Thigh High (9 page)

Merlene held her hands up. “Hey, I’m just repeating what Blue said.”

“Well, we—I mean
I—
wasn’t naked in the pool and that’s the only place someone would have seen us unless they were looking inside.” Maz shuddered at that prospect. “Oh I don’t even want to think about that.” What she did on her hands and knees with Joe was no one’s business except her own.

“It doesn’t matter about specifics. The thing is it’s gone around town and Beryl is pronouncing you engaged.”

Oh crap
. That sounded like Auntie Beryl. “We are not.”

“Well, you are as far as Amberwarra Falls is concerned.”

Bloody Beryl.
She loved her aunt but there were times when that woman could try the patience of a plaster saint with her interfering. She was probably making a wedding dress right now.

Dusty and Blue came into the pub and headed straight for Maz. They were beaming.

“I was stoked to hear the news. You and Joe make a bonza couple.”

Blue nodded his head in agreement. “And it means Joe will stay in town and we’ll be able to get him to play in the Mighty Emus football team.”

“And the Wandering Wombats cricket squad,” Dusty added with pleasure.

“Yes, that would be the reason we would get married, to provide you with a teammate.” These two were as predictable as taxes.

“So when’s the wedding? Hey, don’t look at me like that. You just said you were getting married.” Merlene gave Maz a cheeky wink.

“I said ‘would get married’ in the not-bloody-likely sense of the word.” Where the hell had Beryl heard about her and Joe being together, let alone naked?

“Word is you and Joe—well you know.” Dusty grinned and nudged Blue.

Maz narrowed her eyes. “What?” What exactly was she going to have to live down or lie about?

“Threw a leg over,” Blue announced blithely. “Oh come on now, we’re all adults here.”

“Oh for god’s sake. Even if we had sex—”

“If?” Merlene teased her.

“
If.
That doesn’t mean we’re getting married. Jeez, none of you three are married.”

“Yes, but with these boys, sex with yourself doesn’t count.”

Blue looked appalled. “Fair go, Merlene. I told you I was adjusting myself behind the tractor.”

“You were moaning a lot.”

“My strides were tight.”

“Uh-huh.”

Sometimes Maz likened Amberwarra Falls to a mob of drunken six-year-olds prodding each other with sticks.

Dusty broke into their argument. “The thing is, he’s a good bloke and Joe would to do right by you. And as for bonking you before the ceremony, well who cares? Besides we haven’t seen a really beaut wedding in town since Snogger Reilly got Mandy Clarke preggers and they had the sprog at the reception.”

“Yeah, that was a good wedding,” Blue nodded in agreement. “I still have the pictures.”

Merlene snorted in amusement. “You fainted and were out cold when the baby started to come.”

“I was drunk, Merlene. There’s a difference,” Blue corrected her. “And I’ve seen heaps of calves born.”

Maz shook her head.
Give me strength
. “Regardless of all that, I am not marrying Joe.” It was madness. Sure, he had joked about it but she knew Joe had not been serious. Why would he be? She knew, despite what he said to the contrary, Amberwarra Falls would not hold Joe for long.

“Yeah, you are.” The man in question appeared. Joe went straight up to Maz, his eyes on only her.

“Here’s the lucky man himself.” Blue clapped him on the shoulder. “We have to organize the bucks’ party and see you off proper.”

“Yeah, and get a stripper.” Dusty pondered on that for a moment. “Do we have any in the Falls?”

“Only paint stripper and I doubt that will hold your attention for long,” Merlene quipped.

“We are not getting married.” Was anyone at all paying attention to her?

Joe reached out his hand to Maz. “We still have things to discuss.”

Maz stepped back. “Um, no we don’t.” As far as she was concerned there was nothing to discuss. Sex was one thing. Even contemplating a life with a drifter was another. Marriage meant commitment and settling down. Joe was neither of those things.

“Darling—”

“Don’t darling me.” What the hell was wrong with everyone at the moment? Was she the only sane one? “I’m not your darling.”

“Whose are you then?” Joe looked at Maz significantly.

When he looked at her like that, Maz felt a familiar heat surge through her and what she had been about to say completely left her mind. She was in an impossible situation. Admit her feelings for Joe and live with the fact he might leave. Agree to marry him which would thrill the whole town, but of course this was not about them. Or walk away now and think long and hard without any pressure from anyone but herself.

