“What?”
“Last night.” His gaze travelled over her face, lingering on her lips. “I was rough.” Oh boy, could a question get any more intimate? “You didn’t hurt me. It was incredible.” Way beyond it, in fact. Hoo boy.
There was no mistaking the faint relief on his face. “I also didn’t give any thought to the fact that you’d possibly never had oral sex before.”
She swallowed. “I’ve never had…done it…before.”
To say his smile held male satisfaction was putting it mildly. “So I’m the first?”
“Uh - yes.” Unable to hold his gaze, she fiddled with the handle of the tea cup.
“And your only.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Of course.” Startled and a little annoyed, she frowned at him. “I thought…”
Questioningly, he angled his head.
“Never mind.”
“No, tell me. You thought what?”
“I thought…I thought we were in a relationship. Of some kind.” There, she’d said it.
“We are,” he replied steadily. “That’s why I’m honoured that I’m your first, and I’ll be your only.” Placing one forearm on the table, he leaned forward. “I know you’re not a hundred percent certain of me, Harly, but I know you’re the only woman for me. I can’t say I’m happy about your uncertainty, but I understand it. I think.”
“You think?”
“You’re a woman. One can’t be exactly sure of understanding the female species.”
Mouth agape, she stared at him for several seconds before seeing the twinkle in his eyes, and grabbing the napkin, she threw it at him.
He ducked, laughing.
“Arse,” she said.
“Totally.” He winked. “Not as pretty as yours, though. Aw, there we go. I just love watching you blush, baby.”
Nine
The next week was the best Alex could ever remember having, but it was coming to an end all too soon.
Sitting on the veranda swing, his arm around Harly as they enjoyed the afternoon, he contemplated the changes that had occurred over such a short time.
He’d come to Whicha an angry man, with a sadness dogging his footsteps, he’d certainly never expected the source of his anger to be one that he’d fall in love with and with whom he’d want to spend the rest of his life.
Harly had changed, too, though he knew she probably hadn’t thought about it. Though still a little shy at being naked in front of him, she nevertheless eagerly welcomed his lovemaking, and her inhibitions when in his arms fled.
He hadn’t slept at Paul’s house since the night they’d all gotten together for dinner. Nope, every night since he’d been here, making love to Harly, sleeping in her bed, spending time with her between helping Paul with his building, and Harly working at the café and meeting her sewing orders.
Leaning his cheek atop Harly’s head where she rested against his shoulder, he sighed.
Reaching up, she slid her hand into his near her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“The day after tomorrow I have to head back to the city.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want to leave you.”
“The Army is your life.”
“And now you’re a part of it, too.” He rubbed his cheek on her silky hair.
Tipping her head back, she looked gravely up at him. “I promised you I would wait.”
He smiled. “You did, and I have total faith in you.”
“I’ll email and write to you.”
He studied her face. “Harly, come back to the city with me.”
Surprise flitted across her face. “What?”
“I’m spending a couple of days at home before I catch the plane back to the base. I want you to spend that time with me, and meet my family.”
“You do?”
“Of course I do. Let me repeat what I said, you are a part - a huge part - of my life now. I want you to meet my family, spend the last few days with me in the city. Please?” He loved Harly, and he wanted to ensure that she felt safe with his family, safe enough to go to them for help if she needed it and he wasn’t there to come to her rescue. “I’m going to go back to Afghanistan, probably for another six months. I want to spend as much time with you as I can before I go.”
Say what she would, he wasn’t entirely convinced that her own parents would come to her aid if it involved something of which they didn’t approve. Plus, he did want to spend as much time with her as he could, that was no lie.
Outwardly patient, inwardly a little worried, he waited as she stared out at yard in silence, and he’d just decided that she was going to refuse when she looked back up at him and nodded. “I’ll see if I can get some time off at the café, though it’s short notice. And I’ll need to make sure my parents will feed the furries.”
His heart leaped in combined gladness and relief. “Thank you.”
