The Australian Affairs Collection. Margaret Way
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suppressed a groan as she realised that she’d once again become distracted from her driving. It took an extreme effort of will to drag her overheated mind away from those corrupting thoughts and put it to the task of estimating exactly where they were, quickly realising that they couldn’t be far from the turn-off onto the Golden Highway.
‘Denman is about half an hour from here,’ she said, having studied the route and memorised all the towns and services on the way. ‘I checked it up on the Internet. It’s a small historic town down in a valley with a nice pub and a couple of cafés. If that’s too far off for you, we could drive into Singleton, but then we’d have to double back.’
‘No. No doubling back. Denman sounds fine. You wouldn’t happen to have any pain killers with you, would you? I should have taken a couple this morning but forgot.’
Jess only then remembered his bad shoulder. ‘There’s some in the glove box,’ she said. ‘And a bottle of water in your door, if you want to take the tablets straight away.’
‘Thanks.’
‘How bad is your shoulder?’ she asked, happy to have something safe to talk about.
‘It’s a bit stiff and sore this morning, but honestly it’s fine. I could have driven, but the doctor at the hospital said no. Not because of the shoulder—I had a mild concussion as well.’
‘Best you didn’t drive, then.’
‘I’m glad I couldn’t—I wouldn’t have met you.’
Jess could not stop her heart swelling with pleasure. Yet she knew what he was about. She’d seen how her brothers had acted with girls whose pants they wanted to get into. She’d watched them lay the compliments on thick and fast. And she’d watched those silly girls lap them up, then give her brothers what they wanted in no time at all.
Maybe that was why she’d acted differently with boys who came onto her. Or she had, till this handsome devil had come along.
He’d thrown a spanner in her works all right. Jess could not believe she was thinking of having a one-night stand with him. Or that just the thought of it made her heart race faster than a Formula One car on the starting blocks.
‘WHAT A LOVELY little town this is,’ Ben said.
They had stopped and were sitting at a table on the veranda of an old farmhouse which had been converted into a café, sipping their just-delivered coffee and looking out onto a quite lovely garden full of flowering shrubs. Ben knew nothing about gardening and plants but he knew what he liked. It was the same way with art. He never bought art on the so-called reputation of the artist. He only bought what he liked.
He glanced over the table at Jess and thought how much he liked her too. Maybe that was why his desire for her was so strong. During the last half-hour of the drive, he’d been thinking how he could be alone with her this weekend in a place suitable for seduction. And he’d finally come up with a plan which would work, provided she went along with the idea.
‘So, Jess,’ he said. ‘I think it’s about time you started telling me what’s wrong with Fab Fashions. I didn’t want to talk business during the drive; I just wanted to drink in the wonderful scenery. But now that we’ve stopped…’
She put down her cup, then looked up at him with those big brown eyes of hers, the kind of eyes a man could drown in. He almost wished she’d put her sunglasses back on. But she’d left them hooked over the sun visor in the four-wheel drive. Lord, but they were expressive eyes. He could only hope that his own didn’t give away his innermost thoughts, since he’d removed his sunglasses a couple of minutes earlier and popped them back into his shirt pocket.
‘You honestly want to hear my ideas?’ she said, sounding somewhat sceptical.
Not really, he conceded privately. They were a waste of time. But it was part of his plan.
‘But of course,’ he said.
Her face lit up and, yes, so did her eyes. Guilt threatened, but he pushed it firmly aside. Guilt, Ben conceded, was no match for lust.
‘Okay. Well, for starters there’s its name. “Fab Fashions” implies it caters for the young where in fact most of the stock in Fab Fashions is targeted towards the more mature woman. Either change the name or change the stock. I would suggest change the name; there are enough clothes around for teenagers.
‘Then you should change your buyers. Get people in who aren’t just buying to price. Someone who knows what’s in fashion and what is comfortable to wear. The more mature lady wants comfort as well as style. Also, it might be a good idea to stock more of the most common sizes instead of just buying across the board. Most women over forty are not size eight! And of course you should have an online store too. To fall behind the times is stupid.’
Ben was surprised and impressed. All her suggestions made sense. They might even work. ‘You really know your stuff, don’t you?’
‘I told you…fashion is a genuine passion with me. On top of that, I hate to think of all those people losing their jobs. If every owner shut their stores during a down-turn in the economy, the country would go to the wall. Surely it’s not always about profit, is it, Ben? I mean…everyone has to take the bad times with the good, especially big companies like yours.’
‘It’s not always quite as simple as that, Jess.’
She bristled. ‘I knew you’d say that.’
‘I didn’t say I wasn’t prepared to do what you suggested. What say we have a think over the weekend and see if we can find a fab new name which would lend itself to a successful marketing campaign?’
Jess’s frown was instant. ‘But we don’t have any spare time this weekend. You have to go to a stag party tonight and the wedding’s tomorrow. I suppose we could talk on the drive home.’
‘We could,’ he said. ‘But when I’m excited about something, I like to get straight to it,’ he added with considerable irony and another tweak to his conscience. ‘How about I give Andy a ring and organise for you to stay at the winery over the weekend instead of some motel in Mudgee? They have a small cottage on the property away from the main house which is very comfy. We could stay there together.’
‘Together!’
‘There’s two bedrooms, Jess. Of course, there won’t be much time for talking tonight, since I’ll be at Andy’s bachelor party. But the wedding’s not till four the next afternoon. That should give us plenty of time to talk. And, speaking of the wedding, I’m sure I could wangle you an invitation.’ If she didn’t have a suitable dress, he would take her into Mudgee and buy her one.
Wariness warred with temptation in her eyes. ‘Won’t Andy think it odd, you asking him to invite a virtual stranger to his wedding?’
‘But you’re not a stranger, Jess. I already know more about you than most of my past girlfriends. On top of that, we’re now business colleagues. I’ll tell Andy you’re a marketing consultant I’ve hired to help me with Fab Fashions and who kindly offered to drive me up here after I had that unfortunate car accident. There’s no need to mention anything about you working for a hire car company, is there?’
Jess shook her head. Did he honestly think she didn’t know what he was doing? She wasn’t a fool. But there was simply no saying no to him.
‘You do like to take over, Ben, don’t you?’
His smile was both charming and sexy at the same time. ‘What can I say? People tell me I’m bossy and controlling.’
Jess laughed. He was a clever devil. But totally irresistible.
‘I’m sure Andy’s folks will still think it odd, you asking for us to stay together in that