from the mezzanine level. She looked up to where the king-size bed was waiting for intimate activity. Candles—from small to large—lit a path to it. A long sniff identified their fragrance as frangipani, the flower most reminiscent of tropical nights.
Harry must have set them up. Had he bought them in Port Douglas today? Why go to the trouble? This was not a night of romance. Did he want her to imagine it was? And why should he want that? She didn’t understand. But it was...nice of him to do it.
She was smiling over what she had decided was playboy fun as she walked out onto the deck. ‘Do you treat all your women to scented candles?’ she asked.
He was about to pop the cork of a bottle of champagne. He paused to give her a very long, all-encompassing look that made her extremely conscious of every female part of her body. ‘No. I simply associate the scent of flowers with butterflies, Ellie. An innocent pleasure,’ he said softly.
His use of her childhood name instantly reminded her of how he’d linked it to an age of innocence. She wished she knew what was going on in his mind. It seemed to be off on some quirky journey tonight.
He popped the cork and reached for one of the flute glasses sitting on the low table that served the sun-lounges. A plate of lush fresh strawberries was placed beside the ice bucket that awaited the opened bottle. As he poured the champagne, Elizabeth saw that a couple of crushed strawberries lay in the bottom of the glass, making it a very sensual drink.
‘Enjoy,’ he said as he passed it to her, his smile inviting her to share all sorts of pleasure with him.
‘Thank you, Harry,’ she said appreciatively, grateful that he wasn’t grabbing at her accessibility or doing anything off-putting.
He waved her to one of the sun-lounges. ‘Relax. Looks like being a spectacular sunset.’
She sat on the lounge, not quite ready to put herself on display by stretching out on it. Harry poured champagne for himself, then clicked her glass with his. ‘To our first night together,’ he said, smiling as he dropped onto the adjacent lounge, propped himself against the backrest, lifted his long legs onto the cushioned base and gazed out to a sea that was shimmering like polished crystal.
It released Elizabeth’s inhibitions about doing the same. This villa certainly had a prime position for viewing the sunset. The subtle colour changes in the sky would challenge any artist—impossible to capture on canvas, she thought. It truly was lovely, just watching it and sipping strawberry-flavoured champagne.
‘Have you ever been to Broome?’ Harry asked.
‘No.’ Broome was right across the country on the coast of Western Australia. She knew it was world famous for its pearls but she’d never had any reason to go there. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘Sunset there is amazing. People drive down on the beach, set up their barbecues, bring eskies loaded with cold drinks, play music, sit back and enjoy Mother Nature’s display for them. They completely tune out from news of the world and just live in the moment.’
He rolled the words out in a low, almost spellbinding tone that was soothing, like a physical caress that eased the last threads of tension in Elizabeth’s body.
‘We don’t do enough of it...living in the moment,’ he went on in the same seductive murmur. ‘Let’s try to do that tonight, Ellie. No yesterdays...no tomorrows...just each moment as it comes.’
‘Yes,’ she agreed, happy with the idea.
They sipped their champagne in silence for a while, watching the sun slowly disappear below the horizon.
‘My parents used to do this...have a sundowner together at the end of the day,’ Harry said, slanting her a reminiscent little smile. ‘What about yours, Ellie? Do they have a special time to themselves?’
She shook her head. ‘My mother died of cancer when I was nineteen. I haven’t seen my father since the funeral. He’s a miner and living with some other woman in Mt Isa. It was never much of a marriage. Mum more or less brought Lucy and me up by herself.’
Harry frowned at her. ‘Your father doesn’t care about you?’
She grimaced. ‘I think we were responsibilities he didn’t really want. Mostly when he came home on leave from the mine, he’d get drunk and we’d stay out of his way.’
‘What about when your mother became ill?’
‘He came home less. Didn’t want to be faced with what was happening to Mum. He said it was up to me and Lucy to take care of her.’
‘That must have been hard,’ Harry said sympathetically.
‘Yes. Though it was a special time, too. Like you said...living in the moment...because the last moment could come at any time so every good moment was precious.’
‘At least you knew that,’ he murmured, nodding understandingly before throwing her a wry little smile. ‘Mickey and I...we didn’t realise how precious those good moments were until after our parents were gone.’
‘I guess that kind of sudden death is harder to come to terms with,’ she said thoughtfully.
‘I don’t know. We didn’t have to see them suffer.’ He shook his head. ‘You were only nineteen. How did you manage?’
‘I was at business college so I could be home quite a lot. Lucy dropped out of school to look after Mum when I couldn’t be there.’
‘Did she pick up her education again at a later date?’
‘No.’ Impossible to explain that school had never been easy for Lucy. She didn’t like people knowing about her dyslexia. ‘She didn’t want to, didn’t need it to get work.’
‘But without qualifications...’
‘Lucy is adept at winning her way into jobs.’
‘While you’re the one with the steady career. That’s why she calls you her anchor.’
Elizabeth heaved a sigh. ‘This is a weird conversation to be having when we’re supposed to be enjoying a night of sexy fun, Harry.’
‘Oh, I don’t know. I’d call this an intimate conversation. We have all night to get to physical intimacy. We’ve been on the fringes of each other’s worlds for two years. I think I know Elizabeth fairly well—’ he rolled his head towards her, giving her his quirky smile ‘—but I want to get to know Ellie tonight.’
‘That’s yesterday, Harry. My childhood,’ she pointed out. ‘It’s not living in the moment.’
The blue eyes gathered the piercing intensity that always gave her discomfort. ‘Ellie is inside you right now,’ he said softly. ‘She’s the foundation of the woman you are. She directs your life.’
‘That’s ridiculous!’ she protested.
‘Is it? You’re the older child, the one who helped your mother, the one who protected your sister, the one who carried the responsibility of arranging everything when your mother was ill, when she died, the one who wants a man in her life who will never do to her what her father did to her mother, to his children.’
He
