Burning with Passion

by Emma Darcy

  ‘You’d better fill me in on what the situation is with your family,’ David suggested reasonably. It was somewhat goading that he could appear to be reasonable when he obviously wasn’t.

  ‘You made an impact on my father without knowing anything,’ she said drily. ‘Maybe we should keep it that way.’

  ‘I’m much better with a brief,’ he argued.

  ‘Spontaneity has a lot going for it.’

  He sighed.

  Caitlin considered the task ahead of her. Her mother had to be pacified. If David didn’t know what was happening beyond the general scheme of things, he could hardly put a foot wrong. He would be obliged to speak in soothing generalisations.

  She gave him a brief synopsis.

  ‘This morning my father walked out on my mother. Their marriage is at crisis point. Today is their wedding anniversary. Tonight my sister and I are supposed to be giving them a party to celebrate their thirty years together.’ She gave him a derisive look. ‘The problem is to get them back together again. For at least one more night.’

  A dark blue blaze of purpose hit her eyes and held them captive before she hastily remembered they were supposed to be riveted on the road. ‘Only for tonight,’ he mocked.

  Caitlin wrenched her gaze away and concentrated fiercely on the road in a desperate effort to block out all the nights she’d shared with David...the passion, the pleasure, the intense possession of each other.

  ‘It’s a start,’ she said tightly. ‘What we really need is a solution, David.’

  ‘Why did your father walk out?’

  ‘You’d better ask him.’

  David sighed again.

  Caitlin felt compelled to give a tiny bit more explanation. ‘I’m sure they love each other. It’s a matter of dealing with each other’s needs in a way that will keep them both satisfied,’ she concluded.

  ‘Absolutely,’ David agreed. ‘Satisfy each other’s needs. It’s the first step!’ He appeared to be contented with this general proposition.

  ‘There are a lot of needs after the first step,’ Caitlin reminded him.

  ‘I’m sure there are,’ he said blithely.

  ‘David, there is more to life than sex,’ Caitlin grated.

  ‘I wasn’t talking sex. I was talking loneliness.’

  ‘You’ve never been lonely in your life,’ she scoffed.

  ‘How can you be so sure?’

  ‘I know how your mind works.’

  ‘I doubt that you do.’ His face was unusually serious.

  ‘When was the last time you were lonely?’ Caitlin asked in disbelief.

  ‘I’m glad you asked. It’s the first time in our association that you’ve ever asked me how I felt about anything!’

  It was a valid point. She never had. Not directly. She hadn’t wanted David to think she was prying. Or demanding. Or nagging in a way he would find an intolerable invasion of his privacy.

  Caitlin was suddenly jolted into a reappraisal of her own attitude throughout their relationship. She had let herself be intimidated by the fact that David was so eligible, and so attractive to other women. In trying not to put a foot wrong, had she stultified a natural progression? Had she herself unwittingly drawn restrictions in being too cautious, desperately wanting to please and not to offend? She had certainly taken her cues from him. Had he also taken cues from her?

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, deeply disquieted by her train of thought. ‘I’d like to know when you were lonely.’

  ‘Most of my life.’

  This was so unexpected, it shook Caitlin. She looked her disbelief.

  ‘Keep your eyes on the road.’

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘The office felt very empty without you, Caitlin,’ he added.

  And her future had looked very bleak without him. ‘Why do people fall in love?’ she blurted out, then wished she hadn’t. It was too revealing.

  ‘It’s a force of nature. One can love. One can hate. There’s not much in between. Perhaps one can learn to be indifferent.’

  ‘That’s fine,’ she assented quickly. It was about the only thing they had agreed on all day.

  ‘What position have you adopted, Caitlin?’ He was nothing short of direct.

  ‘I’m a fast learner,’ she replied. She wasn’t going to make herself vulnerable by spilling out the truth.

  They passed Wyong High School. Schoolchildren were spilling out into the streets everywhere. Buses were collecting them as Caitlin negotiated her way through the township. It was probably a good time to arrive. If Michelle had been holding her mother’s hand, she would have left to make sure her six-year-old arrived home safely from school.

