the baby survive?’
‘Yes. His name’s Darcy and he’s ten now.’
Kim lay back. ‘I’m sorry—very sorry.’
‘Thanks,’ he said briefly, then smiled slightly. ‘What will Penny make of that?’
Kim shrugged. ‘Put you in a special category, I guess.’
‘How did I come up, anyway?’
Kim looked a touch embarrassed. ‘I went to see her this morning before I drove down to Busselton. Naturally, I told her why I was dressed for the beach,’ she said.
‘Naturally.’
‘Oh, look—’ Kim closed her eyes ‘—ever since Penny got married she’s been trying to sell me the state of matrimony as if it’s the only state of bliss on the planet. Mind you, that doesn’t stop her from warning me of the folly of falling for married men.’
‘I think I get the drift,’ he replied seriously.
Kim tossed him an annoyed little glance. ‘Somehow you’ve made me feel about twelve,’ she said crossly. Then her lips twitched. ‘Penny and I have known each other since we were six so we’re pretty close. And I suppose pretty girlish at times. But it’s not girlish to want to know…Look, it doesn’t matter.’ She got up suddenly, stripped off her sarong and ran out from beneath the shade of the umbrella and across the hot sand to where the tide was tracing silvery crescents of foam on the damp sand.
And, barking joyfully, Sunny Bob streaked along beside her. The last to join her as she splashed in the shallows was Reith Richardson.
‘You know,’ he said, ‘I would actually like to meet your Penny.’
‘Why?’ Kim stood still and stared at him.
‘If it hadn’t been for her I wouldn’t have met you. Besides, maybe I could put her mind at rest.’
She eyed him but if he was laughing at her, he was hiding it well. There was no hiding, however, the streamlined strength of his body. He was lightly tanned and beautifully proportioned and she had to turn away suddenly as her breath caught in her throat at the thought of being in his arms.
She felt his hand on her and she looked over her shoulder and up at him.
It was a long, sober look they exchanged but it sent tremors of excitement and danger coursing through Kim’s body because, in no uncertain terms, it told her that this man wanted her. She could see it in the way his gaze lingered on her breasts, her slim bare waist, her legs. Then he looked back into her eyes.
She licked her lips and curled her hands into fists because she desperately wanted to touch and be touched intimately, but Sunny Bob chose that moment to break the ‘moment’. He raced up and threaded his way between them, and stayed there.
‘Saved by the bell,’ Reith murmured as he removed his hand.
Her eyes widened. ‘Sunny Bob?’
‘I get the feeling I’m on notice. Behave or else.’
Kim had to smile. ‘Well—obviously,’ she hastened to assure him, ‘I wouldn’t allow him to attack you.’
‘Thank you,’ he said formally, ‘but having narrowly escaped death on the road because of you, I don’t think I’ll take any more risks. Do you dance?’
She turned round with a frown. ‘Of course I dance! What’s that got to do with anything?’
‘Silly question,’ he murmured. ‘Do you take Sunny Bob out dancing with you?’
‘Of course not,’ Kim denied and had to stifle a chuckle at the mental image this conjured up. ‘Why?’
‘I thought if we went dancing it might be easier to get close to you without there being any misunderstandings with your dog.’
This time Kim didn’t even try to stifle her laughter.
‘It’s not that funny,’ he assured her.
‘What exactly did you have in mind?’
‘Sorry to fall into the category of your typical “businessmen” but I was wondering if you’d have dinner with me and then we could go on to a nightclub.’
‘I am also sorry,’ she said and directed a sparkling blue look up at him, ‘for all the dangerous situations I’ve put you in, Mr Richardson. As for your suggestion, I like the sound of it very much and I will attempt to keep things safe for you.’
He grimaced.
‘But I’ll have to go home to get changed and then drive back into Bunbury—’
‘I’ll send a car for you,’ he said, interrupting her.
Kim looked at him with a faint frown in her eyes as she wondered why he didn’t pick her up himself.
He gestured. ‘I have a heap of stuff to deal with—the penalty for taking a day off.’
‘Well, OK. Thanks.’
‘Seven-thirty suit you?’ He raised an eyebrow at her.
‘Fine, but really, I could drive in.’
‘No.’ He said it lightly but quite definitely.
‘If that isn’t an example of how you like to get your own way, I don’t know what is,’ she commented a little dryly.
‘Not at all,’ he denied. ‘It’s concern for your welfare, that’s all.’
Several expressions chased across Kim’s face, exasperation being foremost. Then her lips twisted and she looked rueful. ‘Hoist by my own petard. All right.’
He laughed.
CHAPTER TWO
THERE was no one home when Kim got back to Saldanha from Margaret River.
There was nothing unusual in this. Her parents travelled frequently as well as socializing often and they were currently in Perth.
Kim taught at a boarding school down the coast at Esperance so she’d moved down there for term time but she spent the school holidays at home.
Fortunately, most of her formal clothes still resided in her bedroom at home and she was able to have a choice of what to wear for dinner and a nightclub with Reith Richardson.
Her bedroom was always a comfort to her. Her mother had given her carte blanche to redecorate it when she left school and she’d created a blue room, saying, ‘If you can have a green room, why not a blue one?’ And it was not only where she stored her clothes and slept, it was where she read, dreamed, played her harp and wondered sometimes what kind of a wife and mother she would be.
She showered and washed her hair while she thought
