The Passion Price

by Miranda Lee

  ‘Angelina, Angelina!’

  Angelina turned to find Wilomena running after her.

  ‘Sorry about the ruckus in there,’ Wilomena said on reaching her. ‘Don’t worry about it. Kevin will be fine later tonight. And yes, before you ask, we are sleeping together.’

  ‘I…I wasn’t going to ask.’

  Wilomena frowned. ‘No, you wouldn’t, would you? You’re not like other girls. It almost killed you to tell us what you told us in there, didn’t it? I mean, you’re not one to gossip, or to confide.’

  ‘No, I…I guess not.’ When you spent the amount of time she had spent alone, you lost the knack of confiding in other people. You tried to solve your problems yourself.

  ‘Look, I just wanted to say that I think you should go out with Jake, but without telling him about Alex. Aside from having a bit of long-overdue fun, you can go see where Jake lives, and how he lives. See what kind of man he is.’

  ‘But how did you…?’

  ‘Yeah, I know, you didn’t tell us he’d asked you out. But I didn’t come down in the last shower, honey, and I watched you two today. Both times. He asked you out all right and you said no, didn’t you?’

  ‘I haven’t actually given him an answer yet.’

  ‘What does he want you to do?’

  ‘Stay at his place when I go to Sydney for the expo next weekend.’

  ‘Wow. He’s a fast mover all right. It took Kevin two years to ask me out, then two months to get me in the sack.’

  ‘It took Jake about two minutes the first time,’ Angelina said drily.

  ‘Ooooh. That good, eh?’

  ‘His kisses were. The sex itself was not great. I froze, and he just went ahead.’

  ‘But you wouldn’t freeze this time,’ Wilomena said intuitively.

  Angelina stiffened. ‘I have no intention of finding out if I would or I wouldn’t. And I have no intention of staying at his place next weekend.’

  ‘But why not? I wouldn’t be able to resist, if it were me. The guy’s a hunk of the first order.’

  Angelina didn’t need to be told that. Jake, the man, had even more sex appeal than Jake, the bad boy. And he’d had oodles.

  ‘If it was anyone other than Alex’s father, I would.’

  ‘If it was anyone other than Alex’s father, you wouldn’t want to,’ Wilomena said. ‘I’ve known girls like you before, Angelina. You’re a one-man woman. And he’s the man.’

  ‘That’s romantic nonsense!’

  ‘Is it?’ Wilomena probed softly.

  ‘Yes,’ Angelina said stubbornly whilst secretly thinking that Wilomena could be right. Why else hadn’t she accepted dates with other men? It wasn’t as though she hadn’t been asked. She couldn’t even claim to be protecting Alex any more, now that he was at boarding school most of the time.

  Wilomena shrugged. ‘Have it your way. So, you’re really not going to see Jake next weekend? Not at all?’

  ‘I…I might go to lunch with him.’

  The look on Wilomena’s face was telling.

  ‘Just lunch!’ Angelina insisted. ‘As you yourself said, I need to find out some more about him.’

  ‘Sounds like an excuse to gaze at him some more.’

  ‘I didn’t gaze at him today. I was just shocked at how much he looks like Alex.’

  ‘Who do you think you’re kidding?’

  Angelina groaned. ‘I did stare, didn’t I?’

  ‘Don’t beat yourself up over it. The man was worth a stare. I ogled myself. So did every other woman in the place.’

  ‘Which is why I can’t risk being alone with him again. The man’s a right devil where women are concerned. He always was.’

  ‘Mmm. But aren’t you curious over what it would be like with him now? I mean, he’s sure to be very good in the sack. If what you say about him is true, he’s had plenty of practice.’

  ‘Too much practice. No, I’m not curious about his lovemaking abilities,’ she lied. ‘Only about his character and whether he’s going to be good for Alex.’

  ‘You know, Angelina, you’re a woman as well as a mother. Do you ever think of your own needs?’

  ‘Yes, of course I do.’

  ‘But I’ve never known you to go out on a date. Not during the time I’ve worked here, anyway.’

