“Do you think it was easy for me to leave? To turn you down when I loved you so much?”

He turned from her and walked back into the living room because he couldn’t stand beside her and not touch her again. And, damn it, he didn’t want to touch her at the moment. “I think your idea of love was wrapped up in the wrong things.” He spun around and faced her as she followed him. “You said yes to this Mike guy. What? He have a good job? Insurance? Savings accounts?”

“He wasn’t rich, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“But stable?” He laughed. “A stable bigamist. Good call, Deb.”

“Easy for you to throw stones, isn’t it, Gabe?” She waved both arms out, as if to encompass the entire resort. “You’re the king of your own little empire. What do you know about it?”

Fury exploded inside him. He took one long step closer to her then forced himself to stop. Glaring at her, he said, “Let me get this straight. When I didn’t have a dime, you dumped me. And now I’m loaded and you’re still giving me a hard time? What is your deal, anyway?”

She fisted both hands at her hips and leaned in toward him. “You never understood. You still don’t. It wasn’t about money, Gabe. It was never about money. It was about being safe. I never wanted money so I could run barefoot through it. I just wanted to know that the rug wasn’t going to be pulled out from under me again.”

“You should have trusted me,” he said, his voice a low throb of old hurt and new fury. Irritated the hell out of him that this should still be bugging him. He’d thought he’d put the past and her behind him years ago. Apparently, though, there were still a few things that needed to be said. “Should have had faith in me. In us. Yeah, your life was hard, but I was there. I loved you. I would have taken care of you.”

“Don’t you get it?” she countered. “I needed to take care of myself.”

“And how’s that working out for you?”

She pulled at her hair. “You are the most irritating, frustrating man I have ever known in my life.”

“And you are the most distrustful, mercenary…”

“Mercenary?”

“You heard me.”

“You jerk, I just tried to explain-”

“I’m a jerk?” He laughed shortly. “Right. Whatever helps you sleep nights.”

“You know what’ll help me sleep nights?” She stepped up closer, planted both hands on his chest and shoved. Didn’t budge him an inch. “Getting off this damned island.”

He grabbed her wrists and held on tight. “Yeah, well that ain’t gonna happen.”

“Why not?” She tried to pull free, but his grip was too strong. “You don’t want me here. Despite what just happened between us. So just help me leave.”

No. That single word echoed over and over again in his mind. He took her chin with his fingers and tilted it up so that she met his gaze. “It’s because of what happened between us that you’re not leaving. Not yet.”

“What?” She pulled out of his grasp.

“You heard me.” He rubbed his fingers together as if he could still feel the touch of her face. “We don’t have a future and the past is gone. What we do have is the present. Here. Now.”

“And that’s it?” she asked, shaking her head and backing away from him. “Just sex. That’s all we’ve got?”

He speared her with a cold, hard look. “What else is there?”

“I guess you were right, after all,” she said softly. “I don’t know you anymore.”

Seven

“What do you mean, Culp and Bergman canceled their contract?” Debbie leaped up out of her chair as if she’d been electrocuted and tried to listen to her manager’s voice through the roaring of her own blood.

She’d just talked to her manager the day before and everything at home had been fine. But then again, just yesterday she’d only been Gabe’s captive. Not his lover/captive. Oh, what a difference a day made.

“Just what I said, Deb,” Kara Stevens told her over the phone. “The CEO’s admin called this morning, said they’d decided to use another agency.”

Debbie’s stomach pitched and rolled. It wasn’t enough that she’d spent most of the night before miserable that she was in love-again-with a man she had no future with. Oh, no. Wasn’t enough that Gabe had used up her body and dismissed her heart.

Now she had to find out that her travel agency’s biggest client was leaving her for someone else.

“That doesn’t make sense,” she sputtered, stalking around Gabe’s living room.

“I know. I was totally stunned, too. Yesterday, I sent over the papers for their company cruise, just like you told me to. Everything was peaches and gravy, you know?” Kara was babbling, words tripping over each other as she rushed to get all the bad news said at once. “And then this morning, I get the phone call and they’re dumping us. They didn’t say why or anything, either, and I swear I didn’t do anything wrong, Debbie. Honestly. Worked up the papers just like last year’s, but…”

“This can’t be happening.” Debbie moved onto the stone terrace and stood in a slice of brilliant sunshine. She squinted against the glare and watched colorful sailboats glide across the ocean through narrowed eyes. It was a postcard kind of day at Fantasies.

