was married? Until that supposed incident with Carla, jealousy had never been an issue, but was it going to be an issue now? Obviously Imogene felt vulnerable—she’d taken a major leap of faith in marrying him again, but then again so had he.
As soon as they were settled into their accommodations they’d be having a serious discussion about the boundaries of this new marriage of theirs and what they each expected out of it. Failure wasn’t something that Valentin accepted, which was what had made him an excellent student, a brilliant doctor and an astute businessman. The fact that his first marriage had failed had always been a thorn in his side. He knew he’d been the innocent party all along but his failure in not being able to make Imogene see that had been hard to bear. Her insecurity had driven her away from him, which, in turn, meant he’d failed her. Now it was up to him to make sure she never felt that way again.
Before long they were descending the stairs of the aircraft and stepping onto the steaming-hot tarmac at the airport. It was a short walk to the small terminal building, and clearing customs and immigration took only a few minutes since they’d landed at a quiet time at the airport with no commercial airliners arriving or departing. The air around them was thick with humidity but a steady breeze blew off the nearby ocean and tugged at their clothing as they exited the terminal building to find a driver waiting for them with a sign.
“Kia orana!” the woman said in greeting as she slipped a lei of fragrant blooms around each of their necks. “Welcome to the Cook Islands. I’m Kimi and I’ll be your contact and your driver during your stay with us. Please, come with me.”
Valentin put a hand to Imogene’s elbow as they followed Kimi to a van. Their luggage was loaded in the back and in a few moments they were off. After twenty minutes they were at their destination: a secluded villa just back from the sand on a private lagoon.
“Everything here is at your disposal,” Kimi said expansively. “You have your own pool and you’ll find water toys to use in the lagoon in the shed behind those bushes. There’s an outdoor shower for you to use in complete privacy when you come back from the beach and if you need anything else here at the house, please just lift the phone over there and someone will handle your query. I’m available to drive you anywhere you want to go.
“There’s fruit and drinks in your kitchen, together with a few breakfast items, and you’re welcome to use the neighboring resort restaurants for breakfast and lunch and just charge it back to the villa. Tonight, dinner will be brought to you at seven. We can serve it here on the patio or down on the sand if you’d prefer, although we’re expecting a bit of a storm tonight. Oh, and there’s a car or scooters for you to use if you want to drive around the island yourselves. Just remember to keep left and watch your speed. It’s only thirty-two kilometers round-trip to get around the island, but you can take as long as you like. You’re on island time now.”
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
