Rachel stilled at that. She was remembering Finn’s hands. She thought of him as a boat-building apprentice, starting young... She thought of him taking on a cruise line and supporting siblings...
‘You can’t believe all you read,’ she managed and Maud gave her a thoughtful look.
‘You can’t disbelieve it, either.’
‘Maud...’
‘Do you really want to let him go?’
‘He lied.’
‘He was doing a job, Rachel,’ Maud said gently.
‘He wasn’t doing a job when he was on the island.’
‘How would you have reacted?’ Maud demanded. ‘If he’d told you he was rich, that he owned the ship and that his crew had put you in that position?’
She tried to consider. She tried to be honest. ‘I might have reacted badly,’ she admitted.
‘Finn’s done two things for us,’ Maud said with asperity. ‘First, he saved me from a watery grave.’
‘Anyone would have done that,’ she retorted. ‘He just got in first—and, besides, he pushed you in.’
‘He didn’t push me in. He bumped me in when I tripped—and there’s something very comforting about a man who gets in first.’ Maud was speaking out in Finn’s defence and, as a defence lawyer, she made a good one. ‘And then there’s you. He didn’t have to leap out of the shadows and put himself in harm’s way, ending up on that island.’
‘It was his crew...’
‘He didn’t have to put himself in harm’s way,’ Maud repeated. ‘Did he?’
‘N...No.’
‘He wasn’t drug-running himself.’
‘No, but all that time at the island... He’s rich!’
‘And that’s bad?’
‘He didn’t tell me,’ she said flatly. ‘He let me believe he was an employee. I won’t be lied to.’
Maud looked thoughtful. She glanced down at the navy and white polka dotted swimsuit she was wearing, and then she turned to the mirror. And winced. ‘What do I look like in this?’ she demanded.
‘I...’ Rachel stared at her, confused. ‘Why?’
‘Never mind why. Tell me!’ She waited—including toe-tapping—for a response.
‘Cute,’ Rachel said at last—and then she coloured.
‘Precisely,’ Maud said, glaring at her reflection and then at Rachel. ‘The swimming costume might be cute but that’s not what I asked. I’m an eighty-three-year-old in a swimming costume. Cute? Not so much. So was that a lie? You decide. Rachel, don’t you let one moronic husband make you stick to black and white all your life. Sometimes grey is kind, necessary and even sensible. Think about it. For now, I’ve said all I have to say on the matter. I’m about to dip my body in the pool. Coming?’
‘I...yes.’
‘And if Finn’s there, you will be civil to him?’
‘Of course.’
‘Kind?’
‘Don’t push it.’
‘I won’t push it,’ Maud said grimly, but then she managed a smile. ‘He is a boat-builder,’ she said. ‘He does know how to wield a hammer. Just think of him, out in the sun, building his wooden boat, stripped to the waist, sun glinting on his naked bronzed back...’
‘Maud!’
‘I’m just saying,’ Maud said serenely. ‘I’m just thinking bronze is an even better option than grey. I’m just saying you need to do some serious thinking. Now, pool, swim—come.’
* * *
He wasn’t at the pool.
Finn spent almost all his first day in Broome closeted with the police. They needed to interview Rachel as well, but he persuaded them to let her be for a little. His evidence was damning enough to make hers less important—to give her space.
Would space help?
There was another problem. He’d hit the headlines—he and Rachel, both. If she hadn’t known about him before she reached Darwin, she’d know now.
‘Shipping magnate and girlfriend thrown overboard—left for dead.’
There was more—in-depth probing that made him cringe, and the press was hounding for more. Like who was his girlfriend?
At least the resort they were staying in was exclusive and knew how to protect its guests. Rachel could stay out of the limelight as long as she didn’t appear in public—and as long as she didn’t appear with him.
He phoned Connie and Richard, wanting them to find out before they saw it on TV. To his vague disquiet, they weren’t answering—not even their cellphones.
He shouldn’t worry. They had their own lives, he reminded himself. They were no longer the struggling kids he’d found when his father died. They’d always demanded their independence and he gave it to them, regardless of the occasional disquiet it caused.
