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nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He’d chosen those flowers especially because they were uncommon. He’d wanted her to remember him.
    “You gave me your card and I said—”
    “‘But you’ll be in Jamaica,’” he finished for her. “Do you remember what I replied? I told you that wherever I was, I’d answer.”
    “Yes,” she breathed. “Yes. My God.” She released his hands and leaned back, staring at him. “You said you had roaming so you could get calls anywhere in the world.”
    But she’d had the accident two days later and she’d never called.
    “I probably wouldn’t have gotten in touch, you know,” she said gently. “I was…” She corrected herself. “I am engaged.” She held out her hand with the rock on it.
    He nodded. “You were wearing it the night I first saw you.” And he’d begged Benjamin to find out everything he could about Julissa and specially about her fiancée, but he had no intention of letting her know that. Not yet, anyway.
    “And you still wanted to meet me?”
    “My dad always says, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained.’”
    “Is that why you’ve brought me here?” She gave a strangled half–chuckle. “I must really have––” She broke off and looked confused.
    “What?” He tried for a light tone. “Made an impression? Rocked my world?” He felt his voice about to break, paused, took a sip of wine. “Yes. You did.”
    Different expressions flashed across her face – confusion, fear, and shock were among them but he thought he also saw something unfurl deep in the depths of those sparkling brown eyes, something very like hopeful pleasure. It was gone almost as quickly as it arrived. She lowered her gaze to her plate, veiling her eyes with her lashes.
    “You should try the Pinot Noir,” he told her, striving to keep his tone light. He desperately wanted to know what she was thinking and feeling but he understood that if he asked her now he might not get the answers he wanted. Being with her was something he’d spent the last eighteen months thinking about. There wasn’t a day that he hadn’t wondered how she was, and what she was doing. He’d had time, nothing but time, to come to grips with his feelings for her and now he needed to give her time, too. Maybe she’d give him the answers he sought before she left, maybe she’d leave with her feelings unspoken, but the ball was in her court.
    They ate the rest of their meal in silence, but it was a companionable silence. Sebastian understood that while he might have startled her with his confession, he had not alarmed or offended her. This was good, better than good. The way he figured it, it meant she wasn’t entirely averse to him. At least, he didn’t think so, though, he wondered at the fear he’d seen on her face. For a minute, she’d looked like a doe startled by an unexpected sound.
    ***
    About an hour later, Julissa followed Sebastian onto the beach which stretched enticingly in a wide curve before her. Gentle waves lapped the shore, their power having been broken on what appeared to be a reef far in the distance. Children shrieked and laughed in the shallows while adults chatted to each other as they sat on the sand. A reggae song boomed out from loudspeakers in front of a row of booths lining the beach.
    Sebastian led her to an area shaded by squat trees with palm–sized leaves. At first, it seemed that all the tables were taken but, just as Sebastian was about to turn away, a man waved to them.
    “We’re going just now,” he said as they made their way to him. “You can sit here.”
    “Thanks, man.”
    Julissa exchanged smiles with the man’s wife and winked at his two small children, a boy and a girl, who dissolved into shy giggles. They cleared out in minutes.
    “What’s this beach called?” Julissa asked. The bathers looked strictly local. There were no pale tourists lying on the sand doing their best to toast themselves into another color.
    “Hellshire. One of