Christmas Holiday Husband Page 5

  She struggled and panted. “This is way too fast,” she insisted. “This is terrible. Julia’s hardly dead.” She grasped at every excuse she could find, pushing him back with both hands on his shoulders.

  “Julia’s been dead to me for the last couple of years,” he said hoarsely. “Things hadn’t been good...for a long time. We were simply keeping on with the pretence for the girls. Her illness had nothing to do with it.” He still had her clamped in his arms. Ellie wriggled and shoved, heart pounding, dragging in shallow breaths against his total domination.

  And he released her. It was like being tossed into iced water.

  “Your choice,” he said, backing away.

  She nodded, eyes dilated, pulse racing, trying to regain her balance on trembling legs.

  “I meant what I said about Julia,” he repeated. “She’s not an issue.”

  “If you say so.” Relief and disappointment rushed through her in equal measure at his sudden desertion.

  He took another step backward. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. About ten. Wear some shorts and a sunhat. Sleep well.”

  The last two words were almost a curse. He’d dismissed her, condemning her to a dream-wracked night with no peace at all.

  Ellie watched him catch up the shirt and turn away. The lamplight slid across the planes of his long back as he walked away. The restless curtains flicked out with the breeze, as though to draw him back. But he’d gone.

  Moments later she heard his footfall in the gallery, then the rapid tattoo of his feet as he descended the stairs.

  xxx

  Tony threw himself down onto the sofa again. Hot waves of frustration washed through his body. He wanted her. He’d nearly had her. He wanted her fiercely, after all this time. And although she’d responded to him—as avidly as he had to her—she was still just in control of her emotions. Only just. That gave him hope, anyway.

  But his body burned for hers—ready to claim her and make her his again. In one short day she’d set her claws delicately into him, tugged, then turned away. Had she any idea how close he’d come to losing it? Her power was unlimited.

  He compressed his lips into a grim line and resigned himself to out-wait the heat sizzling through every cell in his body.

  xxx

  Now back from settling the girls for the night, Ginny glanced across at him and then resumed her crossword. Something was eating at him—or someone! She was fond of her spirited son-in-law. He’d offered her a new home when she’d been suddenly widowed...made her feel truly welcome...invited her to carve out a different life on his beautiful property when neither of her sons seemed much concerned about her future. She was now temporary chatelaine of Wharemoana, and cherished her role.

  Living close to her daughter and grandchildren was a bonus she’d treasured, but oddly it was her new sense of self worth that had buoyed her up during the last sad months as Julia slipped away.

  And being in such proximity, it had become obvious there was little true affection left in her daughter’s marriage. Ginny had never commented...never dared to ask questions in case the answers were too unpalatable to bear. She’d loved Julia unreservedly—had been devastated when her condition was diagnosed—but saw that Robbie had been lost and lonely, too.

  Ellie was rattling the bars of his cage. Damn, Ginny thought. He’s making a play for the first available girl who’s appeared. I know it’s inevitable sometime in the future, but this is much too soon. He’s setting himself up to get hurt again while he’s still far too vulnerable.

  “More coffee, Robbie?” she asked.

  He gave a moody shake of his head.

  “Ellie says she’s looking forward to moving into her new house once the twins start school.”

  “Mmmm,” he grunted, which could have meant anything.

  Ginny gave up the unequal battle and turned her energies toward solving twenty-seven across.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Oh, Cal!” Ellie groaned, surfacing into bright sunshine next morning. She’d tossed all night, and somewhere near dawn fallen headlong into leaden sleep. It was all she could do to drag her head off the luxurious down filled pillow. Cal laughed at her from beside the bed; lively, full of mischief, and achingly far away.

  All night long her body had burned and her brain had fizzed with memories of meeting Tony. It had been a warm spring day in Sydney. Her first, and only, time away from New Zealand. She and Mags had stopped a day and night with Maggie’s sister in Wellington, and then flown to Australia for a week’s bargain shopping and sightseeing. If Wellington had seemed big, Sydney was huge to a small-town girl.

