Reluctant Date (20 page)

“Hey, it’s not that bad,” Instantly his arms were around
her. “It’s just a wild turkey, not someone’s dog.
 
That hawk has a brood to feed, too, you
know.”

“I know it does!
 
It
just shocked me, the way it came out of nowhere. And now I feel such a fool,”
she sniffed, scrabbling around in her chinos for a tissue.

“Here, let me,” he produced a wad of tissues from his pocket
and, lifting her chin with one finger so that she was forced to look at him,
wiped away her tears.

Coming to her senses she grabbed them from him.
 
He was way too close! She couldn’t cope with
this as well.
 
Her plan didn’t work quite
as she intended though, because he kept his arms around her as she scrubbed at
her face, and didn’t remove them until she gave him a watery smile.

“Better?” he asked, taking a step away from her.

She nodded.
 
“Better,
but very embarrassed.”

“Well don’t be.
 
You’ve had to take in a lot since you arrived in Florida, and there’s a
way to go yet. You’ll probably see worse than a dead poult before it’s over.”

Chapter Seventeen

After their trip to the State Reserve, Claire didn’t see
much of Daniel for several weeks.
 
According to Beth another crisis had surfaced in the family business,
and in the short periods when he was at home he spent most of his time meeting
up with project teams from other conservancy organizations in order to swop
ideas, and to try to identify new funding.

Part of her was glad he was away so much.
 
It not only meant she could continue to visit
his parents without worrying about him suddenly showing up, it also meant she
could concentrate on her work without that permanent flutter in her stomach
whenever he was around.
 
The contrary
side of her missed him however, so she often found herself glancing out of the
window halfway through reading a document, hoping he would walk by and come in
through the door behind her with a cheery greeting.
 
It wasn’t any better in her apartment
either.
 
When she wasn’t busy meeting up
with Scott, or Beth, or with one or two of the volunteers who had become her
friends, she spent far too much time on her balcony watching the boats sailing
by as she searched in vain for the one that had Daniel at the helm.

When he did finally turn up it was in a totally unexpected
way. It was at the end of a long and busy week and she had just returned home
from work and taken a shower when the doorbell rang. Wrapping a towel around
her she went to answer it. A girl with long blonde hair was standing outside
looking distinctly nervous.

“You must be Claire,” she said. Then, without waiting for an
answer, she rushed on.
 
“I’m Taylor-Ann,
Daniel’s sister…you know, one of the ones still at college.”

“I know who you are,” Claire smiled at her.
 
“Come on in while I put something on. Then
I’ll make some coffee.”

“Oh no! I don’t want to hold you up or anything.
 
Really!
 
I just want to invite you to a lunchtime barbecue tomorrow.
 
Melanie and I are home for a few weeks now
and…well we’ve persuaded our parents to let us invite all our friends around so
that we can catch up with the news…and my mother thought you might like to come
too. She talks about you quite a lot,” she added.

“That’s so kind of you, but please come in just for a
moment,” Claire pleaded, liking her instantly whilst also wishing she didn’t
look quite so much like Daniel.

“Well…okay.
 
But I
told Dan I wouldn’t be long.
 
He’s
downstairs talking business with the manager of the apartment block.
 
He said I could come too as long as I was
quick.”

Hiding the twist of pain she felt when she learned that
Daniel was downstairs, but that he wouldn’t be coming up to see her, Claire
nodded.
 
Then she held the door wide for
Taylor-Ann and followed her inside.

With a cry of delight the younger girl made straight for the
balcony and stood looking over the railing at the blue waters of the bay.
 
“What a great view. You must love it here. I
always forget how much I miss the sea until I’m back home again.”

“I do…love it I mean,” Claire called out from the bathroom,
her voice muffled as she pulled a clean T-shirt over her head. Then, fastening
her shorts, she padded barefoot back into the sitting room and out onto the
balcony.

“Oh look, dolphins!” Taylor-Ann cried, gripping Claire’s
wrist in her excitement. “Wow! Daniel must think a lot of you to let you stay
here and hog this view.
 
This is his best
development in Dolphin Key.
 
I’m
surprised he has an apartment available.”

Claire stared at her but the other girl was too intent on
the dolphins to be aware of the shock wave she had caused with her innocent
remark. Not at all sure how to respond she finally opted for a safer subject.

“Daniel told me I would get used to the dolphins,” she
said.
 
“But I haven’t yet!”

Taylor-Ann turned to her with a grin.
 
“Nor have I, and I was born here! Let’s
persuade him to take us out in his boat so we can follow them. It’s tied up at
the pier. Come on!”

She was halfway out of the door as she spoke and within
moments Claire heard her voice echoing up through the stairwell as she ran down
the stairs, calling out to Daniel as she went.

Unsure whether she should follow or not, Claire delayed
making a decision by the simple dint of taking the time to brush her hair and
put on some lip-gloss. By the time she had finished Taylor-Ann was calling up
to her from beneath the balcony.

“Come on Claire! Daniel’s waiting.”

Leaning over the railing she looked down and found herself
staring straight into Daniel’s eyes.
 
For
a moment his expression didn’t change, then he gave her a slow smile.
 
“I see that my little sister has taken you in
hand too!”

She smiled back, her heart thumping against her chest in an
unseemly fashion.
 
“Apparently so.”

“You’re coming then?”

“Of course.
 
You know
me and dolphins!” She thrust her feet into her thongs as she spoke and then,
with a brief wave, disappeared from view.

By the time she reappeared on the beach, Daniel had managed
to control the surge of feeling that had threatened to overwhelm him when she
first peered over the edge of the balcony. He had deliberately kept his
distance over the past weeks, only meeting with her when absolutely necessary
and leaving everything else to Scott and Beth. He was glad for once to have the
excuse of the family business to keep him away because, after the day they had
spent together at the State Reserve, he no longer trusted himself.

