by Margaret Way
“How did the little dinner party go?” Steve asked. “Are your parents going to make an appearance tonight?”
Meredith shook her head, mightily relieved. “Mum retired early. Dad followed. I expect they might have a few words when they’re alone. Mum scarcely pretended a veneer of charm over dinner.”
“That’s awful.” Steve winced. “I would have thought your parents would be delighted to have such a beautiful woman for a daughter-in-law. And Robbie is a great little kid, full of life and so well spoken for his age. Mother and son made a really good impression with the staff. So did Rosa. Everyone on the station is full of praise for them and delight for Cal. That’s why the evening is going so wonderfully well. Everyone’s happy.”
“Are you happy, Steven?” She stared up at him, the bronze of his skin in striking contrast to the snowy white shirt he wore with his tight fitting jeans. For herself, she was glowing inside, certain now she was in love.
“I am now you’re here,” he said softly, gazing down at her. “I was beginning to get worried you mightn’t make an appearance.”
“Nothing would have kept me away.” She gripped his arm tighter, a gesture Steve found utterly enchanting. It was all he could do not to turn her into his arms. Alas, there were too many people around. “I meant it when I said you look beautiful. You dazzle me. You’re a dream in a dress, especially one that floats all around you.”
“Why, thank you, Steven.” She smiled, stars in her eyes.
He bent his head to her urgently. “I want to kiss you.”
“I want to kiss you back.”
Only voices intervened. “Hi, Steve! Good evening, Ms McKendrick!”
“Hello, there!” Meredith responded brightly, lifting her hand to return the greetings.
“Can’t we go somewhere quiet?” Even as he said it Steve couldn’t help laughing. They would have to get right out of the home compound to find silence. Someone had turned the music up louder. Someone else toned it down a little. People were dancing.
“Not tonight I’m afraid.” She sighed with deep regret. “Cal and Gina will be along soon. Why don’t we join in the dancing?”
“Do you think that’s wise?”
“It’s too late to talk about being wise now, Steven,” she said, yearning to be in his arms.
Steven came back to himself for a minute. “I don’t want to put you into any stressful situation. Your happiness is very important to me, Meredith.”
“So you’re not going to dance with me?” She tilted her head to one side.
“Are you asking me if I’m game?” he responded to the challenge.
“Something like that, Steven Lockhart.”
His smile faltered slightly. “But I’m not a Lockhart, am I? I’m not a Lancaster, either. What am I to you, Meredith?”
She reached up to gently touch his mouth, tracing the outline of his lower lip, beautifully cut and undeniably sensual. “You’re too touchy.”
“I want to touch you,” he said, his voice mesmerizing. “I want to very gently unwrap you from your beautiful clothes. You can’t be wearing a bra, not in that dress?” His golden-brown eyes moved over the tiny bodice with its thin straps, cut to reveal her décolletage.
“There’s one built into the dress,” she explained, aware her voice shook. It felt like he was stroking her. Featherlike strokes that ranged over her throat and down to the upward curves of her breasts.
The music had changed to a ballad.
He took her into his arms. Wasn’t this what he had been longing for all night?
Other couples were dancing beneath the trees, some were twirling down the paths. Some were just having fun. Others were intent on each other.
He was a beautiful mover. She knew that from the way he walked.
They were perfectly quiet. There was no need for words. The intense communication came from the sizzling proximity of their bodies. She was falling fathoms deep into a bottomless lagoon of sexual hunger. It surpassed anything she had felt before. She had to go further, much further than kisses. She let him steer her this way and that, her heart beating madly. If only they didn’t have to stop. She wasn’t even sure she could stop.
“Meredith!” Somewhere a little distance off, amid the babble of laughter and music, her father’s voice cracked out.
“God, it’s your dad,” Steve muttered, “and he’s heading this way.”
He didn’t release her, however. He made no move to. “I thought he was supposed to have retired for the night?” he asked, the merest thread of humour in a dead calm voice.
