by Annie Seaton
“Whoa. Hold on there.” Angie took another deep breath and pushed back the unprofessional anger that threatened to bubble out into words she would later regret.
Pretend this is anyone but Liam. In fact, it wasn’t too hard. The Liam from London had been pale and his hair had been cropped short. She narrowed her gaze. He looked like he’d lost weight, too. His face was tanned now—she wouldn’t go so far as rugged—but he looked harder, as though he’d polished off the soft edges that too much drinking and smoking had given him.
Normally, when people got her dander up, she would pretend they were standing in their PJs and that helped her stay calm and professional. That wasn’t going to work now. Problem was, Liam didn’t wear PJs to bed, and that was a picture she certainly wasn’t about to conjure up. That would reduce her to a blubbering mess. Not a good look for the local vet.
“You brought Willow in.” She wasn’t going to refer to this sweet little pup who was looking up at her with soulful brown eyes as the dog. “So it’s your responsibility to take her back, and to pay the bill.”
“The bill is not an issue. I’m happy to pay it. But it’s—she’s—not my dog.” Liam waved his hand and glanced over as Cissy opened the door and slipped into the room “She was left on the road outside the farm, and I knew she was injured, so I brought her in to have her attended to. So…I’ll just leave her here.”
Angie shook her head, ignoring the mention of the farm. Why Liam was here and why he was on a farm in the Pilliga Scrub and wearing work clothes was a question she was not going to ask. She didn’t want to know anything. She didn’t need that angst in her now calm and settled life. “I’m sorry. That’s not how it works.” Her voice was brisk. “Cissy, let’s get this happening. Mr. Smythe—” She paused as the sounds of “Bohemian Rhapsody” came from Liam’s pocket. He pulled out the phone and glanced at the screen with a frown.
“Excuse me, I have to take this.”
Angie spoke quietly to Cissy but couldn’t help eavesdropping on Liam’s conversation, especially when his voice rose and he ran his hand through his hair.
“At the hospital? Having the baby?” He was quiet for a minute. “It can’t be coming yet, Lucy. It’s too early. Way too early.”
Curiosity pulled at Angie but she tried to remain professional. “Ready, Cissy?”
“How much? What does that mean?” This time they couldn’t ignore the distress in his voice. “Ten centimetres? What do you mean you’re about to give birth?” His voice rose, and Cissy and Angie exchanged a concerned look.
Liam disconnected the call and shoved the phone in his pocket. “I have to go. Lucy’s having the baby. Look, board the dog in your hospital room. I’ll come back later and sort the bill.” He pulled out his wallet and pulled out a hundred-dollar note. “That’s a deposit just so you don’t think I’m going to do a runner.”
Angie and Cissy were left holding the puppy as the door slammed behind him.
Chapter Three
“All she needs is to keep that leg still and let the tendons heal,” Angie said distractedly.
The green fangs of jealousy had taken a huge bite out of her heart. After they’d sedated Willow and put her in the small cage, Cissy placed her hand on Angie’s arm. At first, her heart had almost stopped beating as she imagined Liam with a wife and a child about to be born. Well, maybe not stopped, but it had given a damn good jump.
“It’s okay, Angie. Don’t worry, Lucy’s not that early. I was talking to her in the supermarket yesterday. She said she only had a couple of weeks to go.”
“You know Liam’s wife?” Angie forced the words out, as hard as it was to say Liam’s wife. That was an honour she had once thought would be reserved for her. It was like tasting sawdust. And yeah, hell would freeze over before that happened. He hadn’t loved her enough. What had happened to bring him out here to the outback, and to find a wife so quickly? And one who was having a baby? Right now, right this very instant, as she was standing looking at his cute little dog.
Despair fought with jealousy as Angie realised she couldn’t stay in Spring Downs. Not if Liam was settled here playing husband and daddy. She’d always had a rampant imagination, and her heart clenched as she imagined Liam nursing a newborn baby with a head of black hair and green eyes just like his. She frowned, maybe not. Hadn’t she read somewhere that all babies were born with blue eyes?
