The Bridal Bargain (12 page)

“There was no later. I neither saw nor spoke to either of them again until today.”

No real closure, Tony thought, and that was dangerous. If talking had been done then, she wouldn’t be so much on edge now.

“I drove to my parents’ home, told them the wedding was off, collected some clothes I’d stacked there, then kept on driving,” she went on, her voice gathering the same grim, shut-out purpose that had been activated this morning. “The next day I made the calls I had to make to cancel the wedding, assure my family I was okay, resign from my job which was no great drama since I’d been about to take time off for my honeymoon anyway. I simply... dropped out of the whole scene and left Jodie and Flynn to it.”

It wasn’t simple. It was trauma on an extreme level—a double betrayal completely blowing her mind and everything else it had touched and tainted. She had survived it in her own fashion and Tony admired the way she had gradually restructured her life along different lines. No regrets about it, either. But the clean slate had ghosts that had never been confronted nor exorcised...ghosts that had to be dealt with and banished.

Nothing was ever totally black and white and Tony suspected it was the greys that haunted her, the greys that had never been allowed a voice. They had to be talked about. He had to know how much power Flynn Lovett still held over her heart, and it was better she face it now with him than continue to repress it.

“If Flynn begged your forgiveness, begged for another chance, could you love him again, Hannah?”

“No!” Sharp and emphatic, her eyes flashing instant recoil from the idea.

“You don’t feel...he might have been entrapped by Jodie?” Tony probed carefully.

“Oh, I’m sure Jodie would have played her cards artfully but Flynn chose to pick them up,” came the bitter truth. “He may well have enjoyed the kick of daring to, right under my nose.” Her chin lifted in determined rejection. “I would never be able to trust either of them again.”

“So you wouldn’t accept any excuse.”

“Would you, given the same circumstances?” she flared at him. “Would you forgive and forget, Tony?’’

Anger...from deeply wounded pride. But pride could be a shield for far deeper feelings.

“I can’t imagine myself doing so, no,” he answered truthfully. “But I know from observing other people’s relationships that the heart does find ways of accepting the unacceptable, especially if the offender is very persuasive and the injured party is still vulnerable to the love that was given. Infidelities do get forgiven, Hannah, even though they may not be forgotten.”

A tide of heat washed up her neck and burned into her cheeks, making the flare of pride in her eyes very green. “I guess I’m no good at swallowing humiliation.”

Humiliation beyond bearing... and nothing done— nothing allowed to be done—to alleviate it by the parties who had inflicted it, so it was still as strong as it had ever been.

Tony nodded, fully understanding now why she had wanted to walk off
Duchess
this morning and not have any contact whatsoever with the Lovetts. But by Hannah’s extreme action of
dropping out,
both Jodie and Flynn had been robbed of any real closure with her, as well. That left the wound still tantalisingly, tormentingly
open,
perhaps more so to them than it was to Hannah—a running sore in their marriage.

Flynn might not have any chance with her but he was arrogant enough to give it a try, and if he was prepared to humble himself enough...would Hannah’s pride crack?

Jodie would certainly do whatever she thought would queer Flynn’s pitch.

The Lovetts had three more days in Port Douglas...time enough to find an opportunity to tackle Hannah on her own...unless they were stopped in their tracks tonight.

“Well, I’m sure this will be much sweeter to swallow,” he said, smiling to lighten the mood as their waitress delivered the mud crabs to their table.

The business of serving gave Hannah time to recover some equanimity after the stress of her revelations.

“Enjoy,” the waitress said as she left them.

“We will,” Tony answered, shooting an appealing look at Hannah. “Let me get this straight now. You want Jodie and Flynn to go away and stay away. You want nothing more to do with either of them, regardless of how they might explain their actions, regardless of any appeal for your forgiveness or understanding. Is that where you stand, Hannah?”

“Yes.” Her face was still flushed, eyes feverishly bright. “Do you think that’s too mean of me, Tony?”

“No. It would be better, for your own sake, if you could feel indifferent to them, and I hope that will happen in time, but since I now understand where you’re coming from, I’ll simply get rid of them for you.”

“Get rid of them?”

