LYLE TEMPLETON didn’t call ahead. He knew the chances were good that Hart would be in his offices on the ground floor of a building he now owned and had totally renovated. One wouldn’t know the place! At least the man had style. That very morning he had come to the conclusion that if Hart wouldn’t pay him the courtesy of coming to the house so he could thank him properly for saving his life, then he wouldn’t exactly barge in, but as Lyle Templeton he was certain he wouldn’t be refused entry or turned away with having a word with Hart.
Clio had told him Hart had made a full recovery. Of course, he was young and as strong as a Mallee bull, and his burns were relatively minor. The body was truly amazing, the way it went about healing itself. He was still feeling shaken, but he was well able to drive and get about. He was off to Auckland at the weekend with Tim and Anne. He was looking forward to it, actually. He hadn’t seen Louise in years but he had read all her splendidly researched biographies and always e-mailed his congratulations. But first he had to speak to Hart. The young man mightn’t welcome him with open arms, but there shouldn’t be any bother. Hart wouldn’t be where he was today without the enormous help Leo had given him. He didn’t want to have to remind him of that.
Danny Morrison, a top member of Josh’s team, put his head around Josh’s door, a sparkle in his eyes. “Someone to see you, Rocket Man.”
Josh looked up. “I’ve told you not to call me that, Danny,” he said mildly.
“I know you tell me all the time but it comes naturally. We all reckon no one has ever taken off like you. Anyway, a Mr Lyle Templeton is out in Reception. He’s sure you would want to see him. Big question mark there?”
“Not at all, Danny. I’d be absolutely delighted,” Josh responded suavely. “Tell Chelsea to show him through. No tea or coffee.”
“Gotcha!”
Josh rose from his chair as receptionist Chelsea showed Templeton in, but he didn’t extend his hand. “What can I do for you, Mr Templeton?” he said in a perfectly courteous voice. “Please sit down.” He indicated the steel-framed leather chairs facing his desk.
“Thank you.” Lyle took such a time to make his choice Josh thought he might have been considering dusting the chair off with his handkerchief. “You’re on the way to full recovery?”
“I’m getting there.” Templeton began to properly arrange his expensive clothes. “I’ll come to the point, Hart. I invited you to the house. I wanted to thank you for saving my life, but Clio made it abundantly plain you weren’t coming. Is that so?”
“It is indeed, Mr Templeton, bearing in mind you tried to injure me. You certainly injured my car.”
“Well, I’m sorry about that,” Lyle said stiffly, “but you’d be insured. I was only attempting to speak to you anyway.”
“A very vigorous way to go about it,” Josh pointed out. “You could have died that night, and it would have been your own fault. But I accept your apology, Mr Templeton. For Clio’s sake. If it had been Vince Crowley, for instance, I would have pressed charges, among other things.”
Lyle gave a snort of disgust. “I take it you mean an act of violence? Violence doesn’t impress me.” Abruptly he stood up in a kind of affront, convinced he and Hart would always be on a collision course. “Well, I’ve done what I set out to do. I’ve extended my thanks.”
“And very handsomely too.” Josh rose to his feet. “I’d like you to know I intend to see a whole lot more of Clio.” He suddenly realized that for all the concerns that had weighed him down, he was a far more civilized man than Lyle Templeton, who had enjoyed every advantage in life. It was an awakening of sorts.
Lyle tried to get a grip on himself, but failed. “I never could stand you,” he spluttered, incapable of letting go of his resentments.
“So it seems.” Josh gave a wry smile. “But Clio makes her own choices in life.”
“It was a mistake, coming here,” Lyle fumed, full of detestation for the whole situation.
Josh shook his head. “Not necessarily. We’ve cleared up one thing. You can’t break up the special relationship Clio and I have. She’s freed herself of the domination of the men of her family. Personally I don’t think you deserved her.”
Hot blood rose to Lyle’s lean cheeks. “How dare you?” He had come to make peace of a sort but it was turning into rage.
“Oh, I dare,” Josh said. “The only reason you and Leo got away with all this arrogance is because you’ve always been cushioned by money. For years you both made me feel like I was a nobody or could never belong.”
“Well, you can’t,” Lyle burst out.
“You’re telling me you’re a better man?” Josh gave a grunt of contempt. “I might have had a tough start, but watch and see how I finish.”
For so young a man to be cloaked in such authority! “You have secrets, Hart,” Lyle accused. “Tell me about that other girl.” This wasn’t supposed to happen, but it was.
