Free Holiday with a Stranger by Christy McKellen Page B

pickings.’
    ‘Maybe someone’s trying to tell me something,’ she said, sighing. That was it, then. All her work on the tender document was gone.
    ‘Maybe someone wants you to have a real holiday?’ he said, picking up his fork again and shovelling omelette into his mouth.
    ‘Yeah...’ She felt defeated.
    ‘You’ve got insurance for it, right?’
    She nodded and picked at her food, suddenly not hungry any more.
    He frowned at her. ‘At least you weren’t here when they broke in.’
    ‘True.’
    They sat in silence while Connor cleared his plate.
    ‘Not hungry?’ he asked, nodding at her food.
    ‘No. Sorry.’
    He shrugged. ‘No problem. How are you feeling generally?’
    ‘My head’s still a bit painful, but nothing like it was.’ She wanted to go back to bed, so the day would be over, but she didn’t want to be rude to Connor. Especially after what he’d done for her. ‘It’s a good job you’re so well trained in first aid.’
    He smiled and pushed his empty plate away from him, looking out of the window. He was closing down the conversation again, but in this case she really didn’t mind. She guessed it was his way of telling her to move on without dragging her through the humiliation of directly saying it. It was a kind and decent thing to do and she felt new warmth towards him.
    ‘So what is it you’ll be doing in India?’ she asked, taking his hint and opening up a new conversation.
    ‘I help set up clean water projects in the developing world. This next trip is about making contact and scoping out where the water refineries are needed most,’ he said.
    She looked up sharply. ‘Abi never mentioned you were doing that.’
    ‘She probably doesn’t know. I’ve never talked to her about it.’
    An unnerving heat made its way up from deep in her pelvis. He was a world champion at dropping conversational bombshells. ‘She’s under the impression you’re swanning around the world on one long, extended holiday.’
    He shrugged, but didn’t say anything.
    ‘Why didn’t you tell me before? There have been plenty of opportunities. You let me think you were some kind of entitled layabout.’
    He leant in conspiratorially. ‘I thought you might be here spying on me and reporting back to my sister.’
    Even though she knew he meant it as a joke, she was sure there was an underlying truth there.
    ‘She misses you, you know.’
    His shoulders stiffened and he broke eye contact. ‘I wouldn’t know. We communicate through lawyers.’
    A heavy weight of sadness settled in her belly. How incredibly sad for them both. And she thought she had a difficult relationship with her family. At least they all spoke to each other, even if she kept her contact with them to a minimum.
    ‘I can’t imagine being that far removed from my family,’ she said, leaning in to him and putting a hand on the table between them in an awkward attempt at empathy.
    ‘We have nothing to say to one another,’ he said, scowling at his empty plate.
    ‘I think Abi would disagree.’ The memory of the pain in Abi’s eyes when she’d talked about him resurfaced, and something clicked together in her head.
    ‘Let’s change the subject.’
    There was a finality to his tone she didn’t dare challenge. Another subject it was, then. For now. She’d find a way to get through to him eventually. It was the least she could do for Abi after the trouble she’d caused.
    She leant back in her chair, feigning nonchalance in an attempt to take the atmosphere down a notch or two. ‘So, tell me more about your involvement in the projects. You find locations and fund them? Run them all single-handedly?’
    He snorted and looked up at her with humour in his eyes, the deep scowl gone from his face. ‘I have a lot of help with the day-to-day running. I research the areas that most need support, raise the capital and get the projects underway.’
    ‘Very worthy.’
    He raised a disdainful eyebrow. ‘I do it because it needs