‘I’m twenty-seven years old, not seventeen. I’ve lived alone for seven years in a city known for its high crime rate. I can take care of myself.’
Sebastian forked a mouthful of toast and egg into his mouth, chewed and swallowed it, then proceeded to cut another slice.
‘You’ve forgotten one thing.’
The anger was still evident, simmering beneath the surface. ‘And what, pray, is that?’
‘I gave Vivienne my word.’
‘And your word is sacrosanct,’ Anneke declared with marked cynicism.
‘Yes.’
‘So get used to it?’
‘I’m simply telling you how it is,’ he said calmly.
‘In that case, there’s nothing more to say.’
‘No.’
There were several more words she could have uttered, many of them blistering and not in the least ladylike. However, restraint in this instance was a favoured option.
‘Fine.’ She turned towards the back door and walked from his kitchen, then crossed the stretch of lawn and garden separating each cottage.
Her car stood in the carport, and, making a split-second decision, she went indoors, changed her clothes, caught up her bag and mobile phone, then locked up the cottage, slid behind the wheel and reversed down the driveway.
Within minutes she gained the main road leading onto the northern highway. The Gold Coast was only two hours’ drive away. Shopping centres, movies, glitzy boutiques. Just the place to escape to, Anneke decided.
She had travelled less than five minutes when her mobile phone rang, and she automatically activated it.
‘Tell me where you’re going, and what time you expect to be home.’
Her stomach performed a backwards somersault at the sound of Sebastian’s voice on the line. It sounded impossibly deep, his accent more pronounced.
Anneke took a deep, steadying breath. ‘Go to hell.’ Then she cut the connection.
It should have made her feel better. Instead, she felt more and more like an angry juvenile kicking out against authority.
Examining the situation analytically, she was allowing emotions to overrule common sense.
Damn. She thumped a fist against the steering wheel. This contrary ambivalence was ridiculous.
Without further thought she slowed down and pulled off to the side of the road. She caught up her mobile phone and prepared to punch in digits she realised she didn’t have. Sure, he’d written down his number, but that was on a piece of paper tucked into a teletex in her aunt’s kitchen.
OK, all she had to do was ring directory service. Two minutes later she de-activated the call, and groaned with frustration. Sebastian Lanier’s phone number was ex-directory.
One car passed, then another. She didn’t notice the Range Rover ease to a halt behind her, nor was she aware as the driver slid out from behind the wheel and trod the bitumen to the passenger side of her car.
A firm tap on the glass was the first indication she had of anyone’s presence.
Anneke’s head swung towards the window, and even as her elbow moved in automatic reflex to punch down the central locking device the passenger door opened and Sebastian slid into the passenger seat.
His eyes were dark, almost black, his expression grim and unrelenting.
‘Careless,’ he drawled. ‘Very careless.’
‘My knight in shining armour,’ Anneke mocked. Her eyes were sheer crystalline emerald.
One day soon he would take that spitting tongue of hers and tame it. Was she aware just how close he was to doing it now?
His eyes seared hers as he placed an arm along the top of her seat. ‘Co-operate, Anneke, and we’ll get along fine.’
It was impossible to ignore the clean male smell of him, the faint aroma of aftershave. Just as it was impossible to dismiss the way her pulse tripped and raced to a quickened beat in his presence.
‘The moment the police discover the source of your nuisance calls,’ Sebastian assured her with a degree of cynicism, ‘you’re as free as a bird.’ His expression hardened. ‘Now, tell me where you’re going, what time you expect to return.’
Her chin tilted and her eyes assumed a fiery brilliance. ‘What if I don’t?’
‘That was the first option,’ Sebastian said hardily. ‘The second is for me to tag along with you.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous!’
‘Choose, Anneke.’
‘And if I don’t have any set plans?’
‘The second option applies.’
Why was she fighting him? She couldn’t win. He wouldn’t allow it.
She took a deep breath, then slowly released it and handed him her mobile phone. ‘Press “redial”, and you’ll discover I was trying to reach you for the sole purpose of relaying my whereabouts on the Gold Coast and estimated time of return.’ When he didn’t take the phone, she hit the ‘redial’button and pressed the unit to his ear. ‘Except your number is ex-directory, and not even the citing of an emergency would reveal it.’
She delved into her bag, pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and thrust them at him, watching as he stroked a series of digits, then handed back the paper.
‘Satisfied?’ she demanded.
‘Ring me when you leave the Coast.’
It wasn’t negotiable, and she didn’t even bother to refuse him. Although it was impossible not to resort to sarcasm. ‘Do we synchronise our watches?’
Sebastian cast her a look that was more expressive than mere words, then he reached for the door clasp and slid out from the seat. ‘Drive carefully.’
He closed the door, then covered the distance to his Range Rover.
Anneke watched him in the rear vision mirror, then she activated the ignition, eased the car onto the road.
It should have been a wonderful day. The sun shone brightly in a clear azure sky. The temperature soared to a midsummer high. With only two weeks to go before Christmas, the shops bore colourful decorations and there was an air of expectancy among the many shoppers filling the malls and walkways.
Christmas carols, and a store Santa handing out lollies and balloons to eager children added festive anticipatory cheer.
Anneke had thought to spend Christmas with Aunt Vivienne, but now it appeared she’d be spending it alone.
She could fly to Seattle, join her mother and stepfather for a ‘yours, mine and ours’ family Christmas.
Or, alternatively, there was her father, happily ensconced in London, who would welcome her into his extended family.
A small body careened into her legs, and she held onto the runaway child, soothing the little boy until a harassed and very pregnant young mother caught up to him.
Within minutes her mobile phone rang, and after a moment’s hesitation she answered the call. There was a sense of relief to discover it was a friend from Sydney, wanting to exchange mutual news. Difficult in the face of that friendship not to reveal her whereabouts, although ‘the Gold Coast’ was hardly a fabrication. She simply didn’t add that she was only there for the day.
Lunch comprised a salad sandwich washed down by mineral water in an upmarket