It was Bella

She drew in a slow, deep breath, counted to three and reminded herself she was here to talk to him, not jump into that bed with him.

Who knows if he'd really accepted her whole heatedly?

“I just brewed some coffee.” She gestured to the pot. “I know you liked it strong.”

He poured himself a cup, then leaned back against the counter and slid his gaze slowly over her.

For the past days, Miguel felt avoiding her was the only way he could ever fight against his own conscience.

What she said was right. Bella left him so she could save herself.

If Carter had found the island five years ago, then the man wouldn't have hesitated to kill his own daughter.

However her dressing today is breathtaking even though simple and easy. The white cotton T-shirt and jeans she had on were hardly provocative, but the intensity of his look burned, made her feel as if she were standing there naked.

“How do you like to eat your eggs?” Her fingers trembled as she reached for the carton on the counter.

He raised an eyebrow, she has forgotten so much about him. Bella felt his eyes on her again and coughed. “You've changed so much. That's why I….”

“Alone,” he said dryly and sipped his coffee.

She smiled at him. At least she had him talking. Sort of. “I promise I’ll leave after we talk.”

“We already talked. Which part of, ‘I’m not interested, now go away,’ don’t you understand?”

She decided he was the hard-boiled type, but sunny-sideup was what he was going to get.

She cut butter into a heated frying pan, then cracked three eggs into a bowl and dumped them in, too.

They sizzled in the melting butter. “I can’t just go away. You wouldn't forgive me, but still Carol is waiting”

“I am not interested. Thanks”

“She’s your mother. Your family. That has to mean something to you.”

He shook his head. “Grandpa, Mama Odette, Edison and Ross are my family. The only family I’ve known since I was nine years old. The only two people in the world I know I can count on, that I can trust. I don’t need any more than that.”

Bella knew he purposely emphasized on the word ‘Trust’

“At least give her a chance.” Bella piled a plate with eggs and potatoes and set it on the table. “Come to Philadelphia with me. You can meet her and your cousin Harper, too.”

He laughed at that, sat at the table and attacked his food. “Not a chance,” he mumbled around a big bite of potatoes. “I’m here to chill out and after the wedding, then I’m going home.”

“After the wedding, then.” She sat with her own plate of food.

“No”

“What could one day hurt?”

“No.”

“I’ll bet Ross and Edison could convince you.”

He glared at her and slowly lowered his fork. “Did you think they'll even want me and you to near each other after what I passed through?”

“All right, all right. I get the picture.” She sighed with exasperation. “Well, then, I'll contact Grandpa myself. It's my plan to contact him after bringing you to carol”

Miguel know she was daring him. “Grandpa hates you”

Her smile was slow and sweet she knew that was a lie. She'd spied on the old man during one of these five years and knew that was cruising with Mama Odette across the Mediterranean. “I made a promise to Margaret. I always keep my promises.”

One corner of his mouth tipped up as he reached out and took her chin in his hand.

The look in his eyes seared her right down to her toes, and her breath caught as he brought his face close to hers.

“We both know you broke the promise you made to me. But here’s a promise for you, too.” The tone in his voice was laden with sexuality. “I’m going back out on the lake now. If you’re still here when I get back, I’m going to do something we both want, and we’ll both regret.”

He released her, then pushed away from the table. “Get this through that pretty little head of yours—I’m not going back to Philadelphia. At least not with you”

He stomped out of the cabin, and once again Bella felt completely out of balance.

She let out a long, slow breath, and with shaking hands, quickly cleaned up. Her skin still burned where he’d touched her. The look in his eyes said it all, and she knew she’d better get out of there before he got back.

******
Miguel Rodriguez spent the next twenty-four hours in blissful silence. Fishing, reading, and browsing.

An entire day of quiet, by himself. Exactly what he’d wanted, exactly what he’d asked for.

So why the hell was he so damn edgy? He met Bella again, but as much as he wanted to be exited about it, the more it just bores the hell out of him.

It wasn’t the bombshell that Blondie had laid on him the night before last.

It was going to take some time to absorb what she’d told him, about herself that she was the wife he'd started to hate and about his mother whom he thought was dead.

He wasn’t ready to accept any of her story as fact just yet, and until he looked into the matter himself, he had no intention of giving it more than minimal brain space.

But Bella Sinclair was another story. He’d given equal effort to putting her out of his mind, as well, and met with no success.

Blasted woman. He glanced out the kitchen window, watching the woods, half expecting her to be hiding there, watching him.

She wasn’t, though. Even if he couldn’t see her, he’d know if she was there. He’d feel it.

So what the hell was she up to?

And why the hell couldn’t he get her off his mind?

Only because he didn’t trust her, he told himself, and walked away from the window. He kept expecting her to pop up any minute, her green eyes smiling and that sassy little mouth yammering.

A mouth he’d thought about well into his sleepless night.

Fortunately for her, she’d taken him seriously when he’d told her to leave after breakfast yesterday.

If she’d been there when he’d come back, he would have dragged her straight to his bed—

How much he'd missed the fragrance of his wife.

He sighed heavily and scrubbed a hand over his face. Damn, he must be one sick bastard.

He could understand wanting to take the woman to bed; he had a healthy appetite when it came to sex. What he couldn’t understand was his preoccupation with her.

He wanted to hate this woman. She was the reason why he was in this mess. Why she continually crept into his thoughts.

No! There's more to her new face.

Yanking on a jeans jacket, he stomped out of the cabin and climbed into the truck. He was meeting Edison and Ross at the tailor’s, where they had to be fitted for tuxedos, of all things. Ross owed him big time for this.

The only thing Miguel hated more than wearing a tuxedo was wearing a cast. And a cast was considerably more comfortable, not to mention considerably less ridiculous looking.

He drove down the dirt road that led by Bella’s cabin, but only because it was the easiest route leading to the main road, he told himself. Her Jeep was gone, and he wondered if she’d finally given up and gone back to Philadelphia. Not that it mattered to him one way or the other. She could stay or hang around all she wanted, as long as she didn’t bother him.

Except she did bother him. A lot.

Downshifting the truck, he pulled out onto the steep mountain road, found a hard-rock station on the radio, then cranked up the volume.

Maybe music could drown the woman out of his mind.

In spite of his need to flatten the accelerator, he slowed at the hairpin curve at Meadow View, the half way point down the mountain. It wasn’t uncommon to come upon a deer in the road here, or occasionally a boulder that had tumbled down.

He rounded the curve and slammed on the brakes, though not for a deer or a boulder.

It was Bella.