by Cathryn Hein
Merlin released a frustrated bleat as she passed, his overstuffed woolly body ghost-grey behind his ringlock fencing. Another day and she would have paused to say hello, having developed, like Ness, a weird affection for the ram and his un-ovine-like wits. Today she wasn’t in the mood for having her leg butted or her crotch nosed. At the sound of the sheep, Saffy tore out of the darkness, bounded around Teagan with her tongue lolling and her body reeking of something putrid, before galloping off on another nocturnal doggy mission.
At the top of the crest Teagan paused. Lucas’s ute was parked near the gate. He was leaning on the fence, rising moonlight highlighting his loose shoulder-length hair. She wanted to turn around, but a painful yearn for friendship drew her forward.
He swivelled and regarded her as she approached, expression neutral.
‘Hi,’ she said, trying to sound normal.
‘Hey. You look tired.’
‘It’s been a busy day.’ She went to the gate and scratched Claudia’s nose then crouched to reach through and tickle Mouse’s. The pony was almost all hair. Mane sprouting like a wild paddock, tail so bushy it almost covered half her rump. Somewhere under the cascade of forelock, eyes were hidden. ‘Everything okay with Claudia?’ She assumed that’s why he was here.
‘She’s fine. Mouse will take time.’ He scraped the heel of one boot against the toe of the other. ‘Ness told me about your mum.’
Teagan swallowed. The crusty lump was back.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Why are you sorry? It’s not your problem.’ She closed her eyes and smacked her palm against the timber rail. Why did she have to be such a cow? ‘Shit.’
Lucas didn’t say anything.
She straightened and picked up her backpack. ‘I should go to the house. Vanessa’s probably wondering what happened to me.’
‘Stay a minute?’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know. So we can talk maybe?’
‘Look, Lucas, I’m in a bitch of a mood right now.’ She stared at his shirt, fitted snug over his muscular chest. ‘And I’m liable to cry all over you.’
‘I don’t mind.’
‘I do.’ She rubbed at her face. ‘I just want a hot shower, a glass of wine, a bowl of something comforting and sleep.’
He stepped closer. ‘Want company for all that?’
‘I’m really bad company, Lucas. Really, really bad. My temper’s so mean I don’t even want to be with myself.’ She slid him a look. ‘What are you doing here anyway?’
He reached out to fondle Claudia’s ears. ‘Vanessa said you could do with a friend. So I’m here.’
‘Oh, crap.’ She turned her face away, tucking her tongue hard into the roof of her mouth, determined to keep the stinging tears at bay. As if the sheer force of the pressure would hold back the flood. A sob emerged. She jammed her fist into her mouth and bit.
‘Come on.’ Strong arms enveloped her. Cupping the back of her head, Lucas held her close, shushing into her ear as though she were a baby. The kindness only made her sob harder.
Finally, when her crying fit had moderated to unbecoming hiccups, she pulled away. Tear marks stained his polo shirt. She brushed at them pathetically. ‘Look what I did.’
‘Doesn’t matter.’
Too mortified to lift her head, she continued to stare at his chest. ‘I am such an embarrassment.’
‘You’re not. You’re just upset. Happens to the best of us sometimes.’
‘I can’t ever imagine you crying into anyone’s arms.’
‘Believe me, I’ve done it.’
Smiling wetly, she looked up and immediately felt comforted by the compassion in his expression. The man was a bloody saint. ‘She must’ve been a special girl.’
He smiled back. ‘She was. She was my mum.’
The mention of his mum and his feelings about her sliced something cold through Teagan’s heart. She sniffed and looked up the slope, towards the house. Tomorrow, Ness would make the long drive to the airport to pick up her sister and bring her back to Falls Farm. And Teagan would have to not only face, but live with, the woman whose faintheartedness had helped take so much from her.
Lucas took her hand. ‘Don’t think about it.’
‘How did you know what I was thinking?’
‘Your expression.’ He shouldered her backpack. ‘Come on, it’s getting cold. Let’s get you fed and watered and into bed. Tomorrow’s going to be a big enough prick of a day as it is. You don’t want to be facing it exhausted.’