“Lucy’s not Liam’s wife.”
“Hmm.” Angie lifted her head and stared at Cissy. “What did you say?”
“I said Lucy isn’t Liam’s wife.” Cissy looked at her curiously.
“Not his wife?” Angie repeated slowly. “They’re not married?” Despair crept away a little bit.
“No, Lucy is Lucy Mackenzie, Liam’s cousin. They grew up here together. She’s married to Garth.” Cissy laughed and her words soothed Angie’s soul. “She and Liam lived out on their grandparents’ farm for a while, but Garth and Lucy got married last winter, and now the other two cousins are coming home, too. They all left for university and after their mothers were killed in a car accident in Europe, none of them had come home very often.”
“Sebastian and Jemima,” Angie said quietly. She should have remembered Lucy was Liam’s cousin, but the shock of hearing that phone call, and seeing his reaction about a baby being born, had delayed rational thinking for a few minutes and fired her imagination into overdrive.
Liam had often talked about his cousins. He’d told her about his mother and his aunts being killed in a car accident.
But why the hell was he home from London? Especially after that big promotion he’d gotten.
“I’d forgotten Liam had cousins.”
“Are you really okay, Angie? You’re pale again.” Cissy frowned as she followed Angie back into the front office.
“Yes. I’m fine. It was just a shock seeing Liam out here. Last I heard he was in London.” This time she was proud of how steady her voice was and it seemed to reassure Cissy. “And I was sure he’d stay there.”
“Liam’s been out on the family farm for most of this year. He’s been in a couple of times with the farm dogs. Just before Rod left for America.”
Angie shook her head. “We lost touch not long after I came back to Australia. I had no idea his family came from out this way. He never said.”
If she’d known, there was no way she would have bought the practice. Blast and damnation, in Liam Smythe’s hometown. What were the chances of that?
Cissy tidied up the waiting room, and after she went home to her family, Angie fed the other animals in the small hospital enclosure out the back. She played with Willow’s soft ears until the pup was settled and had drifted off to sleep, and then slipped off her lab coat, combed her hair and put on some lipstick.
Despite her intention of not getting involved, and of avoiding Liam, ten minutes later she was walking along the road toward the Spring Downs Cottage Hospital. It was mid spring and the cool westerly winds of winter had finally blown themselves out. The sky was deepening to a rich purple and indigo and the small clouds puffing above the western horizon were shot with gold. As the evening star glowed in the early evening sky, Angie closed her eyes and made a wish.
A wish that will never come true.
The hospital car park was almost empty. Two red dust-covered work utes sat side by side near the main office. She pushed open the door of the small building and took a deep breath.
Stupid, that’s what I am.
“Hello, Angie.” Helen Longmore, the front counter receptionist and owner of the cutest ragdoll cat called Sybil, greeted her as she crossed the reception area. “What can I do for you?”
Angie thought for a moment before she spoke. She’d already seen how gossip travelled in this small town, and she didn’t want the fact that she and Liam Smythe had been—had been what?—to get around.
Lovers? Live-ins? Almost engaged?
More like friends with benefits. She was the one who had read more into their relationship.
“Hi Helen. Um, I told Cissy I’d get a progress report on Lucy Mackenzie. She couldn’t come in and I said I’d swing by on my way home.” She crossed her fingers behind her back to make up for the little white lie.
Helen’s face settled into a sweet expression. “Why don’t you go and see for yourself? Lucy’s already back in the ward. Her family’s with her.”
“So no baby today?” God, she felt like she was a part of the family with all these personal questions.
“A sweet little boy. Seven pounds! Fastest labour we’ve had for a long time and a great weight for an early baby.”
“Oh, that’s lovely. I’ll let Cissy know everything is all right.”
The phone rang and Helen picked it up. Angie gave her a wave as she turned for the door.
“Angie. Wait!”
She closed her eyes as Liam’s voice reached her from the end of the corridor leading to the wards. Reluctantly, she stopped and waited for him to catch up.
