Fool Me Once

by Karly Lane

  ‘I’m so sorry, Georgie,’ Michael said.

  She glanced over at him and saw regret etched on his handsome face. She blinked away the sting of threatening tears and tried for a small smile. ‘I haven’t been here in a long time. It’s not like I sit out here like a stalker.’

  ‘I didn’t realise your old place was so close.’

  ‘Sometimes I kind of wish it was further away. Maybe then I’d forget about it.’

  ‘And you can’t?’ he asked hesitantly.

  ‘I’ve tried. I know holding on to the past is never a good idea … that I should let go in order to move on and all that.’ She shrugged. ‘But this place is part of me, you know? It’s my childhood. It’s all my best memories. Maybe some people can move on from their past—leave places behind—but Tamban is special. It’s more than just land. It’s my heritage.’

  She saw him swallow hard and something fell into place inside her. He cared. He got it. ‘Anyway, I just wanted to show you my home.’

  ‘Thank you,’ he said, leaning over to kiss her gently, before resting his forehead against hers. ‘I’m glad you thought I was worth sharing this with.’

  She wasn’t sure why she’d done it really. It wasn’t as though she ever came out here for a lazy Sunday drive, and she’d never come out here with anyone else. There was just something about Michael. She’d wanted to show him this place. Maybe she thought he’d somehow understand.

  ‘Want an ice cream?’ she asked, pulling back and striving for a lighter tone. ‘I know a place.’

  ‘Isn’t it too cold for ice cream?’

  ‘Too cold for ice cream? There’s no such thing.’

  ‘Okay, if you say so. But if I get a brain freeze, I’m blaming you.’

  Georgie gave a woeful chuckle as they parked the car and climbed the steps to her house. ‘I cannot believe you got a brain freeze.’

  ‘I tried to tell you it was too cold.’

  ‘You were drinking a milkshake.’

  ‘They used extremely cold milk,’ he told her gruffly.

  He loved seeing her laugh—he was pretty sure it was something she hadn’t done a great deal of recently—and after seeing the way her eyes lit up and sparkled, he vowed to endure a thousand brain freezes if that’s what it took to get her to laugh that hard again.

  When she left to change into work clothes, his face fell slightly. He’d felt sick once they’d pulled up outside the gates to her old family property. Matthew Enterprises had gloated from the signage and his neck prickled with guilt. There was no denying the sadness in her eyes as she’d looked across at the place she’d grown up and his family was the cause of her grief.

  He knew he’d heard that name before. Once Brent confirmed it, he remembered. Vaguely. He’d seen the correspondence; he’d sat in meetings that had talked about how close they were to breaking the owner. He recalled terms like breaking point, forced sale, aggressive negotiation. It was after sitting through many similar meetings that he’d finally had enough and left his stepfather’s business to start his own. Now he was witnessing the other side of that business. The personal side that wasn’t anything to do with good business or profit margins. The side of devastation.

  He wanted so badly to make things right for Georgie. He wanted to gather her into his arms and protect her from anything terrible ever happening again. He wanted to tell her the truth and vow to take on his stepfather like some big hero. Only, he’d heard the disgust and the pain in her voice when she’d spoken about the corporations like his stepfather’s, like his, and he knew he couldn’t.

  It shouldn’t matter. He should trust that after a while she’d cool off and he’d have another shot at it. But something told him that was not how it would play out. At all. He’d seen something in her eyes when she’d spoken about losing their property—a cold certainty. There was more to her grief than just selling to a corporation. He knew her father had betrayed her too, in her eyes at least, and the hurt she was carrying around because of that was all connected to losing Tamban. There was no way she’d listen to him try to explain if he opened his mouth about it all now. He had to wait. He had to earn her trust. It would take time and gentleness and a whole lot of patience. But it’d be worth it. He had no choice. He was still not ready to walk away from Georgie Henderson.

  She listened to the phone ring and waited for the familiar gruff voice to answer.

  ‘About time you called. I was beginning to think my manager had nicked off and left the place,’ Harry said in lieu of a greeting.

  ‘I’ve been a bit busy, sorry.’