Dumb though it sounded, Lucas liked having Teagan cry on his chest. It made him feel needed. Even in the darkness, as they made their way back to the house, hand in hand, he could see how tired she was. Tired and hurt.
Vanessa had warned him in a phone call that Teagan wasn’t taking Penny’s imminent arrival well. She’d also asked for his help, which was why he’d waited for Teagan to come home, each passing minute of dusk making him fret that something had happened at Belgravia. Horses were unpredictable, accidents happened. He should have realised she was only hiding, extending the time before she had to return to Falls Farm.
He’d never seen Vanessa so troubled either. When Lucas arrived she’d been pacing the verandah with a large glass of wine instead of the usual Saturday-night Pimms. The moment he’d climbed the stairs she’d started, asking him if she’d done the right thing in offering refuge to her sister.
Lucas couldn’t see how she could have done anything else. Penny had pleaded for sanctuary just as Teagan had done. How could Vanessa refuse?
It had occurred to him then that they could come to some arrangement. After all, he had plenty of room at Astonville. Teagan could come and stay with him, but Vanessa had dismissed the suggestion. A sweet idea, and generous of him, but Teagan and her mother needed to make up. Whether Teagan wanted to or not.
Lucas wasn’t convinced that lumping them together in the same house was the best way for them to reconcile. Not having had sisters, he didn’t have firsthand experience of the dynamics of female relationships, but he’d had enough girlfriends and female interactions to get a general idea. The odds of things going smoothly were about as good as him making the Australian cricket team, but he kept that thought to himself. Now wasn’t the time for negativity. And Vanessa might yet prove him wrong.
As he approached the steps he caught Dom’s deep articulate voice. Stuffed if he knew what Vanessa saw in him. The bloke was good-looking and rich, but there was no getting away from the sort of man he was inside: an arsehole of the highest order.
His hand tightened on Teagan’s, but she slipped from his grip.
‘It’s okay. You don’t have to babysit me.’
He shrugged. ‘You need someone to share that drink with.’
They climbed up to the house, their tread slow and subdued. The door squeaked as Lucas held it open for Teagan. Immediately Dom’s voice quietened.
‘Teagan, darling.’ Vanessa crossed from the kitchen. ‘I was getting worried.’
‘Busy day.’ She nodded at Dom. ‘Domenic.’
‘If you don’t mind me saying, you look a bit tired.’
She brushed hair from her forehead and let out a weary breath. ‘Probably because I am.’
‘Working seven days a week isn’t healthy. For anyone,’ said Dom. ‘You should take it easy for a day. Indulge a little.’ He glanced at Vanessa as though seeking approval to go on, and Lucas had the impression they’d been brewing something together. ‘A day-spa session. Top-to-toe treatment. My treat.’
Vanessa clapped her hands and beamed at Teagan. ‘What a good idea! It could be just what you need.’
‘No thanks,’ said Teagan. ‘I’m too busy anyway.’
‘Too busy for a full body massage and facial?’ Dom tutted. ‘You don’t know what you’re missing. Seriously, Teagan, on the house.’
‘Sorry. Not interested.’
Dom shared a brief frown with Vanessa. ‘Believe me, you’ll feel like a new woman.’
Lucas wanted to wrap an arm around Teagan and steer her away. Instead, he did the next best thing and spoke for her in a hard-edged tone designed to end the conversation. ‘She’s not interested.’
Dom held his gaze, expression bland.
Teagan smiled wanly. ‘Right now all I care about is a long shower.’
‘Then go and enjoy one, darling.’ Vanessa threw both Lucas and Dom a remonstrating look and ushered her out. ‘There’s beer in the fridge if you want, Lucas. More wine there, too. Dom, could you be a sweetheart and pour a glass for Teagan?’
‘You’re very protective,’ said Dom as he raided the fridge. He handed Lucas a beer before reaching inside again for a bottle of chardonnay.
‘Someone has to protect her from you.’
