she knew that it had just been a rush of images, memories, and that only seconds had actually passed since she had closed her eyes, or maybe a couple of minutes at the most.
And she couldn’t bear to relive those moments again. Not with Janet. And certainly not with Liam.
She stood up suddenly to rush from the room, ignoring Janet’s concerned cry, Liam’s shout. She just kept running, running, running.
And she had kept running—from the house, from the county, from the country.
To Majorca.
To the Carlyle hotel and leisure complex. The last place anyone would think to look for her. If anyone wanted to look for her. Which she doubted.
And for the first time in years, it seemed, she relaxed totally, the darkness of the past at last put exactly there—in the past. Somehow during the next ten days of sunshine and rest it stopped being her burden to carry any more. It was Liam’s now. As was Carlyle Properties.
One thing Juliet had done since coming here was to telephone the lawyer in England and instruct him to draw up the necessary papers so that she could sign all of the company over to Liam. She had also instructed him to deed the house over to Janet’s name; the other woman certainly had more right to it than she had ever had. And this way Juliet would be totally finished with the Carlyle family.
Which was the way she wanted it to be.
The way it had to be.
Her love for Liam was futile, for oh, so many reasons, but the main one had to be that he would never love her in return. But breaking free of the business, the house had somehow given her ultimate freedom in everything. There was a big world out there—a world without Liam, she accepted, but for the first time she felt an anticipation about the future. Quite what that future held for her she didn’t know, but loving Liam had somehow freed her from the ties of the past.
‘You’re standing in the way of my view.’
Juliet froze as she stood on the sea-shore. Those words. That voice. A voice that had been arrogantly self-assured the last time it had uttered those very same words, but which was gently caressing this time.
Why was Liam here? How had he known to find her here? Only he could answer those questions, she acknowledged.
She turned slowly, her hands clenched tightly together in front of her, unsure of what she was about to see.
He stood on the sand only about ten feet away from her, dressed in denims and a blue short-sleeved shirt. But it was his face that held her mesmerised. He looked older; lines were etched beside his nose and mouth, and his expression was grim. And he had lost weight; it showed in those lines on his face, the loose fit of his denims.
‘Liam, what’s happened?’ She frowned her concern, taking a step towards him.
‘You can ask me that? Simon and my father…’
Juliet had put up a silencing hand. ‘Janet has told you the truth by now, I’m sure. It’s enough.’
He shook his head. ‘Never enough, Juliet. What Simon tried to do—’ He broke off in suppressed rage. ‘My father paying the price of knowing, for the next seven years, that if the two of them hadn’t fought then Simon wouldn’t have fallen down the stairs! God, Juliet—’
‘It’s over, Liam.’ She sighed. ‘At long last it’s over. And I think it should remain that way.’ She had finally come to terms with the fact that Simon had died after his attack on her, had fallen down the stairs to his death during the fight with his father. It was a burden that William had carried to his grave. But now it was over.
For several long minutes Liam returned her gaze as intently as she was looking at him, and then he nodded acceptance of what she was saying. ‘You’re looking good,’ he murmured huskily.
She knew that the last ten days of rest and good food had had an effect; she looked tanned and healthy in the white sundress, her hair loose about her shoulders, her eyes glowing deeply grey in her glowing face. But if she looked fit and healthy Liam looked the opposite.
‘We weren’t talking about me—’
‘Yes, we were,’ he nodded. ‘The last time we spoke, that’s exactly what we were doing. It took me until early yesterday evening to find out exactly where you were, when your lawyer at last relented and told me where he had received his instructions from concerning the business and the house. And even then he would only say it was Majorca,’ Liam added disgustedly. ‘It took me another few hours of telephoning round to realise that you had actually come here. You had to know this would be the last place I would think of looking!’
Juliet swallowed hard, her glow fading slightly at his mention of ‘the last time we spoke’; that conversation had concerned Simon too, and he was at last buried in the depths of her memories.
She looked at Liam frowningly. ‘Why were you looking for me at all?’ She sounded puzzled. ‘I thought we had said all that had to be said.’
‘I had said what I thought needed to be said,’ he acknowledged self-deprecatingly. ‘God, Juliet—’ He broke off abruptly after she took a step backwards as he moved forcefully towards her. ‘I would never hurt you.’ He sighed softly as he saw her instinctive reaction. ‘You’ve been hurt enough already!’
She moistened her lips. ‘Then why are you here?’
‘Certainly not to hurt you!’ he groaned. ‘Don’t you understand, Juliet?’ He ran an agitated hand through the thickness of his hair. ‘I never really wanted to hurt you. Oh, I know that I did,’ he admitted heavily at her sceptical expression. ‘That I was damned cruel to you at times. But I was falling in love with the very last woman on earth I thought I should ever care about!’
She swallowed hard, sure that she must have misunderstood him; Liam couldn’t possibly have just said that he loved her. He couldn’t have done!
He looked about them impatiently. ‘Juliet, could we get off this very public beach and go somewhere where we can talk privately?’ he said feelingly.
She was still reeling from what he had said a minute ago. Liam loved her?
‘Juliet?’ he prompted uncertainly at her lack of response.
Of course they could get off this beach; if Liam was going to tell her again that he loved her, they could go anywhere he wanted them to!
‘My suite?’ she suggested breathlessly, unable to take her eyes off him—possibly because some part of her was still not convinced that he was actually here, certainly not that he was telling her he loved her!
He nodded abruptly. ‘I haven’t had a chance to book in yet, so that will be perfect.’ The two of them turned to walk side by side to the hotel a short distance away, not touching, but both very aware of the other.
Juliet had managed to book one of the groundfloor suites this time, so she was able to let them in without actually going inside the hotel itself. ‘Would you like a drink?’ She offered him a choice from the fridge-bar.
‘Maybe in a few minutes.’ His gaze remained fixed on her healthily tanned face. ‘If you haven’t thrown me out by then,’ he added ruefully.