  Caitlin parked her car in the street outside her parents’ house. ‘This is it,’ she said, nodding to the two-storey brick home that faced the river.

  ‘Nice position,’ David observed.

  ‘Not for my dad,’ Caitlin reminded him.

  ‘I’m coming with you,’ David declared.

  Caitlin had an attack of doubt about that course of action. Her mother, in a full flight of temper, could make a fire-eating dragon look tame. David would be meeting her mother for the first time. First impressions might be unfairly off-putting.

  ‘Maybe it’s better if I go alone.’

  ‘I promised your dad I’d be with you to the end.’

  She wasn’t sure he had promised any such thing at all. ‘Well,’ she said hesitantly, ‘let me do the talking.’

  ‘It’s your mother,’ he readily acceded.

  ‘As long as that’s agreed...’ she dubiously surrendered.

  They alighted, took the path to the front door. Caitlin rang the bell to alert her mother in case she had visitors, then used her key. Caitlin suspected that her mother wasn’t receiving visitors today.

  ‘It’s Caitlin, Mum,’ she called as she ushered David into the foyer.

  There was a splendid arrangement of red roses on the console table. Tinsel streamers ran from the central light pendant to the walls, pinned by glittery red hearts. The party decorations hadn’t come down yet, which gave Caitlin cause for hope.

  She had anticipated correctly. Michelle had left. There were no visitors. Her mother was in the kitchen, chopping carrots with the deadly action of a guillotine slicing off heads. She was clearly in fine fettle. Her opening remarks set the tone of her meeting.

  ‘Well, Caitlin, I see you’ve finally arrived. What took you so long to get here?’

  Then she saw David.

  ‘How could you bring a stranger into our home at a time like this?’ Her voice shook with injury and outrage. ‘You always did take after your father’s side of the family, Caitlin. Totally insensitive!’

  ‘I know you haven’t met David, Mum...David Hartley...but you do know I’ve been working for him and he offered to help.’

  ‘How can he help?’ her mother snapped. ‘No one can help. Your father is off hiding somewhere. I’ll find him. Have no doubt about that.’

  ‘We’ve been talking to Dad, Mum. Everything...’

  ‘Where is he?’

  More carrots fell to the steady tempo of the deadly weapon.

  ‘Not far from here.’

  A flurry of accelerated blows.

  ‘So, you’re not going to tell me. It’s a conspiracy, is it?’

  ‘Mum, I’m trying to sort this out. Find out what went wrong.’ Caitlin closed in on her mother. ‘Give me a hug.’

  ‘Watch the knife,’ David warned.

  Eileen Ross threw David a glare of scornful contempt.

  Caitlin managed to sidle into her mother’s embrace. ‘We all love you, Mum.’

  A strangled cry of distress. ‘Don’t remind me of it, Caitlin. Your father is a rotter. That’s all the thanks I get for thirty years of devoted service!’

  ‘Dad doesn’t mean it.’

  ‘Of course he means it.’

  ‘If you forgive him this...uh...temporary lapse, everything will be all right.’

  ‘No, it won’t,’ he
r mother declared with determination.

  ‘Please calm down, Mum.’

  Her mother did not calm down. Caitlin did manage to persuade her into stopping the carrot-cutting and sitting down. The three of them sat around the kitchen table in a semblance of togetherness, but that was all Caitlin managed. It didn’t matter what she said, or tried to say, her mother’s fury with her father remained unabated. Not even for the sake of appearances would she accept her husband back for the party. He had walked out. He was in the wrong. The wound to her feelings was so great she couldn’t—wouldn’t—see past it.

  Caitlin was getting nowhere. She looked at David for inspiration. He raised an eyebrow. She lifted both hers, and her shoulders, as well. He seemed to take it as some kind of cue.

  ‘Caitlin, we need action,’ he stated decisively.

  It wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

  ‘I think we should leave,’ he went on.

  ‘You’ve only just got here,’ Mrs Ross stated in surprise. ‘Why would you want to leave?’

