A Question of Marriage

by Lindsay Armstrong

  He lifted his eyes to hers and they were amused, but with a glint of irony as a tinge of pink coloured her cheeks at the same time. ‘Why don’t you sit down and have a glass of wine instead?’ he suggested. ‘It might be just what you need after a sleepless night.’ He raised his glass to her.

  ‘How did you know—?’ She bit her lip.

  ‘You look a little peaked,’ he drawled, and got to his feet at last to pull out a chair for her. In blue jeans and a grey T-shirt, he looked casual but big and very fit.

  Aurora hesitated, then sank down into it. She also took the glass of wine he poured for her, although absently. ‘How did you know,’ she began again, ‘that I’d dropped them out of the window? I assume that is what happened?’

  ‘You assume correctly.’ He sat down. ‘I just thought,’ he mused, ‘that I should take some precautions. It was, after all, only your word I had to go on last night. So I stopped and asked myself what I would have done with anything I had come by—shall we say illegally?’

  ‘There was nothing illegal about it at all! At least by now you must know that.’

  ‘I certainly do.’ His gaze was so amused as it rested on her, she flinched visibly. ‘But at the time, with Neil having done a bunk—’

  ‘I told you why!’ she interrupted fiercely.

  ‘Yes,’ he murmured gently. ‘Once again I must point out I had no way of knowing if you were telling me the truth.’

  Aurora suddenly took a large swallow of wine as some intuition told her that she was in for a battle of wits on a scale she’d never encountered before. ‘Now we’ve sorted it out, though—OK, I concede it was all my fault and offer my sincere apologies—could I have my diaries back, please?’

  He studied his wine, then raised his dark eyes to her. ‘Did you come straight back to crawl amongst the hydrangeas last night?’

  ‘Uh…no. I spent at least half an hour trying to persuade myself I was…mad.’

  ‘Just as well, we could have bumped into each other—and look what happened the last time we—er—bumped into each other,’ he said humorously. ‘How often do you have these kind of losing battles with yourself, Aurora?’

  She looked at him steadily and refused to reply.

  ‘OK—another tack,’ he said wryly. ‘What made you unable to persuade yourself you were mad?’

  She tightened her fingers around the base of her glass as she also attempted to stem the flow of the truth from her lips, but found herself unequal to the task. ‘A thorough desire not to be outwitted by a man such as yourself, Mr Kirwan,’ she said coldly. ‘I don’t happen to approve of you in the slightest!’

  He laughed softly. ‘Because you decided I was on the prowl?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said.

  ‘That is unequivocal!’ He narrowed his eyes and studied the set of her chin and the warring light in her green eyes until a slight smile twisted his lips. ‘There wouldn’t also be a slight sense of pique at allowing yourself to—contemplate the pleasures of being led down the garden path by someone as unacceptable as myself?’ he queried.

  ‘When did I do that?’ Aurora responded, then clicked her tongue. ‘OK, but you were to blame for that. I didn’t ask you to dance with me and I certainly didn’t ask to be kissed!’

  ‘No,’ he mused, ‘nor could you be held to blame for deliberately deceiving me—about your plans to invade my home again, I mean—since it wasn’t me you thought you were dancing with.’

  A slight chill ran down Aurora’s spine, but Miss Hillier intervened at this point. She wheeled a trolley onto the terrace and invited them to help themselves to lunch.

  A few minutes later Aurora was staring at a plate of cold meat and salad in front of her. She picked up her knife and fork, then put them down. ‘Have you read them?’ she said, her green eyes direct and cold.

  ‘Your diaries? I’ve glanced through them. For substantiation of your story purposes—who would not have?’

  She flinched inwardly but said witheringly, ‘So much for trusting human nature! What…’ she paused ‘…do I have to do to get them back? I should warn you to think carefully, Mr Kirwan, before you reply. You’ve mentioned the police to me. I’m perfectly capable of going to them and reporting blackmail.’

  He grinned. ‘I see we understand each other, Aurora. However, the police still have an open file on you.’

  She gasped. ‘You are going to blackmail me!’

