Runaway Bride Read online

  ‘You’re worrying again,’ Damon warned her.

  She managed a small smile. ‘Okay. I’ve stopped.’

  Then, like a swimmer plunging into cold water, she broached the subject that was even more important to her. ‘Do you mind if we talk … about … us?’

  At least Damon didn’t flinch, but she saw his Adam’s apple slide up and down in his throat. ‘Sure. Are you worrying about us, as well?’

  ‘Not really, but I’d like to get things clear. To make sure we’re both on the same page.’ ‘What about?’ ‘Last night.’

  Bella shot a wary glance Damon’s way, but he kept his eyes straight ahead.

  She took a deep breath. ‘I mean, it was something that more or less had to happen, wasn’t it? For all kinds of reasons.’ Nervously, she chewed at her lip, then hurried on before her courage deserted her. ‘I think we needed last night, because we were cheated out of it when we were young. So I guess it was more or less closure on the past.’

  ‘I guess.’

  Bella waited for him to say more, but he didn’t.

  This man, who was so eloquent on a television screen, had summed up the most beautiful night of her life with I guess.

  Tense as a violin string, Bella tried again. ‘There’s no point in getting involved, is there? You’ll be leaving again soon.’

  ‘Not for another week or so.’

  ‘What are you saying? That we could continue sleeping together for a week or so?’ She couldn’t hold back a cold little laugh. ‘And then what? We get together again in another ten years? Or when you come home for weddings or funerals?’

  Damon didn’t reply, and she saw his mouth flatten into grimness.

  Eventually, he said quietly, ‘So, what are you saying? That it’s probably best if we don’t even consider a repeat of last night?’

  A wave of utter despair swept over her. This wasn’t what she wanted at all, but surely it was the only sensible option. ‘If we continue the way we were last night, we’ll—’

  She had to calm the rising panic inside her before she could go on. ‘Don’t you agree it would be a mistake for us to get in too deep?’

  Damon took his time answering. She could see obvious signs of tension in his jaw and in the way his hands gripped the steering wheel. But the realisation that he was finding this difficult didn’t cheer her. She knew that inevitably he planned to walk away from her again.

  After an age, he said wearily, ‘I’m sure you’re right.’

  So expected, so sensible, but so not what she’d wanted to hear.

  Terrified that she might cry, Bella pressed three fingers against her lips. She mustn’t cry, mustn’t spoil the special memories of last night by making a scene now.

  She’d known from the moment she got into his car in Willara that she was taking a huge risk with her heart. Now, she had to accept the reality. She would probably never get over Damon. He was always going to be a part of her, a bittersweet scar that she carried for the rest of her life.

  If she was honest, she had to admit that she’d more or less kept her life on hold since Damon left her the first time. Her work and her relationships had never been vitally important to her. She’d been filling in time. Stupidly hoping.

  She’d never really let him go. Now she had to face painful facts. Her only hope of long-term happiness was to put this lovely night behind her. She had to learn to live without Damon Cavello.

  To add to her misery, these unhappy thoughts were accompanied by the first drops of rain.

  The rain grew heavier as they drove on through Innisfail and Cairns and then on to Port Douglas. At times the windscreen wipers struggled to provide a clear view of the narrow, two-lane highway that skimmed the pretty coastline where the steep rainforest-clad mountains came right to the edge of the sea. Fortunately, most of the traffic was heading south.

  In Port Douglas they found Jessie’s white painted bungalow one block back from the beach. Its windows were already crisscrossed with safety tape, and Paddy and Violet were waiting in the doorway. When Bella and Damon dashed through the rain they were greeted with open arms.

  ‘What sweethearts you are!’ Violet exclaimed. ‘I can’t believe you’ve come all this way simply because you were worried about us.’ She was smiling through her tears as she hugged them.

  Delicate as a bird, she clung to Damon’s arm, and as they went into the house she kept patting him, as if she was worried he might suddenly vanish into thin air.

  Bella knew exactly how she felt.

  Jessie was a sweet-faced, plump woman with a riot of curly white hair. Her face, not surprisingly, showed signs of strain, but she seemed genuinely pleased to see them.

