Black Ice (14 page)

 

An hour of looking after Catelyn had greatly increased Daniel's respect for Kirri's patience. His injured leg hampered his ability to chase after her, and he was grateful for the low wooden gates that prevented the little livewire from taking off down the steps from the verandah. He was even more grateful when Cate called him to bring Catelyn into the kitchen to help her cook.

After eating more pastry than she'd played with, Catelyn fell asleep on Daniel's lap as he sat on a kitchen chair.

Cate looked across at them. 'Why don't you put her to bed?' she asked.

The smell of flour mixed with Catelyn's sweet baby scent, and Daniel felt an overwhelming surge of love. He was surprised by the way it hit him like a fist in the chest. This perfect little creature, so warm and trusting in his arms, was
his
daughter. He felt so strong and protective he was sure he could move mountains for her if he had to.

Until he'd met Kirri, he never knew he had the capacity to love to the depth he had, and now he was amazed by the feelings Catelyn evoked in him. He was determined to keep them in his life.

'She's okay for a little longer.'

Cate O'Flaherty had married a good man, and she'd been disappointed when her only daughter, Lyn, had married Joshua Smith, a charming but feckless artist. She didn't want to see her grand-daughter making the same mistake. In Daniel Brand she saw strength tempered with tenderness, integrity and caring, and - a small smile touched her lips - passion. Passion he would need if he was to capture Kirri's heart and keep it.

'When my daughter divorced Kirri's father and came back home to live, our property was in the middle of a drought. We barely had enough money for necessities, but we managed to scrape enough together for Kirri's art equipment.' Cate rolled pastry onto a pie case. 'Even at ten years old it was obvious she had talent. Then the bank repossessed the property, within a week my husband died, and Lyn, Kirri and I moved into town.'

Her gaze stayed on the pastry as it moulded and moved beneath her nimble fingers, but her attention focussed on Daniel as he listened.

'Kirri was aware we couldn't afford to keep buying her art gear, so for the next two years she pretended she'd lost interest in painting. We knew she was just trying to make things easier for us, but it hurt to know she had to give up doing what she loved. Then Lyn met John, that's J.D.'s father, they married, and his first gift to Kirri was her own easel and a complete set of paints and brushes. The only time I've seen Kirri more ecstatic was when Catelyn was first placed in her arms.'

'What are you trying to tell me, Cate?'

As she slid three pastry cases into the oven, Cate hoped she was doing the right thing. 'Kirri is stubborn, Daniel. But she has two weaknesses.'

It wasn't hard for Daniel to guess. 'Catelyn and painting.'

The elderly woman's smile confirmed his words. It was something Daniel was aware of, but he refused to consider using them as weapons to coerce Kirri into relying on him.

'Kirri needs to paint as much as she needs to breathe,' Cate continued. 'I don't mean the commercial art she sells in her gallery, but the fine art that would give her respect in the art world.'

'But the paintings I saw there were extremely good.'

'I know. They are. But they're commercial art.' Cate searched for a way to explain to Daniel. It wasn't easy; sometimes she wondered if she understood it herself. 'Fine art is the artist's expression of the world. Not necessarily the way the world actually is, but how the artist perceives it.'

'Like Picasso, and Monet … and Pollock.' Daniel's expression told Cate he had trouble seeing splatterings on canvas as "fine art", but he appeared to get the idea. 'So why doesn't she paint what she really wants to?'

'Money. Until an artist achieves enough recognition that they can ask a good price for their work, they usually don't make any money.'

'And Kirri is too stubborn and proud to let her family support her while she tries to achieve this.'

Cate nodded. 'When she can find the time, she paints the kind of paintings she really loves. She has about half a dozen displayed in the Boutique Gallery she and Trish run in Cairns. At the moment she's working on a landscape she wants to enter in the Fleurieu Award. At $50,000, it's the richest landscape prize in Australia. If she wins, it would allow her the freedom to paint what she wants for the next few years.'

Daniel thought of the painting in Kirri's flat at Noosa. No wonder it meant so much to her. He stood up, cradling his daughter in his arms. He looked down at the sleeping child, then at Cate. 'I love Kirri, Mrs O'Flaherty, and I want to marry her.' His deep voice rumbled with emotion. 'I want Catelyn just as much. I'd willingly give Kirri every dollar I have if it made her happy, but I won't try to buy her love.'

