by Joanne Hill
“Mel…”
Tears burnt at the back of her eyes and her throat ached. She should have known it was too good to be true. The shopping, the trip to the Gold Coast…
You stupid, stupid fool, she cursed herself.
She took one last look at him, and this time, she didn’t see Daniel, grieving for the loss of his grandfather, but she saw Daniel, a man who would do anything to get his own way. A man who had made a fool of her, as Max had done, as her own father had done for not wanting anything to do with Mel or Ellie. Contempt filled her.
Contempt at him for doing this. At herself for believing.
He grabbed her arm, his fingers gripping her hard. “You are not leaving. We need to talk.”
"Talk? Really?" She starred at him defiantly, her heart shattering. “Can you take it back, can you make this an annulment?”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“Can’t they say you tricked me?” She was clutching at straws. “Wasn’t that one of the grounds for an annulment, if one person is tricked into marriage by the other?”
“No, because at the time of the marriage, we both believed the same thing. Mel, listen-"
She shrugged his hand off hers with a violence she had no idea she possessed.
She made for the door and this time she stopped as she turned back to look.
For a moment she saw a different Daniel yet again. A Daniel who looked as if he wished he could take it all back but had no clue how to do it.
Well, you shouldn’t have made the mistake in the first place, she thought furiously. You should not have lied. You could have asked if I’d go ahead with the marriage. You made a fool out of me.
Inside, she had gone ice cold, and she let the door shut behind her as she walked away.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The fury battling Mel was so intense she knew there was no way she could handle sitting alongside commuters on the ride home. She took one look at the crowds on the busy Sydney street, one look at a blue-black sky threatening to burst, and took a cab. Anger rippled through her as the car drove through the city streets. Anger directed squarely at Daniel, and anger at herself that she had gone so willingly in to this in the first place.
By the time she arrived at the apartment building, rain had drenched the streets, and she dashed to the foyer in time to avoid a soaking.
Inside the apartment she stopped at Barnaby’s basket, at the patchwork quilt with strands of his hair shed over it. She swallowed down on sadness. Why couldn’t he just be there, looking up at her? Why couldn’t the past day have all been one horrible mistake?
Because all you wanted was to give Ellie a better life, and to get some of that crippling guilt off your back.
It was her own fault.
Not for the stroke.
But for the way Ellie’s life had changed the moment she’d found out she was having a baby. She could have found romance with a loving man, could have kept her relationship with her family intact. Instead, she had given birth to a baby she had never planned on, with no support from her family, and no support from the father who wanted nothing to do with her and his child. No financial support, no emotional support. Nothing. And Mel had not been the greatest kid when she'd been young, had not made Ellie's life an easy one, even though she was trying to make up for it now.
A cold shudder stripped away any residue of warmth she’d been feeling.
Mel went to the bathroom, splashed water on her face and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was pale, ghostly pale. Inside her the ice seemed to expand. She looked quickly away as she dried her hands on a towel.
She checked the answer phone in case a message had been left about Barnaby. There were dozens of messages but they were all for Daniel, all about Sir Arthur. She ran her hands up and down her arms to get rid of the icy feeing but it only seemed to make her colder.
Regardless, she knew what she had to do.
Mel strode purposefully to her suite, took her suitcase from the wardrobe, pulled open drawers and began to pack. There was no point staying. She’d work it all out once she was in her car, driving away, driving off to heaven knows where.
She folded and packed, then stopped. Footsteps thundered on the floorboards, and before she had time to think, Daniel stormed in to her room, his presence seeming to suck the air out of it, out of her.
He came to a halt in front of her, his eyes as dark and intense as they had ever been.
“Do not,” he ground out, “ever, ever, run out on me like that again.”
Shock at his anger made her suddenly calm. She took a sweater in her hand, folded it neatly, then threw it in the case. “What did you expect? That I would stay a moment longer and listen to your excuses?”
“I would expect you to think about it and understand why I did it.”
“Oh, I understand why you did it.” Anger rose again, rose so sharply in her chest she could barely contain it. “I understand perfectly.” She turned away. Why had she fallen in love with this man? Why, why, why when she had known that nothing good would, could, possibly happen?
Lightening cracked outside, the sudden flash of light making her jump. Seconds later, thunder rolled across the apartment and damp seeped in through the open windows, mixing with the warmth of the room.
Suddenly Daniel's hands were on her shoulders, and he spun her round, his fingers digging through her shirt in to her skin.
She stared up into his face, at the anger that set his mouth in a grim line and the tightness to his jaw, but at something altogether different in his eyes that made her heart begin to pound.
She tried to look away but couldn't drag her gaze away from his face.
Because she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted him to kiss the air from her lungs, to make her forget, to make her feel wanted. To soothe this longing that only he could soothe. Her gaze dropped to his mouth and an intense awareness of him rocked her.
