Bound By Her Ring

by Nicole Flockton

  “No damn you. I do have amnesia and until you turned up I couldn’t remember a thing about those lost months.”

  “And now? Are you saying all of a sudden you’re remembering things?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying, since you turned up I’ve been having flashbacks, recalling pieces of conversations, recalling feelings, recalling things, when for the last months it’s been a gaping hole.” She held up her left hand. “The only thing I had connecting me to you were these rings!”

  “This all too convenient if you ask me,” scoffed Luciano as he ran his fingers through his hair.

  “How can you say that? Do you think this is easy for me? Not remembering anything?” She stood and took a step closer to him, stabbing him in the chest with her finger. “Well it’s not. If I was faking my memory loss don’t you think I’d have slipped up a whole lot sooner than now?”

  “Well you’ve had a while to practice before I showed up. Time to perfect your act.”

  “Stop! Will you just stop?” She squeezed her eyes shut to prevent the tears that were threatening, to spill over. “I don’t know what I can do to make you believe me, Lukas. I can stand here and talk and talk and talk and try to convince you, but I don’t think it will work.”

  She didn’t wait for a response. She spun around and headed back towards the soft glow of the bamboo lights in the distance. When she reached the table she picked up her shoes and purse and walked the short distance to the path which would lead her back to the car.

  “Wait.”

  She hesitated at the softly spoken word. Did she want to hear any more accusations?

  He stepped around her so he was standing in front of her. “Look at me, Jasmine. Look at me.”

  He cupped her cheek and gently raised her head so her gaze connected with his. His eyes roved over her face and she took a breath, holding it, waiting to see what he would do next.

  Slowly, oh so slowly, he lowered his head until his lips were a millimetre from hers. “I’m sorry.”

  It was the last words she expected to hear and as his lips touched hers she gave herself over to the kiss.

  It was the sweetest, softest kiss they’d ever shared and it was over all too quickly.

  Lukas slipped his arm around her waist and kept a tight grip on her as they made their way up the darkened path. Nerves assailed her as she wondered just what was going to happen when they returned to the resort. After what had occurred in the room earlier in the afternoon and the kiss they’d just shared, would he expect her to make love with him?

  The journey back to the resort passed in silence and she stood quietly beside him, her stomach churning as he unlocked the door to their suite. He held it open to allow her to enter first. She flicked the lights on and stood in the middle of the room, waiting. Waiting for a sign from him. Waiting to see what was going to happen.

  “I’m going to the business centre.” He announced as he checked his cellphone.

  The wait was over. “I guess I’ll go to bed.”

  “Probably a good idea, I could be a while.” He turned and walked out the door.

  And just like that the evening came to an end. As the door closed behind Luciano, the stillness of the room competed with the disappointment filling her.

  Chapter 6

  The morning chatter of the native birds woke Jasmine. She stretched, sighing blissfully at the sensation of her sleep slackened muscles coming to life. She’d slept deeply and soundly for the first time in a long, long, long time.

  Jasmine turned her head to the side, expecting to see Lukas lying beside her. The memory of waking sometime during the night, to find him asleep next to her, flitted through her mind. She hadn’t thought she’d be able to sleep after that, knowing, in all probability, he was naked beside her, but she had quickly drifted off. Maybe it was just knowing he was there made her feel secure enough to sleep again.

  Now, however, his side of the bed was empty and cold, only his masculine scent lingered on the sheets. There was no sound coming from the bathroom, so she assumed he must have returned to the business centre to get a head start on the meetings they were likely to attend today.

  “Good morning cara.”

  She jumped at the sound of his voice. Having just made herself believe he wasn’t in the suite, to look up and find him leaning casually against the door frame shattered her composure.

  “Morning,” she mumbled.

  “Room service has just delivered breakfast.”

  “Okay, I’ll just be a minute. You go and get started while it’s hot.”

  Amusement etched the features on his face. “Well don’t be too long, you don’t want your breakfast getting cold either.”

  Jasmine watched him leave before flopping back down on the pillows, groaning at her primness. It was time to stop being so pathetic around him. She had slept with the man. True he hadn’t tried anything but they’d slept side by side. It was time to be the mature woman she knew was inside her. It was time to take control.

  Throwing the covers back, she reached for her matching robe and tied it tightly around her waist. She marched out into the sitting room only to see that Luciano had set the breakfast up on the balcony table. Jasmine reached the table just as he was pouring himself a cup of coffee. The delicacies laid out before her had her mouth watering.

  “This all looks delicious. You certainly can’t complain about the quality of food here.” She sat down and started to pile her plate with pastries and fresh fruit.

  “Would you like a cup?”

  She glanced up to see Lukas still had the coffee pot in his hand.

  “I’d love one, thanks. Milk with…”

  “Two sugars, yes I remember.”

  “Oh, right, of course.” She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, he remembered how she liked her coffee, but she couldn’t remember anything about him.

  He placed the cup in front of her, his hand still on the handle until she met his gaze. “Thanks Luka…I mean Luciano.”

