"We can discuss that at the station, miss," he said.
Bracketing her like the world's most drool-worthy bookends, they each took one of Brooke's arms and escorted her back the way they'd arrived.
One cameraman followed them, but the other kept his lens on Penny and Calais.
As soon as they were out of sight, Penny let her breath hiss out. The hard bit was over – she hadn't given the game away to Brooke. Now, she had to play her part until Paige was satisfied.
"Oh my God, was that real?" Penny asked Calais. "Were those real police officers?"
Calais sniffled, wiping away tears. "Yes. Detectives from Perth. The last time I saw that uniform, was when they came to my house to tell us about my sister..."
Her sister had been arrested for something horrible, too? Then Penny remembered: Calais' sister was dead. She wrapped her arms around Calais in what she hoped looked like a sympathetic hug. She tried to keep the triumph off her face, but it was hard. After all, Lorelei was gone.
Calais clung to her for what felt like ages, until the jet boat roared into life and headed off. The cameraman returned, and Paige directed Penny to a spot under a tree, where she was required to babble endlessly about how shocked she was about Lorelei's arrest, her hopes for her relationship with Jay and how she felt terribly betrayed by being so close to a criminal all this time. Penny summoned her best worried look as she said she hoped Jay wouldn't take his favourite's defection too hard. Not that she called Lorelei Jay's favourite. God, no. That was loser talk. And she was no loser. Not this time. No, this time, Penny was going to be the winner who takes all, because, by God, she deserved it this time. Finally, things were going right.
FIFTY-FIVE
It felt surprisingly comfortable to be back at Camp Romance, putting on her lipstick in front of the tiny bathroom mirror. Penny wanted to dance. Finally, she was getting her date with Jay. And not just any date. A romantic dinner, followed by an evening together in a luxury tent. One with electricity and a king-sized bed. If everything went right, that bed would come in very handy for showing Jay just how compatible they were, in every way. Calais couldn't compete with that.
Penny climbed behind the wheel of the old four-wheel-drive, careful to avoid brushing the rust spots, which would show on her dress. She turned the key and instead of rumbling to life, the engine clicked. She wrenched at the key again, but got the same response.
Oh God. What was wrong with the car? She was supposed to meet Jay at the pearl farm. He'd be waiting for her. This couldn't happen now.
"Luke!" she called, hoping the camp manager was around and hadn't gone fishing. "What's wrong with the car?"
"Nothing's wrong with the car," he said, taking a long pull on his beer and settling deeper into his chair on the veranda.
"It won't start! There is something wrong with it," Penny insisted. "I'm supposed to be at the pearl farm in a few minutes, with that car."
It took ten minutes of alternately begging and threatening to get Luke of his lazy arse and into the driver's seat.
He turned the key, coaxing more clicks out of the car, then climbed out again. "Flat battery. It won't start."
Penny's heart sank. "Don't we have spare batteries? I'm sure I saw one in the kitchen. It had one of those portable fridges running off it."
"Nah, don't know what you're talking about," Luke drawled, taking another drink.
Penny's temper rose. "It was full of those beers last time I looked, no food at all. Where is it now?" She scanned the kitchen, but the cooler was gone. "Where is it?" she repeated.
Bec marched up the veranda, drawn to the brewing argument. "Are you looking for Luke's beer fridge? He hooked it up to the car battery this morning, when the others went flat. It'll be in the shade beside one of the front tyres."
"The car battery's flat, too," Penny said.
That got Bec's attention. "What? I'm supposed to head into town in the morning to get more supplies. You mean we're stuck here?"
"I need to get to the pearl farm today before dark. We better not be stuck here." Penny glared at Luke.
Luke didn't look the slightest bit repentant. "So radio for help, then. Or go for a walk."
"The radio needs batteries, you fool," Bec said through gritted teeth. "And it's miles to the pearl farm. In the dark. With wild bulls in the bush. And snakes."
Luke shrugged. "Not my problem. I have all the beer I need to do me 'til morning."
Bec looked as furious as Penny felt.
