Zo

by Leanne Owens

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Lamore Crew Gathers

  Lynette Morrison

  Paris, May 2019

  ‘Australia offers alternative energy possibilities unmatched by most other countries,’ Lynette Morrison reached the conclusion of her half hour address to the audience of the Alternative Energies Conference. ‘As you’ve seen from David’s presentation, the Simpson Desert region is an ideal location for solar energy development, while the high tide region of Western Australia’s coasts provides exceptional hydro-electrical potential, and the southernmost regions of Australia are suitable for windfarms. We can develop safe, reliable power sources to feed into the future World Power Grid. The opportunities are there – now it is a matter of who will be first to start developing them.’

  She took a half-step back from the podium, inclined her head to indicate she had finished, and the audience applauded. Of medium height and medium build, Lynette could have been unremarkable, except there was an aura of power about her. The confident movements of her head as she turned to look around, like an eagle looking over her territory, seeing everything that moved, and the way her feet claimed the ground on which they walked, spoke of authority.

  Her face, in repose, was a study in strength with robust lines to her nose and chin, framed either side by a mahogany wave of hair. Her cool grey eyes could stop hearts from beating with an irate glance, but when she smiled the sun came out, and her laugh was both infectious and sensual. Weak men shunned her as she scared the pants off them. Strong men found all her qualities added up to an enthralling sensuality, and her warm glance could fill their heads with images felt in a rising tide of heat in their loins.

  Lynette regarded the three hundred suits and six hundred clapping hands, missing little as she cast over the room. She noted that a couple of the Chinese were turning to each other, talking with what amounted to animation compared to their usually reserved demeanours. She expected that they would approach her before the day was out for a private meeting about investment and development. The French industrialist who had been so attentive last night at dinner was nodding to two of his associates with a confident expression, as though he believed she would favour him in any negotiations. The American, Nick Carter, who had piqued her interest at yesterday’s meetings, showed only boredom, indicating little interest in any Australian deals. She had noted his concentration during the New Zealand presentation on thermo-electric power drawn from the volcanically active regions of their country, so she expected he might become involved with development there.

  Australia’s economy had ridden on the sheep’s back during the many decades when it was the world’s largest producer of wool then, in the latter part of the twentieth century and into the first decades of the twenty first, it had depended on mining to keep the economy strong. The future, or so Lynette believed, would see the alternative energies fuelling the economy as the world hungered for electricity, and Australia offered clean, safe alternatives to coal, gas, and nuclear power.

  After a decade as a Senator, she had swapped her role as a politician for the position as the head of the Alternative Energies: Science, Development, and Marketing team. The Australian Government had appointed her as head of the operation which had the aim of enticing big investors in alternative energies into Australia. She had assembled an impressive team to bring to this international conference. Together, they had organised a marketing pitch that was attracting substantial attention, and Lynette expected to be entering negotiations with several interested parties before the week was out. She believed that it could develop into a multi-billion-dollar sector and help Australia remain economically strong well into the twenty first century.

  She was most interested in talking to the Chinese. Her contacts had told her that they were in the final stages of testing a spray-on solar energy system that would out-perform the traditional solar panels and solar tiles. The high percentage of clear, sunny days offered by the outback would be the lure to bring them to the negotiation table.

  With a few of her team around her, she retired to the dining room where a range of food and wine tempted the appetite through a delectable assault on the eyes and nose. Her mouth responded like a drooling Pavlov’s dog when her senses met the rich colours and aromas of the food. Lynette looked at the tables laden with the finest the Parisian chefs could offer. She felt her thickening waist with one hand - she might not have the slender build of youth, but it was worth it to give her mouth an ecstasy of flavour.

  ‘So, do you think the Chinese are interested?’ asked David, bending down from his heights to talk softly for her ears only.

  His dark hair flopped down over his glasses when he bent towards her and she had to resist a motherly urge to push his hair back, straighten his tie, and tell him to stand up and pull his shoulders back. Instead, she looked sideways at him and shrugged. ‘Could be. I think the French were pricking their ears during your presentation on the tidal regions. My gut tells me that the Indonesians are cooking up a deal to bring to the table about the Simpson. I know we thought that Nick Carter would be knocking at our door, but he didn’t listen to anything we said today, he was busy chatting up the Kiwis.’

  ‘Don’t give up on him yet,’ David murmured. ‘I’ve been told he likes to play games so he can get you on the back foot when he comes at you.’

  ‘Me? Back footed?’ she grinned at him, her eyebrows raised questioningly.

  David laughed. In the months he’d been working with Lynette, he’d learned that it was impossible to catch her off balance. No matter what information he brought to their discussions, and being one of the leading research scientists in the area of alternative energies, he thought he was able to bring startling new findings to her, she already seemed to know about them. Before he met her in person, he assumed she was just another politician who had bowed out of political life to take up a lucrative position in a government related job, but there was no ‘just another’ about Lynette Morrison.

