His seeming lack of reaction and uninterested tone convinced her she had imagined that fleeting glimpse of pain, and she mocked herself derisively for being a gullible fool.
‘Well, you did make it memorable,’ she said with equal indifference. ‘I have to give credit where credit is due.’
A wash of colour darkened the ridge of his cheekbones and, sensing her advantage, Georgia lunged onwards.
‘I remember it well. Don’t they say a woman never forgets her first lover? But I suppose it’s different for a man. With all the women who have come after me you’ve most probably forgotten.’ Georgia could only be amazed at her outward calm.
‘I remember, Georgia,’ he said in a low voice, as though his throat hurt.
‘You do? I’m impressed,’ she jeered. ‘Should I be flattered, hmm?’
Jarrod held up his hands. ‘That’s enough, Georgia, don’t you think?’
‘We’re adults, Jarrod, aren’t we? We enjoyed each other. What’s more natural than that?’
‘It wasn’t like that.’
‘Like what?’
‘The way you’re implying.’
‘Wasn’t it?’
‘All right, Georgia. I don’t need this moment of nostalgia right now,’ he snapped brutally.
Georgia knew she had invited his cruelty, yet still her hurt drove her. ‘Oh? Why not?’
‘Because I don’t.’ His words were slivers of ice.
‘Surely you’re not embarrassed at being reminded of our rolls in the hay? Or should I say romps in the dry grass?’
Jarrod shoved his hands back into his pockets. ‘Don’t cheapen it, Georgia,’ he said, and there was something in his tone that for a moment bothered her, but she refused to analyse it.
‘I may be easy but I’m not cheap.’ The saying rolled mockingly from her lips.
‘Suppose we just drop this now?’
‘You are embarrassed.’ Her laugh didn’t ring completely true in her ears and she swallowed as her heartbeats seemed to increase agitatedly. But Jarrod had turned away to leave her and her anger reintensified. ‘Or is it something else?’
He stopped then, his back to her for long seconds before he slowly turned to face her again.
‘Guilt, perhaps?’ Georgia knew as soon as the words were out that she had gone too far and she stepped backwards, coming up against the chair.
‘Are you intent on getting your pound of flesh, Georgia?’ he ground out wryly. ‘That’s what this is all about, I take it?’
‘Maybe it’s just the truth.’ Her voice held a little less conviction.
‘Guilt!’ he repeated, and laughed harshly as his hands reached out, grasped her arms, his fingers bruising the soft skin where they held her. ‘So you think I feel guilty? You don’t know the half of it, you little fool.’
‘Jarrod, you’re hurting me.’ She tried to twist out of his grip but he held her fast, continuing as though he hadn’t heard her speak.
‘I know what you’re trying to do, Georgia. You’ve been spoiling for it since I came back. But, believe me, it’s not going to work. If you want revenge, believe me, you’ve had it. I’ve more than settled the account for what I did. And I don’t intend to pay any more-not by having you goad me, anyway.’
While he spoke his hands on her arms relaxed a little and, as though against his will, his fingers slid downwards, now unconsciously caressing, and the sensations he created in her had her trembling, her fear of his anger forgotten. That long-dormant, well-remembered glow he’d already fanned that afternoon began to grow again inside her.
She must have made some sound for he glanced sharply down at her.
‘For pity’s sake, Georgia. Don’t play your sexy games with me any more,’ he said hoarsely.
Georgia’s lips parted with involuntary provocation and her tongue-tip moistened her dry mouth.
Jarrod’s blue eyes, dark and stormy, were locked on her lips, as though he was committing their quivering shape to memory.
Now her whole body was coming alive, each nerve-ending aroused, every sense tuned to his nearness, the never-forgotten fire beginning to thaw her, to warm, to flare, to rage through her. She lifted her hand to rest it gently along his jaw, moved her fingers to trace the outline of his mouth.
His body was rigid, and for a fragment of a second she thought she felt his lips move urgently against her palm. Then he had thrust her roughly from him.
‘Leave it, Georgia, for both our sakes. Unless you want to take the consequences.’ He drew a ragged breath and Georgia reached shakily for the support of the back of the chair.
