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“Excitement?”
“You know, the lead-up to the wedding.”
“Yes.”
She carried on blithely. “And is your partner here?”
Silence except for the purr of the engine. Somewhere in the lower echelons of her brain a memory like a sleeping dragon stirred, then roared into life, practically deafening her with her massive faux pas. Oh,shit balls.Theconversation she’d had with Alice came flooding back, about the swanky wedding she was going to in Sydney—Aaron’s brother’s wedding. What was it, six months ago, roughly? To be followed shortly after by, “Wedding called off last minute. Poor Oliver, he does NOT want it talked about.”
Abort, Felicity. Abort.
“Urm, yourbusinesspartner, is he, she… I mean are they… you know… do you have offices based in Perth, as well as Sydney? Lots of staff, that kind of thing?”
He cast her a weird look and she hoped her cheeks weren’t as red as they felt. “I don’t have a business partner. It’s just me.”
“Right. You must be busy.”
“I have a PA. And a publicist,” he clipped out. “Who I will toss that journalist’s card to deal with.”
A sharp little jab in her thigh made her wince. Weird how it wasn’t just movement that set off the pain, it could also play up when she got over-excited or emotional, or even before it rained. She took off her hat and put it over her knee, then straightened her leg out under it. At least her stockings hid the scar, but sooner or later, like on every summer holiday since she was sixteen, she’d have to brace herself to show her leg to the world and try not to care about the pitying glances.
“Everything okay?” Oliver asked. They’d stopped at the traffic lights and he cast a glance at her.
She flashed a smile. “Just a little stiff from the flight.”
She felt his gaze move up to her profile. Self-conscious suddenly, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and cast him a sideways peek from under her lashes. He was staring quite intently at her ear and her finger flew to the lobe. “Have I lost an earring?” She hoped not, they were her favourite turquoise ones, and they matched her dress.
“No.” His lips twitched. “All good.”
After that, Felicity decided it was best to stick to the scenery. It seemed Oliver thought much the same, as he pointed out landmarks—the casino, a kind of modern-day Egyptian pyramid, and the Bell Tower, a glass edifice with a pointy top that apparently now housed the original Bow Bells from London’s East End. That prompted her to remark that it was good to know she wasn’t the only artefact to have arrived from London recently. Oliver cast her a baffled glance and Felicity pinned her mouth shut. She had a tendency to babble random nonsense when she was over-excited and, it seemed, when she was jet lagged. But when they drove along an expansive stretch of river glittering in the sunshine, she couldn’t stop from exclaiming, “Oh, it’s so beautiful. I had an image of Australia as sun-baked earth and kangaroos hopping around everywhere.”
“Believe me, we have plenty of them.” He laughed, less forced, more relaxed, she thought. Maybe her banter hadn’t been off-putting after all. “Civilisation is just a thin strip around the coast before you get to the outback, which is what most tourists consider iconic Australia.”
“I can’t wait to see it.”
“How long are you here for?”
“Nearly three months. I’ve taken a term out of my teaching job.”
“So what’s top on your list?”
“Oh, you know, the obvious choices—the Opera House, and Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef.” She caught her breath. “Actually, I’m thinking of driving across to Sydney.”
An eyebrow arch. “Really?”
She nodded.
“You might prefer to fly between cities—Australia’s a big place. Then take a backpacker group tour into the outback.”
She sighed internally. Truth was, going on a tour meant struggling to keep up with people who could hike for hours and carry backpacks and… right now she did not need to explain why that wasn’t a good option for her.
“Anyway, getting back to kangaroos…” she said brightly, casting him another glance. “Where’s the best place to see them in the wild? It’s just, I’ve promised to send photos to my friends back home.”
The muscle twitched in Oliver’s perfectly chiselled jaw.
Oh dear, Felicity wondered, what had she said wrong now?
* * *