“I thought he had.”
Still, he held her.
“Good evening, Mr McKendrick,” Steve greeted his boss smoothly. “We weren’t certain if we were going to have the pleasure of your company this evening.”
Ewan McKendrick stopped right in front of them. “So you took advantage of the situation by thinking you could dance with my daughter?” he retorted in an insufferably arrogant tone.
Steve kept a tight rein on his temper and his tone low. People were starting to look their way, aware things weren’t quite right. “Excuse me, sir, is there a law against that?” There was no trace of insolence in his voice, just a simple question requiring a simple answer.
Meredith’s nerves were fluttering badly. “Please, Dad! You’re drawing attention to us.”
Her father ignored her. Fresh from a humdinger of an argument with his wife, he was ready for blood. “Would you mind letting my daughter go?” he said thickly, reaching out to shove Steve away, but Steve, a good thirty years younger and superbly fit, didn’t budge. He did, however, drop his hands, not wanting to further inflame an already inflammable situation.
* * *
Some distance away Gina felt that warning finger on her nape. She began to walk faster.
“It’s good you’re so eager to join the party.” Cal laughed, stepping it out with her.
“Something is wrong up ahead,” she told him, sounding serious. “I feel you should be there.”
Cal didn’t ask her what she meant. He had seen in Gina a lot of things beyond her physical beauty.
It was as she said. Cal saw with dismay his father give Steve Lockhart a hard shove in the shoulder. It had no effect so far as he could see on Steve, but it told him all he needed to know. A head-to-head confrontation was already in place. Meredith’s body language spoke of embarrassment and anguish. Poor Merri! She looked so beautiful tonight. She didn’t have to take this sort of thing. Their father was as dictatorial a man as he had ever met, whereas Steve had earned his trust and deserved respect.
“Your parents would do well to step into the twenty-first century,” Gina murmured, shaking her head. It was inevitable she would be on Steve’s side.
“I can’t help but agree,” Cal gritted, increasing his pace. “They run Coronation Hill like their own kingdom.” It wasn’t something he was proud of. He glanced down at Gina, not wanting to draw her into it. “You might like to stay here.”
She shook her head. “I’ll come with you.”
“It might get sticky.”
“I have no doubt you can handle it.”
They closed in on the trio fast. “Hey, everything okay here?” he called, the heavy tension in the atmosphere coming at them in a wave.
Ewan McKendrick rounded on his son. “You can’t be talking to me!”
“Actually, yes, Dad,” Cal said, coolly quiet.
Out of the corner of her eye Gina saw people moving quickly away from what looked like shaping up to be a war zone. Most of the staff would have taken note of the fact their very popular overseer was dancing with the boss’s daughter. Not only that, but how they were dancing. Hadn’t she divined an involvement between Meredith and Steve Lockhart, within the fi
rst few minutes?
“You’re upset, Dad,” Cal spoke to his father soothingly, knowing words had most likely passed between his parents. “Why don’t I accompany you back to the house?”
“What am I supposed to make of this?” Ewan demanded of his son. “I come out for a breath of air and to make an appearance and what should I be confronted by but my daughter snuggling up to this fella here.” He stabbed a condemnatory finger in Steve’s direction. “Didn’t you see what was going on?”
“Dancing, Dad. All quite respectable,” Cal answered reasonably. “You’ve overreacted. Merri can dance with whomever she pleases.”
“Not while she’s under my roof,” Ewan returned furiously.
“Your roof, certainly,” Cal agreed. “My roof, Mum’s roof, Merri’s roof, Ed’s roof.”
“No need whatever to include me!” Gina broke in ironically, vividly reminded of how her own father had tyrannized her male friends.
“Gina, darling,” Cal stressed, “you and Robbie go with me.” He returned his attention to his father. “Let’s go, Dad. Don’t spoil what has been a pleasant evening. I think you owe Steve an apology. He’s done no wrong.”
