Contract with Consequences (10 page)

S
CARLET
ate breakfast, had a shower and got dressed in record time, choosing white capri pants and a salmon-pink top which had a not-too-low sweetheart neckline and capped sleeves. The same speed was applied to her hair, which she only half blow-dried before scooping it all up into a high pony-tail, anchored by a white elastic band. Make-up was none, other than some tinted sunscreen plus her favourite coral lipstick. She didn’t spray on any perfume or don any jewellery, having resolved not to dress or act provocatively. After adding flat white sandals, she extracted her phone from her bag and set about taking photos of the main bathroom and the floral quilted guest bedroom, careful not to make either look too large or too luxurious.

Once satisfied with her snaps, Scarlet made her way out to the kitchen, half-expecting John to be in there, having breakfast. But he wasn’t. She frowned. Surely he’d be showered, shaved and dressed by now? Clearly not, however, the living room proving as deserted as the kitchen. His bedroom door remained shut, she noted, so it was likely he was still in there, but no way was she going to knock, or go in search of him. Instead, she returned to the kitchen, where she took a couple of photos of just one section before moving back to the living room and shooting only a fraction of that area, getting in just one of the sofas and rugs.

It wasn’t till she went out onto the balcony with the intention of snapping the spectacular harbour view that she found John sitting out there with some toast and coffee. No doubt he’d showered but he hadn’t shaved, looking like a beach bum with the stubble growing on his chin and nothing on but a pair of bright board-shorts.

A very sexy beach bum.

‘So here you are!’ she exclaimed, doing her best not to stare at his beautifully bare chest, resentment rising with the thought that
he
was being deliberately provocative. After all, it wasn’t that warm out there on the balcony. It was, in fact, quite fresh, with a stiff sea breeze blowing.

‘Aren’t you cold?’ she asked somewhat tartly.

‘I never feel the cold,’ he said, his eyes lifting to run over what she was wearing. ‘We inveterate campers are a tough breed. Taking photos for your mum, are you?’

‘I promised her last night.’

‘Yes, I heard you. You and your mum are obviously very close. Is that why you’re still living with her?’

‘I didn’t plan to but then I also didn’t plan to deliberately become a single parent,’ she shot back. ‘Once I made that decision, it made sense to stay on at home.’

‘But you’re
not
going to become a single parent. Not now. You’ll have me to help out.’

‘Come now, John, even if things work out and I do fall pregnant with your child, I’ll still need my mother’s support. You’re not going to be around most of the time—it isn’t part of our deal. You’ll be off working in some far-flung corner of the world most of the time and only come home to visit at Christmas every year. More importantly, I
like
living with my mother. We’re best friends.’

‘I see. Fair enough. Get on with your photos then,’ he bit out, and fell broodingly silent.

Scarlet held her tongue with difficulty whilst she took
a lot of snaps. Normally, she would have made admiring comments about the beauty of the view. But she didn’t trust herself to speak right at that moment. Why she let John get under her skin so much, Scarlet wasn’t sure. But he did. He always had. She had a feeling John felt exactly the same about her. It was a shame, really, given the situation. If only they could become genuine friends, it would make life so much easier.

It’s up to you then, Scarlet
, the voice of common sense advised her.
Don’t expect John to make the move to cease hostilities between you. Men don’t do things like that. It’s the woman who usually makes the peace when a relationship becomes rocky
.

Not that they had a
relationship
. Up till now, all they had together was a shared childhood and one night of sex. Great sex, admittedly, but still just sex. Shared parenthood, however, would definitely change all that.

The enormity of what they were planning to do suddenly struck Scarlet like a physical blow, doubts shooting to the surface of her mind as she tried to work through what having John as the father of her baby really meant. It could become quite complicated, she realised agitatedly. And messy. Going to that clinic and having an anonymous sperm donor had been a simple plan. Lonely, maybe, but simple. No one else was directly involved. With artificial insemination, she was master of her own destiny and the controller of her child’s upbringing. Could she trust John not to want more involvement once his son or daughter became a reality? A few of her girlfriends had told her how their husbands had not been so keen when they had become pregnant early in their marriages, but each had become besotted once the child had arrived. Would John have an epiphany once he became a father? It was possible, she supposed.

Scarlet stopped taking endless photographs and whirled to face him.

