The Girl he Never Noticed (13 page)

‘Cam—’ She didn’t go on.

‘Liz?’ He waited a moment. ‘The problem is—my problem is—I’d love to see your naked body in the water.’

Liz looked down at herself. ‘It’s not a hugely camouflaging bikini.’

‘Still…’

She looked out over the water. It looked incredibly inviting as it sparkled under a clear sky and a hot sun. Why not?

She rose noiselessly, stepped out of her bikini, and climbed down to the duckboard where she dived into the water before Cam had a chance even to get to his feet.

‘Come in,’ she called when she surfaced. ‘It feels wonderful.’

It did, she thought as she floated on her back, but not as wonderful as when he dived in beside her and took her in his arms.

‘Good thinking?’ he asked, all sleek and wet and tanned, and strong and quite naked.

‘Brilliant thinking,’ she conceded. ‘I feel like a siren,’ she confessed as she lay back in the water across his arm.

‘You look like one.’ He drew his free hand across
the tips of her breasts, then put his hands around her waist and lifted her up. She laughed down at him with her hands on his shoulders as she dripped all over him. Then she broke free and swam away from him.

‘You swim like a fish,’ he called when he caught up with her. ‘And you make love like a siren—come back to the boat.’

‘Now?’

‘Yes, now,’ he said definitely.

Liz laughed, but she changed direction obediently and swam for the boat.

He followed her up the ladder, and when they reached the deck he picked her up and carried her, dripping wet, down to his stateroom, where he laid her on the bed.

‘Cam,’ she protested, ‘we’re making a mess.’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ he growled as he lay down beside her and took her in his arms. ‘This—what I desperately want to do with you—is not for public consumption.’

‘There was no one there—and it was your idea anyway.’

‘Perhaps—but not this. There. Comfortable?’ he asked as he rolled her on top of him.

Liz took several urgent breaths, and her voice wasn’t quite steady as he cradled her hips and moved against her. ‘I don’t know if that’s the right word for it. It’s…’ She paused and bit her bottom lip. ‘Sensational,’ she breathed.

He withdrew his hands from her hips and ran them through her hair, causing a shower of droplets. They both laughed, then sobered abruptly as they began
to kiss each other and writhe against each other with desperate need.

It was a swift release, that brought them back to earth gasping. Liz, at least, was stunned at the force of the need that had overtaken them. She was still breathing raggedly as they lay side by side, holding each other close.

‘Where did th-that come from?’ she asked unsteadily as she pulled up the sheet.

He smoothed her hair. ‘You. Being a siren.’

‘Not you? Being a merman?’

‘I don’t think there is such a thing.’

‘All the same, do you really mean that? About me being a siren? It’s the second time you’ve—well, not
accused
me of it, but something—’ she hesitated ‘—something similar.’

She felt the movement as he shrugged, but he said nothing. In fact she got the feeling he was somewhat preoccupied. She got the feeling from the way he was watching her that he was waiting for something…

She pushed herself up and rested her elbow on the pillow, her head on her hand. ‘Is something wrong?’ She slipped her fingertips over the smooth skin of his shoulder.

He stared expressionlessly into her eyes, then he said, ‘You’re right. We have made a mess. Let’s strip the bed and remake it. But have a shower first.’ He threw back the sheet and got up.

Liz hesitated, feeling as if she’d stepped into a minefield. She studied his long, strong back for a moment as he reached into a cupboard for clothes. Then, with
a mental shake of her head, she got up in a few quick movements and slipped past him into her stateroom, with its
en-suite
shower. She closed the door—something she wouldn’t usually have done.

He didn’t take issue with it.

They remade the bed in silence.

Liz had put on a pair of yellow shorts with a cream blouse and tied her hair back. He’d also donned shorts, and a black T-shirt. The tension that lay between them was palpable.

How? Why? Liz wondered.

She didn’t get the opportunity to answer either of those questions as his phone rang—it was never far away from him. It was Roger, and when Cam clicked it off she knew from his expression and the few terse questions he’d posed that it was something serious.

She clutched her throat. ‘Scout?’ she whispered.

