by Jane Cousins
“You beckoned.” Ramsey leaned across the bench.
Berry eyed him with what she hoped was appropriate gravity, noting the laughter lurking in those stormy eyes of his and the way the edge of his mouth kept twitching. She flicked a quick glance over at her squabbling Aunts. “Knowing how efficient my court clerk is, I’m betting when you arrived this morning Marion requested that you submit any official documentation and forego acting as a witness. I don’t suppose you’d care to share with me why you’ve let this little charade play itself out this morning?”
Ramsey shrugged, doing his best to look wide eyed and completely blameless. He’d been all set to hand over the documents when he’d first arrived this morning and exit, poste-haste, determined to keep his distance from Beryl Malone. He couldn’t see any outcome other than she would end up hating him once she knew the truth about who he was and his role in getting her ex-husband incarcerated. A connection she was bound to make eventually, if they kept spending time together. Then something happened, a scent, her perfume… he didn’t know where it came from but those distinct notes of jasmine, tangerine and honey that belonged to Beryl Malone had sucker punched him.
Suddenly he found himself clutching the folder he’d been about to hand over to the clerk tightly to his chest and shaking his head. He wanted to see Beryl Malone again, he had too. He’d tell her who he was… and the cards would fall where they may. Every instinct he had, was demanding he pursue Beryl Malone… if he didn’t at least try, he’d regret it for the rest of his life, and he always trusted his instincts.
“For one thing.” Ramsey gave up trying to look innocent, pretty sure Berry Malone could read him like a book. “I didn’t want to upset the ladies. They each went to so much trouble to have me issue a ticket… it would have been impolite not to let them have their day in court.”
“Impolite? Right. No really, why did you play along?” Berry frowned his way.
“Well for one thing, I wanted to know what their end game was. I couldn’t really figure it out until they started asking me all those personal questions.”
Berry rolled her eyes. “I think they’re just addicted to drama.”
“Nah.” Ramsey suddenly grinned. “They’re match making.”
“They’re what?” All the blood drained from Berry’s face.
“Wow, you’ve gone really pale. Is the idea of dating me that horrific? Or is it because I’m a much younger man?”
Berry’s eyes sparked fire his way. “Being a year younger than me, does not make you much younger! I…”
“You look like you’re about to throw up.” Ramsey noted, studying her pale face and suddenly bloodless lips.
“It’s not you.”
“And yet right at this moment it feels very personal.” He supposed a woman throwing up at the idea of dating him made a change from running for the hills, not a nice change but a change.
“No it’s men. All men. I’ve sworn off them. I’m done, for life, done.”
“That sounds kind of an extreme reaction.”
Berry scoffed. “This from the man who ran out of my house Friday night as if I’d just doused him with gasoline and produced a match.”
Ramsey shifted from foot to foot. He supposed there was no time like the present. Rip the band-aide off, so to speak. “Yeah, about that. There’s probably something you should know…”
He was interrupted by a high pitched shriek. Adelaide it seems had just slapped Margot across the face. Margot who was taller than both sisters, and sturdier of frame was being held back from responding with a closed fist by Daphne.
“There’s nothing to talk about Chief. No more batting your overly long eyelashes my way. No more heated looks, no more intimate sexy smiles or looming with intent. I told you, I’m done with men. You and me? Never going to happen. Now you need to leave before this gets ugly and the hair pulling starts… oh, too late.”
Chapter Five
With the end of the working day approaching, Ramsey stood in the shadows at the base of the grand marble staircase in the High Council building. Perfectly still, perfectly content… waiting for Berry Malone to appear. It was very interesting the things you could learn if you were willing to be patient and watchful.
For instance, he was witness to Berry’s three Great-Aunts being escorted out of the ground floor High Council offices by Alma Richart herself. All four women were smiling and looking distinctly… what was the word he wanted? Smug. Yes, they all looked smug.