  ‘Because you’re wasting Caitlin’s time. You’re wasting my time,’ he continued uncharitably. ‘Most of all because you’re wasting your own time, Mrs Ross,’ he said more significantly, his dark blue eyes simmering with more than impatience.

  David rose from the chair on the other side of the kitchen table, strode around to Caitlin, took her hands in his and drew her to him. Caitlin was so depressed and depleted of energy that she limply allowed him to press her hands against his chest.

  ‘You’ve done your best, Caitlin,’ he assured her with throbbing conviction. ‘No one could have done more. I’m impressed.’

  ‘What does this mean?’ her mother asked suspiciously, immediately alert to the nuances.

  It was David’s turn to look surprised. ‘Caitlin and I are lovers, Mrs Ross. Hasn’t she told you yet?’

  The top of Caitlin’s head blew off. At least, that was how it felt. Her brain was an empty scramble of horror, a void so deep it was bottomless.

  ‘Oh, my God!’ her mother gasped, clasping her heart.

  David riveted his attention on Caitlin, apparently unaware he had just exposed her to a continuing nightmare of censure from her mother for years to come. ‘If your parents want to have a spat, Caitlin, that’s their business. Nothing to do with us. You wanted to spend the day making love. At least we can have the night. Let’s get back to Sydney.’

  ‘Caitlin, tell me this isn’t true!’ her mother cried. ‘It can’t be true!’

  ‘Well, no, of course it’s not true,’ Caitlin agreed in agitated appeasement. ‘Not really.’

  ‘I brought you up to be a good girl.’

  ‘Oh, she is good,’ David said, warming to his subject and bringing it to the boil. ‘Very, very, very good. I have no complaints whatsoever. You’ve done a great job, Mrs Ross.’

  ‘Caitlin!’ Her mother fought for breath. ‘The scandal! How could you do this to us?’

  ‘I’ve put a stop to it, Mum.’ It was a plea for extenuating circumstances. She snatched her hands from David’s in a wild effort to establish a proper distance between them.

  ‘Too late,’ David chimed in with wicked unconcern. ‘Far too late.’

  Her mother rose to her feet, quite majestic in delivering her judgement. ‘Caitlin, this is serious!’

  ‘Yes, Mum,’ Caitlin said weakly. The world had suddenly changed and it appeared she was to be the victim.

  ‘Get your father home. Immediately. You are not to take no for an answer. It’s his place to deal with this matter. After all, you are his daughter.’

  She glared at David. ‘When my husband hears about this, you’ll be in deep trouble.’

  ‘I’m sure I will be.’

  ‘You have abused your position as my daughter’s employer. You’ll have a lot to answer for, young man.’

  Caitlin’s mind whirled again. She felt weak. Very weak.

  ‘Don’t stand there gawking, Caitlin,’ her mother commanded. ‘You know where your father is. Get him home straight away. I want answers.’

  ‘Yes, Caitlin,’ David blithely urged. ‘You go and get your father. I’ll stay and tell your mother what’s really been going on. I wish to make a clean breast of it and confess everything.’

  That shocked Caitlin’s brain back into action. ‘No, you won’t.’ Inspiration struck. She snatched her car keys from the table where she’d dropped them earlier and slapped them into David’s hand. ‘You go and get Dad. Confess to him what you’ve done to me.’

  ‘This is dangerous. Do you really want me to drive your car?’

  ‘The car won’t kill you! Dad might.’

  ‘You’d better give me some instructions,’ he advised.

  ‘I’ll certainly do that!’ Caitlin said with feeling.

  She followed him out, shutting the front door behind them before giving vent to pent-up passion. ‘How dare you? You were the one who insisted that any intimacy we had be kept absolutely secret because of your employer/employee relationship rule. Now, here you are, telling the world!’

  ‘Only your parents,’ he corrected.

  ‘That’s worse than telling the world!’

  ‘Your father’s coming home. Your mother wants him here. You’ve got what you wanted.’

  ‘And I pay for it!’ she yelled at him.

  ‘Someone has to,’ he suggested mildly. ‘It’s a fundamental law of nature.’

