The Bridegroom's Dilemma

by Lindsay Armstrong

  ‘Are you all right? You went so pale—you still are. What a fool I was,’ he said roughly.

  ‘I got a fright; I just wasn’t expecting it, that’s all,’ she said ruefully. ‘Well…’ She stopped and grimaced.

  ‘It must have happened to you before.’

  ‘Only once… The thing is,’ she said sadly, ‘while I know they only mean well, I suffer from an awful form of claustrophobia when that happens. I’m not morbid about it, I just…get a bit breathless.’

  He frowned. ‘You never told me this. And you did go walkabout on your own yesterday. You didn’t have to agree to do this today, either.’

  ‘I was pretty heavily disguised yesterday, remember? That’s how I go to the supermarket these days. And today—I don’t know why I agreed,’ she said helplessly. ‘So much has happened, I guess, I wasn’t thinking straight. But I honestly didn’t think many people out here would know who Skye Belmont was. Your friends last night didn’t.’

  ‘Why didn’t you ever tell me, though?’ he demanded.

  ‘I’m not proud of it.’ She shrugged.

  ‘But the station knows, obviously?’

  ‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘But they had to. I…well, I nearly fainted the first time it happened. So now any appearances I do are very carefully controlled. I can’t believe I’m such a wimp!’ she said with genuine exasperation.

  ‘We’ve been out together, Skye,’ he said slowly, ‘and you’ve never worn a disguise.’

  ‘Only to places where they’re not in the habit of mobbing people, Nick. And the few times I did come to the race track with you or that kind of place, you may not have thought I was disguised but I did take the trouble not to be instantly recognizable, or wander off. Besides…’ She paused on the point of saying that she’d always felt safe with him, then thought better of it.

  He looked at her with frustration written clear in his eyes. ‘I still can’t understand why you didn’t tell me.’

  ‘Perhaps I didn’t think it fitted in with the Skye Belmont you thought I was,’ she said barely audibly.

  Slow comprehension dawned in his eyes. ‘You genuinely believe this is a wimpish kind of weakness, don’t you?’

  She shrugged. ‘I certainly wish I could rid myself of it.’

  ‘In fact, you’re exceptionally brave, Skye,’ he said gently.

  ‘Oh, no, Nick—’

  ‘No one would have known and now you’ve done it once you may find you can do it again.’

  ‘I only managed to do it because you were—’ She stopped abruptly. ‘I mean I’m quite sure Bryce could have taken care of me, or Jack—’

  ‘Bryce?’ His scepticism was obvious.

  She licked her lips. ‘Fully functional, of course.’

  ‘I wonder?’ he said coolly.

  ‘Anyway, it’s not your problem,’ she tried to say gaily. ‘Don’t you think we should join the others? Look, Nick,’ she went on when he made no move, ‘it’s not that serious. I wouldn’t be able to go around with any confidence, even disguised if it were. Do I look a traumatized kind of person? I’m not; it’s just one small thing that’s a problem, that’s all.’

  ‘Don’t you feel safe with anyone else?’

  ‘Of course! Six husky security guards make the world of difference!’

  ‘Skye, don’t joke about it.’

  ‘But don’t you see? It’s because I can that I know it’s not that serious.’

  His eyes told her that he didn’t believe a word of it. ‘I should have guessed,’ he murmured as if to himself. ‘The wig, the big hat yesterday, the veil today—the way, now I think of it, you never wear your hair in public as you do on your program.’ He paused. ‘And, of course, the night before when you were talking about being dysfunctional—it was to do with this, wasn’t it?’

  She shrugged. But his gaze was dark and compelling as he stared at her. And, although she would have given anything to be able to resist it, it was as if he was mentally drawing her into his arms and surrounding her with his strength and protection. It was as if he were making love to her with his mind…

  It had, she found to her horror, the most devastating effect on her. It made her think of all the times she’d lain in his arms delirious with delight, because he made her body sing to a tune like no other.

  It brought back to mind how, when they were still together, he would, with one look, indicate to her that he intended to extricate them to some private place where he’d be at liberty to undress her and stroke her breasts, tease her nipples with his teeth and run his fingers along the pale, silky skin of her inner thighs before inflicting such pleasure on her…

  ‘Nick, don’t,’ she whispered hoarsely, and stood up abruptly.

