Licence to Dream (12 page)

He appeared in the dining room only minutes after she’d sat down, however, and she wasn’t surprised when he strolled across to join her. ‘Another day's house-hunting?’ He smiled and sat down opposite her, this time without asking if she minded.

She found herself smiling back at him. ‘Some friends came out to have lunch with me and we inspected one or two more places, but I haven’t offered for anything.’ She wasn’t going to tell him about revisiting Somerlee. Her Grandpop had taught her always to play her cards close to her chest.

‘There's a lot to see here. The old jail and courthouse are particularly interesting. You won't believe how tiny the cells are, not much bigger than a single bed.’ This led them into a lively discussion about the preservation of old buildings.

When the meal was over Ben looked at her with the devastating smile that made his eyes glint wickedly and his whole face shift into softer lines. ‘Do you intend to flee to your bedroom immediately, or can I persuade you to take a stroll with me along the main street and have a nightcap in one of the other places? It's a lovely warm evening.’

‘I'd really enjoy a stroll, but I've had enough to drink, thank you.’

‘A coffee, then?’

‘Fine.’

Afterwards he escorted her right to the door of her room, but she made no move to invite him in. When he took her into his arms, she held herself away from him, looked up at him and said bluntly, ‘I'm not into casual sex, Ben.’

‘Not even a goodnight kiss?’

‘Well – I – ’ Before she could move away, he bent his head towards her and she forgot everything as he kissed her. When he drew away she clung to him with both hands or she was sure she’d have fallen.

‘Are you sure you want it to stop there?’ he murmured.

No, she didn’t want it to stop there. She wanted – What was she thinking of? He lived in Queensland, for heaven’s sake, two thousand miles away from Western Australia. Nothing could come of a relationship between them.

She pushed at his shoulders in sudden panic, more worried she might give way and invite him in than that he might try to force his way in. ‘Yes. Yes, I'm sure. Very sure!’ She fumbled in her bag for her room key.

One hand covered hers. ‘Hey, don’t panic! I can take no for an answer. However, I have a feeling that things won't end here. Fate seems to be pushing us together.’

She scrabbled in her bag. ‘I won't change my mind. Anyway, you live two thousand miles away.’ Her fingers found the room key and she pulled it out with such haste she dropped it.

‘Here. Let me.’ He picked up the keys, unlocked the door and dropped the jangling bunch into her hand with a flourishing bow, stepping back and making no attempt to touch her again.

‘Thank you.’ Her voice was a mere gasp of air.

‘Good night,’ he said softly, as he turned away. ‘Pleasant dreams.’

She didn’t wait to see him walk away, but went quickly into the room, shutting the door and leaning against it.

Why had she panicked like that? She couldn’t explain it. She certainly wasn’t afraid of him.

She was more afraid of herself where Ben Elless was concerned.

* * * *

On the other side of town Ben slept badly, annoyed about the effect Meriel Ingram was having on him, the way he couldn’t stop thinking about her. She was not only invading his thoughts but also sauntering through his dreams. He was juggling his various business interests to keep up a steady cash flow, working out how to buy Phil out and doing some serious planning for his next project. There wasn’t
time
for romance on his busy agenda.

His thoughts stopped dead on that word. Romance! This wasn’t anything to do with romance or love. It was simply a healthy man’s attraction to a lovely woman.

He must focus on the long-term picture. He and Sandy had planned to develop their own business in a place where they could enjoy family life. He was good at making things grow and the rarest of plants responded to his touch, but he had bigger ideas than that, ideas that would lead to a small but up-market tourist and garden centre, with accommodation – the sort of place families might come to for an outing or for a pleasant night away.

This inheritance from Uncle Johnny had been a godsend, even though it was going to take him a while to sort out the financial side of things. It would give him a great start.

He would be glad to get out of the business. Phil seemed to be going off the rails again. Uncle Rod was the only person who could rein his son in, but when Ben had visited the old man in hospital he’d been shocked by how much Rod had aged lately.

