Her appetite long-vanished, she put her untouched plate down and stood up, gazing out at the sea.
“After I left you, I tried to get back my full-time position at the school in Brighton where I t
aught before we got married. It wasn’t available, so I took a part-time position, two days a week. And after term ended, they decided not to renew my contract—cost cutting and all that. So I needed something to fill my time. The opportunity with Nawaka came and I took it. End of story.”
…
Nick frowned as Belle walked toward the edge of the water, her expression fraught tension.
He leapt up, and in three quick strides, he caught her arm and forced her to stand still. “So you saw an opportunity and you thought embarking on a holy crusade with little thought to your own personal safety was just what you needed to relieve your boredom?”
He knew he was being unfair, but knowing just how brazen Mwana had become in trying to recapture Belle threatened to flip him over the edge. It was inevitable some of the fallout should spill onto her.
But with the memory of the dark fear he’d known when she’d been in danger refreshed in his mind, he couldn’t hold his tongue.
“Do you have any idea what would’ve happened if I hadn’t reached you in time?’ He raked a hand through his hair. “You put yourself in senseless danger, Tinkerbelle.”
That she remained in danger only served to escalate his fury. Mwana would know by now that the men he’d sent to Althea were all dead, but Nick knew that wouldn’t stop him.
His contacts had confirmed that the Venezuela address Richard Francis had supplied had indeed belonged to the rebel leader, but, unsurprisingly, he hadn’t been there in years. Or if he had been in the country, he hadn’t stayed at that property. Which meant they were back to zero in determining where Mwana had secreted himself.
John Allen’s team had crossed several African and European countries in the last four days but had still come up blank.
Now they were playing a waiting game, first to see if Mwana sent another package today, and then anticipating what his next move would be.
A small part of Nick actually welcomed the thought of an open confrontation with Mwana, because one way or the other, the situation had to be resolved. Only the thought of Belle being in any more danger churned his guts.
He focused on Belle again. “Of all the places you could’ve gone, why Nawaka?”
…
Belle took a deep breath and exhaled. In other, normal, circumstances, she would’ve asked herself the same question. Why had she chosen to visit such a volatile place? Maybe in some warped sense of fatality, she’d hoped Nick would come to her rescue. Or had she used her trip as a way to force the break she knew she needed from him? Her thoughts jumbled, she gave herself a mental shake.
“The trip to Nawaka wasn’t planned. I’d actually decided to go home to my parents for the summer, to help out with some of my mother’s charity work.” She faltered, reluctant to admit the reason behind her seemingly rash decision to go to Nawaka. Whatever had happened afterward, for the six weeks she’d been there, she knew she really had made a small difference in the lives of the children she’d taught. As they’d made in hers.
But Nick wasn’t about to let the matter drop. “Then why did you? What could possibly have driven you to make such a rash decision? Without a word to your parents, never mind to me? What drove you to tell them the lie that you were going on holiday, when in fact you were traveling to one of the most dangerous places on earth?” His lips were pinched into a harsh line as he fired the questions at her, his plate of food abandoned on the blanket as he glowered.
Sudden anger at his continued bombardment of her boiled up inside, and lifting her chin, she glared right back at him. Fine. If he wanted to know, she’d tell him!
“Because of you, Nick. You were the reason!”
The color receded from his vibrant face. Incomprehension clouded his eyes, and he shook his head in disbelief. “Explain.”
“You might be used to it, but having the tabloid and national press camped at my door day after day—harassing my friends and neighbors, wanting to know the minutiae of my life—wasn’t my idea of normal. I’d only managed to get rid of the last lot days before because you’d been in the papers yet again with another one of your takeovers. Having them turn up again in droves every time you made the news, knowing they’d remain there for the foreseeable future, drove me to my wit’s end.”
“And that was the only reason you left the country? To avoid press harassment?” A strange light burned in his eyes as he scoured her face with savage intensity.
“You mean it wasn’t enough to be followed everywhere? To have my picture taken when I was trying to buy a pair of knickers?”
“Not enough to get yourself captured and nearly killed, Tinkerbelle. No.”
She attempted a casual shrug and sat back down on the blanket. He followed her. “Well, there were also the never-ending phone calls from well-meaning friends, most of whom just wanted the latest gossip. And I also felt the need to spare my parents the aggravation of having to deal with the press who’d turned up on their doorstep as well. Telling everyone I was going away on holiday seemed the best way to curb any attempts to pry into my private life.”
“Everyone except your friend Liz, of course. She seemed to know every last detail of what you were up to when I, your own husband, didn’t,” he bit out in cold derision. Before she could reply, he waved her off and pressed on, “So the actual pictures of me in the newspapers weren’t the reason you left England, but rather, the aggravation that came with it?” His tone was deep and probing, his body still as he waited for her answer.
“What do you want me say, that seeing photos of you jet-setting around the world with the beautiful people didn’t hurt, didn’t remind me that our six-month old marriage had crashed and burned? Yes, it did. But I’m a grown woman, Nick, and I was trapped in my own home because you are a big shot who never stops being the press’s flavor of the month. I found myself in an intolerable position, and I decided to do something about it. Can you blame me?”
“No. And normally I’d applaud you for doing something to help the less advantaged. But what I want to understand is, why Nawaka, and why did you remain there when the tensions escalated? The mission where you worked was very close to the border where the insurgencies were taking place, so why did you stay?” His sharpened gaze speared her, continued its probing.