‘And then,’ he continued, ‘when I try to discuss things with you, check things are all right with you, like a fool I believe you when you say things are fine, that we’ll put the past behind us and be friends. Now, Lila, if my memory serves me correctly, you then suddenly decided that, no, we can’t be friends any more, so, like an idiot, I try not to exacerbate things by backing off a bit. Hell, I’m such a bastard sometimes.’
Holding the syringe of antibiotics in front of her eyes, she flicked the tiny air bubbles out with her fingers, biting back tears.
‘Have you finished?’
‘Oh, I’m finished all right,’ he said wearily. ‘I’m finished trying to work out what makes you tick, Lila. Finished trying to be nice.
‘And in case you were hoping this job might be a stop-gap, you couldn’t be more wrong. I’m through with travelling and I intend to stay around a while, so you’d better get used to having me around.’
He made to go then stopped suddenly. ‘One final thing. I wasn’t going to the ball this Saturday, even though I’m expected to go. Even though it’s the first social occasion since I’ve been here and it could only help me to settle in. The nice guy that I am had decided as you were going I’d make things easier on both of us and stay away. But seeing as the gloves are off now, when you put your name down on the list, do me a favour and add mine.
‘And guess what?’ he added nastily. He took the syringe of antibiotics from her and, checking the vial, gave her a wintry smile. ‘I might even ask the charming Sister Bailey for a dance.’
CHAPTER FOUR
‘YOU’RE positive you don’t mind?’ Lila checked with Shirley for the umpteenth time, half wishing for a last-minute reprieve.
‘Of course I don’t mind. Ted’s just been to the video shop and hired a couple of movies.’ She opened the carrier bag on the kitchen table and giggled. ‘I don’t know what’s got into him all of a sudden—romantic films, he’s bought a bottle of wine for tonight and a box of my favourite chocolates—so don’t you even think about coming home early. Who knows what you might find!’
That was just a tad too much information for Lila’s liking but she managed a grin. ‘It’s been so long since I’ve been out I’ll probably turn into a pumpkin if I stay out past midnight.’
They were sitting in the kitchen, face packs on and heated rollers in as they painted each other’s nails.
‘Rubbish. Anyway, it will do you the world of good. You used to love going out. What are you going to wear?’
‘If only I knew!’
‘But you’ve got loads of gorgeous dresses in your wardrobe.’
Lila rolled her eyes. ‘If you like taffeta.’
‘What about that lovely black dress, the one you wore for my silver wedding anniversary? You can’t tell me that’s gone out of fashion. I can remember your mother telling me how much you paid for it. With that price tag surely ‘‘timeless elegance’’ should stand for something?’
‘I don’t even know where it is,’ Lila answered, trying to remember what it even looked like. When Shirley and Ted had celebrated their silver wedding Lila hadn’t thought twice about blowing a week’s wages on the best dress. Stopovers in New York had been spent admiring the gorgeous dresses in the best fashion houses. She hadn’t been rich but with a good wage and no responsibilities it had been all too easy to justify the expense.
‘It’s in a suitcase above your mum’s wardrobe.’
It was, too. Impossibly skimpy, and not black—more a dark charcoal grey—a silk slip covered with grey chiffon and the scantiest straps holding it up.
‘I’ll never get into it,’ Lila gasped as she ripped the plastic dry-cleaner’s bag open.
But she did. Admittedly there was absolutely no way she could eat all night and there could be a dangerous moment if one of the straps gave way, but with her blonde hair pinned up and her make-up carefully applied for the first time in years Lila felt a shimmer of excitement when she looked in the mirror.
‘You look gorgeous,’ Shirley enthused. ‘Stunning. You have to show your mum.’
Gently opening the bedroom door, Lila made her way into the bedroom. The radio was playing gently, the electric aromatherapy lantern lending a delicate-jasmine fragrance. Elizabeth lay on the bed, her tiny frame supported by a mountain of pillows, her unseeing eyes not moving as Lila entered.
‘I’m going out tonight, Mum. I just thought I’d show you my dress.’ Sitting on the bed, she took her mother’s hand in her own. ‘I wore it to Ted and Shirley’s silver wedding, remember?’
