by Joss Wood
‘Red and Hannah are in the middle of the action,’ Jabu replied and handed Nick the beer the bartender slid over the counter.
‘Where are they?’ Nick lifted his bottle to his mouth and stopped halfway. The two lines of dancers turned to face them and there she was, laughing with Jabu’s wife, Hannah. While Hannah was dressed in a denim skirt and T-shirt, Clem had taken the cowboy theme to the limit.
She was wearing another pair of short, short denim shorts, an open neck sleeveless white shirt that she’d tied under her breasts and cowboy boots.
God knew where she’d found the cowboy hat but, since anything was possible with Clem, she could have brought it with her in one of her numerous suitcases.
Nick took a deep sip of his beer and wasn’t thrilled to realize that every male eye in the bar was watching those legs, those swaying hips, toes and heels clicking, long legs flashing.
‘She’s been hitting the punch pretty hard,’ Jabu told him and Nick looked at him, horrified.
‘What punch?’
‘Andy made punch for the kids. After they left, he chucked in a bottle of vodka.’
Nick winced. ‘She doesn’t drink alcohol.’
Jabu looked horrified and Nick lifted a hand. ‘No, she’s not an alcoholic; she just doesn’t drink.’
‘Well, she’s been pouring the punch down her throat like it’s juice,’ Jabu told him as the song came to an end.
‘This is going to be interesting,’ Nick commented as Clem and Hannah walked towards them, arm in arm.
‘Nick! You’re here!’ Clem shouted and broke into an on-the-spot boogie.
Nick slanted a look at Jabu. ‘As I said. Interesting.’
‘Look at me! I’m dancing!’ Clem grinned and attempted to do a pirouette. Nick’s hand shot out and gripped her elbow and kept her from falling flat on her face.
‘I see that.’ Nick pulled her to his side and wrapped a hand around her waist.
Clem rested her head on his shoulder. ‘I love dancing and it’s one of the few things I’m really, really good at. I’m also good at knitting!’
Nick laughed. ‘Knitting?’
‘I took a course. I’ve taken lots of courses.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Nick sipped his beer and grinned at her squinting eyes. Keeping his firm hold on Clem, he reached forward to kiss Hannah. ‘Hey, gorgeous. Looking good out there.’
Hannah put her hand on his cheek and patted it. ‘Such fun. You two should try it.’
‘When I can snowboard in hell,’ Nick replied.
‘Hey!’ Clem protested and leaned back in his arm. Nick turned his head to look into her affronted face. ‘How come she gets a kiss and I don’t?’
‘Oh boy. How much of that punch did you drink, Red?’
‘Losth.’ Clem looked as if she was about to impart a huge secret. ‘I think there was something in it.’
Nick laughed. ‘You think?’
Clem dazzled him with one of her mega-watt smiles. ‘Nick, you still haven’t kissed me!’
‘Uh—’ Nick felt her hands reach up to squish his cheeks together. Fish face, he thought as she planted one on him before pulling back. She still held his face in her hands when she cocked her head and contemplated him with those amazing eyes. ‘I really like kissing you.’
He heard Jabu and Hannah’s smothered laughter and winced. ‘Clem, I think we need to get you home …’
‘He’s a great kisser,’ Clem told Hannah.
‘Good to know.’ Hannah’s dimples flashed. ‘I think that’s a great trait in a man.’
‘Nice hands, too.’
‘I wondered …’
‘Hey!’ Jabu mock complained, laughter in his voice. ‘What else, Clem?’
Nick glowered at his friends. ‘Stop encouraging her!’
Clem cocked her head but didn’t let go of his face. ‘I love your eyes … moonlight eyes.’
Nick shot Jabu and Hannah, a Rescue me! look but they both just smiled.
Nick pulled her hands down and held them loosely in his. He wiggled his jaw to get the blood back to his lips. ‘Thanks.’
The music on the stereo system changed, the volume increased and Clem shot out of his arms like a bullet. Nick watched as she headed straight for the dance floor and happily accepted, and downed, the glass of punch Andy held out to her. When it was finished, he took the glass from her, placed it on a table and hustled her into a complicated dance that involved him holding her tight against his chest and his jeaned leg sliding between hers.