“What other girl?” Josh was now on alert.
“You know very well.” Lyle pointed an accusing finger. “The one you were alleged to have beaten up.”
There was an ear-ringing silence, like after a detonation. “You should go. Now, I’d suggest.” Josh’s voice was very clear and strong. “I’ve never in my life laid a harsh or callous hand on girl or woman. But you could be in harm’s way.”
Lyle felt a burning in his chest. He knew he had gone way too far. It was time to back up fast, although Hart hadn’t moved an inch. “Philippa Jones.” He threw the name over his shoulder as he hastened to the door. “Ring a bell?”
“Get out of here, Mr Templeton,” Josh experienced a flash of rage, though his voice remained calm. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I suppose I could be wrong.” Lyle Templeton shrugged, somehow realizing deep in his heart he was wrong. Very wrong.
“One last thing, Mr Templeton.” Josh’s anger was like a force field that surrounded his tall, powerful body. “Be very, very careful. My good name is important to me. I’m sure you passed this scurrilous allegation on to Clio.”
Lyle stepped out into the corridor before answering. “My duty.” There was satisfaction in knowing he had scored a direct hit. “Good day to you, Hart. I can find my own way out.”
Josh awakened before dawn. He was on the island. He’d been dreaming of Clio. Nothing new about that. It hadn’t been a good dream. Whenever he reached for her he came up against a glass wall. He had planned to bring her with him but as usual things had gone wrong. He was here to think. Plan a strategy for the future. No future without Clio and he had to take control. Lyle Templeton wasn’t the only one who had received a good shake-up. So had he. His concept of himself in many respects had changed. He had fought his background relentlessly and won. Unlike Templeton, he had been forged out of steel. Since that day in his office he had been steadily undergoing a turnaround.
Aquarius was such a beautiful, peaceful place. The ideal place to think. He lay very quietly in the makeshift grass hut he had erected beneath a canopy of towering palms. Gradually the indigo night brightened into a pink-and-lemon-shot pearl grey. He hadn’t slept this well for days. He knew he had to overcome the tremendous feeling of hurt—damn it, betrayal—that was trying to pull him down. He should have realized Clio wouldn’t have introduced a strange woman’s name into the conversation without a reason. Her father had passed on to her a trumped-up story, no doubt originating with the poisonous Keeley. But instead of Clio coming to him and asking him straight out about it, she had tried to catch him out.
Goes by the name of Flippa?
He had mixed with a lot of girls in his university days—quite a few had joked around, claiming to be in love with him—but he couldn’t recall any Philippa. He would have remembered Flippa, he thought. The whole thing was a total fabrication, its cruel purpose to damage him in Clio’s eyes.
You haven’t lost her, have you? the calm voice of reason broke in. There was no bitter indictment, no challenge. She says she loves you. For God’s sake, believe it.
Only Clio had gone so far as to seek an admission he might have known the young woman in question. What sort of a name was Philippa Jones anyway? Nice and anonymous. Was it wrong of him to as good as threaten to throw her father out of his office? That was bound to have upset Clio. He could scarcely believe her relationship to such a man. Templeton had made no real attempt to ease the situation. His supposed gratitude was feigned. The whole thing no more than a feel-good cynical exercise. On the plus side, it had helped him enormously. Set him free.
Breakfast was a couple of plump, scarlet-flushed Bowen mangoes. Seagulls with glittering black eyes were keeping a careful eye on him. They must have thought he was okay, because they didn’t fly away. Other birds were in the air. It was alive with their shrieking—terns, noddies, gulls. Shearwaters, a distance out, were touching the crystal-clear water as they glided and banked near the gently rolling waves of the lagoon. A pair of white-breasted sea eagles with a wingspan of over six feet flapped and soared on their upswept wings. There was an extensive fringing reef on the south and east sides of the island with innumerable gorgeous species of coral. Naturalists would love it here. Amateur fishermen, owners of boats, line fishing, no nets, would be welcome to take their catches from the island’s pristine waters. Then there would be the scuba divers, the reef walkers. A big feature would be the observatory. He had great plans. He wanted Clio to share them.
