THERE was a white envelope lying on the carpet just inside the door. Holly saw it, but she knew it would be her bill and she was too weary and despondent to worry about it now. Stepping over it, she told herself she would deal with it first thing in the morning when she checked out.
She went through to the luxurious bathroom with its gorgeous plunge bath and gold taps and rows of pretty little bottles. A warm bath with fragrant oils might help her to sleep.
Sitting on the edge of the bath, she started the water running and unscrewed the lid on one of the bottles. She poured the liquid, inhaling the scents of jasmine and rose but, as she watched it swirl then foam and turn into bubbles, something tugged at a corner of her mind.
Something about that white envelope—
Perhaps she should take another look at it.
Leaving the bath running, she went back to the little entrance hallway. Her name was on the front of the envelope and it was handwritten, or rather printed in an unskilled hand. Picking it up, she felt a nervous flurry in her chest. Then shivers ran down her arms.
Her heart began to race.
Stop it. Calm down.
It wasn’t a hotel bill. It was the last thing Holly had expected—something she’d never thought she’d see in this lifetime—a note handwritten in familiar shaky printing. Her legs were so weak she had to lean against the wall as she read it.
The message was perfectly simple.
Please stay. I love you. G xxxxxxxxx.
A sob broke from her and her hand flew to her mouth. Her vision blurred and her heart pounded like a marching band.
She could scarcely see the note for her tears. Her mind was a whirlpool of disconnected thoughts. How had the note got here? Where was Gray?
But, before she could begin to think about answers to these questions, she heard an ominous trickling sound. Oh, God. The bathwater was overflowing.
As she dashed into the bathroom to turn off the taps, the phone beside her bed began to ring.
‘I’m sorry, sir. There’s still no answer from Room 1910.’
Gray muttered his curt thanks and prowled back to his post on the far side of the hotel lobby. It was close to midnight now and he wasn’t sure how much longer he should pace the hotel’s marble floors.
Once or twice he had ducked outside to stroll along Castlereagh Street for a breath of fresh air, but he’d always checked back with the concierge desk on his return. He was sure he hadn’t missed Holly, and this last call to her room had still brought no answer.
Where was she? He was fast losing hope.
Tired of pacing, he sank into the leather armchair and thought about ordering another coffee. But he’d consumed so much caffeine tonight, his eyes would soon be out on stalks.
‘Sir?’
A voice at Gray’s elbow brought him leaping to his feet.
The uniformed concierge, a man of around fifty with a florid face, smiled. ‘Mr Kidman?’
Gray’s heart thudded. ‘Yes.’
‘Miss O’Mara has returned. She telephoned the desk and left a message for you.’ He handed Gray a folded piece of paper.
Gray opened it, and died a thousand deaths.
It was a handwritten note, not printed, but written in a spiky script with curls and flourishes disfiguring the familiar shape of the letters. He hadn’t a hope of deciphering it.
Already the concierge was returning to his desk. Gray hurried after him.
‘Excuse me.’
The man turned, eyebrows raised. ‘Can I help, sir?’
Gray’s face burned crimson. His throat closed over and he wanted to turn and run for the hills. In the past he would have found any excuse to avoid this embarrassment. He would have given up and walked away rather than expose his shame.
Now, his hand shook as he held out the note. ‘Would you—’ he began, but his voice was hoarse and choked. He tried again. ‘Would you mind telling me what this note says?’
The concierge covered his surprise quite creditably once he got over his initial jaw-drop.
‘Of course, sir,’ he said super-politely. ‘Perhaps I should apologise for my handwriting.’ He cleared his throat. ‘The note says: Sorry I missed your calls. I’m in my room now. Please come up.’
Holly was waiting by the door, and she opened it at the first knock.
Gray was dressed in a dark jacket and tie, and he looked more heartbreakingly handsome than ever. She wanted to hurl herself into his arms; she’d been bursting with excitement since she’d read his note.
But she didn’t move. She was worried that she might have somehow misread his message—although how could you misinterpret I love you? There was always the chance that it didn’t mean quite what she’d instantly hoped. Tonight she couldn’t risk taking anything for granted.
‘I know it’s late,’ Gray said. ‘But I had to see you.’
Despite her wildly thumping heart, she tried to speak calmly. ‘I’ve been out. I went to a play.’
‘How was it?’ He looked and sounded as nervous as she felt, probably because he could see how red and swollen her eyes and nose were.
‘The play was fabulous.’ She waggled her fingers at her puffy face. ‘Sorry about this damp look. I’m okay, really. Just being a girl, as my brothers would say.’
He looked worried. ‘It must have been a sad play.’
‘Yes, it was a tragedy.’
‘Can I come in, Holly?’
‘Oh, yes, of course. Sorry.’
Dizzy with excitement and fear, she led him down the little hallway that opened into her room which was dominated by a very large king-size bed.
There was only one chair, a pretty pink upholstered armchair in the corner beside a standard lamp.
