Mediterranean Men Bundle

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  ‘It’s happened before?’ she asked. ‘With a fishing line?’

  ‘Not just fishing line—nets mainly. The tuna industry has a bad reputation where dolphins are concerned. They often swim over large schools of tuna and, as a result, get trapped in the nets.’

  ‘That’s terrible.’

  ‘It’s not just tuna-fishing crews.’ He leant forward for his beer once more. ‘A lot of amateur fishermen throw their snagged lines or bits of rubbish overboard, but as dolphins, and to an even greater degree seals, are very inquisitive marine mammals they often find themselves snared. As you saw from our friend, it can do untold damage, for a youngster particularly, as their body continues to grow around the noose. While a dolphin doesn’t use its flippers to swim, they use them to stop and turn. Being disabled leaves them seriously vulnerable.’

  ‘What can be done?’

  ‘Education, lobbying, that sort of thing. But it all takes time, valuable time.’

  ‘You really care about this, don’t you?’ she asked, watching him closely.

  ‘I don’t like seeing the innocent suffer; it all seems so pointless.’

  Bryony considered his words, trying to align them with her view of him as a heartlessly cruel man who would stop at nothing to get his way.

  None of it seemed to fit.

  He was a man of contradictions. He had a heart, but up until this point she had never seen it displayed. She recalled the almost inhuman strength he’d called upon to drag the dolphin to safety. Was that really the same man who had forced her into marriage as an act of revenge?

  She took a sip of her champagne and tried to organize her thoughts into some sort of framework where he could be innocent of all charges, but it just wouldn’t work.

  He had been sent to prison for what he’d done. He’d deliberately sabotaged Mercyfields, killing an innocent animal in the process, all in an attempt to get back at her family.

  He was guilty.

  He had to be, for if he wasn’t…someone else had to be and that she just couldn’t bear.

  ‘I’m kind of wondering at this point how your views on animal cruelty fit in with what you did to Mrs Bromley’s spaniel.’

  He visibly stiffened, his hand around his beer bottle tight, his eyes when they met hers dark with sudden anger. ‘How many times do you require me to say I didn’t kill that dog?’

  ‘Enough times for me to believe it,’ she tossed back.

  ‘You wouldn’t believe it even if the bloody dog came back to life to tell you for itself,’ he bit out. ‘You’ve had me painted as the villain almost from the first day I walked on to the Mercyfields estate with my mother when I was fourteen.’

  ‘OK, then.’ She sent him a challenging look. ‘If you didn’t do it, who did? Everybody knew that dog came to visit the kitchen for scraps at the same time every day. He was like a part of the family. Gloria Bromley was my mother’s nearest neighbour and closest friend.’

  His mouth twisted as he reached for his drink. ‘Your sainted brother had a dark side. I think he did it to get back at me.’

  ‘You only think he did it?’ Her tone was cynical. ‘Where’s your proof?’

  ‘I have no proof. I just think he did it. He was always looking for an opportunity to get me off side with your father. It was exactly the sort of thing he would do.’

  ‘My brother loved animals,’ she put in. ‘All animals.’

  He gave her a disdainful look. ‘Your brother’s only saving grace was the fact he loved you. Unfortunately your reciprocal love for him blinded you to the real persona he kept hidden from his family. I know for a fact he ordered me to be beaten up after our incident at the lake.’

  She stared at him in shock. ‘W-what?’

  His scarred lip curled. ‘Didn’t he tell you?’

  She shook her head, her stomach turning over.

  ‘I thought he’d relish the chance to reveal to you how he’d taught me a much needed lesson.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘You expect me to believe that?’ His eyes were like black diamonds, brittle with bitterness.

  ‘I didn’t tell a soul about what…what happened between us.’

  ‘You didn’t need to. It seems your brother had his willing spies. Within minutes of our meeting at the lake he was already marshalling his henchmen. He was too cowardly to do it himself, of course; he had to assign four men to beat me to a pulp while he watched on from the sidelines in sick enjoyment.’

