The Honeymoon Arrangement (13 page)

It was an attractive proposition, Callie thought. But Finn had reiterated his wish to sleep in the double hammock. He’d found another down duvet in a storage cupboard on the bathroom platform and announced that he’d be super-warm wrapped up in it in the hammock.

‘You look tired,’ Finn commentated, lifting his glass of red to his lips.

‘I am.’ Callie leaned her arms on the table. ‘It’s been an interesting week.’

‘You should’ve been in Paris by now.’

Tearing around the city, rushing from designer to designer, not having a moment to enjoy the city in the spring … Callie thought that she would much rather be here.

‘You never told me what happened that you could suddenly take me up on my offer to be a fake wife.’

Could she tell him? Would he understand? Callie ran her finger around the rim of her full glass. He was treating her to three weeks in luxury—maybe he deserved an explanation. And, geez, they were going to be in each other’s company for three weeks—they were going to
have
to talk! They were going to be friends whether they liked it or not. It was up to her to keep things casual.

‘I’m running away—trying to avoid someone,’ she said, looking into the fire pit. So much for keeping it casual!

‘Yeah, I sort of realised that.’ Finn stretched out his legs and rested his wine glass on his folded arm. ‘So, who is Laura and why are you avoiding her?’

Callie jerked her head up. ‘Where did you hear that name?’

‘The other day, when you were arguing with your brother. Who is she?’ Finn asked again.

Well, she’d started this conversation, she couldn’t shut it down now.

‘My mother,’ Callie said, slouching down in her chair, crossing her feet at the ankles. ‘She left us. We haven’t heard from her since I was seven. Seb, my brother, has been tracking her movements around the world for years—he’s a hacker and can do that—and they started exchanging emails. The result of which is that Laura is coming home for a three-week visit, landing—’ Callie checked her watch ‘—in about an hour. She and Seb are going to reconnect, and everybody wants me to meet her too. Well, “everybody” being Seb.’

‘And you made damn sure that there was no possibility of that happening by leaving the city with me? That’s why you changed your mind about coming?’ Finn said, his voice deep in the darkness.

‘Yeah. I needed to leave and you gave me a damn good excuse.’ Would he think she was a coward? That she was being immature? Why did it matter so much that he didn’t judge her?

Finn pulled his legs in and sat up. ‘So why don’t you want to meet her? Why don’t you want to hear why she left?’

That question again, Callie thought.

‘Because it doesn’t matter! Because nothing she can say—and, trust me, I’ve thought of every excuse she could come up with—would make me feel better, would make me understand. I was
seven
, Finn. Seven! I needed a mother. Especially since my dad dealt with my mother leaving by hooking up with younger and younger women. They were mostly after his money, and weren’t interested in his little daughter hanging around. Seb was twelve, and he dealt with her leaving by withdrawing into his sports and computers.’

Callie heard her voice rise and made a conscious effort to remain calm.

‘If it wasn’t for Rowan, who lived next door, and Yasmeen—’

‘Who is she?’

‘Our housekeeper—and I suppose my real mother in every way that counted,’ Callie explained. She pushed her hair off her forehead and shoulders. ‘Look, I know I sound harsh, but I can’t meet Laura. I don’t want to …’

‘Don’t want to meet her, like her, risk being hurt by her again?’

‘Yeah.’

He got it—he understood.
Damn
. There were those fuzzies in her tummy again. She could get used to those.
Not
a good idea.

Finn rested his forearms on his thighs and looked up at her, sparks from the fire reflected in his eyes. Callie, feeling as if he’d taken a peek into part of her soul, thought that he’d heard enough from her, so she turned the spotlight onto him.

‘So, you mentioned your stepbrothers? How many do you have?’

Finn half smiled. ‘Three. All younger. They’re driving me nuts lately.’

‘Why?’

‘They were, to put it mildly, upset that the wedding was called off. As I said, because they know me, and know that I never go back on my word, they assumed that the break-up was Liz’s idea. I haven’t bought food for two weeks because someone always pitches up at my house with beer and take-out.’

‘Nobody rocked up that night I had dinner at your house,’ Callie pointed out.

