by Alison Kelly
‘Reb!’ The alarm in A.J.’s voice bothered him, but only until she appeared in the kitchen doorway still in the T-shirt she’d slept in, with her hair in sultry disarray. ‘The bathroom door is locked!’ she accused, her face tight.
Though he regarded himself as a morning person, in the wake of a night of erratic sleep and erotic dreams Reb wasn’t in the right frame of mind to humour outraged females. Especially gorgeous, Titian-haired ones who were personally responsible for his restless night and the motivation behind the cold shower he’d recently endured.
‘Gotta be up early if you wanna beat Savvy to the punch.’
She looked as if she might cry. ‘Quick, then! Tell me where the other bathroom is!’
‘Sorry, but you’re slumming it now. We only have one. Downstairs—’
‘You only have one bathr— Oh, no, I’m going to be sick!’
‘Cut the theatrics, A.J.!’ he snapped, spinning to face her then immediately lunging for the plastic trash bin by the patio door. He’d barely managed to complete the task before she snatched it from his grasp and held it to her face.
Gut-wrenching was definitely the only word to describe the next sound to fill the room and Reb cursed the helplessness that enabled him to do nothing more than keep a supportive arm around her and murmur inane reassurances.
He’d acknowledged that Amanda-Jayne Vaughan could rouse him on a sexual level, that she could irritate him through varying degrees of annoyance, anger and fury, but he hadn’t counted on her being able to inspire his sympathy. Or that she could look quite so vulnerable and defenceless as she did now with her eyes awash with tears and her face chalk-white and damp with sweat, as she tried to regulate her breathing.
Her whispered request for a glass of water was such a relief that after guiding her to a chair he practically ran to the sink to fulfil it. The two tentative sips she took were no more reassuring to Reb than her croaked, ‘Thank you. I’ll be all right in a minute.’ So, after disposing of the waste bin in the laundry, he scooped her up and, ignoring her feeble protests, carried her back to the bedroom.
It should have been easy for Amanda-Jayne to keep her eyes shut and let the gentleness of the hand caressing her cheek lull her to sleep, yet even in her less than sparkling current physical condition Reb Browne disturbed her on a far too elemental level for the action to promote inner tranquillity. Especially when her irresponsible hormones were still in a flap from the way he’d recently swept her into his arms and carried her to bed.
Refusing to speculate on how many other women had entered this room the same way, she promptly raised her eyelids, but not even knowing he was right there, sitting on the edge of the bed, prevented her heart from giving a silly little skip at the sight of his frowning, concerned face. Torn between thanking him for being so solicitous and telling him to go away so she could die without having to worry about how bedraggled she must look, she compromised with a grimaced smile.
‘I’ve hustled Savannah out of the bathroom,’ he said. ‘So when you’re up to it you can get dressed and I’ll take you in to the doctor.’
‘I don’t need to see a doctor. It’s only morning sickness.’
‘Maybe it is,’ he said. ‘But it’s also possible you’ve got a virus. All I know is that you haven’t eaten anything except dry toast and tea since I picked you up yesterday and not even that has stayed down. My doctor wants me to bring you in as soon as you feel up to going.’
‘Well, thanks all the same, but I’m not going. If I need to see a doctor I’ll see my own, not some aged country quack.’
‘I’ll be sure and tell Carmel O’Brien that when we see her.’
Amanda-Jayne blinked. ‘You have a female doctor?’
‘If I’m sick enough to warrant seeing a doctor, the last thing I worry about is their sex,’ he said dryly. ‘But Savvy reckons most women prefer female doctors so I figured you’d rather see Carmel.’
‘Oh. Well, thank you for being so thoughtful,’ she said, impressed that he had been. ‘But like I said I don’t need to see a doctor. So you might as well go and cancel the appointment.’
‘A.J., you either go and see the doctor or I arrange for her to come here. I refuse to let you take chances with your health or the baby’s. Now what’s it to be?’
His flinty stare and stubbornly set jaw advised against suggesting anything else, but neither of those choices would gain her anything… Or would they?
‘All right, I’ll go!’ she retorted, so as not to let him think she’d given in too easily. ‘But in case you’ve forgotten you’re a car doctor, not a people doctor. I’m only doing this to humour you, so don’t delude yourself into thinking I’m going to jump to obey every time you issue an order, Reb Browne.’
