Convenient Brides (44 page)

And when they got in a crowd jam, he put his arms around her and she took her hat off and rested her cheek below his shoulder, feeling safe and secure while they waited for it to clear. And at the end of the day, there was a limousine to take them to their hotel.

They had a two-bedroomed suite in the soaring tower at the Sofitel on Collins Street.

Ellie looked round at the elegantly beautiful luxury of it all and turned to Brett. ‘Thank you so much for a wonderful day. I had no idea I was going to enjoy it so much.’

He shed his jacket and pulled off his tie. ‘It’s not over yet.’

She looked a little blank.

‘I thought we’d have dinner here in the hotel. Then, if you felt like it, a little flutter at the casino. But there’s no rush. You could have a rest.’

Ellie stared at him. ‘I don’t…know what I feel like doing.’

He came over to her but didn’t touch her. And the mysterious current that had flowed between them since he’d kissed her at the races grew stronger.

She frowned and tried to analyze it. Desire—yes. But different from other times. There was more warmth to it in an emotional sense; there was the sheer pleasure of his company and the thought that he’d organised a wonderful day for her.

There was an irresistible urge to let down her guard completely and tell him that, for her, there was only one fitting way to go now—into his arms and his bed.

‘Ellie?’ he said very quietly.

‘Oh, Brett,’ she whispered, and against all odds found herself smiling at him because he was in so many ways all that she wanted. She brought her hands up and placed them on his chest. ‘I don’t want to rest.’

He looked down into her eyes with a gleam of a question in his.

‘I want,’ she said slowly, ‘to be brought to life again. I don’t want to make any decisions but I really…need
to end this special day in a special way, with you.’ She stood on her toes and kissed him lingeringly.

‘Ellie.’ He hesitated and put his hands on her waist. ‘Just promise me one thing—no regrets.’

‘No regrets, Brett,’ she vowed.

‘Because I can think of no better way to end this day either—it’s been on my mind for the last few hours.’

‘Really?’

‘Really. Since you threw your hat in the air, as a matter of fact.’

‘Why would that do it?’ she asked in a fascinated sort of way.

‘Why would that do it?’ he repeated. ‘It was an expression of pure joy over so much more than winning the princely sum of twenty dollars. It was…’ he paused ‘…a delight to see you being—just you. Not a mother or a housewife or a girl juggling two jobs.’

‘That’s how I feel—liberated,’ she said with a sigh of pleasure.

He kissed the corner of her mouth and his hands moved on her. ‘Let’s see if we can further that process.’ He wound his arms around her and began to kiss her in earnest.

And when she was dizzy with delight, he slipped the zip of her dress down and helped her to step out of it, to reveal her new underwear, worn only once before, to Delia and Archie’s anniversary.

‘This is very sexy, Ellie,’ he said, running his hands down her sides. ‘Just as well I didn’t know about it earlier, I could have been a basket case.’ He looked ruefully into her eyes.

‘I like the thought of that!’

‘I always knew you were a hard woman.’

‘I feel anything but at the moment,’ she responded,
and gasped as he slid her briefs down and his fingers explored the curls at the base of her stomach.

‘Tell me.’

She tilted her head back and closed her eyes as she was racked by delicious tremors. ‘On fire…’

She felt him take an unexpected breath, then he was kissing her throat and the valley between her breasts and all the while exploring her more and more intimately. Then he picked her up and carried her into a bedroom.

She made a little murmur of distress as he placed her on the bed and left her.

‘I’ll be right back, Ellie.’ He dropped a kiss on her hair—and was as good as his word but this time strong, lean, hard and naked.

And he immediately gathered her into his arms and he talked to her while he stroked her—nothing serious, but odds and ends to do with their day—until the magic started to build again. Then she helped him to take her bra off and dispense with her briefs completely, and, if he’d assaulted her senses before, she was helpless and humming with desire and delight like a bird on wire beneath this new assault.

In fact she thought she couldn’t bear any more and told him so.

‘Yes, you can.’ He kissed her all the way down to her navel.

‘Brett…’ She clutched his arms urgently.

He raised his grey eyes to hers. ‘Ellie, if it’s been a while we need to take certain precautions.’

‘It feels as if it’s been all my life! What kind of precautions?’

‘The last thing I want to do is hurt you so I need to make sure you’re really ready.’ And he started at the top
again, kissing her that was, but this time he didn’t stop at her navel.

