‘If you think I can practise for half a day in this place and not learn all the local gossip, you don’t know much about the town you live in,’ he told her.
‘Especially when you ask!’
He grinned. ‘Especially when I ask.’
The car slowed suddenly and Nikki looked out. They were still two miles from home on the beach road. Luke was pulling the little car on to the kerb, and coming to a halt.
‘Wh-what are you doing?’ Nikki stammered.
‘I’ve been in a stuffy surgery all day,’ Luke told her. ‘And the moon is full and the beach is calling. I’m taking a short walk, Dr Russell. Are you coming or do you intend to sit in the car and sulk while I walk?’
‘But…’
Luke didn’t hear. The car was stationary and Luke had left, striding swiftly around to hold the door open for her. ‘Coming, Dr Russell?’
A walk on the beach was how Nikki often ended her day. After hours spent trying to solve everyone else’s problems, the sea and the moonlight were often the only way she could calm her tired mind. But to walk with this man…
She looked up, and his eyes held a challenge. Afraid? they mocked, and suddenly she knew she was. She didn’t want this. She didn’t want what seemed to be happening whether she wanted it or not.
‘Don’t be so bloody stupid,’ he said, for the second time that night, and his eyes mocked her.
Nikki took a deep breath. ‘I should be in bed,’ she said tightly.
He held up the car keys. ‘Well, the car’s going nowhere,’ he said gently. He held out his hand to take hers. Helplessly Nikki felt herself drawn up and out of the car. ‘A walk,’ he said firmly. ‘Nothing else, Dr Russell. Not yet.’
CHAPTER FOUR
THE night was still and warm. A gentle breeze from the sea stopped it being oppressively hot. October on the coast along the Great Barrier Reef was the loveliest of months-the time before the real oppression of the steamy wet season began.
Nikki walked slowly down towards the sea. As she had risen from the car Luke had released her hand and had gone before, leaving her to follow if she would. Now he strode easily across the firm, tide-washed sand, his face lifting to the moonlight as though soaking in its beauty.
Once more Nikki found herself wondering about this man of many parts. How many men took time to soak up the loveliness of a night like this?
What had she expected? That he would use this opportunity to make a pass at her? He seemed now to be oblivious to her presence, and Nikki knew that Luke would have stopped the car and walked even if he’d been alone.
As he was now. He walked alone across the moonlit beach, alone with whatever demons drove him, and Nikki was left to her own demons.
And they were there. The ghosts from Nikki’s past were never far from this place. Her parents. Scott…
What was Scott doing now? Married again? Of course he’d be married, Nikki told herself bitterly. Scott was charming and personable and desperate for money. He’d be married now to some lady who could support the lifestyle he craved.
Bitterness at the past rose up in her, threatening to overwhelm her. How could he have treated her like that? Men were bastards, she thought bleakly, remembering Sandra Mears’ haggard face. She and Sandra both…
Why on earth hadn’t she been able to see Scott’s true colours before she’d been crazy enough to marry him? She’d been so stupid.
Well, it wasn’t going to happen again. Not ever. She needed no one and Amy was solely dependent on her. Amy would be brought up with security and love, but no man was needed.
The bitter words Scott had flung at her had stayed in her heart for five long years. He had called her a lying, deceitful whore. He had laughed at her for believing that he had married her for love-he’d told her that no one would ever want her for herself alone.
Nikki took a deep breath and turned her face into the warm night air. The bitterness was all around her, and she was so alone. She looked down to the water’s edge at Luke, and a sense of empathy edged into her consciousness. Somehow this man was alone as she.
It was curiously comforting. The soft night wind whipped the fine fabric of her dress around her bare legs. Her hair blew lightly around her face and she drank in the salt air greedily.
Something was happening to her. She didn’t know what it was but she only knew that something inside her was being released-just a little-from the bondage that Scott had imposed. Was it Charlotte’s crazy, impulsive action in forcing her into attractive clothes? Or was it something else?
Luke was walking slowly back up the beach towards her, his face in shadow with the moon behind him. As he reached her he held out his hands and Nikki took an involuntary step back.
‘I’m not going to rape you,’ he said easily, and there was a trace of mocking laughter in his voice. ‘Oh, so scared, Miss Prim. Why?’
‘I’m not scared.’ Nikki sounded like a defiant child.
He nodded as though humouring her, then sank on to the sand and hauled his shoes off. Then his socks. Then…
‘What are you doing?’ Nikki gaped open-mouthed, and then blushed crimson as she realised just what he intended.
‘I’m going for a swim, of course.’ She couldn’t see his face but there was no mistaking the laughter. ‘Coming?’
This was something Nikki had done in the long-forgotten past. Eurong beach stretched for miles and the tiny population meant that it was almost always deserted. Eurong was not a tourist destination-the locals kept its beauty as a closely guarded secret-and it meant it was possible to come down here, strip to nothing and swim undisturbed.
The last time Nikki had done such a thing had been five years ago-five years…
‘Don’t be…’ Nikki turned away with a gasp as she realised her protest was falling on deaf ears. His naked body in the moonlight was breathtaking-and the last thing she wanted to do was look. ‘I’ll…I’ll wait for you in the car.’
‘It’s a magnificent night,’ he protested, still half laughing. ‘Why waste it on prudery, Miss Prim?’
‘I’m not…’
‘You don’t have to strip,’ he told her. ‘Or are you worried about spoiling your beautiful new clothes?’
‘I’m…’
‘Scared?’ To Nikki’s horror she felt his hands grip her shoulders. His body touched the soft fabric of her dress, sending a sensuous shiver through her skin. ‘Life’s short,’ he said softly. ‘And you’re wasting it, Dr Russell. You wouldn’t really go back to bury yourself in books tonight, would you?’
‘Let me go.’ Nikki wrenched herself away but was no match for his strength.
‘Why?’ His voice softened and the humour faded. ‘Nikki, life is for living. God knows what tomorrow holds. Surely you can’t ignore tonight?’ His grip on her shoulders tightened. ‘Look up. The stars are magnificent. The sea is ours. The night is ours, Dr Russell, and I don’t intend to go tamely home to bed. And I can’t soak it up if I know you’re sitting in the car tapping your fingers on the dashboard with impatience. So, as far as I see it, there’s only one thing for it.’
‘I-’
‘You’re going to have to come in too.’
‘No!’ Nikki’s cry of refusal was cut off in a staccato shriek. It was ignored. In one fluid movement Luke Marriott had dropped his hands to her waist and pulled her up into his arms.
There was nothing she could do. Nikki was cradled helplessly against him, powerless to struggle. Heedless of the futility of her actions, she crashed her fists into his bare chest. It was as much use as a moth fluttering against