  ‘So I’ve heard. You got some new fella, I hear.’

  She shouldn’t be surprised. News always travelled fast in this place, and just because Harry was hundreds of kilometres away didn’t mean he didn’t still keep tabs on the local gossip from his numerous mates in the area. ‘Don’t worry, I’m still working.’

  ‘Never said you weren’t,’ he quipped back. ‘Although Matt’s not overly impressed,’ he added. ‘Should I be concerned?’

  Georgie’s mood changed from relaxed to annoyed in a split second. ‘Why would Matt not be impressed?’ she demanded.

  ‘I don’t know, seems to think he’s a bit too … citified.’

  ‘Who I see has got nothing to do with Matt.’

  ‘Settle down, he’s just lookin’ out for ya.’

  ‘I don’t need him looking out for me. I’m quite capable of doing that myself.’ What the hell was wrong with him? Matt had never run behind her back and tittle-tatted to Harry before.

  ‘Now don’t go tearin’ strips off young Matt,’ Harry cautioned.

  ‘Well, he shouldn’t have gone to you about my private life.’

  ‘He didn’t. I called him to find out what he thought.’

  Oh, for goodness sake. ‘Well, in case either of you would like to know my opinion on the topic, I’m quite happy, thank you very much.’

  ‘All right, don’t get your knickers in a knot. I was just checkin’ to make sure you were okay.’

  ‘I’m fine, Harry. It’s not a big deal.’

  ‘Well, maybe it should be,’ he said. ‘Sometimes I worry that you’re missin’ out on life. You’re too young to be stuck out there alone.’

  ‘I’m not alone, and I’m happy doing what I do.’

  ‘Yeah well, I just don’t want you wakin’ up one day and realisin’ you’ve missed your chance. There’s more to life than work. Took me a lifetime to realise that.’

  She knew he was thinking about his daughter and the family he hadn’t taken the time to connect with once his wife had died.

  ‘Thanks for checking up on me,’ she said gently. It was nice to know she had someone who cared.

  ‘Right, enough of that,’ Harry said, clearing his throat. ‘What are you doin’ about those bloody water pumps?’

  Early the next morning, Georgie smiled as Michael came out onto the verandah. He was shirtless, barefoot and wearing only a pair of unbuttoned jeans that exposed a tantalising V of dark hair. She might have thought it was a ploy to distract her back into bed had it not been for the fact he had his arms wrapped around his chest, cursing the cool morning air.

  ‘Why didn’t you wake me up to come and help you?’ he demanded in that authoritative tone that probably made other people jump to attention but she found rather sexy.

  ‘You were sleeping.’

  ‘So? I can help.’

  ‘I’ve finished now. All chooks, horses and assorted farm animals are fed and watered, and I’ve already moved one lot of cattle to their new pasture.’

  ‘I thought you had someone to do that for you?’

  ‘Matt,’ she said dryly. ‘His name is Matt, and it’s his day off.’

  ‘All the more reason I should have been helping.’

  She kicked off her boots at the front door and slipped into his arms. ‘Why are you half naked out here in the cold?’

  ‘I was waiting to get all the way naked when you got back.’

  �
��I see,’ she murmured. ‘Well, what are you waiting for? I’m back.’

  ‘Favourite movie?’ Georgie asked, lying under the shade of the big tree on the rise overlooking the surrounding paddocks. They’d packed an impromptu lunch and a blanket and Georgie was beginning to seriously wonder why she’d never taken time out to do this more often.

  ‘Die Hard,’ he said.

  Georgie turned her head to look at him suspiciously. ‘You hesitated.’

  ‘No, I didn’t.’

  ‘Yeah, you did. Come on, Die Hard is every man’s favourite testosterone movie … what’s your real favourite.’

  ‘You’ll laugh.’

  ‘No, I won’t,’ she promised.

  ‘Yeah, right, from the woman who laughed at a man in the midst of a major brain freeze.’

  ‘Hey! I didn’t promise not to laugh at that. I’m only human after all,’ she muttered under her breath. ‘Come on, tell me.’

  She saw Michael give a reluctant sigh and close his eyes.

