‘You could do worse,’ said Bridget, ignoring her completely. ‘I’m not saying he can’t be a bit silly at times, but no more than any other man. He didn’t have an easy time as a child,’ she said with a quick sidelong glance at Lucy. ‘Guy was one of those boys who always seem to be fine and happy, but you never really know what’s going on in their heads. You think they’re all right, but they’ll tell a joke rather than show their feelings.
‘There are some biscuits in the tin up there,’ she interrupted herself. ‘No, the blue one…Still, Guy’s a good man, and he’d be a good father,’ she told Lucy, who didn’t know what on earth to say. ‘He needs someone to take him seriously, and then maybe he would take himself more seriously, and who knows what he could achieve then?’
‘He’s achieved a lot already,’ Lucy found herself saying as she opened the tin. ‘The staff at Dangerfield & Dunn think he’s wonderful.’
Bridget looked at her with an odd little smile. ‘And you?’
Lucy set out the biscuits on the plate, unable to meet the older woman’s eyes for some reason. ‘I’m just temporary,’ she said.
In the end, the tea was much more relaxed than Lucy had feared. They talked mostly about Wirrindago, a place they all loved. Guy and Lucy might have been there most recently, but it was Bridget who knew the outback best, and Lucy enjoyed listening to her stories, although all the while she was conscious of Guy lounging nearby, of his lazy smile and the glinting humour in his eyes.
Quite unfazed by his mother’s abruptness, he teased her affectionately and made her snort with laughter occasionally. Watching carefully, Lucy noticed that Bridget’s eyes softened when they rested on Guy when she thought that no one was looking. Bridget, she suspected, hid her real feelings behind brusqueness just as her son did behind humour.
‘So, there’s no sign of Hal getting married yet?’ she demanded, shaking her head. ‘He’s as bad as you, Guy. What is he now, thirty-four? Thirty-five? It’s high time he found himself a wife.’
‘Wives aren’t that easy to come by in the outback, Ma.’
‘That’s not an excuse
‘True, but it’s hard to find the right one,’ said Guy.
‘There must be lots of nice girls out there. Look at Lucy here!’
‘Sadly, Lucy is spoken for,’ he said easily. He grinned at Lucy. ‘Don’t tell me she’s been matchmaking again!’
‘I just want you to be happy,’ said Bridget grouchily.
‘I know you do, Ma.’ Guy’s voice was very gentle. ‘But I want what you and Dad had. You wouldn’t really want me to settle for less than that, would you?’
Lucy’s heart twisted as she saw Bridget’s eyes fill with tears. ‘No,’ she muttered, and the hand that lifted her cup shook a little as she tried furiously to blink away the signs of her weakness.
There was a tiny pause. ‘I should go,’ said Lucy tactfully and put down her own cup and saucer. ‘Thank you so much for tea. I’ve really enjoyed it.’
‘It’s been lovely to have you.’ Bridget insisted on struggling out of her chair and on to her sticks to see them to the top of the stairs. ‘Thank you for coming, Lucy. I hope Guy will bring you again-or come on your own!’
‘I’d like that,’ said Lucy sincerely, and on an impulse kissed Bridget on the cheek.
‘Thank you so much, Lucy,’ said Guy as he closed the front door behind them with a heartfelt sigh. ‘You were wonderful. Ma really liked you, I could tell.’
‘I liked her too. She’s quite a character, isn’t she?’
‘And I’m sorry about all the matchmaking,’ he said, although the blue eyes were dancing. ‘She doesn’t usually try and marry guests off to me on their first visit!’
Take it lightly, Lucy told herself. ‘I should be honoured then.’
‘You should indeed.’ He grinned at her as he unlocked the car. ‘I’m afraid you’ve definitely moved to the top of her list! Get in,’ he added. ‘I’ll drive you to the hospital.’
‘I can easily get a bus,’ Lucy began, but it was a pretty feeble effort and she found herself climbing meekly back into the car.
‘It’s the least I can do after today,’ said Guy. ‘I’m not brave enough to tell my mother I let you go off in the bus, and besides, my only alternative is to stay and be lectured about how I should be persuading you to marry me straight away.’ He shook his head as the engine purred into life. ‘I love my mother dearly but sometimes…well, let’s just say she can be a bit trying!’
Lucy pulled her phone out of her bag and made a pretence of checking it for messages while she tried not to think about Guy persuading her to marry him. It was nonsense of course, but…what
‘I’m sure she can be difficult,’ she said, wondering if she could tell Guy that she thought his mother knew him much better than he imagined, and that she loved him much more than she showed, but it seemed presumptuous under the circumstances. If she really were going to marry Guy, it would be different, of course. She could say it if she were his fiancee.
Which she wasn’t.
‘You’re lucky to have her,’ she said instead, dropping the mobile back into the bag at her feet. ‘I wish I had a mother, even a difficult one!’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Guy. ‘When did she die?’
‘I was only three,’ Lucy told him. ‘I don’t really remember her at all, but I wish I’d known her. In the photos we’ve got, she always looks like fun.’
‘You lost your mother when you were three?’ Guy was horrified. ‘You poor little kid. What about your father?’
‘He remarried a couple of years later. Our stepmother is perfectly nice, but it’s Meredith who brought me up really, even though she’s only a couple of years older. She was the one constant presence in my life. Dad was posted overseas when I was only seven and we had to go to boarding school but Meredith was always there if I needed her.’
Guy glanced at her. ‘And Meredith is the reason you’re still visiting Richard so faithfully. You’re doing it for her.’
‘Yes.’ Lucy nodded even though it wasn’t a question. ‘He’s getting better, thank goodness, so at least I’ve had some good news to email her. He can’t talk for long, but he’s definitely on the mend.
‘The thing is,’ she went on slowly, ‘I think Meredith is wrong. Richard always seems happy to see me, but if he did love me before the accident, I think he’s forgotten about it now. I mean, you
‘Do you?’ Guy’s voice was very level. ‘You usually know when they
‘Well, I don’t think Richard does,’ said Lucy. ‘It’s a bit of a relief, to be honest. I don’t think he’s going to be hurt when he finds out I’m leaving again.’ She sighed. ‘I just wish he’d get well enough to tell his parents that. They’ve been making a few comments recently about how elusive my boyfriend is, and I suspect they’re hoping the relationship has fallen through, which will leave me free to make Richard happy.’
‘You’ll have to tell them you and Guy are still madly in love,’ said Guy, pulling up right outside the hospital entrance.
‘I’ve tried, believe me.’ Lucy unclipped her seat belt and turned to him. ‘Thanks for the lift,’ she said with a smile, desperate not to let him guess how much all this talk of love unsettled her. ‘I’ll tell them Guy dropped me off tonight. Maybe that will seem more convincing.’
‘You know what would be much more convincing, don’t you, Lucy?’
And then she made a big mistake. She looked directly at Guy. Now her eyes were all tangled up with his, and her heart had braked until it was no more than a sluggish beat, each stroke a slow, painful slam in her chest.
Lucy struggled to stay calm, but it was hard when her body only seemed to be able to manage one function at a time. If she jerked her eyes away, her heart stopped. If she concentrated on keeping her heart beating, her lungs forgot how to work and she found herself struggling for breath. It was hopeless.
‘What?’ she asked, but it came out as a whisper.
‘I think it would be much more convincing if you went in looking as if you had been thoroughly kissed by your lover,’ said Guy, his voice reverberating deep and quiet, and he reached out and traced the outline of her mouth
