Judd’s fingers were loosely linked in hers as they walked, and every nerve in her body went on high alert, focusing intently on the scant physical connection they shared. Wishing against everything that the connection could be deepened and intensified.
She fought to regain control of her senses. She’d be crazy to embark on anything physical with Judd Wilson. Totally and utterly crazy. But no matter what her head told her, her body demanded something else entirely.
In her bag, she felt her cell phone discreetly vibrate. The only person who would be calling her would be Charles. Her stomach lurched. Was he okay? He hadn’t looked well when she’d left Auckland yesterday. Extracting her fingers from Judd’s light clasp, she reached into her bag.
“Excuse me, I need to take this,” she said, putting the phone to her ear and turning to walk a few steps away from him.
“Have you met him yet?” Charles’s voice sounded strong and healthy.
“Yes, I have,” she said guardedly, wishing she’d let the call go to her message service and then phoned Charles back when she had a little more privacy.
“Well, what’s he like? Have you given him the letter yet? What did he say?”
Charles’s questions fired at her with the less-than-subtle force of a battering ram and she created a little more distance between herself and the subject of those questions.
“It’s hard to say at the moment. No, and nothing yet,” she answered each question in turn.
“You’re with him now, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she replied. “Look, it’s really not a good time to talk. Can I get back to you later?”
Please say “yes,” she silently begged. In response, Charles’s hearty chuckle filled her ear.
“Not a good time, eh? Okay, then, I’ll leave you to it. But make sure you call me back later today.”
“Yes, certainly. I’ll do that. Goodbye.”
“Anna, don’t hang up!”
She sighed. “Yes?”
“I’m counting on you. I need my son with me.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Thank you, darling girl.”
He disconnected the call and Anna felt her shoulders sag with the reminder of what he expected of her.
“Bad news?” Judd asked.
“No, not really,” Anna hedged.
“Anything I can help with?”
She fought back the strangled laugh that rose in her throat. If only he knew. But no, the last thing she could do was divulge the details of that phone call. Not yet, anyway. She shook her head and pushed her phone back in her bag.
“It was just work, I can deal with it later. I’m starving,” she said, trying to shift the conversation onto safer ground. “How about that lunch you promised me?”
“Your wish is my command,” Judd said, taking her hand again and lifting it to his lips.
His blue eyes gleamed, letting Anna know in no uncertain terms that he was definitely open to more than just lunch. Again that surge of heat swirled deep inside her, making her body tighten in anticipation. She fought to paint a smile on her lips. This was all going to be so much harder than she had ever imagined.
On the short drive to Hahndorf, Charles’s words kept echoing around in her head, I need my son with me. An unexpected flash of anger rose within her. Charles was so bent on reuniting with his long-lost son that he’d completely forgotten he had a daughter right by his side. A daughter who understood his wine importation and distribution business better, almost, than her own father. A daughter who’d spent her whole life stepping up in an attempt to fill the near insurmountable gap left when Cynthia had taken Judd to Australia.
Anna wondered again about the contents of the letter that weighed so heavily in her handbag. She knew Charles was planning on offering Judd an incentive to return, but he hadn’t shared the details with her. Whatever carrot he’d chosen to dangle, what would it mean to the sister who didn’t even remember Judd? The one who worked so hard to please her father, for no reward other than his love and hard-won approval? Anna adored Charles with every breath in her body. He’d been the only father figure she’d ever known, but she worried that he’d overstepped the mark with this obsession with Judd and that he’d damage his relationship with Nicole irrevocably.
“What sort of work do you do that they need to call you when you’re on vacation?”
Judd’s voice interrupted her thoughts and made her start. She’d been dreading this question and had already decided that a vague response would be her best bet.
“Oh, I’m a P.A.”
“You must be pretty important to your boss if he can’t keep from calling you.”
Anna forced her features to relax into a smile. “I’ve worked for him since I left school. We’re probably closer than most boss/employee relationships.”
She caught Judd’s piercing look before his eyes resumed their surveillance of the road in front of them. He began to slow the car as they approached a township, and Anna let out an involuntary exclamation of delight as they entered the main road. Lined with massive trees and with quaint tin-roofed buildings, she’d have thought she’d stepped back in time if it hadn’t been for the bustle of people and modern vehicles that lined the street.
Judd expertly backed the Aston Martin into a car space and came around to open Anna’s door.
“I’m surprised he let you out of his sight, if you’re so close,” he said, his words weighted with something that Anna couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“I’m my own woman,” she answered.
“I’m pleased to hear it,” Judd said in return, taking her hand and tucking it firmly in the crook of his elbow. “Because I don’t like to share.”
“I’ve heard that trait was reserved for only children,” Anna said with a soft laugh, trying to defuse the heady rush of excitement his words stimulated inside her.
“What makes you think I’m not an only child?”
Oh, Lord, she’d nearly stepped right in it. She scoured her memory quickly, although deep down she knew that no one here in Adelaide had mentioned his estranged family to her.
“Oh, I don’t know. I just assumed, since you grew up here surrounded by your cousins, that sharing was a natural part of your life.”
She held her breath, hoping he’d be satisfied with her reply. To her surprise, he let out a short laugh.
“Yeah, I suppose that’d be a natural assumption.”
“So, are you?” she probed, wanting some insight into how he might feel about the sister he hadn’t seen in years.
“An only child?” He shrugged. “It’s complicated. My parents divorced when I was young, and they split my sister and me up at the same time. I was six, she was just one year old.”
“Isn’t that unusual? That your father kept your sister?”
“He didn’t want me—my mother did.”
Judd’s words, so simply spoken, hinted strongly at the hurt that had to lie behind them. Anna wanted to protest.