Confessions of a Girl-Next-Door (17 page)

Not exactly what she wanted to hear. She started to rise, but he pulled her back to the couch. He cupped her face, kissed her tenderly.

“You didn’t let me finish. Yes, it’s going to make a difference.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I’ll be sure to take my time.”

I
SHOULD
regret this
, Nate thought as he watched Holly sleep. But he regretted nothing. Even the fact that in a week she would disappear from his life, likely forever.

At least this time he would know why and would know it was coming. Maybe that would make it easier to accept.

She stirred, mumbled something in her sleep. The evening before, she’d surprised him, and not only with her inexperience, but also with the passion she possessed despite that. She was his, he thought with an astounding amount of possessiveness. No matter where fate took them, she would always be his.

He glanced at the clock. Already, the sun was up and light was flooding through the French doors that led to the master suite’s second-floor balcony. He didn’t want the day
to start. He wanted even less to leave her. But some things couldn’t be wished away and his livelihood was one of them.

He eased his arm from beneath her. She stirred just as he swung his legs over the side of the mattress.

“Are you going?”

“I’ve got work to do.”

“Will you be back?”

Today for sure. Tonight? Oh, yeah. It was only beyond this week that neither could offer any guarantees. “You mentioned something about chicken breasts.”

“I bought a couple at the market, yes.”

“I’ll bring something to pair them with and we’ll make them on the grill.”

“You never did show me how to work the dishwasher,” she reminded him. She stretched languidly and it was all Nate could do not to climb back into bed with her. The resort be damned.

But he mustered up some resolve. “It can wait until later.” He leaned down and nuzzled her neck, feeling overly protective and oddly vulnerable. “I won’t be too long.”

“See that you aren’t.”

How was a man supposed to ignore a request like that? And coming from royalty no
less? Nate rushed through his day, preoccupied and, okay, a little high on life. He’d had sex before, but he’d never made love. There was a definite difference.

Thank goodness for Mick. He kept Nate from making a monumental mistake on the bill for one of the yacht slips. Nate’s misplaced decimal point could have cost Haven a bundle.

“Where’s your head, boy?” the older man asked. His smile suggested he knew.

“Sorry.”

“She’s a pretty one. Are you heading over to see her again tonight?”

Not much got past the old man.

“As soon as I can.”

“Why not be on your way now, then? I can finish up here.” Mick added, “And I’ll probably be a darn sight more accurate with the receipts than you are anyway.”

Far from offended, Nate smiled. The older man didn’t need to offer twice. “Thanks. I think I will.”

One day floated into the next. Holly tried to remember the last time she’d felt so happy and free, but she couldn’t. Even her childhood memories on the island were unable to
compete. The man made all the difference, she decided, as she rolled over and snuggled against Nate’s side.

He opened one sleepy eye briefly and smiled. Just when she thought he’d returned to slumber, she felt a hand stroke her bare hip. It ended at the slope of her breast, his touch growing more insistent.

“You’re awake,” she accused.

“I’m up, if that’s what you’re asking.” Male laughter followed.

It was dark yet, not quite four in the morning. “Let’s go outside.”

“Outside?”

“For a swim.”

“That bay is cold,” he objected.

“Without our suits.”

It was all the enticement he needed. Half an hour later they stumbled back inside, shivering and laughing like a couple of loons before they sobered. Then they made love in front of the gas fireplace downstairs. She watched Nate’s face in the flickering glow of the flames, determined to memorize his every expression as need overtook reason.

“I love you,” she whispered, but far too low for him to hear. Still, it seemed important to her to say the words aloud. And
though she knew she had to let go, that they both needed to step away from the looming precipice, she was overcome with emotion when she thought she heard him whisper the same thing back.

Holly was leaving.

Actually, she’d extended her stay and had remained on Heart the full two weeks of her lease at the cottage. But that didn’t matter to Nate. All that mattered now was that, in mere hours, she would be going away. And he knew from previous experience how it felt to lose her.

Oh, he’d told himself to live in the moment, but he knew he’d been a fool. He was in love with Holly. How could any man watch the woman he loved walk away and not grieve?