  ‘The Man from Snowy River,’ he said finally.

  Georgie bit the inside of her lip.

  Opening one eye, Michael shook his head wearily, ‘See? I told you you’d laugh.’

  ‘I’m not,’ she smirked. ‘No, seriously, I’m not. I just wasn’t expecting that.’

  ‘It’s an Australian classic,’ he said with only a touch of defensiveness.

  ‘It is,’ she agreed. ‘And it’s my favourite too. I had a bit of a crush on Jim Craig growing up.’

  ‘Yeah? Well, I had a thing for Jessica Harrison. Maybe that’s why I was drawn to you,’ he said, but his smile turned serious. ‘Actually, you’re a lot like her.’

  ‘I don’t have long black wavy hair and big green eyes.’

  ‘Not in looks maybe—that was Sigrid Thornton anyway, I’m talking about Jessica, the character. Think about it: you’re both strong, intelligent, independent women,’ he said. ‘Both stubborn. Love horses. She was an only daughter with big dreams of running her family property …’ He sat up and grinned. ‘I think all those nights of wishing for Jessica finally came true.’

  ‘You’re even more delusional than I thought.’

  ‘Maybe. But I think I’ll stick with finding my dream woman.’

  Georgie scoffed slightly.

  ‘I think you might be, you know,’ Michael said. ‘If someone had told me I’d go along to some B&S ball in the backblocks of nowhere and fall for a woman, I’d have thought they were insane, but here we are.’

  ‘Here we are,’ she agreed faintly. She was still reeling about the falling for part …

  ‘Now I have a hankering to watch The Man from Snowy River,’ he said, leaning back down on one elbow beside her.

  ‘Well, today is your lucky day … I just so happen to have it on DVD … The Man from Snowy River one and two. Feel like a movie marathon?’

  Curled up beside Michael on the lounge later, Georgie found herself shaking her head. It was the middle of the day and she was sitting inside watching a movie … and she didn’t even feel guilty. She also wasn’t sure how she’d ever go back to watching a movie alone after this. It was so nice having his big body curled around hers as they shared a bowl of popcorn and took turns reciting the lines of the movie as it played.

  Where was this thing going? She didn’t even know what this thing was. People would think they were crazy … Georgie groaned silently as the same questions continued to run through her head on a loop without finding any answers. Did she really care what people thought? Must it have a label or a name put on it? Couldn’t she just relax and enjoy whatever it was for as long as it lasted? As Jim Craig pulled Jessica into his arms on the top of that high-country mountain ridge, Georgie decided to take their lead. There was no point wasting the time they had together with what-ifs. She’d just live in the moment and see where it went.

  Ten

  For the next few days Michael worked from Stoney Creek and Georgie found herself getting all too used to having him around. When he finally had to go back to his office, the goodbye was just as hard as the first one, but this time she knew he’d be back.

  They talked constantly through the day or texted, depending on how busy they were, but they always talked at night for hours on end. She sometimes wondered how they didn’t run out of things to talk about, but it never happened. Georgie felt like a teenager again, laughing to herself when she thought about the topics they managed to cover.

  She’d offered to come to see him in a few weeks’ time, once she got the next lot of cattle ready for sale, but two weeks seemed such a long time to wait.

  It turned out to be too long. Michael was knocking on her door two days later.

  ‘One day you’re going to do one of your surprise visits and I won’t be home. What’ll you do then?’ she teased, leading him out into the kitchen from the bedroom later.

  She’d been in the middle of cooking chicken and pasta when he’d turned up, and after their somewhat energetic greeting, she was now starving.

  ‘I’ll be right back,’ he said, retracing his steps to the front door where he’d dropped his overnight bag on arrival.

  ‘What are you looking so pleased about?’ she asked, stirring the sauce into the pot on the stove.

  ‘I got you a surprise,’ he said, waving a big white envelope.

  ‘What’s that?’ she asked with a curious glance at his face.

  ‘How soon can you pack a bag?’

  ‘For?’ she asked dryly, wondering what he was up to this time.

  ‘Hawaii.’