  ‘I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve made a list of things I’d like you to check for me,’ she said shyly, once the initial introductions and expressions of sympathy had been exchanged.

  ‘That’s perfect,’ Damon said, scanning the list. ‘I’m only too happy to help.’

  But before he could start Jessie insisted they sit down to the delicious asparagus quiche and salad she’d prepared.

  After that, it was time to get busy. While Damon, wearing one of Jessie’s husband’s sailing jackets, braved the rain to check the roof, guttering, windows and doors, Bella tidied the garden. Anything that might become an airborne missile in gale-force winds—pot plants, gardening tools, a broken trellis and garbage bins—all went into the garage.

  Jessie and Violet had shopped and they’d stocked up on batteries for torches and tinned food that would be easy to heat on a gas ring if they lost power during the storm. Bella also hunted in Jessie’s storage shed and found a gas light and an ice box.

  With these things assembled, and the yard clear, she took a mug of coffee out to Damon. She found him boarding up a window.

  ‘You probably think we’d forgotten about you out here,’ she said, ducking to join him under an eave out of the rain.

  ‘Thanks,’ he said as he took the steaming mug. ‘This will hit the spot.’

  Raindrops glistened in his dark hair and his skin glowed from his exertions. The impulse to lean in and kiss him was enormous. Remembering her new resolution, Bella restrained herself.

  She turned her attention to the neatly boarded set of windows. ‘I didn’t know you were a handyman.’

  ‘I’m not, but I can manage to bang in a nail.’ He gave the window a push. It didn’t budge. ‘I’m glad we were here in time to do this. Some of these casements would have blown out in a high wind.’

  Looking around at the bright profusion of hibiscus and heliconias in Jessie’s garden, Bella hoped the gale wouldn’t be too fierce. It was awful to think this lovingly tended backyard might be a tangled mess by the morning.

  ‘What’s the latest on the weather?’ Damon asked.

  ‘Much the same. Do you have much more to do?’

  ‘Two more windows here and a down pipe to clear at the front. How’s everyone else?’

  ‘We’re pretty organised now, although Jessie’s worried about where we’re going to sleep.’ Bella deliberately avoided meeting Damon’s eyes as she said this. ‘She doesn’t have any spare beds, and I was about to tell her we’d go to a motel. But then I thought we should probably stay here tonight, in case there’s any drama. Do you agree?’

  ‘Absolutely.’

  ‘I told Jessie we’ll be fine in the lounge room. One on the sofa and one on the floor.’

  Over the rim of his coffee mug, Damon’s grey eyes held the ghost of a smile. ‘I hope she was reassured.’

  ‘I think so.’ A sudden gust of wind almost caught Bella off balance. ‘Damon, you’ll come inside if things start flying about, won’t you?’

  ‘Of course. I won’t take any risks today.’ But as he looked about him at the wild sky and the thrashing foliage his expression was more excited than careful.

  ‘You like this, don’t you?’ Bella observed. ‘You love the hint of danger in the air.’

  ‘I don’t mind being out in the elements
. It reminds me of sailing.’

  She thought about the many times she’d seen him on TV reporting against a background of danger and chaos. ‘I guess you’re an adrenalin junkie.’

  ‘Perhaps I am.’ With a smile, he leaned towards her. ‘So why don’t you give me a kiss?’

  It was so unexpected Bella forgot to object. ‘Why?’ she asked lamely. ‘Because kissing is dangerous?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  She should have said no, should have taken a step back. She should have taken several steps back.

  But she was still under the spell of last night’s enchantment, and every cell in her body was already clamouring for the first touch of his lips.

  Perhaps she was addicted, too? Damon was dangerous, and yet she found him almost impossible to give up. Right now, she really, really needed his kiss.

  And what a lovely, warm, coffee-flavoured kiss it was. Friendly and non-threatening, and yet unmistakably staking a claim. Bella was just a little dizzy when he released her.

  But almost immediately she regretted her weakness. ‘That wasn’t wise,’ she told him primly.

  ‘You, of all people, must know I’ve never claimed to be wise.’ As he handed her the empty mug, however, his eyes flashed a silent apology.