‘I mean Teagan no harm.’ His eye contact remained steady, unintimidated by the hostility in Lucas’s voice. ‘I mean no one harm.’
‘Sure. Whatever.’ He cracked his beer and wandered back out to the verandah. To his annoyance, Dom joined him.
‘So how’s business?’
He took a long draught of beer. ‘Fine.’
‘And everything else?’
‘What do you care?’
Dom looked away. Lucas felt an immediate pang of guilt and was irritated by it. Being anywhere close to Dom irritated him. It annoyed him that the man was here now, trying it on with Vanessa. And worse, sucking up to Teagan.
He tilted the neck of his bottle towards Dom. ‘I don’t know what your agenda is, but I’m watching.’
Dom spread his hands in innocence. ‘I told you. I have no agenda. I’m not the same man as before.’ He paused, maintaining eye contact. ‘I’d like you to see that.’
The door pushed open and Vanessa smiled at them both, although the fine lines at the corner of her mouth twitched with worry. ‘I hope you two are playing nice.’
Dom turned his charming smile on his host. ‘I always play nice.’
Lucas swung away and braced his forearms on the rail. He wished things were normal, the way they’d been before Dom had wormed his way into his life. Mostly they were, but in Dom’s presence all he could think of was his mum and how she’d suffered. The way they both had; one with bitterness and then physical pain, the other with longing that had morphed into resentment.
‘Did you manage to talk to Teagan?’ Vanessa asked, moving to Lucas’s side.
‘A bit.’
‘And?’
He picked at the bottle label, wishing he hadn’t accepted the beer. Teagan was back safe and, he hoped, a bit comforted. He had no reason to be here, yet neither could he bring himself to leave. ‘She’s upset.’
Vanessa bit her lip. ‘I feel so awful about all this, but how was I to know Penny was going to pull this stunt?’ She blinked away tears. ‘She’s my sister. What am I supposed to do?’
‘Hey,’ said Dom, stretching his arm across her shoulders and folding her towards him. ‘We’ll work something out.’
Lucas’s lip curled. What was it with this ‘we’ business? He didn’t like the way Dom was holding Vanessa. It reminded him too much of how Lucas had held Teagan only a short while ago. Like it had meaning.
He took another slug of beer. ‘I should go.’
‘But, darling, you haven’t had anything to eat.’
‘I have food at home. Tell Teagan . . .’
What did he want to say to Teagan? That it’d be all right? That he’d help? That he could see she was a bit fucked up right now and didn’t mind because he kind of understood where it came from? That his feelings had moved beyond base attraction to something else?
She wasn’t ready for that. Especially now.
‘Tell her I’m around if she needs someone to talk to.’
With an apologetic smile at Vanessa, Lucas dumped his beer and trotted down the stairs. Footsteps followed. Lucas clenched his jaw and kept his stride long. When he reached the car, he stopped and spun, chin jutted, fists clenched. ‘What do you want?’
Dom ignored his aggression. ‘You and I need to have a discussion.’
‘I have nothing to discuss with you. Ever.’
Pain shot across Dom’s face and was replaced with something harder. ‘You can’t keep pretending, Lucas.’
‘Why not? I managed to pretend for thirty-two years already. What’s another thirty-two matter?’ He yanked open the door. Angry that he was leaving when he wanted to be there for Teagan. Even angrier that this prick had followed him to his car.
Dom grabbed the top of the door, preventing Lucas from closing it. He bent close, blue eyes dark with shadows. ‘Whether you like it or not, I’m still your father.’
‘No, Domenic,’ he said, emphasising the syllables of his name, reminding the man of what he would never be in Lucas’s mind. ‘You’re not. You never were from the start and you sure as hell aren’t now. So take your false care and leave me the fuck alone.’
*
Vanessa frowned as Dom walked slowly back to the verandah. What was it with those two? That Lucas had no time for Dom she knew, but the confrontation she’d just witnessed seemed about to descend into a punch-up.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked, when Dom trudged up the stairs.
‘Yes.’ He smiled tightly. ‘Just a business matter.’