  And there, by the pool at the hotel, she saw Tony, working as a labourer on a building job. Shirtless, tanned, and with skin she’d wanted to stroke from fifty feet away. He wore low-slung denim shorts and brown elastic sided builder’s boots. Thick socks were neatly cuffed around his ankles, below perfect calf muscles and spectacular long strong thighs. Ellie had put her sunglasses on so he wouldn’t catch her looking, and then she’d gazed to her heart’s content.

  Not just at the legs, which were undoubtedly worth at least eleven out of ten, but at all the rest of him, too. He was breaking up a slab of concrete with a sledgehammer—going at it like a demon—swinging the heavy tool up into the blue sky with no apparent effort and crashing it down with obvious satisfaction.

  Each time he swung, his long arms and broad shoulders tensed and thickened. The dark hair in his armpits curled with sweat. His chest gleamed. And when he turned to attack the slab from a different angle, Ellie had been captivated by the play of muscles on his back. They slid across each other, the sun dancing on their sheened surfaces.

  A corded line ran either side of his spine. She watched it tighten and relax with every blow, wondering what it would feel like to touch.

  And his thighs were magic from the new angle—long and sinewy, then bunched and hard, then long and sinewy... He was a machine— tireless, determined—smashing and pounding with furious energy.

  The last piece of concrete gave way. He whooped with triumph, grinned at one of the other men, threw down the hammer and stretched. His whole body went rigid and then relaxed. Then he bent down, yanked off his boots, stripped his socks away and took a running dive into the pool. He arrowed half a length under the water and exploded upward to the sun again, shaking his head so the drops spun off it in a glittering swarm. Ellie yelled with surprise as they scattered all over her heated skin.

  He ran a hand back through his dark hair so it stood up comically, and rested his elbows on the edge of the pool. “Are you free to come out tonight?” he asked.

  Not ‘would you like to’ or ‘do you want to’. He was sure enough of his attractions to know that she would. And she was dying to. Yes please.

  Ellie glanced across at Maggie, and he said, “I’ve got a mate.”

  Maggie had shrugged and grinned.

  “I’ll pick you up here at eight.” He vaulted out of the pool, and water cascaded all around him as he sauntered off to retrieve his boots and resume work.

  Ellie had been left breathless by his speed and sureness. None of the boys in her hometown had such confidence. To be asked out before a single word had passed between them—that was definitely different. And he was definitely different, too. A man rather than a boy. Physically superb. He might prove to be an absolute fool once she got to know him, or a bore, or so self-centred that he was a pain—but she was willing to take the risk, just for one evening anyway.

  “Told you going red was a good idea,” Maggie said. She’d persuaded Ellie to have her long dark hair bleached and coloured the day they were in Wellington. Ellie adored it, but knew there’d be stinging words from her mother once she returned home.

  But for that week she was unrepentantly flame-haired and free to do as she wanted. She was also newly on the pill, because even at eighteen her periods were still irregular, and her family doctor had decided a daily hormone dose might shake her system into a proper pattern. She’d f
elt wicked, as though anything was possible...a truly delicious feeling for a girl who’d led a studious and sheltered life. The brief white bikini she’d saved for, and hidden from her mother, summed things up exactly; excitement yearned for but not allowed.

  Ellie had stayed by the pool, watching as her unexpected date cleaned up the mess he’d made. He tossed the lumps of concrete onto the tray of a pickup truck as though they weighed no more than polystyrene, shovelled up the rubble in powerful sweeps, then swung himself into the cab and roared off. She didn’t even know his name.

  xxx

  And all these years later she was in his home, waking drowsily, smiling at a photo of his son—the son he’d never met and must not meet. Slowly the happy memories receded and the dread engulfed her again.

  She cocked an ear toward the next room, but there was no sound. Tony had risen early.

  Her watch said seven-thirty. Not as bad as yesterday, anyway. She showered and began to dress, and was stepping into her white cotton shorts when an annoying background whine swelled into a tremendous thudding din somewhere very close. It almost knocked her off her feet.

