Contract with Consequences (6 page)

B
ECAUSE
she had a window seat and her head was too fuzzy to read, Scarlet spent most of the four-and-a-half-hour flight to Darwin staring down at the landscape below. With no clouds in the sky, there was nothing to hinder her view of what was really an incredible sight. What a big country Australia was, big and rugged and mostly uninhabited. The last frontier, some people called it.

Scarlet had never flown over the outback of Australia before. Or
been
in the outback, for that matter. Holidays before her dad had died had been confined to trips to Sydney, or the Gold Coast. Once, they’d gone to the Blue Mountains where they’d visited the Three Sisters and the Jenolan Caves. After her dad had died, she and her mother hadn’t gone on holidays for years. Eventually, they had started going to Fiji each year, because it was reasonably close to Australia and good value for money.

She’d never been to Darwin. But she knew quite a bit about the place. Or she did now, having looked it up on the Internet this past week. Scarlet was not a girl who ever liked to appear ignorant. Up till now her knowledge of the capital city of the Northern Territory had been rather superficial and sketchy. Although she already knew that Darwin had been struck by a cyclone in the seventies, she hadn’t realised it had happened on Christmas Day, of all
days, which she found very sad. She also hadn’t appreciated the devastation it had caused. The photographs of the aftermath had been horrendous. Understandably, it had taken decades to rebuild the city but it was now a thriving mining town and tourist Mecca, the gateway to Kakadu National Park and lots of other famous Aboriginal sites. Its harbourside position in the extreme north of Australia meant its climate was very hot and humid in the summer, but wonderfully mild in the winter.

She’d dithered considerably over what to bring, in the end packing probably more than she would need. But it had been so hard to choose. Scarlet had always loved nice clothes, and had a wardrobe full of outfits for every occasion. Her mother had thought she was crazy putting in a couple of pretty dresses, but that was because she believed Scarlet was going to spend her ‘holiday’ either lazing around the pool of the hotel she’d supposedly booked, or going on day bus-tours, all of which required nothing more than Bermuda shorts, solid shoes, a hat and insect repellent. Her mother had stopped criticising her choice of wardrobe when Scarlet reminded her about that nice man she might meet.

‘Who knows?’ she’d added for good measure. ‘He might ask me out to dinner!’

Which she’d assumed John would at some stage.

But what if he didn’t? Scarlet now wondered.

During the past week, Scarlet had tried not to think about what John’s plans were for the next ten days. For what was the point? She’d already agreed to his terms, whatever they were.

But, now that the moment was at hand, it was almost impossible not to wonder, and worry. Maybe she should have warned him that she was a bit of a lemon in the bedroom. It was one thing to have private fantasies where she
stripped off without a qualm and had multiple orgasms every single time she had sex. The reality was totally different. She was rather shy at being naked in front of a man.

Her stomach tightened as she tried to imagine what it was going to be like, having sex with John. For some crazy reason she was terrified of disappointing him. She wanted him to find pleasure in her body.

The announcement that they’d begun their descent into Darwin tightened her stomach further. If Scarlet hadn’t been so besieged by nervous tension, she might have noticed that she’d stopped thinking about what she’d come to Darwin to achieve. All her thoughts were on one subject and one subject only: John.

Seeking distraction, she stared once more at the ground below, surprised to see that the red and brown of the outback had given way to a greener landscape, one with lots of trees and, yes, water out to the left of the plane. It looked like a harbour but obviously not Darwin harbour. There were no houses along the foreshore and not many boats on the water. Of course, it always took a good while for a commercial jet to descend into an airport, so they weren’t over Darwin yet.

When the plane banked sharply, the setting sun shone straight into Scarlet’s eyes. She automatically shut them, then kept them shut, always having found landing stressful, though this time her stresses were many and varied.

The landing seemed to take for ever, but exiting the plane was relatively quick, thank goodness, as her seat was right down the back, not far from the exit. She walked across the tarmac towards the terminal building, her only thought at that moment being that every step brought her closer to John.

