The Marriage Gamble

by Meredith Webber

  She heard a door close but thought it must be Tim, Mark’s counterpart, leaving, so it wasn’t till she heard his voice that she realised Mike was not only in the room but had heard her complaints.

  ‘Don’t you ever go home?’ he asked, moving easily towards her. ‘And did you know that talking to yourself is a sure sign of frustration?’

  ‘Of course I’m frustrated!’ she informed him, while excitement battled warnings that being excited was wrong, wrong, wrong. ‘But not the way you’re thinking, thank you very much. Would you believe I’ve been trying since early afternoon to get in touch with this wretched man, and will he phone me back?’

  Mike stopped moving but, although he was at least two metres away, he was still too close.

  ‘What wretched man?’

  Jacinta named the specialist and Mike grinned.

  ‘If I solve your problem, will you have dinner with me?’ he teased, pulling a minute mobile phone from his trouser pocket and pushing a couple of the buttons. ‘Rick’s number is programmed into this. His daughter is a great friend of Libby’s so I keep the number to check on the kids’ social engagements when Libby’s home.’

  ‘Sorry to bother you at home, mate, but one of my clinic doctors would like a quick word.’

  He passed the phone to Jacinta with the air of a magician producing a rabbit out of a hat. Once again she was overwhelmed by a jumble of emotions, not least of which was delight at seeing him again. Not a good feeling, given all the reasons she shouldn’t fall in love with Mike.

  ‘It’s Pat Richards, your patient at Waratah Private,’ she said. ‘I’ve another patient who works with Pat and is showing similar symptoms. Sick last week and put it down to flu, but today had a temp of forty degrees, shivery, dry, unproductive cough. Then one of the salesgirls from the pharmacy spoke of a lot of summer flu going around. Pat’s building is across the street from the clinic and the pharmacy and, while it might be nothing more than a virulent flu, I wondered if you’d tested Pat for Legionnaires’?’

  The specialist swore. ‘His X-rays showed enough abnormality in the lungs to keep him hospitalised. We’ve been treating him for pyogenic bacterial pneumonia and I’ve ordered cultures of lung tissues to be sure. But cultures will take days to grow. The tests on his pleural fluids were positive, but they can show a false positive with legionella. The only true test is on a lung biopsy. Actually, I can go back and arrange that and a urine test right now. If we get even a suspicion of legionella infection, I can get the Health Department onto it immediately. It will be up to them to check the air-conditioning system and take the necessary steps to prevent the infection spreading.’

  A sudden cessation of noise told her he’d hung up.

  ‘Is he onto it?’ Mike asked.

  ‘I assume so,’ Jacinta said. ‘Not one for social niceties, is he?’

  Mike smiled at her.

  ‘You probably shook him up,’ he said, his gaze roving across her face. ‘Seems you have the ability to do that to some men.’

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ‘SO, DINNER?’

  Jacinta stared at Mike. She was still getting over his last comment. And his presence in the clinic.

  ‘I’ve got to get on to my patient first,’ she said, dashing back into the back of the reception area and taking refuge behind the patient files. Ken! Ken who? Work, mind, work!

  But how could her mind work when Mike had followed her into the filing area? When he was touching her shoulders, turning her to face him, tilting up her chin?

  ‘I’ve got to find Ken,’ she said, though she was trembling from her own eagerness for the kiss she knew was coming.

  ‘So find him,’ Mike challenged. ‘I’ll help.

  He turned her back to face the files but stood close, one hand resting lightly in the small of her back. Not only was her mind not working, but she doubted if she’d have the strength to reach up for a file—if she ever recalled Ken’s surname.

  ‘He’d be in the appointment book,’ she muttered to herself, but instead of turning away from Mike to go and look it up, she turned into him, so once again had to exert a supreme effort of will to move at all.

  Ken Hemmings. Of course. Back to the files where, naturally, the Hs were on the shelf she couldn’t reach. Ignoring Mike, she kicked the little wheeled stool into place and clambered up.

  Halstead, Ham, Hatfield, Head, Hemmings.

