And been neither flattered nor amused, he deduced. He hefted the box. She held the door open for him.
‘Do you need any travel directions to wherever it is you’re heading?’ she asked. ‘Provisions, so you can be on your way? Can of drink? Box of crackers?’
‘How did he die?’ asked Grey. ‘This fiancé.’
‘Heroically. Very honourably.’ No need for details, decided Charlotte. Details were bad. ‘It was the least I could do.’
‘Has anyone ever told you that your grip on reality’s a little shaky?’ he murmured.
‘Hello,’ she said dryly. ‘Archaeologist. It’s part of the job description.’
A smile from him then. One that chased the sternness right out of him and left devilry in its place. Charlotte stared, drinking in the details. Greyson Tyler was a dangerously handsome man when he wanted to be. Handsomer than Gil.
‘Hnh,’ she said.
Greyson’s smile widened. ‘You’ll let me know if anything else of mine happens your way?’ he said.
‘Of course.’
His gaze had shifted to her lips and his smile was fading. Something else started moving into place. Something fierce and heated.
‘Will you be staying in Sydney long?’ she all but stuttered. ‘Is there a contact number or address I can reach you at?’
‘I’ll be here for a while,’ he said. ‘And yes, there is.’ Not that he seemed inclined to part with that information. ‘This predicament you’ve got yourself in …’
‘Which one?’
‘The fake dead fiancé. The lie that just keeps getting bigger.’
‘Oh. Right. That predicament.’
‘There is a way around it without necessarily having to come clean about the lie,’ he offered. ‘You’d be indebted to me, of course, but I figure that’s a small price to pay, and I do happen to know of a way in which you could repay me. All strictly above board and harmless, more or less.’
‘What are you suggesting?’
‘Resurrection.’
‘Pardon?’
‘You’re not the only one with an ex-fiancé,’ he murmured. ‘Although mine happens to be real and she’s not yet dead. She’s also been welcome at my parents’ place since childhood. She’s part of the family, the daughter my mother never had.’
‘No wonder you went paddling up the Sepik afterwards,’ said Charlotte. ‘Who ended the engagement?’
‘I did.’
‘Were you heartbroken?’
‘Do I look heartbroken?’
‘I really don’t know you well enough to tell. Was she heartbroken?’
‘The engagement was a mistake,’ said Greyson Tyler curtly. ‘Sarah wants a conventional husband. One who’s home more often than not. One who’s ready to settle down and start a family.’
‘How unusual,’ murmured Charlotte and wore Greyson’s steel-eyed glare with equanimity.
‘That’s not me. I don’t know if it’ll ever be me, only Sarah—’ He gave a tiny shake of his head. ‘Sarah wants to pick up where we left off. With my family’s blessing.’
‘You’re a big boy. Just say no.’
‘I have. No one seems to believe me. No one wants to believe me. I’m running out of gentle ways of saying no, but maybe you can help me. Maybe I can help you.’
‘How?’
‘I need a woman at my side for a family barbecue next weekend. Preferably one who’s ecstatic about me, my way of life, and what I can give her—which is, needless to say, not a lot. A free spirit who can make Sarah and my family believe that everyone should just move on. In return, I’ll play your back-from-the-dead fiancé whom you can produce, bicker with, and shortly thereafter cut loose in good conscience. No need to admit your original lie at all. Do we have an agreement?’
Charlotte hesitated, a twinge of something that felt a whole lot like wariness riding her hard. An ex-fiancée who wanted Greyson still, maybe even loved him still. A barbecue at which he—they—would dash her hopes as gently as they could. Except that there would be nothing gentle about his ex-fiancée coming face to face with proof positive that Greyson was indeed serious about Sarah needing to move on. ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have another shot at discussing this between yourselves?’ she said. ‘Somewhere nice and private? Bring out the steely resolve. Maybe you could say no louder this time.’
‘I have,’ he said darkly. ‘It’s not working. Bringing you along might.’
And still Charlotte hesitated.
‘Never mind.’ His face was closed, his voice clipped. ‘Bad idea.’
‘Wait,’ she said tentatively. ‘How long is it since you broke up?’
‘Two years.’
‘And you really think there’s no other way to dissuade her?’
‘Look, I don’t want to hurt Sarah. I don’t want her to feel that she’s no longer welcome at my parents’ place. I just want her to see …’
See being the operative word.
‘Couldn’t you just tell her that you’ve found someone else?’
Silence from Greyson Tyler. Silence and a bleak black glare. ‘You already have,’ said Charlotte slowly. ‘And now you have to produce her.’
Bingo.
‘You’re as reality challenged as I am,’ she said next.
‘Hardly.’
‘Oh, give it time.’
Another glare from the behemoth. The one who was offering to help with her fiancé problem if she would only help him with his. ‘I don’t do animosity,’ she said firmly. ‘If we do this, we do it with as little hurt as possible.’
‘Agreed.’
‘You arrive at my office tomorrow and things seem a little strained between us,’ she continued. ‘I can take it from there. I attend your family barbecue next weekend, thus providing Sarah with visible evidence that you’ve moved on, and you can take it from there.’
‘Agreed,’ he said. ‘So do we have a deal?’
More lies aside, Greyson Tyler’s suggestion really did seem to solve a multitude of problems. ‘We do.’
THERE was something about waiting for the eminent Dr Greyson Tyler to arrive at her workplace that set Charlotte’s jaw to clenching. Correction: the waiting part wasn’t the problem. He set her on edge regardless.
She’d been expecting a scientist—a no-nonsense man of formidable intellect and optional physical prowess. Instead she’d encountered Action Man in the flesh, a man so physically fine, quick thinking, and composed in the face of complications that a woman couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like with a man like that in it. Not steady and predictable, she wagered. Anything but.
Not boring or empty either.
Greyson Tyler was a living, breathing reminder of a life she’d left behind in her quest for inner contentment, security, and peace of mind. Hardly