John stood at a window in the arrivals area, scanning the passengers as they left the plane. He spotted Scarlet
immediately, the rays of the setting sun bouncing gold off her blonde hair which was down and blowing in the breeze. She was wearing jeans and a white jacket, with a white-and-blue top underneath. She looked utterly gorgeous, sexy and … very tense. Her forehead was scrunched into a frown and her walk was fast and anxious, passing several other passengers before entering the terminal building.

Clearly, she didn’t see him standing nearby, although her eyes were darting around the place. When he stepped forward to make his presence known, she gave him a tight smile, obviously very nervous indeed. At her request, he led her to the nearest ladies’ room, waiting patiently outside for her return, using the time to gather his thoughts and assess his reaction to her arrival.

There was only one word to describe the way he was feeling.

Excited. More excited than he’d been in years. Not just sexual excitement, though that was there as well. Hell, yes! He’d had a hard-on for days. But there was another excitement firing him up: the excitement which came from rising to meet a challenge.

During the last week or so John had given a lot of thought to why he was doing this. He’d finally come to the conclusion that it was his male ego that had directed his offer to Scarlet. There wasn’t anything mysterious or confusing about it. It was his competitive spirit coming to the fore. He, John Mitchell, was going to do what no other man could do. His intense desire to give Scarlet a baby wasn’t just sexual, it was
primal
. Man doing what he was put on earth to do: propagate.

Scarlet had been spot on when she’d said having a child was a basic drive for men as well as for women. It was.

All these realisations had led John to approach his time with Scarlet as much more than an opportunistic affair. It
was an important project, to be researched and carried out with meticulous attention to detail. When he’d been looking for oil in Argentina he hadn’t just lucked upon the discovery. It had taken months of painstaking work, both physical and intellectual. So he’d set about researching the reasons for an otherwise healthy woman not conceiving with the same dogged determination. After reading every article on the Internet on the subject, he’d come to the conclusion that Scarlet’s most likely problem was stress, something he’d already suspected. She needed to relax more and stop obsessing about having a baby.

Which was where he came in. His job was to relax her, and the best way to relax her was through sex. Not just ordinary old sex—great sex. The kind which would eventually make the woman forget everything but having her partner deep inside her. John had concluded that Mother Nature had created orgasms for a reason, so making sure that Scarlet had fun was his number one priority.

Luckily, John knew his way around a woman’s body very well indeed. Knew what pleasured them. Knew what was likely to satisfy them. Scarlet had obviously had some negative experiences where the opposite sex was concerned. It made sense that she’d been turned off men to a degree.

She’d probably expect him to make a pass tonight. All the more reason why he wouldn’t. Let her be impressed with his gentlemanly manners and his apartment. It was a very nice apartment. He’d give her one of the two guest rooms, the one which opened out onto the balcony with a view of the harbour, the same balcony his bedroom opened onto. Tomorrow, he would take her sightseeing during the day, wine and dine her in the evening, then make love to her afterwards. Romantic sex, the kind with silk sheets and candles.

John’s mouth quirked. Unfortunately, he didn’t have silk sheets or candles. He wasn’t that kind of guy. Damn. Still, perhaps it was for the best not to get too romantic—it might … confuse the issue.

Such thinking brought a rueful laugh to his lips. Scarlet King, fall in love with
him
? Not bloody likely!

Scarlet felt marginally better by the time she emerged from the ladies’ room. Besides a much-needed trip to the loo, she’d taken off her jacket and brushed her hair. But the sight of John standing there brought a swarm of butterflies to her stomach. She still couldn’t get used to how sexy she found him. He looked very attractive, dressed in fawn cargo shorts and a white polo shirt which highlighted his tan, as well as his broad-shouldered, very fit body.

She also couldn’t get used to the way he kept looking at her, like she was a freshly cooked pizza and he a starving Italian. His obvious desire was both flattering and nerve-wracking at the same time. Her pulse-rate definitely moved up several notches.

Scooping in a deep breath, she hooked her bag over her right shoulder, draped her jacket over her left arm and moved towards him, fiercely aware of the movements slow walking and fast breathing were creating in her female body. The soft rise and fall of her breasts. The sway of her hips. Lord, but she was blushing now!