‘I think I might have made a big mistake by accepting your offer,’ she blurted out, still shaken by her thoughts.

An emotion close to panic sent John leaping to his feet. ‘What?’

‘You heard me.’

‘I heard you, but I don’t understand what’s behind such a sudden turnaround.
You
contacted me, Scarlet, not the other way around.’

Now she looked decidedly shame-faced.

‘I know. I guess I was desperate at the time.’

Desperate
. John could not believe how much it hurt, hearing her say that. But then he remembered the way she’d been with him last night. That hadn’t been desperation. That had been desire, pure and simple. Not so pure, either. His flesh stirred at the memory of her touching him, of her begging him to just do it to her.

He gritted his teeth as he willed his body to behave itself. This wasn’t the right time to use sex to sway her mind. At the same time, if Scarlet thought for one moment he was going to let her leave, then she was dead wrong.

‘Why do you think you made a big mistake accepting my offer?’ he asked with forced calm as he came forward and cupped his hands over her shoulders.

She immediately clasped her phone with her two hands and held it up against her breasts, as though she was afraid of his chest touching hers.

Good
, he thought.

‘I just don’t think it’s wise for you to be the father of my baby, that’s all,’ she said with her usual stubbornness. ‘It could become complicated.’

‘In what way?’

‘You might change your mind about your level of involvement.
You might … Oh, I don’t know what you might do, exactly. I just want my son or daughter to have a secure, happy life. I would hate there to be any conflict.’

‘Well there certainly won’t be any conflict if you don’t have a child at all! Which could be the case if you cut and run now.’

‘The clinic said I just had to be patient.’

‘The clinic has vested financial interests in saying that.’

‘That’s a horribly cynical thing to say!’

‘I’m a horrible cynic.’

‘You just don’t understand,’ she said with a ragged sob.

The sounded affected him. He didn’t want to make her cry. He just wanted to soothe her worries and make her stay with him. The thought of her leaving still filled him with alarm.

‘But I do understand,’ he told her gently. ‘I do. You’re afraid of my interfering in your role as a parent even though I promised not to. You’ve lost your trust in men, which includes me.’

‘But how can I trust you when I don’t really know you any more?’

‘Ah. Back to that again.’

‘I think it’s only fair that you answer at least some of my questions if you’re going to be the father of my baby.’

That
was
fair, John accepted grudgingly.

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Fire away.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘You’ll tell the truth?’

‘Cross my heart and hope to die,’ he said. ‘But only if you promise to stop this nonsense about leaving.’

Scarlet thought about that for a second, deciding that she wasn’t going to let John steamroll her into anything. It had been foolish of her to come up here without thinking everything through. Uncharacteristically foolish. But of course she
had
been desperate at the time.

‘I reserve the right to still leave if I find out you’re not suitable father material,’ she told him firmly.

‘I thought you found that out last night,’ he returned with a wicked little smile.

She blushed. Again.

Scarlet itched to stamp her foot in fury at herself. Blushing was hardly the way to convince John she had the upper hand.

‘Must you remind me of that?’ she threw at him.

‘No need to be embarrassed. Now, how about you send those photos to your mum whilst I go put some clothes on? Then we’ll get out of here.’

‘But you were going to answer some questions.’

‘You can walk and talk at the same time, can’t you? Women are always claiming they can multi-task.’

Scarlet wanted to hit him. But not as much as she wanted to kiss him. Oh Lord, she was one mixed-up girl at the moment!

‘Must you tease me all the time?’ she snapped.

He smiled. ‘Absolutely. I find you very sexy when you’re angry.’

‘Well it’s no wonder you’ve wanted to screw me silly all your life, then,’ she retorted, blue eyes flashing. ‘Because I’ve been bloody angry at you since the first day we met!’

He tried not to laugh, but he couldn’t help it. Neither could she. Her lips just twitched at first, then her chin started to quiver. And then they were both laughing, loud and hard.

Their laughter broke some of the sexual tension which had been steadily growing in Scarlet since she’d stepped out onto the balcony and spotted John sitting there with no shirt on. But even as she laughed she knew it would be wise to get out of this apartment as soon as possible. The physical chemistry between them was dangerously strong
and extremely seductive, which was perverse, since they didn’t see eye to eye about much. She was a person who valued family and community above all else. He was a loner who spurned involvement with others, even his family. She worked to live. He lived to work. Or he used to; she wasn’t sure what his work ethics were now that he was rich.

