She balled up the soggy tissue and fumbled for another. Well, she decided, she’d accepted his conditions about marriage, so she couldn’t complain that she hadn’t known what she was getting into. And maybe he might grow fond of her over the years.

A tear slid down her cheek. She didn’t want fondness. She wanted romance, passion. Fierce hot lovemaking, yes, but on a foundation of love. And she didn’t want to wait years for it, either.

Rain, hunger and darkness drove her back to the hotel. All she had managed to decide by then was that she must continue to be cool and pleasant with him as he was with her. As for Cynthia, Megan intended to wait and see what happened before she said or did anything more about that woman.

If she could force herself to wait.

If she didn’t lose her temper first.

He had never seen her lose her temper. She didn’t give in to it nowadays, though she had as a child. But then, during the past few years what reason had she had to go into a red rage? None. She had made sure of that. Lived a quiet life. Avoided things that might be painful.

When she entered their suite, he bounced to his feet and glared at her, hands on hips. ‘Where the hell have you been?’

‘Out.’ Delighted with this reaction, she took off her jacket and shook the raindrops from it, avoiding his eyes. She was glad he was angry. Serve him bloody right! He never told her where he was going, so why should she always have to tell him?

He moved across to her, opened his mouth to say something, then closed it and stretched out one hand to feel the jacket. ‘You’re soaked!’

She spread the jacket carefully over the back of a nearby chair, still avoiding looking directly at him. ‘Yes. And I’m feeling quite chilled, so I think I’ll take a nice hot shower. That’ll warm me up.’

He followed her into the bathroom, barring her way to the shower. ‘You still haven’t said where you’ve been.’

Briefly she considered refusing to tell him, then shrugged. ‘I’ve been on a boat trip to Fremantle. It’s a beautiful river, isn’t it?’

‘What on earth made you do that?’

‘You weren’t here, I didn’t know when you’d be returning and I was fed up of shopping. Fed up of hotel rooms, too.’

‘But we agreed you’d wait here for me! I sent a message to say I’d be back after lunch and I was.’