  He learned that she had been the shining hope of her political party when, unexpectedly, she changed direction and took up the Alternative Energies role. It wasn’t because of the money, as she took a considerable reduction in income. When she told him that she had done this because she wanted to make a difference to the world, and believed that it was her opportunity to do so, he thought she was just spouting empty words like most of the politicians he met. As time passed, he realised she genuinely believed she could make the world a better place by assisting in the development of clean energy sources.

  If he felt attracted to women, he would have fallen in love with her, as she was smart, sexy, sassy, and fun. On the day they met, he had seen a solidly built woman in a navy skirt and jacket who could have been pretty when she was younger. As he came to know her, he saw the inner beauty shine out, and realised that she was beyond the standard parameters of what most considered ‘beautiful’. Her intelligence, humour, integrity, and strength of spirit made her attractive beyond words. It was not the eye lured by lust, it was the heart and soul resonating to all of her. He wished she had been born male.

  ‘Then you’ll be ready if he comes up with a proposal after feigning indifference?’

  She grinned at him and popped a tiny strawberry tart into her mouth, and shut her eyes as the flavour exploded on her tongue.

  ‘Always ready,’ she spoke with her mouth full, covering her lips with her hand to hide the chewing as she looked at him, a smile in her eyes.

  ‘Then don’t put anything else in your mouth, because he’s coming up behind you,’ he whispered, then straightened to watch Nick Carter stride up to them.

  Ignoring the other members of their team, Nick’s gaze fixed on Lynette’s back as she tried to swallow the strawberry tart quickly without choking.

  David recognised the expression in Nick’s eyes. He was like a lion that had lulled the gazelle into a false sense of security as he lazed under a tree looking the other way, and now he had sprung into action and was moving in fo
r the kill. To buy some seconds for Lynette, and to disconcert this American who came in so confidently, David whipped his white silk handkerchief from his pocket and manoeuvred so that he stepped around her to stand between the hunter and Lynette, forcing her to turn in to his chest

  ‘You have cream on your lips,’ he said solicitously, gently wiping the imaginary piece of cream from her mouth with the handkerchief as he winked at her. ‘There, that’s better. Now, can I get you something else, dear?’

  Lynette met his mischievous gaze with good humour. - she had glimpsed Nick behind David as she turned. Yesterday, as he ran through the names of those present, he predicted that Nick would find her attractive, even though it was common knowledge that he preferred starved-looking models and actresses who were ten years his junior, not less-than-lean women who were eight years older.

  He expected the Texan to make an exception once he met her because she exuded sex appeal with her air of command, the smile that melted her expression from cool granite to liquid beauty, and her mind that danced like sprites in the moonlight. He had frequently told her that she was the first woman in twenty years who made him feel as though he could wake up with a woman and not regret it.

  ‘Thank you, David. I certainly would not want to meet someone with cream on my lips,’ her eyes twinkled with the double meaning of her words, knowing that Nick could hear her.

  Her scientist friend mouthed the words, ‘Naughty girl,’ at her, before stepping to the side and feigning surprise to see Nick Carter standing there, his dark brown eyes watching them both, without giving away any clue of the thoughts behind the calm surface.

  ‘Nick Carter,’ he announced putting his hand out, the soft Texas inflection to his voice pouring over Lynette like warm oil.

  Accepting his firm hand shake that took a second longer than necessary as they eyed each other, she nodded. ‘Lynette Morrison, and this is Dr David Anderson.’

  ‘Impressive speech, Ma’am,’ he drawled as he released her hand and looked down at her, a smile barely touching one side of his mouth so that it looked as though a secret amused him.

  He shook David’s offered hand and said, ‘You have some interesting statistics there, Dr Anderson.’

  ‘David, please,’ the scientist told him. ‘Did you get a copy of the presentation?’

  ‘Sure did, David, thank you kindly. I left it with my people to read through. I’m not one for paperwork if someone else can do it. Give me people, horses, and cows to work with, not numbers.’

  Lynette tweaked one brow at him, not fooled for a moment by his hometown, Texas, good-ole-boy drawl and words. The slight twist to his lips that hinted at a smile broke into a grin as he looked down at her sceptical expression and realised that he was not going to lull this woman into underestimating him, often a handy strategy in negotiations. He’d heard she was smart, and she seemed to know what she was talking about in her speech, but he needed to meet her in person to assess her as an adversary when it came to working a deal with investing in Australia. A worthy one, he decided as he felt the force of her character and intelligence piercing him through those interesting grey eyes.

  ‘Perhaps you’d rather I spoke to your people,’ Lynette suggested sweetly. ‘I’m happy to talk facts and figures with them while you go out and do,’ she waved a hand in the air, ‘whatever it is you do with horses, cows, and people.’

  ‘I figure we’ll manage, Ma’am,’ he said, entertained by the complicated game of manoeuvres they’d entered - a game played out with words, and looks, and implied meanings. ‘P’raps we might find the time to sit down together and have a friendly chat, so you can explain a bit more to me.’

  ‘Perhaps you’d better read the documentation first,’ she smiled at him, the crinkles at the edge of her eyes the only indication that she was enjoying their exchange. To a casual observer, she was efficiently pleasant, but the current that flowed between her and the Texan was enough to power the lightbulbs in an entire office building. ‘Maybe you should have your people explain what some of those numbers mean if you have difficulty understanding them. I wouldn’t want to mislead you about anything.’