His words cut through her and the old wounds bled, transporting her agonisingly back in time. She was that naive, trusting, so-in-love nineteen-year-old again.
‘Jarrod, please…’ The appeal came from her heart.
‘Georgia.’ He closed his eyes, his face drawn. He raked his hand agitatedly through his hair and she saw the unsteadiness of it.
‘Don’t you want me, Jarrod?’ She imagined she’d only thought the words but she must have voiced them, for he looked at her with haunted, hungry eyes.
‘Want you?’ His lips twisted with self-derisive contempt. ‘Oh, yes, I want you, Georgia. That’s one of the perverted jokes of my life.’ The muscles in his hroat worked and his eyes flinched as he looked down at her. ‘I’ll go on wanting you with every breath, till the day I die.’
CHAPTER TEN
IN RETROSPECT Georgia wouldn’t be able to believe she’d actually gone back out on the stage that night, but she did. She managed to perform another half-dozen songs before the show drew to a close.
After his tortured admission Jarrod turned and left her alone in the dressing room. She stood transfixed, her eyes on the space where he’d been standing, and she would have sworn that her heartbeats had ceased altogether. She hung in limbo for indeterminate, unforgettable seconds.
Jarrod had admitted he wanted her. Still wanted her. Dear Lord, she groaned inwardly. And she still wanted him. So desperately.
Then reaction set in. Her senses soared and just as suddenly sank. There was something dreadfully wrong. If he still had some feeling for her then why weren’t they at this moment locked in each other’s arms, finding the rapture they’d once known? Why?
Wasn’t he aware of the effect he still had on her? He must be. For all her antagonism towards him, he only had to touch her physically and she melted into him. He must have felt it too.
Her lips twisted as pain gripped her. So it appeared he’d turned his back on her again. What was it about her that could inspire a fiery desire and a cold rejection at one and the same time? It wasn’t her fault, she told herself. Was she forgetting what had happened that night?
She stood aching with hurt and confusion. If she hadn’t forgiven him, how could she feel the way she did about him now? Then through the daze of bewilderment her subconscious recognised the sound of Country Blues playing the last song of the last set of numbers. She had to go back on stage. Lockie would reintroduce her and she had to be there, ready and waiting in the wings.
And somehow she was. She went through the motions of singing, the lyrics coming naturally, while her heart thudded painfully in her chest and her mind tossed over that dreadful scene. For when she’d stepped back into the spotlight the first face she’d seen in the audience had been Jarrod’s.
She had assumed he would have left. It hadn’t even occurred to her that he would stay for the rest of the show. But he sat the never-ending evening out.
Now, thankfully, it was over. People had gone and Georgia had escaped back to her dressing room, her body shivering as she imagined that she could sense Jarrod’s presence still filling the small room.
Clumsily she stepped out of the blue dress and donned the loose black trousers and white blouse she’d worn up to the club. Then she removed her make-up, applying only a light moisturiser and just a touch of lipstick.
Her face looked pale after the severity of the stage makeup, wan and lifeless, e
xcept for two spots of high colour in her cheeks. She felt flushed and feverish and yearned desperately for bed and the oblivion of sleep.
No doubt Lockie would keep her waiting, and she had the beginnings of a headache, her stomach feeling decidedly fluttery.
When she entered the main entertainment room only Lockie and Andy were there. Evan and Ken had gone, and thankfully there was no sign of Jarrod.
‘Georgia. At last.’ Lockie caught sight of her and beckoned her over. ‘We’ve been waiting for you. We want to make tracks,’ he said, ‘if we’re taking in this party.’
Georgia turned her amazed gaze on her brother. ‘You can’t be serious, Lockie.’ She glanced at her wrist-watch. ‘What party?’
‘We met a group from one of our old gigs and they invited us to go along,’ Lockie explained.
‘The night’s young, Georgia.’ Andy grinned. ‘Or should I say morning.’
‘Well, I’ve got no intention of going to any party. I’m really tired.’ She frowned at her brother. ‘I wouldn’t last the distance, I’m afraid. I’ll take a taxi home.’
‘I wonder if Jarrod wants to come?’ Lockie looked around. ‘Where is he?’
‘Speak of the devil,’ Andy muttered, and Georgia turned slightly to face the tall, broad-shouldered man striding across to join them.