He was sensing a conspiracy here, but to what aim as yet… he reluctantly discarded his earlier idea of match making. For Alma to be involved in the three Great-Aunts plotting would just be taking the match making scenario he’d been developing several steps beyond believable. To go to such lengths? Inconceivable. He’d have to be a first-class conspiracy crackerjack to continue clinging to the match making theory. The idea of Alma seeking him out… him, of all people. Going to all that effort of tracking him down in Melbourne. Offering him a job. Just to arrange for his presence here at the Southern Sanctuary for the sole purpose of match making, that idea… that level of conspiracy, it bordered on the absurd.
Yet something decidedly… peculiar, was going on here.
And damn his hide, he’d always enjoyed a good puzzle. He watched as the four women suddenly froze in place. Like startled meerkats, their heads bobbed up, eyes wide as they searched for what had spooked them. Not a single one of them noted his presence across the foyer, Ramsey was so used to being ignored he didn’t even acknowledge that fact as strange. Hurriedly the foursome broke up, each scurrying off in different directions, as if afraid they might be caught… by whom? Doing what? Questions he wanted answers for.
The next thing of interest he observed whilst he waited, was the short chubby blonde, lurking by the large ornate front doors. She was trying desperately to act covertly and failing spectacularly. It wasn’t just her jerky erratic movements that caught Ramsey’s eye, but the way she kept ducking her head, as if by looking at the floor she presumed no one would be able to see her. The woman was good for comic value alone. But if she was trying to pass unnoticed, she should not have been wearing that outfit. The extremely low cut blouse she had on was barely able to maintain coverage of what was an exceedingly large set of breasts. Strange, the lowness of the top was at distinct odds with the - long blonde plaited hair, no make-up and flowing to the floor skirt - hippy vibe she had going on.
Hmm, he idly wondered what her story was, as she leapt to the left suddenly for no apparent reason. Bumping into a passing couple. Apologising profusely, she once more aimed her face to the ground, he could all but hear her thoughts. Please don’t see me. Please don’t see me.
“Gaia.” Thom, the security guard, raised a hand in recognition and greeting.
Ramsey had no doubt, that like him, Thom had been watching the blonde’s weird antics for the past ten minutes, though for some mysterious reason he was acting as if she’d just walked in the building. The blonde, Gaia, winced visibly when Thom called her name. Ramsey bit back a smile, he bet she couldn’t lie worth a damn.
“Hey Thom.” She gave the guard a feeble wave and a fleeting smile.
“You’re not looking for Berry, are you?” Thom enquired.
Gaia’s head nodded like she was a bobble doll.
“Oh, she ducked out a few minutes early to grab some things at the supermarket… if you run, you might be able to…”
Gaia’s plait flew over her shoulder as she scurried out the door, leaving Thom shaking his head and smiling as he unclipped his walkie talkie and raised it to his mouth. “Coast is all clear. I repeat, the coast is all clear.”
Ramsey shook his head slightly in bafflement. This had to be the weirdest town. He’d no sooner finished that thought when Berry raced down the stairs, clutching her bag to her chest, smiling Thom’s way. “Thanks Thom.” She ducked back behind the staircase, moving fast down a dimly lit passage.
What the… Ramsey took off in pursuit. So intent upon
his objective he didn’t witness Thom jerk in genuine surprise, followed by his muttered. “Now where the hell did he come from?”
* * *
Berry broke from the cover of the shrubs shielding the rear building exit and crouched low, scurrying forward to hide between the two nearest cars. She stopped for a moment, took a deep calming breath and raised her head, checking if the coast was clear. Just in case Gaia had double-backed. The employee car park appeared to be empty as did the dense eucalyptus tree Nature Reserve that butted up against the rear of the gothic Council building. Remaining low, Berry awkwardly shuffled forward. Honestly, her family were going to drive her nuts.
“What’s going on?”
Berry bit down hard on her tongue, swallowing a scream as a gravelly familiar male voice whispered the question directly into her ear. Goddess, how had Ramsey Hughes managed to sneak up behind her? She turned to find him crouched next to her, only inches separating them, a distinctly playful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Is everything okay?” Ramsey asked.
