scared him off.’ And then the bathroom door closed and he was out in the living room again and could breathe. After a fashion.
Kit’s mum hadn’t scared him off. He stretched his neck to the right and then to the left. He dropped down onto a sofa. Who was he trying to kid? Al of it
—Kit’s whole life—scared the heck out of him.
Everyone here, they had expectations of him. He’d rather deal with the savage cut and thrust of a boardroom coup than Kit’s family and friends.
He leant his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands. He didn’t have a lot of friends to speak of. Loads of acquaintances, but not many friends. He had a couple of mates from his building trade days, another from university and one from school.
He’d been a loner as a kid—his grandfather had made sure of it. In the last two years, since Jacqueline and Chad had gone, he’d shut himself away, had thrown himself into work. It hit him now that he’d neglected those four friends of his. They’d rung, tried to arrange outings. He’d ignored them, cut them off. Kit would never do that to her friends. He lifted his head and steepled his hands beneath his chin. When he returned to Sydney he’d contact each of them and make arrangements to catch up, apologise.
He slumped back against the sofa, his lips twisting. He had more acquaintances, col eagues and associates than he could poke a stick at, but it wasn’t like the community that surrounded Kit. To his untrained eye, it looked as if everyone in town had clamoured to welcome her home. From her old school friends, to her mother and grandmother’s friends, to neighbours old and new and everyone in between. He hadn’t known until he’d come here how important family and friends were to Kit.
She belonged here.
He’d never belonged anywhere.
He’d never belonged anywhere.
But then he remembered sitting in a tree, his mother coming out with milk and biscuits, humming her song, and his father waltzing her around the back garden. He’d belonged once.
Could he belong again?
‘Ready?’
Alex started. He’d been so lost in thought he hadn’t noticed Kit enter the room. The vision of her stole his breath. She wore a loose cotton sundress that fel to just below her knees, leaving her glorious golden calves on display. The dress—indigo-blue dotted with tiny sprigs of white flowers—made the golden highlights in her hair and eyes gleam.
The dress scooped down in a low vee at the neckline, making him swal ow. He told himself he was grateful she wore a little khaki three-quarter-sleeve jacket with it. He just knew that beneath that jacket the dress would have those tiny shoestring straps. Straps made for being pushed off glorious golden shoulders. Shoulders made for kissing and—
‘Alex?’
High colour stained her cheekbones, but her chin hitched up as he continued to survey her. If he reached for her now she’d let him. They’d make glorious golden love.
And Kit would interpret that as a sign that he meant to stay, that he meant to stay and make a family with her and the baby. She’d give al of herself.
She’d have every right to expect the same in return.
It didn’t matter how much he hungered to lose himself in her softness, her promise; it didn’t matter how much he ached to give her al her heart desired.
He didn’t know if that was true for him. And until he’d worked it out, touching Kit and kissing her, that was off limits.
He shot to his feet and swung away.
‘Alex?’
He heard the frown in her voice and forced himself to take another step away from her and her heavenly, beguiling scent. ‘I was thinking my time might be better spent getting on with the painting than attending a tea party.’
‘You made the cake so you have to come. It’s the rules.’
‘You can pretend you baked it.’
She snorted. ‘Everyone who knows me would see through that lie in a mil isecond. Anyway, my grandmother is expecting you and the luncheon is for charity. It’l only be for an hour or so. Grit your teeth, smile politely, eat cake and then it’l al be over. Oh, and pack your board shorts. I thought we might drop in for a swim at the ocean baths at Forster on our way home. It’s supposed to get hot today.’
The rest of his argument died on his lips. He and Kit swimming together? He wouldn’t risk it if it weren’t in a public place.
But it was in a public place and it was too much to resist.
The retirement vil age was on the outskirts of Forster. It only took them ten minutes to drive there and, although they arrived on the dot at midday, the luncheon was already in ful swing.
Ostensibly the event was supposed to take place in the community hal , but it had spil ed out into the surrounding gardens. Kit dropped a two-dol ar coin into the donation box before he could stop her. He pushed a twenty-dol ar note through the slot. He’d tried to do it unobtrusively, but her gaze had flicked back at him, mouth open as if she meant to say something. She blinked and then she sent him a smile that warmed him to the soles of his feet.
‘That was very generous.’
He shrugged. ‘It’s for charity.’