  He shrugged. ‘I just thought it might be a little awkward for someone with as public a profile as you have even to be mentioned in terms of home invasions. I listened to one of your news broadcasts this morning, incidentally. You have a lovely voice on the radio.’

  ‘Before—’ Aurora controlled her voice rigidly as she ignored the compliment ‘—you tell me what it is you require in exchange for my diaries, Mr Kirwan, may I tell you you’re wasting your time? Nothing would induce me to sleep with you, my diaries included. If you’re that desperate why don’t you call on your army of groupies?’ she concluded with genuine scorn.

  ‘You’ve jumped the gun once again, Aurora. I certainly don’t expect you to sleep with me immediately.’ He helped himself to a crusty brown roll and a pat of yellow butter. ‘Although, you must admit you weren’t that averse to kissing me.’

  ‘Forget about that,’ she ordered, causing him to look wry. ‘What did you have in mind?’

  ‘Getting to know you better,’ he said lazily.

  ‘Oh, come on! You must think I came down with the last shower! To all intents and purposes, you’re literally rolling in women—’ She stopped as he laughed, and she blushed.

  But she soldiered on almost immediately. ‘Don’t forget you yourself told me about the groupies! And I’ve since remembered Neil mentioning a girl called Leonie something or other—he even thought last night’s party might be a surprise engagement party. What are you, Mr Kirwan? A sex maniac?’

  But if anything, Luke Kirwan, as he placidly ate his lunch, was even more amused. ‘No,’ he said at last. ‘Although I don’t usually kiss girls without some kind of an interest in sleeping with them.’

  Aurora’s mouth fell open and she stared at him incredulously.

  ‘Why don’t you eat your lunch?’ he advised, and continued, with lazy irony, ‘I would have thought that was human nature. But if I were a sex maniac, do you think I’d go to the lengths I do to protect myself from an army of groupies—as you put it?’ He took a leisurely sip of wine. ‘After all, you yourself fell foul of those measures.’

  Aurora started to eat after another long moment of incredulity, but only because she couldn’t think of a thing to come up with to contradict this. Then she had a thought. ‘What about Leonie whatever-her-name-is?’

  ‘She need not concern you,’ he said serenely.

  ‘You’re wrong. None of this concerns me, so let’s have no more—nonsense!’ Aurora said briskly.

  ‘Very well. What would you like to talk about?’

  ‘Nothing. I just want my diaries back!’

  ‘Then I’m sorry but there’s nothing left for me to do until you finish your lunch but—enjoy the view.’ He put his knife and fork together; his plate was as clean as a whistle whereas she had hardly made any inroads into her meal.

  She ate silently for a while, then said intensely, ‘If my father were here, you’d never get away with this!’

  ‘No,’ he agreed.

  ‘How can you sit there and admit you’re a bastard?’

  ‘I wouldn’t go that far.’ He raised his eyebrows ruefully. ‘Nor have you heard my proposal. It’s actually quite honourable.’

  Aurora pushed her plate away, her meal unfinished, and looked heavenwards. ‘OK, hit me with it. Then I’ll tell you exactly what I think of it.’

  ‘In exchange for allowing us to get to know each other better, I’ll return one diary per date you have with me. Incidentally, I only intend to keep the last five, that’s the last five years so our…agreement would extend for five dates. After that, who knows? The res
t you can have back now.’

  ‘And if I don’t agree to this?’

  He shrugged. ‘I guess I’ll get to know you through your diaries.’

  Aurora’s mind worked furiously.

  ‘Don’t,’ he said softly.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Concoct any more schemes to burgle me.’

  She chewed her lip as she gazed at him, trying desperately to come to grips with not only the situation but the man himself.

  At last she said abruptly, ‘There’s got to be more to this. I mean, if you really expect me to believe that your proposal is honourable in any way at all. It’s still blackmail, and as for the “getting to know me” line—’ she shot him a sparkling green look tinged with satire ‘—there’s another line that I’m all too familiar with—men will be men.’

  ‘Go on.’ He looked at her attentively.

  ‘How about this—for every girl with a curve, there are several men with an angle. Your angle has got to be quite original, Professor Kirwan, but it doesn’t blind me one bit!’

  He grinned. ‘Anyone would think you’d swallowed a phrase book, Aurora. Got any more?’