If they were both away, his housekeeper might well have decided to visit her mother. He could ring her and check.
Why? Contrary to what he’d implied to Rachel—lied to Rachel?—they were adults. He expected them not to worry about him. Why worry about them?
Of course he worried. He cared about them more than he’d ever admit, but he’d embarrass them to death if he told them. They’d retreat right back into the shells they were wonderfully starting to emerge from.
Maybe he should go home.
He did need to spend time with the police here. He did need to spend time with his crew. But then... What was holding him?
Rachel was holding him. Rachel was on this side of the world.
Rachel was indifferent.
No. Not indifferent. Wounded.
* * *
In the next couple of days he gave information to the police, to customs and to the marine authorities. He got to know his new crew and made sure the Temptress would give the next lot of paying customers a cruise memorable for all the right reasons.
He thought about Rachel.
Rachel avoided him. Maud was sympathetic but there was nothing she could do. ‘She knows she’s being overly judgemental,’ she said, meeting him at the breakfast bar. Rachel had disappeared the moment she saw him. ‘But she’s stuck. If Ramón had wounded just her, maybe she’d take a risk again, but it was her baby...’
‘She wouldn’t be taking a risk,’ he growled and, before he knew it, he was being hugged. Which, with Maud, was quite some hug.
‘No,’ she said, releasing him and looking just a wee bit embarrassed. Conceding she’d overstepped the mark even for Maud. ‘I know that, but I’ve lived in the world a lot longer than Rachel. She has to figure it out for herself.’
‘She won’t do that in a week.’
‘No,’ Maud said sorrowfully. ‘I don’t think she will.’
In which case, he might as well go back to the States, he thought morosely. He was making himself miserable here.
That evening he sat and watched the camels doing their nightly perambulation along the magnificent Cairns Beach, noticing that every camel held two. Couples. Mums and dads. Siblings. Friends. Finally, he saw Maud and Rachel swaying along on their beast.
They saw him and Maud waved fiercely and Rachel gave him a polite nod.
She’d be happier if he left, he thought.
Tonight he was taking the new captain of the Kimberley Temptress to supper. After that, he had one more thing to do.
Dinosaur footprints.
They were only to be seen when the tide was really low, and tomorrow morning the tide would be perfect. He’d never seen them—the twice he’d been to Broome before had coincided with higher tides—but now, for some reason, he found himself thinking of them.
He was thinking of a conversation with Rachel about what was important.
He could look at them at dawn, he decided. They’d remind him that in the fullness of time, relationships were nothing.
Then he could go home.
He was now a man with a plan. It wasn’t a very good one, but he’d stick to it.
He had supper with the new captain at a hotel in town and, as he walked back through the foyer of the resort, he met Rachel and Maud, leaving the resort restaurant.
Maud beamed a welcome. Rachel gave him a strained smile.
His plan said it was time to say goodbye.
‘I wanted to find you,’ he told them. He’d intended to let them know tomorrow but it might as well be now. ‘I’m returning to the States. I’ll need to return for the court case but my plane’s at midday tomorrow.’ He hesitated, thinking of all the things he wanted to say; thinking of the few things he could.
Watching Rachel’s face. Wishing...
No. Move on. Stick to the plan.
‘What was done to you...’ he began. ‘The stress you both went through...I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am.’ And then he met Rachel’s gaze directly. ‘And I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am that I’ve hurt you.’
‘You haven’t hurt her,’ Maud muttered. ‘She’s being silly.’
‘She has every right...’
‘To be silly?’ Rachel managed. ‘Thanks very much.’ She glowered at Maud but she managed to turn it into a smile to him. Polite but distant.
‘You haven’t ridden your camel yet—or seen your dinosaur footprints.’
‘I’ve seen you riding your camel,’ he said. ‘That’ll have to do. Maybe I’ll see you in Darwin. Maybe...’
‘Maybe...’ Her words trailed off as well.