  ‘I doubt you’d mislead me, Dr Morrison,’ he said, his dark eyes now warm.

  ‘Oh, I’m sure I could if I tried,’ she replied, her voice soft and tinged with a bedroom huskiness that had him leaning in closer.

  ‘Now you have me hoping that you will mislead me,’ he met her eyes with a challenging look. For several seconds, they stared at each other, aware of the sexual attraction dragging them together

  Lynette’s phone rang and she snapped out of the moment with a slight look of alarm. What was she thinking? These were liable to be billion-dollar dialogues, and here she was behaving as though she was picking someone up in a bar. A look of detachment dropped over her expression, and the grey of her eyes became calm.

  Nick Carter didn’t miss the way she checked herself, and knew that she had been as surprised as he by the sexual tension that was swirling around them in the space of a minute. She most certainly was not his type. He was the lion who liked to dine on gazelles and she was… he looked at her as her eyes focussed on the number of the incoming caller… she was a lioness.

  A quick look of concern crossed her face as she read the number and she mouthed an, ‘Excuse me,’ at him, before turning away and walking a few steps to take the call.

  ‘Peter?’ she asked, wondering why he was calling her.

  ‘Hi, Lynette. Look, I know you’re in Paris at that conference, but I had to call. I’m sorry.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘It’s Ally. I found her a few weeks ago. She’s in a bad way. I thought I could help her, but I think I'm out of time. I don’t think I can reach her. I was hoping if we were all here, we might convince her to stay with us. I think I’m losing her.’

  Lynette closed her eyes, feeling the pain in Peter’s voice, ‘I can’t leave. This is too important. We’ll be negotiating with quite a few countries over the next few days.’

  ‘I understand,’ he said, his voice gentle. ‘I just wanted you to know. Perhaps as soon as it’s over you can make it. I’m fighting to keep her alive. She doesn’t want to live. She says she just wants to be with him.’

  ‘Oh God,’ she whispered, ‘and what Ally wants, she gets. You’re at your hospital?’

  ‘I admitted her as a patient here. But I can’t help her, Lynette, I can’t reach her.’

  ‘I’ll be there as soon as I can. OK? I’ll get away from here as soon as humanly possible.’

  After a brief farewell, she stood for several seconds facing away from Nick Carter, a lifetime of images and thoughts flooding her mind. Sometimes you just do what you feel is right, Ally had told her at high school, and don’t think about what others will say about it – just do it. With an effort, she hid the memories under a cool façade, and turned to face him, an impersonal smile on her face.

  ‘Would you excuse me, Mr Carter?’

  ‘Nick, please.’

  ‘Then call me Lynette. Something has come up, and I need to get back to Australia.’

  ‘Now?’ he raised his brows questioningly. ‘Before you make all the wonderful deals I have been assured you will make?’

  ‘Yes, now,’ she nodded, trying to maintain a brisk businesslike persona, but the haunted depths to her eyes told him that there was an interesting story behind this sudden change of plans. ‘I’ll make arrangements with my team for them to handle any negotiations. They are perfectly capable of operating without me, and I’m sure you’ll be more than satisfied working with them.’

  She smiled at him to end the conversation and tried to move away, but he reached a hand out and gently took her wrist to halt her. The electricity of his touch made her skin burn, but she managed to keep a composed expression on her face as she regarded him with eyes that could not conceal the sadness hidden in the dark corners of her mind. His thumb stroked her skin, saying more than a thousand words as he stared at her. The fact that she
did not remove her wrist from his grasp spoke volumes to him.

  Such bad timing, she told herself, to meet someone as interesting as this man and have to run within minutes, but it was the right thing to do. She knew that. At least, she thought wryly, he’ll remember me as one of the few women who did run from him.

  ‘So, you’ll fly out immediately?’

  ‘On the first seat available.’

  ‘It must be important. Anything I can help with?’

  Sensing the genuine concern in his voice, she graced him with one of her warm smiles. The smile shone from her eyes, and revealed the empathetic nature which lay behind the polished veneers she wore in her day-to-day dealings with people. There was something about him that made her believe she could trust him with the knowledge that she was more than a cold and calculating business woman and ex-politician. Her instinct told her that he felt the same sense of connectivity when their eyes met. It wasn’t something that needed days or months to develop, it simply existed.

  Rope. The word flashed into her thoughts, and she heard Ally’s voice from long ago, some cultures believe that our souls are like strands on a rope that stretches through many lives. We may come back in different forms, but we remain entwined in each life, and we’ll always recognise each other.

  ‘No, but thank you,’ she said, allowing her wrist to stay within his grasp. ‘I have a friend, a very dear friend, who needs me. I have to help her if I can.’

  ‘She is lucky to have a friend like you,’ he said softly, his voice seductive to her ears as they stood among the tables of food in a hotel in Paris. ‘You are a good friend if you are willing to risk damaging your credibility and your entire career by walking away from this.’