Daniel's Bride (12 page)

Daniel narrowed his gaze. “Forgiveness sounds a very
honorable characteristic, but it’s hardly practical.” His brothers, for
example, were growing less and less forgivable in his book as the days went by,
simply because they didn’t have the decency to come back to Australia to visit
Arthur. That was disgraceful

“That’s an interesting attitude, but I disagree. I think
it’s the most practical thing in the world to be able to do.”

“Practical? How so?”

“Because you need to do it for your own sanity. I’m not
saying it’s easy, no way is it an easy thing to do but if you don’t put
whatever it is behind you, you might just end up being consumed by it. It could
wreck your life.”

“If somebody has wronged me, why on earth should I forgive
them?”

“Because if you don’t, they still hold power over you.
They’ve moved on, they don’t care about you anymore. But you haven’t moved on.”

“Sounds like you’ve got your counselors hat on again,
Melinda.”

She acknowledged that with a nod to her head. “Maybe I have.
But forgiving is all about the person who has been wronged able to let go of
the experience and get on with their life.” She leant forward. Her eyes were
fiery. He hadn’t seen that fire in her before. A sudden jolt of awareness
ripped through him.

She went on, “If somebody did a terrible thing to you, and
nearly ruined your life, do you think that person actually cares about you? Of
course they don’t. They don’t give a crap. They wouldn’t have done it in the
first place if they cared. Yet you, the victim in all this, you live the rest
of your life hating them with so much passion and energy, resenting them, and
everything you do is clouded by that experience and you know what that means?”

He could guess but he said, “No. What does it mean?”

She tapped her fist on the table. “They have this power over
you. They are still winning. And they are always still winning, unless you can
let it go.” A shadow passed over her eyes and he knew she was thinking about
her ex fiancé again.

She went on, “So if they don’t care, and you’re getting
twisted up over it, who is the one suffering? Them? Or you? It doesn’t leave
you a lot of choices.”

He drummed his fingers on the table top. “I can think of a
very sweet choice, Mel. It’s called revenge.”

Her hand went up to the pendant automatically. “It can
backfire very easily. Or make it a whole new ballgame.”

He inclined his head, mesmerized by the way she ran her
forefinger around the pendant. “Not always. And it serves a purpose.”

She was thoughtful a minute. “Are you saying there’s
somebody you’d seek revenge on?”

“No. There isn’t.” Her hand dropped away. “I would never get
to the stage where I allowed anyone to do something that would result in my
feeling the need to seek revenge.” He found himself grinning at the serious
contemplation on her face. “Does that answer your question, counselor?”

“No. But considering I am here with you, and we have this
bizarre arrangement, I can see that you probably don’t get into situations
where it becomes an issue. You’re always one step ahead. Which is just being
clever.”

He glanced again at the pendant. “So your mother believed
that by wearing that pendant it would protect you from deviant behavior?”

Mel shrugged. “Actually, I think it was more a reminder that
we need to be strong, just like Maria. She wasn’t very old, she was barely a
teen I think, but she stood up for what she believed in, even when her life was
being threatened. You have to be a pretty tough character to do that. Most of
us would fold in no time.”

He watched her closely. “I’ve never met your mother but she
sounds interesting. I like the idea that some traditions get passed down. We
should invite her over for dinner sometime.” He managed a smile. “After all,
she is my mother-in-law.”

Mel’s eyebrows rose sharply. “I don’t think that’s a good
idea at all. She thinks I’m a live-in housekeeper. How would I explain inviting
her over for dinner with my boss?”

“I’ll figure it out. But I’d like to meet her. You seem very
close to her, and you visit her a lot. Yet you don’t talk about her much.”

“I guess that’s because… I don’t want to confuse her. By
meeting you.”

The waiter appeared, and handed them their menus. Daniel
cleared his throat and flipped it open. “How hungry are you?”

“Starving,” she admitted. “I had coffee and a muffin at a
café down the road but that was it. I’ve been saving my appetite.”

“Good decision,” he murmured, as he scanned the menu.
“Choosing is going to be difficult.”

