Just One Night...: Fiancée For One Night / Just One Last Night / The Night That Started It All. Trish Morey
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And that was supposed to make her happier about sleeping with him?
Fat chance.
She felt his hands land on her shoulders, his long fingers stroking her arms, felt his warm breath fan her hair. ‘You are a beautiful woman, Evelyn. You are beautiful and sexy and built for unspeakable pleasure. And you know it. So why do you deny yourself that which you so clearly desire?’
Self-preservation, she thought, as his velvet-coated words warmed her in places she didn’t want warmed and stroked an ego that wanted to be liked and maybe, maybe even more than that.
‘I can’t,’ she said. Not without losing myself in a place I don’t want to be. Not without risking falling in love with a man who has no heart. ‘Please, just believe me, I’ll pretend to be your fiancée, I’ll pretend to be your lover. But, please, don’t expect me to sleep with you.’
The big house, as the Culshaws referred to it, was exactly that. Not flashy, but all spacious tropical elegance, the architecture, like that of the bures, styled to bring the outside in with lots of timber and glass and sliding walls. Outside, on an expansive deck overlooking the bay and the islands silhouetted against the sky, a table had been beautifully laid, but it was the night sky that captured everyone’s attention.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars,’ Eve confessed, dazzled by the display as they sat down for the meal. ‘It’s just magical.’
Eric laughed. ‘We think so. This island takes its name from one of them but don’t ask me to point out which one.’
Maureen continued, ‘When we first came here for a holiday about thirty years ago, we got home to Melbourne and wanted to turn right back round again. We’ve been coming here every year since. Hasn’t been used much lately, not since—’
Eric cut in, saving her from finishing. ‘Well, it’s good to have guests here again, that’s for sure. So I’d like to propose a toast. To guests and good friends and good times,’ he said, and they all raised their glasses for the toast.
‘Now,’ Eric said, from alongside Leo, ‘how’s that young man of yours settling in?’
‘He’s in his element,’ Eve replied. ‘Two of his favourite things are fish and boats. He can’t believe his good fortune.’
‘Excellent. And the babysitter’s to your satisfaction? Did she tell you she’s hoping to study child care next year?’
‘Hannah seems wonderful, thank you.’
Maureen distracted her on the other side, patting her on the hand. ‘Oh, that reminds me, I’ve booked the spa,’ she started.
But Eve didn’t hear the rest, not when she heard Eric ask Leo, ‘How old did you say Sam was again?’
She froze, her focus on the man beside her and how he replied to the question, the man stumbling with an answer, seemingly unable to remember the age of his own supposed child.
‘Ah, remind me again, Eve?’ he said at last. ‘Is Sam two yet?’ Eve excused herself and smiled, forcing a laugh.
‘You go away much too much if you think Sam’s already had his birthday. He’s eighteen months old. How could you possibly forget?’
Leo snorted and said, ‘I never remember this milestone stuff. It’s lucky Evelyn does,’ which earned agreement from Eric at least.
‘It must be hard on you, though, Evelyn, with Leo always on the move,’ Maureen said. Eve wanted to hug the woman for moving the conversation along, although a moment later she wished she’d opted for a complete change of topic. ‘Do you have family nearby who help out?’
She smiled softly, looking up at the stars for just a moment, wondering where they were amidst the vast array. Her grandfather had held her hand and taken her outside on starry nights when she hadn’t been able to stop crying and had told her they were up there somewhere, shining brightly, keeping her grandmother company. And now her grandfather was there too. She blinked. ‘I have a wonderful neighbour who helps out. My parents died when I was ten and—I hate to admit it—I don’t remember terribly much about them. I lived with my grandfather after that.’
‘Oh-h-h,’ said Felicity. ‘They never got to meet Sam.’
‘No, and I know they would have loved him.’ She took a breath. ‘Oh, I’m sorry for sounding so maudlin on such a beautiful night. Maybe we should change the topic, talk about something more cheerful.’
‘I know,’ said Eric jovially. ‘So when’s the happy day, you two?’
Eve wanted to groan, until she felt Leo’s arm around her shoulders and met his dazzling smile. ‘Just as soon as I can convince her she can’t live without me a moment longer.’
Somehow they made it through the rest of the evening without further embarrassment but it was still a relief to get back to their bure. The long day had taken its toll, the stress of constantly fearing they would be caught out weighing heavily on Eve, and even though she’d slept on the plane, she couldn’t wait to crawl into bed. Her bed, because after their earlier discussion, Leo had offered to sleep on the sofa. Hannah was sitting on it now, watching music television on low. She stood and clicked the remote off as they came in.
‘How was Sam?’ Eve asked, looking critically at the sofa, frowning at its length. Or lack of it. How the hell did Leo think he was going to fit on that?
‘Sam’s brilliant. I let him stay up half an hour longer, like you suggested, and he went down easy as. I checked him the last time about five minutes ago, and he hadn’t stirred. I don’t think I’ve ever looked after such a good baby.’
Eve smiled, relieved. ‘Lucky you didn’t meet him last week when he was teething—you might have had a different opinion.’ She opened her purse to find some notes and Hannah waved her away. ‘No. It’s all taken care of. It’s my job to look after Sam while you’re here.’ She headed for the door, gave a cheery wave. ‘I’ll see you in the morning, then.’
Eve met Leo coming out of the bedroom with an armful of pillows and linen. ‘Goodnight,’ he said, heading for the sofa maybe a little too stoically.
She watched him drop it all on the sofa, measured the height and breadth of man against length and width of sofa and realised it was never going to work. It should be her sleeping on the sofa. Except Sam’s room was beyond the bedroom and it would be foolhardy if not impossible to move him now.
She watched him for a while try to make sense of the bedding, as if he was ever going to be comfortable there.
And suddenly she was too tired to care. It wasn’t like they were strangers after all. They had made love and several times. And even if they didn’t like each other, surely they could share two sides of a big wide bed and still manage to get a good night’s sleep?
‘Stop it,’ she said, as Leo attempted to punch his pillow into submission at one end, one bare foot sticking out over the other. ‘This is ridiculous.’
‘You don’t say.’
‘Look, it’s a big bed,’ she said reluctantly, gnawing her lip, trying not to think of the broad, fit body that would be taking up at least half of it. ‘We can share it.’ Then she added, ‘So long as that’s all we share. Is that a deal?’
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