  ‘Two minds thinking alike, I believe,’ he said sombrely, and stood up too. ‘Skye—’

  ‘No,’ she gasped. ‘You’re the one who can’t or won’t change! You’re the one who told me only last night that it really was over—don’t think you can still do this to me, Nick. I’m not some mindless slave to sex; there has to be more to it.’

  ‘It wasn’t just sex,’ he said harshly. ‘Do you really see it like that?’

  ‘It wasn’t much more.’

  ‘Well, I tell you what, Skye. Come back to me when you’ve had a chance to experiment with other men. Then we might be able to compare notes. And resolve exactly what it may have been.’

  Her lips parted and her eyes widened in sheer shock. ‘Nick,’ she said unsteadily but intensely, ‘do you honestly think I’d have been able to hide something like this—’ she waved a hand in the direction of where she’d been mobbed ‘—from you if we’d been true soul mates?’ And she turned and fled from him.

  Nick Hunter watched her disappear into the tent, and ground his teeth in extreme frustration as he asked himself why the hell he couldn’t just let Skye Belmont go. She had a point, of course, although she had obviously gone out of her way to hide it. But… The thing is, he mused savagely, there was no way he could transform himself into the kind of husband she wanted and, to make matters worse, he now had a sudden insight into why she needed a husband who was always there. Did she understand, could she ever understand it was her claustrophobia that magnified his problem with being tied down, though?

  So why, he asked himself, did he feel as if he’d let her down?

  Dinner was a low-key meal that night, a buffet, and to Skye’s relief no one suggested dancing afterwards.

  Sally brought out some cards and the men, and Wynn, started to play poker while the other women sat around and chatted.

  Wynn was back on top form, having left the races early, apparently, to have a rest. And she was proving herself to be a daring poker player.

  Then Bryce got a call from his pilot friend to say that he was stranded in Weipa with a malfunctioning nose wheel and it would be a couple of days at least before he could get back to Mount Gregory to pick Bryce and Skye up.

  ‘Damn!’ Bryce put the satellite phone down. ‘I’m due back at work the day after tomorrow.’

  ‘Well, I don’t think I’ll be airborne by then but I’m sure I can work something out for you, mate,’ Jack said, and turned to Nick as if struck by inspiration. ‘You could fit two more in, couldn’t you? Especially as Skye travels so light,’ he added humorously.

  Jack! Skye said to herself internally. Look what happened the last time you brought Nick and me together!

  But Nick merely said easily, ‘Sure. No problems. So long as they don’t mind an early start tomorrow.’ And Wynn didn’t miss a beat.

  Bryce breathed a sigh of relief then looked troubled as he glanced at Skye.

  She immediately said, ‘I’ve got a ticket to Sydney so as long as I can get back to Cairns I’ll be fine. I may even spend a day or two there.’

  She wasn’t sure, as she stopped speaking, whether anyone else spotted the brief, sardonic look Nick cast her over his shoulder. But she ignored it and turned back to the recipes she was copying out of Mary’s grandmother’s cookbook.<
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  And presently she took herself to bed.

  The next morning she hugged Jack and Sally and thanked them warmly. She also assured Mary and Sally she would send them a signed copy of her cookbook, and noted out of the corner of her eye that Bryce and Maggie were exchanging phone numbers.

  Then they were taxiing down the runway in Nick’s comfortable six-seater plane. The flight passed in a bit of a blur for Skye, though. She didn’t want to watch how relaxed yet professional Nick was as a pilot, she certainly didn’t want to see much of Wynn and, although she was fairly sure Bryce was interested in Maggie despite himself, she knew she would have to handle a parting of their ways with care.

  They landed in a muggy, overcast Cairns and Nick made no attempt to persuade her to fly on to Sydney with them. They said goodbye casually and no one would have known they’d been lovers, let alone friends. Wynn was also friendly but casual.

  Even Bryce, as he ushered her towards his car in the security car park, seemed unusually quiet.

