She piled as much as she could into Lilly’s pink bag and fed her a jar of custard as soon as she woke up. Thank goodness for summer, it didn’t get dark until late.
Putting the bag in the stroller, she carried Lilly over to the back fence. They would go to Justin. This couldn’t be construed as anything but an emergency. Surely he would help them or know someone who could.
She deposited Lilly on the ground and climbed up on the fence. The park appeared deserted. Folding up the stroller, she lowered it over the fence as best she could before dropping it, likewise the pink bag. Picking up Lilly, she held her in one arm, using the other to pull herself up on the fence rails. It wasn’t easy. She trembled as she straddled the fence. Now, what was the best thing to do? If she lowered the baby down as far as she could, there would still be quite a drop. If she jumped down holding Lilly they might both be injured. The best option had to be lowering herself down.
She changed Lilly over to her right arm and slung one leg over the fence, maneuvering herself sideways. A wrenching pain shot up her arm as it temporarily took their full weight. The rough wood lacerated her hand. Because of her short stature, she couldn’t reach the ground. She jumped the last couple of feet and sank to her knees on the grass.
Lilly, thinking they were playing a game, gurgled happily. “Oh darling, what’s to become of us?” Holly whispered, burying her face in the baby’s soft, sweet warmth.
They had no time to lose if they wanted to make good their escape. Strapping Lilly into her stroller, she rested the bag on the hood and briskly walked away. How she hadn’t fallen to the ground in a screaming heap before now was a miracle. Pure desperation and a mother’s instinct to protect her child kept her moving. Her hand throbbed and she realized a large splinter had embedded itself in her palm.
On arrival at the railway station, she collapsed on to a seat. Now what? Get a train into the city before contacting Justin. Get as far away from here as you can. If Justin wouldn’t help, what then? Go to plan B she told herself – Queensland. She should have enough money in her bank account to buy a one-way plane ticket. What if the police were waiting at the airport? Oh God, she hadn’t thought of that possibility before. She might end up on a wanted person’s poster.
Get a grip on yourself woman. Her headache worsened, making it hard to think clearly. The throbbing in her temples increased as every minute passed. She feared she might be having a panic attack. By the time the train pulled into the station, she struggled to keep her eyes open, but she forced herself to focus. You’re doing this for Lilly. For your baby, you can do anything. No sacrifice would be too great, no pain that couldn’t be endured for Lilly.
They had to find a place where there were telephones, a baby change room and somewhere to eat. Mayview Shopping Center would do. Plenty of people around, they could mingle and not be seen. It would be safer to wait for Justin there too. She didn’t fancy hanging around in some dark place on her own.
He lived in the center of Melbourne. She remembered him telling her that. Mayview wouldn’t be more than a ten minute drive for him.
He would be finished work by now, but she had his mobile phone number. With trembling fingers she dialed the number. It rang and rang. She broke out in a cold sweat. What if he didn’t answer it?
“Devereux.”
She almost cried with relief. “Justin, it’s Holly.”
No answer.
“Don’t hang up on me. It’s an emergency. I’m desperate.”
“What do you want?” His voice could have frozen water, and she shivered in the summer heat.
“Please,” she pleaded, blinking back frightened tears. What if he wouldn’t help them? “They’re watching the house. I climbed over the back fence to escape,” she babbled.
“Stop blubbering.”
He sounded like he hated her. “The Kirwans. Private Investigator. He’ll get the police. They’ll take Lilly. You have to help me.”
“Why should I?”
His coldness chilled her to the bone. “Because there’s no-one else. Don’t hang up. Don’t hang up.”
“What do you want?”
“I need you to pick us up and let us stay for a few days.”
“That’s not possible, get yourself a hotel room.” She couldn’t believe how cold and remote he sounded.
“I can’t afford to pay for one.”
“I’m sure you’ll think of a way,” he sneered.
“How?
“Use your womanly attributes.”
“I don’t know what you mean. Do you think I’d ask for help if I wasn’t desperate? If it was just me I wouldn’t, but there’s Lilly. Please Justin. I’ll pay you back. I swear it. I’ll do anything you want.”
Her words, frantic though they sounded, only confirmed what Owen had said, but he wanted to give her one last chance to clear her name. To prove that Owen had misunderstood her at the least or told a bare faced lie at worst. That she didn’t use her body to get what she wanted from men.
The question was distasteful but he asked it anyway. He had to know. “Sleep with me?” he asked harshly.
“Yes, yes, anything.”
The pain of Owen being proved right nearly felled him on the spot. He couldn’t believe how badly it hurt ‑‑ an all consuming, searing pain that bit into his soul. “Exactly where are you?”
She shivered uncontrollably in the summer heat. “I...I’m at Mayview shopping center.” Devastated at his attitude, she could barely get the words. “Do you know it?”
“Yes. Wait for me outside the camera shop on the ground floor. It’s near the main entrance.” The line went dead.
Where was the camera shop? Too exhausted to find it on her own, she asked directions from a passing security guard.
“I’ll take you there, miss.”