She ran her mother’s hand against the fabric. ‘You told me off when you found the receipt then boasted to everyone there how much I’d spent.’ Lila laughed but there was a catch in it as her mother just lay there.
Was she remembering? Did anything reach her? As they sat there, the music playing in the background, it was Lila who remembered that night. How Declan had been there with her, chatting and laughing with everyone, dancing the embarrassing dances that seemed mandatory on these nights as if it were the best party he had ever been to. He’d loved this dress, too.
Lila closed her eyes as the memories started to flood in. Memories that she’d pushed away for so long.
The giggles as he’d tried to locate the zip hidden at the side within the seam. Gently pulling it down, her gasp as his warm hands had slipped inside the flimsy fabric, her warm breast waiting, tingling for his touch, the admiration in his eyes as the fabric had fluttered down to her slender ankles…
*
Lila arrived fashionably late, of course. She didn’t bother her colleagues with the details, but by the time Elizabeth had been washed and changed and washed and changed again the meal was already starting.
‘I thought you weren’t coming!’
‘I said I’d be here, didn’t I?’ Lila grinned slipping into her seat as her colleagues nodded and waved at her.
‘Have I missed anything?’ she asked as the waiter filled her glass.
‘Well,’ Sue whispered loudly, ‘The Horse has a slick of blue eye shadow on and has knocked up the most amazing tartan dress from one of Trigger’s old blankets, and Mr Hinkley has for once in his life added a splash of whisky to his water, but apart from that, no, you didn’t miss much.’
Lila was about to execute a smart reply but Declan’s arrival from the bar, depositing his drinks directly in front of her, seemed to find Lila suddenly tongue-tied.
He seemed to start for an instant when he saw her sitting there, his gaze flicking over her. As a deep blush swept over her Lila was grateful for the dimmed lights. Surely he didn’t remember the dress, remember that night…
‘Actually—’ Sue’s voice was quieter now and she spoke from behind her menu ‘—Yvonne is knocking it back like it’s going out of fashion. I don’t think Declan’s too impressed.’
Lila looked over. Yvonne did indeed have that dangerous glint in her eye as she tipped her wine into the glass Declan had brought over. She was dressed to kill; crushed red velvet draped her figure, her bust spilling out over the top. She was all over him, embarrassingly so, and Declan looked far from impressed, pulling his hand away when she grabbed it, ducking his face away as she moved in to whisper to him.
‘Maybe they had a row before they came out,’ Lila suggested.
‘I don’t know about that,’ Sue said dramatically, ‘but I can guarantee there’ll be one hell of a row when they get home.’
The food was delicious, or at least everyone said it was, but for Lila the food was the last thing on her mind. Declan was close, so close. Sitting directly opposite her, she couldn’t help but see him.
She could feel him watching her also, though she tried to ignore him. Tried to concentrate on what her friends were saying, to laugh at their jokes, to hopefully look like she was having some fun.
The waiter came round with the main course, depositing the alternate meals as the table surveyed what they had been given.
‘Chicken or beef,’ the waiter asked,
and for the first time a sliver of a smile passed between her and Declan, an indicator that he, too, vividly remembered the jokes they had shared, the memories of what had once bound them together.
She would come back to Melbourne from a long-haul flight utterly exhausted but never too tired to end up at Declan’s. He would run her a bath, massage her aching feet and ankles and listen as she rambled on about her job—how tired she was, how difficult the passengers had been.
‘Come on, Lila,’ he would say with a laugh, ‘you love every minute.’
‘I know,’ she would grudgingly admit, not wanting the massage to end. ‘But it is tiring.’
‘What? Asking whether they want chicken or beef?’
Indignantly she’d snatched her foot away. ‘It is hard.’
‘Then lie there and I’ll fix dinner.’ After kissing her deeply, Declan had disappeared off into the kitchen, only to return half an hour later dressed only in an apron and carrying two plates.
‘Chicken or beef?’ he had asked as she’d dozed peacefully on the sofa.