Uh … no. That so wasn’t happening.
Nick slapped his half finished beer on the bar and walked over to the dance floor. Andy took one look at his face and, quickly reading the situation, allowed Clem to spin into his arms. He caught her and she grinned up at him.
‘You’re dancing with me!’ Clem cried.
‘You, Princess, are drunk. We’re going home.’
‘Don’t want to!’ Clem cried and shoved out her bottom lip. She tried to step away but Nick held her wrist in his hand.
Clem tried to pull her hand away. ‘Andy will dance with me if you won’t.’
‘Andy likes his job too much,’ Nick muttered. ‘We’re going home.’
‘Not!’
He was tired, dead sober and he didn’t feel like having a scene in front of his staff. He needed to get her out of The Pit in the quickest and cleanest way possible. Arguing with her wasn’t going to get him anywhere; Clem, he was learning, had the stubbornness of a mule.
So, quickest and easiest … Nick bent, grabbed Clem around the knees, lifted her and tossed her over his shoulder. Ignoring the catcalls and whistles and Clem’s squawking, he held her legs and walked out of The Pit.
At the door, Andy whipped the Stetson off her head and planted it back on his. ‘My hat. ‘Night, boss.’
Nick grinned as he tipped her into the passenger seat of his Landy. Well, he couldn’t say that he was bored.
‘Ow! Ow, ow, ow!’ Clem yelled as her bottom connected with the spring.
‘Come on, Red, let’s get you into bed.’
And I’m now a poet, Nick thought as he slid his arms under Clem’s still far too skinny frame and cradled her like a baby. At the door to his house, he rested her on his raised knee, flipped the door open and manoeuvred her down the passage.
‘You need some meat on your bones, Clementine,’ he muttered.
‘Don’t break my heart, my achy breaky heart …’ Clem sang into his neck and he grinned. She was off-key and squawky and couldn’t hold a tune to save her life.
Nick nudged her door open and walked her to the double bed, pulling back the covers and laying her on a cool sheet. She immediately rolled onto her side and cradled her pillow.
‘You can’t sleep in your cowboy boots, Red,’ Nick said, bending to yank off one boot and then the other, dropping them to the floor. He worked her socks off, cradling her pretty pale feet in his hard tanned hand.
‘Nick?’
‘Mmm?’ Nick sat on the side of her bed and pushed her hair off her cheek.
‘It’s been a long time since someone looked after me,’ Clem said softly. ‘It’s nice. Do I hear thunder?’
‘Storm’s on its way.’ Nick pushed her back as she tried to sit up. Clem put her head on the crisp pillow and reached for his hand. Nick allowed her to tangle her fingers in his.
‘I need to say something to you.’
‘OK.’
Clem’s thumb drifted over his knuckles in a gesture that was as arousing as it was tender. Nick licked his lips. He knew how to do seduction, fast, hot sex, but he didn’t know how to handle tenderness.
‘When I arrived at Two-B, I acted like a brat.’
Nick tried to keep from smiling. Now there was an understatement. ‘I know. It’s OK.’
Clem shook her head. ‘No, that’s just part of what I want to say. I was a brat because I was scared. I always act badly when I’m scared. You scared me.’
‘I scared you?’ Nick asked, puzzled. That was
the last thing he’d expected her to say.
‘Mmm. You, this land … your stupid Landy. It was all so different, so … alien. You were so offhand and unimpressed with me …’
Unimpressed? Was she mad? He’d felt as if he’d been flattened by a tornado. It had taken all his effort not to fall at her feet and whimper.
Thankfully, Clem had absolutely no idea of the power of her body, face and voice. Teamed with her sparky humour and a surprisingly big heart, she was enough to induce an emotional heart attack.
‘I didn’t know how to behave and I was so, so scared … Everything was changing and change is scary. And you know what else?’
Those eyes just killed him. Soft, affectionate, vulnerable. ‘What, sweetheart?’
‘I’m not so scared any more.’
‘Good girl.’ Nick pushed her hair behind her ear and raised her hand to kiss her knuckles, keeping his eyes lowered so that she didn’t see the emotion in his. ‘There’s nothing to be scared of … Life has its way of working out.’
