Appointment at the Altar

by Jessica Hart

  It was a start, anyway.

  Even better, Guy Dangerfield was leaving at last. His mother was having a double hip replacement, he had explained, and he needed to fly back to London the next day so that he could be around to help her after the operation.

  Lucy would be relieved to see him go. It wasn’t that he had been about the place that much. If anything, she had seen less of him since that drive back from the rodeo, but she had been uncomfortably aware of him at meals, when his smile kept snagging at the edge of her vision, and his voice with its undercurrent of laughter was somehow impossible to ignore, even if he was talking at the other end of the table.

  She wished she hadn’t told him quite so much about herself, although Guy had never mentioned their conversation again. At odd times, Lucy would find herself thinking about how he had looked on that drive, and remembering things that she hadn’t even been aware of noticing at the time.

  Like his hands, strong and square on the steering wheel, or the line of his jaw. Like the texture of his skin, his throat brown above the white collar. Like the curl of his mouth and the gleam of his smile.

  And then she would remember how easily he had swung on to that horse and a strange feeling would uncurl in the pit of her stomach.

  It all made her feel very unsettled. Lucy tried reminding herself how irritating he had been, and the annoying way he would insist on calling her Cinderella, and she told herself she was glad that he didn’t come into the kitchen to chat any more, but she couldn’t help feeling just a little piqued when he just waved a greeting on his way past and left her alone.

  Wondering why she should care at all just made her more unsettled. It was a very good thing that Guy was going, she decided as she put the finishing touches to the cake. Tomorrow she would be able to relax at last, without the constant distraction of Guy’s presence, and maybe there would be a chance to spend more time with Kevin.

  Not that there was any time to spend on building a quality relationship at the moment. Hal’s sister had brought her children, Emma and Mickey, to stay before flying out to join her husband on a two-month business tour, and they were having a hard time adjusting.

  Lucy felt sorry for them. She knew what it was like to be homesick, having been sent to boarding school at seven, but she had had her big sister, Meredith, to look after her. Emma, at nine, didn’t seem nearly as practical as Meredith, or as devoted to looking after her younger brother, so Lucy was doing her best to keep them entertained in between making sure there were meals on the table three times a day.

  Right now, the two of them were on the front veranda, playing some computer game, but she would go and suggest they play a game of cards or something as soon as she had cleared up the kitchen.

  Brushing cocoa from her jeans, she glanced at the kitchen clock. Hal should be back soon. He had driven into Whyman’s Creek earlier that morning and she had given him a whole list of ingredients to pick up from the store.

  Lucy put the cake to one side and regarded the mess she had made with a sigh. She was an exuberant cook and she had never got the hang of washing up as she went along. She always put off the moment of tidying up as long as she could.

  ‘Uncle Hal’s here!’

  Emma’s cry from the front veranda made Lucy brighten at the perfect excuse to avoid tackling the mess for a while. Wiping her hands on a tea towel, she hurried along the corridor to help Hal unload.

  The front door stood open, but a screen door kept out the insects. It fell into place with a clatter after Lucy exited and made for the steps leading down to where Hal had parked the truck. She saw his tall figure first, and then noticed with surprise that he had brought someone with him. He hadn’t said anything about a visitor when he left that morning.

  Lucy’s blue gaze was on its way back to Hal when it stopped and returned to the stranger in a ludicrous double take. Surely not? It couldn’t be…?

  But it was. Her sister, so dearly familiar and yet so utterly unexpected out here that for a long, long moment, Lucy could only stare.

  Meredith?

  Meredith looked up at her. ‘Hi, Lucy,’ she said.

  It was her! Lucy’s heart swelled with astonished delight. She hadn’t realised how much she had missed her no-nonsense sister until now. Hurrying down the steps, she swept Meredith into a hug.

  ‘I can’t believe it’s really you!’ she cried excitedly. ‘It’s so good to see you!’ Then she pulled back to look into her sister’s face. ‘But what on earth are you doing here?’

  ‘Your sister?’ Guy’s brows rose. He had been out all day and had only just come back to discover that Hal had brought an unexpected visitor back from Whyman’s Creek. ‘Has she come out to visit you?’