  She grabbed the file and was about to jump down from her perch, when Mike caught her by the waist, and swung her to the floor, dropping a swift kiss on her lips en route.

  ‘You’re being very silly about this,’ she told him, trying to sound stern when what she really felt was a shivery excitement. ‘I don’t want to get involved with you at all, and though I might have weakened, just slightly, last night, and briefly considered a quick fling type of thing with you, we both realised that’s impossible, given our living arrangements.’

  She’d have managed stern quite well if Mike hadn’t started smiling at her halfway through her little speech. The smile had made her voice go wobbly, no doubt due to the fact that her lungs weren’t working properly.

  A situation that hadn’t improve when he continued to smile, and even agreed with her.

  ‘I know,’ he said, his voice seeming deeper than ever. ‘But if I promise not to touch you again, will you do whatever you have to do for Ken, then come and eat with me?’

  ‘What about your father? Doesn’t he expect you to eat at home occasionally?’

  He was standing beside her as she dialled Ken’s number, and she asked the question as she waited for someone to answer.

  ‘Only breakfast. He cooks that for me himself. But in the evenings…’

  Mike shrugged, and Jacinta remembered how his shoulders had looked without the shirt.

  ‘You’re usually out with a woman,’ she finished for him. ‘The lovely blonde?’

  That scored a scowl.

  ‘I’m usually working late. I work long hours. It goes with the territory and is probably why my marriage failed and another reason why I don’t want to get into a situation like that again.’

  Jacinta was grateful for the timely reminder that any relationship with Mike would be purely short term and the emotional risk all hers, as he obviously found such arrangements quite satisfactory.

  ‘I don’t think anyone’s at home,’ he said, and she was so lost in the process of weighing up the emotional risk in a relationship with Mike that she didn’t understand him.

  He took the receiver from her hand and set it down, then tapped the file.

  ‘Write down the number and you can try later,’ he suggested. ‘From the restaurant. I booked at Tivoli on the off-chance you’d say yes.’

  Tivoli—it was the newest, most talked-about restaurant in the city.

  ‘Why are you doing this?’ Jacinta demanded, as a sudden urge to give in to him startled her with its strength.

  ‘Asking you to dinner?’

  He sounded so innocent she scowled at him.

  ‘Pursuing me like this. It’s bad enough that I don’t want to get involved with you and I’ve told you so, but if you add to it that I’m certainly not your type, then why the persistence?’

  His smile this time was less certain. A little lopsided, and decidedly tentative.

  ‘I think it must be the kisses,’ he said, shrugging again. ‘Believe me, I’ve asked myself the same question a dozen times today, asked it the whole time I was driving over. I’ve so much worked piled up I should be in my office—probably till midnight—but, no, here I am. It has to be the kisses. It’s all I can put it down to.’

  Jacinta shook her head.

  ‘You’re mad—do you know that? Crazy. At what stage did you make a booking at Tivoli—or do you have regular bookings made at a number of restaurants in case you get the urge to wine and dine one of your women?’

  He gave an exasperated growl and moved towards her, but she ducked out of his way.

  ‘You make it sound as if I keep
a stable full of women—which isn’t true. One woman at a time has always been my motto—heavens, one woman’s enough trouble for any man!’

  ‘Then what about Jaclyn? Isn’t she the one of the moment? And in that case, what am I? Just a kiss-receiver? A small glitch in the one-woman-at-a-time-and-nothing-lasts-for-ever scenario?’

  The growl deepened and this time, as he moved towards her, she didn’t duck in time. He grasped her shoulders and pulled her close, bending to kiss her with such deliberation she knew she’d pushed him too far.

  His mouth burned against hers, so when he slid his tongue across her lips she welcomed the cool relief of it. Her body strained closer to him as if it needed to be totally entwined in, or engulfed by, his. The small cry of pleasure pain that eased from her lips seemed to encourage him, and his kisses became more heated and far more demanding.