‘Liz,
no.
She’s fine. So is Archie. But Mrs Preston had been hospitalised with heart problems. I made her promise to get a check-up when you said you were worried about her.’

Liz’s hand fell away. ‘Oh,’ she breathed, in a mixture of intense relief and concern.

‘There’s more. Daisy’s got the flu.’

‘Oh, no! So who…?’

‘Your mother has taken command, with the help of Bob’s wife, but I think we should go back as soon as we can.’

‘Of course.’ Liz looked around a little helplessly. ‘But how soon can that be?’

He was already on his mobile. ‘Roger’s organising a flight from Hamilton. Hello, Rob?’ he said into the phone. ‘Listen, mate, I need to get home ASAP. Organise a chopper to pick us up off Whitehaven Beach. Come on it yourself, and you can sail
Leilani
back to Hamilton.’

Liz’s mouth had fallen open at these instructions. She closed it but got no chance to comment.

‘OK,’ Cam said, ‘let’s up anchor. It’ll take us about half an hour to get to Whitehaven.’

‘What if there are no helicopters available?’

He looked at her, as if to say,
You didn’t really say that, did you?
‘Then he’ll buy one.’

‘Oh, come on!’ Liz clicked her tongue. ‘You don’t expect me to believe that?’

‘Believe it or not, Ms Montrose, it’s something I have done before.’ He paused and looked around. ‘Would you mind packing for both of us?’

Liz stared at him, but she recognised this Cam Hillier, and she turned away, saying very quietly, ‘Not at all.’

She didn’t see him hesitate, his gaze on her back, or see his mouth harden just before he left the stateroom.

Liz stood in the same spot for several minutes.

She heard the powerful motors fire up. She heard above that the whine of the electric winch and the rattle of the anchor chain as it came up. All sounds she knew now.

She felt the vibration beneath her feet change slightly as he engaged the gears and the boat got underway…

She licked a couple of tears from her upper lip—because something had gone terribly wrong and she had
no idea what it was.
Ms Montrose,
she thought. Had she gone back to that?
Why
had she gone back to that?

Why this almost insane rush to get home? Yes, when he made up his mind to do something he often did it at a hundred miles an hour—and it wasn’t that she didn’t want to get home as soon as possible—but
this?

Wouldn’t they be alone together any more? What about that fierce lovemaking? Where did that fit in?

She buried her face in her hands.

They got back to Yewarra after dark that same evening.

Roger had organised a flight for them on a private jet from Hamilton Island with a business associate of Cam’s. The associate was on the flight, so there’d been no chance of any personal conversation. And they’d flown from Sydney to Yewarra on the company helicopter—ditto no personal conversation.

Liz was unsure whether it had been fortuitous or otherwise.

Both Scout and Archie were already in bed and asleep, but Mary Montrose was there to greet them. And she had assurances that Daisy was resting comfortably and so was Mrs Preston, although she was still in hospital.

Liz hugged her mother and Cam shook her hand.

‘Thanks so much for stepping into the breach, Mrs Montrose,’ he said to her, and Liz could see her mother blossoming beneath his sheer charm. ‘I hope you’ve moved into the house?’

‘Yes,’ Mary said, ‘along with Scout. Although only
into the nursery wing. I guess you’ll stay there too?’ she said to Liz.

‘Uh—actually,’ Cam said, ‘Liz and I have some news for you. We’ve agreed to get married.’

‘H
OW COULD YOU?’

They were in his study with the door closed. It was a windy night, and she could hear trees tossing their branches and leaves outside, as well as occasional rumbles of distant thunder

Liz was stormy-eyed and incredulous, despite the fact that her mother had greeted Cam’s news with effusive enthusiasm before faltering to an anxious silence as she’d taken in her daughter’s expression.

Then she’d said, ‘I’ll leave you two alone,’ and gone away towards the nursery wing.

‘It’s what you told me to do,’ he countered, lying back in his chair behind the desk.
‘“Don’t take any nonsense from me,”’
he quoted.
‘“I can be stubborn for stubborn’s sake.”
Remember, Liz?’ He raised a sardonic eyebrow at her and picked up his drink—he’d stopped to pour them both a brandy on their way down to the study.

