by Janet Woods
‘Drop him, Georgie!’ Darcie yelled deafeningly in his ear.
His arm was exchanged for a pillow that was shaken rapidly from side to side.
‘Drop it, Georgie! Come here at once.’
It seemed that obedience was one of Wee Georgie’s virtues. Immediately, the dog dropped the pillow and took a flying leap at the bed. After a short struggle they managed to capture him between them.
Looking pleased with himself Wee Georgie stared from one to the other, his tongue hanging out.
‘Would you mind telling me exactly what this animal is?’
‘An Irish Wolfhound, isn’t he great?’
‘Great would adequately describe his size. It isn’t exactly the word I’d use for him in a complimentary sense. Look at this room. He’s demolished it.’
Her smile faded as she sat up. ‘I’m so sorry. Georgie is usually quite good about the house. I don’t think he’s been given enough exercise in the kennels, and he was excited about seeing me after all this time. I’ll let him out into the garden.’
‘You most certainly will not!’ Edging himself from the bed Leon stood. ‘You will call the kennels and ask them to pick him up again. I can’t have that Yeti running around the hotel. He’ll terrify the guests. Besides, it’s against health regulations.’
Both she and Wee Georgie gave him the same dirty look, but it was she who acted as spokesperson. ‘He won’t be running around the hotel. I intend to call for a taxi and go to my cousin’s house.’
‘Dogs are banned from cabs. It’s regulations.’
‘Damn you and your stuffy regulations!’ She flung her arms around the creature’s neck. ‘We’ll walk then, won’t we Georgie?’
‘The suggestion triggered a response. The dog threw back his head and an ear-splitting howl rent the air.
Together they left the bed, and Georgie stood quietly whilst Darcie fixed a stout plaited lead to his collar. She turned, flashing him an apologetic smile. ‘Look, I really am sorry about being such a nuisance. You won’t mind if I leave my case, will you? I’ll get my cousin to pick it up when we come to meet your lawyer. I’ll give you a call later in the day.’
‘You can’t walk into town. It’s eight kilometers, and the forecast is for rain again.’
Scorn flickered in her eyes. ‘Eight kilometers might be a long way to you city dwellers, but it’s nothing to Georgie and me. Besides, the sun is shining and there’s not a cloud in the sky. I’ll see you later. Don’t bother to see me out.’
She was gone before he could stop her. He gazed ruefully at the wreckage of his room, and then hurried after her. ‘Are you sure you’re up to taking a long walk.’
‘Positive, Mister Price.’
‘Call me Leon.’
Her eyes caught his. ‘I really don’t think I should.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I’d rather not be on friendly terms with a man I might have to take to court.’
‘May I remind you we spent the night together in the same bed?’ he mocked, stung by her irrational female logic.
Her eyes lightened, and she suddenly threw back her head and gave a deep- throated laugh that sent prickles rioting down his spine.
‘I shall never forget it. Helen must have burned all the rubber from her tires by now. Still, no doubt you’ll get together again, she seemed to think you had your uses.
By the way. Nice set of tools.’
Snapping her fingers under his nose she pushed open the double glass doors and was gone - leaving him burning with embarrassment as he stared after her.
Chapter Three
Darcie wished she hadn’t been so stubbornly stupid when an hour later clouds blotted out the sun and piled done on top of the other in gray thunderous masses.
It was one thing to assert her independence and swish out like a princess displeased with her consort, but quite another to walk eight kilometers in a thunderstorm that already muttered ominous threats in the distance.
‘Damn Leon Price,’ she said to Georgie. ‘Why couldn’t he have been middle-aged, fat and bad-tempered? I could have coped better with that.’
All the same, she wished she’d accepted his offer of a lift. Ah well ... she’d just have to thumb it. There was bound to be some traffic along the road sooner or later.
