The relatively short, five-hour flight from Singapore to Western Australia seemed to pass quickly, but Megan could tell that Ben was thinking of business again as they collected their luggage at Perth airport.
That tight expression on his face was beginning to seem like a gate that kept slamming into place between them, and when he was in that mode, he seemed to think of nothing else but the task in hand.
A large chauffeur-driven vehicle was waiting for them again at the airport and they were whisked away towards the city. Traffic was heavy, with huge trucks thundering past them, and the road was lined with garish business signs and commercial buildings.
He glanced at her and smiled. ‘Disappointed?’
‘Well…’ she hesitated, looking up at the lowering skies, ‘…I thought Australia would be – you know – sunny.’
‘It’s winter, when we get most of our rain. It’ll probably be sunny tomorrow, part of the time, anyway. It rarely stays dull for long.’ He leaned forward and spoke to the driver. ‘Before you deliver us to the hotel, would you please take us along Riverside Drive and up to King’s Park.’
‘That’s the new casino.’ He pointed to a lumpy geometrical building. ‘And on the other side of the river you can see the city block.’
‘Skyscrapers!’ She was so disappointed. To her, having grown up in a cosy village surrounded by neat fields and farms, skyscrapers were an urban obscenity. ‘What river is that?’
‘The Swan. In summer, there are boats and yachts everywhere and at night the water reflects the city lights. It can be very pretty. I asked for a hotel suite looking out towards it.’
She nodded. Now he was neither lover, nor businessman, but had changed into a courteous stranger.
And she didn’t like the change, not at all.
When the car stopped in King’s Park, he helped her out then raised her hand to his lips and kissed it formally. ‘Welcome to Perth, Mrs Saunders.’
She’d rather he’d kissed her lips. She’d rather he’d not had that abstracted look in his eyes. Oh, you’re such a fool, she told herself. Will you just stop wishing for the moon. ‘Can we have a short walk?’
They strolled along towards a lookout perched on the edge of a small cliff overlooking the city and widest part of the river. Below them was a freeway buzzing with traffic and beyond that a wide stretch of water. What looked like a ferry was moving slowly from one side to the other.
Megan linked her arm in Ben’s and spoke with determined cheerfulness. ‘This must be one of the most beautiful locations for a city in the world.’
‘I think so,’ he said quietly, nodding at it as if greeting an old friend. ‘I’ve grown to love it.’
But she wished he hadn’t spoiled the moment by glancing at his watch.
‘I’ll bring you up here again one evening, Megan, so that you can see the city lights, but at the moment, I need to get to the hotel. Apart from the fact that it’s about to pour down, I’m expecting a few messages from New York.’
‘When are we going to your house in the country?’
‘Our house, now.’
‘Sorry, our house.’ But it wouldn’t feel like her house until she had seen it. And she didn’t really want to go to another hotel. It seemed very important that they have a real home together. ‘When can we go there?’
He hesitated. ‘Well, in a day or two, perhaps. I have some people to see first. In the meantime, I expect you’ll enjoy going round the shops.’
She let out an exasperated puff of air at his tone, which seemed more suitable to a child about to be consoled for something by new toys. ‘Actually, I’m not mad keen on shopping.’
‘Wonders will never cease! A woman who’s not obsessed by clothes.’
That did it! She let go of his arm and faced him, hands on hips. ‘I don’t appreciate patronising remarks, thank you very much.’
‘It wasn’t—’
‘Oh, yes, it was! And it’s worse if you don’t even know when you’re being patronising. Not all woman are obsessed by shopping, you know.’ She led the way to the car at a smart pace, not even looking behind to see if he were following.
They got back inside in dead silence. His face was expressionless and he sat down at the opposite end of the seat with plenty of space between them. As they drove along he made no attempt to bridge the gap.
Well, she wasn’t going to make the first move, she decided, anger still simmering through her.
At the hotel there was the usual obsequious service which Ben seemed to generate out of nowhere. ‘Another bridal suite?’ she asked in the lift.
‘Is there something wrong with bridal suites?’
‘They’re a bit overpowering, that’s all. Fussy.’
The rest of the journey up was accomplished in a silence so heavy you could almost have weighed it.
Their suite was another impersonal essay in opulence and Megan’s nose wrinkled scornfully as she looked around.
‘I don’t understand you,’ Ben said abruptly. ‘I thought you’d enjoy this sort of thing. After all, you’ve had a – well, a rather restricted life so far.’
‘I did enjoy the luxury hotels at first. But now I’d rather have a home of our own.’ And a husband who didn’t have half his mind on business when they’d only just arrived in Australia and she was dying to get out and see something.
‘Have I upset you?’
‘Of course you have! You were treating me like a child, some idiot who could be made happy by presents.’