  She told him that she’d spend at least one night in a hotel, so he suggested the Hilton and drove her into town. On the way, she nerved herself to say what she had to but he suddenly forestalled her.

  ‘Would it be all right, Skye, if we were friends?’

  ‘Well—’

  ‘I know what you’re going to say—there’s no point and I’ll get hurt, but I think I’m over that.’

  Skye glanced at him.

  ‘For two reasons,’ he continued. ‘I know I could never make you feel the way Nick does and, while I think I’ll always love you in a way, I may have found someone—more attainable.’

  Skye was struck silent for a good minute. Then she said with a kind of dread, ‘Don’t tell me it shows that much.’

  ‘With Nick? No. But I knew what to look for.’

  ‘The whole world knew about us, Bryce—’

  ‘But they don’t know the real Skye Belmont. They didn’t spend time with her on Haggerstone Island, they didn’t see her at Mount Gregory as I did.’

  ‘And that tells you something about me, Bryce?’ she said slowly.

  ‘That you’re the kind of girl who only gives herself to one man, Skye.’

  She sighed and looked at her clasped hands resting in her lap. ‘I hope not, Bryce, but yes, you’re right; it’s going to take me a long time to get over Nick. By the way—’ she turned to him impulsively ‘—didn’t I tell you there was someone out there for you? Maggie is lovely.’

  ‘There’s nothing between us yet,’ he began.

  ‘No, but go for it. And thanks; I will always love you in a way too.’

  He pulled up in front of the Hilton. ‘Will you be all right? Unfortunately I’m working on a research ship at the moment, and we’re heading out to the reef tomorrow morning for a week—’

  ‘I’ll be fine. Look—’ she pulled a card from her purse ‘—write to me and tell me how it’s going. I promise I’ll write back. And thanks again for everything!’ She leant towards him and kissed him lightly.

  She spent the rest of the day in her room, writing. She also decided she would spend a couple of days in Cairns; at least it put off going home and she liked Cairns anyway. It was colourfully tropical and laidback. More a big town than a small city, it was situated on the Trinity Inlet and was home to a fishing fleet as well as all sorts of dive and cruise boats that went out to the Great Barrier Reef, and there were some very nice restaurants.

  It was thinking of these that made her arch her back and rub her neck, then close down her laptop and decide to go out for a meal.

  She put on a striped T-shirt, baggy denim dungarees, her boots and a baseball cap pulled down low with her hair crammed up into it. Looking at herself from under its peak, she hesitated then put on a pair of lightly tinted John Lennon glasses. That would do it, she decided, and, picking up a backpack-style bag, she slung it over her shoulder and went to see Cairns.

  The first person she bumped into in the foyer was Nick. Literally bumped into as she stepped out of the lift and he turned from talking to a bellhop to step into it.

  ‘What are you…?’ She gasped, giving herself away immediately as she tried to regain her balance.

  ‘Skye.’ He held onto her until she was steady on her feet again, and looked down at her with his lips twisting. ‘Fairly effective,’ he drawled, ‘although I think I still would have known you before you opened your mouth.’

  ‘What are you doing here, though?’ she said tautly. ‘You should be in Sydney!’

  ‘If you’ll allow me, I’ll explain.’ He drew her into the lift, pressed a button and they began to ascend.

  ‘But…where…? Look,’ she said disjointedly, ‘I don’t want to go anywhere with you, let alone your room!’

  ‘Anyone would think you’re a shy virgin, Skye. What do you think I might do to you? Make love to you against your will?’ He raised a mocking eyebrow at her.

  She coloured visibly even beneath the peak of her cap.

  ‘All I want to do is wait for my luggage to come up then we could go out and do whatever you like,’ he added. ‘I take it you’ve disguised yourself again so you could go out for a meal?’ This time there was amusement as well as mockery in his expression.

  ‘Yes,’ she said stonily. ‘And you don’t have to make it sound so…silly!’

  ‘My apologies,’ he murmured. ‘Here we are.’

  Skye hesitated, then, because her room was on the same floor and because she’d suddenly lost all enthusiasm for eating out in Cairns, she stepped out of the lift.

  But when he stopped in front of a door she said, ‘I don’t believe this! Did you ask for this room?’

