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"It doesn't have to change anything," he said curtly. "She knows you're here, and she's okay with it."

"I'm glad." But it was a lie. Even knowing that she owed him so much that the least she could do was be happy for him, she just couldn't do it. After everything they had gone through, they were supposed to be together. They weredestinedto be with each other. Why couldn't he see that? Why?

Acheron started talking to her about doctors and rehabilitation programs, and Amelia pretended to listen even as more and more insidious thoughts filled her mind. There was no question about Ms. Jones being a nice girl, but that was exactly the reason why she would never be a good fit for Acheron.

Acheron stayed with her for the rest of the day, leaving only when they had finished having dinner in her room and she had already showered and tucked herself into bed. Just as he was about to reach for the door, she made her move, whispering his name in a frail voice.

She saw concern flicker in his gaze as he turned to her, and her heart swelled with hope.I knew it.That girl had only temporarily turned his head, but in the end, no woman could ever come between them.

"Pippi...she's a nice girl, isn't she?"

Acheron slowly nodded.

"You were a nice boy once, too." She turned to her side as she pulled the covers up to her chin. "And look what I turned you into." Amelia let her eyes slowly drift close, and her voice deliberately took on a sleepy tone as she mumbled, "Don't make the same mistakes I did."

He didn't answer, but the sound of his sharply drawn breath was all she needed.

Her words had taken root, and if everything fell into place, he would realize the truth.

Men like him would only ruin nice girls like Pippi.

****

BACK IN ISLA DE FLORES, the grandfather clock in the living room chimed out a heavy, melancholic tune. It was one of the few Jones heirlooms the family had left, and growing up, Pippi had always been just a little fearful of it. At ten foot tall and made of heavy oak, the clock had seemed like an ominously omniscient figure, one that seemed to portend bad tidings every time its hand struck twelve.

But that was then, and this was now. She was no longer a child but a grown-up woman of twenty-three years. She should know better already, and yet a part of her wanted to cry the moment she heard the clock's haunting melody play in the air.

One o'clock,Pippi thought.

And he still wasn't home.



















Twenty-Three

"AND THAT WAS IT?"Mairi Tanner-Leventis exclaimed incredulously. "You told him Gareth Evans wants you to work for him for six more months, and he just saidyes?"

Pippi gave her a small nod, and Mairi's astonishment turned to disbelief. Even she knew who Gareth was. The man was one of Miami's most infamous womanizers, and for Acheron Simonides to simply say yes to such an arrangement...