anything nasty for years.’
‘Complacency is never a good safety net.’ Alex increased the length of his stride. ‘Another good reason to make sure Stella keeps herself well covered.’
He was forging ahead of her now so he couldn’t see the way Susie shook her head. Or hear her resigned sigh.
Much to Alex’s relief, Stella was in the cabin Susie led him to.
He could hear the sound of her voice as they stepped up onto the veranda, part of his brain registering the fact that this was going to be a much nicer place to stay than a penthouse hotel suite. The netting overhead and around the sides of the veranda was so fine it was virtually invisible, and the surrounding trees were so close that sitting out here would be like sitting in the middle of the forest.
The larger part of his brain, however, was hearing the sound of his daughter’s laughter and feeling the tension of his arrival and everything he’d left behind in Sydney fading.
When had he last heard her laugh like that? So long ago, it had probably been before her cancer had been diagnosed, and that was just over two years now. Was this part of what had been happening on this camp? If so, the donation he’d made to kick-start the rebuilding process had just paid for itself tenfold. And the staff needed to know how appreciative he was.
Alex turned his head, intending to catch Susie’s gaze and say something to that effect, but she was moving ahead to enter the main room of the cabin through the open ranch sliders that led to the veranda. She had a huge smile on her face.
‘Mike! Em! What are you guys doing here?’
‘We were looking for you,’ a feminine voice responded.
Alex stepped into a spacious, open-plan living area to see Susie hugging another blonde woman. His gaze flicked past the man beside them, who was grinning cheerfully to where Stella was sitting on a cane couch. Her smile was fading rapidly as she watched her father’s entrance and she looked disturbingly—and inexplicably—nervous. Then her gaze shifted and Alex understood.
He glared at the boy standing at the other end of Stella’s couch. Trying to look nonchalant, with a towel slung casually over one shoulder that did nothing to cover his bare chest or disguise the way his damp board shorts clung to his hips.
‘G’day,’ the boy said. ‘You must be Star’s dad.’
‘What? Who?’
Susie broke away from the hug. ‘This is Alex,’ she said to the group in general. ‘Stella’s father. Alex, this is Mike and Emily, whom you’ve heard about already.’
‘Hiya!’ Mike extended his hand. ‘Pleased to meet you, Alex.’
Emily had a sweet smile and was nodding agreement. Susie was beaming at the boy.
‘Hey, Jamie! Did you have a good swim?’
‘It was awesome.’
Alex pulled his hand free of Mike’s grip and stopped smiling at Emily. He frowned at the boy again. ‘What was it you called my daughter?’
Jamie went red. He started to say something but his voice cracked and he went crimson. Stella glared at her father but Mike was still grinning.
‘Star,’ he supplied. ‘It’s what Stella means in Greek.’
‘Yes,’ Alex said dryly. ‘I was aware of that.’
‘I wasn’t,’ Stella said. ‘You never told me.’
‘Mike’s Greek, too,’ Susie said hurriedly, clearly trying to avert another father-daughter confrontation. Did she really think that he and Stella did nothing but fight?
‘Mike Poulos,’ Mike added helpfully. ‘My parents run the best Greek restaurant you’ll find in North Australia. The Athina. Just over the way in Crocodile Creek.’
‘Spitting distance,’ Emily said. She exchanged a glance with Mike and they both gave the kind of smile that indicated a private joke.
One that excluded Alex. The ceiling fan didn’t seem to be doing much in the way of air-conditioning. He put down his briefcase, dropped his jacket over the back of a cane chair that matched the couch, rolled up his shirtsleeves and gave up any pretence of feeling social.
He wanted a shower. A chance to change his clothes and spend some time with his daughter. Instead, his accommodation was crowded by strangers who seemed to find Greek superstitions a joke, his daughter was still wearing that scanty clothing, and she was currently being ogled by a prime example of testosterone on legs. It was infuriating.
Worse, having caught Susie’s glance, it appeared that she knew exactly how he was feeling and—in her opinion—his discomfort was well deserved.
Then he saw the way she caught her bottom lip between her teeth. It may only have been the second time he’d seen her do that, but he knew a decision of some kind had just been made.
‘Hey,’ Susie said to her friends. ‘You did know you’re not staying here anymore, didn’t you?’
Emily nodded. ‘That’s why we came to find you, to make sure you’d had a chance to talk to Charles.’
‘Your dad’s having the cabin,’ Susie explained to Stella. ‘We’re moving to the hotel. There’s two bedrooms here so you can stay, too.’ She smiled encouragingly. ‘It’s really close to the dormitory and I’ll bet the bed’s a lot more comfortable.’
Stella looked mutinous and Jamie edged towards the door. ‘I’d better go,’ he said. ‘See you at the disco, Stel—’ He grinned. ‘I mean, Star.’
Alex groaned inwardly. The new nickname made his daughter sound like something from a Hollywood gossip column, but it wasn’t worth a battle. Not when Stella was staring at him, clearly expecting one.
‘Am I allowed to go to the disco, Dad?’
It was a challenge. It was also an easy way to defuse any tension between them. It wasn’t the disco that Alex had a problem with, was it?
‘Of course,’ he said.
Stella looked surprised. Pleased but wary. ‘And I can wear my new clothes?’
‘But I’ll have to find another top!’ Emily groaned in mock despair. ‘We can’t be there looking like twins.’
‘Why not?’ Susie was also staring at Alex and her gaze was just as challenging as Stella’s had been. ‘It’s a gorgeous top.’
‘I reckon.’ Mike nodded. ‘What do you think, Jamie?’
But Jamie just grinned again and disappeared with a wave.
Alex was now the focus of everybody’s attention. They were confidently expecting his agreement—even Susie and Stella, who had to know how it would be contradicting his principles. He sighed.
‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘I’ll have to think about it.’