These last thoughts reminded Scarlet of all the questions she wanted to ask John. Questions which had always plagued her about him. She was relieved that he’d agreed to satisfy her curiosity, because what if he hadn’t? Scarlet doubted she would really have had the courage to leave. She was too close to achieving her goal of a baby. On top of that the prospect of more sex with John was a wickedly corrupting temptation, especially when she was alone in his half-naked presence. She needed to get him dressed, pronto, then get them both out of here.

J
OHN
made his way quickly back into the master bedroom where he threw on a white T-shirt, slipped on some ancient but comfy flip-flops, then reached for a white baseball cap which he’d bought last week. He’d discovered that even in winter the sun up here in Darwin could burn, especially now that he didn’t have a thick covering of scalp and facial hair to protect him.

When he returned to the living room, Scarlet was waiting for him with a roomy straw carry-all slung over her shoulder and a large-brimmed white sun-hat on her head.

John walked ahead of her to the door, opening it and waving her through before turning and locking up. Slipping the keys into his shorts pocket, he accompanied her along to the bank of lifts where they rode in companionable silence down to the lobby. Once there, he took her elbow and steered her out onto the pavement then safely across the road to the park opposite.

‘The park runs the full length of the Esplanade,’ he told her as they started walking along the main pathway which wound its way through the extensive lawns and gardens. ‘This path will lead us to the far end of the CBD, past Government House, which is a splendid old building, then over a walkway and down a lift to the newly developed
waterfront. I think you’ll be impressed with what they’ve done to what used to be a pretty dingy area.’

‘You’re right—the views of the harbour from down here are incredible! And different from up on your balcony. Do you think we could go out on the harbour one day?’ she asked whilst taking photos.

‘Of course. I’ll charter a boat. We’ll go sightseeing and I’ll show you how to fish. Fishing’s a recent hobby of mine.’

She stopped taking photos and looked at him. ‘I’m surprised. I thought you were a
terra firma
man.’

‘I thought I was too. But after my accident I couldn’t do too much for a few months. A friend suggested fishing and I found I loved it.’

‘My dad used to like fishing. But I never went with him. I always thought it would be boring.’

‘Not if you know where to fish and you have the right equipment. Then it’s quite exciting. And very satisfying. They’ll cook us what we catch on board the boat. If you like eating seafood, that is.’

‘Love it.’

‘That’s one thing we have in common, then.’

Scarlet laughed. ‘The only thing, I’ll warrant.’

‘No. Not the only thing,’ he said, his voice low and knowing.

Scarlet deliberately ignored his sexual overtone by walking over to read a commemorative plaque which had a list of names on it connected with the Second World War. Darwin had been the only city in Australia ever to be bombed during any of the world wars, she’d discovered during the Internet search about the city. Scarlet took a photo of the plaque, then a few more of the view.

‘What a lovely place Darwin is,’ she said.

‘I like it,’ he said.

‘So why don’t you live here permanently, John? Why go
back to South America? Come to think of it, why did you choose to work there in the first place? I mean, there are jobs for geologists here in Australia. You could have just come up here, or gone to one of the many mining towns in Western Australia. There’s no need to go to the other side of the world just to get away from …’ The question she really wanted to ask burst out. ‘Why
do
you hate your father so much, John?’

‘Wow,’ he said. ‘That’s quite a lot of questions in one hit. Look, why don’t we sit down over here?’ he said, directing her to a park bench that was under the shade of a tree. ‘It could take me a while to answer them all.’

‘Especially truthfully,’ she reminded him.

‘Scarlet, would I lie to you?’

‘In a heartbeat,’ she replied, and he smiled.

‘You know me too well.’

‘I know you don’t like talking about yourself.’

John shrugged. ‘I doubt you’ll find any of this happy listening, but what the hell? You wanted the truth.’

For a split second, he wondered if he could get away with lying to Scarlet. But only for a split second.

He wasn’t about to sugar-coat anything, either.

‘First things first,’ he said rather bluntly. ‘I’m actually not going to go back to Brazil. I recently sold my house in Rio. I plan to stay and work here in Australia.’

‘That’s a surprise! What made you decide to return home after all these years? I got the impression you loved living in South America.’

