‘That’s Snowy One and Snowy Two.’ He laughed, flicking over the page. ‘These are wonderful! You didn’t mention that you did the illustrations, as well. When did you find the time to draw the kittens?’
‘I cheated and took some photos before dinner yesterday. They were perfect models and quite happy to stay in position for at least a couple of seconds while I found a pose I liked. Then I worked the photos into the stories.’
She took the notebook back and just for a fraction of a second her fingertips made contact with Mark’s hand. And, judging by his sharp intake of breath, he felt the connection just as powerfully as she did. He immediately started gabbling to cover it up.
‘Well, I am impressed. Are you planning to have your stories published or keep them for your own children to enjoy?’
And there it was. A direct hit. Bullseye. Right between the eyes!
My own children? Oh, Mark, if only you knew how much I long to have children of my own.
Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Stupid. She should be able to handle the question better than this. But he’d hit her with it out of the blue. That was all. She could cope.
‘Published, I hope,’ she replied through a burning throat. ‘One day.’
‘Excellent,’ he replied, his warm voice brimming with feeling. ‘In that case I look forward to reading your stories to my nephews at the earliest opportunity.’
Lexi picked up his lighter mood and went with it gladly. ‘Ah. Do I have to add bedtime story-reader to your long list of accomplishments?’
He smiled. ‘I try. Actually …’ He paused long enough for Lexi to look at him, then shrugged. ‘Sometimes reading those stories is the best part of my day. We have a great time.’
With startling suddenness he turned away from her and started down the track, but the sadness and need in his voice were so powerful that Lexi stayed frozen to the spot.
Two things were clear. He loved those boys. And Mark Belmont was going to be a wonderful father to the lucky children he so clearly wanted in his life.
And her poor heart cried at the thought that she would probably never experience that joy.
Just as the thought popped into her head Mark glanced back towards her, and Lexi slid the book back into her bag and pretended to rummage around as she casually replied, ‘I don’t have any food with me except breath mints.’ Then she looked around her and raised her eyebrows. ‘And, while I appreciate that this is a lovely spot, and I’m enjoying the countryside, something tells me that there won’t be a restaurant at the end of this very winding footpath. Am I right?’
‘Perhaps.’
‘Sorry?’
‘It’s a long story.’
He gestured with his hand down the path and set off slowly. ‘You were talking earlier about collecting impressions about a person by where they liked to live and what they read. And it struck me that you might find it easier to understand who Crystal Leighton was when she wasn’t being a famous actress if I showed you her favourite place on the island. I haven’t been here in a long time, but this is very special. If we’re lucky it won’t have changed that much.’
‘What kind of place are you talking about?’ Lexi asked, astonished that Crystal had chosen somewhere other than her lovely villa. ‘And what makes it so special?’
‘Come and see for yourself,’ Mark replied in a hushed voice that she had never heard him use before.
Lexi followed him through a cluster of pine trees, pushed through some fragrant flowering bushes next to a stone wall, and stepped into a private garden.
And what she saw there was so astonishing that she had to clutch on to Mark for support. His reaction was to instantly wrap one long muscular arm around her waist to hold her safe against his body.
They were standing about six feet from the edge of a cliff. A real cliff. As in the type of cliff where, if you stepped forward one inch, you’d find yourself flying through space for a long time before hitting the sea below.
Their only protection from the dizzyingly close edge was a waist-high stone wall, which had been built in a wide curve in front of a low stone bench.
But it was the view that grabbed her and held her even tighter than Mark. All she could see in each direction was an unbroken band of sea and the azure sky above it. She felt like an explorer standing on the edge of a new world, looking out over an ocean no one had ever seen before, with nothing but air between her and the sea and the sky. And all she had to do was reach out and it would be hers.
To her right and left were high white cliffs of solid rock, studded with occasional stunted pine trees like the ones she was standing next to now. Far below, the sea crashed onto a collection of huge boulders at the foot of the cliffs.
‘There are huge caves under the cliff here,’ Mark said as though he was reading her thoughts. ‘Big enough for the tourist boats to go into. But we’re quite safe. There are hundreds of feet of solid rock below us.’ As if to prove the point he grabbed her hand and practically dragged her to the stone wall, so that they could look out together over the tops of the hardy bushes and bright flowering plants clinging to the cliff face at the open sea.
‘This is the nearest I’ve ever come to being on the prow of a ship,’ Lexi breathed. ‘Oh, Mark. This is … wonderful. I can see now why she chose this spot.’
‘You should come back at dusk and watch the sun setting. It turns the whole sky a burning red. It’s a wonderful sight. And, best of all, it’s totally private. No cameras, no people, just you and the sea and the sky. That was why she loved it so much here. That’s why she spent hour after hour on her own up here with just a picnic and a book. Alone with her thoughts. Away from the press and the movie business and everything that came with it.’
Lexi glanced up at Mark’s face but his attention was totally fixed on the horizon, where the sky met the sea. His eyes were the colour of the ocean. His fingers were still locked on to hers and she could feel his heart pound with each breath.
And her heart melted like cheese under a grill.
She had not intended it to. Far from it.
She couldn’t help it. The fire in his voice and in his heart burned too hot to resist.
Which was why she did something very foolish. She squeezed his hand.
Instantly he glanced down at his fingers, and she caught a glimpse of awareness and recognition that he had revealed a little too much of himself before he recovered and released her with a brief twist of his mouth.
‘Last Christmas she tried to persuade me to take some time off to celebrate Easter with her on the island. Just the two of us. But I said no. Too much work.’ He sniffed, looking out towards the islands in the distance. ‘Ironic, isn’t it? I have the time now.’
‘She knew you wanted to come back. I’m sure of it. How could you not? When you write about the last few months of her life you should put that in. It would be a lovely touch to end her story.’
She instantly sensed his solid-steel defences moving back into place.
‘I’m not ready to write about how her life ended. I’m not sure I ever will be.’
‘But you have to, Mark,’ Lexi urged him softly, ignoring just how close the cliff edge was so she could step in front of him, forcing him to look down at her face. ‘You’re the only one who can tell the truth about what happened that day. Because if you don’t someone else will make it up. I know that for a fact. Your mother is relying on you. Don’t you want the truth to come out?’
‘The truth? Oh, Lexi.’
She lifted her hands and pressed her fingertips to the front of