The Girl in the Hard Hat (46 page)

But Henry wanted more.

Perhaps it was his in-built sense of optimism that prompted him to yearn for a deeper relationship or the close bond he had with his father that made him want children of his own.

However, instead of understanding that, Tom had dragged him off to a club that was filled with twenty-somethings high on hormones and alcohol. He really should have seen it coming.

Tom pulled Henry away from the dance floor toward some chest-high circular counters wrapped around a cluster of columns. He put his beer on this convenient platform and said, ‘How do you expect to meet anyone if you don’t give it a chance?’

‘This is not exactly what I had in mind.’ Henry scanned the room dubiously.

‘What do you mean?’ Tom demanded.

‘Well, for a start,’ Henry began, ‘these girls are all too young for me. Most of them look like uni students.’

‘For goodness’ sake,’ Tom scoffed, ‘you’re only thirty-two.’

‘That’s at least ten years on the girls in here.’

‘Most of the girls in here,’ Tom corrected. ‘As for the rest of them, you’re a famous writer; you’ve got dibs on anyone.’

‘Keep your voice down,’ Henry said through his teeth. ‘We said I was going incognito. I don’t really feel like talking release dates and Hollywood tonight.’

Over the last five years his novels had really taken off. It seemed the more successful he got, the less sincere people became. He’d met a startling number since then who had basically wanted to know him for one of three things.

Money.

Fame.

Status.

For this reason he didn’t get out much, preferring the company of his brother to most others. It was a catch-22 because it meant that all the women he met were either in his industry or associated with it. They knew who he was before he was introduced as H. L. Carter, author of
The Carnegia Trilogy
, the biggest young adult story to hit shelves (and soon the screen) since the infamous
Twilight
series. That wasn’t being conceited. That was just being honest.

‘I must admit,’ Tom grudgingly lowered his voice, ‘I’m finding your whole attitude frustrating.’

You’re finding my attitude frustrating!

‘Tom, I’m not looking for a one-night stand,’ he snapped, but his outburst did make his brother pause. Tom swirled the contents of his glass with a stubborn look on his face.

‘Have four gold-diggers in a year taught you nothing? Commitment at this point is a waste of your time. You should enjoy your fame, for what that’s worth. Be sensible later.’

Henry winced. He knew there was no point arguing with his brother. The man had made up his mind years ago. It was better if he just dealt with the problem himself. He felt his phone buzz in his back pocket and withdrew it.

Tom glanced over his shoulder to check out the caller ID.

It was their mother.

When his brother realised it, he grimaced and looked away. ‘Still taking her calls, I see.’

‘Not in a noisy nightclub I’m not.’ Henry shook his head. ‘I won’t be able to hear a thing in here.’ He turned the phone off and put it away.

‘I seriously don’t know why you bother.’

‘She’s our mother.’

Tom snorted. ‘She wasn’t our mother for twenty-five-odd years and then all of a sudden she turns up out of the blue begging forgiveness.’

‘People change.’

‘Yeah,
you
did.’ Tom shook his head. ‘As soon as you starting banking a million bucks a year she grows a conscience. A little too convenient, if you ask me. She makes your gold-digger girlfriends look like a bunch of nuns.’

Henry sighed. ‘I thought we agreed you weren’t going to use that phrase anymore.’ He felt like his life was a revolving door. Just like the money they so prized, people came in and people went out. Nothing stuck. And every time he tried to ground himself he failed.

Was he wrong to believe that his mother really wanted to make amends for abandoning them as children?

Was he delusional to think that he could meet a girl who would love him and not his money?

Suddenly he just wanted to quit the club and go home. He wasn’t going to meet anyone here.

‘Listen, Tom,’ he began, ‘I really appreciate everything you’re trying to do. But I don’t want –’ Henry lurched forward as somebody hurtled into the back of him. His first feeling was anger. Couldn’t these crazy kids look where they were going? He turned around and managed to grab the girl just before she fell backwards. Her eyes were half-shut due to the bright strobe lights behind him.

But he’d seen enough.

She was an angel.

A blonde, blue-eyed, pink-lipped vision with skin like strawberries and cream. The delicate frame he was holding was small, slender and quietly sexy, dressed in sleek black slacks and a sleeveless red top with a scooped neckline. His hands dropped from her elbows as his jaw hit the ground somewhere between his feet. She was the kind of woman men died in battle for. Hell! If she asked him to take a bullet for her, he’d say, ‘Where?’

Unfortunately for him, his star-gazing cost him big-time. One minute she was standing there looking at him, the next minute she had turned away. He heard her mumble something like ‘sorry’ under her breath and, before he had a chance to gather his wits, she’d escaped.

He slapped a palm to his head.

‘Look, mate,’ he felt Tom’s hand on his arm, ‘you’re obviously not comfortable here, let’s just go. Isn’t the footy on tonight?’

‘Tom,’ Henry spoke without turning around, ‘scratch everything I said before. I might just owe you big-time. I’ve just met her.’

‘Who?’

‘A girl who might be able to change my life!’

Loretta Hill was born in Perth, the eldest of four girls. She enjoyed writing from a very early age and was just eleven years old when she had her first short story published in
The West Australian
newspaper.

Having graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering and another in Commerce, she was hired by a major Western Australian engineering company and worked for a number of years on many outback projects.

But through all this she continued to write, and her first novel, a short romantic comedy called
Kiss and Tell
, was published in America in 2009 under the name Loretta Brabant.

The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots
, her debut in mainstream women’s fiction, was an acclaimed bestseller in 2012.

She lives in Perth with her husband and four children.

Also by Loretta Hill

The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots

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Copyright Act 1968
), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Version 1.0

The Girl in the Hard Hat
ePub 9781742756813

Copyright © Loretta Hill, 2013

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

A Bantam book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au

Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx

First published by Bantam in 2013

National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Hill, Loretta.
The girl in the hard hat [electronic resource] / Loretta Hill.

ISBN 978 1 74275 681 3 (ebook)

A823.4

Cover design by Christabella Designs
Cover images: (landscape) Peter Walton Photography/Getty Images;
(woman) Fabrice Lerouge/Getty Images
eBook production by
Midland Typesetters
, Australia