Thankfully, his eyes had by then moved in the direction of the nearby carousel where the luggage was coming out.

‘What does your bag look like?’ he asked, glancing back over his shoulder at her.

‘It’s black with a big pink ribbon tied to the handle. There it is now,’ she said, pointing.

John strode over and scooped her bag off the carousel, his eyebrows lifting when he felt the weight of it. ‘I only
asked you to come for ten days, Scarlet,’ he said with dry amusement as he steered her towards the exit, dragging the bag behind them. ‘Not for life.’

‘I hate going away anywhere and getting caught with either not enough clothes or all the wrong ones.’

‘Can’t say it’s a problem I have often.’

‘You’re not a female.’

‘Which is rather a good thing,’ he said with a wry little smile.

Scarlet ground to a halt and stared up at him.

‘What?’ he said.

‘Do I know you at all, John Mitchell? I thought I did. I thought I had you pegged as that introverted, antisocial pain-in-the-neck kid from across the street who’d grown up into an irritatingly gorgeous but pain-in-the-neck adult. Instead, suddenly, I find out you’re nothing like that at all. You’re actually quite witty and charming and … and …’

‘Maybe you never knew the real John Mitchell,’ he countered.

‘Obviously I didn’t. What other surprises do you have in store for me?’

‘Shall we go and find out?’ he said, taking her elbow again and leading her out to the visitors’ car-park.

His SUV didn’t surprise her, despite being relatively new and relatively unused. But the sheet of paper waiting on the passenger seat did. It was the printout of a medical bill of health.

She shook her head from side to side as she read it. ‘It was very thoughtful of you to do this, John,’ she said.

‘I just didn’t want to you to worry about anything at any stage. I wasn’t going to offer you less than what you were getting at that clinic. I’m quite sure your anonymous donor had a similar clearance.’

‘Yes. Yes, he did,’ she said, frowning. ‘I should have thought to ask you, but I didn’t. It was silly of me.’

‘Not silly. Just human. You’ve been upset lately. And very busy. But you would have thought of it eventually, and you would have worried. Now, you don’t have to.’

‘No,’ she said, and smiled over at him. ‘I don’t. Thank you again, John. For everything.’

‘Don’t start canonising me yet, Scarlet.’

‘I see,’ she said, and gave him a much more typical Scarlet look. Very droll. ‘I’ll try not to jump to saintly conclusions about you in future.’

‘That would be wise.’

By the time they left the airport, the sun had set and night was only a few minutes away. Despite the roads into the city being well lit, it wasn’t easy for a newcomer to Darwin to see much during the short drive to the city, so John didn’t bother doing the tourist-guide bit of pointing things out to her. Scarlet did remark on how good the road was. John explained that most of the infrastructure was fairly new and well planned, one positive legacy of the cyclone. In just over ten minutes, they were entering the Central Business District which naturally, was a lot smaller than Sydney’s.

‘It all looks very neat and tidy,’ Scarlet commented as he drove up Stuart Street then turned left into the Esplanade which was one of the best streets in Darwin to live in, in John’s opinion. As well as being right on top of the CBD, it was facing the water in a south-westerly direction which meant you could still see the magnificent sunsets as well as get the advantage of the sea breezes.

His apartment was towards the southerly end of the street in a multi-storeyed building whose walls were cement rendered in an attractive grey-blue colour. There were lots of balconies facing the water, all of them enclosed
with glass panels and black railings. The gutterings, trim and window frames were all black which looked extremely smart indeed. The garages were in the basement, with John having two allotted spaces for himself and guests. He parked in one, then helped Scarlet out before removing her bag from the back. She didn’t say a word as he led her over to the lift. Maybe she was worrying that he would pounce the moment they were alone.

Her head whipped round to stare at him when he pressed the top floor button.

‘You live in a penthouse?’ she asked, taken aback.

‘Not exactly. Penthouses usually occupy the whole top floor. There are two top-floor apartments of equal size, one of which is mine.’