He ran his hand through his hair. ‘I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean it to sound like that.’
Suddenly he was Ben again, not the cool businessman. And Megan realised how ridiculous she’d been, expecting him to understand instinctively what she wanted. ‘I suppose I was just – well, disappointed that we weren’t going to our home.’
He came across and pulled her towards him, bending his head to kiss her. But this time she pulled back. ‘Don’t!’
‘Why not? You usually like it.’
‘Because it seems to be your answer to everything. Make love to her and then she’ll forget whatever it is that’s upset her.’ Unfortunately, she did forget. In fact, she went into meltdown the minute his lips touched hers. So she wasn’t going to let him do that to her, not when she had a point to make.
He swung away abruptly, his expression grim. ‘I’ve no intention of forcing myself upon you. Perhaps you’ll put up a sign when I am allowed near you!’
She bit back a sharp remark and turned towards their suitcases.
While she unpacked their things and changed, he went through the letters and faxes that were piled near the phone. ‘Nothing here that can’t wait.’ He hesitated. ‘Shall we – would you like to go down and have a cocktail in the lobby? I wouldn’t mind an early dinner. You usually seem to like watching people.’
It sounded like an olive branch and she seized it gladly. ‘I’d enjoy that.’ She went over and linked her arm in his. ‘Come on, then, take your grumpy old wife out and feed her.’
He stared at her solemnly. ‘I didn’t mean to be patronising, Megan. Truly I didn’t.’
‘And I think I over-reacted. Let’s forget it.’
They were laughing together as they came out of the lift, then Ben stopped dead in his tracks and she felt his whole body become tense.
What now?
She followed his glance, to see a woman staring across at them. After a moment’s hesitation, the stranger waved and began to cross the lobby. She was tall and extremely elegant, but her expression could only be described as sexually aware. The admiring glances she received from one or two men showed clearly that she had made an impact on them and the half smile on her face betrayed her enjoyment of this.
As soon as the stranger spoke Megan recognised Cynthia from their one short telephone conversation. Impossible to mistake that affected drawl.
‘Ben, dahhh-ling!’
He took the hand that was reaching greedily towards him and shook it briefly, keeping her at arm’s length.
Cynthia tossed back her shoulder-length blonde hair and made a moue at him, completely ignoring Megan. ‘So formal, Ben?’
‘Cynthia, I’d like you to meet my wife. Megan, this is an old acquaintance of mine, Cynthia Berevic.’
‘Friend, not acquaintance, surely, Ben. We’ve known each other for absolutely years.’ Cynthia waved a hand vaguely in Megan’s direction, but continued to address her remarks to him. ‘I heard you’d got married. Everyone was so-o-o surprised.’
She paused to stare at Megan for a few seconds, as if she were something that had crawled out from under a stone and should have stayed there, then turned back to Ben. ‘No one knew you had a thing going.’
‘Why should they? It was no one else’s business.’
Sneaking a quick glance at her husband, Megan decided he was not happy to see Cynthia. Good. At least – she hoped that was what was making him frown. Louisa had said the Berevics lived in Sydney. Why couldn’t they have stayed there?
An older man with a drawn face came across to join them and his arrival caused Ben to smile with genuine warmth. ‘Nick!’
While the two men thumped each other on the back a few times, Cynthia totally ignored Megan, who studied a nearby mural, hoping she looked interested in it.
Nick’s voice had a slight accent to it. ‘Didn’t know you were back in Australia, Ben.’
‘Just flew in today. How are you keeping? Really, Nick? Recovering all right?’
‘Oh, yes. Can’t keep me down for long. It was only a minor heart attack. But I still have to take things easy for a while.’ He looked at Megan questioningly.
‘Nick, this is my wife. We were married last week in London. Megan, this is Nick Berevic, a business colleague of mine and a good friend. Nick helped me a lot when I first came to Australia.’
‘You didn’t need much help, my friend, just a few introductions.’ Unlike his wife Nick shook Megan’s hand warmly, keeping it clasped in his for a minute as he studied her. ‘I hope you’ll both be very happy. You’ll forgive an old man for saying how fresh and beautiful your face is, Megan.’
‘Thank you.’ She liked him on the spot. He had all the warmth and charm his wife lacked. She noticed that Cynthia’s expression had turned sour at her husband’s compliment, then the other woman recovered and started to smile at Ben again.
‘Well, you certainly made up your mind quickly this time, dahh-ling. I didn’t know you’d met anyone so – er,’ she cast a disbelieving look sideways, ‘special.’
He spoke quietly, turning to put his arm round Megan. ‘One day was all it took before we decided to get married.’
