Ocean of Fire (11 page)

Several vessels had already left, but the dock was still bustling with activity. Two of Peter Cameron’s business associates were washing down the deck when the group arrived.

“Just in time to lend a hand,” the man at the bow greeted them. “If you girls are coming aboard, hold onto the rail. The deck’s very slippery.”

Philip had already stepped onto the yacht, and held out his hands to Nicole. As she placed hers into them, she noticed her father stick his head out of the entrance hatch. No doubt he’d heard the commotion of everyone arriving at once. Trisha had been right. His expression was murderous. She was almost inclined to do a double-take and head straight for the Sheraton, but he motioned to her, urging her to join him below.

“Want me to come with you?” Philip asked. He was still holding her hands and reluctantly she withdrew hers.

“I’m sure he wants to talk to me alone.” She was certain Philip had wanted to say something else to her, but because the others were within hearing range must have thought better of it. Robert was already there when she entered the galley. Father and son both had their blonde heads bent over some technical devices on the navigator’s desk.

“I wish I knew what was wrong with this. The damn thing was working fine on the way down, but all its reading now is gobbledygook,” Peter muttered crossly, holding up the small digital display unit which gave them their coordinates.

Nicole frowned. He was already in a bad mood. Peter Cameron hated nothing more than malfunctioning equipment, which meant that whatever he wanted to talk to her about would be presented in the worst possible light. She cleared her throat nervously.

“Oh there you are. Would you mind leaving us, Rob, and ensure no one else comes down here until I say so,” Peter commanded.

“Yeah sure,” Robert agreed.

Once they were alone, Peter faced his daughter, placing one of his hands on his hip. He was still leaning against the work bench, but the casual stance was contradicted by the hard set of his features. A muscle worked at his jaw, a sure sign he was furious.

“I can’t believe you went off with that man, Nicole. How far did he go? Did he seduce you?”

“Dad!”
Nicole gasped, stunned by the contempt in his voice.

“Answer me, damn it.”

“No, he didn’t seduce me.”

“But he kissed you. He touched you, didn’t he?
Didn’t he?”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“There’s everything wrong with it when it’s with
my
daughter on
my
yacht.” He reached for something in the tray beside the bench. It was one of her slide-combs. She’d discovered it missing when she arrived back at her room, but thought she’d lost it on the street. Peter threw the evidence down onto the table top, but Nicole didn’t move to retrieve it.

“How far did he really go, Nicole?”

“We just sat watching the fireworks. That’s all. We didn’t come down here,” she insisted.

“You’ve got a set of keys. He would have known that.”

“I don’t believe this. I’m twenty-two, Dad, old enough to know what I’m doing.”

“I don’t think so. He works for Legal Aid. Did you know that?”

“Yes. He told me. But what’s that got to do with anything?”

“I should have looked further into his background. People don’t work for a government organization like that unless they can’t make it in private practice, which begs the question, what does he have to hide?”

“He has nothing to hide, and he likes what he does.”

“He likes pawing you too, and I want it to stop. He’s got no respect, no manners, and above all else not an ounce of class.” Nicole made to protest again, but her father went on. “Look, I can understand why you’d be taken with him. He’s a handsome devil, and no doubt can be charming when he wants to be, but I don’t trust him. He’s after something, but he won’t be getting it from us... I want you to stay away from him from now on.”

Nicole saw red, and it wasn’t the color of her hair. “You can’t make me,” she raged.

“But I can make things pretty damned difficult if you do.”

Nicole didn’t doubt he’d try. She almost hated him at that particular point in time, How dare he play God with her life? But when her father wanted things his way he could be a dangerous adversary. Now she understood the significance of Philip’s words when they’d first met. He’d known Peter would be against them forming a relationship from the start. Could the reason for him wanting it to remain merely a physical one be because he knew there was no hope for them? What man would want to wage a war against a prominent businessman simply to date his daughter? Particularly when the man was good-looking enough have any woman he wanted.

