Three Weeks Last Spring (35 page)

"I think I do."

"You used me.
You couldn't
even trust me, for God's sake!
"

His voice was quiet, yet held an undertone of authority.
"I'll admit for a time I didn't trust you, but as soon as I found out that I was wrong, I
apologi
z
ed
.
But I never used you.
You gave yourself to me.
You wanted me
as much as I wanted—want you."

She knew he was
telling the truth
, he hadn't forced her into doing anything she didn't want, but she
would die rather than admit it.

"You
're just like every other man."

His eyes narrowed and hardened at her accusation.
"I assume you're referring to
Michael?"

Skye stared incredulous, her heart pounding.
"
Who told you
about Michael?"

"Ridge.
He seemed to think it was his duty.
I guess he told me because he hoped in some perverse way, that I would be too ashamed to face you and lea
ve.
But his ploy didn't work."

All her anger drained away.
The mention of Michael's name brought a twisted smile to her face.

"
I shoul
d have learn
ed
my lesson the first time round, but no, I had to give myself to another bastard."

Walker flinched at her words.
"I never meant for you to get hurt."

"No?
At least I know John loves me, trusts me and will never hurt me, which is more than can be said of you."

"How do you know, Skye?
You
didn
't give me a chance to put things right between us.
You wouldn't even let me talk to you.
Instead you left
town at the first opportunity.
I know I should have been honest with you from the start, but there was so much at stake that I couldn't take the risk.
However, it never altered my feelings for you."

She walked to the window, and looked out at the cloudy sky.
Would things have been different if she'd stayed and waited for him to return?
She
had
accused him of not trusting her, but she hadn't trusted him either.
She'd assumed he was just like Mic
hael, another of life's takers.

Turning, she faced him.
"What do you want, Walker?"

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but you've got to want it too.
No half measures—it's all or nothing, I won't accept anything less."

Walker went and stood by her side.
He wrapped his arms around her waist, when she didn't try to push him away his lips brushed hers.

"Come back to the States with me.
Give me a chance to prove to you that what we shared at
the cabin, we can have again."

Skye saw the heart rendering tenderness
in
his gaze and quickly turned away, wearied by indecision.
It was too much to take in.
She needed time to thi
nk.

When she didn’t reply Walker released her and stepped back.
He chose his words carefully.
"I guess my being here has come as a shock to you, what with the accident and everything.
Think things through.
My flight leaves Heathrow tomorrow afternoon at two.
I'll see you at the airport.
If not, then I hope you and Ridge have a happy life together."
He kissed her cheek once more, turned away from her and w
alked into one of the bedrooms.

Skye picked up her purse
,
let herself out of the suite, and
left
the hotel.
Too distraught to drive, she walked along the street and until she came to a coffee shop.
She sat motionless at one of the small tables, completely lost in her own thoughts and impervious to the glance
s of staff and customers alike.

She lost track of time.
Somehow she found her way back to the hotel and collected her car.
It was dark when she turned into the drive of smart town house.
She walked briskly up the path, and knocked sharply on the door.
The music coming from within paused, and moments later the door opened.
John stood in the doorway, his hair a mass of unruly curls, the faint s
hadow of
a
beard on his chin.

"I was expecting you hours ago.
Do
you have any idea of the time?"

"Why didn't you tell me Walker came to see you?"
Skye she pushed past him into the hallway.

"You were busy with the preparations for the Foundation
Dinner;
it must have slipped my mind."

Skye raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I deliberately didn't tell you.
Walker had the effrontery to come to the office looking for you.
But I told him to go sling his hook—that he wasn't wanted here."

"You had no right to do that.
Just as you had no right to tell him we are going to be married."

"What do you mean I h
ad no right?
I'm your fiancé."

Skye stiffened and glared at him.
"You're not my keeper, John, and you certainly don't get to decide who I see—now or in the future.
And, as for marrying you, I don't recall accepting your proposal.
I thin
k my response at the time was I woul
d think about it.
Well, I've thought about it and I've decided that I can't marry you."

"What do you mean you can't marry me?
I know you were upset by his unexpected appearance at the dinner, but there'
s no need to take this stance."

"I'm sorry John, but I don't love you.
Not in that way.
You're my friend and always will be.
I told you that the night you proposed, but you wouldn't accept it.
Besides, you've always been happy with your life, playing the field, not tied to one woman."

"But, Skye
, I've watched and waited for you for years.
I've witnessed you go through too much pain and heartache to stand by now and watch you marry someone else.
Who picked up all the pieces?
Whose shoulder did you cry on?
Mine!
I never stopped loving you, even though I kne
w you'd been with someone else.
"

"I'm grateful for all you've done for me.
But this isn't about sex.
It's about love.
I'm sorry, but it wouldn't work.
I can't love you the way you want me to.
You'll end up hating me and I couldn't bear that."