"You won't have a job by morning. If I have to walk to the farm, I'll call the office and tell them what you did. That you haven't done a damn thing since you got here except drink beer and try to sleep with the guests. This is the last straw, Luke." Bec turned to Penny. "You stay here, and I'll get the guys to bring a spare battery when they drop me off. Oh, and if you want to kick him in the balls a few times from me while you're here with him and no witnesses, be my guest."
Much though Penny wanted to beat the shit out of Luke, she didn't want to miss her date with Jay. "No, I'll walk," she said. "How far is it?"
"About fifteen, twenty minutes," Luke said. "Not far at all."
Penny nodded. She could manage that, even in a dress. She looked at Bec. "If the ball-kicking's still happening, would you do a bit for me?"
Bec grinned. "Gladly."
So Penny set off, figuring she had about an hour of daylight left. She'd only need half of that, if Luke was right.
An hour later, still trudging along the track, Penny decided that Luke was wrong. She'd also decided that he was a dodgy bastard and she hoped Bec beat him to death by the time she got back. She was late for her date with Jay, starving for a dinner she should have eaten half an hour ago, and her mouth was too dry to swear at Luke, the universe and everything else. Still she kept going, as the moon gave her just enough light to see the track in front of her, but with no other lights in view, she wasn't sure how much farther she had to go until she reached the farm.
She lost track of time, concentrating just on putting one foot in front of the other, so when she rounded a clump of bushes and found herself on a lawn, an actual lawn, Penny dropped to her knees. Finally, she glimpsed lights up ahead, and heard the sound of running water, which turned out to be the artificial waterfall feeding the swimming pool.
The lights were the exit signs in the restaurant, which had closed for the night, by the look of it. The staff lived onsite, though, she was sure of it, so Penny stumbled through the compound until she found a house that the signs proclaimed was PRIVATE. That meant accommodation for staff, not tourists, she was certain.
She raised a weary arm to knock on the door. And again. And a third time, with some desperation. If no one answered, she was going to curl up on the veranda and cry herself to sleep. This was the worst night in the history of bad nights...
The door creaked open. "What is it?" a woman's voice croaked.
"I've come from the camp up on the ridge. The car broke down and there's no battery for the radio." Tears leaked from Penny's eyes. "I was supposed to be here this afternoon, to see Jay. Is he...is he still here?"
The woman tugged her pyjama top down over her tummy. "Jay? You mean Jay Felix? He was here hours ago. Had a couple of drinks while he was waiting, but when you didn't turn up, he made Baz take him over to the camp by boat. Baz was back before it was dark, so he must have dropped him off and come straight back. Jay's not here."
Penny burst into tears. Fucking universe. It could go fuck itself with three cactuses. Three fucking huge, thorny cactuses, full of venomous tarantulas and...
"Oh, don't cry, love. Give me a sec. I'll find you a bed where you can sleep and Baz will run you back in the morning."
Penny only cried harder. "I'm supposed to spend tonight with Jay!" Not alone in some charity bed.
"Shush, love. Okay, I'll grab the keys and drive you back to camp, then. Too dangerous to take a boat out there with the tide out, and Baz is a bear if you wake him up, anyway."
Penny
wiped her face with her dust-covered arm. "Thank you."
FIFTY-SIX
After twenty minutes' driving, Penny saw the dead four-wheel-drive looming out of the darkness in the newer vehicle's headlights. "Here," Penny said, glaring at the beer fridge she could now see beside the wheel, right where Bec said it would be. She wanted to kick it into pieces, but her feet hurt too much right now. In the morning, maybe.
She thanked the woman, whose name she couldn't remember, and slid out of the car. Her shoes hit sand with a crunch Penny hoped she never heard again. She was sick of sand.
Penny made her way to the darkened kitchen, grabbing a slice of stale bread to still her hunger. The fire pit was dark, too, and the whole place looked deserted. Luke's swag wasn't on the veranda where it usually lay. Penny hoped Bec had beaten him to death and buried him in an unmarked grave. Maybe in the cemetery, near all the other dead men, where no one would think to look.
