Second Chance Bride (Montana Born Brides) (9 page)

Oh, yeah, he thought, as he opened wide to accept this unexpected gift,
that’d do it

They got away early the next morning on time, a seventy
-minute hop to Perth before a short break for the connection to Broome that would have them there around mid-afternoon. Flights were still moving while the tropical storm continued to hover directionless off the north-west coast.

“Damn,” she said, as they passed through clouds and the view disappeared. He watched as she flicked through the flight magazine and found the puzzle page and dug out a pen.

“How much have you seen of Australia?”

“Not a lot.” she said, as she started jotting down numbers. “A bit of Perth.
Kalgoorlie.”

“That’s it?”

She shrugged. “I’ll see Broome. That’s a bonus.”

“So why Perth? Most people would head to Sydney, especially when they’ve come from the States.”

“Well, I didn’t exactly come to be your traditional backpacker-type.”

“No?”

“No. So... Perth suited me.”

“Okay, are you going to tell me why?”

She screwed up her mouth. “You really want to know?”

“Scarlett, give.”

She looked at him, her lips tight. “Only it’s not something I’m real proud of or anything.”

“Scarlett!”

She pouted. “Okay, seeing you insist ’n’ all. It’s like this. I came to g—” and whatever else she said was masked under her hand as she turned her head towards the window.

He captured her chin with his hand, and pulled it around. “You came to get what?”

Green eyes sent out an SOS. “You really want to know?”

He was impervious to SOS
’s sent by green-eyed minxes “Yes. I really want to know.”

“Okay. I came out to get married. Well, I thought I was going to get married.”

“Seriously? Who to?”

“Just some guy I met.”

“What? In Marietta?”

“Well, kind of. I was in Marietta, at any rate.”

“Oh Scarlett, tell me you didn’t find this guy on the internet?”

“So?”

“You’re kidding me. You fell for that?”

“He was nice! And we started out as just friends. We chatted. He told me about Perth, and I told him about Montana. It was fun. He was like a pen pal.”

“And so you came out on the strength of that?”

“No! Do you think I’m nuts?” Her fingers flicked at the corners of the magazine, her eyes watching them work. “No, we’d been talking for a while and we were getting to be more than friends. We
Skyped every Sunday. He told me I was his soulmate. He told me he loved me. That we belonged together. But it was impossible for him, he said, because he worked such long hours. He couldn’t see a way for us to be together just yet. But we would be, just as soon as he could get leave.”

Her eyes flicked up to his. Big green eyes that still bore the hurt. It didn’t take much to know it hadn’t ended well.

“It was his birthday coming up and I wanted to surprise him.” A pause, before she continued, her voice flat. “And I did.”

“What happened?”

“I texted him once I was in Perth. I said from the airport, ‘
Surprise, I’m right here in Perth!
’ He texted back right away. Said what a surprise and he was thrilled and where was I staying?

“And fool that I was, I couldn’t see it even then. I said, with him of course.

“That’s when he said he was away on business and to get myself booked in somewhere overnight and he’d fix everything when he came back the next day.

“And I sat in this dingy tiny box of a hotel room, because it was all I could afford after blowing my money on a one way ticket, and there was nothing in it but a fuzzy TV and a Gideon’s Bible and a phone book. And because stupid me hadn’t ever bothered to find out his address, because stupid me thought he’d be so happy
to pick me up from the airport, I wouldn’t need his address, I had no idea where he lived. So I looked him up. And I found him.”

Her fingers were still troubling the pages of the magazine.
Mitch put his hand over hers and she looked up at him, tears swimming in her eyes. “I knocked on the door of this very suburban house in a very suburban street with a car out the front that had kiddie seats in the back and I remember thinking, please god, let me have this wrong.

“
He opened the door in the middle of saying something to someone behind him and I remember there was a kid’s trike hanging from his hand and toys spread all over the floor. Then a woman appeared from another room asking who it was and she had a belly the size of a basketball and I died on that front porch. I just died.

“And I remember I said, ‘Sorry, wrong house,’ and he shut the door in my face and went back to his suburban existence and his pregnant wife and his kids and just left me standing there.”

Mitch put his arm around her and pulled her close. She shook her head. “I’m not crying because of him. I’m crying because I was so stupid. Everyone warned me and I didn’t listen. Because Tara told me I was crazy and that he’d be some sixty-year-old pervert but I knew better, because we’d Skyped and he was so good-looking and I knew she was probably just jealous because she’s such a stick-in-the-mud and her Simon is so darn dull. And I just, I just wanted to show everyone that I could do something right.”

She hiccupped against his chest, her long
braid a heavy snake over his arm. “I’m going to be more like Tara from now on. I’m going to stop being impulsive and I’m going to be sensible and I’m going to think about things.”