  ‘Not exactly.’ Lucy was distracted as she turned the potatoes in the hot fat.

  They needed more cold meat for lunchtime sandwiches, so she had planned to roast another huge joint tonight and now she was glad. She could cook roast beef in her sleep these days, and she had too much on her mind to concentrate on anything more complicated.

  ‘She wants me to go home with her,’ she told Guy. ‘A friend of ours has been in an accident. He’s in a coma, and they think that my voice might help him to come round.’

  Guy sat on the kitchen table and regarded Lucy’s downcast face thoughtfully. ‘That’s bad news.’

  Lucy sighed, too miserable even to resent Guy’s presence. ‘I know.’

  ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘I think I’m going to have to go,’ she said. ‘It would mean breaking my contract-you know how insistent Hal was that I was here to look after Emma and Mickey-but Meredith’s talking to him now and we’re hoping that he’ll agree to her taking my place while I go back to London and see Richard.’

  Guy frowned slightly. ‘Will it really make such a difference if you’re there?’

  ‘Meredith seems to think that it will.’ Lucy put the potatoes back into the oven and straightened, smoothing some stray hairs from her forehead with the back of her arm. ‘To be honest, I don’t want to go, but I owe Meredith a lot and if this is what she wants, then I’ll do what I can. I spoke to Richard’s mother on the phone, too. She sounded desperate, as if they’ve pinned all their hopes on me going back. How can I refuse when it means so much to them?’

  Guy hesitated. ‘What about Kevin?’

  ‘He’ll wait for me, I hope,’ she said, her eyes sliding away from his. ‘Even if Hal doesn’t agree to keep the job open for me if Meredith stays, then I’ll get back to the outback somehow. I’m not going to just give up on my dream.’

  But Hal had agreed, Meredith told her, when she came into the kitchen a little later and was introduced to Guy.

  ‘Now we just need to get you to Darwin,’ she told Lucy.

  ‘I can help you there,’ said Guy. ‘As it happens, your timing couldn’t be better.’ He told Meredith about his mother’s hip operation. ‘I need to be there,’ he said, ‘not that Ma will appreciate it! She’ll probably just tell me that I’m in the way, but I’ve chartered a plane to pick me up from the airstrip here tomorrow morning anyway. The pilot will fly me directly to Darwin, and I can pick up the London flight there. Lucy might as well come with me.’

  Lucy had been listening to him with growing dismay, but Meredith’s face lightened. ‘That would be great,’ she said gratefully. ‘It means she can get home much sooner.’

  ‘I’m sure we can find a local flight,’ Lucy cut across her. ‘We don’t need to put Guy to any trouble.’

  ‘It’s no trouble,’ said Guy. ‘There’s room for another person on the plane and, as I’ve chartered it, it won’t cost any extra.’ He glanced at Lucy’s mutinous face. ‘Of course, the alternative is for Hal to drive you into Whyman’s Creek,’ he said mildly. ‘There’s a local flight to Darwin and you might be able to get a seat on it, but as Hal’s just got back from town today, he’d probably be glad not to have to drive you in again tomorrow morning.’

  This was so patently true that Lucy was
left with nothing to say, as Guy was no doubt perfectly aware. She could hardly insist on Hal going to all the effort of driving her into town on the off chance she would get a seat on the next flight when it had taken all Meredith’s persuasive powers to get him to agree to her leaving at all.

  Raging inwardly at the workings of fate, Lucy threw her things into her rucksack the next morning. She had so been looking forward to Guy going, and to spending some time alone with Kevin-well, without Guy’s smile lurking distractingly in the background, anyway-and now here she was, leaving with him instead of waving him off with a bright smile. Spending an hour and a half alone with him on the drive back from the rodeo had been bad enough. How was she going to manage going all the way to Darwin?

  They were even going to be on the same plane to London, she had discovered to her dismay. While she had been saying goodbye to Kevin, Guy had been on the phone, arranging her ticket.

  ‘Meredith said she would do that,’ Lucy protested when she found out, but Guy only shrugged.