  Why are you doing this? Jacinta’s question was hammering in Mike’s head, but all he could find by way of a reply was that he couldn’t stop himself. Any more than he’d been able to stop himself coming over here this afternoon—leaving it as late as possible in the hope she might have left work, then driving like a madman because he’d feared he might miss her.

  ‘It might be addiction,’ he offered, when they’d stopped to draw breath and he’d slumped back against the reception counter, his arms still enfolding the source of his problems in his arms. ‘If I’d ever kissed you with lipstick on, I’d have to think it was something in the colour, but as it’s been nothing, or paint, on those tempting lips so far, I can only think it’s a chemical thing. Caffeine-treated perspiration, heroin-tainted lips.’

  The little chuckle she gave moved her breasts against his chest. She was all softness, this small woman, so cuddly he didn’t want to let her go.

  ‘Or maybe I’ve reverted to childhood,’ he added, thinking of a small bear he’d cuddled in much the same way.

  ‘Were you into kissing back then?’ she asked, looking up at him so he felt himself drawn into the depths of her dark eyes. Thoughts of drowning flicked briefly through his mind, then returned as a possible explanation for his erratic behaviour. Which was ridiculous!

  ‘You keep kissing me back,’ he pointed out, hoping to get past the question by turning responsibility back to her.

  ‘That’s because I’ve enjoyed it,’ she admitted, then she grinned as he’d obviously revealed his surprise at her honesty. ‘Well, I have,’ she added with a touch of defiance. ‘But you shouldn’t take too much of the credit. It’s been a long time since I’ve done any serious kissing, so there’s a certain novelty value in it.’

  ‘Novelty value? You certainly know how to reduce a man to nothingness, don’t you?’

  Jacinta smiled at him, not in delight at scoring but with such genuine warmth his heart felt as if a band were tightening around it. This phenomenon, more than anything else, warned him he was treading on dangerous ground. Playing around with a woman who could affect your heart was surely a precursor to rethinking the not-getting-married-again decree.

  But if his business was so important, why wasn’t he in the office right now?

  Maybe…

  Mike smiled back and saw the glimmer of light in her eyes as her own smile broadened.

  ‘Shall we go to dinner, then?’ he murmured, knowing he’d kiss her again if they didn’t move soon.

  Say no! Jacinta’s head ordered, but her lips just kept smiling at the wretched man and then her head nodded.

  ‘I’ll try Ken again first and phone home to tell Mum I’ll be late.’

  ‘Or even later?’ Mike said, glancing at his watch as she moved out of his encircling arms. He looked surprised to find it was close to eight. ‘Wouldn’t you normally be home by now? Or are you usually at work until this time?’

  She grinned at him as she dialled.

  ‘I earn every bit of the money you pay me, boss!’

  You shouldn’t be teasing him or going out to dinner with him! her head continued to nag.

  But her heart knew if—when—he kissed her again, she’d kiss him back.

  Still no answer at Ken’s place, so she phoned her mother, got her own voice on the answering machine, telling her she couldn’t come to the phone right now, and left a message, simply saying she’d be late.

  ‘I’m glad you didn’t say how late,’ Mike murmured. He was standing behind her, not holding or touching her but so close she could feel her body tightening in response to his.

  She wanted to ask why, but decided she didn’t want to know. No matter how much she might wish for the physical release of sexual pleasure with Mike, she didn’t want to think he’d asked her to dinner just to get her into a bed.

  Any bed!

  Although that’s the way he plays the game, she reminded herself. He’s already told you that.

  Once again the ‘will I, won’t I’ debate started up in her head, but the sexual excitement he’d generated in her body was superseding all other thoughts and emotions and she knew beyond doubt that, should he ask, she’d certainly be tempted.

  So much for all your good intentions, her head muttered glumly. And your bold talk of ‘investing time and emotion in a relationship’. You’re as bad as a giddy schoolgirl on a first date.

  ‘Yes,’ she admitted, answering the internal voices and startling Mike at the same time.

  ‘Did I ask something, or were you anticipating the question?’ he said, then, as he bent forward, his lips seeking hers with the unerring accuracy of a heat-seeking missile, he added, ‘But having been given permission, I can hardly resist.’