He watched her as she deliberated over the choices. Her hair
was straight today. She must have straightened it after her shower and it fell
around her face, sleek and glistening. She absently reached up to push some
strands behind her ears and he noticed she had small silver earrings in her
lobes. She turned the page.

He focused quickly back on the menu. If he was going to sit
here all evening admiring his wife, then he was going to find himself in big
trouble.

But the fact was…He glanced up again. When he’d first met
Mel he had considered her plain. Average. Not the type of woman he would look
twice at. Tonight, however, he’d been stunned to see just how beautiful she
looked. She had transformed herself into a woman any man would be intensely
aware of. Gone were the jeans and t-shirts, and in their place a sleeveless bold
pink dress that draped across her body as if it had been designed just for her.

“Decision made. I’ll have the seared tuna.” She set the menu
down.

“No appetizer?”

She shook her head. “I’m planning on dessert.” She beckoned
to a couple at a neighbouring table who had just had a mouth-watering chocolate
concoction delivered to them.

He closed his menu as the waiter arrived and when they’d
ordered, he asked, “So besides the café, what else have you seen?”

“I walked along the beach. Took off my shoes and waded
through the surf. It was surprisingly warm. Quite a few people were having a
swim.”

“Not tempted to go for a dip yourself?”

Her eyebrows arched. “Not unless I want to be arrested for
swimming nude in a public place.”

Wrong question to ask. Now he pictured her in the water, her
hair around her shoulders, rising from the sea, water skimming off that
beautiful straight hair, down her neck, over that pendant to her breasts, as
she rose and rose out of the water…

He drained his glass.

“How many businesses do you have up here?” she asked
suddenly and he could have kissed her with relief. He leant back in his chair,
and gripped his glass of wine like a lifeline. “We’ve got two plants in this
area,” he began.

After dinner, they ordered desserts. Mel, the chocolate,
Daniel a lemon meringue pudding.

They’d decided to forgo coffee and look for a place along
the strip when they left. The hour was late but the night still felt young.
Which surprised him considering the early start they’d had.

He eyed her dessert and said, “Sure you can handle that?”

“Are you kidding?” She took a spoon and dug into the
chocolate mixture, lifted it to her lips and tasted.

“Oh. My. Gosh.” She closed her eyes with pleasure in a way
that made him momentarily forget he was in a public place. “This is divine.”

He quickly took a taste of his own.

“Verdict?” she prompted as she dug into hers again.
Fascinated, he couldn’t take his eyes of her mouth, off her tongue as she
licked off some cream, of the movement of her jaw, her throat as she swallowed.
“So. What do you think?”

“Not bad.” His throat hurt to speak.

Her eyes widened. ”Not bad?”

“It’s good. But I wouldn’t close my eyes in ecstasy over it.
Unless…” He pushed the plate towards her. “You want to try for yourself. Give
it the once over and see if it comes up to the standard of the chocolate.”

“I never thought you’d ask.”

He bit back a smile as she wiped her spoon on the serviette,
and dug in. He went still as he watched her. She brought the spoon to her
mouth, closed her lips and then she looked straight at him.

Her eyes widened, and his gaze slipped to her lips as she
closed her mouth around the spoon. Warmth flared to life inside him, and the
pull of attraction thundered through him, intensifying as she stared back,
bewildered. A mirror to what he felt. Slowly she swallowed.

She set the spoon back down, and as if in slow motion, she
reached for her glass, raised it to her lips, took a long drink of wine.

His throat constricted and he had to drag the words out.
“What was the verdict?” Surprisingly, his voice was even.

   “The verdict was…” Her voice had a husky edge
to it. “That this is really good. Just the right amount of citrus and
sweetness. And now.” She pushed her plate to him and met his stare. “Now you
have to try mine.”

He dug into the chocolate then looked straight at her.
Slowly, he took the spoon to his mouth. Her cheeks flushed scarlet.

He tasted, swallowed.

Around them, the laughter and music seemed to have stopped,
and the only sound he could hear was his own breathing.

Finally, she asked, her voice low. “So what did you think?”

That this was Mel. Patchwork Mel. A woman he had felt secure
marrying because she offered no visible reason to be tempted.