  ‘Meredith was exhausted last night,’ he pointed out. ‘It seemed the important thing was to get you on to the first plane so I got my PA to book you on the same flight.’

  At least she would only have to put up with him until they got to Darwin, Lucy consoled herself. Guy was a first class traveller if ever she saw one, and she was most definitely a budget traveller. Once they got to Darwin, he would be so coddled by special lounges and fast track service that with any luck she wouldn’t see him again after that.

  But there was another shock at Darwin itself. ‘You’ve booked me in first class?’ Lucy’s voice rose to a squeak of appalled dismay.

  ‘It’s a long flight,’ said Guy. ‘You might as well be comfortable.’

  ‘Meredith told me that Richard’s parents wanted to buy my ticket home, but I’m quite sure they didn’t intend me to come first class!’ Lucy was aghast. ‘I know Richard’s father is a successful businessman, but he’s not so successful he can afford to hand out first class plane tickets.’

  ‘In that case, it’s lucky that I am,’ said Guy, putting a firm hand under her elbow and piloting her towards the first class check-in desk. ‘Richard’s parents can pay for your ticket back to Australia, and you can travel as economically as you like then.’

  Lucy dug in her heels as she realised what he was saying and rather belatedly wrenched her arm out of his warm grasp. ‘You bought my ticket to London?’

  ‘I can’t take any credit for it. My PA did all the work.’

  ‘But I can’t let you pay for me. I hardly know you!’

  ‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that,’ said Guy, repossessing her elbow and propelling her firmly forwards. ‘We’ve been living in the same house for the past week. You know that I like marmalade on my toast and I know that you’re not at your best in the mornings. I know how you feel about Kevin, and you know that I once wanted to be a rodeo star. Very few people know that about me, Cinders,’ he said with a gleaming smile. ‘We can’t be strangers when you know my embarrassing secret!’

  ‘But it’s so expensive!’ said Lucy, hanging back.

  ‘Lucy, I’m a rich man,’ he said patiently. ‘It won’t even be a blip in my bank account.’

  And somehow Lucy found herself handing over her passport as Guy checked them both in. The bookings had been made electronically, and in no time at all she was on the plane, with none of the shuffling queues she was used to, and ensconced in a luxurious seat by the window. There was no denying that the whole process of boarding was a lot less stressful in first class.

  ‘Wow,’ she said, pushing her seat back and playing with all the buttons, forgetting for a moment that she was cross with Guy. ‘I’ve never been in the pointy end of a plane before. This is great!’

  Guy watched her indulgently. ‘I’ve never seen anyone get so much pleasure out of an airline seat,’ he said, and Lucy flushed and stopped fiddling immediately. She was obviously being very un-cool.

  ‘I don’t suppose you’ve ever been at the back of the plane.’ she grumbled.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘Never. I had a very privileged upbringing.’

  That accounted for his assurance, anyway. Guy only had to lift an eyebrow for someone to rush to do his bidding. Lucy would love to have accused him of arrogance but she couldn’t. He was charming to everyone, and all the flight attendants, male and female, were soon fawning over him.

  Lucy watched them darkly. There was no need for them to lean quite that close to him or smile quite so invitingly, surely? She might as well not have been there! They had obviously taken one look at her jeans and shirt and recognised that she wasn’t a first class traveller.

  As if to disprove her, a beautifully groomed flight attendant, who made Lucy feel even scruffier than ever, leant past Guy.

  ‘Would you like some champagne, Miss West?’

  Miss West! Champagne! Who would ever have thought that she, Lucy West, would be sitting in first class, drinking champagne?

  Lucy was ashamed of the little thrill that went through her as she accepted a glass. No flight attendant had ever bothered to learn her name before. She had always just been part of the mass and, while she was perfectly happy being one of a crowd, it was undeniably nice to have all this attention.

  She glanced at Guy, who obviously took all this luxury for granted. He raised his glass to her with one of those smiles that always left her feeling slightly ruffled. ‘Here’s to dreams,’ he said.

