The Wedding Party Collection. Кейт Хьюит
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afford it,’ she said simply, for that was a billionaire’s toy, no question. ‘There’s a kid in one of those seats.’
Trig nodded.
‘I can’t make out any faces.’
‘Yet,’ he said, and all of a sudden Lena desperately wanted one of those faces to belong to Jared. She wanted it with a ferocity that surprised her.
‘Looks like it’s heading for the far berths.’ Lena wanted to hurry, but Trig was having none of it. He took her hand in his and swung her round to face him and waited until he had her full attention.
‘Lena, you gave me your word that you only wanted to sight Jared and let him sight you. You promised me that you’d stay the hell out of whatever he’s into.’
‘I can’t even remember that promise,’ she snapped back.
‘Then it’s lucky I can.’
‘Can we at least get a little closer?’
‘Yes, but you need to stay close.’
‘Done! Don’t make me bruise you. C’mon.’
She pulled him forward and he came reluctantly. The powerboat drew closer. Four men, a woman and a kid.
‘Pilot,’ said Trig and the pilot was Jared, as darkly tanned and sinewy as she’d ever seen him. Lena stumbled and Trig shot out his hand to steady her.
‘I’m okay,’ she said faintly, but she didn’t feel okay. Jared seemed to be aiming the boat for a berth at the very end of the wharf, a berth with a pier and a steel gate where the pier met the wharf. Trig made her stop short of it, still well within the tourist throng. Lena turned back towards the castle as Jared manoeuvred the cruiser closer, her eyes suddenly filled with tears. She couldn’t even see Jared any more.
She wanted to scream at him, shake him for worrying them the way he had. For disappearing so completely. For blaming himself for her injuries.
Damn but her head hurt.
‘Lena?’ Trig said gruffly.
‘I’m okay. Headache.’ Every muscle in her body wanted to turn around so that her eyes could drink in the sight of Jared. It wasn’t as if the boat wasn’t stare worthy. Plenty of others would be looking at that beautiful superfast boat. She’d turn and look too. Soon. As soon as her tears went away. Damned if she’d let Jared see her crying. ‘What are they doing?’
‘Docking.’
‘Who’s getting off?’
‘The woman and the kid. Two security types.’
‘Not Jared?’
‘No.’
‘Has he seen you?’ Trig was the most obvious one that Jared would look for. His size made him stand out.
‘Yes.’
Lena turned, ignoring the stabbing pain behind one eye. She perused the boat, taking care to look impressed. It wasn’t hard. And then she let her hungry gaze rest on Jared. He’d taken his sunglasses off and was using the hem of his T-shirt to clean them. He was looking straight at her.
‘Go toss your water bottle in the bin over there,’ Trig ordered gruffly. ‘You wanted Jared to see you walking, so walk. Make sure he can see you.’
The words rang true. So true. Lena straightened and started towards the bin, smoothing out her gait as she went, trying to make walking seem effortless. ‘Standing,’ she wanted to say to her brother. ‘Walking, you moron.’ She tossed the empty bottle in the bin and turned so that the boat would come into view. Jared was watching her, a tiny smile tilting his lips. ‘See? I’ve done my part,’ she wanted to say to him. ‘Don’t kill yourself doing yours. Matter of fact how about you get yourself home and give up this business of...this business of...’
Revenge.
Memory tugged at her, sharp and piercing, maddeningly out of reach. What the hell did any of this have to do with revenge?
Jared’s passengers were just passing by, the security types lazily alert and carrying concealed, the woman digging in her purse and never breaking stride. The little boy looked straight at her, smiled and bent down to tie his shoelace. He didn’t look sick. The woman stopped and looked back as if she’d sensed the disruption. ‘Celik!’ she said sharply, a name and a reprimand all tied up in a bow.
Celik stood and hurried to catch up to the woman. He didn’t look back.
Neither of them looked back.
Lena looked to Jared and the other man in the boat. They were pulling away from the wharf, leaving, and she felt a swift tug of regret. She wanted her brother back within reach. Finding out who was responsible for her getting shot was all well and good, but not if it cost him his life and not if it meant him staying undercover for years.
‘Let someone else go save the world,’ she muttered and knew in that moment that she was done with ASIS, even if Jared wasn’t. Even if Trig wasn’t. She’d had enough.
Pain struck her just behind the eye again and she stopped and swayed and brought her fingers up to her forehead to try and chase it away. Blackness began to close in on her as her vision narrowed down to tunnels, the kind of tunnels that came with migraines, and all she wanted to do was get back to Trig and borrow some of his strength. Trig, who was her best friend and lover and...
Husband.
‘God damn son of a bitch,’ she muttered as knowledge slammed into her like a sucker punch.
Adrian Sinclair was many things to Lena but he wasn’t her husband.
The proposal she hadn’t been able to remember.
No wedding pictures to remind her of the big day.
The sex...
The sex.
She had barely enough time to glare at him; he’d barely taken half a dozen steps towards her before the world around her turned black.
* * *
Lena came to in Trig’s arms, cradled to his chest. He was sitting on one of the benches scattered along the wharf. No humongous crowd surrounded them, and for that she was inordinately grateful.
She struggled up, out of his arms, and he let her go, but only as far as the space next to him on the seat. She smoothed back her hair and tried to make sense out of the jumble of memories crashing over her. ‘I just—’
‘Fainted,’ said Trig, and handed her his half-full water bottle.
‘For how long?’
‘Couple of minutes.’
‘Did Jared see?’
‘Don’t know, but he’s gone. I caught you. There wasn’t much fuss. Need to get you to the hospital here, though.’
‘You planning on telling them you’re my husband too?’
‘You remember,’ he said flatly.
Lena nodded slowly. ‘Just then. Funny thing, memory loss. Bits and pieces kept coming back but not everything, not until I saw Jared and then they rushed back in like a tsunami. I remembered getting shot. I remembered you telling me to hold on. I remember waking up in the hospital in Darwin and everything else that came after... All the missing pieces, they slotted in as if they’d never been gone.’
‘That’s good,’ he said.
‘I still don’t remember marrying you.’
Trig said nothing.
‘We’re not married, are we?’
‘No.’
She nodded and twisted at her rings with clumsy fingers. She ducked her head because she didn’t want him to see