Wakening and seeing him there looking so ridiculously gorgeous she hadn’t been able to stop laughing for a moment.
‘I’ve got a far better idea,’ Lila had said huskily, pulling at the apron. ‘How about we join the mile-high club? Why don’t you show me to your cabin?’ As the meal was cleared the music struck up, Lila sat there for a moment, suddenly feeling exposed as her friends got up with their partners to dance. A wallflower certainly wasn’t the image she wanted Declan to see.
‘Finally.’ Jez made his way over. ‘How about a dance?’
He was tall, good-looking, funny even, but he was the wrong man, and it was the wrong man’s arms that she was in. But it would have been rude to refuse and at least it saved her the embarrassment of being alone.
‘I was hoping you’d be here tonight.’
When she didn’t answer Jez continued, ‘I was hoping we could dance.’
The music played on. Looking over his shoulder, she saw Declan and Yvonne. As if sensing he was being watched, Declan’s gaze flicked over in her direction, their eyes locking across the room. For a moment there was no Jez, no Yvonne, no one else in the room, just Declan and Lila and the sensual beat of the ballad that was playing.
‘I meant what I said the other night—about dinner, I mean.’
Dragging her eyes away from Declan, Lila forced herself to look at Jez.
Why not say yes? Why not live for now, put the past where it belonged?
But, as nice as Jez was, he wasn’t Declan.
Declan might belong to someone else, but her heart wasn’t free. It would be wrong to lead Jez on.
‘It’s nice of you to ask, Jez, but…’ Her voice trailed off as she tried to come up with a reason.
‘Is that a no?’
Lila nodded. ‘Sorry.’
‘I’ll survive.’ He turned his head to where Lila’s eyes lingered. ‘Is that the reason? He doesn’t waste any time, does he? He’s only been here a couple of weeks.’
She hesitated before answering, yet she felt Jez deserved some sort of explanation.
‘We go back a bit further than that,’ she said finally.
As the music ended he let her go, kissing her lightly on the cheek. ‘Good luck,’ he whispered into her ear. ‘But watch yourself. I’d say you’ve got a fair bit of competition there.’
If Lila’s ego had needed a boost that night, it got one. Again and again she was asked to dance, even a couple more offers of dinner were politely declined. But the one person she wanted to dance with, and she admitted reluctantly the real reason she was here, was studiously ignoring her.
‘Well, more fool me for asking you to come,’ Sue said as they collapsed at the table and took a grateful sip of their drinks. ‘How are the rest of us supposed to get a look-in when you turn up looking stunning?’
Not stunning enough obviously.
‘Fancy another drink?’
Lila nodded. ‘Thanks, Sue.’
Alone at the table again, her eyes moved to Declan once more. He was talking to Mr Hinkley, chatting and laughing, every bit the dashing young doctor on the way up. And from what Declan had said during that bitter exchange in Lila’s office, she could have been there with him. Had she been so wrong that day? Had she read him so wrong? Overreacted too violently, made the biggest mistake of her life?
Had she?
The answer was immaterial now. It was simply too late. He had Yvonne; he had brought her to the other side of the world to be beside him.
The threatening sting of tears suddenly pricked her eyes. She couldn’t cry here, couldn’t embarrass herself that way.
Making her way to the toilet, she changed course quickly as she saw Yvonne teetering in that direction rather ungracefully. Yvonne was the last person she wanted to make small talk with. Instead she slipped out into the foyer and stepped out onto the balcony.
The cool night air was welcome and she took a few calming breaths, looking out unseeingly at the dark night sky. A storm was breaking to the east—flashes of lightning flickering in the distance, the rumble of far-away thunder. The music was pounding away inside, and as the tempo changed and the achingly familiar beat of Declan’s and her favourite song struck up Lila couldn’t hold back the tears any longer.
‘There you are.’
She didn’t move, didn’t turn around. He wasn’t going to see her cry.
‘I just wanted to get some air,’ she said, trying to keep her voice even. ‘It’s a bit smoky in there.’ Quickly she wiped her cheeks.
‘Lila.’ His hand was on her shoulder, his touch so, so familiar that she felt a nearly overwhelming urge to put her hand over his, to draw him nearer.