“I agree. The chocolate is definitely the dessert loaded
with sin.” He pushed the plate back. He needed to clear his mind. “But I’ll
stick with the lemon.”

Daniel survived SeaWorld. In fact, Mel thought as she
glanced at him next to her in the taxi, he may even have enjoyed some of it.
Right now, though, he was staring moodily out the window, his sunglasses on his
head. She said, “You can admit it now.”

He glanced around. “Admit what?”

“That maybe you enjoyed yourself, just a little.”

He nodded, his eyebrows knit together. “Surprisingly, I did.
And from the screaming on that first ride, I gather you did.”

“Both terrified and exhilarated. I’m glad I got to go.”

He shook away her thanks, was even, she thought, a little
embarrassed by it. “Reality will hit us before much longer. Once we’re back
home, life will return to how it’s meant to be.”

She looked away. “It feels like we’ve been away forever.”

At the hotel, a doorman opened their doors and as they
climbed out, Daniel hesitated. “Mel?”

She grabbed her tote with her souvenirs and glanced up.
“Yes?”

“I’ve got something on this evening. I might be tied up.”

“You mentioned you had a meeting.” They walked through the
doors which closed with a gentle whoosh behind them.

“It could take longer than I planned. It’s best we don’t
catch up for dinner.”

He checked his phone and when he looked up, she said, “Are
you sure?”

He nodded. “Order in room service. Watch TV. You go on up. I
need to confirm our check out time for tomorrow.” He gestured to the reception
desk. “I requested a late check out.”

Why did she have the feeling he was trying to get rid of
her. They’d both had a good time. Hadn’t they?

“Sure.” She tightened her grip on her bag, suddenly wanting,
needing, to be out of here. She felt oddly humiliated, as if she’d just been
told to go to her room, and she didn’t understand why. She was about to step to
the elevator bank when she stopped and turned. He was watching her strangely,
the taut planes of his cheekbones pronounced.

She said, “What is the plan for tomorrow morning.”

“We fly out of Coolangatta airport after lunch. I have
meetings all morning which is I why I requested a late checkout. So be ready to
leave around one-thirty.”

“Okay.” She swallowed hard as disappointment welled in her
chest. “Goodnight, Daniel.”

But he was already being served by the receptionist.

He’d behaved like a heel. A complete bastard. Correction. He
hadn’t just behaved like one. He was one.

He had one brief meeting scheduled in fifteen minutes, a
meeting that amounted to a Scotch in the bar with one of his managers, a
laptop, and analysing projection figures. It was hands on, an aspect of work
that most CEOs had long left behind, but he liked it. To some it meant he had
little faith in his employees but that was far from the truth. Christies hired
the best. Daniel just liked to see what was going on with his own eyes. It
would take thirty minutes, an hour tops, and then his evening was free.

Yet the thought of another torturous dinner with Mel was
unthinkable. He was not going to put himself through it. He would order room
service and do what he’d suggested Mel do. Watch TV. Catch up on reading.

He confirmed the late check out with reception, and read the
one message left for him. It was putting back the meeting tomorrow by twenty
minutes but nothing that altered the rest of his day.

He turned towards the ground floor bar and made his way
over, passing through the poker machines, attended, he noted, mainly by senior
citizens. The bar was casual, more upmarket than a sports bar but still
something Hugh would describe as slumming it. He was surprised to see his
Operations Manager waiting and already booting up his laptop. Now the meeting
would finish earlier which meant the evening just stretched out longer ahead of
him.

He ordered drinks, shook hands with his manager, and for a
moment his mind went to Mel. That look on her face in the foyer had been a
stark look of rejection. Just as quick he shut it down. Today was a mistake.
They’d behaved like tourists when their arrangement was nothing more than
business. Last night at the restaurant had been a severe aberration. As a
result, boundaries were getting blurred, and dangerously so.

He pulled the laptop around so he could view it, leant
forward and forced Mel from his mind as he focused on what he did best. Work.
They both had their own parts to play. None if it involved what he had felt
last night. And he hoped that by the time they touched down in Sydney tomorrow,
the attraction sitting uncomfortably in every part of his body would be gone.
For good.