  ‘No.’ She paused and frowned heavily, then said slowly, ‘I still don’t see. I mean, I may have attempted to burgle you and outwit you, I certainly don’t like you, however you may have induced me to kiss you and dance with you—believe me,’ she said candidly, ‘all the rest of it has well and truly wiped that out! So, unless you have a monumental ego, there’s got to be something else behind it.’

  She paused again, then looked at him sharply. ‘Tell me more about this Leonie person?’

  ‘This Leonie person,’ he repeated and grinned. ‘I’m only glad she’s not here to hear herself referred to thus. Her name is Murdoch, by the way. Uh…we had a relationship, we no longer have a relationship, that’s all.’

  ‘How long?’

  He shrugged. ‘Three years.’

  ‘Oh, yes? And you broke up recently?’ Aurora enquired.

  ‘Fairly recently.’

  ‘As in a week or two ago?’

  He didn’t respond but he didn’t look the slightest bit discomfited either.

  ‘So either you’re on the rebound or looking to show Ms Murdoch a thing or two,’ she mused aloud. ‘We already know you’re on the prowl so…I guess that makes more sense as to why.’

  He said nothing.

  ‘I still think it’s despicable. Surely you should be old enough to be above playing games with women?’ She gazed at him severely.

  A smile tugged at his lips, but he replied gravely, ‘Perhaps you got it right first time—men will be men. You’re very attractive, you know,’ he added.

  Aurora thought back over the last five years of her life. And for a second it trembled on her lips to tell him he was welcome to keep her diaries and read every word. But a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told her she just couldn’t do it. It would be like handing her heart and soul to him, although who was to say she could trust him not to read them anyway?

  ‘By the way,’ he murmured, ‘I packed and sealed the five relevant diaries separately and they’re in my safe where no one can get to them, not even Miss Hillier.’

  ‘If that’s supposed to reassure, it doesn’t, not on any front,’ Aurora said cynically.

  ‘You’ll just have to trust me.’

  She muttered something derogatory and gazed at him broodingly.

  ‘Miss Hillier has made a Mississippi mud cake to die for,’ he continued. ‘Should we proceed to the coffee and dessert stage since you don’t appear to be interested in finishing that?’ He gestured towards her plate.

  ‘For a secretary, she’s a most amazing all-rounder,’ Aurora commented dryly.

  ‘She is. I don’t know what I’d do without her.’ He rose, collected their plates and took them indoors. Five minutes later, he returned with a tray of coffee and cake. The Mississippi mud cake looked superb in its coating of glistening, smooth dark chocolate with some crystallized violets grouped in the centre, and there was a bowl of whipped cream to go with it. The coffee, in a plunger pot, also smelt divine.

  Luke Kirwan cut the cake, placed a large portion in front of Aurora and courteously passed the cream. Then he poured the coffee.

  Aurora picked up a cake fork and, with it poised, said, ‘What did you have in mind for our first date? Not that I’m agreeing to anything yet and I wouldn’t call it a date either—my role of being a stopgap until I bore you rigid, too, because you’re jaded, disillusioned or whatever. I think that’s a more accurate summing-up of the situation, don’t you?’

  He merely said, ‘Dinner this Wednesday.’

  She ate a bite of cake—it was superb—and licked some chocolate from her fingertip, then demolished her slice of chocolate heaven and looked longingly at the mud cake. Luke responded with a grin and cut her another slice. ‘Just—dinner?’ she asked cautiously.

  ‘Aurora,’ he murmured, ‘despite your protestations to the contrary, I think we may have already crossed a certain divide between a man and a woman. Perhaps it’s different for women, but men don’t generally fantasize about gorgeous, shapely little bodies without their clothes if they’re feeling platonic.’ And he allowed that dark gaze to drift over her in a way she remembered all too well.

  Causing her to miss her mouth with the cake fork and end up with a blob of chocolate on her upper lip. She muttered a curse and snatched the napkin he offered her. Then she pushed her plate away determinedly, reached for her coffee-cup and tried desperately to banish the memories of being kissed by Luke Kirwan and how her body had felt in his arms.

  ‘But on Wednesday—dinner will do,’ he drawled.