He grinned at her shock. “There used to be an Italian Mafia operating up here, extorting money from all the canefarmers. It was called
The Black Hand.
They cut off people’s ears and hands...”

“Tony...” she pleaded frantically.

He laughed. “Relax. I was only teasing. My great-grandfather assisted in driving out
The Black Hand
decades ago. My family has always stood up to help people who couldn’t find help anywhere else, Hannah.”

Her tension eased. Her eyes softened. “That’s a fine family tradition, Tony.”

“Imbued in us from the old pioneering days. You have to look after your own. Which also covers feeding them. So please taste the mud crab. It’s delicious.”

She laughed.

It might only be from nervous relief but it sounded good to Tony. The weight on his heart lifted. He’d get her over this hump with the Lovetts. He wanted to hear much more of her laughter. He wanted to see her face light up for him and know the shadows of her past were completely gone.

Before they left this restaurant, Hannah O’Neill would be his.

That was the hand he intended to play.

Amazingly,
Hannah did enjoy the mud crab. Her stomach had stopped churning once Tony had teased her into laughing. The dreadful tightness in her chest had eased, too, and she found herself wanting to please him, to share his pleasure in the gourmet dish he’d ordered for both of them.

Somehow his sympathetic interest and calmly considered comments had drained away the angst of telling him about Jodie and Flynn. Or talking the whole miserable story through had unloaded the burden of all the bad feelings their presence here had stirred up again.

Tony was probably right in his judgement that keeping those memories bottled up gave them a power they shouldn’t have any more. In any event, she was glad now she had shared them with him. And it was very heart-warming that he wanted to help her, though how he intended
to get rid of
Flynn and Jodie was a tantalising question.

He could hardly hound a couple of tourists out of Port Douglas... could he? How much influence did the King family have in this town? Clearly they had a long history here, and Tony had pressed to have this table tonight, precisely as he wanted it. That kind of manipulation made her feel uneasy. On the other hand, Flynn and Jodie had hardly been fair to her.

It suddenly struck her that what Jodie had said might have been true—that she and Flynn had been mad for each other and couldn’t help themselves. Hadn’t it been like that with Tony and herself this afternoon? What if they had fought against it, trying to be fair to her, and then with the wedding so close...

It might have happened that way. Though it seemed highly dishonest to her. How could a wildly strong mutual attraction be denied for so long? She looked at Tony and the desire that had swamped her earlier was instantly re-kindled. He really was the perfect man; beautiful, strong, kind, caring...
the white knight.
And very, very sexy.

He caught her look and his eyes zapped desire straight back at her, an electric current that linked them to the exclusion of everyone else. “Hello again,” he said with a slow sensual smile that warmed her all over.

“Hello to you, too. I’m sorry for being distracted from us. Will you tell me about the tea plantations now?”

He laughed and she thought how brilliantly handsome he was with his face lit up with pleasure. “Better if I show you, Hannah,” he said, his eyes sparkling with happy anticipation. “Come fly with me up to Cape Tribulation on Monday morning. I’ll give you a tour.”

“Fly? In your helicopter?”

“Quickest way to get there. Then on Tuesday we can fly to Innisfail and you’ll see the whole picture.”

“I’d love to do that, but have you forgotten? Mondays and Tuesdays are my only days off and I should look for a place of my own, Tony.”

He waved dismissively. “That can wait. The apartment you’re using isn’t required for anyone else right now.”

“But...”

“I’ll square it with my brother and my grandmother. Okay?”

“No. I won’t feel right about it. It’s like...like sponging on your generosity. I can afford to be independent.”

“Fine! Then this week you can pay Alex the rental you’ve figured out you can afford, and I’ll explain to him it’s my fault you haven’t moved out yet because I took up your free days. How’s that?”

She sighed, feeling she was being bull-dozed but immensely tempted to give in to his persuasion. It was an exciting prospect, flying with Tony to whatever he wanted to share with her. “You’re sure your family won’t think badly of me?”

“Definitely not.” He grinned. “Any thinking they might do will be centred on me. My grandmother will say...” He gestured exasperation and mimicked her voice, “Antonio...always in a rush. He cannot wait for anything.”

