“That was the luckiest thing that could have happened to me at that time.” Her expression softened with tenderness. “That man and woman were Pat and Emma Fisher. They literally saved my life.”
Dominic frowned and cast his mind back in time. Fisher! That name sounded familiar to him somehow.
Mike had managed to track down a couple from Queensland who had been at the hospital at the time Rebecca had left, but they had told him they did not know her whereabouts. He was sure their name had been Fisher.
He frowned at Rebecca suspiciously. “Isn’t he the police sergeant Mike spoke to in Tannum Sands?
She nodded her head. “Yes.”
“But he told Mike he did not know you,” he growled his suspicions deepening. He was fast reaching the point where he did not believe a word she was telling him at all.
“He lied,” Rebecca admitted unashamedly. “He had to tell him that so he would stop searching for me in that area.” She rubbed her fingers across her forehead, not surprised to find she was getting a tension headache. “Mike would have found me had he crossed the bridge to Boyne Island,” she admitted.
The tension in the room was rising steadily the longer this conversation continued.
“He was that close?” Dominic gasped in despair.
Wordlessly, he placed his cup onto the tray then rose to his feet and walked over to the window, but his eyes did not see the view.
He stood there with his hands pushed deep into his pockets attempting to come to terms with the fact that because that police officer had lied to Mike both he and Rebecca had suffered five years of hell unnecessarily.
Had Pat Fisher been anywhere near him at that moment he would have punched him in the nose and be damned to the fact that he would probably be charged with assaulting a police officer. It would be worth it.
When Dominic eventually returned to his chair, Rebecca placed her empty cup on the tray and folded her hands in her lap then waited patiently for him to resume their conversation.
She was sure he had further questions he wanted answers to but she was not sure either of them was going to survive this meeting without suffering some kind of emotional trauma.
“Why did they help you that night?” he asked warily. “What did you tell them Rebecca?”
Her eyes flew to his face when she heard the distrust in his voice. Now what was he implying? That she had told Pat and Emma a pack of lies about him?
“The same as I told you in my letter.” Her lips formed into a thin, tight line and her eyes sparkled with anger. She did not like being suspected of lying. “That I had to get away because I had killed our baby.”
“Then why did they hide you from Mike?” His voice was a strange combination of suspicion and confusion. “They knew he was acting on my behalf.”
“Emma said they would have told him the truth had it been a normal marriage but that I was in no fit state to become involved in that kind of a relationship at that time. That I needed time alone to come to terms with the loss of my baby.”
A deep sigh shook her frame and tears sprang into her eyes as she gazed at him earnestly. “And she was right. I did need to be on my own.”
Dominic rose to his feet and walked around the desk until he was standing beside her and gently brushed a tear from her cheek with his finger.
“For five years Rebecca?” he asked cynically, and she wanted to hit him---hard.
“You’re still my only lover if that’s what you’re asking,” she snapped, deciding that one more sarcastic remark from him and she would walk out the door, and to hell with sorting things out with him personally.
“It wasn’t,” he drawled leaning back against the desk with his hands on the desk each side of his hips, “but I won’t deny that I am pleased.”
Oh, the arrogance of the man, she seethed. Although technically they were still married, it was none of his business how many lovers she’d had while they had been separated. She would bet money that he’d had literally dozens of affairs during the past five years.
“Why come back now?” Dominic asked cautiously, trying not to get his hopes up prematurely.
Rebecca had been so deep in thought she was startled when he spoke, and it took her a moment to answer his question.
“When I was told about the divorce laws, I realized you and I had unfinished business.” Her lips tightened into a firm line. “I came back to finish it one way or the other.”
“Finish it how?” Dominic asked quietly and she gained the impression he was on edge, waiting for something, but she had no idea what that something might be.
“Every time I called the nursing home to pay Tommy’s fees, they told me his fees were always paid in advance.” She gazed up at him with steely determination. “I’m prepared to try again to keep my side of our bargain.”
Dominic jerked as if he had been pushed hard in the back, all the colour draining from his face leaving it a sickly grey, and Rebecca had the distinct impression he was distressed by what she had said.
The tension in the room was becoming unbearably thick and her headache was getting worse by the minute.
“Is that how you saw our bargain?” he demanded, his voice a strange mixture of astonishment and horror. “That I prostituted you for a baby?”
Rebecca calmly nodded her head. “Yes.”
“My God.” He rubbed his hand around the back of his neck in an attempt to relieve the tension. “Why didn’t you tell me that was how you felt?”
“How I felt about what?” she asked, her brows creased in a puzzled frown.
He appeared to be horrified by her view of their bargain and she could not understand why.
“Dominic, the definition of prostitution is the practice of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment,” she stated, waving her hands in a confused gesture. “And that’s exactly what we agreed upon.”
Rebecca was finding it difficult understanding his behavior. Why should he be upset by the circumstances of their bargain when he was the person who had instigated it to begin with?
Dominic gazed at her confused features for an immeasurable time before he suddenly straightened and walked across to the window.
If Rebecca was confused Dominic was way ahead of her.
Until this morning he had believed that he knew everything about the young girl he had married. Now he was beginning to realize he had not known her at all.
When she had said they had unfinished business, he had hoped she was telling him she wanted to give their marriage another try, but in actuality, she had been offering to become pregnant again to fulfill her part of their bargain.
The temptation to accept her offer and make love to her again was almost impossible to resist, but he had no desire to resume their relationship for the sole purpose of making a baby.
His lips twisted into a self-deprecating smile at that thought wondering what type of person that made him because that had been exactly why he had married and possessed her five years ago.
Dominic returned to her side, his fingers brushing down her cheek in a light caress. “I’m sorry.”
Rebecca gazed at him in bewilderment. “Sorry for what?”
“I never knew you at all did I?” he murmured sadly. “I knew your body and always found pleasure in it.” He grimaced when she quickly lowered her eyes. “But I never bothered to get to know you, the