‘Oh, believe me, A.J., I’m sure I’ll be institutionalised long before I ever get that delusional.’
They were welcomed into the doctor’s surgery by the excited whispers and curious stares of the dozen or so people already seated in the waiting area. Every eye in the place was riveted to her and judging from the heat in her face Amanda-Jayne figured she’d blow the mercury out of a thermometer if one were to go in her mouth now. Silently she screamed at herself for not anticipating this.
The relief she felt when the receptionist rose from behind her desk and said the doctor had instructed her to be sent straight to an examination room was almost overwhelming. But it was as short-lived as the woman’s very next words… ‘This way, Reb, Ms Vaughan…’
For some reason both the smiling receptionist and Reb automatically assumed he would join them in the examination room and the proprietorial way he slipped his arm around her to guide her in the other woman’s footsteps only further heightened the spectators’ interest. Short of creating a scene for the dozen or so locals avidly watching them, Amanda-Jayne had no choice but to allow him to accompany her.
Expecting to have to wait while the doctor finished with her previous patient, it was a surprise to find her already in the examination room.
Though both Carmel O’Brien and her husband Ron had practised medicine in Vaughan’s Landing for many years, they weren’t the Vaughan family’s practitioners and Amanda-Jayne knew them only by way of brief encounters at town social functions. On those occasions she’d found Carmel to be pleasant and likeable in a motherly, no-nonsense sort of way. On this occasion she was equally pleasant although Amanda-Jayne would have liked her a whole lot better had she not said that since there was a privacy screen Reb was welcome to stay in the room during the physical examination.
‘I’m sure Amanda-Jayne will feel more comfortable knowing you’re nearby,’ she’d said.
Before Amanda-Jayne could deny that point, the doctor was taking her pulse and frowning. ‘Your pulse is racing.’
Well, maybe if you shooed out the audience it wouldn’t be! She had no time to verbalise the thought because a hand was suddenly clamped on her forehead.
‘Don’t even need a thermometer to tell your temperature is elevated. Who’s your obstetrician?’
A tinge of panic started to knot her stomach and a quick glance at Reb told her he was bothered by the doctor’s question too. ‘Er…Dr Ralph Geermaine, in Sydney. Why? Is…is something wrong?’
Dr O’Brien smiled. ‘Relax. It’s my guess you’ve just got a viral infection, but for the sake of professional courtesy I’m going to call Dr Geermaine and let him know that you’ve come to see me and why. Since you’re going to be living in my neck of the woods I’d also like to have a copy of your files.’
‘My…my files?’
‘Yes…if that’s all right with you?’
‘Well, er, sure. I…I guess so.’
‘Do you happen to have his number on you?’
After hesitating a moment Amanda-Jayne nodded and opened her handbag.
Reb wondered why she was being so reticent. Frankly he was relieved that Carmel O’Brien wasn’t going to just treat A.J. for the virus and leave it at that. He’d been bothered that her specialist
was going to be so far away. Having Carmel close at hand and familiar with her medical history was a smart move.
‘I hope you can get past his secretary,’ A.J. said as she passed a business card to the doctor. ‘I never can.’
The doctor smiled. ‘In that case I’ll be prepared to resort to the fact we were at med school together.’
This revelation only further reduced Reb’s fears. ‘So you and this big city doctor were pals, were you, Carmel?’ he teased. ‘Where was Ron in those days?’
The older woman laughed. ‘Knowing Ron he probably wasn’t even aware there were any other male students in our class. I, however, was probably one of the few female students who didn’t grovel at Ralph Geermaine’s feet. There’s no denying he’s the best ob-gyn in the state these days, but back then I always thought he was a pompous jerk.’
Caught off guard by the doctor’s candour, Amanda-Jayne only just stopped herself from saying, He still is! Privately, though, as much as she appreciated Carmel O’Brien’s thoroughness in wanting to speak with her Sydney specialist, she felt dishonest putting the woman to so much trouble when this was going to be the one and only time she consulted her. Still, she could hardly admit that in Reb’s presence.