He pushed the thought of business to the back of his brain, telling himself to relax and go to sleep. To his annoyance, Meriel’s face instantly replaced it. It wasn't just her looks that attracted him; it was her gutsiness, the way she marched through life with a firm step.

A grin slid across his face. Well, until he kissed her, that was. That had flustered her big time. It was some consolation that he seemed to be having the same effect on her as she was having on him.

And if he didn’t get some decent sleep he’d be good for nothing. He had to get things settled here before Christmas because there was a big project that needed finishing in Brisbane before he could think of selling the business there.

* * * *

The next morning Meriel went back to Somerlee on her own and walked around the property for a while, going right over to the side fence in the direction Bill Lansome had pointed when he talked about her neighbour. She stood there by the thread of rusty barbed wire that separated the two properties only nominally, staring at the ramshackle tin and weatherboard house next door.

From here she could see how badly the roof and veranda sagged. It looked as if it would fall down in a strong wind. Surely Ben Elless wasn’t living in that? She couldn’t see any sign of a car or of
him
, but she didn’t tempt providence by going any closer.

When she returned to town she strolled into Bill Lansome's office and let him sound her out about her intentions. After a while, she said cautiously, ‘Well, I might make an offer on Somerlee – it has some potential and I do like the view – but I definitely can't afford the asking price.’ She frowned and added for good measure, ‘And I don't know what I'm going to do with all that land.’

‘The land will take care of itself. You can always subdivide and sell it later. It's not as if it's an orchard property, after all, where you’d have to tend hundreds of trees. The Australian bush has existed for millions of years without mankind's help and it will still be there when we're all gone. Why don't you just put in an offer?’

His voice had taken on that coaxing tone salesmen always used when they felt they were about to clinch a sale. She kept her expression worried. ‘I don’t know. I really don’t.’

‘I'll make sure the owners give your offer very serious consideration.’

‘Well – all right, then.’ She named a price that made his hand hesitate over the page, but she knew a low bid would be a better starting point. ‘Subject to the usual termite checks and so on.’

‘Very well. But don't hold your breath. That's rather a low offer. Maybe there's a bit of room to manoeuvre?’

She sucked in her breath and pretended to reconsider, then shook her head. ‘I don't think so. But it
is
cash. I came into some money recently. And I don’t have a house to sell, so we could close the deal quickly.’

‘Ah.’

After she’d signed the offer to buy, she decided to return to Perth. She didn’t want to risk another encounter with Ben Elless.

If that was running away, she didn't care. There was no use starting a relationship with a man who lived in Queensland.

You had to be sensible about such things – unfortunately. Look what had happened last time she’d let an attractive man overwhelm her. Never again.

* * * *

Her villa in Perth seemed smaller and more claustrophobic than ever, with the noise of other tenants’ television programmes wafting in through the open windows so that she had to switch on her own TV set in sheer self defence. She got out her sketch pad, but couldn't settle to anything. Even the television programmes were absolutely puerile, she thought, flipping from one channel to another.

She could have been having dinner with Ben tonight!

No, she wasn’t that stupid.

Should she ring Rosanna and tell her about putting in an offer on Somerlee? No, not yet. She would feel she’d be tempting providence if she said anything before her offer was accepted.

At eight o'clock, the phone rang. ‘Bill Lansome here.’

Meriel stiffened and excitement pulsed through her, but she kept her voice cool. ‘Yes?’

‘About your offer – could you raise it by a couple of thousand?’

‘I told you: I'm on a limited budget.’

‘Well, the problem is they've had another offer, a thousand more than yours. Amazing, isn't it? Two offers in one day, just like that. Only the other offer isn't cash, and it depends on the sale of a couple of houses, so if you can go just a little higher, cash, you'll get the place, for sure.’