‘Brett, Brett,’ she pleaded as she ran her fingers through his hair, ‘I’ve never been more ready in my life…’

He lifted his head and glinted her a wicked little smile. ‘Thank heavens, this is sheer torture!’

But still he was circumspect and her heart beat heavily with gratitude—then the moment came and everything else fled from her mind as she surrendered to incred-ible joy.

‘W
HAT
would you like to do now?’

Ellie opened her eyes to find Brett staring down at her with his head propped on his elbow and his hand lying proprietorially on her waist.

‘Now?’ she said dreamily. ‘Well. Dinner here, a flutter at the casino, perhaps a stroll along the Yarra—how does that sound?’

‘Far too energetic for a man in my position.’

‘What’s that? Your position?’

He thought for a bit and said very seriously, ‘Be-witched, bothered and bewildered—and the owner of a bruised thumb.’

‘Oh!’ Ellie sat up and picked up his hand. ‘Did I hurt it? I’m so sorry.’ She kissed his palm gently, then placed it over her breast with her nipple nestled into it.

He groaned.

‘Surely that’s not hurting?’ she said innocently.

‘Maybe not, but it could be classified as imposing a severe trial on me,’ he returned.

She raised her eyebrows.

‘In light of your determination to dine, gamble and walk,’ he supplied ruefully.

‘I see. Still, if your finger is hurting, those things would be much better for it than—any other activities you might have had in mind,’ she said gravely.

He scanned her figure, so slim and pretty, so silky. His gaze lingered on some faint marks on her skin that
he himself had made during his possession of her, and finally their gazes locked.

‘That’s—increasingly—becoming not an option,’ he said.

‘Ah! Oh, yes, I see! Well, you put your hand out of harm’s way,’ she suggested, ‘and I might be able to come up with a plan.’

Several minutes later, he said, ‘Has it occurred to you I could die of this plan?’

Ellie moved cautiously. She was lying on top of him and she said, with the golden glints in her eyes teasing him, ‘It’s not having that effect on me!’

‘How about this?’ He caressed her bottom with his good hand.

She took a breath. ‘Now that—is rather remarkable but I’m still not dying.’

He made a rough little sound in his throat and, regardless of his sore finger, clamped her hips to his, and together they shot to sheer ecstasy.

‘Wow!’ Ellie breathed when she could speak again. ‘You’ve wrecked me.’

He stroked her damp curls off her forehead and kissed her lightly.

‘It was either that or, well, I told you at the time.’

She snuggled up against him. ‘I’m not complaining. In fact being wrecked by you is rather unique.’

‘Thank you, Ms Madigan. So. Should we consider our options again?’

‘All right. Maybe we should forgo the walk along the Yarra?’

‘Good thinking. And the casino might just be a bit lively for us, don’t you agree?’

‘Definitely. As for getting dressed and going to dinner, even in the hotel—’

‘Not a good idea at all,’ he broke in.

‘Well, we need not make a very long meal of it.’

‘The thing is, I have this aversion to you being dressed at the moment,’ he said, trailing his fingers down her body. ‘And while I’m quite sure you’d create a sensation undressed, I don’t think I’d like that at all!’

‘Heaven forbid, Mr Spencer!’ But her eyes were full of laughter. ‘How about room service?’

‘Done! You know…’ he sobered a little ‘…you soared like one of your kites, and took me with you, just now. What were you thinking?’

She trailed her fingers down his arm. ‘Just that—it was like soaring up to heaven. I didn’t know I was ca-pable of…’ She stopped.

‘Taking a man to heaven with you?’

‘Not really, no.’ She looked into his eyes with a faint frown.

‘I think you should bear it in mind.’ He dropped a kiss on her head and went to order room service.

When he came back she was showering.

He stepped in to join her. ‘Good thinking—unless you’ve changed your mind about going out?’

‘Far from it. But I do have an outfit that’s perfect for…uh…this kind of thing.’

‘What exactly is this kind of thing?’ He soaped himself vigorously.

‘Dining at home—that kind of thing.’ She raised her arms and the water streamed all over her from head to toe.

‘Damn,’ Brett said and took her wrists in one hand.

‘Damn?’ She tilted her head back so as not to have water in her eyes.

He looked up and down her body. ‘I’ve never seen a
lovelier waterfall, that’s all.’ He released her wrists and stepped under the jet himself. ‘You’re like a perfect sprite.’

She touched the smooth, sleek muscles in his upper arms. ‘You’re amazingly well put together for a doctor.’

‘How should doctors be put together?’ he enquired gravely.