She should have known their liaison had been doomed from the start, but the regret she felt hurt far more than she ever thought it would. Nicole had come to feel something for Philip Pelayo, something more than desire, something so deep it touched the very core of her being.

Please let him still want me, she pleaded silently, as she turned abruptly away from her father. She didn’t want to listen to him anymore. All she wanted was to feel Philip’s strong arms around her, to see his golden brown eyes melting into her own as they did moments before he kissed her.

“Where are you going? I haven’t finished with you yet,” Peter bellowed.

“Well, I have,” she snapped back.

Suddenly there was a screech from above, followed by a loud thump.

“I told you the deck was wet,” a male voice reproved.

Nicole hurried top-side to see Trisha sprawled against the cabin, gripping her ankle. She moaned loudly, “God that hurts.”

Philip was beside her in an instant. “Let me have a look,” he commanded. “Can you move it?”

“Yes- yes- but it hurts- Owww!” she grimaced, as he proceeded to undo the strap of her sandal.

“What’s she done?” Peter asked. coming up behind Nicole. “That thump was loud enough to wake dead sea dogs.”

Nicole seethed. How dare he make light of the situation after the argument they’d just had.

“A bad sprain by the look of it. We had better get some ice onto it and have a doctor look at it,” Philip said without looking up.

“I’ll get it,” Jim offered, hurrying past Nicole and her father. The worried expression on his face was enough to confirm he’d grown quire fond of Trisha over the past few days.

Peter told Robert to hail a taxi. When they had one waiting, he urged Jim and Nicole to accompany her. Then he turned to Philip. “I want to talk to you.”

Philip glanced at Nicole. She stared back at him. This could be the last time she ever saw him, she thought sadly. She held no hope of a future for them. Her father would make sure of it. Philip smiled and blew her a kiss. Then he turned to follow Peter back to the yacht.

Nicole watched his departing back, feeling a sharp pain in her heart, as she realized she would probably never see him again. Any moment now her father would order him to stay away from her, possibly even threaten him. What man would want to take that kind of a risk?

It was a long wait for them at the doctor’s surgery. There were three people before Trisha, so it was close to an hour before she was called in.

“She’s been in there for ages. I sure hope Philip was right about it just being a sprain,” Jim remarked finally, breaking the endless silence between them. Nicole glanced up from the magazine article she’d been perusing.

“So do I,” she murmured.

“Even if it is, I doubt she’ll be able to go on your trip.”

Nicole hadn’t given their holiday an ounce of thought all afternoon, and wondered if she should just cancel it. It would mean her father would lose his money, which would serve him right, but then she’d miss out on seeing some of Australia’s most spectacular wilderness. Nicole wondered for a moment if he’d let her go on her own. She didn’t care if he objected. How dare he treat her like a child! She made her decision then and there. She’d go to spite him.

The surgery door opened, and Trisha emerged with a crutch under each arm and her ankle swathed in bandages.

“I’m going to have to get used to these,” she muttered, starting to make her way awkwardly across the waiting room floor. Jim got up to guide her into the seat beside his. “It’s a sprain all right, and bruised from where I hit it against the railing. He advised me to take plenty of pain killers and to stay off it for a least a week. I asked about the trip, Nicole, and he said under no circumstances was I to go traveling. I’m so sorry. I know how much you wanted to do this.” There were tears in her eyes. Nicole knew they were more from disappointment than pain.

“I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve decided to go on my own,” she replied.

“But it wouldn’t be the same,” Trisha protested. “Do you think your father would let you?”

“I don’t care whether he does or not. I’m doing it anyway.” Now wasn’t the time to tell her about the argument they had over Philip. Trisha needed to rest, and the sooner they got her back to the hotel the better.

Nicole didn’t realize how tired she was until they arrived back at their room. When Trisha was lying on her bed with her foot up on several pillows, she decided to have a rest herself.