“I’ll follow you in my car and-”
“No need,” he interrupted immediately. “You can come in the Jeep.”
“And how do I come back? Bus?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Confused, he raised his eyebrows.
“Why do I need to return in the bus?”
“Well, you’ll be with other people if you break down…” His voice trailed off as she sat up and turned to face him. Uh-oh, he’d said something wrong.
“Listen, Alex, I’ve been driving myself around for years and that isn’t going to change. Either I follow you in my car and drive myself back, or I don’t go at all. What’s it to be?”
“I’m just worried about your safety.”
“And I’ll be worried about yours, but I won’t be in a hostile country with insurgents aiming bullets at me. You will. But do you hear me asking you to stay behind?” When he didn’t reply immediately, her eyes narrowed. “Do you?”
“No,” was all he could possibly say.
“I can change a tyre, and I’ve travelled to the city many times by myself in the past. And I’m doing it again. Understand?”
Oh boy. Alex looked down at her, half amused at her annoyance but still unable to help his protective side surfacing. “Take someone with you. What about Mark, Maryanne’s kid?”
“Gosh, what a good idea. He can sleep with you while we’re away together.”
Okay, so that wasn’t his best idea.
“I’m telling you, Alex. I drive myself or not at all.”
“I’m not going to win this, am I?”
“No.”
“Fine.” He sighed. “You can follow me.”
“Good.” She settled herself back into his side.
Shaking his head, he acknowledged that he wasn’t going to win all their arguments. Then again, if she was the kind of woman who needed a man around all the time, they would never have suited. That Harly was strong enough to be able to handle being by herself was a gift to him, for it meant he could stay in the Army as well as have her be a huge part of his life.
Though he also realised he’d give up anything to keep her.
Yes, she really was a gift.
The next evening after work, Harly took Alex to her parent’s home to give them the spare key and last minute instructions for feeding her beloved pets.
Alex was sitting in the lounge waiting for her as she spoke to her mother in the kitchen. He stood as her father walked into the room.
“Lawson.” Mr Bentley nodded.
“Mr Bentley.” He returned the nod and knowing there was more to come, he waited.
“Harly is my only child,” Mr Bentley finally said. “She doesn’t go out with men, she lives a quiet life, but I know what’s been happening between you two this last week.”
No doubt, Alex thought. It was kind of hard to miss, his Jeep being at her place every night.
Mr Bentley fixed him with a hard look. “It’s because of the kind of girl she is that I know you mean a lot to her. So I’m warning you, you treat her right, you don’t break he
r heart, or you’ll answer to me. Understand?”
“I respect your warning, Sir.” Alex nodded. “I would never dream of hurting Harly, and you have my promise that I’ll always protect her.”
“Dad!” Walking into the room, Harly rolled her eyes. “Must you?”
“As your father, it’s my duty.” He kissed her on the cheek. “I just want to ensure you’re never hurt.”
Mrs Bentley came to a stop on Harly’s’ other side and her eyes were distinctly cold as she surveyed Alex. “I hope you mean what you say, Alex.”
There was hidden meaning in her words, he could feel it, and he looked from her to Mr Bentley, but Harly’s father just smiled at him.
“I know you’d never leave anyone in the lurch,” Mrs Bentley continued. “Would you, Alex?”
“Mum,” Harly objected. “Really, there’s no need for-”
“No.” Stepping forward, Alex took her hand and pulled her to his side while looking directly at her mother. “Let her speak her mind.”
“Honey?” Puzzled, Mr Bentley looked at his wife’s tight expression.
“It’s nothing.” She attempted a smile, but it was more a grimace.
Beside him, Alex felt Harly stiffen, and he squeezed her hand reassuringly. “It’s all right.”
“Mum…” Harly hesitated.
“I think I know exactly to what your mother is referring,” Alex said quietly. “Don’t I, Mrs Bentley?”
Bewildered, Mr Bentley glanced between Alex and his wife.
