The Platinum Collection: An Australian Conquest. Emma Darcy
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suffer his male animal impact. If she was really attracted to him, she would welcome it. Playing this pretend-game was not going to be easy, but she had to now in front of Lucy.
Her sister turned her smile to Harry. ‘What cocktail did you order for Michael?’
‘A Manhattan. Mickey is highly civilised. He actually forgets about sunshine until it sparkles over him.’
Lucy laughed. ‘And yourself?’
‘Ah, the open sea is my business. I’m a salty man so I share Elizabeth’s taste for Margaritas.’
‘The open sea?’ Lucy queried.
‘Harry looks after the tourist side of Finn’s Fisheries,’ Michael answered. ‘I take care of buying in the stock for all our franchises.’
‘Ah!’ Lucy nodded, understanding why Harry was dressed the way he was and how very different the brothers were.
Why she was attracted to Michael and not Harry was beyond Elizabeth’s understanding. Sunshine and sea should go together. They both had frivolous natures. It wasn’t fair that sexual chemistry had struck in the wrong place. Why couldn’t it strike sensibly?
The bartender arrived with their cocktails.
Harry handed her the Margarita and clicked his glass against hers. ‘Happy Birthday, Elizabeth,’ he said warmly, making her squirm inside even as she forced a smile and thanked him.
The others followed suit with their glasses and well-wishing.
Elizabeth settled back against the cushions and sipped her cocktail, silently brooding over the totally non-sensible ironies of life. Was there any reward for being sensible? The old saying that good things come to those who wait was not proving true for her.
She wondered how long was the life of a butterfly.
Probably very short.
But it might be sweet if she could bring herself to be a butterfly—just cut loose from all her safety nets and fly wild for a while, thinking of nothing but having a good time. She should take a vacation, get right away from whatever was developing between Michael and Lucy, try drowning her misery with mindless pleasures.
The Margarita was good. And it packed quite a punch. Maybe if she stopped being sensible and had two or three of them, her mind would get fuzzy enough to put this whole situation at an emotional distance, let her float through lunch...like a butterfly.
ELIZABETH stared blankly at the luncheon menu. Food. She had to choose something. Her head was swimming from two Margaritas in quick succession. Bad idea, thinking alcohol could fix anything. It didn’t help at all.
‘I bet I know what you’re going to order, Ellie,’ Lucy said with a confident grin.
‘What?’ Any suggestion was welcome.
‘The chilli mud crab.’
Chilli. Not today. Her stomach was in too fragile a state.
‘Actually, I can’t see that on the menu,’ Michael said, glancing quizzically at Lucy.
‘Oh, I didn’t really look. I just assumed,’ she quickly defended. No way would she admit that her dyslexia made reading menus difficult. ‘What have you decided on, Michael?’
Lucy would undoubtedly choose the same. She was so adept at hiding her disability, hardly anyone ever guessed she had a problem.
‘How about sharing a seafood platter for two with me, Elizabeth?’ Harry said, leaning closer to point out the platter’s contents on the menu. ‘You get crab on it, as well as all the other goodies and we can nibble away on everything as we please.’
‘Harry will eat the lion’s share,’ Michael warned.
Yes, Elizabeth thought, relieved to have such ready help, making it easier for her lack of appetite to go unnoticed.
Harry instantly raised a hand for solemn vowing. ‘I swear I’ll give you first choice of each titbit.’
‘Okay, that’s a done deal,’ she said, closing the menu and slanting her food-rescuer a grateful smile.
‘Sealed with a kiss,’ he said, bright blue eyes twinkling wickedly as he leaned closer still and pecked her on the cheek.
Her teeth grated together as heat bloomed from the intimate skin contact. The flirting agreement flew right out of her mind. His ability to discomfort her on any spot whatsoever had her snapping, ‘You can keep that mouth of yours for eating, Harry.’
He gave her his evil grin as he retorted, ‘Elizabeth, I live for the day when I’ll eat you all up.’
‘That’ll be doomsday,’ she slung back.
‘With the gates of heaven opening for me,’ Harry retaliated, his grin widening.
Lucy’s laughter reminded her just in time that flirting shouldn’t have too sharp an edge, so she swallowed her hell comment, heaved a long-suffering sigh and shook her head at Harry. ‘You are incorrigible.’
‘A man has to do what a man has to do,’ he archly declared, sending Lucy off into more peals of laughter.
Elizabeth declined asking what he meant.
Nevertheless, as the birthday luncheon progressed, she schooled herself to respond lightly to Harry’s banter, pretending to be amused by it, making a show of enjoying his company. At least he was very persistent in claiming her attention, forcefully distracting her from Lucy’s and Michael’s stomach-curdling absorption in each other, and he did eat the lion’s share of the seafood platter without trying to push her into trying more than she could manage.
It was weird finding herself grateful to have Harry at her side, but just this once she actually did. Without him she would feel wretchedly alone, facing the worst scenario of lost hopes. How she was going to cope, hiding her feelings from both Lucy and Michael in the days to come, she didn’t know. She hoped they would go off somewhere together after this luncheon, give her some space, release her from the tension of keeping up a happy pretence that everything was fine.
A waiter cleared the table and offered them the sweets menu. Elizabeth decided on the selection of sorbets since they should just slide down her throat without any effort. As soon as the orders were given, Harry leaned an elbow on the table and pointed a finger at his brother, claiming his attention.
‘Mickey, I have the solution to my problem with the resort.’
‘You have to clear that guy out, Harry,’ came the quick advice. ‘Once you confront him you can’t leave him there. The potential for damage...’
‘I know, I know. But it’s best to confront him with his replacement. We walk in and turf him out. No argument. A done deal.’
‘Agreed, but you don’t have a ready replacement yet and the longer he stays...’
‘Elizabeth. She’s the perfect person for the management job—completely trustworthy, meticulous at checking everything, capable of handling everything you’ve thrown at her, Mickey.’
Confusion over this brother-to-brother business conversation instantly cleared. This was what Harry had intended to bring up after lunch—the perfect change for her. Except it wasn’t perfect. Working for him would drive her bats.
‘Elizabeth is my PA,’ Michael protested.
‘I’m in more need of her than you are right now. Lend her to me for a month. That will give me time to interview other people.’
‘A month...’ Michael frowned over the inconvenience to himself.
A month...
That was a tempting time frame—manageable if Harry wasn’t around her all the time. The resort wasn’t his only area