His hand slipped from her shoulder to her nape, cupped her and pulled her closer and she didn't even bother to pretend that she didn't like that he did that. He swore under his breath, bent his mouth to her, and his lips touched hers. In a flash, her insides began to melt. He brushed his lips once, then again over her mouth and her body shuddered in reponse.
She wanted this. She wanted him.
She wanted to forget about everything that had happened, forget about the world outside of the apartment and have this moment with him because it was as if the past few months had all been leading up to this.
He pulled back, his eyes gleaming with desire, and he cupped her chin, the touch sending her head spinning. She slid her arms round his neck and leaned in to him. His lips touched hers again, and in a dizzying flash, it all ceased to matter as he kissed her and she clung to him. It was meant to be.
Everything they had avoided snowballed to consume her. The feel of his mouth on her was unlike anything she had ever felt and for the briefest, tiniest second she thought of Max and how he had made her feel, then just as quickly shut him out. There was no comparison. He and Daniel were incomparable.
He tugged at her shirt, and she helped him until their clothes were on the floor and, both naked, he pulled her down with him on to her bed.
He kissed her, tasted her, and she felt him tremble beneath her touch as she explored his body, so tanned and sleek and beautifully muscled.
Then suddenly he pulled back, his eyes a gleam of frustration.
"What is it?" she breathed.
"This. It's going too fast."
"No. No." Her body was burning with such intense longing, she could barely speak. "It's not going fast enough."
“Are you sure?” His voice was a hoarse whisper.
She wound her arms around his neck. “I’m sure,” she murmured.
He paused a moment longer, and time seemed to slow. Lightening cracked again, and he pulled her close, kissing her mouth, her body, and a passion so fierce simmered and boiled until she didn’t believe she could stand it any longer.
The rain continued to fall, but eased off with their lovemaking, leaving the scent of damp throughout the room. It mingled with the musk of Daniel’s body, and Mel breathed it in, her body exhausted and exhilarated.
Daniel lifted himself away from her and a moment later he traced her mouth with his finger. In spite of everything he had done, of the way he had touched her and kissed her, and had her completely at his mercy, her skin still burnt as if she needed more of him. He bent and kissed her on her lips, full and deep and long. Without a word, he moved to the side, before he pulled the covers up over her.
“I don’t think I can move,” she murmured. “I’m exhausted.”
His eyes flashed, and he lay on the side, leaning on his elbow. Naked and watching her.
She reached out, ran her hand down his lean hip back up over his muscled stomach and he captured her wrist at his chest. “That was never how I intended it to be,” he told her. “Especially your first time, I’m sorry.”
“No.” It had been perfect. Every second of it. Waiting clearly had a benefit no one had told her about. “Do you regret it?” she asked.
“No.” His skin was sheened with perspiration, smooth and muscled. "Hell, no." He looked straight at her. “Is there a chance you could be pregnant?”
She bit down hard on her lip. She didn’t think the timing was right for her to fall pregnant but she couldn’t be sure.
“It’s unlikely,” she told him, “but there’s always a chance.”
He stood up then, and he walked, tall, big and lean to her bathroom and a minute later came back, a towel wrapped around his waist.
“I’ll take a shower then I need to go back to the office. There’s a lot to plan for Grandad’s service…”
His voice cracked.
He leant over her, kissed her forehead, then her mouth. His lips lingered on hers and she breathed him in. The intimacy, the awareness. The physical reaction of her body to his. It all shocked her.
He pulled away and she said, “Go. I’ll shower when you’re gone.”
Mel waited until Daniel had left the apartment.
She went to her wardrobe and took down the rest of her clothes, and when her cases were full, she stuffed the overflow in plastic bags from Patsy’s stash in the kitchen.
What had happened in bed did not change anything.
She stopped, and rubbed her hands down her face. How could she trust him? Ever again? There had been no indication these past months that the annulment wouldn’t fly. Nothing to indicate it at all or to give her any reason to doubt the way it was going to end up.
Daniel Christie was a very good actor. Or liar. Perhaps this past hour had just been one very good lie on his part, too?
It didn’t matter. She could never trust him. She would always remember how the last few months had been a deception, that he had known the truth just hours after their wedding.
She left the credit cards on the kitchen counter. It took three trips to lug her bags down to her car, and without a backward glance, she drove away. She found a single room in a close-to-full backpackers, sat on the bed with the sounds of travelers and tourists around her, and let tears slide down her cheeks until she grabbed tissue paper from her bag and wiped her face. The tissue became sodden and she found a café paper napkin in her bag and wiped until that, too, was sodden. Exasperated, she yanked a t-shirt from her bag and buried her face in it for long minutes, until the flow of tears slowed down. She cried out her disappointment in Daniel, her frustration for loving him, her grief at losing Barnaby and Sir Arthur. Even more, at losing a part of herself knowing that, unlike Max, she was never going to fully recover from this.
It just wasn't possible.
Finally, she took a deep breath and examined the contents of her tote bag.