Instinctively Berry grabbed his arm to keep him from standing up. “Stay down.” She hissed.
Suddenly Ramsey was frowning, his grey eyes darkening to the colour of a category five storm. “Who’s after you? Tell me what’s going on?” His hand instinctively coming down to rest on the butt of his gun.
Berry shook her head. Merciful Lady, this was embarrassing. “Calm down. It’s not what you think. It’s my cousin, Gaia…”
“The chubby blonde?” Ramsey frowned, moving his hand away from his gun.
“You’ve seen her?”
“Yeah, she was hanging around the foyer just now. Thom sent her off on a wild goose chase across town.”
“Oh thank Goddess.” Tension left Berry as she relaxed somewhat, resting her back against the bumper of the nearest car.
“Is she dangerous?”
“Gaia?” Berry laughed. “Only to my sanity.” How could she possibly explain that Gaia was acting like she was because she was desperate to ask Berry a question? Ramsey Hughes would think she was crazy.
“Why is she stalking you?”
“Um… well, you see Gaia is a little single-minded, some might even call her obsessive compulsive and when she gets like this, well, she can be a little scary. She thinks I have some… information that she needs.”
Gaia had been married over seven months to her one eye-browed - barely able to speak English - meld mate, Sergei, and as yet the couple hadn’t fallen pregnant. Gaia, was beyond obsessed. Her cousin had tried yoga, special diets, harassed all the family members who claimed to have fertility spells. Gaia even spent several hours at Berry’s Great-Grandparents place rubbing all the fertility statues Tally had collected over the years. Nell, another friend and cousin, a physician, had banned Gaia from her clinic, advising Gaia there was nothing wrong, she just needed to relax and give it more time.
And perhaps Gaia might have been able to take Nell’s advice, only problem was, since her wedding, three more meld marriages had taken place in the Sanctuary. Including their cousin Locke, who though notoriously anti-baby, had melded with Serena, an Earth witch, and everyone knew how strongly they were linked to the Earth and fertility. If anyone could change Locke’s mind regarding having children then Serena could.
In Gaia’s mind, the race was officially on. It had been well over a decade since anyone in their large extended family had given birth, and Gaia was desperate for that honour. For all her mother-earth vibe, Gaia could be scarily competitive.
Berry might have been able to stay out of the insane mess except for the whole startling turn of events involving their mutual cousin, Riya. Single. Not a man in sight or in her bed, Riya had turned up at Hadleigh and Vaughn’s official meld party heavily pregnant. A singular event, since Riya hadn’t been pregnant the day before the party and wasn’t, to all intents and purposes, pregnant, the day after the party. A genuine medical magical mystery Nell had stated.
For Gaia, the incident was the equivalent of waving a red rag at a bull. All bets were off now in her quest to get pregnant. How Sergei put up with her antics was beyond Berry, but the man was so busy staring down Gaia’s low cut tops most of the time she doubted he was even aware there was a problem.
That’s where Berry came in to the picture. Gaia wanted to look her right in the eye and ask her what she and Sergei needed to do to get pregnant. All well and good for Gaia to ask, but she wouldn’t be the one assailed with the hundreds of different options open to them, way too many Berry was guessing that would involve Gaia and Sergei naked and bumping uglies. She was pretty sure once those images were burned into her brain she’d never be able to scrub her frontal lobe clean. Hence the subterfuge and hiding from Gaia.
“You’re doing all this,” Ramsey gestured at the two of them huddled close to the ground. “…to avoid giving her information? What does she want, the launch codes to a nuclear device?”
Berry frowned, why was she even having this conversation with Hotshot Hughes? Hadn’t she told him to leave her alone? To take his flirty flirt ways elsewhere? Scowling at him, she pushed away from the car she’d been resting against and started forward, keeping low, very conscious that Ramsey was following her. Perhaps a little too closely, given she was bent over, her ass quite literally in his face. That had her stopping abruptly to look back at him.
“Why are you following me? Go away.” Berry hissed, waving her hand. “Shoo.”