What he had to straighten out was whether Clio had some lingering doubts. If she did, that would cut him to the quick. There was a soothing calm in this world of dazzling blueness. The strand-line vegetation, grasses and creepers, were a bright green, the coarse grass studded with hundreds of tiny yellow succulent flowers. Casuarinas, the primary colonizers, lined the strand. Pandanus trees grew further back, laden with segmented orange fruit. He looked towards the water only twenty feet away. The brilliant sunlight was causing quicksilver needles and points of light to bounce off the densely blue surface.
He’d take a leisurely swim in the beautiful lagoon, then return to the mainland around mid-afternoon. Running his hand through his hair, he found a thick and unruly thatch full of salt. He had come over to the island in his racy little sailing yacht, Cuttaway. He loved sailing so much one might have thought it was in his blood. Clio would have visited the island many times with Leo. He had dearly wanted Clio to accompany him. Sad to say, her father’s unscheduled visit had put paid to that. Could Templeton’s detestation over time poison the situation between him and Clio? It all came down to whether Clio’s love for him held up under pressure.
Josh had reached the apartment complex, ready to drive his Porsche, repaired to his complete satisfaction, down into the residents’ underground parking area when a familiar figure rose up from the kerb and began to run towards the car, flagging him down with a wild swing of his arms.
Jimmy Crowley.
Instantly Josh felt the weight of worry drop onto his shoulders. He changed direction, drove ahead, pulling into the kerb but keeping the engine running. Obviously something was seriously amiss.
Jimmy was already opening the passenger door, a bruised and battered sorry sight.
“For God’s sake, Jimmy, what’s happened to you?” Crowley had obviously been in a fight and come off the loser.
“Time to go, Josh,” Jimmy jumped into the car. “My dad has really blown it this time,” he said. His right eye was streaming. His left eye was red and swollen, soon to turn black. “He started hitting Mum. He’s just got to rage at her. Why is that, do you know? For once I acted like a man. Not that it did me any good. I should have taken up boxing, like you, years ago. Dad is beside himself with fury. Mum is determined to leave him. He blames Clio for Mum wanting to get a divorce.”
“So spit it out, Jimmy.” Josh spoke harshly. “Where the hell are we going? Your place, what?”
“No, no.” Jimmy tried to shake his pounding head, stopped with a gut-wrenching groan. “Dad has taken my car—well, his car actually—and driven over to the Templetons’. He had a lot of nasty things to say about Clio. He reckons he’s going to have it out with her. Called her a rich, interfering bitch.”
“So the Templetons’ it is,” Josh said, very grimly, driving out onto the main road. There he put in a call to the 24/7 security firm, identifying himself then asking them to deactivate the system at the Templeton place. He had good reason to believe someone wanting to cause trouble had headed that way. He wanted access to the premises without setting off any alarm. He requested back-up.
It was Meg who had let Vince Crowley into the grounds. So trusting! She saw Jimmy’s ostentatious car, and thought it was him. Precisely Vince’s strategy. He was certain he would never have been admitted otherwise. Meg greeted his arrival with horror but he pushed her aside roughly. “Go get Ms Templeton,” he ordered, tight-lipped with arrogance. “Go on woman. I’m not about to eat you.”
“You’d need to eat me to get to Clio,” Meg said, stoutly holding her ground.
It was then Clio walked from the living room into the huge entrance hall, alerted by the raised voices. Immediately she sized up the situation, pretending a confidence she didn’t feel. Calm was called for. Not a show of panic. “It’s okay, Meg.” Her voice betrayed no trace of shock or fear, though the tiny hairs at her nape and on her arms were standing up. Vince looked frightening. He was a big man, and exuded anger. “What is it you want, Vince?”
“A few minutes of your precious time,” he grated. “Tell your housekeeper to go away. There’s no problem here. And don’t bother giving her a look to ring the police. I wouldn’t advise that.”
Clio nodded at Meg then gestured Vince into the living room. Surely Meg would have the sense to press a panic button if help was needed. God knew, they were all over the house. “This is about Susan, I take it?”
“That it is,” he agreed harshly.
Meg, who was holding a golf iron at the time, spotted from the library window Josh’s Porsche driving into the grounds. She near fainted with relief. Josh would take care of this. She had immense confidence in him. She had discovered to her horror that the expensive security system was malfunctioning, or maybe she was pressing the wrong buttons. She was an idiot when it came to technology. To make matters worse, it was Sunday and Tom was out fishing with his mates. She and Clio were quite alone. But there were supposed to be many barriers.