‘Hmm.’ She chewed her thumb nail, wondering if this was just a story designed to pump up the price. Then she remembered Bill's open face and blunt country ways and sighed. No, he wasn’t the sort to tell lies. She was pretty sure of that. There really must have been another offer. And she couldn't bear to lose Somerlee. She was already living there in her imagination. ‘All right. Another two thousand – but not a cent more!’

He rang back within the hour. ‘Good news. Your offer's been accepted. The fact that it was a cash offer turned the scales, as I thought it would.’

‘Good.’

‘They want to get everything settled quickly. It’s one of those acrimonious divorces. They quarrel every time they visit my office.’ He chuckled. ‘Look, how about I nip down to Perth tomorrow morning to get your signature on the amendments?’

‘Fine by me.’

When she put the phone down, Meriel sat there beside it staring blindly into space, astonished that things could be settled so easily. She remembered the fuss when her sister was buying a house in England, the worries about being gazumped, the nail biting as they waited two months for the English solicitor to settle everything. Here in Australia an offer to buy a house was binding once it was accepted and signed. And it could be settled more quickly too.

So that was it. She’d done it: given up her job, bought a house and made possible the sort of life she had dreamed of for so long, a peaceful life as an artist.

Pity Ben Elless didn’t live in Western Australia. Sometimes Australia felt like two different countries: the West and the rest.

* * * *

Bill was pleased with himself. You couldn’t beat a juicy cash sale. He’d had a local guy inspect that block a couple of months previously and Terry had talked of putting in a development, but nothing had come of it. Some places were like that, hung around for months or even years.

He’d been going to arrange for Ria and her friends to stay there, paying the owners a minimal rent and keeping the garden tidy. He’d have to keep his eyes open for somewhere else for them. Pity Ria’s husband had lost all her money. She and the kids didn’t deserve that.

He was amazed when Terry came bursting into his office a couple of days later.

‘What the hell are you doing to me, Bill? I thought we had an agreement.’

‘Come again?’

‘Selling that block from under me. You didn’t even give me a chance to better their offer.’

Bill scowled at him. ‘You never made an offer. How was I to know you were still seriously interested?’

‘I
told
you I’m working with some developers from Perth, looking for land round here.’

‘But you never got back to me.’

‘They’re not going to be pleased about this. They thought it was in the bag. They’ve already started developing concept plans.’

‘Too bad.’

‘Well, I don’t think they’ll take this lying down. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’ He stormed out.

Bill shook his head sadly. He’d known Terry Powers for years and nothing had ever come of his money-making schemes.

This would have been just another flash in the pan, he was sure. If there were any Perth developers, which he doubted.

Ben was called back to Brisbane to deal with an emergency. He was bitterly disappointed when he phoned Bill Lansome and found that someone had put in a better offer than his. ‘Why didn’t you
tell
me?’ he asked.

‘I did tell you and suggest you better it if you were still interested. I sent an email to your office in Brisbane.’

‘It never arrived. Are you sure you got the address right?’

Bill repeated it correctly, adding, ‘I tagged it for confirmation and got a response that said it’d gone through
and
been read.’

‘I’d have raised the offer if I’d known. I
really
wanted that block.’

‘Probably wouldn’t have done much good, unless you raised the money considerably. This was a cash offer. Yours was subject to finance. My vendors wanted a quick sale.’

‘Who bought it?’

‘A lady friend of yours.’

‘Meriel Ingram?’ Fury coursed through Ben. She’d let him think she wasn’t interested. And now he’d lost the block that was the pivot of his plans for the future. ‘I see. Thank you for letting me know.’

He didn’t slam the phone down, but it was a few minutes before he let go of the anger for long enough to start working out what to do.

He’d never been so mistaken about a woman in all his life! But he wasn’t going to let her get away with this.

* * * *

The next day Ben finished earlier than he’d expected at the current project and went back to the office to talk to his partner.

He found Phil just about to leave. ‘I thought we’d arranged to discuss our partnership after work today.’

‘No can do. Important function to attend. New clients to bring to the fold.’

Ben was determined to have this out. ‘We don’t need new clients. This is my last project. I told you that.’