'I wasn't suggesting you do, Daniel. But a man needs to know what a woman's dreams are in order to acknowledge their importance in her life. The dreams, the talent and the woman are one. You can't love one and not accept the other.'

'I love
everything
about Kirri,' Daniel stated, then limped towards the hallway.

A gentle sigh of satisfaction escaped Cate as she began to clean the flour from her pastry sheet.

 

'Last minute arrival,' J.D. commented dryly to Daniel as a white Ford sedan raced towards the assembled wedding guests the following afternoon. Chairs had been set out on the grass at the back of Emma's deceased father's house, under a marquee rigged for shade.

A tall man dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt with shoestring tie and black pants jumped from the car as it stopped. He hurried over to where Drew Jarrett was waiting near a small, flower-covered podium.

'The best man finally made it.' J.D. grinned as he watched the two men hug.

Daniel turned his attention to the other man emerging from the car. Middle-aged, balding, and with an odd, almost rolling walk, he scanned the crowd, then sat on one of the few vacant chairs.

Just then the wedding march sounded, and they all turned to watch as Kirri walked down the makeshift aisle. Catelyn squealed with delight, and bounced on Cate's lap. Daniel reached out and took his daughter and held her up so she could better see her mother. Soft material in the palest of ice blues clung to Kirri's slim body.

Love and desire swamped Daniel with such fervour he forgot to breathe. Forgot to look at the bride as she walked behind Kirri on the arm of a middle-aged man.

The short ceremony was a blur for Daniel, broken only by a sharp stab of jealousy as Kirri smiled at Chayse Jarrett, the best man. Broad-shouldered and good-looking, Chayse placed his hand on Kirri's waist as they walked over to sign the wedding certificate, and Daniel resisted the urge go after them and grab Kirri away.

A large shed had been thoroughly cleaned and festooned with flowers and ribbons; tables groaned under their burden of food. The reception was very informal, with spontaneous speeches the order of the night. As the tables were cleared away for dancing, Daniel noticed Chayse draw Kirri to one side. His quiet words seemed to cause her some consternation, then he was leading her from the shed.

Daniel quickly assured himself that Catelyn was still with her great-grandmother, then followed.

The sky was dark with encroaching night, but a light illuminated the two figures as they joined the balding man behind the shed. Daniel couldn't catch his words, but Kirri brought her hands up to her face and began to cry.

White hot fury raced through Daniel. His hands clenched into fists as he walked up behind them.

His voice was hard and cold as he stepped into the light. 'I suggest you leave Kirri alone.'

Chayse spun, muscles tense, instantly wary. He gauged the distance to the big man with the American accent, tried to judge if the threat would eventuate.

Kirri looked up. 'Daniel,' her voice shook, 'Mr Woodford, the old man who lived in the next flat to me at Noosa … he's been killed.'

Concern replaced the anger in the American's eyes. He walked up to Kirri and took her in his arms.

Chayse had only met Kirri a few times since his brother Drew had become involved with Emma, but he'd quickly become aware of her fierce independence. Chayse liked her, and but for his work, he would have asked her out. Now, as he saw how she buried her face in the American's chest as though she belonged there, he felt absurdly lonely. Surprised, he pushed the feeling aside. If this was what having a brother get married did, he was pleased he only had one.

'Chayse Jarrett.' He held out his hand, then inclined his head towards the older man. 'This is Mick Landers, from the Cairns Police.'

As Daniel introduced himself to the men, Kirri eased from his arms, looking a little stunned at finding herself there.

'Mr Woodford's wife went to visit some relatives for a few days,' Mick explained. 'When her husband didn't answer the phone last night she got worried. He hadn't answered the previous night but she thought he must have gone out for a meal. She came back this morning, found he wasn't home, went next door to ask Kirri if she'd seen him.'

'I feel so awful,' Kirri sobbed. 'I should have told them I was going away for a few days. But I had so much else to think about …'

Mick shifted on his feet as though he were uncomfortable. 'Kirri's door was open, so she went inside. Her husband was on the floor.'