‘You take that,’ she said, pointing to it and feeling uncomfortably like a movie director trying to direct a scene without having first read the script. ‘I can sit on the bed.’
‘I’d rather not sit.’ Gray’s wide shoulders and height seemed to take up a great deal of space in the middle of the room. His blue eyes shimmered. ‘You got my note, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, it was such a surprise.’ Understatement of the century.
‘I kept it brief. Less risk of getting the spelling wrong.’
‘I thought it was very brave of you,’ she said, knowing what it must have cost Gray to repeat an action that held so many sad memories.
He shook his head. ‘I shouldn’t have left it so late.’
‘Well, no, you shouldn’t. It’s after midnight.’
He reached for her hands and her whole body flamed at his touch. ‘I should have spoken up before you left. I should have thrown myself in front of the plane.’
‘Maybe I should have been brave enough to tell you I didn’t want to go.’
He smiled. ‘Really?’
‘Of course. Leaving Jabiru was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.’
‘I was so worried that I’d trap you if I asked you to stay.’
‘I know. You’re worried because of Chelsea.’
‘I always felt as if I failed her. Our feelings for each other weren’t enough to bridge the huge gaps between us. I didn’t want to fail you, too, Holly.’ He gave her hands a gentle squeeze. ‘But you’ve taught me something important—to stop dwelling on the failures of my past.’
Looking down at her hands, he rubbed the backs of her knuckles with his thumbs. ‘I was fooling myself when I said the kids and I could manage without you.’ He smiled crookedly. ‘We tried. We tried playing with the puppets, we tried reading stories and lighting a campfire down by the river. But none of it was any fun without you, Holly.’
She was starting to feel giddy with relief.
‘There’s so much about you that I’ve missed,’ he murmured, reaching out and tracing her cheek with his thumb.
A tremor of happiness ran over her skin.
Gray smiled, then he let his hand drop and he was looking serious once more. ‘But we need to talk about this job of yours. I know how much your career means to you and—’
Holly silenced him with a shake of her head. ‘The job is just—a job, Gray. When I applied for it, there were at least sixty other people after it.’
‘Which means?’
‘Which means that one of those sixty can have it.’ She smiled into his eyes. In the lamplight they were as blue and bright as the skies above his home. ‘I’m a farm girl from Vermont, remember. I love your Outback and, better still—I grew up in a patchwork family.’
‘So you did. I’d forgotten that.’
‘The only job I really want is the one I left behind at Jabiru.’
Gray laughed, then he gathered her in for the most tender and gorgeous and earth-shattering kiss of her life. She never wanted it to end.
When he finally released her, he said, ‘There’s still one really important thing that I haven’t told you.’
‘What’s that?’
As if he couldn’t bear to not be touching her, Gray picked up her hands again and began playing with her fingers. ‘The thing is that now, thanks to you, I know how to study and get new skills and a different job.’
‘Why would you want a different job?’
‘I would if you wanted me to.’ He lifted her hands to his lips and began, very gently, to kiss her fingers. ‘If it made you happier, I’d study, take a course. If you wanted to live in New York I’d learn how to be a fireman—whatever.’
‘Wow. A New York fireman. Now, that’s a tempting option.’ To Holly’s surprise, Gray didn’t show the slightest double take, and that was when she knew for sure that they were going to be all right. His willingness to walk away from the security of Jabiru Creek Station was a bigger gesture than any avowal of love, written or spoken.
‘I happen to be in love with you exactly the way you are,’ she assured him. ‘But I’m very honoured that you’d be willing to change your life for me.’
‘I want us to be together for a very long time.’
‘That happens to be my personal fantasy.’
She smiled again, letting the brilliance of her happiness show. Then, lifting her face, she brushed her lips over his. ‘I’m a girl with simple needs. Truth be told, this is what makes me happy.’
With another brush of her lips, their kiss became even more spectacular and glorious than the last one.
Then, with one arm around Holly’s shoulders and another beneath her knees, Gray scooped her into his arms.
‘Wow,’ he breathed.
‘I know. I’m heavy. Sorry.’
He laughed. ‘Not that. I’ve just noticed your fabulous new shoes.’
‘Oh, yes.’ Floating with happiness, Holly lifted her legs high, in a move that might have impressed dancers at the Moulin Rouge. Now they could both admire her slender black patent shoes with pointy toes and follow-me-home heels.
‘I’m glad you like them,’ she said. ‘I think they go really well with this lovely dress, and they’re a definite improvement on the sneakers.’
‘They’re very elegant,’ he murmured sexily in her ear. ‘But I love you in sneakers. I might have to ask you to wear them for our wedding. What do you reckon?’
She grinned at him, more gloriously happy than she’d ever thought possible. ‘If we’re married out at your beautiful gorge, I might need sneakers.’
Gray smiled into her eyes. ‘That sounds like a plan.’
‘An absolutely perfect plan,’ Holly agreed.