‘Oh, yes,’ he said softly. ‘We’ll know. Perhaps we already know. But things get in the way. If we let them.’
‘If we let them it’s because there’s no choice,’ she said gently.
‘Then we’ll have to wait and find out.’
She nodded, meeting his eyes directly. It felt good to be here, talking in a mysterious way that might mean something or might not. That would be decided in another world.
Neither of them realised that they were being watched from a window on the second floor of the hotel. Absorbed in each other, they didn’t glance up, but began to walk along the river, hand in hand, until they were out of sight.
‘Oh, that’s lovely,’ Janine said, drawing back from the window. ‘They look so right together.’
‘Of course they’re right together,’ Amos said. ‘I’ve always said so, but nobody would listen to me.’ He gave a deep, self-satisfied sigh. ‘I knew it would work.’
‘Knew what would work?’
‘Getting Freya out here.’
‘She came out to look after you because you were unwell.’
‘That’s what I wanted everyone to think, but there was nothing really wrong with me. I was sure that once she was here they’d get together at last.’
‘Nothing wrong with you?’ Janine repeated slowly. ‘All those breathless attacks—’
‘They weren’t difficult to stage. I did it to make you both come out here. I knew they’d have to spend a lot of time together.’ He gave a rich chuckle. ‘And it worked. Oh, come on, don’t look at me like that. You know I occasionally bend the facts a little.’
‘A little?’ she breathed. ‘This wasn’t a little. It was a massive deceit.’
‘But it was for a good cause. Wouldn’t you like to see them married?’
‘Yes—if it’s what they both want. But not just because they were manipulated.’
‘All I did was give them the chance to be together. Was that wrong?’
‘No,’ Janine said. ‘But you could have confided in me. If you’d told me that your illness was only a pretence—let me be part of it—if only you’d trusted me enough to do that. But you shut me out. Do you know how I’ve felt since I thought you were ill again? I’ve lain awake at night, worrying about you. It never once crossed my mind that the whole thing was an act to get your own way.’
She seemed to pull herself up short, and a new, harder note came into her voice.
‘But perhaps it should have done. As you say, I know what you’re like. I know you don’t have a conscience about how you make everyone jump to do your bidding. I even know about how you tried to order Dan to stay away from Freya.’
Amos raised his head to gaze at her with a mixture of astonishment and dismay. For once in his life words did not come easily.
‘Yes,’ he mumbled. ‘Well—’
Janine regarded him curiously. ‘Is that all you’ve got to say? Did you hear what I just told you? I know about what you did with Dan—how you tried to break him up with Freya.’
‘Let’s leave that,’ he said hastily.
‘You don’t seem surprised. Don’t you wonder how I knew?’
‘I know Freya told you,’ he growled.
‘How?’
‘I—I happened to be passing the door when she was talking.’
‘I see. You “happened” to be passing the door, and then you “happened” to stay there and spy on us. And you heard—?’
‘Yes,’ he snapped. ‘I heard everything.’
Everything. The word seemed to echo in the air. ‘Everything’ meant he’d heard her remarks about him.
‘He likes to see himself as powerful. The trouble is, that’s the side of him I find hardest to live with.’
He knew she’d said that. And he’d heard Freya ask why she stayed with him, heard her reply.
‘He needs me. He’s vulnerable in ways he doesn’t realise.’
How he would resent her for daring to suggest that he was vulnerable!
‘I heard everything,’ Amos repeated now in a harsh voice. ‘So I’ve known all this time that you know about me and Dan. But you never said anything to me about it.’
‘What could I say?’ she flung at him. ‘For a while I tried not to believe it. I didn’t want to think that even you would go that far. But in my heart I knew it was true, and I know it even more now that you’ve told me about the trick you pulled to get Freya out here.’
‘I was trying to save her from pain, and I was right. Dan behaved as badly as I knew he would.’
‘You were the cause of her pain. Dan would never have proposed in the first place if you hadn’t made him angry. Don’t try to play the saint, Amos. You thought of what you wanted and nothing else, and that’s why Freya got hurt. And now she’ll get hurt again, because you have to twist everything.’
‘Why should she be hurt again? Jackson’s a good man. He’ll make her a fine husband.’
‘Who says she’ll marry him? Who says she’ll marry any man? Don’t you understand that now she sees your sex in a completely new light and it isn’t a favourable one? And I can understand that. But you just can’t see anyone else’s point of view. This latest deception—’
‘My dear—’
‘Don’t call me that. I’m not your dear. I wonder if I ever was.’
‘I was only going to say that “deception” is pitching it too strong. I played a little trick, that’s all.’
‘One trick too many. You really are as unpleasant as people say.’
‘Don’t make a drama out of this. Perhaps I should have told you that I was pretending, but what would you have done? Helped me? I don’t think so.’
‘So anyone who dares to disagree with you is banished out into the cold?’ She gave a great sigh. ‘And that includes me.’
Amos waved his hands helplessly. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. Look, I’m sorry. But we can put it behind us.’
‘Perhaps you can. I’m not sure that I can.’
‘But I’ve tried to show you how much you mean to me. Look at those lovely jewels I gave you.’
‘Oh, Amos, you’re as blind to the truth about yourself as you’re blind to other people. That wasn’t a gift to me. That was a parade in the spotlight for you.’
‘You were in the spotlight too. Everyone said how marvellous you looked.’
‘I didn’t want the spotlight. It would have been nicer to be alone with you. But when we got back to our room you couldn’t wait to take the jewels off me and lock them away safely.’
He gave a grumpy sigh. ‘I don’t know what to say to you.’
‘You never did,’ she told him softly. ‘Let’s not talk about it any more now. I need to do some thinking about the future.’
‘What are you saying?’ he demanded. ‘We’re married. That’s the future.’
‘Perhaps. Let me think about it first.’
‘You’d do better getting some sleep. You’re tired. That’s what this is all about. Tomorrow none of it will matter.’
But