‘I did. I probably would have stayed living there indefinitely if my housekeeper—a truly sweet lady named Bianca whom I was very fond of—hadn’t been killed. Stabbed to death by a gang of street kids she’d been trying to help.’

‘Oh, John, that’s awful!’

‘It was. She was such a good woman. She used to go out every night and take food to the homeless. If I wasn’t away working or out clubbing for the night, I’d go with her—not because I was a saint like she was, but because I was worried about her safety. The places she used to go were downright dangerous. I tried to stop her going out alone when I wasn’t there, but she took no notice of me. She said she’d be fine. Said if she didn’t help those poor kids, who would?

“When I came home early one morning to find a police car parked outside my house, I knew something bad had happened to Bianca. I have to confess I went crazy when I found out she was dead. I wanted to kill the little bastards who did it to her. As it was, I beat the hell out of a couple of them. The police weren’t impressed, and gave me a warning. At the time, I didn’t give a damn. They weren’t doing anything that I could see to solve Bianca’s murder. Anyway, I knew if I stayed there, I might do something really stupid so I sold up and left.’

‘Just as well you did. Does your family know any of this?’

‘Of course not!’

‘But why ever not?’

‘Because it’s my private and personal business, not theirs.’

‘So they don’t know about your housekeeper being killed? Or that you’ve left South America for good? Or that you’re going to live and work here in Australia in future?’

‘Not yet. Wait a second,’ he went on quickly when he saw her mouth opening. ‘Let me finish before you get on your high horse and start tearing strips off me for being a secretive and unloving son. I will tell them. Well … not the bit about Bianca. Just that I’ve come home to Australia to
live and work. Meanwhile, they’re none the wiser and no one is getting hurt.’

Scarlet pressed her lips tightly together to stop herself from telling him that he was always hurting his family by his long absences, especially his mother. Carolyn had been quite upset when he’d left so soon after her party. She’d be even more upset if she knew he was up here in Darwin, holidaying, whilst she thought he was in Brazil working.

‘Now, if you must know the truth, I do not actually
hate
my father. My emotions where he is concerned are not that simple.’

Scarlet blinked. What on earth could have possibly happened to sour the relationship between father and son so?

‘You won’t know this since my parents don’t speak of it, but I was born a twin.’

‘A twin!’ Scarlet exclaimed, totally taken aback.

‘Yes. I had a brother, Josh, born a few minutes before me. We were identical twins. Identical in genes but, as is often the case, not identical in nature. He was the extrovert; I, the introvert. He was hyperactive and rather naughty, but a real little charmer. He could talk when he was just a toddler. I was quieter and much less communicative. People thought I was shy but I wasn’t. I was just … self-contained.’

Scarlet had an awful feeling about what was coming. After all, no twin brother named Josh had moved into the house opposite hers. She braced herself for bad news but it still shocked her.

‘Josh drowned in our back-yard pool when he was four,’ John went on. ‘Mum was on the phone one day and we were playing outside. Josh pulled a chair over to the childproof fence and attempted to climb over it. But he fell off the top of the fence and hit his head before toppling into the pool. I stood there for far too long in shock before running
screaming for my mother. By the time she pulled Josh out of the pool, he was dead.’

‘Oh, John,’ Scarlet choked out as tears welled up into her eyes. ‘How tragic.’

John stiffened when he saw the evidence of her sympathy. This was what he could not stand. This was why he’d never told anyone this story. Because he didn’t want to feel what he was feeling at that moment—as though he was somehow to blame for Josh’s death. Logic told him it couldn’t possibly have been his fault, but logic meant nothing to a four-year-old seeing his mother almost catatonic with shock and his father weeping in despair. It welled up in him again, the guilt and the grief. Because he’d loved Josh just as much as his parents. He’d been his twin brother. His flesh and blood. They’d been inseparable from birth.

But no one had cared about
his
grief.

John could not believe how painful he still found the memory. Damn it, he would not show weakness in front of Scarlet.

‘To cut a long story short,’ he said abruptly, ‘My father did something the night after Josh’s death which affected me very badly. When I saw him sitting in an armchair in our lounge, with his head in his hands, I ran up to him and put my arms around him. He pushed me away and told my mother to put me to bed, that he couldn’t stand to look at me.’

Scarlet sucked in sharply. What a dreadful thing for John’s father to say!