  ‘Dating is seriously overrated. And so is sex.’

  ‘Don’t knock it till you try it.’

  Angelina flushed. ‘Who says I haven’t?’

  ‘I have eyes, honey. And ears. If you’d slept with someone around here, I’d know about it. Look, your father’s gone now and Alex is almost grown up. Time for you to live a little.’

  ‘Maybe. But not with Jake.’ I’d probably fall in love with him again and then where would I be?

  ‘Yeah, perhaps you’re right. If you slept with him, it could be awkward once he finds out about Alex. He might think you were trying to trap him into marriage.’

  ‘I’d be more concerned over what Alex thought.’

  ‘I dare say you would. You’re a very good mother, Angelina. You put me to shame sometimes.’

  ‘Nonsense. You’re a great mother.’

  ‘I try to be. Talking of kids, I have to go and ring mine. See what the little devils are up to.’

  ‘And I have to ring Alex and see how he did at cricket today.’

  ‘Being a mother just never stops, does it?’ And with a parting grin, Wilomena hurried off.

  Angelina sighed and made her way down the rest of the path and through the covered archway that provided protection for arriving guests. A green Jaguar was parked there, with a middle-aged couple inside booking in. Angelina slipped through a side-gate just past Reception that led into a private courtyard attached to the manager’s quarters, a spacious two-bedroomed unit with an en suite to the main.

  She and Alex had moved in there two years ago after Angelina had started doing night shifts at the reception desk. The excuse she’d used for the move was that the old farmhouse where they’d been living, and where she’d been born and brought up, was a couple of hundred metres away, far too long a walk for her at night. Or so she had told her father. Papa had not been happy with their move at first, but he’d got used to it. Besides, when Alex came home on holiday, he’d often stayed with his grandfather in his old room.

  Angelina rarely ventured back there, the house not having all that many good memories for her. She’d been a lonely child living there, and an even lonelier single mother. She much preferred her memoryless apartment with its fresh cream walls, cream floor coverings and all mod cons. She liked the modern furniture too, having never been fond of the heavy and ornate furniture her father had preferred. Now that her father was gone, Arnold was living in the old farmhouse, free accommodation being part of his contract as Ambrosia’s wine-maker.

  Of course, Alex hadn’t liked that at all, having someone else living in his grandfather’s house. But that was just too bad.

  Another sigh escaped Angelina’s lips as she let herself in the front door. What a day it had been so far. And it wasn’t over yet.

  She moved straight across the cream carpet to the side-table where she kept the phone, sitting down on the green and cream checked sofa and calling Alex on his cellphone. He should have finished playing cricket by now.

  ‘Yes, Mum,’ he answered after the second ring.

  ‘You lost,’ she said, knowing that tone of voice.

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ he grumped.

  ‘Never mind. You’ll wallop them at the swimming carnival.’

  ‘We’d better. They’ll be insufferable if they win that, too.’

  Alex had a killer competitive instinct. He was the one who would be insufferable.

  ‘So how’s things up there?’ he asked.

  ‘Everything’s fine. Arnold sold his place today.’ And your father showed up out of the blue.

  Alex groaned. ‘Does that mean we’re stuck with him forever?’

  ‘Alex, I’m not sure what your pro
blem is with Arnold. He’s a really nice man. You could learn a lot from him. Your grandfather said he was brilliant with whites. You know Papa was not at his best with whites. He was more of a red man. But no, we’re not stuck with him forever. He said he’s going to buy a little place over in Port Stephens with what he gets for his place, with enough left over for his retirement. He’s well aware how keen you are to take over and is more than willing to stand aside when you feel ready to take on the job of wine-maker.’

  ‘Good. Because I intend to do just that as soon as I finish my higher-school certificate.’

  A prickle ran down Angelina’s spine. He sounded like Jake had today. So strong and so determined.

  ‘I won’t stand in your way, Alex,’ she said. ‘This place is your inheritance, and the job of wine-maker is your right.’