'How had he been killed?' Daniel wanted to reach for Kirri again, hold her, protect her. But she stood resolutely away from him, as though afraid to give in to whatever weakness had lowered her guard before.

'At first the local boys thought it was a blow to the head, but the autopsy revealed that hadn't killed him, he'd actually died of a heart attack. Probably from the shock of the blow.' He looked at Kirri. 'They think he disturbed whoever had broken in. I'm sorry, but they want you back in Noosa to look over your flat to see if anything is missing.'

'When?'

'As soon as possible.'

'We can fly down tomorrow.' Daniel's tone caused Kirri to stare up at him, but seeing the determined look on his face, she simply nodded her agreement.

 

'Can you do this?' Daniel took Catelyn from Kirri's arms as they stopped at the front door to her flat after the investigating police officer had entered. Kirri had been determined not to be separated from her daughter again, and Daniel's reassurance he would be there for her had alleviated Cate's and J.D.'s concern.

Kirri nodded, but she didn't object when Daniel placed his arm around her shoulders as they walked in.

Everything was just as she'd left it, but Kirri felt a terrible sense of unreality as she walked from room to room. When she reached the room she used for painting, she stopped. A dark stain spread across the pale vinyl on the floor.

Her imagination re-created the scene that must have greeted the old man's wife, and a tear slid down her cheek.

'What about here?' the police investigator asked.

Kirri's gaze slid from painting to table, to cane chair, to painting, to …
Hadn't she left Gran's letter
on
the chair, not
beside
it
? But could she be sure?

She shook her head, 'No.'

 

'You're not going back to live there, Kirri,' Daniel fought to control his anger at Kirri's stubbornness.

'I don't have much choice, Daniel. I have to live somewhere until my lease runs out.'

Daniel paced the living room of Philip Weyburn's house like a caged tiger, his long strides reducing its apparent spaciousness. 'I'll rent another apartment. We can stay there as long as you want.'

Kirri eased Catelyn's head from her lap, tucked a cushion under the dark curls, then carefully rose from the lounge. 'What's this
we
business, Daniel?'

If their daughter wasn't sleeping, Daniel was sure he would have been tempted to yell at Kirri. '
We
are the parents of a young child who is not going to stay in an apartment that can be broken into so easily the police couldn't even find how the intruder got in.'

'They only
suspect
someone broke in. For all we know I left the door unlocked.'

'I checked it when we left, Kirri.'

Kirri knew she was being unreasonable, knew Daniel was right, but sheer perversity made her try to force him into declaring that this time he wasn't going to leave her when she most needed him. Her memory of the dark stain on the floor guaranteed she would never live in the flat again.

She shrugged. 'So when do we look for this apartment?'

'When we get back from Sydney.'

'When we what?!'

Daniel stopped his pacing and stood in front of her. He placed his large hands on her shoulders, felt the softness of her skin, the fragility of her bones, and resisted his urge to throw her over his shoulder, cart her off to his bedroom and make love to her until she was too exhausted to argue with him.

'In case you haven't seen yourself in the mirror today, sweetheart, you look as though you haven't slept in a week. If you stay here you'll work yourself to death in that shop or stay up all night painting.'

He touched a finger to her lips as she began to protest. 'Cate told me what you're like when you get worried or upset. She also said your father has been phoning and asking her to persuade you and Catelyn to visit. I have business in Sydney I need to take care of, so we can fly down tomorrow.'

This time when she opened her mouth to argue, he was ready for her. His lips replaced his finger, and he lifted her off the ground and held her tightly to him so that every beautifully rounded curve of her body was pressed against the hardness of his.

He had every intention of kissing her senseless, but within seconds he found himself lost in the desire that flooded his body. Kirri melted into him, her legs twining around him, opening her mouth to him with an intimacy that left him fighting for self-control. His legs trembled, the hot rush of need burning until he knew it would erupt if he didn't soon stop.

How he found the strength to pull his mouth away he wasn't sure, but when Kirri opened her eyes and stared dazedly up at him, he saw how easy it would be to seduce her. It was then he realised seduction wasn't what he wanted. Above all else, he wanted Kirri's love, freely given, joyfully offered, reverently received.