The Flyer (31 page)

“Ah. The wife.”

“Exactly.”

“You were waiting to see a doctor?” Cold dread spiked up his spine.

She nodded. “The same doctor she’d been waiting for, in fact.”

“A baby doctor.” He hadn’t thought he could be more angry with the mysterious Reginald than he had been, but he’d been wrong. The pain and loss Helen must have gone through. The abandonment. “Finish,” he growled, the sound coming out harsher than he would have liked.

“I was pregnant,” she continued, tears choking her throat. “I didn’t know what to do. I suddenly realized what a mess I’d made of things, and I’d met his wife. She wasn’t horrible. She was sweet and generous and everything I wasn’t. It was bad enough when I knew he was married, but after I met her … I could barely look at myself in a mirror.”

“It wasn’t your fault. He’d obviously misled you. He took advantage of that enormous heart of yours.”

“Don’t defend me, Paul.”

“Can’t help it,” he answered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “What happened when you told Reginald?”

“I didn’t.”

“Come again?”

“I went to him, and I confronted him about his wife. I told him I was tired of living a secret and that he had to make a decision. Either he stayed with his wife, or he stayed with me.”

“An ultimatum.”

“Yes. He looked at me as though I were a child throwing a tantrum over a piece of candy. He was piteous, to tell the truth.
Poor little Helen. She actually believed I loved her. Tsk. Tsk.”
Anger replaced the sad note that had been running through her words. She seethed, her body tensing beneath his fingers. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and began to relax. “He told me he would never leave his wife, that her money supported his lifestyle exactly to his liking and I had nothing to offer him. My father’s money wouldn’t be good enough, he said. He wouldn’t have enough access to it.”

“And then what?”

“I begged. I pleaded with him to leave with me, that we could be happy together without the money, that our love,” she scoffed, “would carry us through.” She paused, wiping a tear from her cheek. “He laughed at me … So you see, I couldn’t tell him about the baby. Not only would he think I’d tried to trap him, but I couldn’t face it if he simply didn’t care. And he wouldn’t have. I’m sure of it.”

“So that’s when you decided to come to Australia and work with Doc.”

“Uh huh. My mother found out I was expecting soon after that. She was so angry. She told me how she’d been right all along, that everyone would know I was a tramp. She said I wasn’t allowed to leave the house. The next week, I was supposed to graduate from medical school. They mailed my certificate, but I wasn’t allowed to participate in commencement exercises. Everyone knew about me. My mother saw to that. She had to be the victim, you see? It didn’t matter that I wasn’t showing, or that I wouldn’t start showing for at least another few months. She was the injured one.

“So, Daddy sent a letter to Doc, and I came here. And that’s that.”

“You’ve forgotten something, I think.”

She didn’t answer, slipping farther under the covers and pressing her cheek tight against him.

“You aren’t pregnant. At least, not that I’m aware.”

“No,” she whispered, her tears burning his naked flesh. “Not anymore. I suffered a miscarriage on the way here.”

“Alone?”

“Yes. It wasn’t so bad. The ship’s doctor was rather skilled, and even though it wasn’t something he was used to, he treated me well.”

“That’s not the point. What about you? What about how you must have felt? That’s why you were so upset after treating Jayla … and nobody knew.” He pulled her closer, holding her in some useless attempt to erase the memory of her ordeal. How could a woman face losing her child, let alone with no one to lean on, no one to ease the pain?

If he’d hated Reginald before, he loathed him now. The man should be beaten to within an inch of his life, then fed to the bloody crocs.

“And now that you know the whole truth, I won’t be offended if you don’t want me anymore. I’ll understand.”

“You’re cracked, Doc. I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not letting you run away again, either.”

“But—”

“But nothing. I love you, Doctor Helen Margaret Stanwood, and it’s going to take more than this to get rid of me.”

“You’re not angry?” Helen pushed herself up and held the sheet across her naked breasts with one hand. How could he not be angry? No man could want a woman like her. Not for anything other than a plaything, to be used and discarded. Was it possible he loved her that much?

“Of course, I’m not angry. I’m worried about you, yes. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you.” He stroked her cheek with the pad of his thumb, hard and callused, but so soft and gentle she wanted to cry.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I was afraid you wouldn’t want me anymore.”

“Impossible, love.”

Slowly, the apprehension that had made every muscle in her body contract with fear began to subside. The pain and fear of the past year flowed out of her at his touch. Everything she’d ever believed love to be was proved true in him. The memory of Reginald faded into something like a dream. Real, but not real. A series of thoughts that would be gone by morning.