“Thank you.” She felt terrible, no doubt looked even worse. He walked slowly, as if he knew she could barely drag one foot after the other.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” the guard asked when they made it to the camera shop.
“Yes. I’m getting a migraine. I’ve arranged for a friend to pick me up from here.”
“Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“No. Thanks for your help.” She didn’t know how she stopped herself from screaming.
As soon as he walked off, she sank to the ground and sat with her back propped against the camera shop wall, her knees pulled up under her chin. She gripped the side of the stroller in one hand, the pink bag in the other. It would be bliss to close her eyes and blot out the blinding light, but she couldn’t, in case she fell asleep and someone stole Lilly.
***
Justin strode into the shopping center. A man must be crazy falling for such a ploy. He wanted to tell Holly to go to hell, to sell her body in the street if she wanted money so badly, but somehow he couldn’t. She sounded so bewildered, so desperate.
He saw them straight away. The bloody pram that had nearly castrated him, the pink bag that just about concussed him, a rosy-cheeked, blonde-headed, sleeping cherub, and Holly, a tiny, dejected figure slumped against the wall of the camera shop. It was a strangely moving sight, but he hardened his heart or told himself he did. Just remember how she tried it on with Owen and the radiographer.
“Oh, Justin, you came.”
Holly dragged herself upright and her whole body trembled with emotion as he strode up to them.
“You look terrible. What happened?”
She started telling him, but the tears came, and once they started falling, they looked like they were never going to stop. He snorted in annoyance but handed over a white handkerchief.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She gulped back the tears.
“For God’s sake, get a grip on yourself,” he growled. “Have you eaten today?”
“I don’t remember. Oh yes, breakfast, before I found out about the English private investigator.”
“What are you raving about?”
“When I went to the local shop, they said a
man had asked about Lilly and me. There’s a man sitting out the front watching my place,” she gabbled. “I climbed over the back fence. I’ve got this enormous splinter in my hand and...”
“Give me a look.” As he picked up her small soft hand in his large hard one, he fought against the temptation to kiss it better. The breath whistled between his teeth when he turned her palm upwards. “It’s gone in deep.”
“If I had a needle I could dig it out. Thank you for coming. I was so desperate.”
He brushed aside her thanks. “You should see a doctor.”
“No, I don’t want a doctor, I only want you.”
The statement surprised him, but he gave no sign. Probably all part of the game to reel him in, but this fish wasn’t about to be caught and gutted by some conniving female.
“I think there’s a coffee shop near here. You look like you could do with one.”
“Thanks, I’ve got this awful headache from the tension.”
Picking up the pink bag, he left Holly to wheel the pram. He would have to buy a few groceries at the department store in the retail area of his apartment building. He rarely ate at his apartment, and if he did, it was specially prepared food delivered to his door from a downstairs restaurant.
“Cappuccino?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“A black coffee and a cappuccino,” he told the woman at the coffee bar. “We’ll be sitting down, thanks. Oh, um, a piece of carrot cake too, please.” He handed over a twenty-dollar note.
“What a lovely bambina you have.”
“Yes, I think so.” The woman must think Lilly belonged to him, and he couldn’t be bothered setting her straight. For an instant, the thought popped into his head that he wished she was his, but he quickly crushed such a ridiculous notion.
Holly slid into a bench style seat on one side of the table while he sat opposite.
“What happened at Glen Fern?” he asked abruptly, watching what little color she still had in her face ebb away.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Why?”
“Forget about it.” She rubbed her forehead. “I don’t want to think about that place ever again.”
“Yeah, not nice getting a knock back.”
“I don’t know what you mean?”
“No?” He didn’t press the point, but nodded his thanks when the woman brought over their order. “Keep the change.”
His eyes narrowed as he watched Holly wolf down the cake, yet she sipped the coffee, taking dainty little mouthfuls.
“You haven’t forgotten our deal,” he said brusquely.
“Deal?”
“Yes, the price for my help. I want everything crystal clear between us. I don’t want any reneging on the deal, regrets or recriminations later.” He sounded like a real jerk, but this arrangement was the only way he could think of to get her out of his system once and for all. A few days living in close proximity would show her up in her true colors so he wouldn’t ever see her through rose tinted glasses again.
“I agreed to sleep with you, and I will. You didn’t need to put conditions on your help.” She lowered her voice. “You only had to ask me, and I would have said yes.”
Her whispered admission surprised him, pleased him, but the pain of what had happened with Owen still burned in his chest, fierce, all consuming.
“As long as we understand each other,” he said with cold finality. “No strings, Holly. I’m not in to long-term relationships.”
She clenched her hand around the coffee cup. “I understand. What happens to me afterwards?”
“Afterwards?” He frowned.
“I mean, when you move on to another woman.” The thought was killing. “What happens to us?” She held her breath, waiting for him to say – what? That he wanted her to stay? Wanted them to be a family? How stupid could a person get? I’m not in to long-term relationships. The words were crystal clear. Did she want him to put them in writing?
“You’ll be adequately compensated.”
He made her feel cheap, insignificant. “That’s all right, then.” She lowered her head so he would not see the bitter hurt and disillusionment in her eyes. Justin had turned out to be a predator, too. “We both know where we stand now.”