Very quietly Meg crept along the hall and opened the front door. Josh was striding at speed, tall and formidable, Jimmy Crowley stumbling very cautiously behind. Poor old Jimmy! Meg understood Jimmy and his mother must have had a tough time. For most of her marriage Susan would have held to the fiction underneath the bad things that were happening that her husband really loved her. She had confided in no one. Probably she believed it was all her fault. But what about the boy, Jimmy? Wasn’t it Susan Crowley’s role as a mother to protect her son? It was all too much for Meg.
Josh signalled to her that he wasn’t going in the front door. She watched him very purposefully round the side of the house. He knew the mansion as well as anyone.
He moved swiftly, staying low. The house seemed deathly quiet. No voices issued from any room. Where were they? He knew security would be here any minute, just as he knew every second counted. According to Jimmy, his father had been just one step away from going berserk. Crowley wasn’t here to talk to Clio. He was there to hurt her. He’d spent half his lifetime hurting his own wife. Josh hadn’t the slightest doubt he could overpower Crowley, but he wanted to be in the right position and have the element of surprise.
The kitchen door was open. He moved through the large room equipped for a top chef then out into the corridor, pausing to listen.
Now he could hear voices. Clio’s. An almighty wave of relief swept through him. She didn’t sound the least bit intimidated. That was Clio. She was Leo’s granddaughter after all. Plenty of guts. Then came Crowley’s florid bluster. “I’ve tried hard to keep my marriage going.” He spoke as if he were the partner who had been regularly brutalized. “What would you know about that, you smug, over-protected bitch?”
Clio’s voice remained clear and firm. “Your wife lived in constant fear. Jimmy too. You would have made sure the worst injuries weren’t visible so people couldn’t condemn you. But they will. You’re a coward and a bully. Don’t imagine help isn’t arriving as we speak. I will not tolerate you trying to intimidate me. You got in here under false pretences. Meg wouldn’t have let you in otherwise.”
“I was driving that idiot son of mine’s car.” Crowley’s voice was a weird combination of triumph and contempt. “Fooled the old bag easily.” He smirked.
“Well, you’ve gained nothing by coming here,” Clio said in a clipped voice. “Rather the reverse. I suggest you leave before help arrives.”
“I’m not moving, sweetheart.” Vince’s bitter voice curdled in his throat. “You think you can destroy my life? Get me tossed out of the firm? Make a laughing stock of me and my dad? Talk my half-witted wife into divorcing me? You have to pay. You’re the catalyst! You!” The glare was one of pure challenge.
Clio came swiftly to her feet, recognising the blind fury. “You’ve lost your mind. Get out. I’ve already given you too much time. Your wife made the decision to leave you, even if she made it too late. I had little to do with it.”
“Liar!” Crowley roared. The word pelted like a rock from his mouth as he sank into a pit of unstoppable rage.
He was going to attack her. She knew it. But that would only be the start. She could see the madness building in him. Clio flinched to the side while her body snapped into action. She had to defend herself. All along she had kept her eye on the small bronze statue of a young ballerina nearby. That should knock him out. If only she could beat him to it. She was prepared to make the supreme effort.
Where was Josh? she agonized, a prayer fluttering on her lips. Where was he when she needed him? Josh should have been here, only her father had caused more trouble, though he had vehemently denied it. Josh hadn’t been answering her phone calls. There was a reason. Josh would have saved her from this monster. She felt like screaming his name. Josh wouldn’t let Crowley get away with this. Hateful, disgusting man!
Josh…Josh…
However distant, her voice would search him out. She was sure of it. The bond they had struck was too strong to be broken. Josh would come for her. Only would it be too late?
For a brief moment Clio thought she was going mad. Even Crowley froze on the spot, his striking arm upraised. She could have sworn she heard Josh’s voice. Slow motion turned to high speed. Josh rocketed from somewhere behind her.
Salvation! Her heart leapt in her breast. It was the real Josh, not a figment of her imagination. He stormed past her, launching himself at Vince with a thundering voice of wrath.
“You sorry excuse for a human being!” For a split second Josh paused to balance himself, then his fists shot out in a dizzyingly fast flurry of punches. Vince Crowley, a big man, didn’t have the skill to block them.
Clio watched Crowley go down on his knees, before landing face down on the carpet. Josh stood over him, looking very much like he was waiting for Crowley to get up so he could finish him off. She remembered now Josh had won boxing tournaments in his university days. He still kept in training at the local gym.