  In the kitchen, Bella found Violet and Jessie preparing ingredients for a casserole. She unearthed a knife and joined them, chopping leeks and carrots while Violet tied herbs into a bouquet garni and Jessie browned meat at the stove.

  Rain beat against the now boarded-up windows and the kitchen was dark enough to have an electric light on, giving the room a cosy, companionable atmosphere. The radio was playing softly in the corner and a marmalade cat was supervising their endeavours from a position of comfort on a cushion-lined cane chair.

  Bella enjoyed working with the two women, surrounded by the comforting aromas of fresh vegetables, herbs and simmering beef stock. She was reminded of contented evenings in their farmhouse kitchen at Blue Gums, helping her mother to prepare dinner.

  A renewed feeling of calm began to settle over her, and when Jessie left the room, and Violet enquired, ever so discreetly, about the wedding’s cancellation, Bella was able to explain the complicated but delicate situation with surprising serenity and ease.

  ‘You’ve almost convinced me,’ Violet said when Bella reached the end of her story. ‘But there is something still bothering you, isn’t there, dear?’

  Violet’s dark, intelligent gaze was so serious and penetrating, Bella was forced to look down. ‘I’m totally relaxed about the break-up with Kent.’

  ‘I see,’ Violet said gently. ‘So I can only assume that my grandson is the cause of your current worries.’

  Although Bella blushed, she found it almost a relief to have her private pain exposed, especially by Violet who understood Damon better than anyone. ‘I’ll get over it,’ she said.

  Violet sighed. ‘I sincerely hope you will.’ With a bony arm around Bella’s shoulders, she leaned closer. ‘But I was hoping he’d come to his senses at last.’

  CHAPTER NINE

  AS THE afternoon wore on the weather grew wilder. Scuds of rain dashed against the kitchen window, and wind gusts made the trees thrash about wildly. When Bella peered out past the gaps in the window boards, she saw palm trees bending so low they looked as though they might snap.

  ‘We’ll lose a few tree branches tonight,’ Jessie remarked with stoic resignation. ‘All I ask is that the roof stays on.’

  Bella’s heart went out to her. She knew how utterly wretched with grief Jessie must be, yet the poor woman had to deal with a storm, as well, and a houseful of people. But going through the cyclone on her own would have been horrendous. At least she now had willing helpers who were younger and stronger.

  Paddy kept an eye on the weather reports, popping into the kitchen every so often to report updates. The eye of the cyclone was heading a little farther to the south, which was really good news.

  ‘If you have to be anywhere near a cyclone, it’s better to be north of it,’ he told them. ‘Looks like we might be spared the worst, but it’s still going to be a rough night.’

  The casserole was in the oven by the time Damon finished outside. The wind sent the door slamming behind him. He hung his wet coat in the laundry, then went to have a shower, emerging in jeans, but without a shirt and smelling wonderfully, temptingly clean.

  Bella couldn’t help staring … When he bent to rummage in his duffle bag for a clean T-shirt she had to take several deep breaths as she watched the play of muscles in his back.

  ‘And now, I guess we just wait for the worst,’ she said.

  Right on cue the lights went out.

  They lit the assembled candles and gas lamp. Damon, armed with Jessie’s oven gloves, shifted the casserole to the gas ring, and Paddy turned the radio off at the wall and switched it over to battery power. Outside, the winds revved up several notches, roaring and howling like the advance guard of a menacing invader.

  Thanks to Damon’s efforts, however, the windows didn’t rattle and the roof didn’t leak. There was no screech of ripping iron. The inside of the house was bathed in the gentle yellow glow of the gas lamp and everyone felt quite snug and safe.

  Over and over Jessie told them how grateful she was for their company, but when a particularly nasty wind gust caused a loud thump against the side of the house she came close to tears.

  Paddy poured her a glass of sherry and Violet suggested a board game.

  Within minutes, everyone was gathered around the dining table in the light of the gas lamp, all happy to be absorbed in the game, rather than the tempest raging outside.