‘‘Maybe you needed to come here,” he offered, his thumb stroking her shoulder. “The big changes in our lives rarely take place with us just wanting them. Usually they come about because of some major defining event.”

“You think Travis was my major defining event?”

“Maybe.”

“But then I jumped head long into Bella’s.”

“You were desperate, that’s all. Look how long you had to think about my offer, and I thought that was a no brainer. So you see? You are being less impulsive already.”

“You think?”

“So long as you remember one thing.”

She sniffed and sighed, and he could feel her body relaxing into him, “What’s that?”

“Don’t try and be someone else, even if it’s your own sister. Don’t change who you are, Scarlett. I like you, just the way you are.”

After a little while, she said sleepily, “You sound a lot like my Aunt Margot.”

He kissed her hair. “I knew I liked the sound of her.”
And as she fell into a doze against his chest he wondered where his words had come from. He’d met her barely two days ago—what did he care about her messy impulsive life that he needed to reassure her, even if it was the truth?

T
hat was the bit that niggled at him the most.

Because he did like her.

A lot.

Broome was hot and humid and her jeans stuck to her legs but after bumping their way down through the clouds, Scarlett was too glad to be safely down on the ground to care. But it was exciting too. Broome was like no place she’d ever been before; even the airport felt tropical and exotic with its palm trees and light spaces and cane furniture. A private car met them and whisked them off to their resort on Cable Beach, the fourteen
-mile ribbon of white sand that fringed the turquoise Indian Ocean.

“When do we meet the others?”

“Tonight before dinner. They’re all off on some excursion to a pearl farm today.”

The wind gusted and tore at the palm trees along the road. “Wind’s picking up,” he said.

“Bad news for the wedding?”

“From what
Robbo was telling me, Kristelle is hoping for her wedding to be blessed with an appearance by the Staircase to the Moon. You can only see it at full moon between March and October and this weekend is the first for the year.” He looked up at the cloudy sky. “Don’t fancy her chances if this keeps up.” They pulled into the gates of a resort. “Looks like we’re here.”

Her eyes bugged. She climbed out of the car, taking in the long colonial building with its timber
veranda decorated with Chinese artefacts and low-slung furniture, the gardens spilling with palms and brightly colored plants. “Oh my god,” she said, “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

The driver holding her door smiled. Mitch was smiling too. “Don’t mind her,” he said, “she doesn’t get out much.”

The driver laughed and tipped his hat. “A pleasure to meet you both,” he said, “enjoy your stay.”

“What was that all about?” she asked, as the car pulled away and Mitch took her hand.

“It means they’re too used to toffee noses around here.”

“Toffee noses?”

“Um, what would Americans say? Let’s think: Preppy types. Rich people.”

“Oh.”

“You’re like a breath of fresh air.”

She looked up at him quizzically and he added, “He liked you. Then again, maybe he’s just met
Kristelle.”

“Hey.” She stopped and he had to stop too. “I know she’s your ex
’n’ all and you’re not sure of her motives, but that doesn’t mean she’s an awful person. It just means you two didn’t get on.”

He touched his finger to the tip of
her nose and followed it with his lips. “I stand corrected. No more digs about Kristelle.”

“Good.”

She took a step but he mumbled something under his breath, and she just knew he was going for the last word. “What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

She shook her head. “That poor girl didn’t deserve you.”

“Finally,” he said, “something we can agree on.”

She pressed her nails into the back of his hand. “She and I are going to get on like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Right again. Are you going for the trifecta or something?”

She just looked at him. “Unbelievable. It’s a wonder she didn’t end up in therapy after you.”

He smiled and she just looked at him and rolled her eyes. “Like I said: unbelievable.”

Check-in was as smooth as silk, and in no time they were in their assigned villa. It was insanely luxurious, a private house more than a mere villa, with a massive king-sized bedroom plus separate lounge and dining rooms and, to top it all off, a private courtyard with plunge pool.

She eyed it with intent and a certain amount of satisfaction.
Take that, Travis.

“I’m hopping in the shower to freshen up before drinks,”
Mitch said from inside. “Coming?”

“Sure. Give me a minute, I just need to hang something up.” With a bit of luck the closet was so big, he might not even notice it.

“Don’t be long.”

She smiled. “Not a chance.”

A minute later she joined him in the enormous shower. “You know, you were right,” he said, reaching for her. “I can’t keep my hands off you.”

“You’re supposed to be saving that for when we’re in front of the others,” she said, but she wasn’t exactly chiding him. Not when her breath hissed through her teeth at his touch. He looked damned fine dry to be sure. But he looked even better dripping wet.