  ‘No. Why?’

  Her gaze travelled involuntarily to the next door.

  He followed it. ‘I see—you wouldn’t be right next door by any chance, Skye?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said through her teeth. ‘Did you know I was in this hotel?’ she asked ominously.

  ‘Well, I always stay at the Hilton but as a matter of fact I did.’ He glanced over his shoulder as a door opened on the other side and two people came out. At the same time the lift opened and more people arrived on the floor.

  He turned back to her. ‘Going to come in quietly, Skye, or would you like me to come to your room? It doesn’t matter to me but one or the other I intend to do, even if it takes a scene.’

  ‘You wouldn’t,’ she breathed.

  But he assured her quietly that he would and when he unlocked his door she followed him in.

  ‘That was despicable!’ she stormed, taking her cap off and tossing it onto the bed.

  He smiled slightly. As he had been all day, he was wearing khaki trousers, a khaki cotton battle jacket and a plain white shirt. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a rage before, Skye. Like a drink?’

  ‘No, thank you!’

  ‘Well, I’m going to have a beer. I’ve been flying people around the country all day.’

  He opened the mini-bar and withdrew not only a beer but a half-bottle of white wine.

  She watched him incredulously as he opened it, poured a glass and brought it over to her. He said, ‘Don’t be childish, Skye.’ And removed her spectacles.

  She glared at him, compressed her lips then took the glass ungraciously.

  ‘Excuse me,’ he murmured, at a knock on the door, and went to deal with his luggage.

  Skye walked over to the window and studied Cairns through it. The day had cleared up and there was a fine sunset gilding the Inlet and Cape Grafton across it. It wouldn’t take long for dark to fall, as was the way in the tropics. But beyond these observations crossing her mind she found herself desperately searching for an explanation for this. None came.

  When they were alone again, she turned to face the room, to say with a sudden defeated movement of her shoulders, ‘I don’t understand. How did you know I was here anyway?’

  ‘I got in touch with Bryce.’

  ‘Bryce! How?’

  ‘Through Jack. Sit do
wn, Skye.’

  ‘I’ll stand, thank you.’

  He shrugged and sank down into an armchair, running his fingers idly through his dark hair. He said with a glimmer of amusement, ‘Are you surprised that Bryce divulged your whereabouts?’

  ‘I…no. Uh…I mean…’ She couldn’t go on.

  ‘You mean you’ve sorted things out with him?’

  ‘I mean—he sorted things out for himself,’ she said gloomily, then immediately looked wary. ‘He decided he would always love me in a way but Maggie was more attainable; that’s what I meant.’

  ‘And you’re feeling a little let down?’ Nick suggested.

  ‘Not at all,’ she protested, and sat down opposite him without stopping to think. ‘What do you think I am? Well,’ she conceded with a sudden little glint of humour of her own, ‘men are strange sometimes, I guess, but I can only thank heavens Maggie came along.’

  ‘That’s it?’

  ‘We’re going to write and be friends,’ she said—unwisely, as it happened. ‘But he probably won’t even do that.’

  Nick drank some beer. ‘I think it would be a good idea if you extended a hand of friendship to me, Skye, talking of this. That’s why I’m here, incidentally.’

  Her glass tilted and she spilt some drops of wine on her dungarees. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked incredulously as she dabbed at the spots with her fingertip. ‘Look, we’ve been through it all, said all there is to say—’

  ‘No, we haven’t—’

  ‘And been through more than was necessary when you come to think of it,’ she went on heedlessly, as memories of the night he’d reminded her of their nude swim swept over her.

  ‘But we haven’t really been over this and I’m worried about you. More so than ever.’ He looked meaningfully over to the bed where her cap and glasses lay.

  She sighed and sat back. ‘Oh, that—I wish I’d never told you.’

  ‘Does your mother know?’

  ‘Yes. Nick, perhaps this is what we should be discussing if we’re going to discuss anything—what have you done with Wynn?’

  He paused and looked at her thoughtfully. ‘What has that got to do with it?’

  ‘I’m not entirely reassured she will be all sweetness and light towards me and you being friends or even doing this together,’ Skye murmured with some irony.