It was part of my life, part of my destiny, for good or for bad. To take it from me would have been to cheat me.’
‘I don’t agree with that,’ he said. ‘Avoiding misfortune is sensible. You don’t have to run to it with open arms. You’re too much of a pessimist.’
‘A fatalist,’ she corrected.
‘Tell me the name of the hospital you were admitted to in Exeter.’
‘Why do you want to know?’
‘I would like to speak to the doctors who treated you.’
She felt icy cold, and then burning hot. ‘So you can check the hospital records? To see if what I’ve told you about the miscarriage is true?’
There was enough strong feeling in those words to make him frown. ‘Have I offended you?’
‘No.’ She pushed away from him and sat up, her slender body silhouetted against the firelight. ‘As a matter of fact, you’ve just proved that you’re the heartless bastard I always knew you were.’
He cocked his head at her. ‘I’m the heartless one? I know I have a heart, because you broke it this morning, Penny. That was the last news I expected to hear.’
‘I’m sorry, Ryan, but it was far worse for me, believe me.’
‘Are you going to give me the name of the hospital?’
‘So you can try and obtain my medical records? No, Ryan, I’m not. If you choose not to believe my simple word, then nothing else really matters, does it?’
‘I suppose not,’ he said in a strange voice.
‘I think you’d better go now.’ She was tying her hair back into a pony-tail, turning her face away from him so he wouldn’t see the tears pouring down her cheeks.
‘I’d rather stay,’ he said, touching her naked shoulder.
Penny shook her head. ‘You got what you wanted. Go now.’
‘I want all of you,’ he said, caressing her shoulder. ‘I’ll never be happy until I have all of you.’
‘Why not be content with what you’ve had?’ She wiped her tears away clumsily. ‘You’ve proved I’m still a fool. You can go back to London now and forget me forever.’
He was silent for a while before answering. ‘You were never this cold, this hard,’ he said at last.
‘As you said, I’ve changed. I used to be soft as putty. But not any more. I’ve learned to fight for myself at last.’
His arms slid around her, strong and male. ‘I’ll be back.’ She felt him kiss the nape of her neck. ‘Sweet dreams, Penny.’
Her eyes were so full of tears that the firelight was no more than a dancing orange blur that dazzled and hurt her brain. But she kept staring at it while she listened to him dress…and long after she heard the door close and his sports car drive away.
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