and I thought I’d celebrate by taking a few days off and seeing what it could do.’
She frowned. ‘There isn’t a commercial airport on the island.’
‘No, but there’s a flying club. They gave me permission to land and one of the members gave me a lift here.’
The international camaraderie of flyers...
‘Who’s looking after Goldfinch?’
‘I promoted Lucy to Operations Manager.’
‘Oh... Well, not before time,’ she said. ‘She’s been doing the job for the last year.’
‘You might not be so keen when I tell you that she’s brought in Gavin Jones to cover your absence.’
‘Tell her to give him a contract because I’m not coming back.’
Cleve had always run an early morning circuit of the old wartime airfield that was Goldfinch’s base but since Rachel’s death he’d run longer and harder. His shoulders were wide, his body lean, the muscles in his limbs strongly defined and his long, elegant feet were just a toe length from her own.
Worse, while she was no longer naked, the thin silk of her robe was clinging to every inch of her body. Even in the warmth of the pool her nipples were like pebbles and she lowered herself deeper into the water.
He smiled. ‘Was the sea very cold?’
‘Why are you here, Cleve?’ she demanded.
‘Did you think I’d let you run away?’
‘I’m not—’
‘You pull a sickie, tell Lucy you’re going on holiday and leave your resignation on my desk. In my book that’s running away.’
Okay, he had a point but she’d needed time to work this out. To try and find a way to tell him about the baby without destroying him.
‘I was sick.’ Seriously. ‘And I didn’t want to tell Lucy before I told you that I’d got another job.’
‘First you run away and then you lie. There is no job.’
‘I’ve had plenty of offers.’
‘That I don’t doubt. I know of at least three companies who’ve attempted to lure you away from me in the last year. More money, the chance to get rated on larger aircraft, but you turned them all down.’
‘You knew?’
‘There are no secrets in this business. If you’d accepted a job offer I’d have heard about it ten minutes after you’d shaken hands.’ He looked across the pool at her, his face giving her no clue as to what he was really thinking. ‘If you’d got a great new job,’ he continued, ‘you’d have told the people you’ve worked with for years, colleagues who care about you, who would want to throw the kind of party that you’d never forget.’
‘I don’t need a hangover to remember you.’ He’d already given her the most precious gift... ‘I’ll never forget you. Any of you,’ she added quickly. ‘And the reason you haven’t heard about my new job is because I’m going to work for my father. In the design office.’ Because of course that was what she’d have to do. She was effectively grounded, not by regulations, but by the memory of what had happened to Rachel, and she’d have to live close to home so that she’d have baby support, at least until the baby was old enough for day care. ‘Jack was right,’ she added.
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