"It's him isn't it?
You're still in love with him.
Forget him, he's no good.
He'll only hurt you again.
He's just like that other yank, Michael.
Haven't you learned that America is a throw-away society and that includes people too?"

Skye flinched, and pressed a hand to her throat.
"You've said quite enough.
I won't change my mind."
She opened the door and ran down the path towards her car. Visibly shaking, she fumbled to get the keys in the ignition, but mercifully the engine fired before John
could
lay
more than a fingertip
on the door handle.
She gunned the
engine. H
er last sight of him was as he stood on the
cu
rb watching her drive away, a glazed look of defeat and utter despair spreading over his face.

Walker took his time packing, hoping against hope that Skye would somehow change her mind and come to him, but she didn't.
He took the airline ticket he’d purchased for her from his wallet, screwed it into a ball and tossed it into the waste paper basket.
He wouldn't need it now.

The emptiness he'd felt during the last few months was nothing compared to what he
now
felt.
He'd made his pitch, but it hadn't been good enough.
Skye had made her choice and it wasn't him.
Twice he'd let her walk away, but thi
s time he knew it was for good.

He called the lobby and had the rental car brought round to the front of the hotel.
If he didn't leave soon he'd miss his flight.
He paid
the
bill and checked out.

The events of the last twenty-four hours had left him in a foul mood and the heavy London traffic did nothing to improve it.
For reasons he failed to comprehend, returning the key of his rental car became a major undertaking, requiring more paperwork than it did to buy the damned
thing
.

The queue at first class check-in was minimal and having completed the formalities, he checked his luggage.
He walked through the terminal to the nearest bar and he ordered a large scotch on the rocks.
It tasted like gall, and he pu
shed the glass away in disgust.

He
hated commercial flights.
The three-hour check-in always seemed a ridiculous waste of time, and the hours dragged more slowly than usual.
Rather than going through to the departure lounge, he wa
ndered the terminal aimlessly.

He looked at his watch for the hundredth time
,
until
he couldn’t delay any longer
.
With a heavy heart, he started walking towards passport
control and security screening.

***

"Hey, miss, you can't leave your car here!"
The parking attendant shouted at the auburn haired woman as she abandoned her car outside the main terminal building.
She didn't care whether they towed it away or not.
She glanced at the slim gold watch on her wrist and started running toward the glass do
ors.

Breathless, she pushed her way through the crowds of travellers.
She scanned the listings on the departure board.
There was only one flight to Seattle showing, but it had already been called.
Gate thirty-seven
;
right at the other end of the terminal building.
Even if she could bluff her way through security she
woul
d never make it in time.
She started running and pushing her way through
the throng of people once more.

Her lungs burned with effort as she ran the final yards towards
P
assport
C
ontrol.
The queue was longer than she’d anticipated.
She stopped in dismay, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
Her sense of loss was beyond tears, the only things left to her were the raw sores of an aching heart.
She scanned the faces, tears welling in her eyes.
Hastily, she brushed them away and
hurried
towards the desk.
There!
There in front of her, head and shoulders above his fellow passengers stood a dark haired man.
She wasn't sure it was him, but gathering what little breath she had left, she shouted with all her might.

Walker waited impatiently in line with his fellow passengers.
There were half a dozen or so people in front of him, but he knew that time had run out.
Soon he
woul
d have no alternative but to take that final step and pass through
Passport
C
ontrol
or miss his flight.

Above the noise of the crowds, he thought he'd heard someone call his name.
He turned to look, but there was no one he
recognized
, just the usual melee of trave
l
lers in a rush to get to their destinations.
His damned imagination was playing tricks.
Disappointed beyond belief, he handed his passport, along with his boarding pass, to the immigrant official and waited for clearance.

"Walker!
Wait!"

There it was again, someone calling his name.
He stepped out of the queue, turned and heard footsteps thundering down the hall.
Looking back towards check-in, he saw her, a slim figure in an over sized red sweater running towards him.

"Skye?
Skye.
Oh, my God, you came.
"

"I couldn't let you leave.
Not without telling you—
"
She paused to catch her breath.

He held her at arm’s length.
"What is it you want to tell me?"

Taking a deep, unsteady breath, she stepped back and lifted her eyes to his.
"You’re right.
I don't love John.
Not in that way.
I lied whe
n I told you I'd accepted
his proposal
."

"We can't talk here."
He let her go.

"But, what about your flight?"

"There's another tomorrow and the day after that.
Come on, let's g
o.
Where’s your car?"