Mrs Bentley glared at Alex.
“How about I just say it?” Alex gazed steadily at her. “Or will you?”
“Fine,” she snapped, and looked at Harley. “I hope you’re taking precautions, Harly, or you’ll likely find yourself in the same situation as before.”
“Before?” Mr Bentley echoed. “Precautions? Honey, what-”
“I’m the father of Harly’s baby. Our baby,” Alex amended. “Our baby that miscarried.”
Mr Bentley was stunned. Mrs Bentley folded her arms and looked furious.
Paling, Harly took a step to the side. “Alex, why on earth would you bring that up now?”
“Because your mother knows.” He kept his attention on Mrs Bentley. “She knows and she’s throwing hints. I don’t take well to hints, and I prefer the truth to be in the open if it’s going to be a problem with our relationship.” He cast a glance at Harly, taking in her huge eyes. “Trust me, Harly.”
“Trust you?” Mr Bentley stepped forward, his hands fisted. “You made our daughter pregnant and then left her to face the music! And you think we should trust you now?”
Almost immediately, Harly jumped in-between Alex and her father. “Dad, no! He didn’t know! Alex didn’t know that I was pregnant!”
“How could you not know?” Mr Bentley asked furiously.
Swiftly Alex reached out, grabbing Harly’s hand and pulling her partially behind him so that he alone faced the wrath of her parents.
Or the wrath of her father, anyway, for her mother was looking at him with pure disdain.
“Because I didn’t,” Alex said firmly. “But if I had of known, I’d have been here for her, on that you have my word.”
“Wait.” Bewildered, Mr Bentley looked at Harly. “Why didn’t you tell us Alex was the father?”
“I didn’t want to destroy his life.” Harly clung to Alex’s hand, tears glittering in her eyes. “I didn’t know what to do. Dad, I just didn’t know what to do.”
“She was afraid,” Alex interjected, placing one arm around Harly’s shoulders and pulling her against his side. “Afraid I’d be furious if I didn’t follow through with my plans for the Army, afraid of what you two would say or do, afraid of everything. Jesus, she was only sixteen!”
“So if you didn’t know,” Mrs Bentley said bitterly, “How come you’re here now? How did you come to know? Did Harly tell you?”
“No.” Harly had a death grip on the back of Alex’s shirt. “Grandma wrote to him.”
“My mother?” Mrs Bentley looked at Harly. “She always suspected, but she actually wrote to him?” Her eyes blazed again with contempt as she looked back at Alex. “My mother died two years ago, Alex. So you knew that long and still you could only come now?”
Controlling his own anger when he really wanted to berate her furiously for leaving her daughter comfortless during a horrific time, Alex spoke coldly. “That letter was found by my brother behind a sideboard when they shifted it. The date was the second January, 2010, two years ago. He posted it straight to me. I got it five months ago, and as soon as I got leave, I went home then straight here to front up Harly.”
“Why now?” Mr Bentley asked suspiciously. “All this time later it doesn’t matter, so why come now? You have no obligation to my daughter.”
“No obligation?” Alex looked at him with chilling composure. “Your daughter was the mother of my unborn child. Our unborn child. I wanted to know everything that had happened, and I found out. Harly-”
“Alex, please” Harley begged. “Don’t.”
It took some effort, but he managed to bite off the words of condemnation. God, he really wanted to let fly at them, ream her parents a new one, tell them exactly what he thought of their treatment of their daughter, but for Harly’s sake he choked the words back.
“What’s she talking about?” Mr Bentley looked at Harly. “What, Harly?”
“Nothing.” The back of Alex’s shirt was twisting nervously in her hands. “I lost the baby. Grandma somehow found out. She wrote to Alex just before he died, the letter was lost, found and he got it five months ago and came here as soon as he could. He didn’t know, Dad. None of this is his fault.”
“He made you pregnant,” Mrs Bentley said sharply. “That was his fault.”