  The noise rose to a shattering crescendo and then eased off a little. A helicopter. She’d not heard it land—she must have been deeply asleep indeed.

  She fastened her shorts and walked out across the balcony, hands clamped over her ears. The clattering monster rose into view and hovered not too far distant. It dipped to the left, then the right, for all the world as though saluting her, and peeled away into the vivid blue sky. She stood watching until it was almost out of sight.

  The trees ceased their frenzied thrashing. Stray leaves swirled to the ground. Dogs barked a little distance away, and she heard one of the farmhands yell, “That’ll do, Jess.” Silence was slowly restored.

  Except that Ellie now knew it was never really silent at Wharemoana. There were always engines starting up, or sheep bleating, or the dark bellow of distant cattle. A tractor or quad-bike sometimes chugged along the driveway. Sporadic hammering thudded out as work continued on an invisible project behind one of the implement sheds. The ducks quacked and fussed in the sun. And the sea made a constant soft roar behind these closer noises.

  She sat on the bed and picked up Cal’s photograph and her mobile. She’d phoned him the evening before, but now she longed to talk to him again. He answered on the third ring, being very polite in case the call was for his grandmother.

  “You’ll never guess what I’ve just seen,” she enthused. “A helicopter. Right here at the farm. I’ve just watched it take off. What a noise they make up close.”

  “Cool, Mum. Where’s it going?”

  “No idea, love. It just went straight up and then headed off. It made all the farm dogs bark like mad. Are you being good for Grandma?”

  “Course I am. We’re having pizza for dinner tonight.”

  Oh yes, he has his grandmother well-trained.

  She shared a bit more chat before disconnecting. Then, just in case, she opened the top drawer and pushed Cal’s photo out of sight before joining Ginny and the twins for breakfast. There was no sign of Tony, for which she was grateful.

  “Daddy’s gone in the helicopter,” Antonia said, as though reading her mind.

  “I couldn’t see who was in it. The sun was so bright.”

  “Some sort of forestry business,” Ginny said. “He expects to be back mid-morning. I found a hat for you,” she added, indicating a wide brimmed straw sunhat with a blue floral band.

  Ellie nodded her thanks. “What else do we need to take on this mad expedition?” she asked.

  “A couple of garden trowels I daresay. And some plastic bags to bring home the famous fossils? I’ll put them in the hamper. I think Robbie’s trying to recapture his lost youth.”

  In more ways than one.

  She still couldn’t think of him as Robbie—he’d always be Tony to her.

  She sighed. “My son would enjoy this more than the girls will, I suspect.”

  “You must bring him out to see the farm sometime soon,” Ginny said. “Remember that folding bed in your wardrobe. It’ll make it very easy. He’ll be missing you.”

  “And I’m missing him,” Ellie agreed. “We’ll have to see what we can arrange,” she added, playing for time. “But it’s a busy time of year, and I need to do plenty for the girls before Christmas arrives.”

  She pictured Cal’s dark hair and laughing eyes, and her heart contracted. She knew her mother would be spoiling him rotten, but she was already bereft without him. How would she endure the long weeks of her contract without his engaging company and unquestioning love? She wouldn’t be inviting him to the farm. Tony would recognise him instantly.

  xxx

  After breakfast the twins scampered away and Ellie helped Ginny clear the table.

  “It’s good to have a proper teacher for them,” Ginny said. “Julia...well, she was unhappy, and it made her impatient with them, and then we found out why she was sick...” She turned to retrieve the tablecloth. “And I was too occupied looking after Julia in the last little while to be much use to the girls. They’re good kids—they’re biddable enough. And very good at asking questions.”

  “So...you keep house here now?” Ellie asked with caution. She was still unsure quite where the boundaries lay.

  “Chief cook and bottle-washer,” Ginny said, starting to fold the tablecloth. “Robbie has jokingly titled me his Domestic Director, which is kind. One of the men’s wives helps me with the cleaning, but we won’t intrude into your room unless you want us to. Will that suit you?”