  Bryony stared at him in abject horror. Could it be true? Could her brother have done such a despicable thing?

  ‘No…’ Her protest came out on the back of a strangled gasp.

  ‘Why do you think my lip scarred the way it did?’ he asked.

  She swallowed the lump of nausea in her throat, not trusting herself to answer.

  ‘Go on believing in your angelic brother for as long as you like, but I for one cannot regret his passing. As far as I’m concerned, he was a low-life just like your father who would stop at nothing to achieve his own ends.’

  Bryony felt the energy drain from her as if someone had pulled a plug from deep within her body. She couldn’t get her head around anything he had told her this evening. She didn’t want to believe what he was telling her but the alternative was becoming equally unpalatable.

  Someone was innocent.

  Someone was guilty.

  She had to choose.

  ‘I need some time to think about this…’ she said.

  ‘Take all the time you need.’ His tone was curt. ‘I’ve waited ten years for the truth to surface; a few more days, weeks or even months won’t make much more difference.’

  There was so much bitterness in his tone that she felt tempted to put her vote of truth with him, but then she thought of Austin and his devotion to her, the way he’d protected her from their father when things had got out of hand, as they often had. How could she taint her precious memories of him?

  Kane’s beer bottle was empty as too was his cold distant gaze as he trained it on her. ‘I’m going for a walk. Help yourself to whatever food you fancy. I probably won’t be back before nightfall.’

  Bryony watched in silent anguish as he left the cottage, the screen door snapping shut behind him cutting all contact off with him as surely as his clipped statement.

  She sat on the sofa and watched as the lowering sun spread its rays across the water, the long flat horizon stretching as far as the eye could see.

  How far from the swathes of manicured lawns and meticulously tended gardens of Mercyfields this wild untamed paradise was. How different the cottage was from the heavily ornate mansion she’d spent most of her childhood in. Kane’s cottage was simple and functional but it seemed to her to have an atmosphere of tranquility about it, as if it was here and only here he could truly be himself.

  She wasn’t sure why he’d brought her here given his embittered views on her family. Why taint the perfection of his sanctuary with her presence, a woman he’d married as a pay-back for past sins?

  She knew his anger towards her simmered just beneath the thin veneer of politeness he’d recently maintained; the slightest negative comment from her would lift it to the surface and he would become prickly and defensive all over again.

  They had worked so well as a team on the beach rescuing the dolphin, her respect for him going up in leaps and bounds at the humane way in which he’d acted.

  She had met few men in her life she felt she could truly respect. Her experiences with her controlling father had made her cautious, and the last thing she’d wanted to do was end up like her poor mother, married to a man who treated her appallingly, her love for him keeping her tied to him in spite of her great unhappiness. But it was becoming more and more clear to her that Kane had certain qualities her father had never possessed. His care and concern over her knee, the gentle way he’d tended to it and how he’d smiled at her and made her comfortable, were actions totally foreign to someone like her father, wh
o viewed any sort of physical ailment as a weakness of both mind and body.

  She sighed as she thought about how she’d spoilt the recent and fragile truce between them by mentioning the past; the old ruthless Kane had come back with a vengeance, storming from the cottage with an angry scowl.

  The trouble was she wasn’t sure she could afford to allow herself to get too close to him once this little spat blew over. He unsettled her in so many ways; her body had recognised it all those years ago and she knew that if she wasn’t too careful her mind and heart would rapidly catch up. She was already confused about her see-sawing emotions; they seemed to be changing from one moment to the next.

  Would she be able to keep him at a safe emotional distance long enough to prevent herself from falling in love with him…or was it already too late?

  Kane walked the length of the lonely beach, relieved to see that the dolphin hadn’t re-beached itself in the last hour or so. He was hopeful the injury it had sustained would soon heal in the salt water of the clean blue sea; however, he’d seen too many washed-up bodies in the past to take this particular rescue for granted. The irresponsible cruelty nauseated him, especially as it was so avoidable.