Hannah couldn’t help laughing.

“And Alex will say...” A roll of the eyes. “...A waste of time and breath arguing with Tony. He’s like a bull at a gate.”

“Are you?”

“Depends on the gate.”

“And what will Matt say?” she asked, amused by this insight into their family relationships.

“Ha! That upstart brother of mine, trying to steal you right under my nose...” A dark lowering of his brows. “Matt will loudly complain that I’m deliberately taking up all your free time so he can’t get a chance with you.”

“And would that be true?”

The eyebrows lifted. “Does he have a chance with you?”

“No.”

He grinned, a triumphant delight dancing in his eyes. “Then we have nothing to worry about, do we? You’ll come with me.”

Hannah’s resistance to the plan melted away. Nothing to worry about was a wonderful state of mind. She wanted to have it. And she suddenly realised Tony was giving it to her, taking her out of Port Douglas on her days off so there could be no chance of further contact with Jodie and Flynn. This was his way of
getting rid of them,
as well as giving her something positive to occupy her mind.

She smiled at him, the smile going right down to her heart with this understanding of how he was taking care of her. Tony King...truly a king compared to all the other men she had known. “Thank you, Tony,” she said warmly.

Their waitress arrived to clear the table and take their orders for sweets. Hannah read down the selections on the menu, for the first time tonight actively interested in what was being offered. Having made her decision, she looked at Tony to query what he fancied. His gaze was not trained on the menu. His attention was intensely engaged by something on the upper dining level.

Hannah instantly tensed.

He was watching Jodie and Flynn. She didn’t have to look to know that. The direction of his gaze, the hard set of his face, the sudden tautness of his body emanating a readiness to tackle trouble head-on.

“Tony?” The appeal spilled from her lips, anxiety surging at the prospect of being confronted by them again. They had married. Why couldn’t they just get on with it and leave her alone?

“Ah!” His head swung to face her, the hardness wiped out by a quick smile. “Made your decision?”

“I thought...the soufflé...”

“Two,” he said to the waitress, handing up his copy of the menu.

Hannah’s was collected and the waitress departed.

“We’re about to have company,” Tony announced, his smile turning sardonic, his eyes glittering a challenge he expected her to meet. “Are you with me, Hannah?” The words transmitted strong vibrations of feeling that demanded a positive response.

“Yes,” she forced from a throat that was choking up.

“Then show Flynn Lovett you are, very much so, by putting on a happy face and agreeing with everything I say.”

“Just... Flynn?”

“Jodie left their table a couple of minutes ago. She walked off in high dudgeon, probably expecting him to follow. Flynn has not followed. On the contrary, he is now making his way towards us and I have no doubt his destination is this table. Now give me your hand and smile.”

His hand was already reaching out. She met it without hesitation, wanting the physical connection with Tony and also needing to show Flynn she was now attached to a man who could not only match him in strong self-assurance, but beat him hands-down in the qualities that mattered more to her than material possessions and successes in the paper world of money markets.

There was a solidity to Tony King that Flynn would never have. She was proud to be with him— fiercely proud—and if there was any humiliation to be felt at this meeting, it would be Flynn’s, not hers. She would not let him get to her.

“I won’t let you down, Tony,” she promised, gritting her teeth into a very determined smile.

“You will have to look at him, Hannah,” he warned. “Treat him as you would any old acquaintance who’s just passing by and stopping to say hello. Can you do that?’’

Her nerves quivered at the pressure to perform as Tony wanted. His eyes blazed into hers, commanding her assent. She nodded, not knowing if she could deliver a semblance of social politeness but resolving to do her best.

“Mostly, you can look besottedly at me,” he instructed, and grinned to make it easy for her.

Even so her heart skittered nervously as Flynn made a very aggressive arrival, drawing a chair from the vacated table next to them and placing it at theirs with the clear intention of seating himself with them. “Sorry to interrupt your twosome, but I’ll only take up a few minutes,” he tossed out, arrogantly assuming that neither of them would want to make a public scene by forcibly ejecting him from their company once he sat down, which he promptly did.

