to; she hated the way he spoke about William so scathingly.
She was still sitting on the lounger when Liam came back out of the villa a few minutes later, wearing dark blue swimming-trunks now. His body was lean and fit and deeply tanned, and his hair had dried to a deep gold.
‘Changed your mind about the swim?’ he derided, poised on the edge of the pool.
She had changed her mind about everything concerning him. She should have known what sort of man he was when he hadn’t returned for William’s funeral, when he’d continued to ignore all her letters and telephone calls. She was wasting her time even trying to talk to him, was putting herself through unnecessary humiliation when it was obvious that he had no real intention of talking to her about Carlyle Properties. He never had had.
‘I have to go,’ she told him abruptly, standing up. ‘This was a mistake.’
Liam arched dark blond brows. ‘Any more of a mistake than flying out here in the first place?’ he bit out scathingly.
He was right; it had been a mistake, Liam had no intention of being co-operative over his father’s company.
‘It appears not,’ she accepted contemptuously. ‘I would have thought you owed your father——’
‘I owe William Carlyle nothing!’ he cut in forcefully, a nerve pulsing in his cheek as he glared across at her, his eyes glittering fiercely. ‘He only had one son—Simon. Did he never tell you that?’ he scorned.
Juliet blinked across at him. It had been so long since anyone had mentioned Simon. She and William, by tacit agreement, had never talked about him; the memories were too painfully deep. And now Liam was opening up a wound that had never really had the chance to heal…!
She moistened suddenly dry lips. ‘Simon is dead.’ Her voice broke huskily.
‘And so was I, for over ten years. William can’t just suddenly claim our relationship now that he’s dead!’ Liam snarled angrily. ‘William Carlyle had no sons when he died, Juliet,’ he rasped viciously. ‘So how could he possibly have left half his company to one of them? Take the company, Juliet—I think you probably earned it!’
With that last contemptuous statement he dived smoothly into the water beneath him, surfacing seconds later to swim the length of the pool with smooth, strong strokes.
She wanted to leave—had to leave—but somehow she couldn’t move; her legs felt like lead weights.
There had been a lot of bitterness behind Liam’s words about his father, and bitterness, as she very well knew, was based on pain, a pain that went so deep that bitterness was needed to survive it. She had no idea what William and Liam had argued about all those years ago—William had never talked about his elder son—but she did know Liam had never really got over the pain of walking out on the only family he had.
Ten years. It was a long time not to have recognised your family. As far as Juliet was aware Liam seemed to have no ties now either; he seemed to go wherever he wanted. What he seemed to have spent his time doing during the last ten years was building himself a business empire in the world of hotels and leisure, becoming more successful in that field than his father’s business could ever hope to be. Perhaps as a way of hitting out at his father? Juliet was no psychologist, but that was more than a possibility.
And it seemed that he had now finished hitting out at her for her involvement with his father, that the game was now over and she could have Carlyle Properties as far as he was concerned!
She didn’t doubt for one moment that Liam meant what he said; she was sure that he was a man who always meant what he said. But how could she take something which she knew she had no right to? Her initial reaction on being told that she owned half the company had been to give Edward Carlyle all of it; after all, she had no real right to it. But his elusiveness over the last two months had shown her only too clearly just how interested he was in the company.
Even so, she couldn’t just walk away with all of the company. That would be so totally wrong. And it obviously wasn’t what William had wanted at all.
‘Still here?’ Liam rasped as he swung easily out of the pool, picking up a towel to begin towelling himself dry. ‘You’ve got what you came for, Juliet,’ he derided. ‘We have nothing further to discuss.’
Her eyes flashed a warning. He might have been hurt by William in the past, might now have reason to believe that she had been his father’s mistress, but that did not give him the right to talk to her in that way!
‘There will be papers to sign——’
‘Send them to my London office.’ He waved a hand in dismissal. ‘My lawyers will deal with them.’
‘But——’
‘Juliet,’ he cut in quietly—too quietly, ‘haven’t you realised by now that I have no interest in anything to do with the Carlyle family?’ His eyes glittered deeply blue.
‘Your name is Carlyle——’
‘For my sins,’ he accepted abruptly, the towel draped about his neck now. ‘But a name doesn’t make me one of them.’
She frowned across at him. He spoke of his father and brother with real hatred, a hatred that went very deep…
‘Don’t look so shocked, Juliet,’ he said derisively. ‘Not everyone can love the family they’re given.’
She stiffened. ‘I wouldn’t know about that,’ she bit out.
He looked at her blankly for a moment, and then winced as he realised exactly what she meant. ‘Oh. God, I’m sorry.’ He shook his head.
Having a family of her own had been something she had longed for when she had been younger, but for some reason the mother she had never seen had refused to let her be put up for adoption, and the series of foster homes she had gone to had all become just a blur of kind, well-meaning people who could never really allow themselves to become too attached to her, or her to them. And then her mother had died when she was fifteen. At that age Juliet had been far too old to be wanted for adoption, and had left foster care, as soon as she was old enough, to make a life for herself.
That was why William’s kindness to her, both before and after Simon’s death, had been so important to her; why she felt such an obligation, despite Liam’s insults concerning her relationship with his father, to try and reach his older son now.
‘It isn’t important,’ she dismissed.
‘Yes, it is, damn it,’ Liam rasped. ‘Look, let’s have some lunch, Juliet, and then maybe both of us will have calmed down slightly.’
As far as she was aware, she wasn’t upset, but if Liam chose to see it that way that was up to him. And she really did need one more chance to change his mind about Carlyle Properties.
‘I won’t change my mind about any involvement with my father’s company.’ He seemed to read her mind as they went into the house to prepare lunch. ‘I cut myself off from that once, and I intend to remain away from it! ‘Liam…’
‘Juliet…’ he returned mockingly, his ill humour from a few minutes ago definitely abating. ‘Don’t try and interfere in things you don’t