Sooner proved to be later, and long enough for the thunderstorm to come rolling in. She stood under a tree as lightning flashed and thunder grumbled - aware of the danger but forced to ignore it because the only space that was treeless, was the road. Wee Georgie pressed trembling against her leg.
‘It wasn’t such a good idea to walk, huh?’ She caressed his head in comfort. ‘Tell you what- as soon as this is over we’ll go back to the inn and I’ll eat a little bit of humble pie and you can eat the rest.’
Then the rain started, cold, slanting needles that dropped the temperature by several degrees. Although the tree canopy they were under was dense, before too long they were both miserably damp.
Then the sound of a car engine came to her ears. Uttering a short prayer of thanks she made a dash for the side of the road and waved her arms just as a white Jaguar came around the bend. The car skidded to a halt, spraying her with watery mud.
Thanks a bunch!
The window slid expensively down as she started to brush the mud from her sweater.
‘Are you going to stand there all day? Get in.‘
Of course, it had to be Leon Price!
Georgie was in as soon as the door opened, leaping over the front passenger seat and stretching himself comfortably across the back.
‘Thanks,’ she muttered, unable to look at Leon as she belted herself in. ‘If you had told me you intended to go into town I wouldn’t have bothered walking.’
‘I didn’t intend to go into town. I came out specifically to find you.’
‘Why?’
‘How the hell do I know? One of us is crazy, and I’m beginning to think it might be me.’
She flicked him a glance. He looked thoroughly disgruntled, but his eyes held a hint of wry amusement.
‘Neither of us are crazy. It’s just ...’ Her eyes met his and she choked out a laugh. ‘It seems to me that we met in unusual circumstances. A bedroom farce doesn’t really lend itself to reality, does it?’
‘I guess not.’ His glance held hers in a gentle contemplation. ‘You do realize that I’ll never be able to look at you again without remembering you naked with a pillow clutched against you.’
‘And I’ll never be able to look at you without seeing Helen whipping off the sheet and shouting, Ole!’
‘You have a vivid imagination. I believe she said, Ahah!’
Avoiding his eyes, she grinned. ‘Obviously you’re a man who keeps a cool head under pressure. Let’s get going, Mister Price. The temperature in this car is getting decidedly warm.’
His chuckle poured like honeyed chocolate into her ear as he put the car in motion. ‘It’s been warm since we met, I’d say.’
That, she couldn’t deny - but what about Helen? It was Helen he’d mistaken her for, Helen he’d been going to make love to. And if she hadn’t stopped him ...? She took a deep breath as her hormones said they’d enjoyed the early morning arousal, so the rest of it would have been superb?
Be quiet you lot. I don’t go to bed with strangers however deprived you think you are. Besides he has Helen. She’d be mad to turn a man like him down, despite what she said. I bet she’ll be back.
‘I suppose you and Helen will make it up eventually, huh?’
‘It’s highly unlikely.’
‘But how can you be in love one minute and not the next? You must have loved her to propose marriage. Aren’t you upset?’
He appeared to think about it for a moment, and then he laughed. ‘Actually, I’m experiencing a strange sense of freedom.’
A tiny trickle of relief rolled down her spine. ‘Are you telling me you’re not really the marrying kind?’
‘Quite the reverse, there’s nothin
g I’d like better. A wife and a couple of kids to come home to after a hard day’s work, and to a comfortable home up on the point. What could be better?’
‘So what are you saying? That you picked Helen for a wife and mother without really loving her?’
A frown gathered between his eyes. ‘I guess I must have. I got carried away with my plans for the future.’
‘Which are?’
‘A wife and a family, I’d really like a couple of kids’
‘So, any woman would suit your purpose’
Frown still in place he slid her a sideways glance. ‘Are you offering to fill the position?’
‘Hah! Not in a thousand years.’
‘Why? Is there something wrong with me?’
His words threw her for a second; this sort of banter wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, was it?