‘So aren’t you going to apologise?’ he asked forty minutes later as they walked to the local chemist for a herbal remedy Dr O’Brien had assured them was safe for pregnant women and would help minimise the symptoms of morning sickness.
‘For what?’
‘For doubting that a car doctor might know as much as a people doctor.’ He laughed at her rolled-eyed response. ‘I told you it was more than just morning sickness.’
‘You just made a lucky guess in a two-horse race,’ she said. ‘And incidentally gloating is considered crass.’
‘Oh, that worries me.’
She didn’t give him the satisfaction of reacting to his sarcasm; she was more interested in spotting one of her stepmother’s friends so she could make a point of introducing Reb to them and flashing the fake ring. It had been the opportunity to do that which had led her to give in to Reb’s demands to come into town in the first place. Only problem was, this end of town wasn’t exactly going to be thick with members of Patricia’s bridge club.
‘Reb, do you mind if we stop and have something to drink at the Fondue Café after we get this potion the doctor wants me to take?’
‘Why go all the way up the other end of town? There’s a milk bar right across from the pharmacy.’
She was saved from having to think of a good answer to that by the screech of brakes from a red Ferrari stopping in the middle of the street with no regard for the cars behind it.
‘Geez,’ she heard Reb mutter. ‘Guess this is where I get to meet the rest of my future in-laws.’
Trying not to appear too elated at her unexpected stroke of luck, Amanda-Jayne gave a theatrically rueful shake of her head. ‘Josh,’ she said wearily. ‘Are you deliberately trying to get your licence pulled or are you really a complete idiot?’
‘Can I help it if Mum only bought me a second-hand car with cruddy brakes?’
‘It’s not the brakes that are cruddy, it’s your driving.’
‘Actually, A.J.,’ Reb said, eyeing the car appreciatively, ‘they did screech a bit too much considering he wasn’t going that fast.’
Her brother’s face positively beamed at the unexpected support. ‘See, sis? And he’s a mechanic. Hey, Browne,’ he said, grinning. ‘Do you give family discounts on brake work?’
Reb gave him an assessing look before glancing at the angry-looking driver in the car behind him. ‘Maybe. But the guy behind you doesn’t look real happy right now, so maybe you should pull over to the kerb and quit blocking traffic before you need a discount on dental work.’
The typical youthful arrogance with which Joshua Vaughan smiled and gave a cheeky wave to the horn-tooting driver behind him, before accelerating into a small kerbside space, both amused and irritated Reb. If one could get past the luxury car and what was obviously a three-figure haircut he had to concede the kid’s behaviour and cockiness wasn’t any worse than his own at the same age. Not that he and Joshua Vaughan would have anything else in common in their pasts. The future, however, was going to be a different proposition, he conceded, his gaze switching from brother to sister.
The family resemblance between them was limited to classic bone structure, well-bred good looks and dark eyes, the youth’s blond hair and olive complexion being a stark contrast to A.J.’s straight copper locks and porcelain skin. But where only moments ago the woman beside him had looked almost deathly pale, her cheeks were now flushed with excitement and she could barely stand still as she went through the motions of introducing Josh to Reb. Then, with a beseeching and dazzling smile, she insisted they simply must cross to the milk bar for a chat.
In the absence of table service Reb offered to go and order for them, leaving Amanda-Jayne trying to read her brother’s mind as his eyes followed the older man to the counter. But it wasn’t what he might be thinking now that was important, but what impressions he went away with.
It was imperative that Josh believe that in mere weeks she really intended to enter the most unsuitable marriage of the century. Convincing him of this was crucial, because she didn’t want Patricia to be left thinking that she’d back out at the last minute. But, not wanting to risk overkill, she decided to act casual and wait until her brother inevitably raised the subject of her impending marriage. It wouldn’t, she knew, take him long.
‘I wasn’t expecting to bump into you,’ she said casually. ‘I thought you said you and a few friends were going to spend some time scuba-diving up in the Whitsunday Islands.’
‘We are. But I’m not leaving until the day after tomorrow.’
‘Oh. Well, I hope you have a nice time.’