A drum roll of thunder had Clem bolting upwards and scuttling towards Nick. He gathered her into his arms and moved so that he was leaning against the leather headboard, Clem tucked into his side. Toeing his shoes off, he lifted his feet onto the bed. He heard lightning sizzle.
‘Thunder incoming,’ he warned and when the noise subsided he asked his question in the most matter of fact voice he could find. ‘Why do storms scare you, Clem?’
‘My mum died in a thunderstorm. She’d just picked me up from ballet and we were hit by a truck and we spun and spun and I remember catching glimpses of her face in the lightning, knowing that she was gone. When we stopped, there was this most enormous clap of thunder … and I just screamed and screamed …’
‘Shh, sweetheart.’ Nick cursed when another slap of thunder rolled through the house. Oh, hell. She’d been fifteen years old and she’d watched her mum die in a storm … He’d hate thunder and lightning as well.
Poor kid. Clem slapped her hands to her ears so Nick put both his arms around her and held on tight, running his hands up her back to keep the shakes at bay.
‘I’ve never known storms like this,’ Clem whispered.
‘Yeah, they can be pretty vicious. You’re safe, sweetheart. Promise.’
‘I still see her face … We’d just had a fight, about the fact that she was an hour late to collect me. She was always late …’
At that moment it seemed vitally important to pull her out of that memory so, operating on instinct, he bent down and kissed her, hoping to distract her.
Except that it was he who found himself swept away, lost in the moment. She tasted so sweet, soft as her arms drifted up to settle around his neck and her fingers played with his hair. She pulled away from the kiss and her eyes were deep and mysterious when she looked up at him. ‘I like that I can be myself with you.’
‘Good.’
‘And that you don’t sulk.’
Nick brushed his thumb over her cheekbone. ‘You should see me when I don’t get to hold the TV remote.’
‘You’re strong and sensible and you have nice hands,’ Clem whispered. ‘And I like the way you kiss.’ She yawned and glanced towards the window and the billowing curtains. The sudden sound of rain hitting the roof filled the room.
Clem yawned. ‘Rain’s here.’
‘Mmm.’
‘I’ll be OK ‘cos you’re here. ‘Night.’
Nick watched her eyes close and within seconds she was asleep. He kissed her forehead, her cheek and then her mouth. ‘Night, sweetheart.’
Nick felt her slump against him and gently banged his head against the headboard. He could handle bratty Clem and smart-mouth Clem and even flirty Clem, but sweet, soft, vulnerable Clem had the ability to wiggle her way into his heart.
Sweet Clem was far, far more dangerous than Sexy Clem could ever be.
It was sheer coincidence that Clem’s godmother and her family were spending a week at the private villa during Clem’s stay at Two-B and Clem and Nick accepted Gina’s invitation to dinner at the villa a few days after Andy’s party. After a gourmet meal from the private chef, Clem took her coffee and sat next to Gina on one of the three couches on the veranda. She looked past Gina and saw that Nick was sitting next to Fabio and they were looking at something on Fabio’s laptop.
Gina held her cognac glass with one hand and took Clem’s hand with her other. ‘You’re looking better. Not so unhappy, not so haunted.’
Darling Gina, so upfront and in your face. Clem leaned back, crossed her legs and blew out her cheeks. ‘I know. I feel … I feel like I’m coming back to me.’
‘Tell me more.’
Clem tried to find a way to describe how she was feeling. ‘Um … the best way to explain it is that it’s almost like being on a long trip with an old friend who I haven’t seen for years and I’m getting to know her again.’
‘And that’s a good thing?’
‘It’s a very good thing.’ Clem smiled.
‘And are you a little in love?’ Gina asked, sending a sly glance into the house.
Clem shook her head. ‘I can’t afford to think like that, Gee. I don’t know me, so how can I know what I’m feeling towards someone else?’
Gina placed her cognac on the table next to her and leaned forward, her face serious. ‘I’m glad you’ve left Cai; he was no good for you.’
Clem tapped her fingernail against her coffee cup. ‘Funny that I’ve hardly thought about him, but I have been thinking about Mum a lot lately. That so much has been expected of me from so many people—teachers, the press, my parents—because of my genes. And that I’ve disgraced her memory.’