  The wind was by now whipping up the surface of the bay into white caps and a lonely gull rose in an arc above his head, its plaintive call barely audible over the sound of the wind-driven surf.

  Kane loved the untamed wildness of it all. It answered a need in him so deep and strong he felt it like a pulse in his body.

  The constraints of city living were a necessity in order to control the vast empire he’d acquired but as soon as he had an opportunity to escape he took it. The isolation of this particular beach was like no other he’d ever seen. There was no development; even the road was unsealed and unsignposted, which left it well and truly off the tourist trail. It gave him a sense of power to think that this part of paradise was his to keep as it was, beautiful and as yet unspoilt, and he would do everything in his power to keep it that way.

  His wealth was something he had never allowed himself to become complacent about, certainly given his youth spent at Mercyfields as the housekeeper’s illegitimate son. Never had a day gone by without Austin or Owen Mercer reminding him of his lowly position. It still made his stomach crawl to think of all the things his mother had been made to do and, even though it had taken him ten years to address the balance, he was determined to enjoy every minute of bringing about the justice he knew would allow him to finally move on without the burden of guilt he’d been carrying ever since his mother had taken her own life.

  Bryony was the only hiccup in his plan for revenge. It made him a little uneasy how he’d made her believe he’d swept her up into the maelstrom of his revenge, making her think the worst of him, when all the time he was hiding his real motives. There had been no other way; too much was at stake.

  He could hardly tell her the real reason he’d insisted on her marrying him. He hadn’t been prepared to risk her saying no. She was married to him and he was going to make sure she stayed that way because that was the only way to ensure her safety.

  The men after Owen Mercer had nothing to lose; they wanted to get at him in any way possible and Bryony was an easy target. It had taken Kane several hours of tense negotiations to convince them to leave both Glenys and Bryony alone. His only way of keeping them safe had been to take Bryony as his wife. That way no one would touch her, for in doing so they would then have to deal directly with him. He had loved her for too long to stand back and watch someone use her as a way to get back at her father.

  It was too late to back out now.

  Far too late…

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  BRYONY limped out to the seaboard deck to watch as the sun began to set, unable to refrain from sighing at the remote beauty of the uninterrupted horizon as the light gradually faded.

  The first star appeared and then another. Then, after another half an hour, the inky blackness of the sky was peppered with the peep-holes of a trillion stars. The great sweeping whiteness of the Milky Way spread above her, the twin smudges of the greater and lesser magellanic clouds close by. Never had she seen the sky in such glorious exhibition, it was like being inside an observatory, so brilliant was the display.

  She hadn’t heard the soft tread of Kane’s footsteps coming up from the cliff path until the shadow of his tall figure loomed over her, making her gasp.

  ‘Oh!’ She gripped the railing of the deck to steady herself. ‘You scared me.’

  ‘Sorry.’ His one word was gruff and her brow instantly furrowed. Was he apologizing for disturbing her or for something else? She inspected his features in the soft light coming from the cottage behind them but, as usual, it was hard to know exactly what he was thinking, much less what he was feeling.

  She said the first thing that came to her mind. ‘Did you see any sign of the dolphin?’

  ‘No.’ She heard his faint sigh of relief. ‘I guess he’s made it back to the rest of the pod.’ He turned and leaned his back on the railing to face her, his face less shadowed as the light fell upon its masculine angles and planes. ‘How’s the knee?’

  ‘Fine.’ She tested it and disguised her grimace of pain. ‘I’m sure it will be better in a day or two. It usually is.’

  ‘You’ve had this happen before?’

  She gave him a twisted and somewhat sheepish smile. ‘Yes, but never from shifting a dolphin.’

  ‘What happened the last time?’