Despite the drink, Liz couldn’t help feeling that to be back in his study, on the opposite side of his desk from him, was taking them straight back to an employer/employee relationship, and it hurt her dreadfully.

‘There’s nothing wrong with my memory,’ she said
helplessly, then took a breath to compose herself. ‘I also remember—not that many hours ago—being all of a sudden being frozen out after we’d slept together as if we’d never get enough of each other. The last thing I expected after that was to be told I planned to marry you.’

‘But you do, don’t you, Liz? Because of Scout.’

Liz paled. ‘But you knew,’ she whispered. ‘You yourself told me that you needed a mother for Archie and I needed security for Scout.’

He got up abruptly and carried his glass over to the paintings on the wall. He stared at one in particular—the painting of a trawler with the name of
Miss Miranda.
‘I didn’t know I was going to feel like this.’

She stared at him. He was gazing at the picture with one hand shoved in his pocket and tension stamped into every line of his body. Even his expression was drawn with new lines she’d never seen before.

‘Like what?’ she queried huskily.

He turned to her at last. ‘As if I’ve got my just desserts. As if after playing the field—’ his lips twisted with self-directed mockery ‘—after having a charmed life where women were concerned, being able to enjoy them without any deep commitment, I’ve finally fallen for one I can’t have.’

Her eyes grew huge and her lips parted in astonishment. ‘C-can’t have?’ she stammered.

He smiled briefly, and it didn’t reach his eyes. ‘You’re doing it again, Liz. Repeating things.’

‘Only because I can’t believe you said that. You have—we have—I don’t know how much more you
could want.’ Tears of confusion and desperation beaded her lashes.

He came back and sat down opposite her. ‘I thought it would be enough to have you on any terms, Liz. That’s why I lured you into the job up here at Yewarra. That’s why—’ he gestured ‘—I played on your insecurity over Scout. Only to discover that when you agreed to marry me you had Scout on your mind, not me. I didn’t want that.’

She gasped, and her mind flew back to the first time they’d made love—to their first night on the boat and the nightmare she’d had. Flew back to his initial resistance that she, in her unwisdom, had not given enough thought to.

‘You should have told me this then.’

‘I nearly did. I
did
tell you I wasn’t made of steel,’ he said dryly. ‘I didn’t seem able to also admit that I was a fool—an incredible fool—not to know what had happened to me.’

‘What about this morning? Was it only this morning?’ she breathed. ‘It seems like an eon ago.’

‘This morning?’ he repeated. ‘What I really wanted this morning was to hear you say you loved me madly, in a way that I could believe it.’

Liz let out a long, slow breath. ‘What I don’t understand now is why you told my mother we were planning to marry.’

He drummed his fingers on the desk. ‘That was a devil riding me. But I am prepared to give you the protection of my name if you feel it will safeguard Scout
from her father. It’ll be a marriage of convenience, though.’ He shrugged.

‘Is that what you think I want?’ she whispered, paper-pale now.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Isn’t it?’

Her lips trembled, and she got slowly to her feet as every fibre of her being shouted at her to deny the charge. Why couldn’t she say no? It’s
not
what I want. Why couldn’t she tell him she’d fallen deeply and irrevocably in love with him?

Because she had no proof? Because she saw now in hindsight that the way things had played out it
did
look as if she’d been angling for marriage because of Scout?

Because she was still unable to bare her soul to any man?

‘No, it’s not what I want,’ she said, barely audibly. ‘Cam.’ She swallowed. ‘It’s over. We’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning. It—it could never have worked between us. Too many issues.’ She shook her head as a couple of tears coursed down her cheeks. ‘I told you once you’d be mad to want to get involved with me. I was right. Not that I blame you for the mess I…I am.’ She turned away, then turned back.
‘Please,’
she begged, ‘just let me go.’

‘Liz—’ he said harshly, but she fled out of the study.

‘W
HERE’S
A
RCHIE?
‘ Scout said plaintively. ‘And where’s ‘Nonah’s puppy? Why can’t I play with them any more?’ She looked around her grandmother’s flat discontentedly. ‘I don’t like this place.’