  Ellie murmured her agreement. It suited her very well indeed not to have Ginny’s lively eyes spotting Cal’s photo and putting two and two together.

  xxx

  The distant thudding of the helicopter warned her of his return. The noise grew deafening as the gleaming black machine settled earthward and disappeared behind the farm buildings. Ellie stacked her teaching aids away, sighed with exasperation, and followed the girls down the stairs.

  Her breathing stilled as he approached her. The farmer in work shorts and the labourer in denim and boots were wiped from her mind in an instant. This man was in charge of whatever he desired. The tailored dark suit sat impressively on his tall frame. A snowy shirt and muted blue tie added authority and elegance. He carried a slim black briefcase, and his eyes were invisible behind aviator sunglasses. The tough haircut and arrogant bearing completed a man who did not invite trouble.

  Every hair on Ellie’s body lifted away from her skin. Her response was unexpected, uncontrollable. He’d broken through her defences despite all her firm intentions to keep him at a safe distance. He’d made the connection with none of his body on show, and with his enticing eyes hidden.

  She had no way of divining the expression in them. Resentment for her rebuff the previous evening? A flicker of interest and a renewal of his invitation? Absolute neutrality as though the rooftop scene had never happened?

  She’d never imagined him like this...never expected to see him in business tycoon’s camouflage. She knew she shouldn’t feel so attracted, but he looked beautiful, powerful, irresistible. Her pulse cranked up another notch as she tried to subdue her racing blood.

  He stopped very close in front of her and removed the sunglasses. “My other life,” he said. “Forestry’s an ever-expanding part of the mix here. It’s claiming more of my attention these days.”

  Ellie had seen the distant hills blanketed in a rising sea of dark Radiata pine—huge plantations of vigorous trees that ate up the steeper countryside. It was all his?

  He handed his briefcase to Antonia and his sunglasses to Carolyn, and they trotted off with them.

  “I’m impressed,” she admitted. “I never saw you in business clothes, of course. You look a natural for the boardroom.”

  Bedroom, her traitorous brain inserted.

  “I enjoy negotiating. Hard work, but rewarding.” He dropped his voice, although there was no longer any possibility of
being overheard. “I’m looking forward to our future negotiations, Ellie McKenna. I warn you I don’t back down often. Last night was only a preliminary skirmish.”

  “I’m not a business deal,” she snapped, dismayed.

  “But you’re open to negotiation?” His eyes were merry.

  “I’m not for sale.”

  “You haven’t heard my best offer yet.”

  She closed her eyes. His best offer—himself, naked, with Cal’s photo safely hidden. That’s all it might take. Feathery tremors of anticipation licked from her scalp to her toes.

  She turned away. His long stride closed the distance between them in seconds, and they walked toward the house pace for pace. He stood back so she could enter first. The twins had left the door open, and in the hot still air nothing stirred.

  “Nice flying today,” Tony said, foot on the lowest stair. “I’ll take you up later if we get the chance. Show you the farm from above.”

  Ellie nodded. Was this another attempt to impress her and entice her into his bed? Yes, he presided over an amazing kingdom, but the huge house and vast acreage and beautiful clothes were far outshone by the man himself.

  “I haven’t flown since I came back from Sydney,” she murmured.

  “Never?” His brows rose with disbelief.

  She shrugged. “I had a life to get on with, and a pretty tight budget to keep to.”

  “Still...”

  Oh you have no idea, Tony. No idea at all how hard it can be for ordinary people to get by. Especially on one wage, and with a child to support.

  “We’ll do it then. If not today, then quite soon.” He turned and bounded up the stairs.

  Ellie retreated to the kitchen to collect their picnic and the sunhat. They were out on the dusty road a few minutes later.

  xxx

  She still has dynamite legs, Tony thought, appreciating his close up view of Ellie in shorts. Her sleek thigh rested only inches away from his hand. It would be so easy to let his fingers wander across and caress her. To smooth up and down over her warm golden skin. Would she dare complain with the twins sitting right behind them?