An Outback Affair/Runaway Wife/Outback Bridegroom/Outback Surrender/Home To Eden (68 page)

Dot's voice fell to a whisper. “He never came home that night.”

“Much too far to drive, Dot. That's easily explained. My mother would never have been afraid of Alan.”

“She was like you, love. Afraid of nothing. But it pays to watch the people around you. I always do. You never know who might be mad. He's an odd, odd man. He never helped his boy. He never took any interest in him, even though Joel has something of his father in him. More's the pity!”

Nicole was quiet for a moment, thinking. “Why don't you have any snapshots of Joel? They're all of me.”

“Because you were a precious child!” Dot smiled. “I loved you. You were such a bright little girl, full of life. No malice. No spite.”

“I should hope not, Dot. That sounds terrible. But I was naughty. I do remember that.”

“What's naughty? Nothing!” Dot scoffed. “You were sunny and loving. 'Course, your granddad spoiled you something rotten, but it never changed your nature. You treated me right. You were affectionate, always showing your emotions. Never hid them away like your cousin.”

“But you can't interpret a natural reserve as malice
and spite, can you, Dot?” Nicole went to Joel's defense. “Joel just didn't have my temperament.”

“You always did stick up for him,” Dot said. “I used to worry about it, all your taking the blame.”

“It was a two-way thing. Joel's my cousin. I love him.”

“Not as powerfully as he loves you,” Dot said, groaning. “A different way. He's a bit nutty, like his father.”

Nicole heaved a deep sigh. “Dot, I want you to know there's no one on Eden to hurt you. In any case, I'm home now. How could you be frightened with me around? I want you back.”

“No, love.” There was a tremor in Dot's voice. “I don't know what that man's going to do next.”

Nicole stared sightlessly at the bookcase, thinking that Dot might need care. “I've come especially to take you home. I want you home.”

“No, love,” Dot said again, and shook her head several times, the picture of misery. “The fact is, I'm frightened to come. And I believe you should go away. Back to America. Sell Eden. Go away.”

“I can't do that, Dot. Eden is my home. I love it. It's part of me. I cannot, will not, part with it.”

Dot drew a shaky hand across her mouth as if to zip it. “I understand, love. How is Joel?”

“He's all right, though perhaps he's not the best person in the world to run Eden since Granddad died.”

“Who could match your granddad?” Dot said simply. “How is Joel with you now you're home?”

“Fine, I guess. I'm starting to recognize he's a bit too attached to me.”

Dot listened with averted gaze. “Send him away,”
she advised in a trembling voice. “Him and his dad. Your mother wanted to.”

Nicole stared at her. “You're sure of that?”

“Yes, love.” Dot nodded her head emphatically.

“What about Aunt Siggy?”

“That's up to you. Miss Sigrid's a good person. Unhappy underneath. Marrying the wrong man didn't help much. Neither did seeing him fall in love with her sister. Not that Miss Corrinne ever looked his way.”

Nicole flinched, running a dismayed hand through her hair. “God, Dot, I was always watching,” she protested. “I never saw anything. I was just a kid, but I was never stupid. In fact, I was positively nosey.”

For the first time Dot laughed. Very gently she took Nicole's face and kissed it. “Didn't I used to tell you you were too smart? Same as your mama. But you just missed that one thing, though.”

By now Nicole felt unspeakably sad and confused. “I'm going to ask you a very important question, Dot. If you love me, I beg you to answer it truthfully.”

Dot's face paled as if she was about to be asked more than she could answer. “What is it, child?”

“Is Heath Cavanagh my father, or did my mother deceive him?” Nicole burst out.

Dot's expression was genuinely shocked. “Why, how wrong you are to question that, Nicole!” she chided. “We're talking about your mother here. Miss Corrinne. Of course Heath Cavanagh is your father. Never doubt it. Lord, girl, you really can't see that your mother would never have married him if she'd been carrying David McClelland's child? Shame on you, Nicole. Shame.”

Nicole lowered her head, feeling chastened. “I'm sorry. I couldn't stop myself asking. Heath's back on Eden. He's come home to die. He's very ill.”

