Black Ice. Sandy Curtis
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according to what he had told her, he had lost her, the woman he loved. How could she deny him his daughter?
'Daniel, why didn't we take precautions? I know I wasn't a virgin, but I didn't sleep around either. And I never had unsafe sex.'
'A condom broke. Two days before your period was due. You assured me you were always regular and there was nothing to worry about.'
'So obviously I believed you were disease free.'
A slow smile transformed Daniel's face. 'You said you knew you could trust me.'
'Except to keep your fertile sperm to yourself, obviously.' Kirri made an exasperated sound, and saw the smile on Daniel's face deepen into a grin. It melted her bones, the sight of this big, serious-looking man grinning like a schoolboy who'd been handed a wonderful treat.
Suddenly she was at a loss to know what to do next. She handed back the photo, watched Daniel's strong fingers slip it gently back into his wallet.
'Well, where do we go from here?'
'I guess you have more questions you need answers to.'
Kirri shook her head. 'I don't think I can cope with any more information right now.'
Daniel reached out and gently took her hand, a light touch that showed her he was aware just how fragile her emotions were at the moment. 'There's something I need to know.'
Her skin grew warm from the contact with his, and her body reacted before she could prevent it, leaning closer. 'Yes?' The word came out almost as a whisper.
'Why did you think you may have been raped?'
Kirri withdrew her hand and walked out onto the verandah. She gazed down at the sparkling waters of the bay, then closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, drawing in the scent of the ocean and the tang of the eucalyptus leaves. Her mind registered green, slivered with a sharp clear blue. It was a strange talent, this ability to smell and taste in colours. It heightened her awareness of everything around her. Most of the time it was so subliminal she forgot she was doing it. Sometimes she used it as a shield to protect herself from other sensations or thoughts that were too unpleasant to cope with.
Suddenly another scent invaded her nostrils. A woodsy aroma, deep rich brown and emerald green. A scent that made her pulse beat faster. She didn't have to open her eyes to know it was Daniel, and she suddenly realised that she had been denying his scent, afraid to acknowledge the colours it conjured up.
He had walked up so closely to her that there was barely a hand's span between them. Kirri took a step back, saw the disappointment in his eyes.
'When I learned I was pregnant, J.D. flew over to New Orleans to see if he could track down the … the… To find out who I might have been seeing. He didn't learn much, except from the desk clerk where I stayed who said I had gone out with a tall man whose accent wasn't local.'
'So why would that lead you to think you'd been raped?'
Kirri closed her eyes, recalling her step-brother's tired strained face as he'd told her. 'Apparently, according to the receptionist where I stayed, when I checked out that afternoon I was visibly upset and in a terrible hurry.'
'You were upset for me. You knew how close I was to Dad.'
'The receptionist … wondered if I was running away from the man I had been seeing. J.D. didn't want to tell me that, but he said if ever I met the man who'd … shared my bed … I needed to know so I wouldn't be taken in if he … came back into my life. I also had tests to see if I'd contracted an STD. I must have had unprotected sex, after all I was pregnant, so I worried that I could have caught something.'
Daniel said nothing. He knew the results would have been negative, but the full impact of what Kirri had gone through finally hit him. And so did a massive load of guilt that she had had to go through that trauma on her own.
'Did your family stand by you?'
Kirri nodded. 'Mum went over to the States to be with me in hospital, then flew home with me.' Her fingers clenched into fists as she recalled the long days and nights of pain and her mother's patient encouragement. The memories overwhelmed her and she shook her head to clear them away.
She looked up to see Daniel watching her, his face a mirror of the pain she was feeling. 'Daniel, I'm sorry, I have to go. I need time to think.'
He nodded, but his hands lifted as though to detain her. 'Let me help you, Kirri. We can work through this together.'
Together. For two years she had been alone. Long days and even longer nights with nothing but questions and a deep aching need to know. And now she did, she would have to face the consequences of that knowledge.
She shook her head. 'You're a stranger to me, Daniel. I … I don't know you.'
Her words were a knife wound to Daniel's heart. The gulf that stretched between them seemed to widen. In desperation Daniel closed the physical gap and took her into his arms.
And kissed her.
The colours in Kirri's brain spun gently to a halt as Daniel's lips left hers, but if his arms hadn't held her up she was sure she would have fallen to the floor.
'It can't be …' she gasped.
Daniel nodded in contradiction. 'Synaesthesia,' he said, 'You taste and smell in colours. You told me about it. How a small number of people have a mixed up sense of the world because their sight, hearing and sense of smell and taste are not processed separately by the brain.' His golden-brown eyes bore into hers, willing her to acknowledge what he said. 'You told me that some musical composers claim to be able to hear in colours or smell sounds.'
Then he confirmed what she was trying to deny to herself.
'And you also told me that you had always vowed you would marry a man who tasted like rainbows.'
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