Maz surveyed her friends and lover. While she was no quitter, she certainly didn’t want Amberwarra Falls making decisions for her. “I’m not having this conversation with you—any of you—right now.” Maz turned and left. It was better to think than react and do the wrong thing.

“I’ve heard brides can get pretty emotional,” Dusty commented as if this explained her behavior.

“Yep, definite wedding jitters.” Blue clapped Joe on the shoulder. “You’re a lucky man, Joe.”

—

“I know.” Joe felt bad about trying to force her hand. He knew he shouldn’t have inferred to Blue about marriage between him and Maz but he loved her. That was the pure and simple fact. Joe knew the feeling was mutual. He could see it in her eyes and feel it in her touch. That Maz had not had a relationship with any other man meant she was not one to go into anything uncommitted. Because of that, Joe had acted. He didn’t want to go on as just lovers. He wanted more. He also knew that Maz was worried he would leave and that wasn’t his plan at all. Joe wanted permanency and he had that with Maz. He loved her. This was about commitment. He knew he had to show that this was forever. Maybe, employing the earnest good intentions of the locals was cheating but Joe planned to use whatever weapons he could to make Maz understand this was forever and he wasn’t going anywhere. He was finally home.

—

“Bloody man.” Maz kicked a box of soda water in anger. “Oww, crap that hurt!” She staggered slightly as she sought a place to sit and check the damage to her toe. Maz swore as took off her shoe to look at her foot. It wasn’t the pain from her foot that made her swear. She hated being pushed into a corner and that was what Joe had done bringing the town into their relationship. She stiffened suddenly. “Relationship? Do we have one of those?”

Maz was so worried that he would leave her that she hadn’t really thought logically about what they had. The fact was she loved Joe. She had never stopped. Some people mated for life and she was one of them.

“Okay, so we have a relationship. But do I need him?” She was a strong independent woman who had been living her life successfully for fourteen years without him. Did she even know what need was? Was it seeing someone every day? Laughing with them? Leaning on them? Comforting each other? Loving them? Maz wanted all that and more.

“Okay, so I need him but it’s just the bloody way he has gone about it,” she muttered to herself and massaged her toe. Something like marriage was an enormous commitment. She wanted to make up her mind herself and not because the town wanted a bridal extravaganza. “And damn it I want to be asked.” Maz didn’t want it be a foregone conclusion. She wanted the whole dropping down on to one knee bit and asking for her hand. “I deserve that.” Every woman did.

Maz blew out a sigh. “So what do I want?” She couldn’t deny that she felt happy with Joe. Was he really going to stay? But then would he announce the whole marriage thing and create the stir he had if he wasn’t? “Oh frig, I don’t know.”

“He’s a cheeky bastard, your Joe.”

Maz looked her to see Merlene appear before her. “He did this deliberately.”

“Yeah, but he loves you as you do him.” Merlene held up her hand. “Oh come on, don’t even try denying it with me. I can see it in your eyes.”

“I barely know him.”
Or maybe I do. Maybe I’m trying to find any bloody excuse to push him away. Maybe it’s not Joe who wants to leave. Maybe I’m scared.
That thought amazed Maz. It was always easier to blame someone else.

Merlene sat down beside her a nearby crate. “Tell me what you know about Joe.”

“Why?”

“It may clear your thoughts.”

“Well, he’s dead sexy and very sweet. He says things to me that make my heart pound and my thighs sweat.” Maz smiled at the thought. “He’s arrogant and pushy and yet I know if I had any problem at all he’s the first person I would turn to.”

“That’s nice.”

“He’s nice.” Maz had always thought nice an insipid word. But it wasn’t. It was a word that caught up a whole lot of deep feelings and packaged them together in a beautifully wrapped present that she could open and take out stuff without worrying about consequences. Nice was safe. Nice allowed her to act without fear, to be what Maz wanted to be without worrying about the cost.

“I believe he could talk me into anything and yes, if Joe was going I would want to go regardless of my need to stay here.” That threw Maz. That she would follow Joe. “I want to hold his hand. I want to kiss his cheek and I want to have him wrap his arms around me because he is a safe harbor.”
Joes loves me. So what the hell am I fighting this for?