Liz sighed inwardly.

It was three weeks since they’d left Yewarra—a heart-wrenching move if ever there’d been one, as she’d thought at the time.

She could still see in her mind’s eye Archie, standing at the dolphin fountain waving goodbye, looking pale and confused. She could still see Cam, standing beside him but not waving, as she’d driven Scout and her mother away.

She could still remember every word of the stilted last interview she’d had with Cam, during which he’d insisted on paying her three-month contract out.

She could particularly recall the almost irresistible urge she’d had to throw herself into his arms and beg him to take her on any terms, even if she was unable to tell him what he wanted to hear. She closed her eyes in pain every time she thought of it…

She couldn’t get out of her mind the thought of Cam
Hillier needing help to stabilise his life and how she was too emotionally crippled to give it to him.

In the three weeks since that parting she’d lost weight, she’d slept little, and she’d done battle with herself over and over. Had she walked away from a man who loved her for no good reason? On the other hand, would he ever trust her?

Her mother had been an absolute stalwart, doing her very best to make the dislocation more bearable for both her and Scout, but Liz knew she would have to make some changes. She couldn’t go on living with her mother in the way she had. Mary was obviously very close to her new beau, Martin. She was also knee-deep in concert costumes.

But it had been a week before Liz had even been able to pull herself together and start looking for an alternative life and a job.

She’d got in touch with the agency she’d worked for and put herself back on their books. So far nothing had come up, but she had got her old weekend job as a restaurant receptionist back. Next thing on her list was a flat of her own.

It was not long after Scout had made her displeasure with their new life known that the phone rang. It was the agency, with an offer of a diary secretary position for two weeks starting the next day.

Liz accepted it after consulting her mother, although she was dreading getting back on the old treadmill. And the next morning she presented herself at a suite of offices in the city, the home of Wakefield Inc—a company that operated a cargo shipping line.

She was, she’d been told, replacing the president’s diary secretary, who had fallen and broken a leg. That was all she knew.

As always for work, she’d dressed carefully in a fresh suit with a pretty top. But her hair was tied back and she wore her glasses.

She was greeted by a receptionist, whose name-plate labelled her as Gwendolyn, as she stepped out of the lift, and was ushered immediately towards the president’s office when she’d explained who she was.

‘In you go,’ Gwendolyn said cheerfully. ‘He’s asked to see you immediately.’

Liz took a deep breath and hesitated. She could partly see into the office, and it looked quite different from the last office she’d worked in. No pictures of horses and trawlers that she could see, and a completely different colour scheme—beige carpet, beige walls and a brown leather buttoned settee. The desk was hidden from her, and she took another deep breath and walked through the door—only to find herself almost fainting from sheer shock.

Because it was Cam Hillier who sat behind the desk belonging to the president of Wakefield Inc—a company she’d never heard of before yesterday.

She stopped as if shot.

He got up and came round the desk towards her. ‘Liz,’ he said quietly. ‘Come in.’

‘Y-you?’ she stammered. ‘I don’t understand.’

He smiled briefly. ‘It’s the company I bought while you were up at Yewarra. Remember?’

Her eyes were huge and her face was pale as her lips
worked but no sound came. She stared at him. He was formally dressed, in a navy suit she recognised. He was as dynamic and attractive as he’d ever been—although she thought he looked pale too.

‘I—I don’t understand,’ she repeated. ‘I’m supposed to be temping for someone who’s broken a leg.’

‘I made that up. I also asked for you personally.’

She blinked. ‘You…you got me here deliberately? Why?’ she asked hoarsely.

‘Because I can’t live without you. I need you desperately, Liz.’ He put a hand out as she rocked on her feet, and closed it around her arm to steady her. ‘Archie can’t live without you. None of us can. So we’d be grateful for anything you can give us, but you have to come back.’

‘Anything?’ she whispered.

And whether it was the shock of seeing him again when she’d never expected to, or the shock of discovering he’d sought her out, it was as if some unseen hand had turned a key in her heart and everything she’d longed to say but been unable to came pouring out…

‘Don’t you understand? I would never have slept with you if I didn’t love you. That’s the way I’m made. I know—I know it looked as if it was all about Scout, but it wasn’t. It was
you.
It was you from way back.’