“So, what do we do now?” Paul asked, rising and pulling on a pair of strides. “I was thinking of a picnic. The last one I planned didn’t fair too well, if you’ll remember.”

“A picnic sounds lovely. But I should go to the clinic first and tend to Djuru.”

“Nanara has that old bastard well in hand. No worries there. And Doc can take care of anything that comes up. For the rest of the day, you belong to me, and I will hear no arguments. Understood?”

He meant to be forceful and demanding. But the light in his eyes, the love that seeped out of him like heady perfume, stole the impact of his words. She threw him a mock salute anyway, a smile sneaking onto her face.

When was the last time she’d been happy? She couldn’t remember exactly, but it had been a very long time. She made no assumptions that it would last.

Eventually, Paul would grow tired of her and move on to the woman he might eventually marry. But for now, she’d allow him to replace all of the bitter memories with new ones. This time, she had her eyes open. This time, she wouldn’t be hurt.

At least, not for a while. “Where should we picnic?”

“Right here. I’m not letting you out of that bed for at least a day.”

He was true to his word. They spent the afternoon sipping wine and feeding each other bits of fruit. They played cards, Helen defeating him in three straight sets of rummy, while he earned a small fortune in mock bets over a poker match that lasted more than two hours. In between, they made love, rising to a passion Helen had never known. It seemed as if the world had finally agreed to her existence. She belonged to someone. She belonged somewhere. She wasn’t the dressed-up doll of a socialite mother. She wasn’t a decoration on the arm of a man who didn’t care about her.

She was in love.

Nanara sat in front of the window in Djuru’s room, looking into the back garden where Doc grew his amazing flowers. They were quite lovely, with the bright red and yellow petals. She’d decided she liked roses.

Behind her, Djuru slept soundly. The medicine she’d given him for the pain in his leg was responsible for that. He’d been sleeping for four hours, so she’d made her way back into his room, expecting him to wake any time as the pain returned. Besides, the quiet was nice. She’d spent most of that four hours with Marla McIntyre, who often visited the clinic these days, and the little tyke had liked to talk her ears off. But it was unavoidable. Helen had abandoned the clinic, at least for a day or two. Nanara had met Mrs. Stanwood and could hardly blame Helen for finding shelter from the storm.

The sheets rustled, and Nanara drew her attention away from the window. She brought the chair next to the bed and folded her hands in her lap. It was a necessary precaution. Otherwise, she’d be tempted to draw her touch over the lines of Djuru’s face. His wide brow and amazing eyes made his entire face seem so open, so expressive. He had a defined, square jaw, and his lips were so full, she was tempted to taste them as he slept.

Who would know?

Her stomach fluttered.

She’d been in love with Djuru since they were children, but always from afar. They belonged to different clans, but had played together often. When she reached her woman-time, they’d been told they would soon marry. She’d been thrilled! The problem was that Djuru didn’t like the idea. He hadn’t liked her. At all.

By the time they were old enough to be married, he’d decided he wanted to be with a white woman. She supposed it made sense, since his own mother had been white. But he was all Aboriginal, from the ideals he lived by, to the fights he fought to bring equal rights to the black man. The only things that indicated his mixed heritage were the lighter color of his skin, almost like the coffee with cream that Doc sipped on each morning, and the greenish-blue of his eyes. Those, he’d inherited from his mother.

She hadn’t cared about any of it. When she’d become a woman, she’d been prepared to give herself to him, to bear his children. Now, years later, he was back in her life, and she loved him as much as ever.

One little kiss wouldn’t matter, would it? He wouldn’t have to know.

Unable to resist the temptation, she closed her eyes and bent to his lips. When she touched them with her own, a sudden fire spread from her head to a part of her she hadn’t even known existed, low in her belly. He tasted heady and sweet, his breath falling on her cheek in a soft caress.

He kissed her back, moving his lips over hers with erotic ease. He touched her shoulder, massaging her with slow, hesitant strokes.

For more than a few seconds, she relished the attention. Lost in a flurry of excitement and an unfamiliar haze, she allowed herself to float on a cloud of light and air…

Then her eyes flew open and she leapt away.

He pinned her with those unusually light eyes, and half of his mouth lifted in a wry grin. “Was it what you expected, love?”

Nanara couldn’t have spoken if she tried. Instead, she covered her lips, still burning from his touch, and fled the room.

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