by Tina Beckett
“It’s no fun on my own.” She gestured at the sights outside the tram, which were racing by with occasional stops to pick up or let off passengers.
With Isla busy building her own life, Lucas had never stopped to wonder how Darcie was faring now that she had the Delamere flat all to herself. That made him feel even worse. “You should have asked someone at the hospital to go with you.”
“It’s okay. I understand how busy everyone is.”
Their bodies connected once more, and this time he couldn’t help but reach out to make sure she didn’t stumble or hit the passenger on her other side. She didn’t object, instead seeming to lean in to brace her shoulder against his chest. Or that could just be his damned imagination since the contact seemed to be burning a hole through his shirt. Whatever it was, he was in no hurry to let her go again. Except they were nearing the Port Melbourne Beach, which was one of the best locales for a newbie tourist. “Let’s get off at this one.”
When the tram stopped, he reached for her hand and guided her to the nearest door. Stepping down and waiting for her to do the same, he glanced around. “I want to get a notebook.”
“What for?” she asked, brushing her skirt down her hips.
“To make that list Isla mentioned.”
She reached into her bag and pulled out a small spiral-bound pad. “I have this if that would work.”
“Perfect. We can sit down and put our heads together.”
She paused then said, “Oh, um…sure, that would be great. But you really don’t have to go with me to see the city.”
It was said with such a lack of enthusiasm that he smiled. “I told Isla I would. Besides, I want to. It’ll be one way for me make amends.”
“Are you sure? If anyone needs to make amends, it’s me.”
He allowed his smile to grow as he took the notepad from her and headed toward the paved footpath that led to the beach. “You were just trying to avoid that love triangle you mentioned.”
Darcie laughed, a low throaty sound that went straight to his groin and lodged there. “For all I knew, it could have been a love hexagon…or octagon.”
“Hmm, that might be a little ambitious even for someone like me.”
“Someone who jumps from woman to woman?”
He shook his head. “Nope. I don’t jump. I just don’t stick around long enough to make any kind of angles—triangular or otherwise.”
And if that didn’t make him sound like a first-class jerk, he didn’t know what did. “That didn’t come out exactly right.”
“It’s okay. I understand. You’re just not interested in serious relationships. Same here.”
“Really? No serious relationships back in England?”
“Not at the moment.”
“So there was someone?” The pull in his groin eased, but a few other muscles tensed in its place. Why did the idea of her being with someone else put him on edge?
“I was engaged. I’m not any more.”
Those seven words were somehow more terrible than if she’d gone through a long convoluted explanation about why she and her fiancé had come to their senses and realized they weren’t meant to be together. They spoke of heartbreak. And pain.
All the more reason for him to stay out of the dating pool.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”
“Me too.”
So she still loved the guy? She must. What the hell had her fiancé done to her?
He reached down and squeezed her hand, and instead of letting go he held on as they reached the wide footpath that ran along the far edge of the beach where other people strolled, jogged or rolled by on skates or bicycles.
“Wow, it’s busy for so late in the afternoon,” she said.
“It’s a nice day. Do you want to walk in the sand or stick to the path?”
“Definitely the sand. Let me take my shoes off.” Stepping to the side and grasping his hand more tightly, she kicked off one sandal and then the other, reaching down to pick them up and tuck them into the colorful tote bag she carried. “Your turn.”
He let go of her hand long enough to remove his loafers and peel off his socks, shoving them into his shoes. He then tucked the notebook under his right arm so he could hold his shoes with the same hand.
Once their feet hit the sand their fingers laced back together as if by magic, and Darcie made no move to pull away.
She was a visitor. Alone, essentially, and dealing with a broken engagement. He was offering friendship. Nothing more.
And if she offered to drown her sorrows in his arms?
All the things that had gone soft suddenly headed back in the other direction.
Hell, Lucas, you’ve got to get a grip.
It might have been better if she’d never shown him her human side. Because it was doing a number on him. Okay, so he could show her some things. Maybe he’d invite Cora along for the ride. He could make sure his niece was being cared for and have a built-in chaperone should his libido decide to put in more appearances.
Darcie stopped halfway to the shoreline, her arm brushing his as she took in the sights around her.
“What’s that ship?” She motioned to where the Spirit was docked, waiting on its next round of travelers, its large sleek shape a normal part of the landscape here at the beach.
“It carries passengers and vehicles across to Tasmania. Maybe that’s first thing we should put on your list.”
“Maybe.”
Darcie’s hair flicked around her face in the breeze from the surf, the long strands looking warm and inviting in the fading rays of the sun. His fingers tightened around his shoes, trying to resist the urge to catch one of the locks to see if it was as silky as it appeared. Good thing both of his hands were occupied at the moment.
“It’s lovely here,” she murmured.
It was. And he wasn’t even looking at the water. Why had he never noticed the way her nose tilted up at the end, or the way her chin had the slightest hint of an indentation? And the scent the wind tossed his way was feminine and mysterious, causing a pulling sensation that grew stronger by the second.
