Gemma looked away and shook her head. “There was no accident. I don’t know where Mandy went after leaving here, but by the time she returned to New Zealand she was a pitiful, broken creature. She suffered from moodswings and had muttered wildly about the glamorous man she’d loved…and lost to another woman. I thought that was you.”

“Nice to know that you hold me in such high regard,” he bit out sardonically. He stalked away, pressed a switch and the wall of curtains started to open. He looked out into the darkness. “When your sister stayed with me, I caught her once using cocaine at a party and I made it clear that I wouldn’t tolerate it,” he said in a flat monotone. “That if it ever happened again, our relationship was over. She said it was a mistake…that she’d never done it before and wouldn’t do it again. I believed her.

“I suspected she had a drinking…problem. I’d tried to convince her that she needed help after she’d had a little too much to drink at a party, stripped her clothes off and started to can-can. She argued that she was fine, it was just a bit of fun…that I was too staid. I broke it off that night, but she was so apologetic, said she wanted another chance. I gave it to her.” He turned around, his eyes angry. Unforgiving. “And you thought I was responsible for her addictions? Did she tell you that? Mention my name?”

“No.” Gemma felt awful. “I assumed. But I knew she’d had a relationship with you-she was so proud of it.”

“So you never read about our affair in the scandal-sheets?” he said sardonically.

Gemma shook her head. “Mandy was in a bad way. We didn’t have much time with her once she returned home. She took an overdose and then she was dead.”

“Was it deliberate?” His voice softened.

For a wild moment Gemma thought he was about to reach for her, but then his eyes iced over.

Her throat thickened. “I thought so. I thought that you’d driven her away after getting her hooked on drugs, that she coped by turning to the drugs for solace. I thought she didn’t want to live without you.”

He paced along the length of the window, a dark shape against the night. “No wonder you hated me. No wonder you wanted revenge. But do you have any conception of the kind of danger that you put yourself in? What if I’d been the kind of man you thought?”

“I had to do it. She was my twin sister. My other half.” And then she realized that was wrong. He was her other half. The bond, the empathy, that had been growing between them was stronger than anything she’d ever shared with her sister. She rose to her feet, took a step towards him. “Angelo-”

“Even though she lied to you, stole from you, defrauded you?” He was angry, she saw. “Mandy used the credit card that you told me you’d mysteriously maxed out and couldn’t remember how, didn’t she?”

“Yes. But from what you told me, the dates correlate with after she left Kalos, while she must’ve been with Jean-Paul. And he supplied drugs to her…he admitted that much to me.”

Angelo’s gaze narrowed. “I’m not having a dealer on my island. I will take care of him. It makes sense. If Mandy no longer had the allowance I gave her at her disposal, then she must have pawned the jewellery I bought her for a fraction of its value.” He glared at her. “Why didn’t you stop the card when you discovered it missing?”

She shrugged. “I couldn’t leave her stranded overseas with no money if she needed it. I simply never expected her to run up that kind of debt. She knew I’d have to repay it. It must have been for drugs.”

“Well, I won’t leave you stranded.” There was a note of finality in his voice. “I will book you a ticket to take you back to New Zealand safely.”

It was over. He was dumping her. Gemma lifted her chin. “That is not necessary. I can make my own way home.”

“I can’t believe what you did.” Anger and a mist of complex emotions clouded his gaze.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

He turned away, stared out into the night. “I told myself you had changed. I thought I had found a woman who was special…one of a kind. But you are even more treacherous than your sister. Your betrayal was calculated to-”

“No, I didn’t mean-”

“Be silent.” He cut her off. Moving to the door, he added, “I will find somewhere to spend the night. By morning I want you gone. And don’t return. Because I never want to see you again.”

In the slanting morning light Gemma packed her bags, her heart aching, but she had a frightening suspicion that her heartbreak served her right. She’d called reception and been told that a ferry would be leaving in twenty minutes. If she hurried she could catch the boat to the mainland.

Angelo had not come back to the room since their awful confrontation. She’d waited, huddled on his bed, for him to return.

But he hadn’t.

The message was clear. She had to accept that it was over. He did not want to see her. That to him her betrayal was worse than Mandy’s had been.