‘We still haven’t had that dance.’
She turned to face him, just a hand space separating them. The music seemed to be speaking to her, reminding her of how good it had been. Placing his whisky carefully on the stone wall of the balcony, he turned back to her, his fingers gently tilting her chin. And as her eyes met his, she knew she was lost.
Melting into his arms, they swayed slowly to the music. The warmth of his body, the silent strength in his embrace, the male scent of him—all played their part in peeling the years away.
‘I’ve never stopped missing you,’ he murmured. ‘You’ve been on my mind every day.’
Closing her eyes, she leant even further into him. She could hear the thumping of his heart in his chest.
‘I’ve missed you, too,’ Lila admitted.
And how she had missed him. Missed the way he’d held her, the way he’d loved her. The undisguised admiration in his eyes when he’d looked at her, the way he’d made her laugh, made her feel. How he’d turned any situation around and seen the lighter side, but serious too when it had been merited.
Had she misjudged him so badly? Had she said goodbye to the best thing in her life over a stupid misunderstanding?
She knew when the music ended they should have left it there. That she should have thanked him and gone inside. And that had been her intention. But as she looked up to speak, as their eyes met and held, the words just wouldn’t come. Her lips weren’t moving to her command. Instead, they moved with instinct, back to the familiar, exciting place they had been so many times before. Yet now there was nothing safe in familiarity. His cool tongue gently exploring her mouth, the scratch of his cheek against hers, the intake of his breath as he pulled her nearer.
Her body blossomed beneath him. She felt as if champagne were running through her veins, tiny bubbles exploding as her breasts tingled, her stomach tightening in a reflex action to his touch. And he felt it, too. She could feel his inflamed desire pressing into her and she ground her hips against him.
With breathtaking stealth his hands travelled along her body, and she felt herself melt beneath his touch. Her hands were lost in his thick hair and she kissed him back with longing. Slowly, deliberately his fingers moved to her zip, achingly close to her swollen breast. She was filled with
a brazen longing for him to inch down the zipper, to slip his long warm fingers inside and touch her aching breasts. But not here. Declan would never compromise her in that way.
His fingers lingered just a moment, almost teasing her with what could be if only she let it. He pulled away, staring at her for the longest time.
‘I remember this dress,’ he said huskily. ‘Hell, Lila, I remember everything about you.’
The sound of the balcony door opening gave them only the tiniest chance to break apart. With horror Lila realised it was Yvonne.
Utter shame swept over her. Never in a million years had this been her intention, but it was too late for regrets. The consequences of her actions had to be faced.
Yvonne hadn’t just had a bit too much to drink, she was teetering unsteadily, her eyes angry and confused. ‘What are you doing out here?’
‘Talking to Lila.’
‘Well, I’m sorry if I’ve disturbed you.’ The contempt in Yvonne’s voice was painfully obvious.
Unable to meet the other woman’s eye, Lila looked down at the ground, painfully aware that Declan was wearing rather a lot of her lipstick at that moment.
‘Mr Hinkley suggested that some of the doctors head off to the casino. I thought it might be fun.’
‘Do you want me to call you a taxi?’ he suggested, deliberately misreading what Yvonne had said.
Lila looked up sharply, amazed at his response. He seemed neither guilty nor perturbed that Yvonne had come so close to catching them, maybe even had. Who knew what she had seen as she’d approached the balcony? It didn’t take an Einstein to work out what had gone on.
‘Look, I’m sorry to break up your private party,’ she said nastily, ‘but Mr Hinkley is your boss, not mine. Surely it would be better for your career…’
‘My career’s fine, Yvonne,’ Declan said darkly. ‘And the best thing you could do for yours is have a strong black coffee and go home to bed.’
‘You bastard.’
‘Yvonne…’ Lila’s voice was shaky. ‘I can explain. Look, I’m really sorry…’
But Yvonne wasn’t interested in hearing what Lila had to say. ‘You’re welcome to him,’ she spat at Lila, and with a sob fled from the balcony back into the party.
Accidental Reunion Page 5