“And you've taken him in, believing he mightn't be your father?” Dot asked.

“Pity overcame everything else.”

“Because you've got a good heart. That's one of your outstanding qualities. But sometimes you do tend to be pigheaded.”

“I know. Thank you, Dot.” Nicole smiled. “Isn't there something I could say to change your mind? I can't leave you here.” She looked around. “You really won't come?”

“No, love.” Dot sounded very sure.

Nicole patted her hand. “Then would you allow me to find you a nice little villa in a good retirement village? The best Brisbane has to offer, or the Gold Coast with its lovely beaches. You need company, friends. Quality facilities. Meals and cleaning taken care of. Attractive grounds to roam in. Would you like that?”

Dot's eyes brightened, then gradually faded. “I've got to watch the pennies, love. Miss Sigrid gave me a lot of money, but sometimes dying isn't easy. I could last for years and years. My mum died in her nineties.”

“I swear you will, too. You're family,” Nicole said, taking Dot's hand. “From now on, you're going to let me look after you properly, because that's what I want.”

Dot reached out and squeezed Nicole's hand. Her tears of joy were the only response Nicole needed.

 

T
HE PHONE RANG
in her hotel suite. Nicole, quickly unlocking the door, ran to it. It was Drake.

“How's your day been?”

“Great. How was yours?” Just the sound of his voice had her blood bubbling. When happiness comes, you can't ignore it even though it could lead to greater unhappiness, she thought, grabbing it before it was gone.

“Just a moment,” he said, obviously turning away to speak to someone in the background.

A murmur of voices, then he was back on the line. “Sorry about that. The meeting went a lot better than expected. And a lot longer. The premier is a good bloke. He listens. Did you find your dress?”

“I did.” Nicole had gone shopping for most of the afternoon.

“You can tell me about it over dinner. I'll pick you up around seven-thirty if that's okay? I thought we could walk from the hotel to the restaurant. Five minutes or so. It's good and it's on the river.”

“I'm looking forward to it.”

“So am I.” Even as he was hanging up, she could hear voices in the background trying to get his attention. Probably reporters.

She'd bought more than the outfit for Shelley and Brock's wedding. She'd indulged herself further by buying a dress for tonight. A soft sexy number she found so irresistible she'd never even asked the price. It was a satin wrap dress in a beautiful shade of mulberry.

She was ready before time, incredibly because she wasn't vain taking many a long look at herself, turning this way and that. Checking. Double-checking. She
knew she dressed well. She had good taste—fortunately she could afford to have—but she had never gone all out for allure. This dress was deliciously alluring and fit beautifully.

Stop looking at yourself, Nicole,
she admonished, turning away determinedly from her reflection. Drake was the cause of this. He was on her mind all the time. She planned to tell him about her visit to Dot over dinner, the disturbing things Dot had said. Not familiar with retirement villages and how they were run, she had rung the family solicitors asking if one of the secretaries could check out the situation for her and get back. She wanted to see Dot settled in a more cheerful environment. She wanted to help her choose the furniture. Pick out a decent sofa, for a start. The cottage had been rented furnished, and Dot had avoided making a few purchases of her own, convinced she would outlast her mother.

 

T
HE RESTAURANT
had sweeping views of the river and the city's nighttime glitter through its floor-to-ceiling windows. The decor was very classy, discreetly opulent with gilt-framed mirrors reflecting the exquisite arrangements of flowers—lots of tropical orchids—the elegant furnishings and the well-dressed guests. Probably all of them regulars who knew a gastronomic experience when they had one. The chef, they learned from the back of the beautifully presented menu, was a young Franco-Japanese who had recently won a prestigious award from a field of the country's most highly skilled and exciting chefs. The judge had been very enthusiastic in his praise for what was happening
on the Australian scene and the important part the cuisine of Southeast Asia had played in it.

“Hungry?” Drake asked, letting his eyes roam over her. She looked so stunning this evening he thought he would carry the memory forever. The color of her dress, so unusual, highlighted the ruby flash of her hair and emphasized the perfection of her skin. Quite extraordinarily it also turned her eyes an iridescent blue.