‘Are you ready to go?’ he asked, his eyes flicking expressionlessly over Georgia before going back to Lockie.
Georgia could hear a strange ringing in her ears. This was a nightmare. The silence seemed to stretch, grow, echo loudly in the empty room. Did he expect—?
‘How about you, Jarrod? Are you coming to the party?’ Lockie asked, and Jarrod shook his head.
‘At this time of night? I don’t think so.’
‘You’re getting old, mate,’ Andy teased. ‘We have it on good authority that there will be a stack of good-looking birds there, and you’re fancy-free, aren’t you?’
Georgia did glance at Jarrod then, and his jaw was set, his face as though it were carved from stone, showing not a flicker of the amusement that Andy might have expected.
‘I suppose I am,’ he replied carefully. ‘But I’ll have to give it a miss tonight.’
‘Then you can give Georgia a lift home,’ said Lockie blandly.
‘Ah!’ Andy put his finger to his nose in an exaggerated pose of sudden revelation. ‘I see.’
‘I’m sure you do,’ Jarrod said drily.
Georgia was frozen, quite beyond feeling, as she looked across at him.
He gave a crooked smile and, taking her arm, he headed her towards the door. ‘We’ll see you later. Have a good time.’
‘I’m sorry about that.’ Georgia eventually made herself speak. They had been travelling in silence and were about halfway home when she finally had control of herself enough to volunteer her apology for Andy’s lack of tact. ‘Andy can be something of a joker.’
‘It doesn’t matter.’ Jarrod’s voice mirrored his lack of interest and he drove on in that same heavy silence, accelerating their speed a little, as though he was in a hurry to be home.
And shot of her, Georgia mused wryly. After her behaviour in the dressing room who could blame him? she had to concede.
‘I’m sorry about before, too,’ she began, and he frowned.
‘For what?’
‘For baiting you. Earlier, in my dressing room.’
‘Forget it, Georgia,’ he said wearily.
She couldn’t, she wanted to cry out. She couldn’t forget it, not the last bit anyway.
‘I behaved abominably.’
‘Look, Georgia, let’s not hold a post-mortem. Shall we simply say we both got a little het up and overreacted?’
‘But—’
‘Georgia, I’m tired. And so are you. Let’s just get home and forget the whole evening. I already have.’
And had he forgotten so effortlessly what he’d said? ‘I want you, Georgia.’ Looking at his set profile, the way his hands gripped the steering wheel, feeling the tension emanating from him, Georgia rather doubted it would be that easy for either of them to pretend that that emotion-charged scene had never happened. They’d have to talk about it if they were going to see as much of each other as they had been doing. The dull throb at Georgia’s temples grew more intense, and she was as relieved as he most definitely was to see the lights of home.
* * *
Two days later Georgia received a telephone call at work and she hurried to answer it. Who could it be? The family knew she wasn’t suppose to have private calls unless it was an emergency. Her heart skipped a beat with dread. What could have happened? She swallowed nervously. ‘Hello?’
‘Georgia. It’s me, Andy. Now don’t panic.’
‘Andy, what is it?’ Mr Johns, the manager of the bookshop, was frowning at Georgia across the workroom, and she lowered her head.
‘We’ve had a bit of a—well…’ Andy paused. ‘Something’s happened.’
‘What? It’s not my father, is it?’ She gripped the receiver tensely.
‘No, he’s fine,’ Andy reassured her quickly. ‘It’s the house. We’ve had a fire and—’
‘A fire?’ Georgia repeated, oblivious now of the interested faces of her workmates. ‘You mean the house has burned down?’
‘No. Nothing like that. Just the kitchen bit.’
‘The kitchen…Andy, you’d better start at the beginning.’
‘It’s all under control now,’ Andy placated her. ‘I mean, I’m ringing from the house, so that should prove it’s not all that bad. But do you think you could come home, Georgia? Lockie’s running around like a stunned mullet, being a bit ineffectual, or, at least, he was until Jarrod arrived and took charge.’
‘Jarrod’s there?’ Georgia repeated faintly. Not again. Was he always going to be coming to their rescue?