“Josh, leave him.” Clio dashed the tears of utter relief from her eyes. She rushed to his side, getting a grip on his bronzed arm. “Leave him,” she begged urgently. “He’s not worth it.” She could feel the tremendous tension in Josh’s powerful body. Here was another serious moment to be averted.
“I don’t know that I agree with you,” he grated. “He needs to take a real beating to know how it feels. I didn’t hit him half hard enough.”
She tried to increase the pressure on his arm. “Josh, he’s down for the count. There’s no need to go any further. I don’t want you to go any further.”
He swung his blond head in agitation. His hair was so thickly tousled it was forming deep waves and springing curls. He stared at her with such a blaze in his eyes. “Clio, if I hadn’t arrived he would have assaulted you.” He spoke as though he wasn’t at all sure she realized that. “He could have killed you. It wouldn’t have taken much. A woman is an easy target. This guy is capable of murder.”
Clio didn’t doubt it. “Josh I understand that.” She held his burning gaze. “But you must let the police handle it. I don’t want you involved in any trouble.”
Josh’s handsome face was drawn incredibly taut, indicating the high level of emotion inside him. “I dare say his wife and kid hit the ground many a time.” There was a dangerous edge to his voice. “Crowley, the big man! The street good guy, the home monster. How do they get away with it? She could have gone to the police. Maybe she would have had he ruined her face. As for poor Jimmy!” He couldn’t hide his pity. “It was Jimmy who was waiting for me. He led me here. So I guess he passed some sort of a test.” “Jimmy isn’t you, Josh. Your early life would have killed him or set him on a self-destructive path.”
“Poor old Jimmy!” Josh released a slow breath of tension. “Look at this guy.” Vince was conscious and moaning, with Josh’s boot in the small of his back. “It’s possible he’d like to see me charged for assault.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it!” Meg’s voice rang out. She rushed into the living room, still holding the golf iron.
Josh turned on her. “Meg, how could you have been so foolish as to let him in?”
“Wretched man! I thought it was Jimmy, you see. Jimmy’s harmless. The security man is here, my dears, and Sergeant McMannus, thank God.”
“Is he dead?” Meg asked, taking a speculative look at the man on the carpet.
“Dead men don’t groan, Meg,” Josh pointed out dryly as Crowley tried to speak. “Don’t say a word, Vince,” he warned.
“Let McMannus take care of it, Josh,” Clio cautioned him again.
It seemed like an eternity before Josh nodded.
McMannus had taken charge. Vince Crowley was cuffed, read his rights. He was taken away, protesting at the top of his lungs they would all pay.
“Get Don Burchell down to the station, you idiot,” he snarled over his shoulder at his son.
“Might take a bit of time, Dad,” Jimmy called back. “Burchell is holidaying in Thailand.”
“Use your head, then, you idiot. Get Stewart.”
“Make the phone call yourself, Dad. I’m pressing charges. So is Mum. So is Clio.”
“Traitor!” Crowley yelled.
“I’m sorry, Jimmy,” Clio said, as they watched the police car move slowly down the drive towards the open front gates.
Jimmy actually smiled through his injuries. “No worries! This is absolutely the best it gets. Should have happened long ago.”
“Maybe we should get you to a hospital?” Clio voiced her concern. Poor bruised and battered Jimmy was swaying on his feet.
“I’ll take him.” Josh moved to support the young man. “Come on, Jimmy. We’ll swing by and pick up your mother.”
Jimmy’s swollen face lit up. “Oh, great!” he cried. “You’re a top bloke, Josh. A real friend.”
“Count on it,” said Josh.
It was getting on towards dusk before Tom Palmer returned with his catch after a very rewarding day fishing the rich Coral Sea waters. Meg told him the whole story while Tom looked on with an expression of deep concern. “I often wondered about Crowley,” he said. “You have to wonder why Mrs Crowley didn’t step forward.”
“He’d broken her spirit, Tom,” Clio answered.
“You’re not going to let it slide, are you, Clio? I mean the Crowleys and all? I couldn’t count the number of times Crowley has been to the house.”
“In Leo’s day,” Clio pointed out. “Not that Leo had any idea what kind of a monster Vince was at home. A browbeater, yes, physical abuse, no. I won’t let it drop, Tom. Crowley can get much-needed therapy in prison.”
Tom grinned. “I don’t doubt he’ll cop the odd punch from a person or persons unknown when they find out what he’s in for.”