“Merlene, he makes me feel more than I ever have in my life. I know that Joe loves me.” Maz stopped dead on those words.
I’m such an idiot. I’m fighting the wrong person. I should be fighting myself.

Merlene had a soft smile on her face. “You know a lot.”

“Yes.” A surprising amount.

“So what’s the problem?”

“He will leave.” Or will he?
And when did I change my mind about that?

“Joe wants to marry you. He’s not leaving.”

Maz looked at her friend. “I’m the problem then.” Sometimes reality was a nice, firm head slap.

“Yeah.” Merlene nodded in agreement. “Life is too short, mate, to stuff around worrying about the ifs and buts.” She stood up. “Besides if you take control of your wedding now, you can maybe stop Beryl trying to crochet you a wedding dress.”

Maz rolled her eyes in horror. “Well, since you put it that way.”

—

“Do you have something you want to ask me?” If Joe wasn’t going to come to her then Maz would go to him. She didn’t want her future being decided by a town. She needed to know exactly where she stood with Joe.

The man in question stood up from the treadmill he had been working on in the gym. “Like what?”

“I dunno. Something on your mind?” This was not the most private place to have a conversation but nowhere was in a small town so why worry about it now?

“I have a few things I’m considering.” Joe smiled a slow, lazy smile at Maz.

She felt her stomach clench in response. “If I have to drag it out of you then forget it.” He was as sexy as hell but impossible with it and Maz was not about to beg any man to propose to her. She wanted the fairy tale but not under sufferance.

“Drag what out.”

Perverse bastard
. “The whole marriage deal.” Maz tapped her foot in irritation.

Joe looked at her in sudden understanding. “Oh that.”

Maz narrowed her eyes at him. “What do you mean, oh that?” He didn’t sound like a man with strong commitment on his mind.

“Are you interested now?”

“I’m not sure. It seems everyone else was told about it before me. That can piss a woman off you know.”

“You want an old-fashioned proposal?”

“Forget it if it’s too much of a hardship.”
Why the hell am I standing here again? Is this man worth it?
The answer was yes, no, I don’t know. Maz was not about to drag words out of anyone. If he wanted to say them freely then that was fine. But she wasn’t about to play games with her feelings. Maz had discovered she had them and they were important enough to treat with respect. She turned to leave.

“Maz.” Joe caught her hand and stopped her.

She tried to pull her hand from his but his fingers locked with hers. “No, piss off. My life was just fine until you turned up.” Okay, not perfect but something average was easier to deal with.

“Was it?”

Maz could see in his eyes Joe knew the truth. Her life had been boring. “The thing was I knew what I was doing. I didn’t second-guess myself all the time and I didn’t need a man.”

“I’ve always needed you.” Joe’s voice was deep with emotion as he pulled her close to him. “You heard me. I love and need you in my life. I’m not going anywhere, Maz. I’ve wasted years searching for something that was always in Amberwarra Falls.”

Her heart began to beat wildly at his words. “What, a block of land for a pink gym? Season membership to the Mighty Emus football club?”

“Don’t forget the Wandering Wombats cricket team.”

“Who could?” They were legendary for their inability to win a game and their ability to drink every visiting team under the table at The Naked Shearer Pub. That in itself was considered a feat.

“I want you.” Joe’s gaze never left hers.

Maz gulped at the intensity of those three simple words. “Me?”

“Yeah.” Still holding her hand, he dropped to his knees.

Oh boy, oh boy
. “You’re not going to do pushups are you?” Her other hand clasped her chest to keep her heart from running amok.

“I was wrong not to ask you first.”

“Yes you were.”

Joe massaged her hand in his. “I was scared you’d say no.”

“I still might.”
Though not bloody likely
. Some things were just meant to be even if they took fourteen years to right themselves.

“You’ve thought about this? About me?”

“From the minute I heard you were coming back to town.” The words shot out of her mouth before she could think. “Okay, so I may have had this crush on you for fourteen odd years.” What was the point of pretence when reality kicked its ass?

“Oh Marilyn, we have wasted some time.”

“Yes we have, Joseph. The question is what are you going to do about it?”

Joe looked at her thoughtfully. “Should I ask Beryl’s permission for your hand first?”