a self-confident, independent woman.
At that moment he was not sure he could handle this bizarre situation or that he even wanted to try. It was like walking through a minefield. You never knew what your next step would bring.
He shook his head to clear it of his jumbled thoughts and decided to take it one small step at a time for now.
To begin with, he would have to remember never to call her Becky. It was obvious she did not like it, but he could not figure out why and did not intend to ask.
He also decided to be careful how he worded any suggestions he might make to her in the future.
If they had any kind of a future together.
That thought drew his brows together in a fierce frown. It was obvious she was not here to discuss a divorce so why was she here?
Well, there was only one way to find out and that was to ask her why she had suddenly decided to walk back into his life after five years of silence.
With a resigned sigh, he pushed the intercom button and ordered a tray of coffee from a very curious Meg.
Rebecca tidied her hair and washed her face then applied fresh lipstick to her lips, but she did not replace any of her other makeup.
She was eager to call Emma to explain the true circumstances of her miscarriage but when she pulled her mobile out of her handbag, she was disappointed to see she had no signal in this room.
Oh well, she sighed in resignation it would just have to wait until later. Perhaps it would be better in any case if she waited until tonight to call. Then she would be able to tell her the outcome of her meeting with Dominic as well.
Dominic! She shook her head unable to believe the difference in his appearance. Mike had warned her that he had changed but she had not expected those changes to be so noticeable or severe.
He appeared to have lost his zest for life, as if there was no purpose to his life anymore.
Before, his blue eyes always had a sparkle in them, now they were lacklustre. His mouth once always wore a quirky smile, now it drooped at one corner.
According to Mike, he had not acquired or built a new hotel during the past five years whereas before that time the number of hotels he owned had increased steadily.
Her eyes darkened in anguish. It was no good fooling herself; she knew she was solely responsible for his wrecked life.
Well, she had returned to Sydney to clear the slate so to speak, perhaps she could ensure that he was able to make a fresh start as well.
When Meg knocked on the door, Dominic walked across the room and pulled it open then motioned for her to enter the room.
She halted in surprise when she noticed the room was empty except for Dominic and he smiled sardonically at her confusion as he returned to the desk and sank into the black leather executive chair.
What did she think he had done with Rebecca for crying out loud? Thrown her out the window?
He choked back a laugh as he watched Meg place the tray onto the desktop. Curiosity was written all over her face and he knew she desperately wanted to ask him what had been happening in this room.
“I’m sure you’ll have no problem cancelling my afternoon appointments,” he drawled and glared at her accusingly until she blushed guiltily. They both knew there were no appointments.
“We did what we thought was right for you,” Meg stated, holding his gaze defiantly.
“I’m not complaining Meg,” he murmured quietly, and her eyebrows rose in surprise.
Hot damn, she chuckled gleefully to herself as she walked out of the office with a huge grin on her face. Maybe, just maybe things would work out all right after all.
Dominic poured himself a cup of coffee and glanced across the room when he heard the washroom door click open.
As he watched Rebecca walk toward the desk, he noted that she had tidied her hair and her face was scrubbed clean of makeup. But he wondered why she had replaced the red lipstick she had been wearing when she arrived with a paler shade of pink.
“Better,” he murmured as she resumed her seat in the visitor’s chair, and when she glanced at him confused, wondering what on earth he was talking about, he added. “You’re much prettier without that heavy makeup.”
He was surprised when she laughed and raised her right eyebrow. It appeared to be a habit she had acquired whenever she asked a question.
“Who was it who bought me a makeup kit worth many hundreds of dollars?” she asked drily.
“Who stated they did not need it?” he countered.
Rebecca smiled and nodded her head in acknowledgement. “Touché.”
"Help yourself," he instructed, gesturing toward the tray.
She gasped in surprise when she saw the cream on the tray and wondered who had remembered that she always had plenty of cream in her coffee, Dominic or Meg? Dominic drank his coffee black.
Leaning forward, she poured herself a cup of coffee and added a generous measure of cream aware that his curious blue eyes were fixed steadily on her expressionless features.
“Where did you go when you left the hospital that night?” he asked curiously as he leaned back in the chair. “All we knew was that you had been seen getting into a car with a middle-aged man and woman.”
“That was the luckiest thing that could have happened to me at that time.” Her expression softened with tenderness. “That man and woman were Pat and Emma Fisher. They literally saved my life.”
Dominic frowned and cast his mind back in time. Fisher! That name sounded familiar to him somehow.
Mike had managed to track down a couple from Queensland who had been at the hospital at the time Rebecca had left, but they had told him they did not know her whereabouts. He was sure their name had been Fisher.
He frowned at Rebecca suspiciously. “Isn’t he the police sergeant Mike spoke to in Tannum Sands?
She nodded her head. “Yes.”
“But he told Mike he did not know you,” he growled his suspicions deepening. He was fast reaching the point where he did not believe a word she was telling him at all.
“He lied,” Rebecca admitted unashamedly. “He had to tell him that so he would stop searching for me in that area.” She rubbed her fingers across her forehead, not surprised to find she was getting a tension headache. “Mike would have found me had he crossed the bridge to Boyne Island,” she admitted.
The tension in the room was rising steadily the longer this conversation continued.
“He was that close?” Dominic gasped in despair.
Wordlessly, he placed his cup onto the tray then rose to his feet and walked over to the window, but his eyes did not see the view.
He