Tears were pouring down her cheeks and she was shaking.

‘Liz.’ He put his arms around her, and despite her tears she could see that he was visibly shaken too, ‘Liz, my darling…’

‘I don’t know why I couldn’t say this before,’ she wept. ‘I
wanted
to, but—’ She couldn’t go on.

‘I understand. I always understood,’ he said softly. ‘I just couldn’t help myself from rushing my fences at times.’

‘I’m surprised you don’t hate me,’ she said, distraught.

His lips twisted. ‘Maybe this will reassure you more than any words,’ he murmured, and took off her glasses. He started to kiss her—her tear-drenched cheeks, her brow and her mouth.

When they finally drew apart Liz was breathless, but her tears had stopped and she looked up at him in wonderment. ‘It—it
is
real,’ she said tentatively.

‘I really love you,’ he said. ‘I’ve never felt this way before. As if I’m finally making the right music. As if the rest of the world can go to hell so long as I have you.’

He traced the outline of her swollen mouth with his forefinger. ‘I never told you this—I’ve never told anyone this—but my parents were soul mates, and I’ve been looking for my soul mate for a long time. So long I didn’t think it was going to happen. Until I met you.’

Liz moved in his arms. ‘I had no idea.’

‘Remember when you offered to take me apart?’ he asked, with a wryly lifted eyebrow.

‘I didn’t! Well—’ she shook her head ‘—if you say so.’

He grinned. ‘That was when the danger bells started to ring for me. Although, to be honest—’ he looked rueful ‘—when you climbed over my wall I had an inkling there could be something special about you.’

Liz gasped. ‘But…’

He shrugged. ‘Don’t ask me why. I guess it’s the way these things happen. But by the time I got you to Yewarra it was more than danger bells. It was the growing conviction that you and you alone were going to be that special one for me—if only I could get you to see it—if only I could get you to trust me.’

Liz closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. ‘I’m sorry.’

He kissed her lightly, then took her hand and drew her over to the buttoned settee, where they sat down with their arms around each other.

‘Don’t be sorry,’ he said. ‘Marry me instead.’

Liz laid her cheek on his shoulder. ‘I can’t think of anything I would rather do, but—’ she sat up suddenly, and looked into his eyes with a tinge of concern in her own ‘—I do know I can be difficult—’

‘So do I,’ he interrupted. ‘I’ve seen it. Outspoken, for example. Fighting mad at times. However, since I’m such a model of patience, so easy-going, so tolerant, so predictable, et cetera, we should complement each other.’

‘Patient? Tolerant? Predictable?’ Liz stared at him in disbelief, then she started to laugh. ‘For a moment I thought you actually believed that,’ she gurgled. ‘Oh, Cam, you can be totally unpredictable, intolerant and impatient, but you can also be—in lots of ways—my hero, and I love you so very much!’

He held her as if he’d never let her go. And the magic started to course through her—the assault on her senses, the thrilling, magnetic effect he’d had on her almost from the beginning claimed her.

They could have been on the moon, she thought, as they revelled in each other. It was as if the world had melted away and all that mattered was that they’d found each other.

It was when they finally drew apart that Cam said, ‘We need to get out of here.’

‘Yes.’ Liz pushed her hair back—he’d taken it down, and there were clips scattered she knew not where. ‘Yes. But it might look—funny.’

‘No, it won’t.’ He helped her to her feet and patted her collar down. ‘Well, you did come in looking all Ice Queen, but now you look gorgeous so I don’t suppose anyone will mind.’

‘Cam,’ she breathed, as colour came into her cheeks, but said no more as he kissed her, then took her hand and led her to the door—and once more demonstrated how unpredictable Cameron Hillier could be.

There were several people in the reception area, grouped around the reception desk. They all greeted Cam with the deference that told Liz they were employees.

He returned the greetings and rang for the lift then said to Gwendolyn, ‘Gwen, may I introduce you to my future wife? This is Liz. Oh, and by the way, I won’t be in for a couple of weeks, maybe even months. If anything seems desperate get hold of Roger Woodward at Hilliers, he’ll sort it out.’

