The Marriage Merger (10 page)

“Where the hell have you been?” he
growled.

“We went to see The Lion King then stayed to
eat dinner.”

“The Lion King?” he echoed.

“Yes,” Jenna said, ushering Caitlin past him
and into the loungeroom. She didn’t want Braden ruining the happy
mood Caitlin was in. But she needn’t have worried. Caitlin turned
and limped quickly back to Braden. She lifted her arms up to him
and smiled.

A kind of dazed wonder spread across Braden’s
face as he bent and scooped her up in his arms. Jenna felt a lump
in her throat as Caitlin hugged her uncle tightly and the faint
sheen in his eyes betrayed his emotion. For several seconds he held
her close, then she wriggled down and he placed her back on the
floor. Jenna took her hand and walked her to her room.

When she walked into the kitchen after
tucking Caitlin in bed, she found Braden putting coffee mugs and a
plate of biscuits on a tray.

“Would you like to join me outside?” he
asked. Jenna hesitated. It was a warm evening, and the cool breeze
outside would be welcome, but a full moon bathed the courtyard in a
silver glow and the outdoor lighting was subdued enough to lend a
romantic air to an already romantic setting. She looked directly at
Braden. There was a reserved cast to his features now, as though he
had neatly catalogued all his emotions and slotted them into the
right compartments and closed the doors.

He smiled gently and she recognized a peace
offering when she saw one. Besides, she needed to talk to him about
her idea concerning Caitlin. And for Caitlin’s sake she had to live
in the same apartment with him, she couldn’t run from being alone
with him because she was afraid of what he might do ... or how she
might respond.

They were silent for many minutes, sipping
their coffee and gazing at the moonlight reflected on the wide
expanse of water. Because it was not a high building the penthouse
didn’t feel far above the dark flowing river and the mysterious
vegetation on the far shore.

“I have an idea that may help Alicia,” Jenna
began. Braden raised a quizzical eyebrow. His lips parted slightly
and Jenna was acutely conscious of how delicious those lips could
taste. The sensual curving line of them more than nullified the
leaner lines of his face.

“If Alicia could see that Caitlin was
improving she might recover faster. Even in a week Caitlin’s
stopped dragging her leg and there’s more strength in the muscles.
Though I suspect a lot of the improvement is psychological as well
as physical.”

His head shook a definite negative. “I can’t
risk taking Caitlin to see her mother again. If Alicia reacted
badly it would undo all the progress you’ve made.”

“I wasn’t thinking of taking Caitlin to
Alicia. At least, not physically. Do you have a video camera?”

Understanding showed in the grey eyes. “I
have one in Brisbane. But we’d have to tell Caitlin we were taking
shots of you for your brother. Otherwise she would freeze up. She’s
met Jeff once or twice so she won’t be surprised.” He raised his
mug to her. “It’s certainly worth a try.”

In the glow of his approval Jenna felt daring
enough to continue. “Thank you for your apology about last
night.”

Gravity returned to his features.

“I apologized for upsetting you. I’m not
sorry I kissed you. Even at the risk of enduring another restless
night I would do it again. But until you inform me that it would be
welcomed I’ll do my best to keep our relationship strictly
professional.”

It should have been what Jenna wanted to
hear, but she felt strangely piqued. Then the devil sat on her
shoulder.

“You are a conundrum, Braden. You say you
don’t believe in love, and yet it’s obvious that you love Caitlin
dearly.”

“I did not say I don’t believe in love. I
said that I wouldn’t marry for a reason as ridiculous as love. I’ve
seen very little success in marriages based on that criterion.
Loving Caitlin is different. She’s a child. And she’s my
responsibility.”

“What about Alicia’s marriage? Did she love
her husband?”

“Alicia was lucky. She probably found the
only man who would love her as unconditionally as I do.”

It occurred to Jenna that perhaps Alicia was
more lucky in having fallen in love with someone her brother
approved of. She was sure that anyone who made Alicia unhappy would
get short shift from Braden. He more than fulfilled the protective
older brother role.