‘He was. He heard the sirens and came over. But he should be at the bookshop any minute now. He’s going to drive you home.’
Georgia groaned. ‘Oh, Andy. Why did you bother him? Why couldn’t Lockie come?’
‘Are you kidding, Georgia? He’s a genius with music but as a fearless firefighter even he’d be the first to admit he leaves a lot to be desired. I wouldn’t exactly trust him to drive just yet.’ Andy chuckled. ‘As a matter of fact I was coming to get you, but Jarrod insisted he bring you home.’
Was there a question in Andy’s tone? ‘Much more and I’ll have to pay him award rates for chauffeuring,’ Georgia muttered, and he laughed.
‘True. What a pity he’s your cousin, Georgia. I’d say there’d be women who’d kill to be chauffeured anywhere by him. You girls go for those rugged good looks, don’t you?’
‘You’re telling the story, Andy,’ Georgia quipped drily, and looked up to see Jarrod talking to Mr Johns, while the female assistants seemed unable to take their eyes off their visitor. ‘Jarrod’s here now, Andy, so I’d better go. See you soon.’ She hung up and hurried across the room.
‘Mr Johns, I’m sorry I-’ she began apologetically.
‘Now don’t you worry, Miss Grayson.’ He waved his hand grandly. ‘Mr Maclean has explained the situation to me and of course you must go home and lend a hand. I trust all will be as well as can be expected.’
‘That’s very kind of you, Mr Johns. I’ll make up the time off,’ Georgia assured him, but he brushed that aside with very unusual good humour.
‘Don’t give that a thought, Miss Grayson. We’ll see you tomorrow unless we hear to the contrary.’
‘Thank you.’ Georgia’s eyes flicked to Jarrod and away again.
‘No need to thank me. Now, off you go. Don’t keep Mr Maclean waiting.’
Georgia hurried off to get her bag and returned to follow Jarrod out through the shop.
‘Georgia?’ Jodie’s voice from behind a shelf halted her. ‘Sorry to hear about the fire. I hope there’s not too much damage done.’ Jodie’s eyes were on the man standing beside Georgia and Georgia was forced to make the introductions.
�
��Jodie, this is my cousin, Jarrod Maclean. Jarrod, meet Jodie Craig.’
‘Hi!’ Jodie held out her hand and smiled broadly. ‘I’m glad you’re not my cousin,’ she added outrageously, and Jarrod laughed. ‘How come you’ve kept him such a secret, Georgia?’
‘I’ve been overseas,’ Jarrod told her easily, his eyes dancing.
‘Then welcome back.’ Jodie wasn’t trying to conceal her interest and Georgia managed to find her voice.
‘Shouldn’t we be going, Jarrod?’ she said somewhat sharply, and felt herself flush as Jodie’s smile widened knowingly.
‘I get the message, Georgia.’ She grimaced good-naturedly. ‘See you tomorrow. And nice to have met you, Jarrod.’
They continued out to the car and Georgia forced herself to put Jodie and her comments out of her mind. ‘How bad is it?’ she asked as Jarrod set the car in motion.
‘Not too bad. It could have been disastrous, though, if Andy hadn’t acted so quickly.’
‘Is Lockie all right?’
Jarrod laughed softly, the sound running over Georgia like a feather’s touch, teasing her senses. ‘Sure. Just a trifle bewildered.’
‘Do they know what happened?’
‘Faulty wiring in the kitchen, they think. Andy and Lockie were downstairs and smelled the smoke. They found the wall at the back of the kitchen ablaze.’
Georgia closed her eyes. What if no one had been at home?
‘The fire brigade was on the scene pretty quickly but even so the back of the house was well alight by the time they arrived. Fortunately they were able to contain the fire in that section but there’s some water damage to the bedrooms on the right side of the house.’
Georgia rubbed her eyes tiredly. What more could happen? And why had it all started with Jarrod’s return?
‘We can be thankful there was no wind today,’ he said, and shot a glance at her pale face. ‘It’s not too drastic, Georgia. It can be repaired.’
She nodded. ‘It’s not…It’s just that everything seems to be happening at once at the moment-going wrong. This trouble with Morgan, Lockie and Mandy, and-’ She stopped.
‘And?’ he queried.
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