  ‘Well…’ She slanted him a little glance of embarrassment before inspecting the night sky once more. ‘The last time I hurt it I was doing my best to avoid the bride’s bouquet at a wedding.’

  ‘Oh?’ There was a wealth of both interest and amusement in his tone.

  She turned back to look at him. ‘I put in a huge effort to avoid its flight path but it virtually landed in my lap as I stumbled over the leg of a chair.’

  The line of his usually hard mouth had softened with a smile and she had to look away, pretending an avid interest in astronomy when all she could think of was the brilliance of his dark eyes and how they threatened to outdo the splendour above her head.

  ‘Is that a satellite?’ She pointed to a moving light making its way across the canopy.

  He turned and looked upwards. ‘Yes, there are hundreds out there.’

  ‘The stars are amazing…’ She let the silence of the night take over her paltry attempts to make conversation, her awareness of him increasing with every heartbeat.

  After a while she heard him lean back against the railing and, sending a glance his way, saw that his dark gaze was still trained on her.

  ‘You never intended to get married, did you?’ he asked.

  She pressed her lips together before answering flatly, ‘No.’

  ‘Because of your parents?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ She looked back up at the Milky Way so as to avoid the penetration of his stare.

  She heard the slight rustle of his clothes as he shifted position.

  ‘The way I see it, the only thing keeping your mother tied to your father is guilt.’

  Bryony frowned into the darkness. ‘My mother loves my father.’

  ‘Poor misguided fool.’

  His tone brought her head around, her frown deepening. ‘My mother took her wedding vows very seriously. She’s…loyal and—’

  ‘She should have left him years ago.’

  As much as Bryony was finding the topic of her parents’ marriage distinctly uncomfortable, she was intrigued as to why he would consider it his place to even discuss it, particularly with her.

  ‘You seem to me to be a highly unusual person to be an authority on marriage. After all, you had to bribe me into being your bride.’

  ‘I don’t deny the circumstances surrounding our marriage are unusual and to some degree regrettable but—’

  She rounded on him crossly. ‘Unusual? Regrettable? If you’re having seconds thoughts on, what is it, day two of our marriage, can you po
ssibly imagine how I feel?’

  ‘I know you hate being tied to me, but that’s the way it is and that’s the way it’s going to stay for the time being.’ His tone had hardened considerably.

  ‘I can have the marriage annulled as soon as we return to Sydney,’ she threatened.

  The look he gave her was challenging. ‘Then perhaps I should make sure that such a claim will be considered null and void.’

  She tried to outstare him but felt sure he would see the sudden and unexpected light of unruly desire in her eyes at his sexily drawled statement. She spun away and stared at Orion’s Belt instead, her hands on the rail tight as she fought to control her reaction to him.

  ‘You should be grateful I’m not quite the ruffian you’ve always assumed me to be. I could have had you from day one and we both know it,’ he said into the suddenly stiff silence.

  Bryony wanted to deny it but her skin was already tingling in awareness of him standing so close, the fine hairs on her bare arms lifting like antennae.

  ‘You were hungry for me ten years ago,’ he continued. ‘The only reason you hit out at me was because you were angry at yourself for dallying with someone so beneath you. It wasn’t quite what a Mercer should do, was it, Bryony? Allowing the housekeeper’s son to kiss you and touch your breasts like some common little tart.’

  She turned to defend herself but the dark intensity of his eyes immediately put her off course. The truth was that she still felt the shame of her reaction to his hard body all those years ago. She felt it now, the heat building up inside her looking for a way out. It burned in her breasts, it fired her mouth and it smouldered in her belly, sending a fiery trail to the core of her femininity where she most secretly longed and ached for him to be.

  She stared at him for endless seconds as the heady realisation dawned. She didn’t want him to think of her the way he thought of her family. She didn’t want him to think her an arrogant snob who had always looked down her nose at him. She wanted him to love her as she had grown to love him.

  How had it happened? How had her hatred turned to such desperate longing?