‘Later that night, he did come into my room to kiss me goodnight, but I turned my face away and refused to let him kiss me. He just shrugged and walked away. After that, I stopped speaking to him altogether for a very long time. In fact I totally ignored him for years. He didn’t seem to mind or care. He was no longer the father I’d once adored.
He was just an empty shell of a man. My mother could see what was going on but she was a mess herself for ages and didn’t seem to know what to say or do to make things right. She didn’t recover till she had Melissa. She was the one who insisted we sell our old house and move—for a fresh start, she’d said. It made no difference to Dad. Or to me. He became a grouch and a workaholic and I became what you know I became. An angry, resentful boy.’

Scarlet had started gnawing at her bottom lip to stop herself from weeping. What a sad, sad story. Her heart went out to John as she began to understand what had made him the way he was. How incredibly hurt he must have been. No wonder he retreated into himself. And no wonder he didn’t stay around his family for too long.

‘I’m surprised you’re as civil to your father as you are,’ she said with feeling.

‘He’s mellowed since he retired. I can’t say that I’ve totally forgiven or forgotten, but hatred and revenge never get you anywhere. Now that I’ve grown up, I can see that parents aren’t perfect. They’re just human beings. Josh had been the apple of Dad’s eye and Josh was dead. Grief can make you say dreadful things.’

He had said appalling things to Bianca’s family after she was killed, blaming them for not going with her that night. They’d been amazingly understanding of his grief and had not taken his accusations to heart. But he’d still felt terrible afterwards, once he calmed down. It was one of the reasons he’d given them his house and everything in it. To make it up to them.

‘Have you ever confronted your Dad over what he said and did that night?’ Scarlet asked, frowning thoughtfully.

‘No.’

‘At least your mother loved you and your brother equally,’ she pointed out.

‘I’m sure she did. But then Melissa came along, and Mum simply doted on her.’

‘All mothers dote on their daughters, John. It didn’t mean she loved you any less. To be fair to your mum, by then you were not the most lovable boy in the world.’

John laughed. ‘Trust you to make me stop pitying myself.’

‘That wasn’t my intention. But do you know what, John? Things might not have been quite the way they seemed back then. I’ve been thinking …’

John sighed a weary sigh. ‘What about this time?’

‘About what your father said that night. He might have meant he couldn’t stand to look at you because you reminded him of Josh. You were physically identical, after all. It might not have meant that he didn’t love you just as much as your brother.’

‘Pardon me, but I think his subsequent actions rather confirm that he didn’t. He had every opportunity over the years to be a loving, caring father to me but he wasn’t. He acted like I didn’t exist. You’ve no idea how jealous I used to be of
your
father. Now he was what a father should be.’

‘He was rather wonderful,’ Scarlet agreed. ‘But at least you had a great grandfather.’

‘True. Grandpa was very good to me. To be honest, if it wasn’t for him, I probably would have run away from home and ended up in jail.’

‘Oh, surely not?’ Scarlet protested.

‘Why not? Jails are full of angry young men, Scarlet. Neglected sons with little self-esteem and no goals in life. My grandfather gave me back my self-esteem, plus the goal of becoming a geologist. I was shattered when he died just
before my graduation. But even in death, he looked after my well-being by willing me some money. Quite a lot of money, actually. With it came a letter, telling me to travel and to see the world. So as soon as I graduated, I took off. First I went to Europe, but strangely Europe didn’t appeal to me all that much. Too many cities and not enough trees maybe! I took off again and travelled all around for about two years.

“Eventually I reached South America. By that time, I had run out of money so I had to find work or go home. As you can imagine, going home didn’t appeal all that much. Anyway, because I had no actual work experience, the only job I could get was with a speculative mining company who were looking for geologists to go places most people weren’t prepared to go. It was dangerous work, but the money was good, and I found I rather enjoyed taking risks. Over the last decade, I discovered a new emerald mine in Columbia, oil in Argentina and natural gas in Ecuador.

“In return, I got shot at several times, fell off a mountain, almost drowned in the Amazon and was bitten by more vicious insects than you could ever count. Still, for my blood, sweat and tears I got paid serious bucks. I was able to buy myself that house in Rio and this apartment here in Darwin. I now don’t have to take jobs which might get me killed!’ He smiled wryly. ‘I can even afford to support a child and give his or her mother enough financial freedom that she doesn’t have to work for the rest of her life. If she doesn’t want to,’ he added.