“Yes.” Lani sat ramrod straight. Unapproachable. Not that he’d even think of trying to touch her now. How odd, when he’d enjoyed touching almost every inch of her luscious body only hours earlier.
His life seemed to be spinning like a weather vane in the wind lately. He’d had calls from L.A. this afternoon asking if—due to the shift in circumstance—he’d be back to oversee the edits for Hellcat. He’d replied honestly: that he had no idea.
The dim light in the dining room picked out the gold threaded through Lani’s lustrous hair. Soon, perhaps Vanu would be running his bony fingers through it again. AJ fought a wave of revulsion. “How are you feeling? I’m sure the stress must be hard on you when you’re pregnant.”
“I’m okay.” She shot him a wary glance with those wide, honey-colored eyes.
He cursed the surge of lust that jolted through him. “Must be a little odd to be dangling between two men like this.” His words sounded cruel, and maybe that’s what he intended. Pain tightened his muscles and hardened his heart.
Lani shuddered and a small sob escaped her mouth. “It’s terrible.”
AJ’s hands itched to reach out and touch hers. But that would only deepen his torment. “No one will ever know what happened between us today. It’ll be yet another secret we’ll keep forever.”
Lani nodded. Tears glittered in her eyes. “Yes. I won’t tell anyone. Especially Vanu.”
AJ’s flesh crawled at the thought of her talking to Vanu again, sharing intimacies. In such a short time he’d developed powerful feelings for Lani. He’d never felt anything like them before in all his years of adventures with the fairer sex.
And the child. His initial revulsion at the deception had quickly transformed into a firm conviction that he could raise this child and love it as his own. He’d been prepared to lie and pretend and carry out a charade to everyone else’s fantasy of the perfect royal family come true.
He glanced up and saw Lani’s delicate profile turned to look out the window. Just yesterday his bold and tender new feelings had been convenient rather than crazy. Now they were disastrous. He had to comfort and support the woman he craved as she hoped and prayed for the safe return of her husband.
Pain crashed over him in an untidy wave. He staggered to his feet and sucked in a breath of moist night air.
He’d spent his childhood in his brother’s shadow, and now it stretched out from the grave to cast him into darkness once again.
Lani didn’t love him. Didn’t have any feelings for him other than a sense of duty and some rather unexpected lust. He’d been fool enough to mistake that for far more.
He’d never let himself make that mistake again.
Lani paced back and forth in her room all morning. The crews were out for the second day, combing through the jungle on the uninhabited atoll.
She hated the way they described it as “searching for Vanu,” as if they’d find him there, perhaps lazing on a sandy beach, waiting for them to take him home. No one said anything as grim as “hoping to recover a body.” Priia wouldn’t hear any of that. As far as she was concerned, he was alive and well and on his way home.
And Lani knew she was probably cursed to eternal damnation for hoping otherwise.
How could she wish someone dead? Only a truly evil person would have a thought like that. Obviously she wasn’t the “nice” girl AJ had originally mistaken her for. She’d certainly jumped on him with reckless abandon, and she couldn’t even blame it on “duty” anymore. She’d made no effort to hide her lusty enjoyment of AJ’s body.
She blew out hard. Everything had been so perfect for those few brief hours. Now she was back, snared in the web of pretense and pain that had been her marriage to Vanu. Pretending to be happy—or at least content—while inside she was longing for freedom.
A knock on the door startled her.
“Dinner is ready.” The shy girl servant darted in and out like a lizard. No one would look her in the eye since Vanu’s boat was found. They’d all been so thrilled about the plans for the wedding and AJ’s return to Rahiri, and now they were supposed to be overjoyed about Vanu’s possible survival.
No one knew what to think or how to behave. Least of all Lani. AJ was giving her the cold shoulder, too. She understood that he was in an awkward situation, but it was upsetting to suddenly feel as if she couldn’t talk to him.
She wandered along the hallway slowly, not looking forward to the meal. Terrified of any further news of Vanu’s miraculous survival.
When she arrived in the dining room, she saw Priia sitting in her usual chair, sobbing, while AJ wrapped his arms around her.