‘My sea-snail. My starfish.’
‘Yes.’ She was having a bit of trouble with her voice.
‘It’s dirty,’ she told Jenna. ‘I’ll be able to wash it with my new soap.’
‘You can do that.’
‘It’s lovely.’ Karli turned back to Riley. ‘It’s the bestest present. Now let’s eat some cake.’
CHAPTER SIX
THE cake was not great. The cake, in fact, was ghastly, but Karli would have eaten cardboard if she’d been told it was birthday cake and Riley manfully got his down. Then, with the excitement over, Karli drooped and Jenna took her off to bed while Riley did the washing-up.
She came back into the kitchen as he was stacking newly washed plates on her newly washed shelves. He was fingering each plate as if he couldn’t believe it.
She stood in the doorway for a moment and watched him. He was so big. His masculinity filled the room, she thought. And here he was, polishing his plates as if they were giving him pleasure. The man was seriously…nice?
He turned and found her watching, and she found herself starting to blush.
‘What?’ he demanded and she hesitated, searching for the answer. What? She didn’t know what the question was. What?
‘I like to see a man immersed in domesticity,’ she told him at last, and she managed a smile. ‘There’s been little enough domesticity around here to make me notice it when I see it.’
‘Hey, I’m domestic.’
‘Would Maggie agree?’
‘Sure she would.’
She knew nothing about him, she thought. Nothing. She was in his house, he was supplying their food and accommodating them and being wonderful to her little half-sister and she knew nothing about him at all.
‘Where’s Maggie?’ she asked.
‘At Munyering.’
‘Where’s Munyering?’
‘Out the back of beyond,’ he told her, and then, as she looked exasperated, he motioned south. ‘It’s about five hundred miles thataway.’
‘So you and Maggie have a distant relationship.’
‘About as close as I ever want with a woman,’ he told her, and then looked as if he didn’t understand why he’d just said what he’d said. He caught himself. ‘I mean… We suit each other just fine.’
‘But she’s not your wife.’
‘No.’
‘You’re definitely not married?’
‘No.’
‘Have you ever been married?’
‘What is this?’
‘Twenty questions,’ she told him. ‘You know far too much about me and I know nothing about you. Have you ever been married?’
‘Once. It didn’t work out.’
‘Kids?’
‘No.’
‘Dogs? Guinea pigs? Budgerigars?’
‘No and no and no.’
‘Friends?’
‘No.’ That was out before he could stop it. He stilled and she met his eyes across the room and their gaze locked and held.
‘No friends,’ she said softly. ‘Apart from Karli, who’s your devoted friend for life. She’s gone to sleep clutching her fossil like other kids go to bed clutching their teddy bear.’
‘Why hasn’t Karli got a teddy bear?’
The question came out of left field, turning the tables neatly.
‘I imagine she’s been given several,’ she said slowly. ‘Nicole would have lost them or given them away or simply left them behind in hotel rooms because they were a nuisance. She’d buy more on a whim. Then when she and Brian split, Brian would have replaced whatever Nicole supplied by something that would have annoyed the hell out of Nicole. And so on. I learned as a kid never to show affection for any of my toys. If my father gave it to me then my mother would destroy it and vice versa. In the end it was easier not to get attached at all.’
‘So you were left with nothing?’
‘I escaped,’ she told him. ‘We’re talking about Karli.’
‘How can you say you’ve escaped?’ he said gently. ‘You don’t escape the past.’
‘Says the man with no friends.’ Two could play at turning the tables. ‘I can’t believe you have no friends. That’s a crazy statement.’
‘I don’t exactly live in a place where friends drop in.’
‘You don’t live here, though, do you?’ she said cautiously. ‘I mean, not all the time. This is a place you come to work.’
‘The place where I base myself is just as isolated.’
‘But not as dusty.’
‘No,’ he admitted, smiling a little. ‘Not as dusty. You really have done an amazing job.’
‘It was fun.’
‘I’ve never met a single woman who’d think this was fun,’ he told her and she shrugged.
‘You move in the wrong circles.’
‘Unlike you. Child of rock star and racing driver.’
‘They have nothing to do with me. My friends aren’t their friends. My friends are mostly nurses and, yes, most of us know what hard work is and we know it can be a pleasure all by itself.’
He was staring at her as if he couldn’t work her out.
‘Are you really a nurse?’
‘I really am a nurse.’
‘How the hell does Charles Svenson’s daughter end up being a nurse?’
‘I don’t think you understand anything about me,’ she said softly.
‘No. I don’t. So tell me.’ He left the sink and sat down, gesturing to the chair on the other side of the table.
‘You’re tired.’ She hesitated, but sat down as well. ‘You don’t want to listen to my life history when you should be going to bed.’
‘Sure I’m tired,’ he said, and he threw her that gorgeous, disconcerting smile. ‘I need a bedtime story.’
‘I…’
‘Just tell me,’ he said gently, and suddenly his hand came across the table and gripped hers. Strong and sure and compelling. ‘I want to know.’
‘I don’t know why,’ she said, trying to haul her hand away, but still he held.
‘I don’t know either,’ he admitted. ‘But tell me. Tell me about your parents.’
‘I don’t… I don’t know my parents. I never have.’
‘Why not?’
She faltered. How to describe the relationship or the lack of the relationship? How to tell anyone?
But his hand was warm and strong and he’d given Karli a gift that Jenna knew she would treasure for ever.
She owed him the truth.