Ewan’s handsome face reddened. “He hasn’t, eh? I gave you more credit, Calvin. Lockhart here has a larger purpose than being our overseer. Mark my words. He has designs on my daughter, your sister, I might remind you.”
“You’re absolutely right, sir,” Steve broke in, “I do think the world of Meredith.”
“Indeed!” Ewan thundered, now totally enraged. “You just keep away from her, fella. I have in mind someone from a fine family for my only daughter. Not a no-one like you!”
They were all startled by his tone, swept with vehemence.
“That’s it, Dad!” Cal got a firm grip on his father before Steve lost it. He was about to, judging from his expression. “It would help a lot if you come away.”
Ewan McKendrick shook his head several times as if to clear it. “The fella’s a bastard!” he ground out heavily. “No way could you ever be good enough for my daughter. You’re fired, Lockhart. Don’t try to go against me, Cal. I’m still in charge of Coronation and don’t you forget it.”
“I’m not forgetting it, Dad,” Cal said very quietly, yet his voice carried an effortless authority. “But I’m relying on you to regain your common sense. Steve is very good at what he does. You can’t expect me to carry the burden without him. Come along now. Your blood pressure was up the last time the doctor took a look at you.”
“Why wouldn’t it be up in this family?” Ewan McKendrick glowered, but he allowed himself to be led away.
Gina reacted first. She reached out a hand to the distressed Meredith, who clasped it tightly. “My father used to interfere in all my friendships, Meredith,” she lamented. “I was never allowed to bring a boy home. Only girlfriends were allowed. As I got older no one was good enough for me. I was my father’s ‘shining star.’ He always called me that. When I fell pregnant he literally threw me out.”
Meredith and Steve were so shocked by that admission they momentarily forgot their own outraged feelings. “Gina, how dreadful!” Meredith was aghast. “I never thought—”
“I’ve never spoken about it,” Gina said. “My mother gave me whatever money she had spirited away. Somehow I was able to finish my degree. I didn’t show until the seventh month, which helped a lot. I didn’t tell anyone. Only Rosa knew. I couldn’t have done without Rosa. She’s been an enormous support to me and wonderful to Robbie. You can’t allow your father to run your life, Meredith. Please don’t think I am now interfering in your personal affairs. I do so out of my own experience and concern for you.”
“I know that, Gina.” Meredith shook her head, utterly dismayed. “Does Cal know this?”
Gina smiled sadly. “One day I’ll tell him.”
“You should tell him now.”
Gina shook her head. “There are still a few issues we have to work through. I’ll know the time.”
“Of course you will.” Meredith backed off. “How mortifying this all is. What must you think of us?”
Gina spoke directly. “Your mother doesn’t like me, Meredith. I doubt she ever will. Your father will try. But I’m not sure I can live under the same roof as a mother-in-law who so clearly doesn’t approve of me.”
“What are you saying, Gina?” Meredith’s voice rose in alarm.
“I’m saying if I’m not happy here I mightn’t be able to stay.” Gina’s beautiful face took on an adamant cast. Gina had had more than her share of dysfunctional families.
“You’ve told Cal how you feel?” Steve asked. He was still fuming inside, having come very close to punching McKendrick in the nose. Cal had known it. That was why he had spirited his father away.
“No, but I will if it becomes necessary,” Gina said, with a note of resolve in her voice. She knew, if Meredith and Steve didn’t, Cal wasn’t about to let her leave. For any reason. By the same token she knew he wasn’t going to allow his mother to continue on her present course. She looked back into two distressed faces, as much for her as themselves, she realised with gratitude. “I was surprised and very touched by my welcoming party when we arrived,” she told them. “I’d like you to know that. I suppose it’s normal enough for your mother, Meredith, to have difficulties accepting me. I’m not the daughter-in-law she wanted. Kym, wasn’t it? Your aunt, Lorinda, told me all about her.” In the stress of the moment that withheld piece of information spilled out.