  ‘And I’m going to find my father, too. Not in November. I can’t wait that long. I’m going to start next holidays. At Easter.’

  Angelina grimaced. Easter! That was only a few weeks away. Still, maybe it was for the best. She couldn’t stand the tension of such a long wait herself.

  ‘All right, Alex. You’ll get no further argument from me on that score. Come Easter, we’ll go find your father.’

  ‘Honest?’ Alex sounded amazed. ‘You’re not going to make a fuss?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Cool. You’re the best, Mum.’

  ‘Mmm.’

  ‘Got to go. The dinner bell’s gone. Love ya.’

  ‘Love you, too,’ she replied, but he’d already hung up.

  Tears filled her eyes as she hung up too.

  ‘Lord knows what you’re crying over, Angelina,’ she muttered. ‘Things could be worse, as Arnold said.’

  But she wasn’t entirely convinced.

  CHAPTER SIX

  JAKE paced back and forth across his living room, unable to eat, unable to sit and watch television or work or do any of the other activities that usually filled his alone-time.

  The sleek, round, silver-framed clock on the wall pronounced that it was getting on for half-past eight. He’d dropped Dorothy off at her place in Rose Bay at seven-thirty, an hour earlier. The drive back from the Hunter Valley had taken a lot longer than the drive up. They’d been caught up in the Saturday-night traffic coming into the city, slowing to a crawl near the Harbour Bridge.

  ‘I won’t miss this when I move to the country,’ Dorothy had declared impatiently, which had rather amused Jake at the time. She should see how bad the traffic was in peak hours on a weekday. If there was an accident on the bridge, or in the tunnel, the lines of traffic didn’t crawl. They just stopped.

  But that was city living for you.

  Jake had declined Dorothy’s invitation to come in for a bite to eat, and now here he was, unfed and unable to relax, becoming increasingly agitated and angry. With himself.

  He’d handled Angelina all wrong today. He’d come on to her way too strong, and way too fast. That might work with city babes in wine bars on a Friday night, but not girls like Angelina. Even when she was fifteen, she hadn’t been easy. She’d made him wait, forcing him to make endless small talk that summer before finally agreeing to meet him alone.

  He could see now that her still being attracted to him in a physical sense wasn’t enough for her to drop her current boyfriend and go out with him. She claimed she was a modern woman who’d been around, but he suspected—like Dorothy—that Angelina was not as sophisticated as she thought she was. She had an old-fashioned core.

  She was going to say no when he finally rang her. Nothing was surer in his mind. And the prospect was killing him.

  He had to change his tactics. Hell, he was a smart guy, wasn’t he? A lawyer. Changing tactics midstream came naturally to him.

  Go back to square one, Jake. Chat her up some more. Show her your warm and sensitive side. You have to have one. Edward said you did. Then you might stand a chance of winning, if not her heart, then her body.

  And don’t wait till tomorrow night to call. Do it now. Right now, buddy, whilst she can still remember how it felt today when you touched her hand, and looked deep into her eyes and talked about spending a whole weekend together.

  If it was even remotely what you felt—what you are still feeling—then she has to be tempted.

  Jake’s hand was unsteady as he took out his wallet and extracted the card where she’d written down her telephone numbers. He had it bad all right. It had been a long time since he’d felt this desperate over a woman. Damn it all, he’d never felt this desperate before!

  Except perhaps that summer sixteen years ago. He’d been desperate for Angelina back then too. No wonder he’d been hopeless by the time he’d actually done it with her.

  Jake craved the opportunity to show her he wasn’t a hopeless lover now.

  But first, he had to get her to say yes to seeing him again. Even lunch would do. She’d said she might go to lunch with him. It wasn’t quite what he had in mind but it was a start.

  He dragged in several deep breaths as he walked over to sweep up the receiver of his phone. His hand was only marginally steadier as he punched in her number but he consoled himself with the fact she could not see it shake.

  As long as he sounded calm. And sincere. That was all that mattered.