Gina’s hand gripped hers and her eyes flashed with temper. ‘You are not your mother, Clem, so don’t you dare say that!’
‘Oh, Gee, thank you, but the reality is that I’ve made a pig’s ear of my life.’
‘But it’s your life to make a pig’s ear of!’ Gina pursed her lips. ‘I loved Roz deeply but she failed you.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘When you have a child you’ve got to accept that your life will change, that this little person will come first. Roz never got that and you suffered for it. She loved you, I know she did, as much as she could, but … it was never enough for you.’
Clem blinked back her tears. ‘No, it was never enough for me. I have an emptiness inside … I can’t explain it.’
‘It’ll go when you accept that her not being the mother you needed was her failing and not yours.’
‘Oh, Gee, you always know exactly the right thing to say.’ Clem placed her head on her godmother’s shoulder. Her eyes drifted to Nick, to find him looking at her, a concerned look on his face.
‘Are you OK?’ he mouthed.
Clem nodded.
Gina patted her thigh. ‘I hope you’ve never doubted how much I love you.’
‘No, I’ve never doubted that. You’ve been a rock throughout my life. I’m sorry I didn’t make a bigger effort to see you.’
‘I expect you to do better in the future. I do like that young man,’ she commented as Nick stood up to walk over to them.
‘Me too,’ Clem sighed.
Nick joined them and Clem looked at her watch. ‘We must go, Gina.’
‘So early!’
Nick took Gina’s hand and she stood up.
‘Thank you for a fabulous evening. I understand that you are scheduled to take a game drive in the morning,’ he said, holding her hand in his.
‘With Siya. Such a nice, knowledgeable young man.’
‘I’m glad to hear it, but would you settle for an older, slightly more knowledgeable man? One of my rangers in the anti-poaching unit is coming down with flu. I need to replace him with somebody else.’
Nick jammed his hands in his pockets. ‘So, if you’d like to come with Clem and me, I’ll show you a bit of the reserve that’s off the beaten track.’
He was met with a chorus of excited Italian babbling. Nick held up his
hand. ‘We’ll have the camera crew along and, I have to warn you, it’s a pretty early start.’
Clem sighed and yawned. ‘Is there any other type of start with you?’
Nick opened the door and gestured Clem inside. Walking inside the house, he heard the rumble of thunder and saw Clem stiffen. ‘It’s miles away, Red.’
Clem pushed her hair off her face and managed a smile. ‘I’m sorry if you were bored to tears tonight; nothing is worse than sitting through hours of family memories.’
‘Wasn’t bored,’ Nick replied, leaning against the wall, watching her. Clem toed the tiled floor with the tip of her shoe and recognized the look on his face, sure that hers was exactly the same. She wanted—no, needed—to feel those arms around her, her lips under his.
They’d been watching each other all night, and sitting next to each other at dinner had been exquisite torture. A brush of his shoulder against hers, his hand resting along the back of her chair, fingers occasionally and lightly brushing her back. The flash of citrusy aftershave when he’d said something in her ear, his foot hooked behind hers …
She hadn’t been much better. They’d danced around each other all night with hot glances, secret smiles and brief touches until she felt like the lead in a romantic comedy.
‘So, are you coming to me or am I coming to you?’ Nick quietly asked.
Her eyes slammed into his and they both moved. Nick’s hard mouth dropped over hers and his tall, muscular frame held hers against the wall as his mouth dominated hers.
Clem whimpered in his mouth, hooked her hands around his neck and boosted herself up, her legs anchored around his waist. Nick held her easily and Clem felt his corresponding flash of lust shoot through him as she angled her head to allow him deeper access. It was different from the kiss they’d shared previously; it was … more. Harder, deeper, hotter. As he moved to sit her on the dining room table, she wasn’t sure where she started and he ended, they were such a knot of need, passion and sheer frustration. Hands travelled and touched, silently seeking and demanding, sliding and drifting. His lips explored, nuzzled, nipped, tasted, creating a hyper-awareness of her body.
It was as if he’d plugged her into a bolt of lightning and she thought that maybe here was a storm she could handle.
