Echoes of the Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

passion thrumming between them, but they’d conversed easily on a wide range of topics. At other times, they would share easy silences while they walked along the beach hand in hand. She’d believed they were soulmates embarking on a precious, lasting relationship. Something that was meant to be.
    She’d been so naive!
    Jake played ruthlessly on her naivety and used her without mercy for his own temporary sexual gratification. What an easy conquest she’d been for him. Totally wrapped up in him, she hadn’t offered a hint of resistance.
    ‘Why did you go to bed with me?’ he demanded.
    She forced her eyes away from the butterfly to look at him. A combination of vulnerability and pride dictated she never let him know how much she loved him.
    ‘It was never about money, Jake.’ She struggled to keep her voice casual. ‘I imagine it was the same reason you went to bed with me. Physical attraction.’
    ‘You were twenty-five. I was your first lover.’
    You were twenty-nine. I definitely wasn’t your first lover and I was far from your last.
    ‘I’m sure you had other opportunities to take lovers,’ he pushed. ‘Why was I your first?’
    ‘Why not you?’ She shrugged with an attempt at nonchalance. ‘You’re extremely good-looking and an experienced lover. Who better to initiate me into the wonders of sex?’
    His fists clenched at his sides and when he spoke, his voice was harsh. ‘So, the whole time we were together…it was just about sex for you?’
    She suppressed the scornful laugh that rose in her throat. He was accusing her of being the one who was only interested in sex? That was rich. They both knew damned well that he’d used her for her body. Still, her pride wouldn’t allow her to admit to her emotional involvement.
    ‘You left me without a word of goodbye,’ he continued, not allowing her to respond.
    ‘What did you expect me to do? Remain as your bit on the side when you married Sophie?’ she threw back with every bit of venom she could muster.
    His hand snaked out around her wrist. ‘I wasn’t involved with Sophie when we were lovers,’ he bit out.
    ‘Don’t bother lying. You were at the restaurant with Sophie.’
    ‘I’d just flown back into the country earlier that evening. When I left the message asking you to meet me at the restaurant, I told you it was her birthday and that I’d like you to meet her.’
    She recoiled from his words and his fingers tightened around her wrist. Her mind was trying to grapple with two things. He’d left a message she’d never received. Lloyd must have intercepted the message. Knowing Jake was to be at the restaurant, Lloyd must have planned to be there, to introduce Amanda as his wife. It hadn’t been just a coincidence.
    Lloyd had set them up.
    But the other statement Jake had made...
    ‘You wanted me to dine with the woman you were planning to marry?’ Good grief. What sort of relationship had Jake and Sophie had?
    ‘What are you talking about?’ He sounded genuinely confused and angered. His fingers released her wrist and his hands clasped her shoulders as though he wanted to shake her.
    ‘Sophie. You said you wanted me to meet Sophie. You do remember her, don’t you? She’s the woman you married.’
    Time stretched. Each breath sounded loud in her ears and her stomach performed cartwheels as he continued to hold her gaze. She watched him frown and shake his head, sensed his thought processes clicking over at a million kilometres an hour. The heat from his hands grasping her shoulders threatened to send her into melt-down.
    ‘I’d hardly have wanted you to meet Sophie if I was in a relationship with her. I thought you and I were in a relationship. Where the hell did you get the crazy idea I was planning marriage to Sophie?’
    ‘Crazy? I don’t think so,’ she said, disbelief ringing in her tone. ‘Soon after that night she became your wife. Besides, I overheard two of your friends talking about you and Sophie at the party you