She sneaked him an assessing glance. Leon was healthy, wealthy and good looking in a lean hungry sort of way. He had a sense of humor and his brain seemed to be in good working order as well as his other, more basic organs. She couldn’t think of one thing wrong with him - in fact she liked him. ‘You happen to be a stranger.’
‘We wouldn’t be stranger for long.’ The corner of his mouth gave a tiny ironic twitch. ‘I could tell you a lot about yourself, Darcie. You’re size ten. You have a mole just above your navel and a small crescent shaped scar on your left buttock. You move like greased lightning when you jump out of bed in the morning and your body language is something else.’ He flicked her a grin. ‘Do you want me to go on?’
A tiny blush crept under her skin. ‘Not unless you have a burning need to prove how acute your powers of observation are.’
‘How did you get the scar?’
‘Mind your own darned business,’ she said, and she took a stab in the dark. ‘How old were you when you were circumcised?’
He laughed. ‘You do have good eyesight. Look Darcie, if we’re going to get married I need to know you’re healthy.’
‘I’m perfectly healthy,’ she said tartly, then catching his grin, relaxed. ‘You have too much charm for your own good, Leon Price. Be careful I don’t take you up on your offer.’
He said no more on the subject, but every time he glanced her way he treated her to a tiny intimate grin, making her remember the way his kiss had aroused her from sleep, and how his lean taut body had been outlined under the sheet.
He was right, they wouldn’t remain strangers for long, but that was due to some simmering physical force between them. Both had been aroused by their early morning encounter. It was imprinted on their brains, so that every time they looked at each other they remembered that the promised sexual fulfillment had been frustrated.
But bodily lust didn’t make for a good permanent relationship in her book. It was too urgent and demanding - too consuming. A perfect partnership should embody the heart and mind - and lead to mutual respect.
She forced herself to remember that Leon Price had stolen her land and pulled down her house. Indignation replaced her growing lust. And to think he’d had the cheek to offer it back to her via marriage! But it was a thought. If all else failed she might take him up on it, become the wife from hell - then after a couple of years, divorce him and settle for half of what he owned. It would serve him right!
She insisted he drop her a mile outside of town. Although the rain had stopped, there was a drifting wet mist. Georgie was reluctant to leave the car, but she dragged him out and set off down the road at a brisk pace.
She’d only gone a hundred or so paces when she became aware of Leon’s car purring behind her. From then on in everything in her refused to behave as normal. Her stomach gently sucked itself in, her chest thrust against her sweater and she developed a come-hither wiggle in her hips.
Oh, for God’s sake, grow up Darcie! You’re not sixteen any more. Angrily, she turned on him. ‘Will you please go away.’
He stuck his head out of the window and gave her a charming smile. ‘The storm might comeback.’
‘Why should you care? If you think you’ll get round me about the property at Petrel Point you can think again. As soon as I’ve been to the bank and confronted my cousin I’m going to see a lawyer.’
‘I’d like to meet your cousin - perhaps we can sort this out without going to the expense of a lawyer.’
‘We can.’ She strolled to the car window and gave him a gritty smile. ‘Give me back my land and replace the house in its original state.’
‘Impossible. I paid through the nose for that land. It’s now mine, and mine it’s going to stay. As for that shack - the timber was so full of termites a puff of wind would have blown it over. It’s gone.’
‘Good-bye Mister Price. I’ll see you in court.’
‘Actually, I expect I’ll see you long before then.’
‘In your dreams,’ she muttered, and leaving the road she plunged into the damp undergrowth under the trees where he couldn’t follow.
She waited until she heard the car drive away then emerged, and started off at a trot towards town with Georgie loping beside her. Ten minutes later the storm returned - and she wished she hadn’t been so hasty.
They were both dripping wet when they arrived at the bank. Darcie cursed when she discovered it was too early for anyone to be there. She shoved her card in the teller machine and punched in her pin number. For some reason it refused to accept it, and on the third try it swallowed her card.