‘With Lucas?’
He made a dismissive gesture. ‘Nothing important. Some iron work for the centre.’
Vanessa knew from his locked countenance that she shouldn’t press, but her curiosity was on fire. ‘He hasn’t done it?’
‘We’re,’ he hesitated, ‘negotiating.’
‘Interesting way of negotiating.’
Dom didn’t answer. He sat and stared out into the night, a broody expression pinching his face. He looked troubled, a feeling that was hardly unique. Right now, the entire Falls Valley felt leaden with worry.
She sighed and picked up her wineglass, swirling the contents. ‘This used to be such a peaceful place. I was so happy when I found it. It was exactly what I needed after Timoteo.’
‘You make it sound like it’s no longer so.’
‘Things are changing. There’s a bad wind blowing.’ She put down her glass and rested her hands on her belly. ‘Do you really have to expand the centre?’
‘Even in its current form the rehab and private-therapy division returns three times the profit of the spa.’ He leaned back, his face resuming its usual composure. ‘It would be bad business not to expand on that, but to do so requires privacy and space. More areas where clients can be alone but secure. A place where they can receive treatment for their addictions and mental-health issues without stressing that they’ll be photographed without makeup, looking fragile or, God forbid, normal. I have the means and location to provide that.’
Vanessa toyed with the stem of her wineglass. She wanted to drink some more, but she’d been indulging just a little too much these last few days. They all had. ‘I hate to think of so much of the valley being fenced off.’
‘I can understand your concern. And I agree, it does seem a shame, but the land is private property, to be developed as I choose within regulations and government ruling.’
He shifted to prop one elbow on the table and balance his head on his fingertips, his body open to her. The type of relaxed, trust-me pose he used when trying to convince her of his sincerity. Vanessa suspected that using deliberate, open body language was so second nature to Dom now he didn’t realise he did it. Or that she noticed.
‘I operate a business where customer satisfaction is paramount. Security was my number-one priority even before this, thanks to that incident at the bakery. Another breach and the centre’s reputation, the very thing that makes it trusted and therefore profitable, would be under serious threat.’
‘Perhaps you should solve the problem by buying an island instead.’
‘A pleasant idea. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many available.’ He gazed into the distance, towards where Lucas’s lights had faded. ‘Besides, I want to be here.’ He glanced back
at her and smiled. ‘One day, I’d like to live here permanently.’
Vanessa left that comment unanswered. She took a sip of chardonnay, wondering why Dom felt so sentimental about The Falls. Other than his business, he had no connection to the area or community. Perhaps he didn’t need one. After all, she’d settled here and made it home. There was no reason why Dom couldn’t, too.
As the same longing for companionship that had afflicted her days before squeezed her heart again, she found herself hoping strongly that he would. Afraid he might recognise her desire, Vanessa kept her focus on the surrounding rustling eucalypts. The breeze had lifted, and the air was redolent with the scents of the scrub. She wished she was in a better mood to enjoy it.
‘I’m considering signing up for the Falcons.’
She regarded him with surprise. ‘I didn’t think you played cricket.’
Dom grimaced and scratched at his neck. ‘I don’t.’
His out-of-character sheepishness had her studying him closely. How fascinating. Dom was never one to allow himself to be shown up, yet here he was contemplating putting himself forward for exactly that to happen. There had to be a reason. Business? Surely not. Public opinion mattered, but the reality was the council or the Land and Environment Court would decide the fate of the centre. Which only left something personal, but what? It would take more than cricket heroics to entice Vanessa into his bed, as he was well aware. So who was he trying to impress?
She hid her curiosity with a smile. ‘Mark will probably kiss you if you do. And Bunny. These days she’s nearly as nutty about the team as Mark.’
‘They make a good pair, don’t they?’
‘They do.’
He stretched across the table for her hand. ‘Like us.’
‘Not like us.’ She gave the back of his hand a sympathetic pat and reached for her glass before he could trap her in his grip. ‘Those two will last once they get over their hang-ups. You and I would only end up fighting.’