Crouching next to her watching the wild turkeys had taught
him that.
 
Even as he talked about them
and showed her where to look, he had been unable to tear his gaze away from her
profile, or to ignore the fact that her body was pressed close to his as they
attempted to remain out of sight behind the fallen tree. And then the hawk had
swooped and she had surprised them both by bursting into tears.

Even now he cringed at his over-the-top response but he
hadn’t been able to help himself.
 
His
instinct had been to hold her close and he could still recall the warmth of her
skin against his arm and the dewy softness of her cheeks as he wiped away her
tears.

It had taken him a long time to get to sleep that night, and
by the time the first fingers of dawn started to creep over the horizon he had
decided he wasn’t going to risk being alone with her again. If she had
responded in any way when he held her in his arms, then things might have been
different, but she hadn’t. And with Scott in the picture it wasn’t likely to
happen any time soon either. So he had bitten the bullet and just got on with
his life, immersing himself in work in much the same way he’d done before she
arrived. He hadn’t asked about her either, even though Scott had kept him up to
date with the work she was doing.
 

The only person he’d discussed her with was Carl, and that
was when he saw the finished leaflets.
 
The pictures were stunning and they both agreed she’d been right to
persuade Scott to pose for them.
 

“Beth tells me that female visitor numbers are up already,”
Carl said with a grin as he handed Daniel a stack of leaflets to put in his
car.
 
“I don’t believe her of course, she
just said it to wind me up, to rub in the fact that Scott beats me on all
counts…looks, brawn, and brains. And on top of that he’s Mr Nice Guy too!”

Daniel laughed.
 
“As
if that would make any difference to Beth.
And
you know it!”

“I guess. It’s a shame that Claire can’t photograph herself
as well though! A picture of the pair of them together would really bring in
the punters, even people with no interest in wildlife whatsoever.”

Daniel hid his misery as he smiled in agreement, because he
knew that everything Carl said was true. Then, unable to help himself, he asked
the question that had been hovering on the tip of his tongue from the moment he
first entered the print shop.
 
“Is there
anything going on between them? Scott and Claire I mean.”

“Don’t ask me, ask Beth. She’s the expert on such matters
and I know she’s hopeful. The only thing I’ve noticed is that whenever one of
them comes over for a meal, the other one comes too. I haven’t seen much sign
of romance though.
 
It’s more a case of
good friends I think, but I could be wrong.”

Daniel couldn’t bring himself to ask Beth, however. Instead,
he just kept away from the office as much as possible, unwilling to see
anything that might blow away his gossamer thin hope that he still had some
sort of a chance with Claire once he found the time to work on it. He even
tried to persuade himself that he was keeping out of her way for a reason. That
if he left her and Scott to themselves for a while, then they would tire of one
another and Scott, as so often before, would start looking for a new conquest.

And now here she was standing in front of him, totally
delectable in a striped T-shirt and white shorts, her long legs tanned to a
pale biscuit colour by the sun. Next to her his pretty little sister looked
just what she was, a college kid who was still experimenting with her identity;
while Claire was all woman, someone who knew exactly who she was and who didn’t
need clothes and make-up to define her. He dragged his eyes away from her
curves and pointed towards the pier.

“If you two climb on board I’ll be with you in a couple of
minutes.
 
I just have to sign a few more
things for the manager.”

* * *

The trip was very different from the first one he and Claire
had taken together.
 
With Taylor-Ann on
board it was impossible to make a peaceful loop around the bay searching for
dolphins because every time she thought she saw one she shrieked her excitement.

“Look!
 
Dan,
look!
 
There’s one over there…can you see
it?
 
It’s in a direct line out from the
pier.
 
Here, give me you binoculars.”

Snatching them from his neck she held them up to her eyes,
breathless with anticipation, only to lower them again with a dejected pout
when she realized she had been looking at a pelican diving for its dinner, or a
seagull bobbing on the water.

In the end Daniel lost patience with her.
 
“For goodness sake, be quiet Taylor-Ann! Any
dolphin we might have seen will have hightailed it out to sea by now,
frightened away by the sound of your non-stop chattering.”

Chastened by his sharp tone, she looked about twelve years
old as she handed back his binoculars with a sigh. “I’m sorry! It’s just I get
so excited when I first come home.
 
You
know I do.
 
So does Melanie.”

He reached over and gently pulled a long strand of her
hair.
 
“I know.
 
But being excited and seeing dolphins don’t
go together.
 
Now just be quiet, there’s
a good girl, and I’ll see if I can find some for you.”

Picking up an old baseball cap that was rolling around at
the bottom of the dinghy, Taylor-Ann rammed it on her head, tucked her long
hair up inside it, and did as she was told.

Claire watched, fascinated.
 
Daniel might be Taylor-Ann’s brother but he acted more like her
father.
 
True there was a really big age
difference between them but it was something more than that. It was as if she
expected him to take charge and tell her what to do. She guessed it was because
his mother and father had more or less stopped functioning as proper parents
years ago, leaving Daniel to shoulder almost every responsibility. She wondered
how it made him feel. She was still pondering it when he slowed the dinghy
almost to a standstill and pointed silently ahead.

At first Claire didn’t see a thing but then the water sprayed
into a million sparkling droplets as a pod of about eight dolphins leapt out of
the water together, their skin like pewter in the late afternoon sunshine.
 
Taylor-Ann, still silent, sat hunched at the
front of the dinghy, her T-shirt pulled down over her bare legs, her eyes
shining with excitement.