“I agree.” He forced his eyes back to the shoreline and started walking again. “Are you hungry? We could grab something and sit on the sand. Then we could start on that list while we eat.”
She reached up and pushed her hair off her face with her free hand. “That sounds good. I should have brought an elastic for my hair.”
“I like it down.”
Green eyes swung to meet his. She blinked a couple of times. “It’s not very practical.”
“Neither are a lot of things.” Why was he suddenly spewing such nonsense? He motioned to a nearby vendor. “How about here?”
They bought some ice-cream bars and ate them as they strolled a little further down the beach. By the time they’d finished they’d come across an area that wasn’t packed with people. “Can we stop?” she asked.
“I didn’t think to bring a blanket.”
“It’s fine.” Dropping her shoes and bag onto the soft sand, she sat cross-legged, covering her legs with her skirt. Then she propped her hands behind her hips and lifted her face to the sky. She released a quiet exhalation, a sound that spoke of letting go of tension…along with a hint of contentment.
She was still transforming—losing some of those hard, brittle edges she had at the hospital. Maybe they were simply a result of working long hours with little or no downtime. Because right now she was all soft and mellow, her billowing skirt and bare feet giving her a bohemian, artsy flare he’d never have equated with Dr. Darcie Green. And he liked it. The hair, the pale skin, the casual way she’d settled onto the sand, curved fingers burrowing into it. That firm behind that had bumped against him repeatedly as they’d ridden the tram.
The list! Think about something else. Anything else.
He opened the notebook and riffled through pages of notes from what must have been a medical seminar until he came to a blank sheet. He drew a pen from his shirt
pocket. “So what would you like to see or do while in Australia?”
Her eyes blinked open but she didn’t look at him. Instead, she stared out at Port Phillip Bay instead. “Mmm. Travel to Tasmania on that ship we saw?”
His pen poised over the paper as she paused for a second.
“Do some shopping. Visit a museum.” Her brows knitted together as she thought. “See some of the parks. Go to a zoo.”
She glanced his way, maybe noticing he wasn’t writing. Because he was still too damn busy looking at her.
He shook himself. “Those are all safe things—things every tourist does. You should have at least one or two things that are a little more dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” Her eyes widened just a touch.
“Not dangerous as in getting bitten by a redback but dangerous as in fun. Something you never would have done had you remained in England. Something outrageous and wild.” He leaned a little closer. “Something you’ll probably never get a chance to do again.”
There was silence for a few seconds then her gaze skimmed across his lips and then back up, her cheeks turning a luscious shade of pink.
Oh, hell. He was in deep trouble. Because if the most outrageous thing she could picture doing was pressing her mouth to his… Well, he could top that and add a few things that would knock her socks—and the rest of her clothes—right off.
“What are you thinking?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Darcie.” His voice came out low and gruff. “Look at me.”
Her face slowly turned back toward him.
“If I write, ‘Kiss a non-triangular Aussie’ on this list, would you consider that wild and dangerous?”
There was a long pause.
“Yes,” she whispered.
His gut spun sideways. He hoped to God he’d heard what he thought he’d heard, because he was not backing away from this. His brain might have come to a standstill, but his body was racing forward at the speed of light.
He set the notebook on the sand, one hand coming up to cup her nape. “Do you want to tick at least one thing off that list before we leave this beach? Because you have a willing member of the male Aussie contingent sitting right next to you.”
“You?”
“Me.”
He reeled her in a little closer, his senses coming to life when her eyes slowly fluttered shut.
He would take that as a yes.
His body humming with anticipation, Lucas slowly moved in to seal the deal.
CHAPTER FOUR
HE TASTED LIKE ice cream.
Darcie wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but that tram ride must have messed with her head, muddled her thinking, because somehow Lucas was kissing her, his mouth sliding over hers in light little passes that never quite went away.
That was good, because once the contact stopped the kiss would be over.
And that was the last thing she wanted.
There were people walking on the path not ten meters behind them, but it was as if she and Lucas were all alone with just the beach and the sound of the surf to keep them company.
His lips left hers, and she despaired, but he was back in less than a second, the angle changing, the pressure increasing just a fraction. Her arms started trembling from holding herself upright, and as if sensing her struggle he eased her down, hand beneath her head until she touched the sand.
The flavor of the kiss changed, going from what she feared might be a quick peck—the thing of friends or family members—to a full-on assault on her senses…a kiss.
If he was out to prove that Aussie men were hot-blooded, he’d done that. He’d more than done that. There was a raw quality to Lucas that she didn’t understand but which she found she liked. As if he were a man on the edge—struggling to keep things casual but wanting, oh, so much more.
So did she.
Darcie opened her mouth.
The kiss stilled, and she wondered if she’d gone too far or if he was trying to process what to do at this point.
You said wild and dangerous. I’m laying myself open to it so, please, don’t make me sorry.
He didn’t. His tongue dipped just past her lips, sliding across the edge of her upper teeth before venturing further in. Her nerve endings all came to life at once, nipples tightening, gooseflesh rising on her arms.