“Why did you say your father didn’t love
you?”

A frown creased Braden’s forehead. His hands
tightened around his coffee mug, the knuckles whitening
perceptibly. “My mother abandoned us physically. My father
abandoned us emotionally. When we most needed him, he wasn’t there.
All he cared about after our mother left was his work.”

“Perhaps that was the only way he could cope
with her leaving,” she suggested. “A lot of men retreat emotionally
from situations they can’t handle. Did you ever ask him if he loved
you?”

“Why would I have to ask for something that
was so obviously not there?” He was having difficulty containing
his irritation and Jenna bit her lip. He had offered her an olive
branch and now here she was shaking the tree.

“Because when people find it difficult to
express what they feel you have to give them the opportunity to do
so in a non-threatening manner. You were probably so upset with
your mother leaving that you may have rejected any efforts your
father made to comfort you.”

In the pale light she could see a dark flush
creep up his cheeks. Whatever she said had struck a discordant
memory. She opened her mouth to ask what it was and just in time
remembered her mother once murmuring about ‘where angels fear to
tread’ and realised she was probably dragging up painful
memories.

But she had to make Braden see that love came
in all forms and of itself was a wonderful thing.

“Braden, just because your mother wasn’t
capable of loving selflessly, doesn’t mean all women are like
that.”

He pulled his long, lean body from the chair.
“I’ve yet to see otherwise.” he muttered.

As he strode swiftly into the penthouse Jenna
sat back and gazed up at the full moon. A perfect, heavenly night.
No clouds, bright stars gleaming like diamonds on black velvet.
Subtle smells of salt and fragrances from tropical flowers. And
she’d ruined it all by picking at Braden’s psyche in an effort to
change his thinking. Why couldn’t she learn to leave well enough
alone? Nothing she said would undo the damage his mother had caused
twenty-two years ago. Only Braden could change his attitude to
love. And only if he wanted to. But there didn’t appear to be any
reason for this to happen.

A few days later Jenna stood by the railing
waiting for Caitlin to come out to the pool to start their second
exercise session. She watched a small sabot sail awkwardly up the
channel on the far side of the river and wondered idly why the two
children sailing her weren’t in school. The breeze was brisk and
they didn’t appear to be competent sailors. The boat yawed over,
then suddenly it rolled and only the hull was visible. Two heads
popped to the surface close to the low front of the hull.

Caitlin came back into the courtyard and
Jenna was just about to turn away from the railing when she heard a
faint cry. She turned her head slightly to better catch the sound
again. There it was. A cry for help. The two children were still
close to the capsized hull but they didn’t appear to be making any
effort to right the vessel. The cry came again.

Jenna scurried Caitlin back into the
penthouse. She swiftly phoned the Water Police and gave details of
what she’d seen, her name and phone number. She ran outside and
looked for the sabot. It was drifting downstream in the swift
current. The cries for help were fainter but sounding more
desperate.

She locked the door to the courtyard, told
Caitlin to stay in the penthouse and under no circumstances was she
to let anyone in or go out herself. She decided the elevator could
be too slow and dashed down the stairs two at a time, ran through
the corridor to the back door of the building and pushed it open.
Within seconds she was running along the wooden jetty jutting out
into the river at the back of the building.

The water looked deep enough. She prayed it
was.

She dived.

CHAPTER SEVEN

As Jenna sliced through the water she
couldn’t hear the cries for help and the hull of the boat prevented
her from seeing the children on the other side. She swam faster
than she ever had and the knowledge that a child’s life could
depend on her speed made her push herself even harder. The minutes
ticked by and she began to think she would never catch up as the
current pulled the boat further away, but finally she closed the
gap.

A boy of about eleven was valiantly trying to
keep the head of a younger boy out of the water. The younger boy
was lying front down in the water, his knees bent under the side of
the boat, his feet not visible. The tight angle of his legs meant
he was unable to turn over and float on his back. His arms thrashed
the water in his efforts to keep his face clear, and the fear in
his eyes was close to panic.