“Did you come to make sure I didn’t dump the dog on you?” Liam reached for her arm but Angie pulled away and headed for the main door. He followed her as she opened the door and stepped out into the car park.
“No. I didn’t. I knew you’d come back.” Truth be known, she just couldn’t stay away from him, and disgust at her weakness curled in her stomach.
“So what did you want?” Liam’s eyes were shadowed in the dim light. Angie rummaged for her keys in her deep handbag; it was hard to see in the quickly fading light.
God, she was losing it. Her car wasn’t here. It was parked in her driveway where she left it every morning because she walked to work. The sun had slipped behind the horizon and the sky was almost dark. A lone white cockatoo flew over, its raucous squawk breaking the silence.
“I wanted to make sure Lucy was okay. And you seemed so worried before about Willow.”
God, that sounded weak. It would have been the last thing on his mind.
“Worried?” Liam stopped and gently took her arm.
Angie’s voice was quiet as she lifted her eyes to those deep green ones that she had once loved so much. “I came to tell you Willow—the dog—is okay. If you want, you can take her home tonight. I thought it might save you a trip back into town tomorrow. Cissy told me you live out at Prickle Creek at your grandparents’ farm.” She said the words as a statement and kept any sign of a question from her tone.
Liam ran his hand through his hair. “Ange?”
“What?” The diminutive of her name from his lips sent a shaft of longing through her, but she pushed it away.
“Look, this is crazy. Let’s go and grab a drink or a meal or something. I’m starving.”
“I…can’t.”
His gaze narrowed. “Don’t tell me your new man expects you to cook his dinner. You never cooked for me.”
“Don’t be an arse, Liam.”
“I’m sorry. Seeing you here has thrown me.”
You and me both, boyo. But his words, no matter how cutting, had given her a lifeline.
“No, I don’t have to cook because”—Angie tried to remember the name of Jenny’s boyfriend that week, the guy who had answered the phone the last time Liam had rung.
Greg? Gavin? Gareth? Grant?
That was it. Hugh! She remembered how much Liam disliked the actor Hugh Grant in that last movie they’d watched together, and she’d smiled as Hugh had chatted to him that night. If she’d known Liam was going to make such a huge assumption, she would have taken the phone from him sooner.
“Hugh doesn’t live here. I don’t have to cook for anybody. In fact, Hugh is not—”
“So come and have dinner with me. I’d like to catch up with your news.” His face lit up in that old familiar smile and Angie knew she was in trouble. Any thought of explaining about Hugh fled as she stared at Liam.
Deep trouble. Black-haired, green-eyed trouble.
“And I’ll show you a picture of my brand new nephew. I’m sure your Hugh won’t mind old friends catching up.” Liam’s eyes crinkled and she was a goner. Back to where she’d been eighteen months ago.
She tried to recall the feelings that had held her numb when she’d said good-bye to Liam in their small flat in Notting Hill. Her flight from Heathrow back to Sydney was departing late at night, and she’d insisted that he not take the night off to take her to the airport. Instead, they’d said good-bye on the small porch as she’d waited for the taxi. Two years of living together, sharing their lives, and they had talked about the bloody weather. He didn’t love her and she had to accept that.
Angie’s father had walked out on her and Mum when she’d been six years old. She’d watched her mother beg her father to stay and it hadn’t been pretty. She’d never forgotten it, and that memory helped her stay strong. Then and now. Thank goodness she’d never told Liam she was in love with him.
Chapter Four
Liam looked at Angie over the table in the small Chinese restaurant, still finding it hard to believe she was here with him. In Spring Downs, half an hour away from the farm he’d been living on for the past ten months. She’d lost weight since he’d last seen her more than a year and a half ago. Her face was finely boned, yet her high cheekbones were more pronounced than they had been. Her blond hair was pulled back in a high ponytail but the usual stray curls were hanging in tendrils around her face. Her almond-shaped blue eyes were looking down, not meeting his intent gaze. There was a fragility about her and it brought out the protective streak in him.
