in Bath rested and glowing. You were happy when
Colin picked you up Friday, but now something's obviously wrong. Didn't you
have a good time?"

Leilani put her hand over the
ring, hidden in her pocket, and tried not to hyperventilate. "It was
nice."

"You'll have to work on your
enthusiasm, love."

She sighed again. "Can I
tell you the truth?"

"Yes," Mel answered
unequivocally.

"It was awkward and
uncomfortable."

Mel frowned. "Did Colin do
something to upset you?"

"
Yes
." She reached into her pocket and held out the ring.

Mel blinked. "Christ
Almighty. That's the Sea Pirate's Diamond."

"A pirate owned this?"

"Acquired might be the more
appropriate word. When a family's as old as Colin's or mine, there's bound to
be a couple questionable characters in the family tree. The Melbourne family
boasts a pirate. Myth has it he
procured
that diamond for his one true love."

"Did they get married?"

"No, she broke his
heart."

"Oh." Leilani frowned
at the ring. "I don't see how I can break Colin's heart. We barely know
each other."

"And yet he gave you one of
the most infamous jewels in his family's coffers?" Mel gave her a
disbelieving look.

A lesser person would have
cowered under that look, but she had righteous indignation on her side.
"He didn't say anything about love."

"That man is beyond clueless
at times. Did you know he wanted to get a Yorkshire terrier? A man can't own a
Yorkshire terrier himself," Mel explained. "He can walk his
significant other's Yorkshire terrier, but he can't be single
and
own one himself. That fairly
guarantees that he'll never get shagged again."

She gave up trying to follow Mel
and drank some of the scotch. Smoky and dark, it burned all the way down and
brought tears to her eyes.

Mel lifted her foot and rubbed at
a scuff on her shoe. "I take it you didn't accept Colin's unquestionably
haphazard proposal."

"No." Leilani felt a
renewed stab of guilt, remembering the sad look that had haunted his expression
the rest of the weekend.

"You don't love him."

She opened her mouth to declare
that she did.

Startled, she abruptly closed her
mouth. She couldn't love him. This was an escapade, pure and simple. She
supposed she couldn't blame Colin for proposing if even she was getting sex and
love mixed up in her head.

"Well?" Mel prompted.
"Do you love him or not?"

She couldn't say no. She rubbed
her solar plexus, trying to breathe. Then she knocked back the rest of the
scotch, coughing as it choked her. "I don't know," she sputtered.

Arching her brow, Mel took an
elegant sip from her glass. "It's an easy question, with a simple
yes
or
no
answer."

"I just wanted a holiday
fling. I've been engaged to Aaron forever and—"

"But you're no longer
engaged."

"That's not what everyone
else thinks."

"What everyone else thinks
doesn't matter. What you think is the important thing here. Do you think you're
still engaged to him?"

She shook her head. "I don't
think I was ever really engaged to Aaron."

"Then that's not the issue,
is it?"

"No, it's not." She
frowned.

"The issue is Colin."
Mel leaned in and whispered, as though someone might hear them. "Is he
awful in bed?"

"
No.
" She tried to hide her blush with her hair. "Not at
all."

"Then what's wrong with
him?"

"Nothing. He's pretty much
perfect. This has nothing to do with Colin and everything to do with me."

"Exactly." Mel eyed her
shrewdly. "What do you want?"

She shook her head. "I have
no idea."

"I bet you do, but you're
afraid to voice it because you think it's impossible." Mel sat back and
crossed her legs. One foot pumped up and down restlessly. "Colin is
thirty-five years old. Do you know how many women he's proposed to in his
life?"

"How many?" she asked,
trying to push aside the sudden flare of jealousy.

"One.
You
." Mel sat quietly while she digested that. Then she said,
"I, for one, am all for you marrying him."

"Why?"

"He's my best friend and I
know that if you're with him I'll still see him. With another woman, that's not
a given. There's the added bonus that I genuinely like you. Marry him and stay
here. We'll join forces." She sat up, an unholy light blazing in her eyes.
"A gallery here, one in Maui, and maybe one in New York. With you here, I
could travel more. We'll share profits fifty-fifty, of course." She
gasped. "What a brilliant idea, I must say."

Leilani smiled. "It
is."

Mel grasped her free hand.
"Say you'll think about it. Even if you decide not to marry Colin, and let
me just say you'd be daft not to, stay and go into business with me."

"My family is in Maui."

Mel shrugged. "So go back
and see them every month if you want. I won't stop you. But let me just say you
were the one who was gagging to get away from them."

That was true. She frowned.

Mel went in for the kill.
"Here no one knows you. You don't belong to Aaron here. You'd have a fresh
start, with the bonus of having an established name behind you. Even if you
don't stay with Colin, and let me reiterate that that'd be an incredibly poor
decision, no man here will see you for anything but what you are, a successful,
exotic beauty."

She smiled. "You're very persuasive."

"I'm in sales. I sell people
on what they need."

"They need art?"

"You of all people know they
do."

It was true. She often said
people needed more beauty in their lives. "I'll think about it all."

"And then you'll say yes,"
Mel said confidently. Unspoken but there nonetheless was an implied
to Colin
.

What if she did say yes? Part of
her didn't want to ever be another man's fiancé. Part of her wondered what it'd
be like to be Colin's.

"Think about it, but not too
long." Mel flashed her a smile and patted her arm as she stood. "Take
the rest of the day off. Go home and take a bath. The state you're in you're
liable to put the Alice Wording painting next to Peter Larraby's, and that'd be
a tragedy."

"The paintings clash?"

"No, the artists do. They
dated once upon a time, apparently very badly. It'd make for a memorable
opening though, wouldn't it? Fireworks of a different sort."

Fireworks made her think of
Colin. She looked at her glass, wishing she had more of the vile stuff.

The day dragged on forever. By
the end of the workday, Colin was more than ready for his dog and a pint. The
better to wallow with.