  She froze, spoon poised in mid-air. ‘What are you talking about?’

  He handed over the envelope and she pulled out the stapled pages with a travel agent’s name on the top. She looked up at him expectantly.

  ‘I just booked us two tickets to Hawaii.’

  ‘You did what?’

  ‘I know you were disappointed about not going to New Zealand, so I thought I’d make it up to you with Hawaii.’

  ‘But I told you, I didn’t want to spend the money,’ she said quietly. She really couldn’t believe he’d just booked a holiday … on a whim … Who the hell did that?

  ‘You don’t have to spend a cent. I’m taking you away.’

  Georgie stared at him, disbelief plastered across her face. ‘You can’t be serious. I can’t just go overseas with you.’

  ‘Why not? You had your passport sorted for New Zealand, all we need are visas, which I’ll have pushed through, and we’re set.’

  ‘You don’t just go on a holiday … like that,’ she stammered.

  ‘We can do whatever we want. Whose permission do we need?’ he asked with an amused tilt of his eyebrow.

  ‘It’s not …’ She stopped, frustrated. ‘Nobody does that!’ she said, throwing her hand in the air.

  ‘Well, I just did, so let’s start a new trend.’

  Slamming the papers onto the bench, she spun away. She grabbed her keys as she passed by the hall table.

  ‘Where are you going?’ he called, jogging to keep up with her.

  ‘Out.’

  ‘Georgie, wait up, just stop for a minute,’ he demanded as she reached her car. ‘Georgie.’

  Spinning on her heel she turned to face him angrily, ‘What?’

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘You honestly have no idea?’ she asked, disbelief colouring her tone.

  ‘I honestly don’t,’ he said, shaking his head and looking perplexed.

  ‘You can’t just go around buying me off. I can’t afford a holiday to Hawaii, and I don’t want to be put in a position where I feel like I have to pay my way.’

  ‘Pay your way …’ His voice faded as a dark expression crossed his face. ‘You think I’m expecting you to sleep with me as payment?’

  ‘That’s what it feels like.’

  ‘Christ Georgie, I thought you knew by now. I’m crazy about you. I’ve never, in all my life, felt this way about anyone. I want to take you to Hawaii to be with you, to see you en
joy yourself, to forget about your struggles and your past for just a few days. I want to do this because I …’ He stopped abruptly and fought to get his emotions back under control. ‘I know you’ll find this hard to believe but I’m not usually like this. I’ve never blown off work to spend time with a woman and I’ve never bought anyone a ticket to Hawaii either. I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, it wasn’t meant that way,’ he ended stiffly, walking away and letting the screen door bang behind him.

  As suddenly as her anger had flared, it vanished.

  Taking a deep breath, Georgie calmed herself and walked inside. She found him sitting on her lounge, sprawled with his long legs out in front and his head tilted back against the headrest. He refused to look at her as she stood in the doorway.

  ‘You didn’t finish what you were going to say out there. You said you did it because … Why?’ she asked quietly.

  His jaw tightened and he stared at the wall in front of him. ‘Does it matter? You obviously think I’m some kind of sleaze who expects payment for favours.’

  ‘I don’t think that, Michael.’

  She moved closer and stood in front of him, waiting, until he finally looked up. When his expression remained stone-like, she took matters into her own hands, sliding onto his lap.

  ‘Tell me what you were going to say,’ she whispered.

  She saw his eyes ignite with a flame hot enough to burn down the entire house.

  ‘I did it because I’m in love with you.’

  His face showed the same confused struggle that had been playing out inside her, and she knew, as insane as this was, it was also right. She realised she’d half-expected the feeling to wear off once they spent more time together. Surely a person like her, so used to taking care of herself and comfortable with her own company, would grow tired of constant companionship? But she found it was the opposite. The more she had of him, the more she craved.

  She leaned forward and kissed him. She knew he was hurt about what she’d said, and she was sorry for that. It was her pride and the fact he’d caught her off guard that caused her to snap at him. She felt him holding himself back from the kiss, his lips gently moving under hers but not initiating anything the way he normally would. She pulled back slightly and searched his hooded gaze.