“Starving!” Her smiling eyes locked with his. “I had a cup of tea and a scone with my old nanny many long hours ago. You remember Dot?”

“Of course I do. Siggy sacked her.”

“No, she didn't. I'll tell you what happened if you're interested.”

“I'm more interested in you.” He reached out and gently touched her hand. “You look exquisite. I'm utterly bewitched.”

“You've told me that before, but you can tell me again.”

“I promise I'll tell you a hundred times over before the night's out. I love the dress. Never take it off unless I'm there to help you.”

“You plan to?” The expression in his eyes made her toes curl.

“Are you surprised?”

“No,” Nicole said softly.

 

T
HEY STUDIED THEIR MENUS
, little shafts of electricity charging the air between them.

Nicole stuck to beautiful Moreton Bay's legendary seafood. Drake was torn between the carpaccio of coral-reef trout with herbs and the Red Emperor with papaya chili and coconut salsa.

“We can choose dessert later.” He smiled at her.

“
You
can choose dessert later. I have to watch my figure.”

“I'll watch it for you.” He leaned closer. “You have the most beautiful breasts.”

She put a forefinger to her mouth, exquisitely conscious of her plunging neckline. “Hush, I can't take it.”

He smiled. “Don't worry. I've seen you more naked than that.” He sat back, holding his fragile wineglass by the stem, the beads of champagne reflecting a golden-green.

He looked effortlessly right, Nicole thought. The breadth of his shoulders set off the fine tailoring of his charcoal jacket. His ice-white shirt worn with a stylish striped silk tie in gray, gold and black, accentuated his deep tan, the thick raven hair and his extraordinary eyes. She had a sudden mental image of them both in bed, knowing when the moment came she would welcome him.

“So tell me about Dot,” he said after the waiter had taken their order and moved away from their secluded window table. “I suppose you've already set about improving her life.”

“She doesn't want to come back to Eden.”

“Now that surprises me. I thought she was a fixture.”

Her eyes were troubled. “It might come down to Dot's mental health.”

“Really?” Drake raised an eyebrow. “I would have thought Dot had her head screwed on right. So what are we talking about—early stages of dementia? That's not fair. That demon Dot married gave her hell. God
knows how many times she was hospitalized during their marriage, but she kept going back to him. Inexplicable to me.”

“It happens,” Nicole sighed. “Perhaps the abuse turned her mind. She confessed she left Eden because she was afraid of Alan.”

“Alan?” Drake's reaction was the same as hers. Naked disbelief. “So she's lost it?”

“I've had to consider that, but in every other respect she's perfectly normal, the same as ever. Dot was always quiet, but she was a pretty shrewd observer. She said he's a born actor, which he is. She said he was ‘crazily'—her word—in love with my mother.”

Drake shrugged. “Okay, I can accept that. Lots of men fall for fascinating women. But it would have been a look-not-touch situation.”

“I'm certain my mother hardly noticed him.”

His look was somber. “Given that all the action was elsewhere.”

“What tangled lives we've led,” Nicole observed.

“It had a lot to do with sex-charged people being under the same roof. Virtually living in isolation for most of the time,” Drake said. “That sort of intimacy can be suffocating. So we have a hotbed of intrigue. Alan was never in love with his wife. I think we all know why he married her. Siggy was left feeling unloved and unfulfilled. Corrinne had two men madly in love with her—”

“Three, if Dot is correct.”

He grimaced slightly. “Okay, three. Siggy is attracted to the hugely virile Heath. You've got a lot of confusion and despair there. Small wonder Joel has problems. Devalued by his grandfather, largely ig
nored by his father, pressured by his mother… That only left you and Louise, who spoiled the both of you. As for you and Joel—”

“Do you think we should talk about Joel if we want to enjoy ourselves? I told you our relationship is fine.”

“Okay.” He apparently had the sense not to push it.

In the end, after two delicious courses, Nicole couldn't resist dessert.

“Chocolate, the ultimate aphrodisiac,” Drake joked, then joined Nicole in a slice of a luscious dark-chocolate truffle tart on the sweets trolley.