your steely mind must be taking a break—I should have thought it was obvious.’
‘Not to me. I feel as if I’ve suddenly acquired body odour.’ She shrugged whimsically.
‘Not at all. I’d say that Julene and Eric, with a consummate lack of subtlety, have decided to throw us together.’
Fleur’s lips parted incredulously. ‘But…I don’t understand… Why?’
‘They’ve obviously come to the conclusion we’d be good for each other.’
‘Only last night,’ she said, ‘and for the past three and a half weeks it’s been—’ She stopped and gestured helplessly.
‘The other side of a certain coin?’ he broke in to say. ‘Perhaps.’
In the silence that followed his statement, Fleur wished with all her heart that she could feign misunderstanding or deny it. She moved restlessly in her deckchair and shuffled her bare feet in the sand. It was another beautiful night with the Southern Cross hanging above their heads, and the fire was casting leaping shadows on the beach.
‘You and I,’ he said quietly at last, ‘may have a better understanding of things, though.’
‘Such as?’
‘Such as why we don’t wish to pursue the other side of the coin—I’m talking about the attraction that lies just beneath the surface.’
She released a deep breath and glanced at him through her lashes.
He had on the same football shirt and khaki shorts of the night before and he was lying back in his chair with his legs sprawled out, looking up at the stars.
He was, it would appear, relaxed and in a contemplative frame of mind, as if he was talking about something quite abstract and he was not, at that moment, prey to any physical attraction to her. Whereas just looking at his big frame sprawled in the chair as he gazed up at the stars brought a strange clenching to the stomach for her, for example.
‘Go on,’ she said, when she could keep her voice cool and calm.
He glinted a quizzical hazel glance at her and resumed his study of the heavens. ‘Well, the reason you may not want to pursue it is because you, for whatever reason, have given up men.’
‘And you?’ she queried.
‘Ah. It couldn’t be said that I’ve given up women.’
‘I had noticed that.’
He smiled. ‘On the other hand, I have given up Stella.’
Fleur blinked. ‘Why?’
‘The same reason that would make it unforgivable for me to take up with you, Fleur. I’m perfectly happy to continue my bachelor existence. I don’t say this with any pride but I’m a hard man to pin down—’
‘I’d say there’s a lot of pride in that statement, Bryn,’ she interjected sharply. ‘How did you fail to make Stella aware of this before you took up with her—or didn’t you even try?’ She looked across at him sardonically. But something in his expression arrested her. Something in the way he fleetingly lowered his eyelids made her wonder whether he was actually hiding cool amusement—and she’d walked into a trap of his devising.
‘Bryn,’ she said slowly, ‘I’m not really interested in what reasons you may have for not wanting to take up with me—I’m just glad you have them.’
He sat up at last, to clasp his hands between his knees and subject her to a penetrating gaze that was also quite enigmatic. ‘So we understand each other quite well?’ he said at length.
‘We do.’
‘Hmm…’
A smile trembled on Fleur’s lips but she forced it to disappear at the same time as she thought, Got you there, Bryn Wallis! Perhaps he read her thoughts, though, because the glance he then bestowed upon her was loaded with irony. ‘So be it,’ he murmured. ‘By the way, I’ve decided to close again tomorrow night. Could you see your way clear to taking a day off, Miss Millar?’
Fleur frowned. ‘I—’
‘It’s just that Eric and Julene want to take their yacht for a spin and there’s a beach on the mainland with this marvellous waterfall and pool. It’s a great spot for a picnic.’
She thought for a bit. ‘And you don’t think Eric and Julene will come up with another novel way to “throw us together”?’ she queried.
He grinned. ‘What do they say—forewarned is forearmed? I was also thinking of getting my friends and Tom to join us. They’ve got a four-wheel-drive, so they can get to this beach by road—track really. I would imagine all that should be sufficient to dampen any suspicious ardour we might feel for each other, don’t you?’
‘Bryn,’ she responded swiftly and through her teeth, ‘don’t make me mad enough to want to throw another drink over you with that kind of clever satire!’
He blinked, looked at her fingers clenched around her wineglass and said gravely, ‘Sorry. My ego just took another little dent, you might say.’
‘You mean it’s all right for you to tell me you don’t want to pursue me but it’s a bit different for me to tell you I’m happy about it?’ she responded tartly.
‘I told you you had a mind like steel trap, Fleur, didn’t I?’ he marvelled, looking glum.
She stood up. ‘Not really. But I do have some experience of men and their egos.’
His false expression of glumness faded, to be replaced by something alert and probing. Fleur bit her lip and wished she’d held her peace rather than making inflammatory remarks—she also knew enough about men to know that what she’d said would invite curiosity at the least. She discovered almost immediately that she was not wrong.
‘How many have there been?’ he queried. ‘Men, I mean.’
‘I’ve known dozens of men,’ she replied.
‘Allow me to rephrase.’ He looked up at her as if to say, Two can play that kind of game. ‘How many have you slept with?’
‘It was not a profession with me, if that’s what you’re implying.’ The firelight made her eyes look bluer—and very cynical.
Bryn swore beneath his breath and stood up to put his hands on her shoulders. ‘Don’t—’
‘Don’t you try to manhandle me again, Bryn Wallis,’ she said through gritted teeth.
His fingers dug into her shoulders briefly then he shook his head savagely and released her. ‘I was about to say, don’t read things into everything I say before I’ve had a chance to say it, Fleur. But, even if it wasn’t a profession,’ he continued grimly, ‘it’s a road to destruction, Fleur. Hell, now look what you’ve done!’ he finished bitterly.
She blinked several times and looked around in utter confusion.