She grimaced. ‘I don’t know but it’s not very physical work, is it? Whereas you’re…very physical.’

He turned the water off, picked her up and took her out of the shower, where he wrapped her in a towel and slung one round his waist.

‘Enough of that, my lovely sprite. It was getting dangerous.’

She raised her eyebrows.

‘Three times in as many hours,’ he elucidated. ‘I don’t want to wear you out.’

‘Thank you for your concern.’ She stood on tiptoe and planted a butterfly kiss on his mouth. ‘But I just wanted to say something. I may have impugned your…lack of co-ordination when it came to building kennels?’ She looked a question at him.

‘You did,’ he agreed. ‘You gave me to understand that in your estimation I was not only downright unhandy as a kennel builder but also a doctor.’

‘I take it back—well, kennels may not be your forte but in certain other respects you’re…absolutely brilliant!’

He looked down at her wryly, then his eyes softened. ‘If you mean what I think you mean, I had the finest material to work with. You.’

She felt a sudden lump in her throat, and sniffed—and there was a knock at the door just as he was about to put his arms around her.

He dropped them. ‘Dinner has arrived,’ he said, looking wicked, ‘at a very fortuitous moment.’

‘Danger time again?’

‘Uh-huh.’ He pushed some tendrils of hair behind her ears and studied her luminous hazel eyes. ‘Why don’t I go and organise that while you—didn’t you say you had something to wear?’

‘Yes! Off you go, we’ll eat in the lounge. I’ll join you shortly.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ he said meekly and cast away the towel to stride through to the bedroom and rummage in his bag for a pair of shorts. ‘Just don’t be too long about it,’ he added over his shoulder. ‘I could get lonely.’ He pulled the shorts on and walked into the lounge, closing the door behind him.

Ellie stared at it for a moment, then she too discarded her towel and waltzed into the bedroom—literally waltzed. She came to rest in front of the dressing-table mirror with her arms extended and her feet crossed and could never remember feeling better or happier in her life. In fact she took a bow to her reflection and smiled at herself. Then she opened her bag and took out the lovely silvery-grey negligeée and nightgown she’d so in-explicably purchased when she’d been shopping for something to wear to Delia’s party.

The nightgown had a square neck, no sleeves and the neckline was heavily encrusted with ice-coloured lace. The negligée had the same neckline, sleeves and did up at the front via tiny pearl buttons. They were both mid-calf length and when she twirled they fanned out in a beautiful bell. But before she put them on she dried her hair to get most of the moisture out of it, then ran her fingers through it, which was all she had to do—one of
the consolations of curly hair. And she smoothed mois-turizer all over her body.

Finally, she presented herself in the lounge, but paused on the threshold and looked down at herself. Even two layers of gossamer silk were not exactly concealing.

Brett was twisting the wire off the cork of a bottle of champagne and he said, simply, ‘Wow!’

She looked at him with a touch of anxiety in her eyes. ‘I’ve never worn one of these before.’

He put the bottle down. ‘Never?’

‘No. I’ve been strictly a pyjama or a cotton nightshirt girl up to now.’

He came over to her and stood looking down at her enigmatically. ‘What wrought the change?’

‘On your suggestion I went to buy a new outfit for Delia’s party and—went a little crazy,’ she said in a rather puzzled sort of way.

‘A sort of consumer conniption?’ he suggested.

She hesitated.

‘Or—you had this in mind?’ he said softly and took her chin in his hand.

‘Possibly,’ she whispered. ‘But you don’t think it’s too…?’ Words failed her.

He looked down her body. ‘I think it’s gorgeous, and perfect to dine in.’

‘Only in these circumstances, of course!’

‘Of course,’ he agreed, and put his arm through hers. ‘Well, now we’ve established that you’re dressed right for the occasion, may I show you to your seat, ma’am?’

Ellie laughed and relaxed. ‘Please do, sir! And if that is champagne, it’s exactly what I need!’ she said grandly.

He laughed and kissed the top of her head.

They ate oysters, rolled roast pork stuffed with apri-cots, prunes and rice and a pear galette with ice cream for dessert.

‘Fantastic food,’ Ellie pronounced as she spooned up the last of her galette.

‘Coming from you that is a compliment.’

‘Mind you,’ she said ruefully, ‘by rights we should go for a run around the block.’

‘I’ve got a better idea.’ He got up and poured their coffee and topped up their champagne, and set it on the coffee-table in front of the settee. ‘Let’s relax and watch the ten o’clock news. We may even see ourselves.’ He flicked on the television and invited her to sit down next to him.