  She heard his heavy sigh as he sat down again. “It’s fine Jasmine, call me Lukas.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. The whole time we’ve been here you’ve used Lukas or avoided saying my name at all.” He took a bite of his breakfast, chewing slowly and swallowing before he continued. “So yes, if it makes you comfortable, call me Lukas.”

  Jasmine wondered how he’d answered her the first time she’d asked the question. Perhaps now wasn’t the time to ask.

  “Thanks, I know this whole situation is just as difficult for you as it is for me. Probably more so because you know our past and I don’t.”

  He just nodded and she knew if she didn’t want to jeopardise the truce that had sprung up between them she shouldn’t say anymore.

  She took a sip of her coffee and closed her eyes, groaning in appreciation of the rich taste.

  His chuckle trickled down her spine. “You always did enjoy the first cup of the day.”

  “So true, there’s nothing like a great cup of coffee to kick start the heart.”

  Jasmine leaned forward to replace the cup and take a last bite of her pastry. “So what’s the plan for today? Do you have any meetings you need me to attend with you?”

  “No meetings, I have a couple of calls to make and then my day is free,” he said casually. Way too casually for her comfort.

  “Really?”

  “You sound surprised and suspicious?”

  “Well yes, I thought this trip was supposed to be a business trip. I’d assumed we’d be working most days.”

  Was it time to come clean, he wondered. Let Jasmine know all his business had been conducted and finalised. That the only calls he needed to make today were to confirm his assistant had received the documents he’d emailed to her last night.

  Yes, it was time to be honest. Their conversation last night as they walked the beach had been pivotal. His reaction to her revelation had been a knee jerk one. He’d wanted to believe she was still faki
ng her amnesia, but her distress over the conversation they’d shared about his name had been too real to be faked. Was it time to take a leap of faith and trust her?

  If he did, he hoped her reaction to his next comments wouldn’t disintegrate those tenuous lines of trust they had started to rebuild.

  “I completed the business deal yesterday. I now own Orchid Hill Resort.”

  He watched as her eyes narrowed and was grateful she had put her cup down.

  “I’m sorry I don’t think I heard that correctly. Did you just say your business is completed?”

  “Yes I did.”

  “So in effect we don’t need to be here at all, I could go back home today if I wanted to?”

  “In theory you could, but the reason you agreed to come on this trip still stands.”

  “I can’t believe you can calmly sit there and tell me my father’s business is still under threat. Not when you lied about the whole reason for this trip.”

  “I didn’t lie, the business deal was legitimate and it just so happened it wasn’t as complicated as I first thought.”

  “Don’t treat me like a fool, Lukas. You tried it once last night, don’t try it again,” she said as she scraped her chair back and leaned over the table. He could see through the fine material of her robe. Her agitation and anger clear as her chest moved up and down with her every breath.

  He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Fine okay, maybe I knew the deal would be handled quickly but you have to admit, being with me is helping you.”

  She straightened and the hurt from his comment clouded her blue eyes. “That’s a low blow. Were you always this inconsistent when we were together? Is that why I left you because I couldn’t stand your half truths?”

  Any remorse he felt about his comments hurting her was quickly forgotten. “Don’t you go accusing me of half truths, what you did to me was far worse.”

  “What I did to you? I don’t even remember what I did to you. This is the first time it’s come up.” She stuck her hands on her hips. “Are you going to tell me what I did?”

  Silence greeted her question. Jasmine knew then they’d stumbled into dangerous ground. Lukas knew something and he wasn’t going to share it with her, she could tell by the way he stood and walked to rest against the balcony. Shutting her out when he crossed his arms over his chest.

  “You aren’t going to tell me, are you?” Looking him straight in the eye. She wanted answers.

  “No.”

  “Why not, don’t you think I have a right to know?”

  “Me telling you won’t help. You need to recover your memories yourself. No one should prompt you.”

  She could kick herself for her stupidity. She remembered the doctors at the hospital telling her the exact same thing when they heard her grilling her father for answers. She’d argued and argued but it hadn’t worked. Their constant reply had been she needed to let nature take its course. When the time was right the forgotten memories would return. Unspoken in the air, however, was the possibility that they may never.

  “Don’t tell me you actually believe me and have been doing some research on the subject?” she mocked him.

  “Being sarcastic isn’t going to help you. Finish your coffee while I make my calls.”

  “I’ll stop being sarcastic if you stop being patronising.”

  He gave a slight shrug of his shoulder as he moved away from the balcony. “I think I can manage that. I should be an hour at the most. When I return we can decide what to do with the rest of the day,” he paused momentarily. “And for the remainder of our trip.”

  He didn’t give her a chance to reply as he just assumed she would agree. She didn’t think she’d ever get the last word in an argument or conversation with Lukas.

  She was flicking through a magazine and enjoying her second cup of coffee when Lukas walked back in. A shower had doused some of her anger but, resentment still simmered below the surface. All it would take would be one word which would cause it to bubble and explode over, like lava spewing out of an angry volcano.