“So it had to be when we were on the island?” Meredith’s face darkened with a frown.
Immediately Gina made a little dismissive gesture with her hands. “Sorry. I’ve said too much already. Cal doesn’t know. I’d prefer the past to stay in the past, Meredith. It will do no good to rake it all up. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll carry out Cal’s wishes and mingle with the staff for a while. I expect he’ll be back soon.”
Meredith looked at Steven in sharp dismay. She could see he shared her feelings. “Please remember Cal needs you desperately, Gina.”
Gina didn’t answer but turned away with an enigmatic little smile.
Cal needs his son desperately, Gina amended in her own mind.
* * *
Left alone, Meredith put a conciliatory hand on Steve’s arm.
“Careful,” he warned, his lean body taut.
“Please don’t be like that, Steven,” she begged. “I am so sorry, but it’s not my fault.”
Or maybe it is, she thought wretchedly. She should have protected Steven. That meant leaving him well alone.
“It would have given me a great deal of pleasure to have punched your father in the nose,” he said tightly.
“I think we all knew that, Steven. My father can be unbelievably arrogant. In some ways my parents don’t know a lot about real life.”
“They’re too protected by their wealth,” Steve diagnosed accurately. “But I suppose it’s not all that surprising. Isn’t God a McKendrick?”
His tone cut. “He can’t fire you.”
“He can fire me,” Steve corrected, his attractive voice oddly harsh.
“Cal will speak to him. He’ll listen.”
“You think so?” Steve threw up his hands. “I think it more likely you’ll disappear overseas. Join your gadfly aunt who appears to have done some mischief whether Gina wants to keep her out of it or not. As for you, you’ll come home and marry your father’s nominee. None of your family will accept me, Meredith, outside of Cal and Gina. And that would only make it hard for them both.”
Anger came, swift and unexpected. “Shouldn’t you be worrying more about whether I’ll accept you?” she cried.
That settled it for Steve. “I’ll be out of here by midday tomorrow, okay?” he said curtly. “Maybe sooner. It’s be
en great knowing you, Meredith. Tell Gina if she wants a normal life then she sure picked the wrong family.”
She ran after him, mortified. “Steven, please don’t go.” She made an effort to catch his shirt, and almost lost her footing on the exposed root of a tree.
He didn’t notice and kept going, taking swift, powerful strides away from her.
Meredith gave up. Her father had made sure of it calling Steven a bastard. How dare he?
See what you’ve gone and done? the voice in her head taunted. You should have left him alone. You knew what was going to happen. You fool you! Getting to think things might be different. Nothing will ever change around here. Not until it’s Cal’s turn to reign.
Steven, she knew, had been sitting pretty as Coronation’s overseer, a position of trust and responsibility. He had security and earned good money. It would be highly unlikely he could find a comparable position in the near future. She wasn’t even sure if Cal could persuade her father to relent even if Steven agreed to stay. And that didn’t look like it was happening. Not from the way he had stormed off.
Meredith returned to the house feeling sick to her soul.
CHAPTER SIX
READY for bed, Gina looked in on Robbie, whose bedroom was just across the hallway from hers. She opened the door very quietly, widening the opening so a golden ray of light fell across his face. She had left a small night-light burning in any case. It was possible he could awake some time during the night and feel disorientated in a strange house. She didn’t really expect him to. It was Robbie’s practice to fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, sleeping right through until she woke him by pulling the lobe of his ear very gently in the morning. It was a trick that always worked.
Just as she thought, he was fast asleep, clutching his favourite teddy bear. Her face softened into an expression of the utmost maternal tenderness. Robbie wouldn’t go anywhere without that bear. His father had promised him the room would be redecorated in any way he liked. Maybe a few lighter touches here and there, but it was a beautiful big airy room with French doors leading out onto a broad verandah. It was a full moon outside; the big copper moon of the tropics. She had to say it affected her.