CHAPTER ONE

      ‘YOU’RE standing in the way of my view.’

      Juliet turned towards the source of the voice, startled out of her early morning reverie by its intrusion, even more startled when she saw the man frowning across at her as he lay on a lounger on the patio a short distance away.

      She had been totally unaware of anyone else’s presence as she stood near the sea-shore staring out across the calm water, the beauty of the sunrise reflected on that water also lost on her as she wondered how much longer she was going to have to stay here. To most people it wouldn’t have been a hardship to stay on at this exclusive hotel on the paradise island of Majorca, but Juliet wasn’t most people, and she wasn’t here to enjoy herself!

      And she certainly wasn’t in the mood to put up with what she considered to be this man’s rudeness; he might have paid to stay in this hotel too—as she knew, very much so!—but the cost of his hotel suite didn’t give him exclusive rights to the view.

      Grey eyes surrounded by long dark lashes flashed a warning of her displeasure at being attacked in this way. ‘I thought the view belonged to everyone,’ she snapped back, putting up a hand to push the heavy swath of her blazing red hair back over her shoulder, having left her own suite earlier without bothering to secure it at her nape as she usually did.

      She had been on the island almost a week now, and she found the nights the most difficult to deal with. She had no trouble keeping herself occupied during the day, but at night she would fall into a troubled sleep for a couple of hours, and then wake up at about three o’clock in the morning unable to go back to sleep again. She had taken to going for long walks along the sea-shore as soon as it became light, and this morning had been no exception.

      Two more days, she had decided on this morning’s walk, and then she would give up her vigil and go back home to England. She was solving absolutely nothing by staying on here anyway; the person she had come here to see just wasn’t going to put in an appearance, and she might as well accept that.

      The man stood up from the lounger, tall and lithe in a black T-shirt and fitted denims, his over-long hair glinting golden in the sunshine, eyes the blue of the water lapping in front of them, and squinted in the bright early morning sun as he stared across the width of his patio-area at her.

      It was only just after six o’clock in the morning, too early for any of the other hotel guests to be up and about, and Juliet was suddenly aware, as the man walked towards her, of just how alone the two of them were. And he didn’t exactly sound friendly, either; in fact, he was distinctly hostile!

      As he came to stand just in front of her Juliet realised exactly how tall he was, dwarfing her five feet two in height by at least a foot, making her even more conscious of her own vulnerability alone on the sea-shore with him.

      ‘The view does belong to everyone,’ he murmured in that husky voice. ‘I was just surprised to see someone else out and about this early in the morning.’

      And that gave him the right to be rude to her? As far as apologies went it wasn’t exactly effusive, but then this man gave the impression of rarely, if ever, making apologies for anything!

      Up close like this he looked to be in his late thirties, had a ruggedly handsome face, dark lashes surrounding those sharply alert blue eyes, his nose long and straight, his mouth a sculptured curve, the chin square and powerful. And he was looking down that long nose at her now, no matter how pleasant his words just now might have sounded.

      Juliet shrugged, her own clothing similar to his except that the T-shirt tucked into the narrow waistband of her jeans was navy blue in colour. She looked very small and slight next to his much more forceful physique.

      ‘The morning is the most beautiful part of the day,’ she dismissed—although at three o’clock in the morning she hadn’t been quite so sure about that!

      ‘I happen to agree,’ he nodded, still looking at her with those piercing blue eyes—eyes that seemed to miss nothing.

      For all that he was dressed casually he didn’t look like the usual holiday-makers Juliet had so far seen at this exclusive hotel. Most of them, including the men, were more interested in making a fashion statement with their clothing than actually relaxing and enjoying the sun and the sea, and this man gave the impression that he didn’t give a damn about fashion, that he dressed for comfort, and to hell with what anyone else thought about the way he looked. Even that slightly waving golden-coloured hair was unfashionably long. Although she could be making a complete misjudgement—she very often did—and later on, when he was joined by his fashion-conscious wife and spoilt teenage children, she would know that she had!

      ‘Well, if you’ll excuse me…’ She gave him a bright dismissive smile before turning away.

      ‘No,’ he said abruptly from behind her.

      Juliet turned with a frown; what did he mean, no?

      ‘I ordered coffee a few minutes ago,’ he smiled, revealing even white teeth, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

      It was amazing the difference that smile made to his face; he no longer looked remote and slightly daunting, and certainly not hostile. But, nevertheless, Juliet was still somewhat perplexed by his manner.

      ‘Why don’t you join me?’ he offered smoothly.

      Her grey eyes widened. Really, she had just met the man, and he had been distinctly rude from the first, and now he had the nerve to ask her to join him for coffee. ‘Wouldn’t your wife think that rather odd?’ she returned with sweet sarcasm.

      She had kept herself very much to herself since her arrival here, resisted all the attempts of the other guests to try and include her in their activities. She was very much a loner anyway, so that hadn’t been difficult for her to do; she certainly had no intention of joining this man for coffee—or anything else.

      His mouth twisted. ‘I don’t have a wife,’ he told her drily. ‘And even if I did I can’t see anything wrong in my asking you to join me for a cup of coffee!’

      Colour warmed Juliet’s cheeks at what she sensed was his mockery. Maybe she was being a little overcautious, but her experiences of life so far had taught her to have very little trust in other peopleespecially some lone