Was she mistaken, Megan wondered, or was there an appeal for help in his eyes? ‘No, it was one and a half days, actually,’ she joked, backing him up without hesitation. ‘And our first meeting was definitely – unusual.’
‘It was indeed. She rushed across the hotel foyer and tackled a pickpocket who’d just stolen my wallet. Quite a reversal of roles – heroine saves hero.’
Ben’s chuckle was quite genuine and made Cynthia press her lips together and eye Megan from head to toes, as if she couldn’t believe there was anything special about her. Megan returned Cynthia stare for stare and cuddled up to her husband as she did so.
Nick, who didn’t seem to have noticed the subtle undertones, clapped Ben on the shoulder, a familiar fatherly gesture. ‘Well, it’s great to see you two love birds, but if you’ve just arrived from England, you must be exhausted. We haven’t all got Cynthia’s splendid constitution. She arrived a couple of days ago, but she never seems to suffer from jet lag.’
He looked at his wife so proudly and Cynthia looked so disinterested that Megan thought suddenly, I pity him! I can’t see her being a comfort to someone who’s not well.
Cynthia took her husband’s arm, but it was Ben whom she addressed. ‘I’m very cross with you, you know. You didn’t even invite me to the wedding.’
‘I didn’t know you were in London.’
Megan was amazed at how straight he kept his face as he said this.
‘Oh?’ Cynthia’s tone showed her disbelief. ‘But I left a message for you on your office number and at your aunt’s.’
‘Things were chaotic as we were closing down. And my aunt must have forgotten to pass the message on. Anyway, the wedding wasn’t a lavish production. Just family and a few old school friends.’
As he made a move to leave, Cynthia reached out to grab his arm. ‘I must say, you don’t look to be overcome with exhaustion.’ Her voice took on a coaxing purr. ‘Why don’t you two have dinner with us tonight? We’re only in Perth for a few days while Nick closes a deal, and it’d be lovely to catch up with you again.’
Nick patted his wife’s hand as it lay on his arm. ‘I must say, I think that’s an excellent idea. Not if you’re too tired, of course.’
Megan could feel her husband’s tension in the arm that still lay around her shoulders. Why? Because he was still attracted to that woman? Or because he didn’t want to spend time with her? It suddenly seemed rather important to know which, yet she knew she couldn’t ask him.
Oh, she was getting so tired of treading carefully all the time!
‘We won’t take no for an answer,’ said Cynthia firmly. ‘You were obviously going out somewhere to eat and it might as well be with us. How about a cocktail before dinner? Nick’s hardly seen anyone for ages. Convalescence is so tedious. It’ll do him good to chat with an old friend.’ She smiled rather too sweetly at Megan. ‘Not to mention making a new one.’
What’s the woman up to? Megan wondered, as Ben squeezed her shoulder and accepted for them both.
She’d have said no and eaten in their room.
After a cocktail, they dined in the hotel restaurant. The meal seemed interminable to Megan. She chatted, tried to smile, listened to talk about people who meant nothing to her. And gradually she began to wonder whether Cynthia wasn’t doing this on purpose.
At one stage, when she was feeling as though she could not bear this meaningless chat for another second longer, she excused herself to go to the ladies’ room. You’re not in that woman’s league, she told her face in the mirror. Dear Cynthia absolutely oozes elegance and wealth. I bet she does nothing but buy clothes when her husband’s busy.
As Megan patted her unruly hair into place, she shook her head. A real country bumpkin, that’s what you are, Megan Ross. Then she mentally corrected herself. No, she was Megan Saunders now and must not forget that. Nor must she allow Cynthia to forget it.
She sighed and searched the mirror again, feeling she ought to look different now she was married. But she didn’t. Same old rosy, unsophisticated face.
A favourite saying of her uncle’s came back to her, No use pretending to be what you’re not, my girl. You may fool everyone else, but you won’t fool yourself. Yes, she thought, but I can’t remain a simple country girl now, not married to a man like Ben Saunders. I’ll have to do some adapting if we’re to have a good life together.
And so will he!
As she was walking back towards the restaurant, all her good resolutions to appear more sophisticated vanished, for when she looked across the lobby, Nick was also missing from the table and Ben was sitting holding Cynthia’s hand. A raging fury filled Megan and she stopped dead. How dared he hold hands with another woman after all he had said about loyalty? She sucked in a couple of painful breaths, then swung round and strode back across the foyer.
She would not confront him now. She didn’t intend to make a public spectacle of herself! But she wasn’t going to rejoin them. No way!
Once in their suite she phoned the reception desk. ‘Could you please give a message to my husband? Ben Saunders. He’s sitting at a corner table in the foyer bar with a blond woman. Tell him I’ve retired to our suite with a sudden migraine. Thank you.’
