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Thinking about sex had a very agitating effect on her, and she whirled to set off down the corridor.
Lance was hot on her heels. ‘I take it we’re off to buy some food. Or are we looking for somewhere private?’ he added on a drily amused note.
Colour zoomed into her cheeks as she ground to a halt and glared up at him, her mouth opening, ready to reel off a ream of castigating words. But as she looked up into his face suddenly all she could see was that wickedly sexy mouth, all she could think about were the wicked delights that mouth could deliver.
Self-disgust at her wayward thoughts had her eyes and mouth hardening. ‘Don’t go letting that kiss go to your head, Lance. Or anywhere else for that matter. I was merely making a point!’
‘And you made it very well, too,’ he returned with a twisted grimace.
‘Then stop being provocative.’
‘I wasn’t trying to be. I thought a touch of humour might defuse some of the tension flying around here.’
‘Well, it hasn’t!’
‘Yes, I can see that.’
‘I’m beginning to wish you hadn’t brought me up here.’
‘I can see that too.’
‘I don’t want you kissing me any more. Not up here.’
‘I don’t want you kissing me, either. It’s too bloody uncomfortable.’
‘I won’t. Don’t worry.’
‘Good. Let’s go, then.’
Angie ground her teeth when he took off and she practically had to run to keep up with him. ‘Slow down,’ she grumbled.
‘Sorry. There isn’t time. I’ve wasted too much as it is.’
He surged on ahead again and she raced on after him, her thoughts whirling. Wasted it on me, does he mean?
Angie would have asked him, but his expression forbade her asking. Besides, she might not like the answer. She made a decision there and then not to ask Lance too many questions about anything. She had a feeling that she would never like the answers he’d give her, or the lies he might be forced to tell.
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘MR BROWN ...’
Everyone looked up from their plates when Lance spoke. They’d been seated at the kitchen table for a full ten minutes, eating their fill of the take-away food Lance and Angie had brought back to the farm.
No one had said much, everyone seeming to have private thoughts as they munched away on fried chicken, chips and fresh bread rolls. Angie was extremely irritated with Bud, who kept giving her and Lance scowling looks which would have raised considerable questions in her father if he hadn’t been so distracted.
‘Yes, Lance?’ Morris Brown said.
‘About that holiday you and Mrs Brown are planning...’
‘Yes, what about it?’
‘I know you’re a proud man, and would never accept charity, but it would give me great pleasure to give you that holiday. Please look upon it as a thank-you for the kindness you and Mrs Brown showed me when I stayed here that summer all those years ago. It was the best holiday I’ve ever had, and I’ve never forgotten it.’
Bud made some kind of snorting sound, which brought a startled look from his father and a black glare from Angie.
‘You don’t think I should take Lance’s offer?’ Morris asked his son in a puzzled tone.
Angie sent her brother a pleading look and he relented, if a little ungraciously. ‘Of course you should. He can afford it—can’t you, Lance?’ he added, clapping Lance around the shoulders in a pretend buddy-buddy gesture. ‘A few grand is a mere drop in the ocean to a Sterling.’
Morris shook his head. ‘That’s not the point. It’s very kind of you, Lance, but I’m not sure Mother would like the idea. She doesn’t like being beholden to people. She’s never been keen on expensive presents, either.’
Angie reached out to cover her father’s hand with hers. ‘Dad, don’t be silly. As Lance said, you and Mum gave him a free holiday, and now he’s giving you one back.’
‘I suppose so,’ he sighed. ‘But nothing too expensive, mind. And not too much travelling. Somewhere here in Australia. Somewhere really beautiful and peaceful.’
‘I know just the place,’ Lance said. ‘Orpheus Island. It’s one of the most northern and most beautiful of the Barrier Reef Islands, but also one of the most private.’