  Lucy thought of Kevin, back at Wirrindago. Even she couldn’t pretend that his farewell had been emotional. ‘See you then,’ he had said as she had left. But outback men weren’t used to expressing their emotions, Lucy reminded herself. It didn’t mean her dream wouldn’t come true.

  ‘To dreams,’ she said with a touch of defiance and touched her glass to Guy’s. ‘May they all come true.’

  ‘I’ll drink to that,’ said Guy and, as their eyes met for the toast, Lucy found her gaze snared in the gleaming blue depths of his, just as it had done at the rodeo. Just as before, she felt the air shorten between them. There was the same strange fluttery sensation in her stomach, and it made her nervous in exactly the same way.

  Lucy yanked her eyes away, feeling oddly breathless, and took a gulp of champagne as she thought longingly of Kevin. Kevin, so quiet, so steady. He never made her feel jangly and jittery like this. You always knew where you were with Kevin. It might not be exactly where you wanted to be, but there was something restful about being able to adore him without expecting much in return.

  There was nothing restful about being with Guy. Lucy did her best to ignore him, but it was impossible. If you were used to economy class, the space between the seats was enormous, but still he seemed very close, and she wished that she was sitting behind him or in front of him or anywhere else, in fact, where she might not be quite so aware of him.

  He was absorbed in the Financial Times, which meant that she could study him covertly as she drank her champagne, and it felt to Lucy as if she had never looked at him properly before. His palely striped shirt was open at the collar and his sleeves were casually rolled up above his wrists. He lounged back in his seat, long legs stretched out before him and crossed at the ankle, utterly relaxed and evidently completely unperturbed by her presence.

  He was like a big cat, thought Lucy in a flash of revelation, like a golden lion lolling in the shade of an acacia. He had the same air of carelessly leashed power, of a lazy indulgence that could turn in a flash into danger. No wonder he made her nervous. And no wonder he was so little bothered by her.

  Guy turned a page of the paper, shaking it straight, and Lucy’s eyes snared on his forearm, and for some reason the breath dried in her throat. It was ridiculous. It was just an arm, adorned with what was no doubt an obscenely expensive watch, with broad wrists and square hands, but she was suddenly consumed with the inexplicable need to run her hand along his forearm, to feel the strength of his muscles, the fine golden hairs beneath her palm, the warmth of his skin…
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  Heat washed through her at the very thought of it and she emptied her glass with a kind of desperation. Her fingers were actually twitching, she realised wildly. Terrified that they might somehow acquire a will of their own and reach out for him, Lucy made herself turn to look out of the window, but there was nothing to see but air and light and the occasional wisp of cloud far below, and the more she stared, the more she saw instead Guy’s blue eyes, gleaming with that smile that made her prickle all over.

  ‘More champagne?’

  Glad of the distraction, Lucy held out her glass to be refilled. ‘It feels all wrong to be drinking champagne in all this luxury when I’m only here because Richard is so ill,’ she said to Guy, who lowered his paper with just a hint of reluctance.

  Lucy didn’t care. He could catch up on what was happening with the Dow-Jones Index some other time. Right now, she wanted him to be annoying. She was counting on it, in fact. She needed him to remind her of everything that she disliked about him so that she would get over this weird and rather embarrassing longing to touch him.

  ‘Will he get better any quicker if you drink water?’ asked Guy.

  Good, thought Lucy, seizing on what she was sure was a touch of condescension in his voice. ‘No…but…you know what I mean,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t be enjoying myself.’

  ‘This guy you’re going back to see…Richard?…presumably everyone wants you to be there because they know he cares about you?’

  ‘Yes,’ she acknowledged with some reluctance. She wasn’t at all comfortable with the idea that Richard was still in love with her, although Meredith insisted it was true.

  ‘Then I’m prepared to bet that what he likes most about you is your ability to enjoy yourself wherever you happen to be,’ said Guy. ‘That’s what makes you special, Cinders, not your blonde hair and blue eyes, lovely though they are.’

  No, that wasn’t what she needed him to say at all. Why couldn’t he mock her? Why wasn’t he teasing her and making her feel stupid, instead of telling her that she was special? Used to the idea that Guy thought she was really rather silly, Lucy was now completely thrown.