Shipwrecked with Mr. Wrong - By Nikki Logan Page 0,31

when a snort like the one she let rip then wasn’t embarrassing. ‘You can’t call your own mother sexy.’

‘Obviously not to me.’ He settled onto the sand at her feet.

Don’t get too comfortable. She had no intention of making this a long conversation.

Rob went on. ‘But I can see the effect she has on other people. The effect she must have had on my dad.’

Despite her better judgement, interest prickled. ‘Had—past tense?’

‘I’m not sure when it wore off,’ he said as a shadow crossed his face, even in the moonlight. ‘Just one day in the middle of my teens it was gone. That look in his eyes.’

‘What does she do for a living?’

‘Oh, Chelsea doesn’t work.’ His mouth twisted self-deprecatingly. ‘At least not in the conventional sense; she’s made rather a career out of freeloading.’

Honor sucked in a breath at the harshness in his voice. She, of all people, knew how complicated relationships with mothers could be, and the guilt that came with that. ‘Do you love her?’

Rob looked at her hard, as though it was an impossible question to answer. ‘She’s my mother. Of course I love her.’

‘But do you like her?’

He looked out to sea. ‘Not always.’

Honor watched him steadily, glancing briefly at the nest markers to make sure she wasn’t missing anything. She still had a job to do tonight.

‘She and I don’t agree on a lot of things. I’ve not really...progressed...the way she might have wished.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Meaning I took a job with the government, in a museum, working on mouldy old shipwrecks. I suspect she had grander hopes for me.’

Honor knew that a job in that field was not exactly pedestrian. How sad his parents couldn’t acknowledge his talents. ‘And your father?’

‘Oh, I know he had grander hopes for me, or at least he thinks they’re grander. I can’t imagine anything worse than being a serial flatterer six days a week.’

‘Sounds like they’re a well-matched pair.’

‘On the surface I guess they are, or they were; there’s not much love lost between them these days. Mum carries on like a besieged villager, stoically tolerating occupying forces. It’s no fun to be around when they’re at a peak.’

‘Have you ever asked them?’

‘No. That would require us to have an actual meaningful conversation. With words.’

‘It can’t really be that bad?’

‘Some days...’ He leaned his back against her legs, looking out to sea. It was only a small touch but it was so natural and it carried such intimacy it stole her breath. And not in a good way. She burned to move but his steady weight held her captive. She said the first thing that came to her mind.

‘So your dad’s a player, too, huh?’

She felt him tense against her legs and immediately regretted the words.

‘Depends on your definition. We’re different people.’ There was tightness in his voice. She got the sense that she’d just hit the nail very firmly on the head.

‘What’s he like? Does he look like you?’

‘People say so. But there ends the similarity.’

Honor sat quietly. If he wanted to go on, he would.

He did. ‘He brought me up in his image. Had definite plans for my future—plans that looked a lot like his. He wasn’t happy when I picked archaeology to study at uni instead of commerce.’

‘But he accepted it?’

‘He ignored it.’

‘You prevailed...’

‘Only because I’ve made a real effort over the years to appease him.’

‘How?’

‘I made sure that we had plenty of common ground. I took my studies and career underground while, outwardly, I lived the life he wanted for me. Sport, networking, women. Lots of women.’ He smiled. ‘It was enough. It meant I could do what I wanted to do and he was content, too.’

‘Didn’t you get tired of living like that?’

‘Hey, it wasn’t all bad. That kind of lifestyle is very entertaining, but...not sure I could live like that for ever. Could you?’

Honor straightened in the chair, made uneasy by the sudden shift in the conversation back to her and the intensity of his questing gaze.

Deflect, deflect, deflect...

Sex. That was safer territory. She didn’t want to know anything more about his childhood and the hurts and failures he’d experienced. It only led in one direction. And she wasn’t going there.

‘You’re talking about all the women.’

‘Partly. I’m not sorry about the experiences I’ve had... But it wears thin after a while.’

She took a deep breath. ‘I’m surprised that you’re still single. I would have thought you were quite the catch. Wealthy family, good looking, bright.’

He turned his head back towards her, his eyes bleak.