“You’re not welcome, Flynn,” Tony stated bluntly. “This is a very special night for us and you’re intruding.”

“Well, I’m sure you feel any night with Hannah is special, Tony. I certainly did,” he claimed in a tone that raised Hannah’s hackles so fast she had no problem at all in facing him with a look of arch surprise.

“Don’t you think that line is a bit
off,
Flynn?”

His gaze locked onto hers, his brilliant brown eyes shooting their magnetism straight at her. “I self-destructed with you and have regretted it ever since. To me you were and always will be uniquely special, Hannah. I want you to know that.”

Ashes...and strangely enough they weren’t even bitter ashes. Not with Tony holding her hand. “It’s a waste of time having regrets, Flynn,” she said with a dismissive shrug. “You’re married to Jodie...”

“We’re getting a divorce.”

“And Hannah is marrying me,” Tony declared, shattering Flynn’s shock announcement with his own and snapping their heads towards him.

“What?” shot out of Flynn’s mouth.

It almost shot out of Hannah’s mouth, as well. Her hand started to jerk up in a startled reaction, hitting against Tony’s hold on it. He swiftly tightened his grip, squeezing to warn her off any further show of agitation, while smiling so besottedly at her, her heart did the startled leaping.

“This is the woman I love and will love till my dying day,” he further declared. “And the miracle is, she feels the same way about me.”

His tone of voice, the look in his eyes...it was so convincing Hannah’s skin tingled all over.

“So you see, Flynn, your presence here is quite hopelessly out of place,” he ran on, not bothering to even glance at the man who had tried to come between them. “We’re not interested in your feelings. We’re not interested in your marital problems. We’re here, planning a future together, aren’t we, Hannah?”

Another squeeze of her hand. “Yes. Yes, we are,” she responded, smiling back at him in the same besotted fashion with no effort at all.

“Hannah...” It was a cry of exasperation, protesting the situation.

“Go away, Flynn,” she said dreamily, still looking into Tony’s eyes. “Your time was up a long time ago.”

Which was the absolute truth! And it felt really really good to be able to say it with no angst whatsoever.

“Yes. Go away, Flynn. You are distinctly
de trop,”
Tony said, his gaze locked on Hannah’s as he lifted her hand to his mouth and grazed his lips warmly over her knuckles. “Would you like an emerald ring to match your eyes, my darling?”

“You’ll waste your life in this hick town, Hannah,” Flynn jeered, rising to his feet.

She ignored him. In fact, she took immense satisfaction in ignoring him. He deserved it for so rudely trying to cut out Tony who was definitely worth ten of him. More. Flynn wasn’t even in the same category as Tony King.

Steaming with frustration, he virtually flung the chair he’d collected back to where it belonged and strode off.

“If that bastard gave you an emerald, I’ll have to get you something else,” Tony said mock seriously.

“No, it was a diamond. An emerald would be all yours,” she informed him in the same vein.

His eyes grew properly serious. “You are well rid of him, Hannah.”

“I know. And thank you very, very much for helping me. I don’t know how you thought up that marriage line so fast but it sure was effective in cutting Flynn dead.” She shook her head admiringly. “I almost died myself.”

“You recovered superbly.”

“You made it easy for me.”

“It
was
easy.” He cocked his head to one side assessingly. “And what does that say about us, Hannah?”

Her heart skittered. He couldn’t mean...he wasn’t really applying the idea of marriage to them. She shied away from any thought of rushing into a commitment. Having been so sure of Flynn... even though Tony was different...she instinctively recoiled from counting too much on a relationship, especially one that had barely begun. It was a big mistake to fall into fantasy. But what was
real
right now could be acknowledged.

“I think what it says about us, is that there are moments when we’re very closely attuned to each other.”

He nodded, seeming to weigh up her answer against some measure he had in his mind. Feeling she had short-changed him, and highly aware of how much he had come to her rescue, she fervently added, “And I also think you’re quite wonderful, Tony King.”

It sparked a wicked look. “Well, the night is young and I think you’re quite wonderful, too, Hannah O’Neill. Can I take it that the past is past and the future is ours to make of it whatever we want?”