There was dead silence and several mouths hanging open for a couple of seconds then Gwen shot up and scooted round her desk to shake Liz’s hand as well as Cam’s. ‘I’m so happy for you both!’ she enthused. ‘Not
that I realized—or knew anything about it—still, all the very best wishes!’ And she pumped Cam’s hand again.

Another devoted employee in the making, Liz thought wryly but she was warmed as everyone else shook hands and they finally stepped into the lift.

‘Poor Roger,’ she said as they descended to the car park.

Cam looked surprised.

‘He’ll probably be tearing his hair out soon. I know the feeling,’ she explained.

He took her hands. ‘I apologize for all my former sins,’ he said gravely. ‘But there was one thing I nearly did that I narrowly, very narrowly, restrained myself from doing.’

She looked up at him expectantly.

‘This.’ He took her in his arms then buried a hand in her hair and started to kiss her.

They didn’t notice the lift stop or the doors open, they noticed nothing until someone clearing their throat got through to them.

They broke apart to discover they had an audience of four highly interested spectators, one of them with his finger on the open button.

‘Different lift but that’s exactly what I wanted to do,’ Cam said to her then taking her hand again led her out into the car park, adding to the small crowd, ‘Forgive us but we’ve just agreed to get married.’

And their little crowd of spectators burst into spontaneous applause.

Liz was pink-cheeked but laughing as they made their way to the Aston Martin. Laughing and full of loving.

They flew up to Yewarra the next morning. Mrs Preston and Daisy were there to greet them, both with tears in their eyes. Bob and his wife were at the helipad—even Hamish the head gardener was there. But it was Archie who really wrung Liz’s heartstrings.

He hugged Cam first, then he hugged Scout but he stood in front of Liz looking up at her with all the considerable concern he was capable of and said, ‘You won’t go away again, will you, Liz? You won’t take Scout away again, will you? ‘Cause nothing feels the same when you’re not here.’

Liz sank down on her knees and put her arms around Archie and Scout. ‘No. We won’t go away again, I promise.’

Archie stared into her eyes for a long moment and then, as if he’d really received the reassurance he wanted, he turned to Scout. ‘Guess what, Golly and Ginny have had more kids! Want to see them?’

Scout nodded and they raced off together towards the menagerie.

Liz rose to her feet and Cam took her hand. ‘Thanks,’ he said huskily. ‘Thanks.’

They were married on Whitehaven Beach several weeks later.

Liz and Cam, with Archie and Scout and the marriage celebrant, arrived by helicopter. The guests had set out on
Leilani
and another boat from Hamilton Island earlier and were ferried to the beach by tender.

The bride wore a dress her mother had made, a glorious strapless gown of ivory lace and tulle and she had flowers woven into her hair. The bridegroom wore a cream suit. Scout and Archie both wore sailor suits. Everyone was shoeless.

Mary Montrose couldn’t have looked happier. Narelle Hastings with bronze streaks in her hair to match her outfit looked faintly smug and she mntioned several times to anyone who’d listen that she’d known this was on the cards right from the beginning. Daisy and Mrs Preston were tearful again but joyfully so. So was Molly Swanson. Even Roger Woodward upon whose shoulders the organization of this unusual wedding had fallen looked happy and uplifted.

Although, he still had to get everyone safely back to Hamilton apart from the wedding party, he reminded himself, and who would have thought Cameron Hillier and Lizbeth Montrose would be so unconventional?

He clicked his tongue then had to smile as he recalled their faces when they’d told him what they wanted. They’d both been alight with love and laughter.

And now, as the sun sank, they were pronounced man and wife and as a hush fell over the guests, they stared into each other’s eyes and it was plain to see that at that moment they only existed for each other as the sky turned to liquid gold and so did the water.

Then the spell was broken and the business of ferrying everyone back to
Leilani,
where a feast awaited them, began.

Several hours later, Cam and Liz farewelled their guests, who were returning to Hamilton Island on the second boat, all but two that was. Archie and Scout, both asleep now, would stay with them as they cruised the Whitsundays for the next couple of weeks.