but, seeing him almost naked, she suddenly understood many things. His air of walking through the world like a prince was not based on his wealth, but on the proud angle at which he carried his head.
There was the shape of his body, lean and taut, not an ounce of fat, despite his muscular build. He might have been an athlete, or a man doing heavy manual labour. But a silk-suited tycoon flying the world and making deals—that wouldn’t have occurred to her.
‘Evie!’ Mark touched her arm.
With a start she came back to reality, lowering the binoculars.
‘Sorry—what?’
‘I kept calling and calling you, and you didn’t hear.’
‘I got distracted by the scenery,’ she said vaguely.
‘I’ve poured you some more orange juice.’
She tried to concentrate on the snack, but the sun had dazzled her and she couldn’t blot it out, even with her eyes closed. He was there behind her eyelids, diving in and out of the glare, his body shining in the spray.
When she opened her eyes again she saw him walking up the beach.
‘That’s better,’ he said, dropping down beside them. ‘I’ve been too long without exercise.’
‘Somehow I pictured you working out in the gym,’ she said.
‘In theory I do, but the work piles up and it’s always tomorrow.’
‘Domani, domani, sempre domani!’ she declaimed, with a knowing look at Mark.
Justin stared from one to the other.
‘Tomorrow, tomorrow, always tomorrow,’ Mark translated.
‘There, I told you he was one of my best pupils,’ Evie said triumphantly.
Mark got to his feet. ‘I’m going to explore.’
‘Don’t go too far,’ Justin said quickly.
‘Promise.’ Mark sped off before he could be asked for any further promises.
‘I’ve never seen him have such a good time,’ Justin said, watching the slight figure scampering away. ‘Thank you.’
‘Didn’t you two ever go on seaside holidays before?’
‘We went away while his mother was alive, but it was always somewhere like Disneyland. That’s what kids seem to want these days, but this—’ He made a gesture indicating their surroundings. ‘He’s happy.’
‘Did your family ever take you to the seaside when you were a child?’
She wondered if he had heard her, because he stared straight ahead without answering. At last she realised that he had simply blanked out the question.
If she knew the reason for that, she mused, she might understand more about Mark’s inner turmoil.
‘Whatever is he doing now?’ Justin asked, his eyes on his son.
They could see Mark on the rocks, staring down into a pool, evidently fascinated by something he saw there.
‘It’s probably a crab, or a starfish,’ Evie said. ‘I used to look at them in that same pool when I was a kid.’
‘Did your family own this place?’
‘My Great-Uncle Joe. He was a wonderful old boy, and he virtually brought me up after my parents died, when I was twelve. But it was more than giving me a home. I loved my parents, but they were very conventional people. They reckoned there was only one right way to do everything. It was stifling.
‘Joe was just the opposite. He thought there was no right way to do anything, you just had to choose the wrong one that suited you. His motto was ‘‘To blazes with the lot of ‘em!’’’
He grinned and rolled over on his back, propping himself up on one elbow to look up at her.
‘I’ll bet a twelve-year-old loved it.’
‘It was great,’ she said, sighing in happy remembrance, ‘like having a light come on in the world. Joe reckoned the only crime was to do what other people expected. And he thought it was a virtue to offend at least one person every day.’
‘Oh, that’s where you—’
‘No, I never quite went that far,’ she told him repressively.
‘Just me, huh?’ he asked with a raised eyebrow.
‘Just people who deserve it. Shall I continue?’
‘Please do.’
‘I was really sad when I had to leave here to go to college. I even thought of not going, but Joe lost his temper and nearly threw me out. He said if I didn’t seize my chance, I needn’t show my face here again. So I went, but I always came back in summer. To me it was the most wonderful place in the world.’
She sighed happily, looking around her at the beauty. But then her face grew sad.
‘He died recently and left it to me, but then I found he had huge debts. I’d had no idea. I used to send him money to help out, but apparently it all went into betting shops.
‘I never knew about his problem, and I have a horrid feeling it only developed after I left, because he was lonely. Now the cottage has to be sold to pay the debts. I’m just here to clear out my stuff and take a last look.’
‘You’re going to lose this place?’ he asked, sitting up and speaking sharply.
‘Just as soon as there’s a decent offer. I thought of trying to keep it by paying off the debts—I just can’t afford it. I even thought—’
She was interrupted by the sound of her cellphone. Justin didn’t miss her sudden alertness, or the eager way she scrabbled in her bag for the phone. He saw the sudden sagging of her shoulders as she said, ‘Oh, hi, Sally.’
There followed a conversation about proofs, galleys and corrections, and it was no surprise when she hung up and said, ‘That was my editor, about a book I have coming out next month.’
‘Not Andrew, then? Has he called you at all?’
‘I’ve only been here two days.’
‘And in those two days,’ Justin said relentlessly, ‘has he called you?’
‘Please don’t interrogate me, Mr Dane.’
‘I’ll take that as a no. If I were in love with a woman I wouldn’t forget to call her.’
‘Well, maybe he doesn’t want to seem too anxious. We’ve been having a few problems. That’s why he’s coming here.’
‘But is he coming here?’
She