Ramsey chuffed a soft laugh. “Did you just shoo me?” He didn’t think he’d ever been shooed in his life. Most people who wanted him to go away usually felt impelled to point a gun in his direction as an added incentive.
“Yes I did. Look, I think I’ve made it pretty clear already that I’m not interested in you… in that way.”
“What way is that exactly?” Ramsey couldn’t help but ask, and for his effort those dark sinful brown eyes of hers shot him a dirty look. Damn, he loved riling this woman.
“Romantically… I’m not interested in you romantically.”
“Oh, yes that’s right. You accused me of having overly long eyelashes, batting my eyes your way with promised heat, smiling at you in a sexy manner and what was the last bit? Oh yes, looming with intent.”
Berry scowled, knowing her cheeks were stained with high colour. “Do you have a photographic memory?”
Ramsey couldn’t help but grin. “No, I just asked the court reporter for a copy of her transcript.”
“Oh Goddess, our conversation is part of public record? And stop smiling like that, it’s not funny.”
“It’s a little bit funny.” Ramsey assured her in a gravelly tone. He didn’t think anyone had ever made him smile… laugh, as much as Berry Malone. For all her snarls and flaring eyes, he was pretty sure, hoping, that she secretly enjoyed their little chats as much as he did.
Berry rolled her eyes. “You have a very strange sense of humour.” She didn’t care if her butt was in his face, Berry swivelled abruptly and continued moving forward between the cars, keeping low. If she couldn’t shake Chief Hughes then she would just drive away.
“Um Berry, there’s something I need to tell you. Could you just stop a moment?” As much as he was enjoying being eye to well… butt with her, he didn’t think what he had to say should be imparted to her backside. No matter how cute and perfect it was.
“Nope, I can’t stop. I have a cousin to avoid and a mother-in-law to pick up from the Shit Stirrers Club.”
“Shit Stirrers Club?” Ramsey just missed being clocked in the head by a side view mirror as his head shot up in surprise.
Berry released a heavy sigh. “Officially, they call themselves the Sunshine Seniors Club. All three of my Great-Aunts are members, so you can just imagine the mayhem and mischief. I’m pretty sure the cats are catching a ride on the mini bus each morning when it comes to pick up Joanne.”
“Er… the cats?” He ducked another side view mirror as Berry slipped between two cars and dashed off down a ro
w leading to the back of the lot.
“I know it sounds ridiculous, but there’s no other way to explain it. That’s why I’ve started dropping Joanne off and picking her up personally.”
“Sure.” Ramsey agreed. Not quite sure how his conversation with Berry had managed to veer off on such a strange tangent.
Berry scoffed a laugh but kept on moving. “Trust me Hotshot, you’d better pray the cats never come after you.”
“I’ll be on the lookout.”
“Now you sound like you’re reassuring the crazy lady.” Berry stopped abruptly as she’d finally reached her car, a ten year old blue Volkswagen. “That’s me, crazy as a loon. You’d be advised to keep your distance.” She awkwardly, still crouched low, fitted her key in the door and opened it.
“Berry.” Ramsey’s large warm hand came down to rest on her arm, preventing her from climbing into the car. “We really do need to talk. I have something I need to tell you.”
“That sounds ominous.” More perturbing was what the touch of his hand on her arm and the closeness of his large frame crouched beside her, emitting too much heat, was doing to her senses. Her heart was suddenly beating way too fast and there were butterflies doing a conga line in her stomach threading their way to lower places in her body. Whoa, this was completely unacceptable. She categorically refused to be attracted to Ramsey Hughes, to any man. She was through with men. She stood up, attempting to break his hold, trying to create some distance.
Ramsey rose beside her, trying not to loom – with intent or otherwise. “Look this isn’t easy.”
The expression on his face suddenly so serious, his eyes suddenly full of… Berry couldn’t credit it, but large, capable, professional Ramsey Hughes, suddenly looked nervous. She froze, without thinking she gripped his arm back, the two of them now locked together.
“I don’t know exactly how to tell you this…”