  She stared at her cup, then looked at him seriously and silently.

  ‘If you didn’t enjoy dancing with me, you certainly gave a good imitation of a girl who was revelling in subjecting me to all her feminine powers and wiles,’ he said softly.

  She swallowed and knew she couldn’t deny it. Even the memory was making her feel restless in that special way only a special man could make you feel.

  ‘And you didn’t take the opportunity to bite me when I kissed you.’

  His words fell into the continuing pool of silence but, although Aurora couldn’t tear her gaze away from him, although she could feel herself blushing, a desperate sense of needing to retaliate against this man before she was swamped by those memories started to grow. He might have made her feel uniquely feminine, he might have kissed her more pleasurably than any man ever had, but he was still blackmailing her. And if she wanted her diaries back she was going to have to fight for them, obviously, but also fight not to fall under his spell…

  She looked away at last. ‘Where?’

  ‘RQ,’ he said. ‘They have a nice dining room.’

  RQ, as she well knew, was affectionate shorthand for the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron based at Manly, and they did have a nice dining room. ‘Are you a member?’

  He shook his head. ‘But my brother is. He and his wife are up from the country for a couple of weeks of cruising on the bay—they will also be there on Wednesday night.’

  Aurora put her head to one side and thought for a bit. To discover there was something else running through her mind, something to do with evening the score between them or—perhaps even a desire to prove to this enigmatic, at times infuriating man that, on a level playing field, she was well able to hold her own.

  As in being quite capable of dealing with the dangerously attractive side of him, as in having her feet quite firmly planted on the ground and not being susceptible to being toyed with? she wondered. Was that what she was contemplating? Surely not, yet…

  She shrugged. ‘I suppose I can’t get into too much trouble on the venerable RQ premises or in front of the family, although that’s a bit of a surprise—OK.’

  ‘I don’t know why I’m not damned with faint praise into thanking you humbly for such magnanimity,’ he said wryly.

  Aurora smiled coolly
for what seemed like the first time for a long time. ‘I’ll tell you why—humble and Professor Luke Kirwan is a contradiction in terms, that’s why.’

  ‘Do you really think so?’

  ‘I know so,’ Aurora said. She stood up. ‘Thank you for lunch. And I would advise you that, although I’ve decided to have dinner with you on Wednesday, don’t…’ She paused and sought the right words.

  ‘Don’t get any ideas?’ he suggested.

  ‘Exactly.’

  He stood up himself and strolled towards her. She didn’t move but her eyes widened, then narrowed.

  ‘Relax,’ he murmured. ‘I’m not going to lay a finger on you. But I think it would be a good idea to allow our dates to follow our—natural inclinations, Aurora.’ His gaze slipped up and down her body.

  She swallowed uncertainly and trembled visibly, causing an absent smile to cross his lips.

  ‘You might,’ she said huskily at last, ‘but I have no doubt I’m dealing with someone who could not be termed a gentleman.’

  The smile grew. ‘Just think how much more exciting it could be, though, especially for someone into fun and adventure as you are, Aurora.’

  She licked her lips as her pulses leapt because she had no doubt that being with Luke Kirwan could be all those things—then reminded herself that it would also be a bit like sleeping with the devil. She was going to need a long spoon as it was, she thought chaotically. And did the only thing she was capable of—turned on her heel and walked away.

  ‘Just a moment, Aurora,’ he said. ‘Don’t forget these.’ From behind a large pottery urn that held a ficus tree, he produced a green rubbish bag. ‘I’m sure you’d like to count them, if nothing else.’

  She set her teeth, then walked regally back to him where she accepted the bag from him. ‘Do I actually have to count them?’

  ‘No. You can trust me on that too.’

  ‘Personally, I don’t think I can trust you any further than I can throw you!’

  ‘But you’ll have dinner with me on Wednesday night?’ he queried gravely.

  ‘Not from choice, Prof,’ she said. ‘Not from choice. Would you like to name a time?’

  He did so and added that he would pick her up, so she gave him her address and, this time, succeeded in leaving in as dignified a manner as it was possible to at the same time as toting a bulky green rubbish bag—and quite sure her tormentor was laughing at her silently.