And they watched the highlights of the Melbourne Cup with much enjoyment although they didn’t see themselves.

‘What a day!’ Ellie laid her head on his shoulder, then she sat up abruptly. ‘I didn’t ring Simon…’

He pulled her back. ‘It’ll be OK. Do it tomorrow morning.’ He flicked the remote and the television went dark.

She snuggled against him. ‘Tell me about Africa, Brett.’

He laid his head back. ‘It’s rather like a mistress—of the worst kind. Capricious, wilful, then more beautiful than you’d believe so that just when you’re convinced it’s driven you crazy and frustrated the life out of you, it gets you in again. My last clinic got burnt down twice, once from natural causes, a direct lightning strike, and once from human error—someone watered a pot plant and didn’t notice, or even think about it for that matter, that they were also watering a live multiple adapter board. It had four plug placements on it but only two
were in use. Electricity is still a novelty in some of the really remote areas.’

‘What got you “in again” that time?’

He grinned and nuzzled the top of her head. ‘How everyone in the village from grandmothers down turned up to help rebuild the place.’

‘That’s lovely,’ she said. Then she frowned. ‘What is their biggest problem? Ebola?’

He sighed. ‘The biggest killer in Africa these days is AIDS. Then there’s malaria, my speciality and still a huge problem.’

‘Still?’

‘Still and all.’

‘Is that why Ross River Fever interests you? Because it’s also mosquito-borne like malaria?’

‘It’s my speciality, if you like.’

Ellie was quiet for a time. Quiet and drowsy but lis-tening as he went on to talk about Africa and his times there. And a question mark began to hover on the edge of her mind. Or, she thought, the conviction that he would go back one day and the question mark was to do with herself…

But she didn’t have the energy to ask herself anything—and she fell asleep in his arms.

Brett raised his head and looked down at her. She was sleeping absolutely peacefully. Not so surprising, he reflected. She’d packed an awful lot into one day. I’d like to see her come up with a good reason for not marrying me now, he thought with a faint smile, and paused.

Talking about Africa had opened all the old magic up for him, but there was a subtle difference, one that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Then he yawned and got up to take his sleeping, silken burden to bed.

Ellie woke the next morning to the aroma of freshly ground coffee on the air. She sat up and pushed her hands though her hair, looked at her bedside clock but it wasn’t there—she wasn’t even in her own bed.

Of course! It all came back to her and she lay back with her lips parted in, if not horror, absolute astoundment—a favourite word of Simon’s. Brett came in from the lounge at that moment and put a cup of tea down on the bedside table.

‘Good morning! You look…astonished.’

He was dressed in jeans and a navy shirt, shaved, brushed and immensely good-looking.

Ellie closed her mouth and sat up again. ‘I…am. This…is tea?’ She pointed to the cup.

‘It is. I thought you were useless without a cup of tea to get you going.’

‘I am. Thank you!’

He sat down on the side of the bed. ‘So what’s so astonishing about me bringing you a cup of tea, Ellie?’

She gazed at him over the rim of the cup she’d picked up. ‘I…I smelt coffee, that’s all.’

‘There is also coffee out there, and breakfast, and there’s a hire car waiting for us. I still don’t understand the amount of astonishment tea over coffee produced,’ he said lightly, but with a wicked little glint in his eye.

She brooded for a moment, then put the cup down and said carefully, ‘It wasn’t altogether that. I woke up thinking I was at home.’

He looked around. ‘So this came as a bit of a shock?’

She followed his gaze. ‘This and everything else I did yesterday,’ she confessed, and bravely met his gaze.

He picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles. ‘You promised me one thing—no regrets.’

‘Oh, I don’t have
any
regrets!’ She broke off and
coloured at the enthusiasm in her voice. ‘I just thought you might be a bit surprised, that’s all.’

‘Ellie…’ But he was laughing at her and it was a while before he could speak again so instead he lay down beside her.

‘I feel an awful fool,’ she said against the cotton of his shirt. ‘Uh…things just came out wrong.’

‘I hope not.’ He cradled her against him. ‘Because it sounded to me like a very genuine endorsement of what happened yesterday, and it sounded pretty good to me!’

She relaxed.

‘Unfortunately, I know it’s early,’ he said a few minutes later, very pleasurable minutes, ‘but I need to get this show on the road. I’m meeting someone at the house, it’s nearly a two-hour drive, and if we don’t leave soon we’ll be late.’