She wanted to crawl into her tent and sleep for a week, but she needed to see Jay first. To tell him why she'd stood him up. So she dragged herself to his cabin and knocked on the door. When no one answered, she peeped inside to see if he was asleep. Both beds were empty, though a guitar case on the floor told her Jay hadn't vacated the place fully yet.
Penny gave up. She staggered up the hill to the bathroom, intending to freshen up before she fell into bed.
As she reached the steps, the sound of music reached her ears, borne by a surprisingly chilly night breeze. Penny shivered, folding her arms across her chest, as another gust of wind brought the sound of Jay's unmistakeable singing voice.
Unable to help herself, Penny faced into the breeze and followed the sound. The soft music seemed to give her a second wind, which she needed to climb the hill to the beehive tree, now ringed by dried roses that lay where they'd fallen when Melissa got stung. The melody lured her on, deeper into the dunes, where she knew the old pearl divers were buried. As she passed the second grave stone, she saw them, silhouetted against the sky on the crest of the ridge, where she and Calais had watched whales.
Jay sang again, a song she'd never heard before. After a moment, Calais joined in, her voice weaving around his in perfect harmony.
Penny stumbled and fell to her knees. Weary beyond belief, she listened to the haunting duet sung to ghosts in a graveyard, and she felt like a ghost, too. A fragment of the past, best forgotten, to make way for the future.
What was it Jay had said he wanted in that first video? Someone to inspire love songs so beautiful he could seduce the whole world, but there was only one woman in the world he wanted. Is that woman you? His invitation echoed in her mind.
No. No matter how much she wanted it to be, the answer was no. She loved him, as surely as the sun would rise in the morning, but the woman he wanted was Calais. The one who could sing in harmony with his heart.
Defeated, Penny dragged herself down the hill and into her lonely bed.
Go ahead and laugh, universe, she thought. She'd lost, but she hadn't lost as much as Calais. It was time to let the other girl win, and wish her the best.
FIFTY-SEVEN
Penny slept badly. Every time she closed her eyes, it felt like she was walking through sand in endless darkness, never reaching her destination. She'd jolt awake to make sure she wasn't sleepwalking, then doze off and dream about walking again.
What finally brought her out of dreamland was the smell of bacon. Not the aroma of someone slowly warming it until the fat melted in the pan, then letting it sizzle until it was just crisp without drying out. No, this was bacon burning, at the hand of an idiot who had the grill turned up too high.
Luke. It had to be.
Penny shucked off her sleeping bag, ripped open the tent zip and marched to the kitchen, her hands itching to shove Luke's face against the hot grill until he was scarred for life.
But when she reached the veranda, she saw that it wasn't Luke. It wasn't Bec, either.
Jay stood at the barbeque, tongs in hand, batting at the hissing, spitting bacon when it tried to jump off the grill.
"Turn that down," Penny said, reaching for the burner knobs. "You're murdering good bacon."
"I'm sorry," he said, sounding subdued.
Penny sighed. "Don't be. I'm sure most rock stars have personal chefs who cook their bacon for them. Most people get it wrong, anyway. You're supposed to – "
"No, I'm sorry," Jay repeated. "About last night."
Penny closed her eyes, not wanting him to see how much she still hurt. "Me, too."
"I was looking forward to our date last night," he continued. "I wanted a chance to talk to you alone. To get to know you better when you're not cooking. Mostly because I feel like such an idiot, when you're schooling me on how to cook on a bloody barbeque. I'm an Aussie bloke. This sort of thing should be in my blood, but all I can do is burn stuff."
Penny cracked a smile. "That's what most Aussie blokes do, all right."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know the whole story until Baz dropped by this morning. He was supposed to pick us all up, but I figured I'd let you sleep a little longer, and so I stayed, too. I want to try and make up for what happened last night. I wanted to make you breakfast, a sort of a date, but..." He swore as some of the bacon started smoking.
Penny grabbed another set of tongs from the kitchen and did her best to save his bacon. "So there's just the two of us, but bacon for...well, a small army. Any eggs?"