“Serve him right!” said Meg. “I despise wife beaters.”
Josh had told her he would come back. It was well after 7 p.m. and he still hadn’t returned. She was feeling very jumpy. God knew what would have happened to her without Josh. Meg had gone off with her husband, looking thoroughly chastened. Clio felt she had to take some responsibility. Although she had explained a number of times to Meg how the security system worked, she knew Meg only listened with half an ear. It had taken Meg ages before she had mastered sending e-mails. She was glad her father was in New Zealand. He had rung her twice to say everything was going really well.
“Nothing like a reunion! Louise looks marvellous! Hasn’t aged in twenty years. Good-looking woman that! We’re all getting along as splendidly as we did in our student days.”
Clio had understood from a few teasing remarks her mother had made from time to time that her father and Louise Cartwright might have enjoyed a brief affair. Louise had never married, perhaps concentrating on her career. Clio couldn’t help hoping Louise and her father might pick up where they’d left off, because no one on earth had the power to separate her from Josh.
Josh arrived back less than half an hour later. Clio greeted him anxiously at the door. “I was getting worried.”
“No need.” He didn’t attempt to kiss her. Her heart sank. “But everything takes time. Susan and Jimmy received treatment at the hospital. I dropped them back home. Crowley is spending a night in the cells. Sunday, not a lawyer in sight. Isn’t that great? Even Paddy didn’t show up. Crowley will be held on remand until the case comes before the magistrate, probably at the end of next week. Give him time to think. Meanwhile, Susan and Jimmy will be taking sanctuary with Susan’s sister in Sydney while they sort out their lives.”
“What a scandal!” Clio said.
“I don’t think anyone will be surprised.”
“Is there something wrong, Josh?” She stared up into his give-nothing-away face.
“Why should there be?” He met her gaze. “Case close. Or almost.”
“I’m talking about you and me. You’re distressed about something. I can feel it. You haven’t been in contact. It has nothing to do with the Crowleys. There’s something else hanging between us.”
“And here I was thinking I had mastered inscrutable.”
“Not from me.”
“Seems not.” He met her searching eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
“You wouldn’t let me beat him up, even though he was about to attack you.”
“Only you were there,” she said with a faint shudder.
“Thank God for that!” He spoke with great fervour, staring down at her.
“My hero!”
“I’d like to think I am.”
She was wearing a turquoise tank top with a longish floral skirt that picked up the colour. The top was embroidered with gold sparkles around the oval neck. The silk clung to the small perfectly shaped mounds of her breasts. He wanted to reach out to her, smooth the shining length of her hair that had such a heavy silken look to it. But he held off until he could get things straight. “Meg gone off?” he asked.
She nodded. “She was terribly upset with herself. The security system is beyond her. Technology is a foreign country and Meg can’t speak a word.”
“I can teach her,” Josh said with easy confidence. “She has to put her mind to it. Not let it go in one ear and out the other. Could I get a sandwich and a cup of coffee?”
“Of course you can!” Her anxiety faded a little. “Come through to the kitchen.”
“Sure you can handle it?”
“I won’t deign to reply to that. I haven’t had anything to eat myself. Didn’t feel like it. There’ll be plenty of food. Always is. Have you been over to the island?”
“How did you guess?”
She turned to face him. “Your tan is even deeper, and your hair is all tousled. I thought you wanted me to go with you?” She had dreamed of it. The two of them alone on a coral island.
“That was the plan, but something always gets in the way.” Josh swept an uncaring hand over his springing blond hair. “Remember asking me if I knew a Philippa—Flippa Jones?” He gave her a very straight look.
The one thing she hadn’t considered. “Oh, my God, so that’s it!” Clio said with a wail. “Dad spoke to you about her?”
“I’m not interested in what your dad had to say, Clio.”
“He shouldn’t have said it.” The faintest sob escaped her. “Sometimes my father is a complete mystery to me.”
“He’s a difficult man, but you, Clio! Why did you have to drop in that careless little question? Do you happen to know anyone by the name of Philippa Jones?” His tone mimicked hers exactly. “It seems to me I might never earn your total trust.”
She felt a powerful wash of remorse. “Josh I regret more than I can say mentioning it to you.” “But you did say it, Clio. Nothing can change that.”
He was looking at her so critically she burst out, “Why are you so judgmental? Haven’t you made mistakes? Said things you later regretted?”
