With feet stretched out before him, he toed off his shoes and leaned back once he knew Gabi had done the same.

He could see her mind turning . . . memories of Alonzo? Worry about what was happening between them? Hell, he had no idea what was going on inside him. For all the planning, he hadn’t expected to give a crap about her as a person. Yet much like everyone around her, Gabi demanded attention, and protection. She did it by nature . . . not practiced skill.

“You stiffen when you think of him,” he told her.

He heard her take a deep breath.

“Earlier today, your brother and I had a little talk.”

“Oh, no.”

“No,” he said quickly. “As much as it was against every cell in my body, I didn’t ask your brother to elaborate.”

He heard her relief with her exhale.

“I have a confession to make,” he said.

“Do I even want to ask?”

“Probably not. But the way I see it . . . we’re in this for a while. For better or for worse as they say . . . I’d just assume to avoid land mines if that’s at all possible.” Some secrets he wasn’t quite ready to reveal, but others . . .

“Well don’t stop now. It can’t be called a confession without an admission of a crime.”

He watched the gentle waves on the ocean. “I hired a private investigator to learn everything he could about you. ”

She stilled. “I hoped you wouldn’t follow through on that threat.”

“I’m a man of action, not threats.”

“So you already know my secrets.” Her voice was tight.

He shook his head. “No. Not the personal stuff. My investigator was working on the personal stuff until this weekend.” That afternoon . . . but Hunter didn’t think his confession needed that minor detail.

“What is he working on now?”

The rest of his confession wasn’t an admission of any guilt, and the words flowed. “I promised to work toward removing your name from Picano . . . from the bank accounts. He’s working on determining who is behind the offshore money.”

When his words met with silence, he ventured a glance and found Gabi staring. Her eyes softened, her smile easy and inviting.

Genuine.

She opened her lips to say something, then closed them.

“What?”

She hesitated. “Why? Why remove your investigator away from the information you seek?”

The answer came in one word. Trust. He wanted her to trust him. Only revealing that now . . . this early in their contract gave her too much power. If she knew he wanted her trust, she could pull out now and where would he be? No . . . as much as it killed him, he left that word out of his explanation. “You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”

He heard her legs shifting on the lounge.

“You’re impossible to place a finger on . . . you know that?”

He felt a smile on his lips. “I try.”

“See . . . I don’t believe that. I think it’s natural. Like a God given-right born unto only you.”

“I’m like everyone else . . . just a little more driven to get what I want.”

“Even if you have to blackmail to get it.”

He winced. “It sounds so ugly when you say it that way.”

She laughed. “It is ugly.”

He shrugged. He wouldn’t change it . . . and in light of the past week, didn’t think he did the wrong thing.

The conversation waned until he thought maybe they had exhausted all their words for the night.

“He was a manipulative bastard.”

Hunter practiced the fine art of silence.

And the gates opened.

“Our chance meeting, which I learned later wasn’t so chance, happened on the mainland. A fundraiser my brother and I were a part of. He was attentive and Val liked him. I liked him.”

Hunter heard the hurt in her voice.

“I was sheltered . . . as Meg has pointed out . . . living on this island. Not that I cared. But when Alonzo landed in my life I was more than ready to explore shores other than these.”

Hunter knew the story ended badly, and searched for words to keep her talking. “So you did.”

“I did. He would sail to the island, bring crates of quality wine as a gift to my brother. Val didn’t need the wine, but the guests seemed to enjoy it.”

The pieces of the puzzle in his head started to fall into place.

“He was supposedly setting up our future home in the vineyards of the California coast. His land in Italy was already prosperous . . . or so I thought, so when he suggested we start our life together in the States, I couldn’t be happier. I’d spent time in Italy, but the thought of being that far away from my family didn’t sit well.”

“Let me guess, Alonzo banked on that.” He was watching her now . . . the play of emotions on her face . . . the drop in her voice when she spoke of herself.

“I was such an easy target. It wasn’t until Margaret and Michael arrived on the island that everything came unraveled.”

There was a name Hunter had yet to hear. “Michael?”

“Michael Wolfe . . . the movie star.”

For the first time in the conversation, Hunter was stunned. “What do Meg and Michael Wolfe have in common?”

“Meg is best friends with Judy. Michael is Judy’s brother.”

He tried to catch up, and just went with the names and hoped he could connect the dots later.

“So Michael and Meg were here on vacation and Meg ended up with your brother?”

Gabi was smiling now . . . some of the earlier tension having left her body. “Meg was here checking out the privacy of the island for clients of Alliance.”