Unfortunately her mother wasn’t about to let her get out of the presentation dinner that evening. She suspected it was so she and Peter could keep an eye on her, to ensure she didn’t sneak off somewhere with Philip. She couldn’t understand why they were bothering to go.
Gail Warning
hadn’t secured a position.

She didn’t enjoy the dinner, and barely noticed the pomp and ceremony surrounding the prize-giving. Robert urged her to have a look at the trophies with him, which to her was the highlight of the evening, for they were spectacular works of art, some several feet tall. Of course, for such a prestigious race only the best would do.

After the presentations were over, her father came around to her side of the table and sat down beside her.

“So, did you get rid of him?” Nicole said sarcastically, once her brother was out of hearing range.

“That matter has been dealt with,” he replied tightly. “I have nothing further to say about it.”

“I take it that means he won’t be sailing back to Sydney with you.”

“I’m warning you, Nicole. Not another word. What I want to talk about is your holiday.”

“I know. You want to tell me I can’t go. I’ve already figured that out,” she snapped.

“Keep your voice down, I can’t see any other way around it. I asked your mother if she wanted to go, but we’ve both seen Tasmania, and –“

“Has it crossed you mind that I’m quite capable of driving around by myself. I do it in Sydney all the time, and Tasmania is safer then the mainland. Everyone says so.”

He stared at her for a moment. “How did I know you would say that? Why must you always fight your mother and I at every turn?”

“Has it ever occurred to you that it might be because I have my own life to lead, my own decisions to make. You might have managed to get rid of Philip, but I won’t let you ruin my holiday as well.”

Several people were watching them now, but Nicole didn’t care. She’d had enough. Abruptly she rose to her feet. “I’m going, and you can’t stop me. I’ll see you in Sydney when I get back.”

“Nicole!” he called after her.

She snuck a glance at him over her shoulder as she walked away. His eyes were bulging and his mouth hung open. No doubt he’d be pounding on her door once the function was over, but she was too angry to care. How dare he talk about Philip as though he was a ‘matter to be dealt with?’

She decided to find out what room he was in. The receptionist in the lobby told her, but when she rapped loudly on his door there was no answer. She had to see if there was any hope for them. Going away without knowing how he felt about her would be a torture she doubted she could endure, but there wasn’t a thing she could do about it now, and reluctantly headed for her own room.

Surprisingly her father didn’t come pounding on her door, and she finally fell into a restless sleep some time after midnight.

Nicole arrived at Philip’s door again early the next morning to find one of the housemaids cleaning the room. He couldn’t have already left, she thought in disbelief, but the proof was right there in front of her. He hadn’t cared about her after all. She shouldn’t really be surprised - but it still hurt. It hurt far too much. The last thing she wanted to do was go home to live with her parents. Nicole made another decision as she walked sadly back to her own room. She
would
go on the tour, and the moment she got back to Sydney she’d move into a place of her own. It was long overdue.

Trisha was still in bed, but sitting up. She watched Nicole scurry around the room, throwing things into her travel bag.

“I’m glad you’re going ahead with it. If it means anything to you, I think your father behaved abominably,” her friend said empathically.

“Thanks Trish. I probably won’t enjoy it very much, but I really need to get away right now. One thing’s for sure. The moment I get back to Sydney I’m moving out.”

“Good for you. You could always come and live with Mum and I for a while. Now that I’m not studying anymore, the third room can be turned back into a bedroom.”

“Thanks. I’ll give it some thought while I’m away.” She bent to kiss her friend goodbye.

“I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself,” Trisha called after her as she left the room. Nicole thought for a moment that she detected a strange, enigmatic note in her voice, but decided it was most likely her own anxiety getting the better of her. The last thing she wanted was to come across either of her parents and get into another argument.

She should have known her luck wouldn’t hold, because Peter was waiting for her in the lobby.

“You’ll have to physically stop me,” she asserted. “Right here in front of everybody, because I’ve made up my mind. I’m going.”