was just the sort of background that would encourage her to go after a man with money, a man who could promise her the security she craved.
‘I don’t often meet nomads in my day-to-day life,’ he amended, backtracking on that fleeting impulse that had seen him wrapped up in her life story, hanging on like a kid listening to a riveting bedtime yarn. Touching though her little tale had been, it had nothing to do with the reality he needed to deal with. He gave her a brisk, cool smile and vaulted to his feet. ‘I’m going to have one last swim before I go inside for breakfast. In case you don’t know the routine, breakfast tends to be a buffet affair. Everyone’s going to be busy getting ready for tonight, so I shouldn’t expect to be waited on hand and foot if I were you.’
With that he turned his back and sauntered towards the pool, leaving her to simmer at the pointed dig in his remark. She was sorely tempted to throw her book at the back of that arrogant head of his, especially as it was a hardback, but no, giving in to emotion was a bad idea. Instead she glowered and removed herself from the lounger and headed back towards the villa.
For a minute there she had very nearly forgotten how dislikeable he was and that wasn’t going to do. For Michael’s sake, she had to be on her guard.
The object of her protectiveness was still asleep and Abby nudged him with one finger until he rolled over and looked at her blearily. ‘You can’t spend all day in bed,’ she informed him without preamble and Michael smiled at her drowsily.
‘You sound like a wife.’
‘Michael, be serious.’
‘I am being serious.’ He grinned. ‘Where have you been, anyway?’
‘By the pool.’
‘You can’t swim.’
‘I know that, Michael. I was by the pool with your brother and I’m beginning to think that this engagement business wasn’t a very good idea.’
That had him sitting up abruptly. Michael had a range of silk pyjamas. It was his only sartorial weakness. Today’s number was a deep blue and beige Paisley. Abby fleetingly wondered whether his brother had a similar taste in pyjamas and concluded that the man probably didn’t sleep in any at all. He didn’t strike her as a pyjama-wearing type. She immediately squashed any follow-up to that line of thinking and focused on her partner, who was looking at her with a worried expression.
‘Of course it’s a good idea. You’re not going to back out on me now, are you? Are you?’
‘I just didn’t think it through,’ Abby mumbled. ‘I can see why you wanted it, really I can, but now that I’m actually here, I don’t like deceiving your mother. And your grandfather, for that matter. They’re nice people.’
‘We’re not deceiving them,’ Michael whispered urgently. ‘And the reason we’re doing this is because they’re nice people. Please don’t back out on me now, Abby. Please.’
‘And another thing,’ she said uneasily. ‘Your brother suspects something.’
‘What?’
‘Well, for a start he thinks that I’m after your money.’
Michael grinned at that. ‘Well, that’s okay. He’s way off target, then.’
‘True, but the fact is that he’s going to probe until he finds out the truth.’
‘He’s here for three days, Abs. How much probing can one man do in the space of three days?’
A normal man, she wanted to say, not much, but your brother, more than I feel happy about.
‘I suppose I could just keep out of his way for the whole time,’ Abby said, more to herself than to Michael. ‘I mean, it shouldn’t be too difficult. I can just stick to whoever happens to be around and make conversation.’
‘Which would really make him think that you’ve got something to hide,’ Michael mused with a frown. ‘On the other hand, it might be better if you just try and convince him that he’s wrong. I mean, talk to him, give him the impression that you and I adore one another. Which, incidentally, also wouldn’t be a lie.’ The boyish grin was infectious and Abby found herself reluctantly drawn into his optimism.
‘And don’t worry; we’re only here for a week, then we’ll be back in England and everything will return to normal once more. Look, I’ll get dressed and we’ll have breakfast and then what say we head down to the town and do a bit of touristy stuff?’ He pulled back the covers, stood up and pulled her into his arms so that he could wrap her up in a big reassuring hug.
After the tension of being in Theo’s company Abby gave in to the hug with relief. One of the most wonderful things about Michael was the friendship he so unstintingly gave her. She had agreed to the engagement because she loved him and she succumbed to the wonderful mixture of tenderness and affection that he inspired in her.
‘But you just need to spend some time with him,’ he said into her ear. ‘Honestly, I know Theo can be a bit overwhelming but he has always been the fairest man I have ever known.’
‘If he was that fair…’
‘Fair but frighteningly old-fashioned in his beliefs. You have nothing to fear in his company. You’re not after my money and we do care deeply for one another. So give me a few minutes and we’ll head down for breakfast together. Okay?’
Half an hour later, they emerged to find that the household had finally awakened. From where he was sitting out on the front veranda, Theo watched as they joined in with the other guests, chatting and easy, their body language speaking of a certain closeness which he couldn’t believe was all it was made out to be.
She had tied her hair back into two very loose plaits and it irked him to see how genuinely warm her expression was as she made conversation with the other relatives milling around the buffet, helping themselves to the warm breads and fruit and cheeses. She turned around to say something to Michael and his brother grinned at whatever she had said and bent towards her to murmur something. Some sweet nothing, Theo thought, watching the display through narrowed eyes. The poor fool. Take one sexy woman and one gullible man and you get a divorce within a year and a hefty settlement for a gold-digger.
He frowned. When had he stopped thinking of her as a girl with no figure to speak of and started thinking of her as a sexy woman?
The main thing, he mused to himself, still following them as they helped themselves to some breakfast and took their seats at the far end of the table with his mother and two uncles, was that he was there to look out for his brother. It was what families did. They protected one another at all costs.
As though suddenly aware of him staring at her, Abby lifted her eyes and stared across the room and out towards the veranda, to where he was sitting, watching them and sipping his coffee. Theo met her gaze with cool, speculative eyes and was quietly satisfied when she gritted her teeth together and hurriedly looked away. She might have taken his brother for a fool but he was damned if she was going to think that he was the same.
He drained his cup and sauntered back into the villa, pausing where the group was sitting and chatting and leaned on to the table, palms spread to support his massive body-weight.
‘So,’ he drawled, ‘what are the plans for today?’ He was addressing the group as a whole but