‘Stupid machine,’ she muttered, and then headed for her cousin’s house on the other side of town. She would tell Colin to get the thing fixed.
Colin’s family lived in an up-market house in a nice street, as befitting Colin’s status. The house actually belonged to the bank, and was one of Colin’s perks along with a car.
Colin had two properties of his own, bought with reduced interest mortgages. Another of his perks. One was in Perth and the other in Sydney. Both were rented out and brought him a healthy income as well as tax benefits. Her cousin was one of those people who knew exactly how to make money work to benefit himself.
Unlike her father. He’d been a sucker for a sob story, giving much of his salary away to charitable organizations, or anyone with a hard luck story. He must have been a sucker to have trusted Colin, she fumed, staring at the house. The worm had turned into a viper.
There was no answer to her knock. Going round to the back she stared though the French doors, her eyes straining to penetrate through the opaque curtain. It was like staring through a waterfall. Vaguely, she made out a couple of tea chest, and as her eyes adjusted saw her name written on the side of one. Colin must have brought her things back here. That was big of him!
The house had the air of emptiness places get when people are away, as if it was holding its breath. The grass needed trimming, and every window was shut tight - yet Colin’s car was still in the garage.
Colin’s wife, Anne, had always hidden a back door key under her pet rock in the flower-bed - and had told Darcie she could use it to gain entry if she wasn’t at home. It was still there, covered with dirt and baby snails.
She let herself in and called out Colin’s name as a precaution.
Nothing. The house was empty of people. The phone was dead when she tried it. All that remained of Colin’s family was a pile of packed boxes and furniture. Every single personal item had been packed, every cupboard emptied. It was obvious Colin was in the process of moving house.
Absconding with the loot he’d made from the sale of her father’s house, no doubt - for Colin wouldn’t have expected her to cut her trip to England short by six weeks.
Wee Georgie made himself at home on the brown velvet lounge suite and looked at her, as if wondering what they were going to do next.
‘If nothing else I can change into some dry clothes,’ she told him. Turning to one of the boxes marked with her name she prised off the lid and rummaged through the contents, realizing after a while that it was just bits and pieces she’d left behind during her baby-sitting stints.
At least she was in dry clothes when the police arrived - even if the jeans were an old ripped pair splattered in paint, and the jumper had been pulled out of shape in a fight with the spin dryer.
How was she to know the house was rigged with a silent alarm that connected directly to the police station? Struggling and protesting all the way, she and Georgie were bundled into the back of a van.
‘At the very least you could have listened to my explanation before you slapped the handcuffs on me,’ she complained.
‘Yes miss,’ the constable said and closed the door on them.
* * * *
Leon finished setting his room to rights and arranged himself in a chair with a cup of coffee. Darcie Channing and her dog had disaster written all over them, he mused, and resolved to give the pair of them a wide berth from now on.
She’d probably make a lousy wife anyway, and drop his babies in the bath. And he’d bet his life she couldn’t boil an egg either. She looked helpless ... she looked wonderfully helpless ... sort of vulnerable. He smiled and shook his head. She was also crazy, and so was he for thinking about her so much. He’d never been impulsive, always planning his life, so what had come over him?
Did he really suggest marriage to her? He must have rocks in his head. From now on he’d stay out of her way.
His hand jerked as the phone rang, and coffee spilled down his shirt.
‘Mister Price? This is Sergeant Holmes. We have a woman in the police station who says you’re engaged and will vouch for her.’
Helen! He grimaced. She must have been picked up for speeding. ‘What exactly is the charge, sergeant?’
‘No charges have been laid at present, but it involves unlawful entry and possibly, resisting arrest.’
‘Unlawful entry? Good God, that’s serious!’
‘So is resisting arrest. She gave some garbled account of having the right to be on the premises. She won’t give her name, and had no identification on her. She seems very distraught. Would you mind coming down to the station to help sort this out?’