  ‘Why me?’

  ‘Because you are sensitive and care deeply about the things you care about. Because you have a lot of love bottled up inside you trying to get out. Because you want your father and mother to be happy. Because...’

  ‘Does it have to be this way?’ Caitlin groaned.

  ‘It is a solution, isn’t it? They’ll be reunited with a common purpose.’ He grinned at her. ‘Me!’

  ‘Did you have to do it like that?’ she wailed.

  ‘Blood is thicker than water.’ The grin grew wider. ‘You asked me to be spontaneous. I was being spontaneous.’

  Before Caitlin could think of a suitable reply, she was in his arms, his mouth had found hers, and the piercing ache of desire she always felt with him had descended upon her. His tongue found hers to incite and inflame and arouse. She moaned and responded, helplessly, hopelessly, cravenly wanting to blot out everything else that had happened today.

  His head lifted away from hers. His fingers stroked down her hair and cheek. She could see the passion in his eyes.

  ‘It’s best when it’s spontaneous.’

  It left Caitlin speechless.

  The big man climbed into her little bubble car. ‘Don’t worry about a thing, Caitlin. I’ll be back.’

  She watched him drive away. There was only one thing she was sure of. She hadn’t got rid of David Hartley. Not from her head. Not from her heart. Not from her life.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  WHERE were they?

  Caitlin tried to crush the rising tide of panic that threatened to overwhelm her. Hours had passed. The first guests were due to arrive soon. David and her father should have been back long ago. Neither had arrived!

  She had everything on track as far as the party was concerned. It had been action stations the moment she had come inside after seeing David off on his mission. She had rung Michelle to let her know that everything was going ahead. She had whisked her mother off to the hairdresser, insisting that she deserved to be pampered. She had made trays of hors d’oeuvres. Everything else for the sit-down celebratory dinner had been prepared beforehand.

  Caitlin had expected her father and David to be home before her mother returned from the hairdresser. They weren’t. She had bustled her mother into the bedroom to get dressed, doing her utmost to ignore a twinge of alarm. They couldn’t possibly have had an accident. There had to be another explanation.

  Michelle turned up with the pumpkin soup in a crock-pot, and all the ingredients for the smoked salmon and salad entrée in plastic containers. She wore a smile of supreme satisfaction that ordin
arily would have made Caitlin very suspicious. In latter years, Michelle had begun to remind Caitlin of a Siamese cat. She was tall, slender, and moved with a slow, supple, feline grace. The blue eyes she had inherited from their mother and her short, sleek, ash-blonde hairstyle seemed to add to the effect.

  Caitlin, however, had no time for suspicion at the present moment. The meat had to be put in the ovens, vegetables for the main course designated to various pots and pans, and plates stacked in the handiest places for serving. Above and beyond her concentration on practicalities, was a cloud of simmering apprehension.

  The impulse to telephone The Last Retreat to garner what information she could was almost becoming an obsessive need. Had David arrived at the lodge? If not, what had happened to her beautiful little bubble car? She did not wish to dwell on what might have happened to David.

  Yet if her mother discovered her making enquiries as to her father’s whereabouts, everything could blow apart again. The newly found need for her father to deal with problems her mother couldn’t deal with herself, so strongly evoked by Caitlin’s fall from grace, could easily flounder.

  ‘Where’s Dad?’ Michelle asked casually, apparently without a care in the world.

  ‘Busy,’ Caitlin replied abruptly, attempting to put an end to this line of questioning as quickly as possible.

  ‘I’ll bet he doesn’t turn up,’ Michelle said. ‘He’ll leave Mummy to fend for herself and be humiliated in front of everyone.’

  ‘No, he won’t,’ Caitlin insisted. ‘He’s not like that.’

  ‘At least Mummy had the good sense to keep control of the money.’

  ‘She’s always done that. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill, Michelle.’

  Caitlin was beginning to feel more beleaguered by the minute. She wished she could use the phone. Perhaps there had been an accident on the way back from the lodge and her father was lying helpless and injured by the road. Like Dobbin this morning.