Relief flooded the face of the older boy. “My
brother’s foot is trapped under the boat. I can’t let him go or
he’ll drown. He can’t swim.”

“You keep him afloat,” Jenna panted. “I’ll
try to free him.”

She knew her water ballet training would
allow her to stay underwater longer than the young lad. She drew a
deep breath and dived. The boy’s foot was wedged under the side of
the boat and trapped by rope tangled around a cleat and pulled
tight around his ankle. His frantic efforts to free himself had
only made the rope tighten and rub his flesh until it bled.

Jenna pulled the rope down his ankle until
finally it rolled over the heel and the foot was free. She surfaced
beside the boys. Two very relieved faces grinned wearily into
hers.

“Thanks, lady,” the freed boy gasped.

“How do you get this boat upright?” she
asked. Both boys looked sheepish. “We don’t know,” the first boy
admitted. “It’s our cousin’s. We’re up here on holidays. Mum went
shopping with Aunt Tessa and we thought ...”

It was obvious that what he now thought was
just how much trouble they were going to be in when their mother
and aunt returned and found them missing. Jenna realised they were
drifting ever closer to the mouth of the river and there were no
boats within sight to help them. They were still in the channel and
she hoped they weren’t sharing it with any sharks.

She was just about to tell them they would
have to abandon the sabot and she would swim them back to shore
when the sound of a motor caught her attention. A small cruiser was
powering up the river towards them. As it slowed Jenna saw the
anxious face of a burly, white-haired man.

“Are you okay?” he called.

At Jenna’s reply he swiftly helped her and
the boys into the cruiser. He righted the sabot, clipped down the
sail and tied the sabot behind the cruiser. As they moved back to
shore he explained that he was a member of the local State
Emergency Service and the police sergeant who took Jenna’s call was
a friend of his. As the police vessel was not in the immediate
vicinity the sergeant had phoned him to help.

It was with much gratitude that the boys
farewelled Jenna on the apartment building jetty. As she walked to
the back door she suddenly realised that she had let it close
behind her when she’d raced to the boys' rescue and it had locked
back in place. She saw a movement on the other side of the glass
and knocked loudly. Within seconds the door was flung open.

“Jenna? What on earth ...”

“Mark. I’m so glad you were here,” she
sighed, immediately recognizing the fair hair and pleasant face of
Jeff’s friend who’d let her into the building on her arrival.

The surprised look on Mark’s face quickly
turned to concern. “You look exhausted. Come in to my apartment and
I’ll get you a towel and you can tell me what happened.”

“I can’t,” Jenna protested. “I have to get
back to Caitlin. I’ve left her alone.” She very briefly outlined
what had happened since she had met him then started towards the
stairs but Mark put his hand on her arm.

“You’re wet and that will make the steps
slippery. Just let me get you a towel first. And then take the
elevator,” he admonished.

He quickly disappeared inside his apartment
and within seconds was draping a large white towel around her
shoulders. She smiled up at him in gratitude.

“Isn’t my pool good enough for you, Jenna? Or
do you prefer the company downstairs?”

Ice and anger mixed in equal proportions in
Braden’s voice. Jenna whipped around. In his impeccable dark grey
business suit, black leather briefcase in one hand and a smaller
case in the other, he could have walked off the street of any major
city in the world, and at any other time Jenna would have admired
the striking appeal of power and raw sexuality beneath the
civilized veneer. But the look of cold fury in his eyes wiped out
all other thoughts.

“Braden ...”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing
leaving Caitlin alone so you can go looking for some man to massage
your neck for you!” he exploded.

“Hey, mate, it’s not what you’re thinking,”
Mark protested, his hands dropping to his sides as though they’d
been scalded. And the fury on Braden’s face had turned so blazing
hot it would not have surprised Jenna if they were. If she wasn’t
so weary she would have blazed right back at him. Instead she
turned to Mark.

“Thank you. I’ll return the towel later.” She
glared at Braden and stalked off to the elevator. Footsteps
followed. Braden’s infuriated presence filled the elevator with
angry vibrations as the door closed.