The sky was impossibly blue on this day. Nary a cloud breached its perfection. It might as well have been overcast or crowded with thunderclouds. That would have better suited Nate’s dark mood as he sat on her deck and waited for Hank’s Cessna to swoop out of the sky.

She was equally as quiet as she sat on a lounge chair beside him. He knew her
thoughts as well as his own, which was why he didn’t try to stop her or urge her to stay a little longer. They’d been on borrowed time as it was. They’d both known that going in.

The Cessna came into view. Hank dipped the wings in greeting as he passed and then circled back for a landing. The floats skimmed off the water’s surface once before touching down for good.

“He’s right on time,” Nate remarked quietly.

“Yes. At least this trip should be less eventful,” Holly noted.

Hank taxied the seaplane toward the dock. Nate went out to help him, grabbing the rope the other man threw to him.

“Hey, Nate. Gorgeous day, huh?”

A grumble served as his reply.

Hank turned to Holly and asked, “All set, pretty lady?”

“Not hardly,” she surprised them all by saying. “I wish I could stay … indefinitely.” Her gaze was on Nate.

“We both knew you would have to leave.” It killed him to say so.

“I’ll try to come back soon.”

He nodded. They both knew it was a lie.
This was it. The end of an otherwise perfect love affair.

Hank went to fetch Holly’s bags from the deck, leaving the pair of them to say their goodbyes. Not that they hadn’t done so already. Hell, the entire morning had been one long and painful farewell.

“I’ll call when I get home.”

“Do that,” Nate said.

But he knew a moment of doubt. Would she? Once she’d settled into the routine of her other life, would Holly remember to call or even email Nate? Or would her time on Heart Island be filed away as a beautiful memory? Yes, as she’d said, she could be herself here. But the rest of the world expected her to be a princess.

“I’ve got all your bags stowed,” Hank said as he loaded the last of them into the seaplane. “I’ll be ready to take off when you are.”

“Thank you, Hank.”

“I guess this is it,” Nate said.

“You make it sound very final,” Holly objected.

He exhaled slowly. “It is what it is.”

“You don’t think I’ll be back?”

“I hope you will, but our lives are going
to pull us in two different directions,” Nate said practically. He wasn’t trying to hurt her. Quite the opposite. He wanted to be sure she knew he understood.

“That doesn’t mean we have to go in those directions,” Holly said. “You’re the one who once told me I wasn’t without choices and that I needed to make time for the things I felt were important.”

Indeed, he had. Yet, he wasn’t sure how to respond to her words now.

“Would you come to Morenci if I asked you to?” she said softly.

“I … Would I …?” She’d caught him off guard. “The resort …”

“For a visit, Nate.”

He felt foolish. “Sure. I mean, I could swing a week or two, especially in the off-season.”

“You love it here,” Holly said quietly.

“I love you.”

The words were out before he could stop them. He wondered if he would have tried to if given the chance.

Her eyes grew moist. A tear slipped down her cheek. “I love you, too, Nate.”

The kiss they shared wasn’t as passionate as some of the others had been. No desperate
urgency now. But the emotions behind it would stay with Nate a lifetime. He’d thought he knew what heartbreak felt like. This was total annihilation.

The pressure only grew worse as he helped her board the plane. The door slammed shut as his own eyes watered and her image grew blurry. He pushed the plane away from the dock. The prop revved to life, the sound intensifying long before the plane actually moved. He stepped back and waited where he was as it glided over the calm water of the bay, picking up speed as it left Nate and the shore behind.

He raised a hand and waved just as the floats left the water’s smooth surface. Holly’s plane had lifted off safely. Meanwhile, Nate’s heart had crashed and burned.

“This weekend is the annual Royal Gala,” her mother was saying. “You’re cutting it close with your late arrival. Luckily, Anna is standing by,” Olivia said of the royal seamstress. “You’ll need a final fitting on your gown.”

“Yes.”

Olivia plucked at Holly’s sun-bleached curls. “And you probably should have your
hair treated. A good deep conditioning is in order. It looks dry.”

“Yes.”

Her agreement did little to assuage Olivia.

“Is something wrong?”