“Yes.” His eyes narrowed. “If you’ve finished your coffee we might as well go.” He drained his cup and stood up, and she did the same. Having thrown herself on his mercy she had to accept the consequences.
On pain of death, he must never find out how betrayed she felt. They had an agreement, strictly business. Instead of using money to pay for services rendered, she would use her body. She would call it a bartering system. It sounded better that way. Like any mother fighting for her child’s survival, no sacrifice would be too great, no cross too heavy to bear. She bit back on a bitter laugh. What had she expected from a ruthless, multi-millionaire? Compassion and generosity hadn’t let Justin climb to the dizzying heights he occupied today.
Without speaking, they traipsed out of the coffee bar. He wore a gray pinstriped suit she idly noticed. The top two buttons on his pale gray shirt were undone, his burgundy silk tie loosened. He had obviously come straight from work.
“I hope I didn’t take you away from anything important,” she said stiffly.
“Nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow.”
He led the way to a white Mercedes, unlocked the trunk and dumped the pink bag inside. Holly unstrapped Lilly and lifted her out of the stroller so he could fold it up.
She was surprised when Lilly tried to grab hold of him. He made no move to take her, but favored her with one of his devastating smiles.
“Hello, little missie.” He flicked Lilly under the chin with a slender, tanned finger. The baby grabbed hold of it and hung on until he disentangled his hand.
“She likes you, Justin.”
“I don’t know why. I’m not a particularly nice person.” He was an utter bastard. He should have helped Holly without putting conditions on it, would have, if she hadn’t offered herself to Owen. That hurt. It felt like battery acid corroding his insides.
“You’ll have to sit in the back with her I don’t have any child safety restraints.”
As he held the door open, he noticed the grass stains on the knees of her jeans.
“What does Lilly normally sleep in?” he asked abruptly.
“She’s been sharing a bed with me.”
“That will have to stop now. I’ve got a double bed in my spare room, but...”
“She might fall out of bed,” Holly interrupted him. “She needs a cot.”
“All right, we’ll go shopping later. There’s a large department store in my apartment building. It’s open until nine o’clock. You can get everything she needs; you’ve only got that one bag so you’ll need things too.”
“You don’t have to spend your money on me. I don’t matter, as long as Lilly has what she needs.”
“What’s with you?” he snapped. “Why do you keep putting yourself down all the time? Of course you matter.”
“Who to?” she asked bitterly.
He nearly said me. “Lilly, hell, I don’t know. There must be someone.”
“There’s not. No one has ever cared about me expect Robbie.”
How pathetic. He felt even worse about what he expected from her now. His own life hadn’t been any bed of roses, but hers must have been real ugly.
As the Mercedes purred into life, she said. “I like your car. I’ve never driven in a Mercedes before.”
He gave a careless shrug. “It’s okay, I guess.”
“I thought you might have driven a Rolls Royce.”
He snorted. “I’m not into that. I’ve never flaunted my wealth.”
No, he wasn’t the type. He was reserved, secretive even, probably why he was so successful. He took people by surprise, waited until they were at their most vulnerable before going for the jugular. Bitter disappointment surged through her.
Chapter Nine
> Justin drove into the rear of a multistoried, ultra modern, apartment tower. It looked to be built from some kind of smooth, shiny black stone. Marble for all she knew. The windows were of tinted glass. He slid a magnetic card into a slot, and a set of iron gates soundlessly swung open to let the car pass through. They drove down a ramp, to the private car park.
“The lower floors of the building contain offices and retail areas. There’s a department store. You’d never have to leave the place if you didn’t want to.”
That suited her, the less time she spent in public the safer she felt.
He carried the still folded- up stroller and the pink bag, while she held Lilly. They entered a private elevator from the car park. Once again, he inserted his card and the door slid open. The building was high tech, but its wealthy tenants would expect nothing less.
They alighted on the fiftieth floor. “I’ve got the penthouse suite,” he informed her. It wasn’t boasting, merely a statement of fact.
“Do you rent the place?” It must cost him a fortune.
“No, I own the building,” he answered nonchalantly.
“The whole building?” she squeaked in surprise.
“Yes, well my company does.”
Thick, dove gray carpet covered the floor. The walls and ceiling were of white marble tinged with pink.
He swiped his card to gain entry to the apartment. What an eye opener. She had never seen anything like it. Super expensive it went without saying. White marble walls flecked with gold. Ornate white-painted metal ceilings with concealed lighting. It was a lifeless, expensive mausoleum that left her feeling cold and frightened.
The carpet in the lounge room was oyster gray, the furniture ultra modern, all shiny silver and glass. She put down Lilly, who immediately toddled over to a black leather couch and tried to climb up on it.
“She’s walking now?”
“Yes, she’s just started, not too steady yet.” Lilly’s little legs gave out, and she promptly sat down on her bottom.
“The kitchen is through here. Do you cook?” He quirked one eyebrow.
“Yes, I enjoy cooking.”
“You can cook for me if you want. We can be one happy little family.” There was a slight sneer in his voice, a viscous twist to his mouth.
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