Maybe she could tick that item off her list multiple times…right here, right now.
She wound her arms around his neck, reveling in the sense of urgency she now felt in his kiss. His free hand went to her waist and tightened on it, his thumb brushing across her ribs in a long slow stroke.
Then he withdrew, pulling back until he was an inch from her mouth.
“Damn.” His curse brushed across her lips, but he didn’t sound angry. Not like he had when he’d seen the rotation schedule. More like surprised.
He sat up, using the hand behind her head to help her up as well. “We’d better start actually making that list or it’s never going to get done.”
Who cared about some stupid list?
His jotting things down, though, gave her a chance to compose herself. Well, a little. Because nothing could have prepared her for that kiss. Not her relationship with Robert or any of her past dating experiences.
Lucas was… She wasn’t sure what he was. But he was good.
She glanced over at the sheet of paper where he’d made a list of about ten things. “Kiss an Aussie” was first on the list, but the tick mark he’d made beside it was now scratched through.
“I thought we were going to cross that off.”
The look he gave her was completely serious. “We can’t tick something off a list that didn’t exist at the time it happened.”
“We can’t?”
“No.” His eyes went dark with intent. “Because if you want to experience a real Aussie kiss, it has to be behind closed doors—with no audience to distract you.”
Distracted? Who’d been distracted? Certainly not her.
But if he wanted to kiss her again—like that—she was more than willing to play along.
He scrawled a couple more words.
“Hey, wait a minute. I never said I wanted to bungee jump.”
“Dangerous, remember?”
“But—”
“I have a friend who used to have a bungee-jumping business. He closed it last year but still lets friends take a dive from time to time. And I promised Cora—my niece,” he reminded her with a smile, “that she could come out and watch me do a jump.”
It was her turn to be surprised. “You bungee jump?”
“I have to get my adrenaline pumping somehow, since I don’t have any love triangles to keep me busy.”
That was something she didn’t even want to think about, because she might end up volunteering if she wasn’t careful.
She wouldn’t mind meeting his niece, though. And it wasn’t like she had to jump.
“Okay, I’ll go. But I don’t promise I’m going to do anything but watch.”
“Oh, no, gorgeous, you’re going to do a whole lot more than that. I promise.”
* * *
Why had he invited her on his and Cora’s day out?
Because he’d been too strung out on kissing her two days ago to think clearly when he’d written that item on her so-called list. She and Cora had been chatting the whole trip, with Darcie twisted around in her seat in order to talk to her. Why couldn’t Cora have hated her on sight?
But she hadn’t. And her “Are you Uncle Luke’s girlfriend?” had turned Darcie’s face the color of pink fairy floss. She hadn’t freaked out, though. She’d simply shaken her head and said that she was just a friend.
Huh. He couldn’t remember any friends kissing him the way she had.
And it had shocked the hell out of him. Prim and proper Darcie Green had something burning just beneath the surface of those cool English features. He had the singe marks on his brain to prove it.
As they stood on the edge o
f the tower suspended over a deep pool of water, Cora bounced up and down with excitement but Darcie looked nervous. “You don’t have to do this, you know,” he murmured.
“Are you sure it’s safe? What if…?” She nodded toward Cora.
He understood. What if something happened in front of his niece? And maybe it hadn’t been the smartest thing to bring her up here to watch. But she’d been begging to watch him do one of his jumps for a while now.
“Max Laurel is an engineer and a friend.” He glanced over at where a stick-straight figure was adjusting some fittings. “He has his PhD in physics. I trust him. And at a hundred feet the tower isn’t very high. Even if the bungee-cord snaps, there’s a safety line. If that fails as well, I’ll just go into the water.”
He gave her a quick smile. “Like I told you earlier, he only does it for friends, he’s not open to the public any more.”
“What happens when you finish the jump?”
“Max will lower me the rest of the way into the water, and I’ll undo the cables and swim to the side.” He understood her nerves, but compared to what had happened between them back at the beach this felt pretty tame. No way was he about to admit that to her, though.
Neither was he planning on being the Aussie she checked off her list, despite his words to that effect.
Strung out on kisses.
Yep, there was no better way to put it than that. But it had to stop now. Because he had a feeling things could get out of hand really quickly with Darcie for some reason. And not just for him. She’d just come out of a bad relationship and he didn’t want her to get the idea that anything serious could come of them being tossed together at work and for a few outside excursions. He had enough on his plate with Felix and Cora to risk complicating his life any further.
“You ready, Luke?” his friend asked.
“I am. Can you hold on just a minute?”
Going down on his haunches in front of his niece, he put his hands on her shoulders. “Are you sure you’re okay with this? I don’t want you to be scared.”
“No way! As soon as I’m old enough, I’m going to do it too.”
Lucas had told her she had to wait until she was eighteen before attempting it. He wanted to make sure her bones and joints were strong enough to take the combination of her weight and the additional force that came from the jump. He smiled at her bravado, though. “Then let’s get this show on the road.”