His burned gaze whipped over her. “Maybe I regret telling you how badly I want you.” Out of nowhere his demons were suddenly let loose. “Maybe I regret having anything to do with you at all.” He turned as though he intended leaving.
“Josh, you come back here,” Clio cried. “Don’t run away. That’s not going to solve anything. If you care about me at all, and you do, you’ll listen. Dad upset me terribly. Turn around, Josh.” She prayed he would. He didn’t. “It wasn’t because I believed one word of what he was telling me, but the fact that he could say it at all. Keeley set it up. Dad is as gullible as they come. I believed in you, Josh. Don’t hold one stupid mistake against me. You’re the best man I’ve ever known.”
“I’d better go while I still have strength,” Josh rasped. “I need to cool down. I’ll fix myself something at home.”
“It’s easier to go, isn’t it?” she challenged, driven to running after him. Yet again. She who had never run after any man. “You turn my life upside down, this way, that—”
“Okay, so you know your compass.” He turned, speaking in a cool, satirical voice, but there was a fierce look in his eyes.
“Sarcasm noted, Josh. After all you do to me, for me, you think you can stalk off into the sunset. What makes you tick, Josh?” she cried, fire and sorrow in her eyes. “Have you been hurt so badly you can’t let anyone into every corner of your heart? Or don’t you have a heart? If saying something stupid is the worst thing I can do—”
“Stop it, Clio.” His handsome face was taut. “Just stop it.” He had to clench his hands to stop their trembling. He was aching, in pain, his jaw tense, as it always was when he was holding on tight. He knew if he touched her he would forget everything. He would pick her up in his arms and have her, the incredible sweetness and beauty of her. “Let me go home. We can talk again.” His voice sounded agitated even to his own ears.
“I damned well won’t let you go.” Clio gripped his arm. “What are you trying to do?” She spoke in bewilderment, reacting to something she saw in the depths of his eyes. “Protect me in some strange way?”
He threw up his blond head. The gesture was so imperious it had to be in his DNA. “I see it as my job to protect you, Clio. Even against yourself.”
“You feel my love for you might falter if put to the test? You still feel Leo, your benefactor, would have been totally against us?”
“You know he would,” he said bluntly.
“So you’re going to punish us both because of Leo?” she asked in an impassioned voice.
“Forget Leo. But Leo was the Big Man, Clio. God knows what would have happened to me without his patronage.”
“He made you pay, though, didn’t he? He made us both pay. Leo was close to being the world’s biggest snob. And on the basis of what? What did he have to be snobbish about anyway? Does having a great deal of money turn a man into a prince? I don’t think so. You could be a prince for all we know. You certainly look like one.”
“Oh, Clio, don’t be ridiculous,” he groaned. “Born a pauper.”
“What’s that got to do with it? Don’t you ever feel you’d like to know who your father was?” She broached that fraught subject again, but with great urgency, wondering if she was a bit crazy to start this.
“I don’t want to have this conversation, Clio,” Josh told her with finality.
It was time to back off, but she persisted. “But think. Dwell on it if you have to. You know nothing about him. It’s more than possible he may not have known about you. He could even have been killed. Accidents happen all the time. There were no photos? Nothing you were allowed to keep with you when they took you away?”
A darkly sardonic expression crossed his face. “A koala,” he said. “Satisfied? My mother bought it for me when I was about three. I loved it. I took it with me everywhere. Slept with it. In the home I got into some furious fights holding onto it. I felt no pain even when I was taking one hell of a beating and they had to pull me off much older kids. But it was a point of honour, you see. My only link with my mother. I still have it, believe it or not. KoKo, the koala. He looks pretty terrible these days. Lost most of his fur. There’s a dark part of my life I try to overcome, Clio, but it keeps popping up from time to time. That’s memory for you.”
“Oh, Josh!” Tears sprang into her lustrous eyes.
“I told you not to cry for me.”
His expression tore the heart out of her. She could see beyond the big handsome man to the abandoned small boy. She moved into him, laying her head against his chest, hearing the steady thud of his heart. “Bad things have happened to you, Josh, but good things are going to happen to you from now on. I’ll give you as much time as you want.”
“You’ll give me time?” Josh grasped a handful of her long hair, turning her face up to him, amazed how the sadness and feelings of disillusionment gave way to forgiveness. He had his demons, but Clio had the power to exorcize them. Her love had taken him captive, offered redemption. He had been so severe with himself, holding off even when she had allowed him the chance, and she thought he needed time?
