“Did you know about the construction? Did you order it to begin?” she asked.
He sighed. “Do you want me to lie, Bryony? I won’t. I’ve been nothing but truthful to you. Yes, I ordered construction to begin. I would have started much sooner but my accident delayed me significantly. My investors are anxious. They want to see progress in return for the money they’ve shelled out.”
“You promised,” she choked out.
He ran a hand through his hair and wished he could make this go away. At least until they had matters between them sorted out.
“You know I can’t remember,” he said. “As far as I knew, the land was bought, the deal closed, the property to do with as I liked. There was nothing in the contract that stipulated how I could use the land. I wouldn’t have signed such a contract. The land is useless to me unless I develop it.”
Damn it. Why couldn’t he remember? Surely he wouldn’t have made her such a promise. It defied all logic. Why on earth would he have bought the land and promised not to develop it?
He closed the distance between them and slid his hand over her shoulder. She flinched and lifted her shoulder away, but he kept his hand against her skin.
“Bryony, again, I’m not doing this to hurt you. I don’t remember. You say I made you a promise, but I have no proof of that. What I do have is proof of sale. I have your signature on the closing documents as well as a copy of the bank draft issued to you from my bank.”
She turned to face him again, her eyes red-rimmed. She looked to be fighting tears with every bit of her power.
“I made it clear from the start that I wouldn’t sell to you unless you promised it wouldn’t be developed on a large scale. Obviously I can’t control what a new owner does with the land, but I’d hoped for something in keeping with the integrity of our community here. You looked me in the eye and you promised me that you had no such plans. That was a lie, Rafael. It’s an obvious lie because clearly you had investors lined up, plans drawn, a schedule planned. You yourself just said that your accident delayed the groundbreaking significantly.”
Rafael swore because one of them had to be lying and he didn’t want it to be him. He didn’t want it to be her.
“Damn it, Bryony, I refuse to feel guilt for something I can’t remember.”
“We should get some sleep,” she said dully. “There’s little point in arguing over this when we’re both tired and I’m upset. I’ll show you to the guest room. It has its own bathroom. There are towels and soap, everything you should need.”
And just like that, she was dismissing him. She’d withdrawn and he was treated to the cold, angry woman she’d been the first night in New York when she’d confronted him at his event.
He drew in a breath, feeling like a fool for what he was about to say, but it rushed out before he could think better of it, before he could question his sanity.
“I’ll put a temporary halt to construction. Tomorrow. I’ll go to the site myself. Until we sort things out between us and I regain my memory, I’ll halt the groundbreaking.”
She blinked in surprise, her mouth forming a silent O. From all appearances it was the last thing she’d expected him to say, and he was suddenly glad of it. Fiercely glad that he’d caught her off guard.
“Really?”
He nodded. “I’d go tonight but no one will be at the site and I have no idea where they’re staying, but if I’m there at dawn in the morning, I’ll make sure nothing is done until I give the okay to begin.”
Once again she surprised him by launching herself into his arms and hugging him so tight he struggled to breathe. For such a small woman, she possessed amazing strength.
“Every time I think you’ve let me down, you do something to completely change my mind,” she whispered fiercely. “Every time I think I’ve lost the Rafael I fell in love with, you do something to make me realize he’s still there and I just have to find him again.”
He wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. As if he was some sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hell, maybe he was crazy. It was the only explanation behind the past few months of his life.
Most men bought a flashy sports car, had an affair or hooked up with a girl barely out of school in their midlife crisis. Apparently he did bizarre things like fall in love and throw away a multimillion-dollar deal.
Ryan, Dev and Cam were going to kill him.
“You did what?”
Rafael held the phone away from his ear and winced at the string of expletives that flooded the airways.
“I’m coming down there. We all are,” Devon said. “This is precisely what I was afraid of happening. You get down there and she has you by the balls. Make me the bad guy. I don’t care, but construction has to begin immediately. We’re already months behind schedule.”
Rafael paced back and forth over the slight bluff overlooking the beach while Bryony waited in the car. The crew hadn’t been happy that they were being asked to stand down, until Rafael informed them they’d be paid full wages during the temporary layoff. He’d stressed temporary and hoped like hell that he would have this resolved in a few days’ time.
He didn’t offer that little tidbit to Devon. Devon would really lose his composure if he knew Rafael was footing the bill for a crew of construction workers to sit around and enjoy beach life for the next few days.
“You stay your ass in New York,” Rafael said. “I don’t need you and Cam and Ryan to babysit me. It’s the right thing to do, Devon. Until I know what the hell I promised or didn’t promise or whatever else happened while I was down here the first time, the right thing to do is wait.”
“Since when have you ever been concerned with doing the right thing?” Devon asked incredulously. “We’re talking about the king of get-it-done, it’s business, not personal, whatever it takes, score the deal. Are you getting soft in your old age or has she messed with your head so much that you no longer know up from down?”
Rafael scowled. “You make me sound like a complete bastard.”
“Yeah, well, you are. Why should that bother you now? It’s what’s made you so successful. Don’t go growing a conscience on me now.”
Rafael frowned even harder. “What do you know about this deal, Devon? What aren’t you telling me?”
There was a long silence. And then his friend said, “Look, I don’t know what happened down there. What I do know is that before you left New York, you said quite clearly that you’d come back with a signed bill of sale and you didn’t give a damn what you had to do to achieve it.”
“Son of a bitch,” Rafael muttered. “That’s not helping my case here.”
“Why do you want it to help your case? You’ve got the land. You’ve got our investors on board. The only thing standing in our way right now is you.”
Rafael stared back at the car to see that Bryony had gotten out and leaned against the door. Her hair blew in the morning breeze and it was a little chilly. She hadn’t worn a sweater.
“Yeah, well, for now I’m not moving,” he said quietly. “I’ll accept full responsibility for this.”
“Damn right you will,” Devon said in disgust. “We’ve all made sacrifices, Rafael. We’re on the verge