to play the lead in his coming-of-age blockbuster, Summer Semester. I was a complete unknown.’
‘But talented.’
‘I thought I was.’ His smile was loaded with self-mockery. ‘I just wanted to get the hell out of England. It was the ultimate teenage rebellion.’
He’d wanted to escape from the horrors of home.
‘So you were swept off to Hollywood where you wowed everyone. What then?’
‘I married my co-star.’
It felt as though something heavy had dropped on her chest. The noise around her faded and the only sound was her heart pounding in her ears. ‘You … married?’
‘You didn’t know?’
‘Why would I?’
‘Because people generally like to study my life in minute detail and it isn’t a secret. I thought you read celebrity magazines.’
‘I just look at the pictures—to see what people are wearing.’ It didn’t matter, she told herself. It was in the past. It didn’t have an impact on now. But it was just another example of why he was completely wrong for her. Information that she would have considered vital was locked away in the vault with restricted access. ‘I—I didn’t know you were married.’
He glanced at her. ‘Now I see dark clouds in Katie-land. Why should the fact I’ve been married upset you?’
Because she’d stupidly fooled herself that he’d never been this close to a woman before. But he’d cared enough to marry someone. ‘It doesn’t upset me. I’m just a bit … surprised, that’s all.’
‘It was a publicity stunt. We were manipulated by the studio and the media—it was all about the movie.’ There was a cynical edge to his voice. ‘I never told her a thing about myself. In fact, I’ve never told any woman anything about myself, until I met you. You know more about me than anyone. If you’re counting points, you’re winning.’
‘I’m not counting.’ Katie’s heart pounded. Or at least, she didn’t want to be counting. All she knew was that something inside her had changed. That day on the boat when he’d saved the child—that night …
Her heart flipped.
It wasn’t love. Oh, no, no. It couldn’t be love. She wasn’t going to let it be love. Not with this man.
Her stomach churned and she felt slightly sick. How had it happened? Less than two weeks ago she’d been going speed dating with Claire. She’d eaten cereal for every meal. She’d worn brown.
Nathaniel Wolfe had been someone she’d fantasised about from a distance. And now …
She’d never considered herself to be reckless, but suddenly she was in love with a man who lived his life in the spotlight. A complicated man, all hard edges and armour plating.
A man who found it hard to talk about anything, least of all his emotions.
If that wasn’t reckless, she didn’t know what was.
They spent three days working with the kids on the acting project. Three days in which Nathaniel felt himself getting sucked deeper and deeper into the emotional issues he’d always made a point of avoiding. Part of him wanted to walk out and go back to the anonymity of writing big cheques. Instead he found himself talking to Gabriela, discussing ways in which the project could extend the support it offered for children. When a young boy revealed that his father beat him regularly Nathaniel ignored the cold slime that crawled over his skin and listened.
The older ones were harder to connect with. They’d learned to lock it away, as he had.
Any attempt to touch on the subject was met with resistance. ‘So I’ve got secrets.’ The shrug was years older than the boy. ‘Don’t you have secrets?’
Yes, he had secrets. He had secrets he carried with him every day of his life. The past churning inside him, Nathaniel turned his head to look at Katie.
Sensing his gaze, she looked up at him and smiled and the smile cut him like the blade of a razor because he knew there was still so much about him she didn’t know.
What had she said to him? I want to know the real Nathaniel.
She’d barely scratched the surface.
As if to taunt him, he felt the phone in his pocket buzz with another message.
Even without checking, he knew who it was and knowing was enough to shake his mood from light to dark.
Normally when the black clouds descended he chose to do something reckless. A motorbike on a slick road. Free climbing a vertical cliff. Any raw physical challenge that required such concentration that nothing else could intrude.
Anything that helped him to forget …
Riding the anger and the stress, he strode across the room and grabbed Katie, pulling her into his arms. ‘We’re going.’
‘But—’
‘Don’t argue.’ Nathaniel spoke briefly to Gabriela, said goodbye to the children and surprised himself by promising to come back again really soon. Then he propelled Katie into the waiting car and drove straight to the airport.
‘What are you doing?’ Breathless, laughing, she moaned as his lips found hers.
Nathaniel was rough. Hungry. Take me away from this. Make me forget. ‘I don’t have a motorbike here and I don’t feel like climbing a vertical cliff ….’
Her eyes were smoky and soft. ‘Is that supposed to mean something?’
‘We’re going back to Wolfe Island. I’ve had enough of sharing you.’ He savoured her mouth, felt the punch of desire slam through his body, sought oblivion in the warm sweetness. ‘I want you to myself.’
For the first time in his life he wasn’t thinking of ways to end a relationship with a woman. In fact, he was looking for excuses to keep her with him.
He didn’t want to share her with a bunch of children, however deserving.
Katie snuggled against him. ‘And you think I’m going to argue with you? I love the island. And when it’s just the two of us, you don’t act. I get to see the real Nathaniel. No hiding. No secrets.’
No secrets.
Nathaniel felt cold fingers of guilt stroke his spine and the guilt angered him.
There was no reason why he had to tell her everything about himself. All right, so Katie had told him pretty much everything about herself, but that was her choice, wasn’t it? Women were different like that. They liked to spill every thought and every feeling. Living like that would drive him mad. Most of his thoughts and feelings didn’t bear thinking about, let alone repeating.
‘So how long are we staying on the island?’ She was smiling at him, unaware of the conflict of emotions at war inside him.
‘Two