‘I sent them a group message while I was upstairs and told them I would kick their ass if they didn’t give me a night on my own.’ Finn pulled a face. ‘The next night I had all three of them coming to check up on me and had to spend half the evening reassuring them that I was okay.’

‘And are you?’ Callie asked. ‘Okay?’

‘Mostly. I’m glad to still be on this assignment, working. Glad of the distraction that is you.’

Callie smiled at that. Whatever they had cooking it was, she had to admit, a hell of a distraction. ‘It’s surprising that your younger brothers are so protective of you.’

‘We’re protective of each other. They’re my brothers. My mum married James when I was fourteen and he already had the boys. Mum died when I was seventeen, and James acted as my legal guardian for a while.’

‘Where’s your real dad?’

‘Who the hell knows? Jail? Dead? In a gutter somewhere?’ Finn said harshly.

He rubbed a hand over his face, and when he finally met her eyes she made sure that her face was impassive.

‘Pretend I didn’t say that, please? I never talk about him and I have no idea where that came from.’

Maybe their bottle of wine had contained some magic truth potion, because she’d had no intention of telling him about Laura. Or maybe it was the fact that they were absolutely, utterly alone under an African night sky …

Or maybe it was because they liked talking to each other.

And she thought that
she
had had a messed-up childhood. God, they were a pair, Callie thought.

Finn cleared his throat before speaking again. ‘I’ve always protected my brothers—yanked them out of scrapes, had their back. I’ve been their rock, their calm in the storm. This break-up has been the first crisis I’ve had that they’ve witnessed and they want to be there for me.’

‘And your stepdad? How does he feel about your break-up?’

Finn shrugged and kept his shoulders up around his ears. ‘Dunno. He died about six months ago.’

‘I’m so sorry, Finn. You two were close?’

‘Yeah. He was the best man I ever knew …’ Finn cleared his throat. ‘I adored him.’

God
. He had a waste-of-space father, a dead mother, and his stepdad, whom he’d loved, had recently passed away. He’d broken up with his fiancée two weeks before his wedding. Was there anything else that life could throw at the poor guy?

Enough now
, she told the universe, annoyed on his behalf.
Seriously. Just enough, already
.

Callie leaned forward and touched his knee in silent support. He hadn’t stopped grieving, she realised. Probably wouldn’t for a while. Losing his fiancée had undoubtedly pulled all those old feelings of grief over losing his stepfather to the surface again.

Oh, yeah, there was far too much emotion swirling around for them to sleep together. Because there was no chance that sex would be about just sex after a conversation like this. For her it would all be tangled up with the urge to soothe, to comfort. And to him she would be just a distraction …

Thinking that it would be prudent, and smart, to close this conversation down, Callie pushed her chair back and stood up. ‘I’d really like a shower. I feel grubby.’

Finn stared up at her for the longest time before lifting one broad shoulder. ‘Sure.’

Callie looked at the stairs that led to the dark bathroom area below them and bit her lip. ‘Is there a torch anywhere?’

Finn stood up. ‘I’ll go down and light some lamps for you. There’s a big tub on the deck if you’d prefer a bath.’

A hyena whooped in the distance and Callie shivered. ‘Not that brave. I’m not entirely sure if my standards of animal-proof are the same as the lodge’s, so I’d rather not take the chance.’

‘The bath is at least twenty foot off the ground, Hollis,’ Finn told her, smiling.

‘There might a genius leopard out there who has the situation sussed,’ Callie suggested, only half joking.

‘You’re a nut,’ Finn said with on a shake of his head and a grin. ‘Go get your PJs while I sort out some light for you.’

‘Thanks.’ Callie bit her bottom lip. ‘I don’t suppose you’ll stand guard, will you?’

Finn touched her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. ‘The only way that will happen is if I’m in the shower with you.’ Finn dropped his thumb when she shook her head. ‘No, I didn’t think so.’

Snuggled down in the enormous bed on the top platform, Callie couldn’t keep her eyes off the magnificent night sky. It looked as if God had taken a handful of diamonds and tossed them against a sticky backdrop, allowing them to hang there in a perpetual grip. She’d never seen stars like this before—she almost felt she could reach out and touch them.

