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It was Aidan who finally raised his head, his gaze lingering on her mouth. ‘How much do you care about that lipstick?’
‘I don’t, but aren’t we supposed to be somewhere?’ she reminded him.
‘Oh, yeah.’ He groaned and reluctantly released her before walking to a small table with a mirror above it. ‘Come here.’
Cara saw the black velvet jewellery case on the top. Happy tears spiked behind her eyes and she walked towards him as if in a daze. ‘You bought me something?’
‘A memento,’ he said gruffly. ‘Turn around.’
Feeling choked, Cara did, her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest. Was it a memento of her time on the island or her time with him?
As if in answer to her silent questions, he said, ‘I figure you deserve something nice after last weekend.’
Oh, so it was a pity present? Her eyes sought his out in the mirror but he was looking at the box and not her. Fixing a smile on her face she took it as a good reminder that this was not a romance novel and that imagining that Aidan had meant anything more by the gesture would be truly foolish on her part.
‘Jenny’s pearls,’ she said softly, focusing on the necklace and what it didn’t mean. She stroked the single layer of glowing silver-grey pearls similar to the ones she had admired so much the other day. ‘It’s beautiful. I didn’t see this one.’
‘It’s one of her earlier pieces.’ He reached around and took her hand and circled her wrist with a matching bracelet.
‘Oh, Aidan. You shouldn’t have.’
‘Esther wouldn’t let me leave without it. And …’ He reached into the box once more. ‘Earrings.’
Cara pressed her hand to her chest as he revealed twin gunmetal grey pearls. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
She felt her lower lip quiver and stuck her teeth into it.
‘Don’t cry, or I’ll take it all back,’ he said gruffly, pulling her lip free from her teeth.
Cara swallowed the emotion bubbling away inside of her and decided to suppress the instinct to throw her arms around his neck and instead picked up the earrings and started fastening them in her ears. ‘I love them. Thank you. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the future,’ she said, wanting to fill the void that had once again opened up inside her. ‘And I think one day I’ll open a little shop. Do you think Jenny would be interested in collaborating with me?’
‘She might. But what about modelling?’
‘Mmm, I like it but … I think I’m better at putting combinations of outfits together than actually wearing them.’
‘I agree,’ he said seriously. ‘You look terrible in clothes. From now on I think you should go around naked.’
Cara rolled her eyes. ‘I’m serious. I love the idea of selling offbeat, hard-to-find pieces that women treasure and keep for ever.’
‘That’s because you’re a hoarder.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘You travel with ten suitcases.’
She smiled. ‘I am a hoarder. When I was younger I could never clean out my cupboard and I refused to throw anything out. One summer I came home and my nanny at the time had gone through my things and tossed out anything she thought was junk. I was devastated.’
He kissed her softly on the mouth and when she leaned into him he took a deep breath and stepped back. ‘If we don’t leave right now we won’t be going. What’s it to be?’
‘Well, that depends on what you have organised.’
Aidan pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.
It was a theatre flyer from an English group touring the Australasian region.
‘Romeo and Juliet?’ She looked up at him and knew her eyes were sparkling with pleasure. ‘Seriously? What made you choose this?’
Aidan gave a pained groan. ‘I take it from the glow in your eyes that you’ve chosen to go out.’
Cara smiled at his tortured expression. ‘Well, I do love the theatre and it’s only for a couple of hours…. ’
‘Right then.’ He grabbed her hand and headed for the door. ‘Let’s get this over with.’
Cara laughed as he pulled her towards the door. ‘You sound like you’re about to make a trip to the dentist.’
‘Might be better,’ he grumbled good-naturedly.
‘Are you saying that you don’t like Shakespeare?’
He guided her towards the dune buggy parked outside the entrance to their bungalow. ‘Hey, I’m just a boy from the western suburbs deep down.’
No, he wasn’t. He was sophisticated and charming and honourable. He was a man you could rely on to always be there if he gave his word that he would.
