‘What?’ she said, registering the voice.
‘I said I’m going.’
‘Oh, right,’ she said, stubbing out her cigarette. ‘Why so soon?’ Off to cal
l Alicia? she wanted to ask him.
‘I have to pack.’
‘I’m heading in,’ said Adam quickly, as if he had detected the tension between them.
Rachel had been glad of Adam’s company all afternoon. Alicia’s phone call had upset her so much, had Adam not been there, she knew she might have said something to Liam she would regret. He was still her business partner. At some point she was returning to Ko Tao to work with him.
But this time she let Adam leave them alone.
‘He’s not as bad as people make out,’ said Liam when Adam had gone back inside the barn.
Rachel perched back on the wall.
‘He’s fun.’
‘I’ll say.’
She had to mention it. It had been bugging her all day and she didn’t want to leave it like this, let him go back to Ko Tao without airing her annoyance.
‘You didn’t tell me you were meeting Alicia today.’
‘How did you know about that?’ he said, frowning in the darkness.
‘She called me.’
He hesitated.
‘You don’t have to lie,’ she said quickly.
‘About what?’
‘You were about to lie to me.’
‘I wasn’t,’ he said sharply.
‘Well, I hope you had a fun afternoon. I’m surprised you didn’t stay on for a fun night.’
Liam shook his head slowly. ‘If you must know, I met her to try and raise some finance for the hotel.’
Her stomach did a back-flip, but she wasn’t going to show it.
‘Really?’ She couldn’t stop the words coming out as a confrontation.
‘While I’ve been in England, I’ve spoken to my dad, my brother-in-law, Alicia. They’ve got the most money out of everyone I know. I’ve been pitching the resort to them, thinking that one of them might be interested in investing.’
She felt a wave of emotion. He’d been doing that all along. Was he doing it for her?
‘We can’t have your ex-fiancée investing in the business.’
She could have kicked herself. Why couldn’t she just be grateful for what he had done rather than criticise him?
‘We were never engaged.’