by Robyn Donald
Aura laughed. ‘And now you have.’
‘And now I have,’ he said slowly, and laughed too. ‘I think I knew even when we got engaged that you weren’t in love with me, although you loved me. It was pride and bloody-mindedness that made me so obstinate.’
‘You’re too hard on yourself.’
‘I’m not a fast learner, but eventually I get there,’ he said, but absently, and with his eyes fixed above Aura’s head on someone approaching.
The familiar sizzle in her nerves warned Aura of Flint’s arrival. She turned her head and smiled, letting him see that she wasn’t in the least worried by the encounter. Something dangerous in the golden eyes faded.
He looked across at the man who had once been his best friend. ‘Paul,’ he said, his voice giving nothing away.
Paul’s smile was twisted but he held out his hand. ‘It’s good to see you, Flint,’ he said, and there was no mistaking the sincerity in his voice.
They shook hands, and Aura relaxed. It was going to be all right.
Much later that night, when everyone had gone and they were back in their bedroom overlooking the silent river and the Sandspit and their glimpse of Kawau Island across the bay, she said demurely, ‘Well, I think that was a success, don’t you?’
He laughed, and kissed the back of her neck. ‘Don’t fish. It was a magnificent success, and you were perfect. Darling, you tied my life up with a big ribbon when you married me.’
‘Well, at least no one is going to forget Southern Red in a hurry,’ she said, smiling at their reflections in the mirror.
‘Oh, we’re properly on the map. And next year the vintage is going to be even better. I like your idea of founding a dynasty. How many children does it take to found one?’
‘Well, Andy tells me he’s going to be a grader driver, so we’ll have to do without him. I think we should budget for a couple of extras,’ she said soberly, ‘just in case Sophie decides not to become a winegrower.’
He flung his head back and laughed, his strong arms hugging her against him. Aura’s eyes glimmered greenly beneath half-closed lids. They had such a good life, she and her love; she had never known that happiness could swell up inside you and colour the world.
She turned and kissed him, then slid free. ‘Do you think you and Paul will ever be real friends again?’
‘I hope so.’ He dropped cufflinks on to the dressing-table.
‘I’m glad he came,’ she said, sliding the pearls from her ears and putting them carefully away in their box. ‘He’s been on my conscience.’
‘Mine, too.’ His eyes gleamed, little flames licking up through their translucence, setting fire to every cell in her body. ‘Did I tell you that wherever you walked tonight people stopped talking and watched you? And every man’s face had the same look—awe and envy.’
‘You might have muttered something like that,’ she said, smiling, ‘but you can always tell me again. Not that I care about any other man but you.’
‘I know. And I can’t tell you how that makes me feel,’ he said. ‘Like the luckiest man in the world.’
Her eyes misted. ‘You got more than your share of looks,’ she said. ‘Women go all wobbly and weak-kneed when you smile that tiger’s smile at them. And I distinctly heard Jess groan when you kissed her.’
‘Sam should take her in hand,’ he said, but absently. ‘You know, I’ve spent all evening wondering about that dress. Hold out your hand.’
She did so, and he slowly began to undo the little buttons at her wrist. While his deft fingers moved across the pale material he told her what he planned to do when he had taken the exquisite thing from her, his words explicit yet tender, so that when at last he pulled it over her head and she was standing there in silk briefs and stockings and her shoes, she was blushing all over.
‘If Paul had never spoken to me for the rest of my life,’ he said, eyes glittering like jewels, ‘it would be worth it. You are my world now, you and the children. You’re all that’s worthwhile to me, all that I need, all that I hope for. I go to bed at night with you in my mind, and when I wake I think of you. I’ve never regretted what happened.’
She slid into his arms, hugging him fiercely, feeling the increasing speed of his heart, the little signs that revealed to her just how she was affecting him.
‘Neither have I,’ she said quietly. ‘It took me a long time to accept that if we hadn’t met before I married Paul it would have made no difference. Married or not, I love you, and I would have followed you without a backward glance. That’s what made me feel so guilty.’
‘Yes.’ He looked down at her face, his own hard and predatory. ‘Me, too. I’d have broken Paul’s marriage as easily as I broke his engagement. Without a qualm, throwing away a lifetime’s friendship, because you were my woman, not his.’ His voice roughened into a harsh purr. He bent and kissed the pulse that throbbed in the base of her throat. ‘Because I love you,’ he said against her skin. ‘Because you are my other half.’
‘Because we were meant for each other.’ He lifted her and carried her across to the bed, his face intent and purposeful, the dark fires of his love no longer threatening. As Aura drew him down to her, scanning his beloved face with slumbrous eyes, she smiled.