“We’re meant to be together, Josh.” Her beautiful dark eyes caught the light. “I love you. Love never lets go. You remember your love for your mother? How do you know she’s not watching you at this very minute, wondering what you’re doing, trying to fend off a woman who loves you.”
There was wild confusion yet enormous elation in ceding control. He simply couldn’t control his feelings for Clio. Never would. He wanted her and he was going to have her. But he wanted to go slowly, gently. For her sake.
“How many lovers have you had?” he asked quietly.
“About ninety,” she said without a moment’s reflection.
“I’d say two. How would that be?”
“Well, I haven’t gone down your road with dozens of affairs.”
He shook his head. “I don’t remember any dozens.”
“I’ll have to take your word for that.”
“It was at university?” Josh was certain he was correct.
“No big deal,” she sighed. “All my friends were in some kind of a relationship. It all comes down to couples, doesn’t it, Josh? Singles are the odd ones out.”
“You made your own choices?”
“Of course I did, Josh,” she said with a tiny touch of heat. “I was treated with gentleness and respect. I went to Simon’s wedding a year ago. Michael is happily engaged. We all talk to one another. What about you? Still talk to the old girlfriends?”
He gave a twisted smile. “They all went into the convent.”
“Terrific, lives put on ice. What are you really getting at, Josh?”
“Simon and Michael would stop whenever you wanted?”
She stared up at him, wondering what he was getting at. “Josh, you think I can’t do intense? I didn’t fall apart when you kissed me, did I?’
“It was more me falling apart, Clio,” he answered with grim humour. “I’ve had such a different life from you. I fear with you that my emotions might get out of hand. I mightn’t even hear you if you cried for me to stop. Love can be very fierce, Clio, passionately erotic as well as tender. I want to burn into your beautiful body. I want to burn out the good respectful guys, burn your every memory of them. I do admit to a fear that what I feel for you will get the better of me. That might be difficult for you to understand.”
There was no doubt he was still seeing himself through the eyes of his past. “I do understand it, Josh. I understand how our early environment shapes us. It’s a tragedy you knew little of the warmth and affection, the friendships most of us take for granted. But there’s so much strength in you. There’s all the evidence to prove it. You saved my father, who has done everything in his power to make a strong case against you in this very town. You’re a fine man. I’m the woman who loves you. Not a nine-year-old girl. Sometimes I think that image you have of me overtakes the reality. You break my heart. You’re so frantic not to hurt me. But don’t you realize that’s an aspect that proves your love?” She picked up one of his hands and kissed it.
“Clio!” Every nerve ending in his body ignited.
“Come with me.” Her voice was husky with emotion.
He made an instinctive movement to resist. “Josh, I insist!”
“Do you just?” He had never felt such liberation. He swooped her up, holding her without effort against his chest. “Insist is a pretty strong word.”
She threw her arms around his neck, exulting in the fact they were at long last to come together. She was fully aware she was leaving behind the young woman she had been. She was turning over her body and soul to a man who in many ways would master her. Josh was no ordinary man. Her mind was clear on that. But she wasn’t about to be outmatched. She wasn’t so ordinary either. Her soul flew from her body, soared like a bird.
In the end she wanted everything he wanted. He didn’t have to coax her. They were perfectly matched in their roles of lovers. Her body fitted his perfectly. She responded to every skilful caress of his hand as his hard-muscled body, tapering waist, sculpted hips, firm buttocks, long splendid legs did to hers. She had never known such pleasure of discovery. She could only marvel at it. He kissed her from the top of her forehead, right down her body, pausing at her breasts with their peaked nipples and finally reaching her arched insteps, holding her narrow feet in his hands.
Tears of rapture filled her eyes.
Josh moved back, held himself at arm’s length from her body. “I love you. I adore you. There’s no escape.”
“You know you have to marry me?” she whispered.
“I’d do anything to keep you with me,” he whispered back. He bent to kiss her, her mouth opening like a flower at the first entry of his tongue. “I’m not the easiest man in the world, Clio, but I swear I will protect you with my life.” For the first time in his troubled existence he was ready to consider miracles.
“I’m your woman. You’re my man,” Clio said with great simplicity. “My perfect mate.”
Josh was too overcome to speak. Slowly, he lowered his body over hers.
Two bodies fused. Became one. Two souls took flight as if they had wings.