"It's probably been towed away by n
ow for being illegally parked."

"Well, let's go and find out, shall we?"
With her small hand held protectively in his, Walker led her through the concourse towards the exit.

An embarrassing twenty minutes later, having paid a hefty fine and received a stern talking-to, Skye drove away from the terminal building towards the airport hotel, w
ith Walker sitting by her side.

They found a table in a quiet corner of the lounge and ordered coffee.

"Better?"
Walk
e
r asked, as Skye replaced her cup on the saucer.

"Yes, thank you.
I didn't inte
nd for you to miss your plane. I
t was the traffic
—
"

"Don't worry about that now.
There'
s something I want to ask you?"

She stirred uneasily in her chair.
"Yes?"

"Who is Laura?
Is she Michael'
s child?"

Skye's head shot up.
"She has absolutely nothing to do with Michael!
She's my daughter."
There seemed no point in hiding the truth.
"It was a long time ago—during my second year at university.
I stupidly believed that her father loved me, but he obviously didn't, for he walked out of my life the day I told him about the pregnancy.
I
agonized
over what to do, and eventuall
y decided to have a termination
only I couldn't go through with it.
I started skipping lectures because of the morning sickness, and John found out.
He was a post-graduate at the time, and my mentor.
Without his support, I would have dropped out of university and would probably be working in the local department store now instead of running my own business.
"

"I see.
Where is she now?"

Her faint smile held a touch of sadness.
"
She was
adopted.
I felt I had no other choice, and I have regretted it every day of my life.
She will be sixteen this year."

"Which explains your closeness to Ridge and why you set up the Foundation?"

"Why should a woman be denied an education, a degree, and a career for one stupid mistake?
When it became evident
the tracking software was a success, I used my share of the profits fro
m sales
to set it up
.
It seemed only right.
"

"And Michael?"

"He's the one thing in my life I regret.
I wish I'd never met him.
He found the one and only photograph I had of Laura, and put two and two together.
He accused me of lying.
He kept me locked up in a hotel room for a week, and used the information to blackmail
me."

Walker flinched, her admission cutting him to the core.
"Which is why you ran from me, when I s
tupidly kept you at the cabin?"

"Yes."

Suddenly it all made sense to him.
She
ha
d gone to the cabin to re-build her life after Michael.
And when she'd opened her heart and soul to him, he'd thrown it in her face, sending her back to the one man she felt she could rely on—Ridge.
And now she had come running after him.

"Why?
Why did you come today?"

Skye took a deep breath.
"I never accepted John's proposal.
I said
that
to hurt you.
I shouldn't have done.
It was childish and stupid of me to lash out in th
at way.
I wanted you to know."

Walker reached for her hand.
"And that
the only
reason
you came
?"

She shook her head.
"Yesterday, you told me that if I married John I would be committing myself to a loveless marriage."

"Yes, I did."

"You also said you wanted me.
But wanting someone isn't the same as loving someone.
And a relationship implies both."

Walker
smiled.
"I guess it does."

Skye was crestfallen.
She snatched her hands out of his.
"Then I can't come with you."

"Why ever not?"

"Because wanting me in your bed isn't enough."

He sat back, momentarily rebuffed.
"Damn it, Skye.
I thought…I hoped that by coming here, you'd decided you wanted to be with me.
"

"I do.
But I guess we have different goals in life."

"I hoped that if you came back with me and we spent some time together you'd see that what we share only comes around once in a lifetime.
When you were comfortable with me again, I was going to take you away for a long weekend up in the mountains, stunning scenery, log fires, romantic dinners for two, I'm sure you get the picture.
I was going to ask you to stay, to spend the rest of your life
with me.
I had it all planned.
"

Skye bit her lower lip to stop it trembling.

Walker lean
ed
forward in his chair, rested his arms on his thighs and stared at his hands.
After a while he raised his head,
and studied her
.

"I love you, Skye.
Every day I saw you, my feelings for you intensified, only I didn't
realize
it at first being so wrapped up in the investigation.
I've loved you since
that first day
I saw you
sat
on the dock at the cabin.
Once I'd held you in my arms, I couldn't bear to be away from you.
I lay in the hospital, and all I could think about was you.
You see, I rather thought you loved me too."

Her heart did a back flip.
"You love me?
I thought you just wanted me as your lover."

Walker stood and gathered her into his arms.
His kiss was slow and thoughtful.
Lift
ing his mouth from hers, he gazed into her eyes.

"I want you as my wife.
As the mother of my—
our
children.
Skye, will you marry me?"

Skye smiled.
"How soon can you book another ticket?"

The smile in Walker’s eyes
burned with a sensuous flame.

"Shall we go and find out?"