  “Any ideas of what you’d like to do?”

  No preliminaries, straight to the point, she was sure that was how he conducted business. However, she didn’t think his associates would be as affected by the sound of his voice, like she was. It was as smooth as silk and enveloped her like a warm bath.

  “Apart from visiting one of the beaches at sunset to see the staircase to the moon or doing the night camel trek on Cable Beach, I’m not sure what else there is to do.”

  “I’m surprised at that, I would’ve thought, being in the same industry, you’d know what all the attractions were up here.”

  “I concentrate mainly on…you know what? It doesn’t matter what my role is. This trip is no longer about business, is it?”

  “What is it about then?”

  “I don’t know, you tell me. You’re the one with the master plan. You finished your deal early. It’s up to you to entertain me now.”

  She’d been enjoying their verbal sparring, until the moment she’d said those words. Now she wanted to snatch them back.

  “Entertain you? That could be fun.” He wandered over and took the seat beside her, moving it closer so their knees were brushing. For the first time since he’d turned up back in her life his eyes sparkled with humor. “I can think of many ways to do that. Do you have anything in particular you’d like me to do?”

  She couldn’t help herself, she laughed at his teasing tone. If he was like this when they’d first met she could understand why she’d married him. What would she have to do to keep him this light-hearted? To leave the brooding, bitter man she had seen over the last few days behind.

  “I think we should leave this conversation here before it gets too dangerous.”

  “Don’t trust yourself, cara?”

  “Not at all, it’s you I don’t trust.” She stood and moved into the main room. “So have you worked out where we’re going?”

  “Well I would like to take in a couple of pearl farms, check out their operations.”

  “I thought you said your business was finished, unless you want to purchase some loose pearls?”

  She collected her purse and they made their way out.

  Lukas answered her question as they walked to the car. “We can do both, business and pleasure. Besides I’d like some exclusive jewellery designed and made just for Regent Hotels.”

  The business side of things she could deal with, the pleasure, well that was another thing. Just him saying the word had her breasts tightening against the lace of her bra.

  Think business, she chastised herself.

  “I would’ve thought you’d have the market already cornered.”

  “No it’s only something I’ve been contemplating since taking over the hotel chain.”

  As they settled themselves in the car Jasmine opened the glove compartment and found what she was looking for—a local guide book.

  She flicked to the index and searched the listings.

  “There are quite a few pearl farms listed, did you have any in mind?”

  “Surprise me.”

  His ambiguous answer surprised Jasmine, but she went through the book and picked out which ones she thought would suit Lukas’s needs. As they travelled from pearl farm to pearl farm, Jasmine was surprised at how well they worked together. She knew she had impressed Lukas, not only with the questions she’d asked the owners, but the way she’d taken notes on all the organisations once they’d left and were en-route to the next one.

  “Shall we have some lunch?” Lukas asked as they departed the last farm.

  She glanced at her watch and was surprised to see how much time had passed. Her stomach grumbled in protest as if it had just realised breakfast was a long time ago.

  “Sounds like a great idea. Why don’t we go back to the second farm, they had a restaurant there. Also there are some other things I’d like to look at again.”

  “Okay back to Fierro’s it is.” He s
tarted the car and maneuvered his way out of the car park. “What is it about Fierro’s that makes you want to check them out again? I thought they ran a tight organisation.”

  Jasmine flicked through her notes until she came across the relevant ones pertaining to Fierro’s. Out of all the farms they’d seen, this one seemed the most suited to Lukas’s needs.

  “They were very professional and well presented. Their staff was extremely knowledgeable about the area and how the owners farmed the oysters.” She looked down her list. “Plus they also had a first class restaurant and gift shop. I think they’d fit your mould of a business you’d want to be associated with.”

  Luciano kept his focus on the road not wanting Jasmine to see just how her insight was affecting him. At each business they’d visited she’d asked intelligent, leading questions which enabled them to glean more information from the staff than the average person would’ve obtained. She also managed to ask them in a way that the staff took her as a tourist not a businesswoman checking out the organisation and their work practices.

  He, too, had been impressed with Fierro’s and thought that that particular farm could be the one to supply his hotels.

  “We didn’t get a chance to look at the gift store. The tour of the farm took longer than I thought it would.” He flicked his gaze in the mirror and indicated to his right. “But out of all the farms we visited they were the only ones that had an agreement with the big diamond companies.”

  “Yes, that’s another reason I’d like to visit them again. I only gave the jewellery a cursory glance as we passed, but what I glimpsed was enough to make me want to break out the credit card. I think an agreement with Fierro’s would be a good move for the hotels.”

  “I agree.”

  He concentrated on the road and recalled the last time they had been in such total harmony. Since he’d turned up in her life again he’d been avoiding thinking about the last time they’d been together. But he could avoid it no longer.

  Finally, after weeks of secretly seeing each other, he had persuaded Jasmine to accompany him on a business trip. He hadn’t had to resort to blackmail back then, she’d been willing to go anywhere with him.