‘You told me Molly was leaving for Hayman Island. You told me you spoke to her. There’s no explanation other than that you were acting in collusion. Miss Copeland…’ He turned to Hannah. ‘Will you be willing to back me up as witness?’
‘I surely would.’ Hannah was staring at Francis as if he was some particularly repugnant insect. ‘I’d be delighted. Hanging’s too good for the likes of him.’
‘It might not come to that, but what will happen will be effective for all that. I’ll see you in court, Francis. Now get out.’
‘But-’
‘Now!’
For a minute after the lawyer left there was silence. They listened as he gunned his car into action and headed off down the track, and they waited until the sounds of his car died to silence. Then Molly made to pull herself away from Jackson’s arms, but was promptly pulled back again.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’
‘I…um.’ She thought about it and came to a fast decision. ‘Nowhere?’
‘Dead right. Nowhere.’
She liked masterful men, she decided happily. Okay, Michael had been masterful-
This masterful was just plain wonderful.
‘Thank you for bringing her down.’ Jackson was speaking to Angela and Guy, but Molly was absorbing the soft texture of his shirt. Nice. And the feel of his heartbeat. Nicer still.
‘Think nothing of it.’ Guy waved an airy hand. ‘The fact that my car blew a gasket or six and Angela and I missed a perfectly good day in bed-’
‘Guy!’ Angela gasped, but Guy only grinned. ‘Well, we did.’
‘I’ll give you a decent car for a wedding present,’ Jackson told them, and Angela rolled her eyes.
‘Wow. That’ll look good beside the casseroles and toasters.’
But Molly had hauled back, stunned. ‘Jackson Baird, do you think you can just splash your money about in that obscene-?’
‘Hey, who’s complaining?’ Angela interrupted. ‘Let him splash all he wants.’ Her eyes were brimming with laughter. ‘What about putting diamonds on the shopping list while you’re at it?’
Molly caught her breath. ‘Angie-’
‘Don’t tell me. You were about to say shut up.’ She held her hands up in laughing protest. ‘Okay. I know when I’m butting into something that doesn’t concern me.’ Angela looked down at Sam. ‘Sam, the Lionels have been in that box for far too long.’
‘They have,’ Sam agreed.
‘Then let’s show them to their new home.’ She took Guy’s hand and Sam’s hand and smiled at Hannah. ‘How about it, Miss Copeland? Would you like to see a frog launch and leave these two alone?’
‘I’d be delighted,’ Hannah said, and tossed aside her walking stick. ‘If what I think is about to happen
‘Hey, I’d like to see the frog launch too,’ Molly said, stung.
‘You want to see a frog launch or you want to spend a bit more time right where you are?’ Angie demanded. ‘Choose now. Frog or prince? What’ll it be?’
And there was only one decision to make after all.
‘Prince, please,’ Molly said, and sealed her fate right there.
Then, finally, they were alone. Together. Standing locked in each other’s arms. So much had to be said, but now wasn’t the time for its saying. There was only time for each other. The feel of each other’s bodies. Two hearts beating as one.
It was a joining without words. It was a feeling of such blessed peace-of rightness-of joy-that Molly could scarcely take it in.
Jackson was holding her to him as if he would never let her go. His hands were softly stroking the small of her back. Her aching face was leaning against his shoulder and his fingers came up to trace it through the tumble of her bright curls.
This was right.
This was for ever.
‘Where’s Cara?’ Molly whispered at some point, but it no longer mattered. Cara no longer mattered. What true love had joined let no man put asunder-and true love had joined this pair as truly as any wedding vow.
He thought about that for a while. ‘Cara and I decided living together at the farm would be crazy.’
She pulled away from him then, wanting to see his face. Wanting to understand. ‘Why?’
He smiled down at her with an expression on his face that made her heart do handsprings. Oh, the joy of it. The pure, blessed joy.
‘I’ve been a fool.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘Then you wouldn’t believe wrong. Molly…’ He took her hands in his and searched for the words to explain something that he was only starting to understand now. ‘Molly, I had the pits of a childhood. The only way I could be at peace was to institutionalise myself. Nannies. Boarding school. University and corporate life. Those things followed rules that I could understand. They made me safe. So I tried to organise my personal life along the same lines. Cara is my half-sister. She lived the same bitter life as I did, with the same results whenever we showed emotional need. So when life got too tough-well, we were all we had.’
‘Cara is your…
‘Yes. And until now Cara and I have been living under the same rule. Which is self-protection at all costs. I tried to move outside the rules once and it was a disaster.’ He moved his lips in her hair and sighed, a great sigh. The sigh of a man reaching home. ‘I thought I loved someone. She wanted me only for my money. I was young and stupid-but it made me distrust for life. Only then I hadn’t met you. A man can be a fool…’
She could scarcely believe what she was hearing. Please…
It was a desperate little prayer, starting deep in her heart, but by the feel of his hands holding her close-by the feel of his heartbeat under hers-it had already been answered. ‘But now?’
There was a kookaburra laughing outside, its raucous cackle making a mockery of the two lovers. But they didn’t care. It could just as well be a nightingale, Molly thought, and found she wanted to pinch herself to wake up. She didn’t need to. He was real and he was hers, and his next words confirmed it. ‘But now Cara’s met her Raoul. And…’
‘And?’ The whole world was holding its breath. Well, maybe not the whole world. There was one stupid kookaburra-but surely he didn’t count.
‘And now I’ve met my Molly. My love. My wonderful brave, funny, loyal, tender, wonderful Molly, and now I realise that I didn’t know what the hell I was running from. I thought I was running from love, but until I met you I didn’t know what love was. We’ve spent three weeks apart and every moment I’ve missed you. I’ve ached for you. I’ve wanted you. Molly, I want you to be my wife. For now. For always. Will you marry me?’
The kookaburra was definitely a nightingale, Molly thought deliriously. She’d have it renamed by deed poll.
Would she marry him? Yes and yes and
But there was one last thing. She had to say it, even though her entire future-her entire happiness-rested on it.
‘Jackson-wherever I go. I need to take Sam. I…he’s part of me. I must…’
But it seemed that Sam was no problem at all. ‘Of course he is. How could I expect otherwise? He’s the best kid, and I have such plans…’
‘You have such plans?’
‘We’ll move here.’ He put a finger on her lips and shushed her as she tried to speak. ‘No, listen. You wanted things not to change for Sam, so you moved to the city. But things