There was nothing left to say, Finn thought. Leave.
But then...
‘Finn!’
* * *
The shout came from across the foyer, making Rachel start. A girl was launching herself across the foyer like a whirlwind. She was a swirl of rainbow, dressed in masses of multicoloured fabric. Her blonde curls were flying everywhere. Her eyes were lined heavily with black. Her lips were bright red and a tattoo of tiny bees ran up both arms. She looked young and funky and...breathtaking.
She twined herself around Finn so he was almost enveloped, hugging and kissing and weeping, all at the same time.
‘Hey, don’t smother him.’
A guy was strolling more sedately up to join them. He was blond as well, but taller, dressed all in black, in heavy boots, skinny jeans and T-shirt, and with a skull earring in one ear. He looked almost too young to be sporting the not-very-thick beard attached to his face, but his smile was familiar. Very familiar. ‘Connie, let go and give us guys a chance,’ he said.
The girl gasped and sniffed and pulled back, then searched desperately for something to wipe her eyes and nose.
Maud obliged, with one of her endless supply of handkerchiefs emblazoned with the Thurston monogram. The girl looked down at it in astonishment, then grinned and blew her nose.
Meanwhile, the guy was man-hugging Finn, looking almost as emotional as the girl.
‘We had to come,’ he said as he finally pulled away. ‘Man, Finn, you’ve given us a fright. When we read the papers and figured where you’d been stuck... And then we read that in-depth thing the journalist wrote...Connie was beside herself.’
And suddenly the atmosphere changed. It intensified, from relief to accusation. Connie lowered the Thurston handkerchief and tried to glare, while Rachel and Maud looked on, too stunned to move.
‘Is it true our father didn’t leave us anything?’ she demanded, and Rachel thought, We shouldn’t be here.
‘Maud...’ she started, backing away.
But... ‘Guys, this is Rachel,’ Finn said, grasping her hand and drawing her close, almost as if he were using her as a shield. ‘And this is Dame Maud Thurston. Rachel, Maud, these are my half-sister and brother, Connie and Richard. Guys, Rachel is the woman who came overboard with me.’
‘You’re not kids,’ Rachel managed.
‘Hi, Rachel,’ Connie said. ‘Hi, Dame Maud.’ But her greeting was perfunctory. ‘And no, we’re not kids, though Finn keeps acting as if we are. Just because we were feeble when he met us... Just because we needed him so badly...’
And then she seemed to collect herself. Maud’s handkerchief had done its job. She was moving onto whatever it was that was bothering her.
‘Finn, that journalist... She did a really intensive search of your background—it’s in all the tabloids. We know you keep a low profile, but you’re exposed now. Millionaire shipping magnate... Chief of the Temptress Line. That’s fine; we knew that. But what we didn’t know was the terms of our father’s will. You told us...’
‘That Dad’s money was to be put into a family trust,’ Richard said just as accusingly. ‘That you’re the trustee, but it’s shared between us.’
‘But now this journalist says it’s not true,’ Connie said, growing louder. ‘The paper says it was all left to you. She got a copy of the will. She’s talking about the magnanimous Fineas Sunderson.’
‘I’m Finn Kinnard,’ Finn said mildly. ‘You know that. But magnanimous? You know me better than that.’ He tried a grin. ‘I’m lousy as anything.’
‘So why did you lie about the will?’ Connie demanded, refusing to be deflected.
Finn’s smile faded. He looked as if he was backed against a wall, Rachel thought. Somewhere he really didn’t want to be.
She and Maud should leave—but Finn’s hand was still gripping hers, and Maud wasn’t going anywhere. She was avidly listening.
‘Because it wasn’t fair,’ Finn said at last. ‘I wasn’t being...magnanimous. I had no more rights than either of you. Our father’s legacy was made on a whim, and I’ve corrected it. I’ve taken legal steps now to ensure the estate’s divided fairly, but right from the beginning I decided there was no need for you to know. I hate it that you have to know now.’
‘But why?’ Connie wailed.