“What could be wrong? I’m back where I belong, doing what needs to be done,” Holly reminded her.

“Yes, but you’re … so unhappy.”

“I’ve
been
unhappy, Mother.”

“But not like this,” Olivia replied. “I’ve never seen you like this.”

Which made sense, since Holly had never felt like this. It had been all well and good to tell Nate that they would live in the moment while they were living in the moment. Now that the moment was over, the pain was almost too much to bear.

“Mother, did Gran ever try to talk you out of marrying my father?”

Olivia blinked in surprise at the question. “Talk me out of it? No. But she was clear on what it would entail. She made sure I went into it with my eyes wide open and then backed me all the way as I fought like a tiger cat to fit in and be accepted, especially once you were on the way.”

“That must have been hard for you.”

“At first.” Olivia sucked in a breath. “It was one thing for them not to accept me. I wouldn’t allow them to turn their backs on you. You’re the throne’s rightful heir, after all.”

“And if I don’t want it?”

Olivia’s footsteps echoed to a halt in the long corridor. She snagged Holly’s arm, forcing her to stop as well. “My God! You’re in love with that boy.”

“He’s a man now. But yes. I love Nate Matthews. I loved him when I was a girl and I love him now.”

“But … you can’t mean you want to turn your back on everything I’ve worked so hard to ensure you had. You’re accepted here, Hollyn. No one dares question your right to ascend the throne, not like they did with me.”

“That was important to you.”

“Very,” Olivia replied. “That’s why I’ve done all that I have.”

She hugged her mother. “Thank you for that, Mother. Truly, thank you. But I’m happiest being … ordinary.”

Olivia hugged her back fiercely before pulling away. Holding Holly at arm’s length, she said, “But you’re not ordinary.”

Holly closed her eyes in defeat. As soon as she did, she felt her mother’s lips press to her cheek. “When a woman is in love, she’s … extraordinary,” Olivia whispered.

“H
OW
are the day’s receipts looking?” Nate asked Mick as he came in the marina.

“Better than you do,” the older man remarked.

And wasn’t that the truth.

Holly had been gone two days. It might as well have been ten years. God, Nate missed her. He ached with it. He’d slept with the phone by his side the first night, eager for her call. It hadn’t come.

“One of the Burns boys took a phone message about an hour ago,” Mick was saying. Nate’s heart soared until the older man added, “I spilled my coffee on it, but it looks to be an invite to meet for drinks at the Fishing Hole when you get out of work.”

Probably one of his poker buddies. They usually called him up when they were running low on funds and hoping for someone
to buy a round. Well, he had no plans to indulge them.

He put in a couple more hours before calling it a day. And what a day it had been. Though it wasn’t exactly in his job description, he’d helped change the prop on a slip owner’s fishing boat. He’d also spent a couple of hours teaching some of the resort’s youngest guests the finer points of baiting a hook. Despite a good scrubbing, he still smelled a little bit like diesel fuel and the water in the big filtered tank where they stored the minnows.

He started for home, but pointed the truck in the direction of town instead. The invitation from friends beckoned. There was nothing waiting for him at home. And no one. He’d wind up staring at the phone again, willing the damned thing to ring. The pub, on the other hand, would be full of friendly and familiar faces, cold beer and banal conversation. That’s what he needed.

He got a whole lot more the moment he stepped through the pub’s door. He spotted Holly.

She was impossible to miss. And not because she was the only woman in the place wearing a skirt and looking like she could
grace the pages of a fashion magazine. No, she was standing atop the pool table and, from what he could gather, leading the crowd of locals in a line dance to an Alan Jackson song. It was a bit of the traditional boot-scooting he’d taught her way back when with what appeared to be some Celtic footwork thrown in.

Lord of the Dance
at a hoedown?

Damned diesel fumes. They had him seeing things. He rubbed his eyes. But the image didn’t go away, and he wasn’t sure he wanted it to. He became mesmerized watching the hem of Holly’s skirt as it flitted back and forth just above her knees with each shake of her hips and flick of her feet. Then her gaze found his and her footsteps faltered before she stumbled to a stop. Her already flushed cheeks turned all but crimson.