Juliet swallowed hard, her glow fading slightly at his mention of ‘the last time we spoke’; that conversation had concerned Simon too, and he was at last buried in the depths of her memories.
She looked at Liam frowningly. ‘Why were you looking for me at all?’ She sounded puzzled. ‘I thought we had said all that had to be said.’
‘I had said what I thought needed to be said,’ he acknowledged self-deprecatingly. ‘God, Juliet—’ He broke off abruptly after she took a step backwards as he moved forcefully towards her. ‘I would never hurt you.’ He sighed softly as he saw her instinctive reaction. ‘You’ve been hurt enough already!’
She moistened her lips. ‘Then why are you here?’
‘Certainly not to hurt you!’ he groaned. ‘Don’t you understand, Juliet?’ He ran an agitated hand through the thickness of his hair. ‘I never really wanted to hurt you. Oh, I know that I did,’ he admitted heavily at her sceptical expression. ‘That I was damned cruel to you at times. But I was falling in love with the very last woman on earth I thought I should ever care about!’
She swallowed hard, sure that she must have misunderstood him; Liam couldn’t possibly have just said that he loved her. He couldn’t have done!
He looked about them impatiently. ‘Juliet, could we get off this very public beach and go somewhere where we can talk privately?’ he said feelingly.
She was still reeling from what he had said a minute ago. Liam loved her?
‘Juliet?’ he prompted uncertainly at her lack of response.
Of course they could get off this beach; if Liam was going to tell her again that he loved her, they could go anywhere he wanted them to!
‘My suite?’ she suggested breathlessly, unable to take her eyes off him—possibly because some part of her was still not convinced that he was actually here, certainly not that he was telling her he loved her!
He nodded abruptly. ‘I haven’t had a chance to book in yet, so that will be perfect.’ The two of them turned to walk side by side to the hotel a short distance away, not touching, but both very aware of the other.
Juliet had managed to book one of the groundfloor suites this time, so she was able to let them in without actually going inside the hotel itself. ‘Would you like a drink?’ She offered him a choice from the fridge-bar.
‘Maybe in a few minutes.’ His gaze remained fixed on her healthily tanned face. ‘If you haven’t thrown me out by then,’ he added ruefully.
She frowned. ‘Why would I do that?’
He drew in a ragged breath. ‘I’ve said some pretty awful things to you—’
‘With justification, I think,’ Juliet interrupted firmly. ‘The situation, as it stood, looked very damning. You—’
‘I could have tried listening more, instead of jumping to conclusions,’ he cut in with selfcontempt.
‘I don’t think so,’ she said comfortingly. ‘I was engaged to your brother, lived with your father after Simon’s death, inherited a house and half a business on his death; I think you may have been justified in the conclusions you came up with!’ She had thought about it a lot over the last ten days; what other conclusion could Liam have come to, in the circumstances, than the one he had?
Liam grimaced. ‘Don’t let me off the hook too easily, Juliet,’ he sighed. ‘As Diana has told me, only too volubly, I deserve any verbal abuse you may want to throw at me.’
Juliet stiffened at the mention of the other woman’s name; she had briefly forgotten Liam’s involvement with her. What difference did it make if he loved her when he was committed to the other woman?
‘How is Diana?’ she asked coolly.
‘Not too well.’ Liam frowned. ‘The doctor has ordered her to stay in bed for a couple of weeks.’
Juliet moistened dry lips. ‘I see.’
‘She told you about the baby?’ he prompted.
‘Not exactly,’ Juliet answered evasively, not particularly wanting to get involved in a conversation in which she would have to admit to having inadvertently eavesdropped on something that was none of her business.
Liam shrugged. ‘Tom is damned furious about the whole thing, which isn’t helping the situation,’ He shook his head.
Juliet stared at him incredulously. ‘Doesn’t he have a right to be furious?’ she gasped. After all, Tom’s wife was pregnant with another man’s baby—this man’s baby!
Liam pulled a face. ‘Not particularly, no. After all, he was there too; she didn’t do it all on her own.’
She frowned. Was it her, or had the conversation taken a turn she just wasn’t expecting?
She shook her head. ‘You’ve lost me somewhere, Liam.’ She sat down in one of the armchairs, sure that this was going to be a long conversation, and she had no intention of standing through all of it.
Liam sat down too, across the room from her. ‘Tom and Diana decided years ago that they wouldn’t have children. But somehow three months ago Diana’s pills let her down, and now she’s pregnant after all. But if she takes it easy, looks after herself and the baby, things should go OK.
‘Tom is panicking because of what happened in the past. I’ve tried to reassure him, but he remembers what happened to Becky only too well.’ He sighed. ‘There’s no reason why it should happen again, but I don’t suppose he can help worrying.’
No, it wasn’t her; she really didn’t know what this conversation was about! ‘Who is Becky?’ she prompted impatiently.
‘Diana’s sister. My wife,’ he added as Juliet still looked blank. ‘She died in childbirth four years ago. And the baby was stillborn.’
Juliet just stared at him. And stared at him. And stared at him. She knew he had been married—he had told her so—but she hadn’t known it was to Diana’s sister, or that his wife had actually died. She had a lighting replay of that conversation she had heard between Diana and Liam, and it suddenly made a different sort of sense. Liam wasn’t having an affair with Diana at all, and the baby certainly wasn’t his; he just happened to be a member of her family, and was concerned for her and her husband. And their unborn baby.
Which wasn’t surprising when his own wife and baby had died. God, how awful for him. Her own past losses had been bad enough, but to have lost both his wife and the baby…! It must have been terrible for him. Probably still was.
‘I didn’t know…’ Juliet said weakly.
‘There’s no reason why you should.’ Liam shrugged, obviously still finding it a painful subject. ‘It was some time ago, and isn’t something I particularly want to talk about. It’s just a pity that it’s affecting Diana and Tom’s joy over their own baby.’
‘Everything will be all right, though, won’t it?’ Juliet said concernedly; she had come to like the other woman in the short time she had known her.
‘I’m sure it will, once Tom gets over the shock.’ He nodded. ‘In the meantime, I’m looking for a new personal assistant,’ he added slowly, uncertainly. ‘And as Diana pointed out to me, during one of her less verbally condemning moments, I do know someone who is more than ably qualified.’ He gave her a pointed look.
Juliet blinked, returning his gaze warily. ‘Me?’
‘Mmm,’ he acknowledged softly. ‘The benefits are that the salary is good and you would have lots of time off; I work hard, but I play hard too. But there is one major drawback,’ he added heavily.
Juliet