  The evening slipped into night, and the fury of the storm became harder to ignore. To everyone’s relief, however, the inside of the house retained its aura of calm. The casserole proved to be quite delicious, despite being finished off on the gas ring. They ate by candlelight, and opened a bottle of wine.

  ‘As a morale booster,’ Paddy said, freeing the cork from a fine red.

  Dinner conversation was deliberately pleasant and relaxed, even when Paddy talked about his friendship with Jessie’s husband.

  ‘Mick and I were mates in Korea,’ he explained to Bella and Damon. ‘We used to get up to all kinds of mischief. Then I was wounded—shot in the leg, just at dusk. I was in a forward position on my own when our platoon was ordered to retreat. Good old Mick came back during the night and pulled me out.’

  ‘Wow. A true hero,’ Bella said softly. ‘No wonder you’ve stayed close.’

  ‘Paddy was best man at our wedding,’ Jessie added with a gentle smile. ‘And Mick was best man when Paddy married your grandmother, Bella.’

  They might have become a little sentimental then, thinking about the past, but there was a sudden, frightening crash outside. Damon went to the door to check and reported that a tree on the footpath had come down onto the road.

  As if to distract them, he flashed a twinkling smile and introduced a new topic of conversation. ‘Has Bella told you about our little drama with the police on the way up here?’

  This was greeted by exclamations of surprise.

  ‘I take it this wasn’t just a speeding ticket,’ said Violet.

  Taking turns, Bella and Damon related their experience in the lockup, making light of it, of course, and eventually eliciting smiles and laughter from their listeners. This led to more tales from Damon about his adventures overseas, and for a while, at least, the cyclone was almost forgotten.

  Violet had made a dessert, which Damon greeted with a whoop of boyish delight.

  ‘Mango trifle. My all-time favourite,’ he explained for the others’ benefit. ‘I still dream about it on a regular basis.’

  ‘If you came home more often,’ Violet commented, ‘you wouldn’t have to dream about the things you’ve missed.’

  Across the table, Damon’s eyes met Bella’s, and she knew he was remembering the unhappy conclusion they’d reached this morning. But Violet was watching them, her
dark eyes sharp and aware, and Bella quickly dropped her gaze to her plate.

  After dinner, while the ‘elders,’ as Bella had named them, played cards, she and Damon heated water on the gas ring, and dealt with the washing up.

  Every so often, Damon went to the front door and stuck his head outside. The roar of the wind was astonishing, like a freight train rushing past, but as the whole of Port Douglas was in darkness there was very little to see, apart from the glimpses he could catch in the beam of his torch.

  ‘The rain’s horizontal,’ he reported. ‘Ooh, let me see.’ Bella rushed to join him in the doorway, their bodies brushing. She held her breath, reminded herself to be more careful.

  Jessie found rain seeping in under one or two windows, bringing with it tiny pieces of leaves, so with Bella’s help she shoved old towels into the cracks. Damon made hot chocolate for everyone and they played another board game. At ten o’clock, Paddy, Violet and Jessie opted to retire to bed.

  ‘Might as well try to get some sleep,’ Violet said. ‘Although it’s going to be a challenge with that racket outside.’

  Jessie brought Bella a pile of pillows and quilts. ‘Are you sure you’ll be all right in the lounge room?’ she asked one more time.

  ‘We’ll be as snug as bugs in rugs,’ Damon assured her.

  ‘Yes, please don’t worry,’ Bella reinforced. ‘Damon can sleep anywhere. Didn’t you know? He just gathers up a pile of rocks in the Sinai Desert and sleeps like a baby.’

  Jessie laughed at that and hugged them. ‘You’re darlings, both of you, and thank you so much for your help today. I can see why Paddy and Violet are so proud of you. We certainly couldn’t have managed on our own.’

  ‘Well, I do feel that our trip up the highway was worthwhile now,’ Bella said when they were alone once again and sitting in the soft glow of the lamplight while the wind raged and battled outside.

  Actually … Bella was sitting rather stiffly on the edge of the lounge, while Damon sprawled in an armchair.

  He wondered if she was tense because she was trying, as he was, to cancel out memories of their previous night … the tropical beach … the moon … and the bliss of their shared bed …