Yet here in Debbie’s little world, it was midnight and howling with a bitter wind.

Dread coiled in the pit of her stomach and sent cold, thick tendrils out to freeze every square inch of her body. She swallowed hard against the knot of nerves lodged in her throat. “Did they say who they were going with instead?”

“Nope,” Kara answered quietly. “Just that they were through with us. God, Deb, I’m so sorry. I feel so totally bad right now, you don’t even know. I mean this is just such a class-A bummer and everything…”

Bummer?

This was way bigger than a simple bummer.

Kara didn’t know the half of it, Debbie thought. Without Culp and Bergman, Debbie’s travel agency was going to be on shaky ground. She’d been building her business slowly over the last several years, but the corporate account she’d snagged with C and B had really been her main source of income for two years.

The fact was, there were so many people booking trips online these days, that no one thought they really needed a travel agent anymore. They were wrong, of course.

Sure you could book your own trip. But what if an airline went on strike while you were vacationing in Ireland? What if your luggage was lost in Istanbul? What if you needed an emergency ride home and couldn’t get online?

A good travel agent could take care of any problems. She’d saved her clients all kinds of aggravation over the years. But did anyone care about that when they could just click and buy? No.

“So what do you want me to do now?” Kara was asking.

“Nothing,” Debbie said, curling her fingers around the railing. There was nothing Kara could do. Heck, nothing Debbie could do, trapped as she was in la-la land. “Don’t do anything until I get home.”

“And when’s that gonna be?” Kara’s voice shifted from worried to complaining in a blink. “I mean, I know I agreed to manage the place while you were gone, but you were supposed to be home like a week ago, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” Debbie said as frustration churned and frothed in the pit of her stomach, making an ugly mix. She should be home right now, dealing with this. If she were, she could go to C and B herself. Get to the bottom of things. Maybe strike a deal. But no…“Something came up here and I can’t leave yet.”

“Until when?”

“I’m not sure,” Debbie admitted, wishing she had the stupid jewel thief in front of her. She’d give that woman such a kick. “Soon, I hope.”

“Well me, too, cuz I don’t think I’m cut out for being the boss, Deb. This is just way too stressful.”

Debbie groaned, let her chin hit her chest and rolled her eyes. Kara was nice, good with people and had a sharp eye for details. But her stress-o-meter was a lot lower than Debbie’s. Kara tended to freak first, ask questions later. Of course, this was the perfect situation for a little freaking.

This went beyond problem into the scary realm of disaster. With a capital D. If Debbie couldn’t get C and B back in the fold-or find another corporate client-her business would fail. She simply couldn’t make a living on walk-in customers.

Now fear chewed at her insides, making the frustration she’d felt only moments ago feel like a walk in the park in comparison.

“I know,” Debbie said, rubbing her forehead in an attempt to ease the sudden and ferocious pounding there. “And I’ll get home as fast as I can, Kara. Trust me. You’re gonna have to hold down the fort a little longer, though. Can you do that?”

“I guess…”

Filled with confidence, Debbie hung up, tucked her phone into the pocket of her jeans and tried to see past her own panic. What the hell was she going to do? She’d spent the last five years building up her business, nurturing it, growing it until it was something she could be proud of. Something she felt safe about. Something that made her feel secure in a sometimes scary world.

And now, that world had just gotten a lot shakier.

She should call C and B herself. Talk to the admin. Find out what was going on. Beg. Plead. Whine. Whimper like a kicked dog.

“Okay, not a good idea.” Debbie blew out a long breath and dragged in another one trying to find calm. “I can’t call her yet. I’ll just wait until I’m a little more zenlike-shouldn’t take more than a year or so…oh, God. I’m so dead.”

Dropping into the nearest chair, she pulled her knees up and rested her chin on top of them. Her brain raced as she tried to find a solution. She could call Cait or Janine to whine. But then, her best friends would instantly offer to loan her money or whatever. And they couldn’t afford it, either.

Their new fiancés could, but Debbie sooo didn’t want to be borrowing money from Jefferson Lyon or Max Striver. Besides, borrowing money wasn’t a long-term answer. And that’s what she needed. She had to find a new corporate client. Someone bigger than Culp and Bergman. A company that would not only make her little travel agency solvent, but help it grow.