you later?”
Please say “yes,” she silently begged. In response, Charles’s hearty chuckle filled her ear.
“Not a good time, eh? Okay, then, I’ll leave you to it. But make sure you call me back later today.”
“Yes, certainly. I’ll do that. Goodbye.”
“Anna, don’t hang up!”
She sighed. “Yes?”
“I’m counting on you. I need my son with me.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Thank you, darling girl.”
He disconnected the call and Anna felt her shoulders sag with the reminder of what he expected of her.
“Bad news?” Judd asked.
“No, not really,” Anna hedged.
“Anything I can help with?”
She fought back the strangled laugh that rose in her throat. If only he knew. But no, the last thing she could do was divulge the details of that phone call. Not yet, anyway. She shook her head and pushed her phone back in her bag.
“It was just work, I can deal with it later. I’m starving,” she said, trying to shift the conversation onto safer ground. “How about that lunch you promised me?”
“Your wish is my command,” Judd said, taking her hand again and lifting it to his lips.
His blue eyes gleamed, letting Anna know in no uncertain terms that he was definitely open to more than just lunch. Again that surge of heat swirled deep inside her, making her body tighten in anticipation. She fought to paint a smile on her lips. This was all going to be so much harder than she had ever imagined.
On the short drive to Hahndorf, Charles’s words kept echoing around in her head, I need my son with me. An unexpected flash of anger rose within her. Charles was so bent on reuniting with his long-lost son that he’d completely forgotten he had a daughter right by his side. A daughter who understood his wine importation and distribution business better, almost, than her own father. A daughter who’d spent her whole life stepping up in an attempt to fill the near insurmountable gap left when Cynthia had taken Judd to Australia.
Anna wondered again about the contents of the letter that weighed so heavily in her handbag. She knew Charles was planning on offering Judd an incentive to return, but he hadn’t shared the details with her. Whatever carrot he’d chosen to dangle, what would it mean to the sister who didn’t even remember Judd? The one who worked so hard to please her father, for no reward other than his love and hard-won approval? Anna adored Charles with every breath in her body. He’d been the only father figure she’d ever known, but she worried that he’d overstepped the mark with this obsession with Judd and that he’d damage his relationship with Nicole irrevocably.
“What sort of work do you do that they need to call you when you’re on vacation?”
Judd’s voice interrupted her thoughts and made her start. She’d been dreading this question and had already decided that a vague response would be her best bet.
“Oh, I’m a P.A.”
“You must be pretty important to your boss if he can’t keep from calling you.”
Anna forced her features to relax into a smile. “I’ve worked for him since I left school. We’re probably closer than most boss/employee relationships.”
She caught Judd’s piercing look before his eyes resumed their surveillance of the road in front of them. He began to slow the car as they approached a township, and Anna let out an involuntary exclamation of delight as they entered the main road. Lined with massive trees and with quaint tin-roofed buildings, she’d have thought she’d stepped back in time if it hadn’t been for the bustle of people and modern vehicles that lined the street.
Judd expertly backed the Aston Martin into a car space and came around to open Anna’s door.
“I’m surprised he let you out of his sight, if you’re so close,” he said, his words weighted with something that Anna couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“I’m my own woman,” she answered.
“I’m pleased to hear it,” Judd said in return, taking her hand and tucking it firmly in the crook of his elbow. “Because I don’t like to share.”
“I’ve heard that trait was reserved for only children,” Anna said with a soft laugh, trying to defuse the heady rush of excitement his words stimulated inside her.
“What makes you think I’m not an only child?”
Oh, Lord, she’d nearly stepped right in it. She scoured her memory quickly, although deep down she knew that no one here in Adelaide had mentioned his estranged family to her.
“Oh, I don’t know. I just assumed, since you grew up here surrounded by your cousins, that sharing was a natural part of your life.”
She held her breath, hoping he’d be satisfied with her reply. To her surprise, he let out a short laugh.
“Yeah, I suppose that’d be a natural assumption.”
“So, are you?” she probed, wanting some insight into how he might feel about the sister he hadn’t seen in years.
“An only child?” He shrugged. “It’s complicated. My parents divorced when I was young, and they split my sister and me up at the same time. I was six, she was just one year old.”
“Isn’t that unusual? That your father kept your sister?”
“He didn’t want me—my mother did.”
Judd’s words, so simply spoken, hinted strongly at the hurt that had to lie behind them. Anna wanted to protest. To tell him that his father wanted him very much indeed, but they weren’t her words to say.
“Have you ever wanted to see your sister? Get to know her?” she pressed, taking a different tack.
“Why the sudden interest?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just that, as I told you last night, I am an only child and I always wanted siblings.”
“The human condition, huh? Always wanting what we can’t have.”
“I suppose so,” Anna admitted, sorry that he’d so deftly avoided answering her question.
They walked along the shady sidewalk, stopping every now and then to wander into one of the many galleries before they crossed the road to take an umbrella-covered table outside an obviously very popular inn. Anna pulled the pin from her hair and shook it loose from its temporary restraint. She didn’t miss the glow of pure male appreciation in Judd’s eyes as she did so and felt her body warm in response.
“Would you like a menu, or would you like me to choose for you?” Judd asked.
“Go ahead and order for me. I eat just about everything.”