“No, that was our fault. I was a part of it, Mum. We did it together, only he didn’t know the result and I did.” She sucked in a steadying breath and Alex tightened his arm around her shoulders, seeking to give her strength. “It happened a long time ago.”
Mr Bentley turned his gaze to his wife. “Did you know that your mother knew that Alex was the father?”
She sighed, though her expression was still angry. “She guessed when Harly avoided Alex when he next came to town for the school holidays. She observed that Harly didn’t speak of Alex, didn’t go to join in the team games they played in the parks. Always Harly had joined in, no one could miss how Alex always chose her for the games, how she always enjoyed them, but then she avoided him and the games, avoided anything and everywhere Alex went. It didn’t take her Grandma long to put it together, but she never told me, either, until the day before she died.” Mrs Bentley ran one hand through her normally immaculate hair. “She told me she’d written a letter to Alex. The only reason I didn’t call her a fool was because she was dying.” A tear sparkled in her eyes but she blinked it away. “The whole sordid episode was over and done with, it was in the past where it belongs, but then you showed up, the Lawson boy, and here you are again, sleeping with my daughter.” She took a sudden step forward, her eyes blazing. “Don’t you dare hurt my baby again, Alex. Don’t you dare.”
“Mum, he isn’t.” Harly tried to step forward, but Alex prevented her, just as Mr Bentley held his own wife’s arm. “He wouldn’t.”
“No,” Alex said, without any sympathy for the older woman. “I wouldn’t desert her, I wouldn’t leave her to lick her wounds alone, and I wouldn’t hide her so-called sins in shame.”
The room went silent. Horribly silent.
“Oh no,” Harly whispered.
Abruptly, Mrs Bentley sought out the armchair behind her, sitting with less dignity than normal.
“How dare you?” Mr Bentley said furiously.
“I dare because it’s the truth.” Alex faced him down fearlessly, showing his contempt. “Your daughter needed you, and you weren’t there for her. That’s the difference between us, Mr Bentley. No matter what happens, I’ll be there for Harly.”
�
�Are you saying we don’t love our daughter?” Fists clenched, Mr Bentley took a step forward.
“Dad, no!” Harly managed to wrench herself away from Alex and placed herself once more before him.
Before he could reach for her, Mr Bentley snarled, “Stand aside, Harly!”
“No!” She braced herself, shrugging off Alex’s hand. “I love him, Dad, and if you can’t see that, it’s your loss!”
He stopped in shock.
“He’s right, Dad,” she continued, her voice lowering, making her parents listen. “You weren’t there for me when I miscarried. No one was. I made it on my own, and I’m okay with that, I’ve made my peace with it. It’s just going to take Alex awhile - if ever - to make his own peace with it.”
At least she had the sense to know that he probably wouldn’t ever come to forgive them totally. But right then, he was proud of her for standing up for herself, for letting them know that she knew they’d failed her.
“Harly.” Bewildered, her father reached for her. “We loved you then just as much as now. You must know that.”
“I do, Dad.” Taking his hand, she squeezed it gently. “I don’t doubt it. I never have. You and Mum grew up in different times, among different circumstances, and it made you both what you were, what you are. I accept that.”
“You think we failed you.” Her mother spoke hollowly from where she sat in the armchair.
Crossing to kneel beside it, Harly took her hand. “Mum, you did what you thought was right for that situation. I don’t blame you. Your family went through hell, you didn’t want us going through the same thing. I understand.”
How Harly could be so forgiving was a miracle. Or was it? As Alex watched, her father place his hand on her shoulder, her mother raised Harly’s hand and kissed it while tears sparkled on her cheeks, and her smile was full of love as she gazed at her daughter. Just as her father had love in his eyes.
Just as Harly had love in her own eyes as she looked at her parents.
Love and acceptance.
Alex shook his head. He couldn’t even begin to understand what her parents had done to her, how they could believe they’d done the best they could, yet they did and Harly understood.
The Lawson Boys: Alex Page 21