‘C’mon, sis,’ he said wryly. ‘My holiday plans are hardly the most scintillating conversation we could having… So I’m going to be an uncle and a brother-in-law, huh?’ He smirked, shaking his head slowly. ‘Well, I’ll have to congratulate you, Amanda-Jayne, if only because I didn’t think you capable of pulling a stunt like this.’
‘It’s not a stunt, Josh.’
‘Oh, right,’ he said sceptically. ‘Like you’re genuinely in love with this guy.’
‘I don’t know why you find that so astonishing?’
He laughed. ‘Let’s just say I don’t reckon even love could be that blind. Or stupid,’ he said dryly. ‘Of course I’d find it entirely believable if you said you were just doing this to get up Mum’s nose. Not that I’d have credited you with being able to come up with anything this creative.’
Amanda-Jayne pasted an irritated expression onto her face. ‘Josh, if you’re going to be like this you might as well leave now. I won’t have you saying anything to upset Reb.’
His expression turned to first disbelieving and then concerned. ‘Upset him? Sis, guys like Reb Browne don’t get upset, they go ballistic and break beer bottles in people’s faces.’
‘Reb would never do anything like that,’ she said instinctively, before adding with a soft artful intensity, ‘He wouldn’t, Josh. Besides, do you really think I’d marry someone like that?’
‘You tell me. According to rumours the happy event is only four weeks away. Mum is going to be apoplectic when she hears.’
‘When she hears? You mean she doesn’t know?’
Josh shook his head. ‘Not yet. But only because she’s been staying at Aunt Rachel’s in Melbourne since the run-in the two of you had at New Year’s. She’s due back tomorrow and I can guarantee she’ll be frothing at the mouth when she finds out.’
Josh must have interpreted Amanda-Jayne’s relieved sigh as one of despair for he smiled ruefully and said, ‘C’mon, sis, you can’t honestly have believed she was egalitarian enough to quietly accept you shacking up with a local criminal?’
Amanda-Jayne tightened both her face and voice. ‘I’m not shacking up with him, Josh. I’m planning to
marry him as soon as legally possible.’
‘Oh, yeah, well, that’ll make her feel better…not.’
‘How Patricia feels about things isn’t the issue here, Josh. It’s my feelings that count. And Reb’s, of course,’ she tacked on, hoping to sound suitably loving. ‘Besides, it’s not as if your mother and I have ever shared a close relationship. We’re not exactly the Brady Bunch.’
Her brother’s face tightened uncomfortably and he momentarily averted his gaze. ‘Look, I know I’ve always been Mum’s favourite, but that’s not my fault.’
Surprisingly the admission made Amanda-Jayne feel closer to her brother than she had for many years and for a second she stepped away from the charade she was playing.
‘I know that, Josh,’ she said gently. ‘I don’t have anything against you. Your mother and I were at odds long before you were born. Which,’ she said, pulling herself up before she got sentimental, ‘is precisely why she’s got no reason to expect me to bow to her wishes, call off the wedding and walk away from the father of my child.’
‘She’ll expect it because, as we’ve been told from the cradle, the Vaughans have an image to uphold and you’re a Vaughan.’
‘Not for much longer.’ She produced a suitably dreamy smile that brought a deep frown to Josh’s eighteen-year-old face.
‘You’re actually saying you’re really in love with this guy?’
Again she was creatively evasive. ‘Considering what Anthony put me through, do you think I’d entertain marriage again for any other reason?’
Her brother stared at her for a moment, before despairingly shaking his head and slumping back in his chair. ‘Then you better be prepared for Mum to use every trick in the book to stop you.’
‘Oh, don’t worry, Josh…’ She smiled. ‘I’m prepared for that.’ Matter of fact I’m counting on it!
CHAPTER SIX
REB had always thought her beautiful but now, as she looked from him to her brother with an uncertain smile and wide, bemused eyes—as if she wasn’t sure if she was dreaming or not—she was breathtaking…ethereal almost. He’d had the impression she and Josh weren’t particularly close, but her brother’s unexpected appearance today proved otherwise. Reb’s previous estimation of the kid rose considerably; it took a fair bit of strength of character to escort your sister down the aisle when your own mother had fled the country rather than endure the social backlash of her marriage. Nor surprisingly Reb’s opinion of the absent Patricia Vaughan hadn’t changed one iota; she was a bitch of the first order.