  Angelina was sitting on the sofa and painting her toenails, her right foot propped up on the glass coffee-table, when the phone rang. The brush immediately zigzagged across her second toe onto her big toe, leaving a long streak of plum nail-polish on her skin.

  The swear-word she uttered was not one she would have used if Alex had been home. Or if her father had been alive.

  By the time she replaced the brush in the bottle, poured some remover on a cotton-wool ball and wiped off the wayward polish, then leant over to snatch up the phone from the nearby side-table, it had been ringing for quite a while.

  ‘Yes?’ she answered sharply. She hoped it wasn’t Wilomena with more advice. She was all adviced out. Besides, she’d already made up her mind what she was going to say to Jake when he finally rang.

  ‘Angelina? It’s Jake. Have I rung at an awkward moment?’

  Jake. It was Jake!

  ‘You weren’t supposed to ring till later in the week,’ she snapped, hating it that just the sound of his voice could make her stomach go all squishy.

  ‘I couldn’t wait till then to apologise,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t have been able to sleep tonight.’

  ‘Apologise for what?’ Her voice was still sharp.

  His, however, was soft and seductive.

  ‘I was out of line today.’

  ‘Were you really?’ Now her tone was dry, and sarcastic.

  No way was she going to be all sweetness and light. She was still seriously annoyed with him for turning up in her life at this particular point in time and making her make difficult decisions.

  ‘I was pushy and presumptuous, as you said. My only excuse is that I didn’t want to let you get away from me a second time. I really liked you sixteen years ago, Angelina, but I like the woman you’ve become even better.’

  She laughed. ‘Wow, you’ve really become the master of the polished line, haven’t you? But you can save the flattery for another occasion, Jake. I’ve already decided to have lunch with you on Saturday.’

  The dead silence on the other end of the line gave Angelina some satisfaction that she’d been able to knock him speechless. Unfortunately, now that she’d voiced her decision out loud to him, the reality of it shook her right down to her half-painted toes.

  But the die had been rolled. No going back.

  ‘Great!’ he said, sounding much too happy for her liking. ‘I’m already looking forward to it. But does—er—Alex know?’

  ‘I spoke to him earlier this evening. We talked about you.’

  ‘What did you say? I’ll bet you didn’t tell him how we first met.’

  ‘Alex already knows all about you, Jake. There are no secrets between us.’

  ‘And he agreed to
your going to lunch with me?’

  ‘Why should he object to a platonic lunch between old friends?’

  ‘Old flames, Angelina. Not old friends.’

  ‘Whatever. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then, Jake.’

  ‘I’ll bet you didn’t tell him everything I said to you today.’

  What could she say to that?

  ‘You didn’t, did you?’ Jake continued when she remained silent. ‘No man—not even your pathetic Alex—would willingly let his girlfriend go to lunch with another man who’d declared his wish to make her his woman.’

  Angelina could not believe the passion in Jake’s words. And the power. How easy it would be to forget all common sense and tell him that she had changed her mind, that she would not only go to lunch with him on Saturday, but she would also stay at his place on the Saturday night.

  Dear heaven, she was going to make a fool of herself with him again. Or she might, if she went to lunch with him on Saturday as things stood. If he could do this to her over the phone, what could he do to her when she was alone with him in the big bad city?

  She had to tell him about Alex. Right here and now. It was the only way she could protect herself against her susceptibility to this man.

  ‘Jake, there’s something I have to tell you,’ she began, then stopped as she struggled for the right words. He was going to be shocked out of his mind. And furious with her for playing word games with him. How she could possibly explain why she’d done such a thing? She was going to look a fool, no matter what she said, or did.

  ‘Alex doesn’t know you’re going to lunch with me at all, does he?’ Jake jumped in.

  ‘Er—no. He doesn’t.’

  ‘You realise what that means, Angelina. You’re finished with him, whether you admit it or not. You’re not the sort of girl to two-time a guy.’

  ‘I don’t consider lunch a two-timing act,’ she argued, panicking at the way this conversation was now going. Instead of finding sanctuary in the truth, she was getting in deeper. And deeper.