She was beyond tired, Callie thought, and wished that sleep would come. But every time she closed her eyes she was jolted by another strange sound. The rustle of something in the tree—probably just the breeze, or a bird—had her constantly on edge. It was
not
the genius leopard, she kept telling herself. And just when she felt her eyelids starting to close those pesky jackals would start their yelping again, and then something would grunt and the hyena would laugh.

Callie was over her night under the African stars and was not finding anything remotely amusing. She was exhausted, slightly chilled, and—though she hated to admit it—a lot scared. She realised she
liked
having walls and windows between her and the night, locks and safety chains. She didn’t like feeling as if she was a snack on the
buffet of the African savannah, and it didn’t matter how much Mr Cool downstairs reassured her: this was
not
natural! Or maybe it was
too
natural.

Again—walls, doors, windows! That was what God had created them for!

The sounds of the night dropped away and Callie felt her eyelids drooping. She was on that wonderful edge of sleep when she felt a rumbling in her chest, felt electricity charge the air. Instantly the night sounds ceased as a deep-throated grunt echoed across the bush. Oh, crap!

Callie scrambled up in bed and pulled the duvet over her head.

The grunt increased in intensity and she felt the sound invade her chest, skitter down to her nerve-endings.
Lion!
Callie sucked in her breath and wished that she could belt out of bed and run all the way back to Cape Town. The deep grunts tailed off and she bit her lip, waiting for the next sound. Just when she thought that the lion had stopped he let out a massive, deep-throated roar that raised every hair on her arms.

God
—
oh, God
—
oh, God
. Finn had to call the lodge. There was a lion below them. Who could sleep with a lion below them?

‘Finn!’ she whispered.

Finn didn’t reply.

Throwing back the covers, Callie grabbed all her courage and belted for the stairs. She cursed when she stubbed her big toe against a table. The roars were still reverberating through the night. In bare feet she scampered down the steps and by sheer chance located the radio and mobile on the table, where Sarah had left them. Her shaky hands fumbled with the unfamiliar device.

‘Whatcha doing?’ Finn’s drowsy voice came from the direction of the hammock.

‘Finn! There’s a lion below us!’ Callie hissed. ‘We’ve got to call the lodge!’

‘Um, okay. Why?’

‘Because there’s a
lion
!’ Callie shouted. ‘Below us!’

‘Lions don’t climb trees, Hollis, especially animal-proofed trees,’ Finn drawled.

If she hadn’t been so freaked out Callie would have heard the amusement in his voice.

Another roar rolled through the stygian darkness and Callie jumped, dropping the mobile which skittered away. She swore and peered down at the pitch-black floor. She couldn’t see the phone so she swore again.

She was going to owe Rowan a lot of money after tonight.

‘Cal, calm down, honey.’ Finn’s voice was low and steady, a beacon in the darkness. ‘Leave the phone and head over here.’

Thinking that sounded like a very good plan, Callie inched her way over the deck to the bulky outline that was Finn lying in the hammock. When she stood next to him he lifted his hands and in one smooth movement lifted her, so that she lay on top of him. Rolling her off, he pulled the duvet out from under her and pulled her up so that her head rested on his shoulder.

‘Uh … what are you doing?’

‘Trying to get you to settle down so that we both can get some sleep,’ he muttered.

His hand rested on her lower back and she snuggled up to his warmth.

‘Now, listen to me, city girl. A lion’s roar can be heard up to five miles away, and I promise you that lion is nowhere near us. Yeah, he sounds amazing, but he’s not about to eat us—so calm down, okay?’

‘I still think we should call the lodge,’ Callie protested on a huge yawn.

‘What would we tell them? A lion is roaring?
Yeah, that’s what they do in the wild, Mr Banning
. They’ll think that I have the tiniest pair of balls in creation,’ Finn scoffed.

‘I’ll call them and tell them that
you
aren’t scared but I am terrified.’

Finn’s sigh brushed the top of her head. ‘There’s nothing to be frightened of. Listen. He’s stopped.’

Callie lifted her head and, true enough, the grunts and roars had stopped. She was just starting to relax when another rumbling loud roar split the night. Callie yelped and buried her face in Finn’s neck, plastered herself tightly against him, hoping to climb inside.

Finn sighed. ‘Or maybe not.’

Finn’s hand stroked her neck, her hair, her back. His voice was low and warm and calming. ‘You’re safe, Cal, I promise.’