She had cash to pay for a week at the backpackers, to cover food and petrol. She needed a job desperately. The word desperate seemed to churn around her mind like a very annoying stuck record. She was about to be desperate for the basic necessities of life – food and shelter.
A fifty dollar note fell from her wallet, and she folded it carefully and slotted it back in. It wouldn’t go far.
She pulled out her diary and pen, and turned to today’s date. She’d have to stay with her mum after here, apply for any job she thought she could do...
The envelope with the cheque slipped out from between the pages and drifted to the floor, and for a moment her heart went still. She drew in a deep breath, and bent down to hold the crisp white paper between her finger and thumb.
A shiver went down her spine, and she slid the envelope open slowly and pulled out the cheque. An authorized bank cheque for more than she would make in several years of working. It was hers. Every cent of it was hers. She could go right now down to her bank and deposit that cheque, and she’d have cash to buy a small place for her and Ellie, to pay off her credit card, to help her mum out in ways neither of them could imagine.
She slipped the cheque back in the envelope, placed it between the pages of her diary, and put the book in her handbag. She closed her eyes against the loud thumping of her heart.
Daniel had been right. He’d told her she could have checked it out herself. She was educated. She claimed to be intelligent. She advised teenage girls as a career. After the mockery she’d just made of herself, how could she even consider going back to that?
She brought her palm to her forehead, and shook her head in disbelief. Why had she believed that annulment because of non consummation was a viable reason? A century ago, maybe. Yet she had believed Hugh. She had believed Daniel.
Mel stood up fast from the bed, and collected her bag. In the corridor, she locked the door with an old key, and went outside the backpackers to the main road. She’d passed a post office at the shopping centre a mile or so down the street. There’d be enough time to get there before the last mail collection of the day.
And then it really would be over.
Daniel nearly dropped the plain, white envelope in the middle of the pile he'd been flicking through, but the huge swirly writing caught his attention. He guessed it was another sympathy card or note about the loss of Sir Arthur. Curiosity made him take the envelope. For a moment he thought of Mel. She’d left her key and the credit cards on the kitchen counter and it had not required a nicely written note to say it was over. They were officially separated. Only another 363 days to go until they could put the divorce proceedings in motion.
He had no idea where she was or who she was with. He’d rung Ellie, but she hadn’t heard anything, although he’d agreed to pop over for tea some time. Daniel had spent the last two nights alone in his apartment and they had been the worst two nights of his life. No Mel. No Barnaby. No family. It had been so miserable he’d watched infomercials and then several hours of TV preachers but none of it had helped. He couldn’t even think of work. He gritted his teeth.
He could have admitted everything to her at the beginning because she was sure as heck going to learn the truth at some point. But he’d kept it to himself, he’d buried it deep and told himself he’d deal with the problem when the end came, when he could do it in such a way that she would accept his lie. His deception.
He’d screwed up big time.
He slid open the envelope and slowly pulled out a piece a paper. His eyes blurred, he blinked, and cleared them. It was a cheque. He turned it over and his heart slammed hard in his chest. It was a mistake. It had to be. He frowned. This was Mel’s cheque.
He grabbed the envelope and flipped it. On the back were two letters in capitals. MG.
Mel’s initials.
His hand curled around the envelope in shock and bewilderment as he realized what she had just done.
She had thrown the money right back in his face.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“We’re going to visit Mel’s mother,” Daniel informed Hugh as they detoured away from the main road. He checked the rear view mirror, then changed lanes. “I’ve met her before. You'll like her.
”
“I’m sure I will, but what do you want to see her for?” The interest in Hugh’s voice was palpable. “Mel’s got the money. In twelve months you can apply for a divorce.” He glanced at his watch. “And this detour wasn’t on the schedule, Dan.”
“Mel didn’t take the money.” Daniel pulled up to an intersection, rubbed his hands down his face, and sighed with an exhaustion he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was as if both his body and his mind were tired, so tired, that if he fell asleep, he wasn’t sure he’d ever wake up. “She gave it back.” Threw it back was more accurate.
Hugh was silent.
Daniel shot him a look. “You’re not surprised?”
Hugh pointed. “The light’s green.”
As the car pulled away, he said, “It’s not that I’m not surprised. It just seems a very 'Melinda Green' kind of thing to do. She’s honourable. She’s not after anything from you. She was given an offer and she accepted it because she had no job and she needed money." He was silent a moment. "There was something about her that made you trust her. Arthur liked you and Mel.”
“I know he liked her.”
“He liked you and Mel. Together. He had a feeling.”
Cautiously, Daniel said, “What do you mean?”
“He’d met a few of the girls you dated over the years but Mel was the only one who didn’t seem to care about your money, your name, your position.”
That was true. She didn’t give a damn about him in the end, either. And she had never been his girlfriend. Only his wife; in name only.
“I know it’s been a tough few months and you hated deceiving Arthur, but you did the right thing in going ahead with this marriage.”
That was one of the kickers about all this Daniel couldn’t fault the logic on. “Except I spent the last few months lying to him. There’s a commandment about that.”