She slammed down the phone and threw off the expensive new dress, kicking it into a corner, heedless of whether it got damaged. ‘I can always shop for more, after all!’ she snarled at it.
She went for a shower, but although the warmth of the water was soothing on her body, it didn’t ease her anger. She scrubbed away the tears fiercely, but more kept falling.
When she came out of the bathroom, Ben was sitting in an armchair, arms folded, looking just as furious as she felt.
She didn’t wait for him to speak. ‘I didn’t expect you back so soon!’
‘Nick isn’t allowed any late nights.’
‘You could have stayed on with your dear friend Cynthia!’
He jerked to his feet. ‘I didn’t want to stay with her. But I did expect you to have more manners than just to vanish without so much as a word of apology.’
‘You shouldn’t sit there holding some other woman’s hand, then! I didn’t like to interrupt your cosy little tête-à-tête.’
‘She was holding my hand, actually.’
‘Well, you weren’t exactly pulling yours away!’ Megan sat down at the dressing table and began to brush her hair, sending it crackling into a halo around her face.
The brush was removed from her hand and she was pulled to her feet. She didn’t resist, but she did not attempt to soften the furious expression on her face, either.
‘Do I detect some jealousy there, Mrs Saunders?’
She looked at the hand holding her wrist. ‘Do you mind?’
He didn’t let go, just took hold of her other wrist and pulled her closer to him. A thrill ran through her, but she didn’t answer, couldn’t find the breath, somehow.
His voice became lower, softer. ‘I asked you a question. Would you answer it, please?’
She was still filled with anger. She had been altogether too meek since they got married. Well, that was over now. So Ben was rich! Well, money wasn’t everything. She had got to stop letting it worry her and – and just get on with living. And he was the one who’d made such a parade of needing loyalty from a wife.
‘I must admit,’ she said, articulating her words with care, ‘that I don’t enjoy dining with my husband’s former mistress. Who would? And I feel sorry for that nice man who’s married to her. She probably drove him to the heart attack.’
‘You are jealous!’ He sounded surprised.
‘I’m not!’ A tearful snort escaped her control and as she felt his eyes on her, she shrugged and tried to blink the tears away. But they wouldn’t go, so she smeared them away with her fingers, muttering, ‘Well, any wife would be.’
‘Cynthia’s not my mistress now. And it was a very brief affair. Strangely enough, I’m the one who introduced her to Nick.’
‘I bet she got the grappling hooks out as soon as she saw his bank balance!’
Ben opened his mouth then shut it again. That was an uncomfortably accurate summary of how Cynthia had reacted to Nick’s open admiration. ‘You’re right. He’s a lot richer than I am.’
Megan couldn’t help asking, ‘Why didn’t you marry her yourself? She’s certainly a luscious piece!’
He scowled at her. ‘Cynthia always knew I wasn’t interested in marriage. I made that plain from the start of our relationship. I didn’t consider her – still don’t – wife material.’
‘Then why did you marry me? I don’t fit into your world. I’m an even less suitable wife for a man like you.’
His voice softened. ‘Because I wanted to marry you – very much – as I never wanted to marry Cynthia. Apart from the physical attraction, you and I both want the same things from a marriage.’
Megan sighed. She wasn’t sure she found this explanation satisfying but didn’t dare push him any further, not with that closed look still on his face. They’d trodden through enough emotional quicksand today. One step at a time, she said to herself. That was becoming her watchword. ‘Well, I know you like Nick, but just don’t expect me even to pretend to be friendly with Cynthia! She’s definitely not my type.’
‘A little common civility is all I ask. Surely that shouldn’t be too difficult?’
Megan flushed and couldn’t think what to say in response to that, aware that she had let her temper rule her head tonight.
He drew her slowly towards him, his eyes searching hers. ‘Let’s forget Cynthia, hmm? She really isn’t important.’ His voice was husky as he added, ‘I’ve been looking forward all evening to getting you alone.’
She stared up at him, not sure she liked the way he could turn her bones to rubber, still struggling against it. ‘Why?’
His hands became still. ‘What do you mean, why?’
‘Why were you looking forward to it? Am I a good bed partner?’
‘The best.’
‘Well, that’s something, I suppose.’
But he still hadn’t used any endearments with her. And that was beginning to matter, to fret away at her hopes for the future. If his lips had not been so close she might have told him to leave her alone tonight, but one kiss and she forgot her anger.
Soon they were both lost to the world.
Only afterwards did she wonder if she was always going to be so susceptible to his touch. But a smile crept across her face at that thought. Surely she had just proved that he was equally susceptible to her touch, proved it to her complete and utter satisfaction?
It was another step along the way she wanted to tread. It had to be!
She just had to be patient.