God, she was so beautiful. Another good thing he’d blown in his life. He’d let her go. He should have come home with her when her visa had expired. Now it was too late. She’d met someone else.
Angie’s face had always had a gentleness that reflected the person she was. The minute he had first seen her, he had fallen hard.
Love at first sight? The logical, rational part of him didn’t believe in that. Hell, he once hadn’t really believed in love, let alone at first sight. But he and Angie had had something good going—bloody good—and if it hadn’t been for her visa running out, they would probably still be together. Call it love, call it what you like. It had been special and it had hurt, like a damn sore tooth, when she’d left.
He pushed away the niggling thought that if he’d been willing to leave London when Angie had, they would have had a chance. They could have still been a couple.
But no. He’d wanted to be the big famous Australian journalist in London. It was too late now. She’d moved on already. Of course she had, a beautiful woman like Angie attracted attention wherever she went. He just hoped that this new guy was good enough for her, and that he was looking after her.
Better than I ever did.
“So…” He picked up the fork and twirled it in his fingers as they waited for their meals to come to the table. “Tell me about the past year or so. We did lose touch quickly, didn’t we?”
“Not really. We didn’t lose it. There was no point staying in touch. Our lives have simply gone in different directions.” Angie stared at him across the table, and he ignored the warmth that settled in his chest. She’d always done it to him. He’d been a hard bastard; he should have insisted on taking her to the airport for her flight home but deep down, he’d known he wouldn’t have been able to let her leave when it came to the crunch. Instead of going to work that night, he’d gone out and gotten rip-roaring drunk.
“So how do you like living in my old hometown?”
“It’s fine.”
Heck, he’d interviewed unwilling politicians for news articles, but this was like pulling teeth.
“Why Spring Downs?” Liam knew he’d never mentioned to Angie where he’d grown up. The country background of the Pilliga Scrub had been a bit of an embarrassment to an up-and-coming international journalist. He’d always told everyone he was from Sydney. Bloody fool snobbery.
“I went to uni with Rod in Melbourne, and when he decided to move to the States, he called me to let me know the pr
actice was for sale. He knew I was back in Australia. And here I am.”
“Yes,” he said slowly. “Here you are. Here we are.”
“So why are you here, Liam?” Angie looked over his head and didn’t meet his eye. Her mouth was set in a straight line and her voice was disinterested. He knew her well and she looked bored. Maybe she felt awkward about being out with him in public.
Liam shook his head slightly. Not that it was terribly public. A typical night in the dead hub of Spring Downs. They were the only customers in the Chinese restaurant and the main street had been deserted when he’d waited outside the restaurant for her. Angie had insisted on walking from the hospital which was only a few hundred yards up the road. Apparently her car was still at her house. The beauty of Spring Downs. Two cross streets and you could go anywhere without a car.
“My grandmother called us all home a few months back.”
“And you jumped to her bidding?”
“Yes, I did.” It was easy to understand why her tone was terse. Angie had been disappointed when he had decided to stay in London when she came back to Australia. His job had been more important and it had given him some great experience with the new technology in the newspaper world. Though she hadn’t tried to talk him into coming home with her, and although he’d appreciated it at the time, he had wondered if maybe she hadn’t really wanted him to go home with her.
“And you’ve obviously stayed.”
“Yes. But it’s only for a short while longer. I’ll be going back to Sydney before Christmas.”
“Sydney? Why not back to London?”
Is that relief in her voice? “I’ve got a contact at the ABC network. My London experience should secure me a spot at the studio or in radio.” He had his hopes pinned on this job coming through. He had a good chance and this position wasn’t coming up until the New Year, and then he’d be able to get back to his real career.
“That will be nice for you.” Angie sounded bored stiff, and Liam’s temper started to fire. They’d been close once, surely she could at least pretend to be interested in his life now. Hell, he wanted to know all about hers. If he was honest, he’d admit to himself that she’d been in his thoughts constantly since he’d come back home. No, scrap that, since the day she’d left him.