Downstairs, the reception lobby was bustling. Gemma waited in an alcove for the shuttle to the ferry to arrive. The mural of a golden-haired sun god driving his fiery horses across the sky brought a bittersweet lump to her throat. She’d ventured too close to the heat and been badly burned.

But she would survive.

“Gemma?”

She turned at the sound of her name and her heart sank when she saw Jean-Paul. He examined her, his eyes searching for she knew not what, while a frown creased his brow.

“What?”

“You are Gemma?” It was the question that only yesterday she would’ve dreaded.

“Yes, I am Gemma.”

“But you are not the woman I-” he paused “-once knew intimately.”

Jean-Paul had worked it out. Probably as a result of her slip the other day. She released the breath she hadn’t even known she was holding. “No.”

“You’re a dead ringer for her. She has to be your twin.”

Rage surged through the pain. “Dead is what she is. And it’s all your fault.”

An ugly expression came over his face. “You breathe one word to Apollonides and I’ll tell him the truth. That you’ve been deceiving him, laughing behind his back. You said that you’ve forgotten the past. That’s how you’ve explained away not knowing things you should.”

Behind him Gemma glimpsed the doorman who had offered to call her when the shuttle came, coming towards them. It was time. She rose. “Do your worst, Jean-Paul. Angelo already knows.”

And she walked away leaving Jean-Paul staring after her, his jaw slack.

From the hilltop above the resort Angelo watched the ferry pull away, white water churning in its wake. He shoved his hands deeper into the pockets of his windbreaker.

Gemma was gone.

His mouth twisted. He’d told her to leave, and she’d obeyed. So why did he feel no better?

The wind caught at the windbreaker and ruffled at his hair. He didn’t notice. He narrowed his eyes against the sun and followed the course of the ferry until, a long time later, it disappeared from sight.

Then he started down the hill. A police helicopter approached from the mainland, making for the heliport.

Good. The police had organised a search warrant after his tip-off. Angelo couldn’t wait for them to search the man’s room and arrest Moreau. He suspected it would be a long, long time before the man frequented any resorts.

Just as it would be a long time before he forgot about Gemma.

Eleven

It was humid in Auckland in December. Gemma returned to her parents’ home after a morning’s Christmas shopping with her mother and made for the bathroom clutching the box she’d bought at the pharmacy. In less than five minutes she had the answer she’d dreaded.

“Mum,” she staggered out the bathroom. “This is going to be a shock.”

“What’s wrong, darling?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“Are you sure?”

Gemma nodded and held up the indicator stick.

“Oh.” Her mother looked like she wanted to say something. Finally she asked, “Do you know who the father is?”

“Of course I do.”

“But you’re not telling?”

Gemma gave a laugh. To her own ears it sounded hysterical. “I will when I’m ready.” She wrapped her arms around her mother. “You shouldn’t be so understanding.”

Her mother hugged her back. “How can I not be? Do you know how far along you are?”

“Not far at all. I missed a period, that’s what clued me in. I’ve always been so regular.”

“Go see your doctor. You may not be pregnant at all. Perhaps your body is just playing tricks on you after the long flight.”

“I’ve been back almost two weeks-it’s unlikely to be the flight.”

Beth Allen shook her head. “But the pill makes the chance of it happening so remote.”

“Except I haven’t been on the pill for a while. There was no one in my life, so there seemed little point. He used protection. Something must have gone wrong. I’ll go see the doctor, but I doubt it will change things.” Deep in her heart Gemma was already sure. “Mum, I should tell you. The father is-” She broke off.

“Yes, darling?”

Gemma swallowed. “It’s Angelo Apollonides.”

Her mother’s hand came up to cover her mouth, but no sound escaped. But her eyes were wide and dismayed as she stared at Gemma. Then she stepped forward and hugged Gemma. “You can tell how it came to pass when you’re ready.”

They stood like that for a long while, holding one another, and Gemma drew support from her mother’s warmth. At last she said, “Thanks, Mum, for your support.”

“Your father and I will always be there for you and the baby.”

“I know. But I need to you to understand one thing, Mum. Angelo wasn’t responsible for what happened to Mandy. It was another guy, Jean-Paul Moreau. I think Mandy loved him, and he rewarded her by making her into an addict. I hope he burns in hell.”