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‘We’re not partners tonight,’ she snapped.
‘Get over yourself, because next I’m driving you home. If you’re not happy about that then think of it like this. I’m getting into the role for the weekend.’ No smile now.
‘What? A bossy role?’ She half meant it.
‘That’ll give you reason to dump me afterwards.’
Apart from the one about them not being compatible. We were very compatible in Sydney. But a string of hot kisses was not grounds for a relationship.
‘Ready to go?’ That exasperating smile just got more exasperating.
Kelli wanted to argue, insist she get a taxi to keep some space between them outside work until Friday, but that smile bowled over all her resolve, what little there was, and she gave up. It would be nice to be run around after by a hunk just once.
Her car was in the garage after refusing to turn over, having been untouched for six weeks. It hadn’t been a flat battery so she’d had to wait until that morning to get a mechanic to come take a look. Some electrical fault that needed lots of work, and money, but she’d been offered a cut on the price if she waited until tomorrow. Seemed they were very busy, and since catching a bus to work was no big deal she’d agreed. Probably been sucked in big time, but cars were an enigma when their engines didn’t turn over instantly. She’d make sure it was ready to pick up on her way to work tomorrow. Couldn’t have Mac thinking he had the upper hand in case he hadn’t been joking about being bossy.
After giving Mac her address Kelli sat waiting for more questions, but none came. He was too quiet. So quiet she thought she could hear his mind clicking over. Tick, tick, tick.
As her street appeared ahead she couldn’t take it any more. ‘What are you thinking? And don’t say nothing, because I won’t believe you.’
He turned the corner, parked with precision outside the house she shared with two other nurses and hauled the handbrake on before switching off the ignition.
Now the silence was deafening and Kelli’s teeth were grinding while her hands were tight balls on her thighs. Somehow she managed not to yell at this infuriating man.
Shuffling that butt around on his seat, he leaned into the corner and eyeballed her. ‘I want you to hear me out before shouting me down, okay?’
Her heart stuttered. ‘I’ll do my best.’ Was this where he explained that he’d had time to think about the weekend and all the ramifications and he wanted to renege on agreeing to partner her? From what she’d observed at work Mac didn’t do rushed decisions, but he had this time, so it wouldn’t be a total surprise if he pulled out. There wasn’t much for him in going to a stranger’s wedding.
‘Just checking first. How much do you want Jason What’s His Name out of the picture?’ Steely eyes were watching her so closely they wouldn’t miss if her toes curled in her shoes.
Didn’t Mac believe anything she’d said? ‘Totally.’ She held up her hand before he could go on. ‘He’s so involved with my family, whatever I do tell him is tempered with trying to be kind, yet firm.’ Because her parents backed his attempts to woo her. Without their support he’d probably have found someone else by now. ‘Almost like an ingrained habit.’
Mac was still watching her with that disturbing intensity.
‘What?’ she demanded.
He pulled further back into the corner, as though putting space between them before lobbing a bomb. ‘If we pretended to be engaged, would that solve the problem?’
‘Pardon?’ Her ears were ringing, her head filled with strange jolts of words that weren’t forming into sentences. ‘Did you just say engaged? You and me?’
‘I did.’
‘To keep Jason out of the picture?’ She wasn’t buying it.
‘That’s the plan.’
‘You don’t think us sharing a room will give him pause for thought?’
‘I don’t know,’ Mac said in that reasoned tone that irked. ‘Do you?’
‘Until we’re back in the city and carrying on as per normal, maybe.’ And, ‘An engagement for the weekend isn’t going to change that.’
‘We could continue it for a week or two. Then when we—’ he flicked his forefingers in the air ‘—break up you’ll need time to get over it before you can talk to him.’
She probably would and all. ‘It’s a lie. I can’t do that to my family.’ They only wanted the best for her. That they thought Jason was the best was unfair, but not a crime. Mum was the worst offender, but the brothers didn’t hold back from teasing her for letting her past get in the way of giving a good bloke a chance. Yeah, an engagement did have one or two merits. Lots of them if she thought of that blah kiss Jason had once given her, and his weak hands holding hers as he’d invited her to go to the cricket with him. She’d rather watch paint dry than watch cricket, even with a man she fancied. Mac.
No, I don’t.
‘Do you watch cricket?’
‘There’s a random question. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. One-day games in particular.’
Still preferred the paint option. But while watching it dry she could fantasise about Mac. ‘Going to a game with you wouldn’t be a condition of being engaged, would it?’ She watched him back as closely as he was her. Yes. There. Those lips didn’t do serious nearly as often as she’d thought.
‘Could be. Are you considering my suggestion?’
Suggestion? Well, it wasn’t a proposal, was it? Not when there was no love involved, or just about anything else. Only a means to an end. ‘We could say we haven’t set a wedding date—that’s the truth—and aren’t in a hurry. Another truth.’ Another lie. If she and Mac were engaged she’d be racing him to the altar.
‘Sure. If we have to say anything at all. Won’t your family be too tied up with the current wedding to be thinking ahead to another?’
‘Mac, you have no idea what you’ve let yourself in for.’ She shook her head at him. ‘Mum will start planning the moment I mention an engagement.’
‘Maybe we shouldn’t, then. Just look so lovey-dovey that they’ll be nudging each other and asking when we might be wanting to tie the knot.’
‘Do you have to look ill when you say that?’ For some inexplicable reason that stung, badly. Was she so unattractive he couldn’t imagine being lovey-dovey around her again?
Suddenly her hands were being lifted from her thighs and strong fingers wrapped around her fists. ‘You’re so lovely I want...’ Mac gasped, swallowed. ‘It’s the reality of what we’re doing hitting home. I’m not changing my mind. But it isn’t going to be as easy as I’d first thought. My suggestion just made it harder.’
‘It was never going to be straightforward, but then I know my family. They want so much for me to be happy, they don’t see that I can be that without settling down.’ She’d thought she’d found Mr Right once, truly believed he loved her for who she was, what she was, hadn’t seen the disdain coming when she ate a cake or took a day off from the gym. Apparently she needed to watch her figure with the intensity a native falcon would prowl the vineyards for birds. And he’d expected her to be glamorous when they socialised with his colleagues.
‘You don’t ever want to get married?’ Mac’s fingers tightened, loosened again.
‘It would take some convincing from a very determined man.’ She gazed into the eyes of the man she was learning didn’t give up easily. She might be ready to get a life but Mac seemed to have issues he wasn’t letting go in a hurry.
Doubts pushed forward. ‘Mac.’ She sucked in a breath. ‘I need to know more about why you’re doing this for me.’
He sighed. ‘I’ve kind of been waiting for that.’
Well? Was he going to tell her? Because if not then she had to think seriously about her stance. Patience wasn’t her strong point, but somehow she found some and waited quietly, her gut churning.
‘Someone once helped me when I was in a bad place and I’ve never forgotten it.’
‘You’re saying I’m in a bad place?’
‘Not bad, but you need help to extricate yourself from a tricky situation, and I want to be the guy to see you through it.’
Her heart was turning mushy. ‘What can I say?’
He smiled. ‘Thanks would work.’
She started leaning forward with the intention of kissing him thank you, and stopped. Kisses were incendiary between them and now was not the time for an inferno. ‘Thanks.’ But she still wasn’t satisfied he’d told her everything behind his generous offer.