  She responded again. Possibly with too much fervour, for this time when they stopped to breathe he muttered, ‘Let’s go. Right now! If we stay here any longer I’ll be ravishing you on an examination couch and, believe me, I’m too old for that kind of sexual gymnastics.’

  The words shook Jacinta as much as the kiss had, but she knew he was right. If they didn’t get out of the place, there was no knowing what might happen.

  ‘I’ll take my car. That way I can drive home straight from the restaurant.’ She was finally listening to the dictates of her head, though it was hard to concentrate on the instructions. Lock up carefully because, for all the kisses, that’s the boss standing there. ‘Besides, if we both get into yours we probably won’t get out of the car park.’

  She smiled as she said it, knowing it was an admission to match the one he’d made earlier.

  Mike shook his head, as if not knowing how to take her.

  Or perhaps he was as puzzled—no, make that dumbfounded—as she was by the attraction that had flared between them.

  ‘Of all the unlikely situations,’ he muttered, showing he was in tune with her thoughts. ‘OK, we’ll take two cars.’

  ‘I’ll follow you,’ she insisted, not because she didn’t know the way but because she was reasonably certain she’d muff her gear changes, or forget to turn on her lights, or do something equally stupid if he was right behind her. Just thinking of him following her sent shivers up and down her spine—not of fear, unfortunately, but more like physical delight.

  They reached the restaurant, parked side by side in a hedged area beside it, then Mike opened Jacinta’s car door, and took her hand to help her out.

  As they walked towards the low-set building, hand in hand, Jacinta felt a special sense of belonging that she realised immediately was far more dangerous than her physical responses to Mike.

  ‘Ah, Dr Trent.’ The major-domo greeted Mike with too much familiarity. ‘I have put you on the small veranda.’

  Fighting a nagging peevishness over Mike being here with other women—of course he would have been—she allowed herself to be led to the ‘small veranda’.

  It was like a low balcony off the main dining area, protruding out into the lushness of the garden, with the river below them, gliding darkly and mysteriously by on its passage to the sea. Light flickered from tall cane lamps burning among the bushes, and the sweet scent of ginger blossoms suggested a plant flow
ering nearby.

  ‘It’s lovely,’ Jacinta admitted when the man had seated them, left menus and departed.

  ‘It is nice, isn’t it?’ Mike said, looking around as if to take it all in. ‘I’ve not been out here before. When Dad and I brought Libby here a few weeks ago, we sat inside.’

  Foolish relief swamped Jacinta, so suddenly and deeply that she knew whatever she was feeling for Mike had gone beyond simple attraction. Gone beyond magnetic attraction, too, for that matter.

  Panic fluttered in her heart, and to douse it she thought of work.

  ‘I should try Ken—if you don’t mind me using your mobile,’ she said.

  Mike passed the tiny phone to her, and showed her how to open it. Their fingers brushed against each other’s, tangled for a moment, then held, and she looked up into his eyes, blue-grey tonight and soft with a longing that left her breathless.

  ‘It’s important,’ she managed to say.

  He released her fingers and the phone immediately, but what she’d seen in that unguarded moment had shaken her.

  Ken’s wife answered.

  ‘Pat Richards’s wife phoned me from the hospital when the specialist went back there,’ she said when Jacinta had explained who she was and why she’d called. ‘Pat knew Ken was feeling off last week—they’d sympathised with each other. The specialist waited at the hospital until I got there with Ken. He’s having the same tests, but I had no one to mind the kids so had to take them with us, and now I’ve just got back.’

  ‘Do you mind if I keep in touch? I’d like to know how things go.’

  The woman assured Jacinta she could phone any time.

  ‘If I’m here, I’m here,’ she said.

  Jacinta thanked her and ended the call, then passed the phone back to Mike.

  ‘What’s up now?’ he asked.

  Startled by the question, she glanced across the table at him. ‘Why should something be up?’ she countered, and saw his smile light up his eyes.

  ‘Because the menu can’t possibly be bad enough to have caused the frown you gave it.’