‘Because when Dad died you were both practically on the streets,’ Finn told them, his voice softening. Becoming gentle. ‘You both knew the hard way about charity. I thought...it should be yours. There was no way I had the right to own it, on nothing more than a whim of a selfish low-life. And look at what you’ve done with it.’ He smiled at them both. He was still holding Rachel’s hand, almost possessively, but his smile embraced the kids. ‘Rachel, Maud, these guys are great. Connie’s an up-and-coming textile designer—you should see her stuff—and Richard’s almost finished his IT degree. I’m so proud of them both.’
‘And we’re proud of you,’ Richard said gruffly. ‘So when we heard you almost died...’
‘We thought we’d spend some of the money you gave us and check you for ourselves,’ Connie finished for him.
‘It’s not money I gave you,’ Finn retorted. ‘That’s what I don’t want you to think. It’s money that’s rightfully yours.’
‘That’s nuts,’ Connie said and looked at him and smiled, her eyes filling with tears again. ‘You lied and we love you for it. On the plane, Richard and I talked about it. Yes, we’d have preferred that Dad left it to us, but that you came to find us... What you gave us... It was the biggest gift, that we had a father and it was his money we could use to make ourselves a life. If you’d just given it to us...’
‘But we can handle it now,’ Richard said gruffly. ‘Because it’s not the fact that we had a caring father that counts. It’s that we have an awesome big brother. But no more lies,’ he said, sounding suddenly stern, older than his years. ‘And no more sneaking off to the ends of the earth under aliases and nearly dying and us not knowing.’
‘Because we’re family,’ Connie declared. ‘And we’ve found you. Now...Finn, your sister is starving. I’m buying dinner. Are you coming? Rachel? Maud?’ She beamed at all of them but Rachel tugged back from Finn and shook her head and Maud was doing the same.
‘We’ve eaten and you have a lo
t to catch up on,’ Rachel said. ‘We’re not interrupting a family reunion.’
‘But the paper said that you and Rachel...’ Connie’s gaze was frankly hopeful and Rachel felt her colour mount.
‘No,’ she said.
‘No?’
‘No,’ Finn said bluntly.
‘Will you still leave tomorrow?’ Maud demanded, and Finn looked even more as if he was backed up against a brick wall.
‘I’m not sure.’
‘Well, I guess that’s better than sure,’ Maud said, sounding more cheerful. ‘I’m thinking black and white makes people sure. I’m thinking...you guys need to start looking at all the colours in between.’
* * *
‘I told you he was a good guy,’ Maud said, back in her bedroom, sounding deeply satisfied. ‘So what’s stopping you now?’
‘Stopping me what?’
Maud sighed. ‘Launching yourself straight back into his arms? Clinging like a limpet. Even proposing. Honestly, Rachel, you have a black belt in martial arts. You do what a girl has to do.’
‘He can’t...want me,’ Rachel said in a small voice. ‘I’ve been awful to him.’
And Maud’s satisfaction turned to anger, just like that. ‘Isn’t that for him to decide?’ she demanded. ‘I think he has.’
‘I’ve had a baby. I’m not...’
‘Not what? Perfect? Don’t be ridiculous. Define perfect.’
‘Maud...’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, quit it with the complications.’ Maud suddenly sounded weary. ‘Get up tomorrow and go for it. A girl’s got to do what she has to do in this life, and she has to do it for herself. All I can do is hand out handkerchiefs. And go to sleep, which you’d be well advised to do, too. If there’s fighting to be done tomorrow—and there is—then you’ll need all your energy.’
She looked at Rachel, seemingly deciding to be contented with this interesting new twist life had taken. Her anger faded and she smiled.
‘I just can’t wait.’
* * *
Go to sleep.
Maud had issued the order but following it wasn’t easy.
It was impossible.
If she was back on the Kimberley Temptress she might be tempted to sneak up onto the top deck and have a spa, Rachel thought. Remembering the night of the spa. Remembering Finn.
A Bride For The Maverick Millionaire (Journey Through The Outback #2) Page 15