Jay shook his head. "I waited at the restaurant last night. When we couldn't raise the camp on the radio, I made Baz bring me out here. Luke told me about the car breaking down and the radio going dead, and how you'd gone for a walk. He said you'd be back soon."
"He's a dickhead and a liar," Penny snarled. "He said it was fifteen minutes' walk to the pearl farm. It took me hours!"
"That's what Baz said. He took Bec back to the farm because she wanted to call her office, and Luke went with her. That left you, me and Calais, and when I told her I wanted to spend the last morning alone with you, she said she understood and headed over to the resort alone. I'm sorry."
"It's all right." It wasn't, but Penny felt she should say it. He sounded so sad, and none of it was his fault. It was that bastard, Luke, conniving with the universe. "When I made it back last night, I heard you two. You sound...so good together." That, at least, was true.
Jay grinned. "You think so?"
Penny nodded, not trusting her voice, as her eyes filled with tears. She wanted him, oh, so much, but Calais...
Warm arms enfolded her, hugging her to his chest. Fingers stroked her hair, soothing, as she cried for everything that could have been, if the world weren't so fucked up.
"Penelope, look at me."
Reluctantly, she lifted her head, not wanting to look into those warm, brown eyes with her own red-rimmed ones.
"I'm so sorry."
The way he looked at her, like he was begging to kiss her. Without thinking, she stretched up to grant his desire. And hers. God, yes. And hers.
At only a breath away, she regained her senses. Calais. Those lips were Calais' to kiss, not hers.
With her heart in her throat, Penny forced herself to pull away. "I have to pack." She hurried back to her tent and started to throw her things back into her bag. If this had all happened last night, it would be fine, but he'd chosen Calais and she respected that. She should be fucking happy for her, that Calais got an incredible man like Jay.
She repeated it so many times to herself over the course of the day that it had become a mantra by the time she stood in the resort's pub with Calais and the camera crew, waiting for Jay to officially announce his decision. A mantra to keep herself from crying. Because no one deserved to see her cry. Especially not the happy couple.
FIFTY-EIGHT
Jason stopped on the veranda outside the Jungle, forcing himself to breathe deeply. He almost laughed at himself, getting jittery about walking into a pub. That had to be a first for him.
One more breath. In through his nostrils, be
fore whistling out through his teeth, bared in a cocky grin he definitely didn't feel right now. Jason patted his pocket to make sure the box was still there, ready for the lucky girl he intended to propose to in a few minutes.
Rock stars don't get nervous, he told himself. We just get on with the fucking show and knock 'em all dead.
He strode through the palm trees, past the cameras to Paige's side.
Paige burbled some sort of introduction, but Jason didn't hear it. His attention was transfixed on the two girls standing opposite him. Both Calais and Penelope looked like they were going to a ball. Formal dresses, hair styled in rigid curls and swirls, and as much makeup as Paige. Brides, that's what they looked like, he realised as his heart sank. Or bridesmaids.
He'd promised them a show, and Paige had certainly met him halfway. Whoever he chose would be ready for the photo shoot he was certain Paige had planned for afterwards. After he'd proposed to one of them, and hopefully she'd accepted.
Fuck. Why was this so hard?
Phuong, that's why. And Audra. He'd proposed to both of them, and both had ripped out his heart and stomped on it.
But that wasn't going to happen tonight. He wouldn't let it.
Paige's voice cut through his reverie. "Jay?"
"Yeah?"
Paige hitched her smile up a notch so she beamed at him. "Which of these lovely ladies do you choose?"
Jason shook his head slowly, wanting to spin this out properly. He'd promised drama and suspense and all that shit. This was his show. "First, I got a couple of gifts for the girls. To remember me by, as if they'd ever forget." He winked at the camera.
Paige forced out a laugh, but the panic in her eyes told Jason she didn't like losing control one little bit. Tough.
Jason nodded to Marcel, the barman, who pulled a beribboned tube from behind the bar and threw it. His aim was slightly off, but Jason easily moved to intercept the parcel's flight, plucking it out of mid-air as he had so many times onstage.
The Rock Star Wants a Wife Page 15
