style="font-size:15px;"> His eyes were dark, almost black, his expression grim and unrelenting.
‘Careless,’ he drawled. ‘Very careless.’
‘My knight in shining armour,’ Anneke mocked. Her eyes were sheer crystalline emerald.
One day soon he would take that spitting tongue of hers and tame it. Was she aware just how close he was to doing it now?
His eyes seared hers as he placed an arm along the top of her seat. ‘Co-operate, Anneke, and we’ll get along fine.’
It was impossible to ignore the clean male smell of him, the faint aroma of aftershave. Just as it was impossible to dismiss the way her pulse tripped and raced to a quickened beat in his presence.
‘The moment the police discover the source of your nuisance calls,’ Sebastian assured her with a degree of cynicism, ‘you’re as free as a bird.’ His expression hardened. ‘Now, tell me where you’re going, what time you expect to return.’
Her chin tilted and her eyes assumed a fiery brilliance. ‘What if I don’t?’
‘That was the first option,’ Sebastian said hardily. ‘The second is for me to tag along with you.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous!’
‘Choose, Anneke.’
‘And if I don’t have any set plans?’
‘The second option applies.’
Why was she fighting him? She couldn’t win. He wouldn’t allow it.
She took a deep breath, then slowly released it and handed him her mobile phone. ‘Press “redial”, and you’ll discover I was trying to reach you for the sole purpose of relaying my whereabouts on the Gold Coast and estimated time of return.’ When he didn’t take the phone, she hit the ‘redial’button and pressed the unit to his ear. ‘Except your number is ex-directory, and not even the citing of an emergency would reveal it.’
She delved into her bag, pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and thrust them at him, watching as he stroked a series of digits, then handed back the paper.
‘Satisfied?’ she demanded.
‘Ring me when you leave the Coast.’
It wasn’t negotiable, and she didn’t even bother to refuse him. Although it was impossible not to resort to sarcasm. ‘Do we synchronise our watches?’
Sebastian cast her a look that was more expressive than mere words, then he reached for the door clasp and slid out from the seat. ‘Drive carefully.’
He closed the door, then covered the distance to his Range Rover.
Anneke watched him in the rear vision mirror, then she activated the ignition, eased the car onto the road.
It should have been a wonderful day. The sun shone brightly in a clear azure sky. The temperature soared to a midsummer high. With only two weeks to go before Christmas, the shops bore colourful decorations and there was an air of expectancy among the many shoppers filling the malls and walkways.
Christmas carols, and a store Santa handing out lollies and balloons to eager children added festive anticipatory cheer.
Anneke had thought to spend Christmas with Aunt Vivienne, but now it appeared she’d be spending it alone.
She could fly to Seattle, join her mother and stepfather for a ‘yours, mine and ours’ family Christmas.
Or, alternatively, there was her father, happily ensconced in London, who would welcome her into his extended family.
A small body careened into her legs, and she held onto the runaway child, soothing the little boy until a harassed and very pregnant young mother caught up to him.
Within minutes her mobile phone rang, and after a moment’s hesitation she answered the call. There was a sense of relief to discover it was a friend from Sydney, wanting to exchange mutual news. Difficult in the face of that friendship not to reveal her whereabouts, although ‘the Gold Coast’ was hardly a fabrication. She simply didn’t add that she was only there for the day.
Lunch comprised a salad sandwich washed down by mineral water in an upmarket café, and afterwards she selected a number of Christmas cards.
Her mobile phone rang again while she hovered in a specialist boutique specialising in imported toiletries, and she gave the sales assistant a helpless shrug accompanied by a faint smile, then moved to one side to gain a little privacy.
‘Anneke.’ The familiar male voice was quiet, almost restrained, but very clear on the line, and her stomach flipped as she gripped the phone.
‘Adam.’ Calm, keep calm. Act nonchalant, a tiny voice persisted.
‘Bitch,’ he hissed before she had a chance to disconnect the call. ‘No woman runs out on me.’
‘There’s a first time for everything,’ she said crisply. ‘Chalk it up to experience.’
‘Didn’t think I could find you, did you, sweetheart?’
Relief, revulsion…both washed over her in realisation that Adam had been the source. ‘Making nuisance calls wasn’t very smart, Adam.’
‘Payback time,’ he dismissed. His voice lowered to a seductive drawl. ‘You should have played with me; we could have had a ball.’ He proceeded to explain his sexual preferences in graphic detail. ‘Pity, but I value my skin, and you’ve proven to be way too much trouble. Ciao, darling. Have a good life.’
Anneke closed the phone and replaced it in her bag. She should, she silently castigated herself, have cut the connection as soon as she heard his voice. Now she simply felt angry, sickened, as his words echoed and reechoed inside her head.
THE impetus to continue shopping was sadly lacking. She needed a different image, something to distract her from dwelling on Adam’s bitter invective.
There was a multiple number of cinemas within the shopping complex. She’d go buy a ticket and choose a film to view.
A film about the Titanic was currently showing, and it was after six when she entered the car park, located her car and slid in behind the wheel.
Her mobile phone message-bank listed that two calls had been received during her cinema sojourn. One was from Sebastian, the other from the police. She contacted the duty sergeant at the designated number, who relayed the fact that trace on her aunt’s telephone had been successful, then contacted Sebastian.
He picked up on the second ring. ‘Lanier.’
A concise, deep voice that had the ability to raise goose-bumps on the surface of her skin.
‘Anneke.’ She barely paused a second. ‘I’m leaving now.’ She cut the connection, then switched
