‘All right,’ she said, and took the cheque.
It was for two million dollars.
‘There are two more things,’ Hugh said.
Kathryn wasn’t sure if she could bear much more. Tears were hovering, which made her say, ‘What?’ in a very short tone.
‘First, there’s no need for you to come into the office on Monday. I won’t be there.’
‘OK,’ she agreed wearily. ‘What else?’
‘Put that cheque and the marriage certificate in your handbag and come with me.’
He took her down to the car park and over to where he always parked his Ferrari. Next to it was a sporty little white sedan, obviously brand-new.
Kathryn’s heart turned over as she stared at it.
‘I thought of buying you a real sports car,’ Hugh said with one of his more familiar smiles, ‘but decided that might attract the wrong kind of guy. So I settled on this.’ He picked up her spare hand and dropped a set of keys in it. ‘It’s already in your name, registered and insured. The papers are in the glovebox.’
She could not stop the tears filling her eyes now.
‘Oh, Hugh,’ was all she could say.
‘Don’t,’ he grated out. ‘Please don’t. I feel bad enough as it is.’
Her shimmering eyes lifted to his. ‘There’s no need to.’
‘I beg to differ. Now just go, will you? Go, and don’t look back.’
She stared after him as he stalked off.
Maybe she was wrong. Maybe he did care for her after all.
Just not the way she wanted him to care for her.
Driving back to her flat was difficult, with tears flooding her eyes at intervals. Once, she almost turned round and drove back to Hugh’s place. But what would she say to him?
‘I love you and I want to stay married to you.’
The thought of the appalled look on his face put paid to that stupid idea.
By the time she got to Ashfield, Kathryn knew what she had to do and where she had to go. Half an hour later, she was on her way to Pearl Beach.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
HUGH was slumped in a chair on his balcony, staring out to sea and seeing absolutely nothing. Not with his eyes, anyway. Inside his mind he was still seeing Kathryn, driving off with tears in her eyes.
Had he waited too long? Did she think she’d fallen in love with him?
Hugh couldn’t bear the thought that he might have broken her heart. She’d had so much unhappiness in life. She deserved to be happy.
He should never have done what he’d done. He should have just married her as an act of kindness, then sent her on her way. To blackmail her into his bed made him as unconscionable as his father. That she’d enjoyed making love did not excuse him. If anything, it made him feel even guiltier. He’d taken advantage of her vulnerability and exploited her highly sexed nature. When she’d warned him of the risk that she might fall for him, what had he done? Ignored her warning then ruthlessly used her body for his own egotistical gratification and sexual pleasure.
He was a bastard of the first order.
Like father, like son.
This last thought struck a real nerve. Hell no, he wasn’t that bad. He did have a kind streak. And a conscience.
His home phone ringing brought a sigh to his lips.
Rising slowly to his feet, he trudged inside to answer it.
‘Hugh Parkinson.’
‘It’s only me, Hugh.’
Hugh sank down into the sofa next to the phone table. ‘Hi Russ. What’s up?’
‘Are you alone?’
‘Yep.’
‘I thought as much. She’s gone, hasn’t she?’
‘Yep.’
‘So things didn’t work out like you hoped.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Come on, buddy, you don’t have to lie to me. I figured it all out. She was the girl you fancied last year who wouldn’t come across.’
‘Yep.’
‘But it’s become more than fancying, hasn’t it? You’ve fallen for her.’
Hugh was about to deny it when he pulled himself up short. He’d had several more of those emotional moments with her, a couple of times when they hadn’t been in bed. The reverend pronouncing them man and wife had produced intense feelings in him, as had giving her that car.
Even so, Hugh was still not convinced that it was true love he felt, let alone the kind of love which lasted.
Not that it mattered now. Nothing mattered now.