He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and wished her a happy Christmas before disappearing back the way they’d come. ‘The best Christmas ever’. She was happy for Phil and his family. They deserved it. But she was envious too. It was going to be a long time before she enjoyed the best Christmas ever. She stood for a moment at the railing, enjoying the soft summer breeze that carried the freshness of the ocean. It was the calmness she needed in the midst of a day of turmoil, until another stab of pain sliced through her. Damn! She turned to go inside and almost walked into a wall of man.
‘What the hell was that little cosy tête à tête all about?’
‘Maverick? I just wanted to tell Phil—’
‘Like you told Nell?’
His eyes were wild, his face filled with fury, a nerve flicking in his jaw.
‘Told Nell what?’
‘I knew you’d do this. Even when I’d warned you not to say a word, you just couldn’t help yourself. You intended this all along!’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Nell knows about the baby. And I take it Phil Rogerson knows now, too. Before long the whole of the Gold Coast will know.’
‘What? How does she know?’
‘Don’t give me that! How do you think she knows? You told her.’
‘I did no such thing.’
‘I knew I couldn’t trust you, even when I’d warned you. I should never have brought you to this lunch.’
‘For once you’ve got it right! You shouldn’t have brought me here. I didn’t want to come, so you can blame yourself. But get one thing straight—I didn’t tell Nell!’
‘Then how does she know?’
Tegan threw a wild shrug into the air and spun around. ‘I don’t know! Maybe she just made a wild stab in the dark because I wasn’t drinking and look like crap. Why don’t you ask her instead of accusing me?’
‘You don’t look that bad.’
‘God knows, I feel it.’ She shouldn’t have spun around. She clamped her hands down on the back of a chair and focused on a spot on the floor, dragging in air while trying to steady herself, praying it and the contents of her stomach wouldn’t budge.
‘So what did you tell Phil?’
She squeezed closed her eyes. There was an edge to her queasiness that wasn’t there before—an intensity that squeezed her gut so sharp and tight it made sweat break out on her brow. Damn him; this was hardly the time to face up to an interrogation!
‘I told him that I wasn’t really Morgan. I told him I was sorry.’
‘And then you told him you were pregnant.’
‘No! What is your problem? Morgan and you are the only people I’ve told.’
‘This isn’t the first time this has happened, you know. I won’t be forced into marrying you, no matter how many people you tell.’
‘For the last time—I didn’t tell Nell! I didn’t tell Phil. And I am not trying to force you into marrying me.’
‘And I don’t believe you.’
‘You can believe what you like,’ she said, already feeling another twist of pain, already determined to get back to the bathroom in the shortest possible time. ‘But the simple fact is, right now I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man left on Earth!’
Which suited him just fine. Not that he believed her, or this act she kept putting on every time he went near her. Maybe she hadn’t told anyone, but she’d damned sure acted out the part to full effect. He went back to the table to enjoy his coffee and await her return, but the coffee tasted like mud, and then they served Christmas cake and port and still there was no sign of her. Where the hell was she?
He wasn’t finished with her yet. She hadn’t started paying for the problems she’d caused him. She’d lied to him. She’d pretended to be her sister for seven weeks, and then had tried to justify not telling him every chance she’d got. Now it looked like she’d lied about not telling Nell she was pregnant.
But, damn whatever her name, whoever she was—she’d been his woman for all of that time. Seven weeks in his bed, pleasuring him, matching his every need, taking him to places he’d never been.
It galled him to think there were still places he’d like to go and she wouldn’t be there.
Like she wasn’t here now.
He threw his napkin on the table and found the maître d’, only to discover Tegan had ordered a taxi some twenty minutes before.
She’d already left!
His heart froze over in an arctic blast of bitterness. His accusations had been right on target, otherwise why would she have fled the first chance she’d got? She was as guilty as hell.