The Blind Date Surprise

But although this man had scowled at her when she first knocked on his door, he’d quickly become polite. And heck, he couldn’t be older than her brothers, who were in their mid-thirties.

As for his appearance—his grooming was impeccable. Neat, dark hair, crisp blue shirt and stone-coloured trousers. Tall, trim physique. His dark-rimmed glasses gave his hazel eyes a scholarly air, but in no way did they detract from his appearance.

But he was a philosopher, for heaven’s sake.

Somehow she hadn’t expected someone so painfully thoughtful and clever to look quite so—so worldly. He was actually very attractive. But in a way that was refreshingly different from the tough ringers and jackaroos she was used to in the outback.

Then again, perhaps Theo’s appearance shouldn’t really surprise her since he was related by blood to Damien.

Thinking of Damien, she felt suddenly subdued, and she picked up her coffee and took a sip while she considered the best way to ask this man about his nephew.

‘It’s very kind of you to take time out to see me,’ she said as she placed the cup back in its saucer. ‘You must think I’m very foolish really, trying to arrange a date over the Internet.’

‘If you’re foolish, then so are thousands of other people.’ He sent her a reassuring smile. ‘Dating on the Internet is becoming more popular every day.’

‘Well, thanks. That makes me feel a bit better.’

‘But I’m sorry you’ve come such a long way. And it’s a pity you feel let down by Damien.’

‘I have a right to feel let down, don’t I?’

‘Everyone has a right to their feelings.’

Annie frowned at him. ‘I have a horrible feeling right now that you’re going to start philosophising and I’ll get lost. Can you just tell me straight? Is Damien avoiding me?’

He sighed and dropped his gaze to stare hard at his coffee. ‘I’m not sure.’

‘You must have a fair idea.’

At that he looked up and the glimmer of a smile sparked in his eyes. ‘Have you ever thought of becoming a prosecuting attorney, Miss McKinnon?’

‘Why?’

‘You have a disturbingly direct manner. I defy anyone to lie to you.’

‘Good,’ she said quickly. Their gazes met across the table and for a moment she almost lost her train of thought. Drawing a quick breath, she said, ‘Does that mean you’re going to drop the Miss McKinnon and call me Annie and tell me the truth? Damien’s a jerk, isn’t he?’

‘If you’ve already made up your mind, I don’t need to answer that.’ Theo paused, then added softly, ‘Annie.’

When he pronounced her name in his lovely deep, educated voice the strangest shiver ran through her. She felt as if she’d been tapped on the shoulder, as if an unheard voice had whispered something important in her ear.

The feeling was so distinct that for a moment she had to close her eyes. When she opened them again, Theo Grainger was watching her and she saw a puzzling tension in his expression.

‘Please,’ she said softly, feeling strangely shaken. ‘Don’t play mind games with me. Just tell me, so I can put this whole mess behind me.’

He sighed and pushed his half-empty coffee cup to one side so that he could rest his clasped hands on the table in front of him. ‘I honestly don’t know Damien’s exact reasons for getting out of the city this week, but I’m afraid he was anxious to avoid your date. I’m sorry. My nephew doesn’t have a very good track record. He’s prone to pranks and he’s managed to upset quite a few people one way or another.’

‘I see.’ She drank some more of her coffee.

‘I hope you’re not too heartbroken.’

Strange, but she wasn’t nearly as upset as she thought she’d be. The news that she was the victim of some kind of prank no longer surprised her. It was more like receiving confirmation of something she’d suspected in theory, but hadn’t tested in practice. Yes, Annie, fire will burn you.

Damien’s uncle was expecting a response from her. She looked at him. ‘I can assure you, Dr Grainger, it will take something much worse than being stood up on a blind date before I allow my heart to be broken.’

For a moment he looked startled. ‘That’s a relief,’ he said.

But he didn’t look particularly relieved and they both turned quickly to stare over to the distant Brisbane River. Annie watched the slow drift of the water as she finished her coffee.

‘Actually, there is something I’m very upset about,’ she said.

‘What’s that?’

‘I won’t get to meet Basil.’

‘Basil?’

She turned back to him. ‘Damien’s dog. His Dalmatian.’

‘Is that what he told you? That he has a Dalmatian called Basil?’

‘Yes.’ She leaned towards him, eager to make her point. ‘It was part of the reason we clicked. I’m mad about dogs. Damien and I used to joke about how fabulous it would be if my Border collie, Lavender, fell in love with his Basil. I know it sounds childish, but it was fun. We used to say that if Basil and Lavender mated we would have a pot-pourri of puppies.’

Theo smiled briefly, then frowned and shook his head.

Annie slumped in her chair. ‘Don’t tell me that’s a lie, too. I couldn’t bear it if Basil doesn’t exist.’

‘Oh, don’t worry, Basil most certainly exists,’ he said quietly. ‘But he’s my dog.’

CHAPTER THREE

‘HOW long would it take me to walk from here to the Goodwill Bridge?’ Annie asked Mel, who was in the middle of brushing her teeth before bed.

To her relief, Mel and Victoria had opted for an early night this evening.

Mel turned from the sink. ‘Oh, I’d say about half an hour. Why?’

‘I want to set my alarm.’

Lowering her toothbrush, Mel frowned at her. ‘You’re going to walk to the Goodwill Bridge tomorrow morning?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why on earth would you want to do that?’

‘I want to go for an early morning walk and that bridge will take me over the river to the South Bank, won’t it?’

‘Yes, Annie, but I thought you came to Brisbane for fun, not exercise.’

Annie shrugged. ‘A little exercise won’t hurt me.’ She turned to leave the bathroom. ‘Goodnight.’

‘Hang on,’ Mel called, making a hurried effort to rinse her mouth.

With some reluctance, Annie paused in the hallway. She’d been hoping to avoid an inquisition about this.

Mel came through the doorway, still wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. ‘Okay, confession time! You didn’t come to the city for a health kick, so who are you going to meet on the bridge?’

Annie sighed extravagantly. ‘A dog. A Dalmatian dog called Basil.’

‘Oh, yeah?’ Mel let her eyes roll towards the ceiling. ‘And will Basil be waiting for you all by himself? He doesn’t, by any chance, come attached to some yummy guy you’ve met today, does he?’

‘Theo will be there,’ Annie mumbled.

‘Who?’

‘Theo.’

‘Theo?’ Mel’s voice rose an octave. ‘Theo as in Dr Theo Grainger?’

‘Yes.’ In defence Annie added, ‘I told you I spoke to him this morning. And he’s invited me to meet his dog.’

Mel collapsed against the wall in helpless laughter.

‘What’s the big joke? You know I’m nuts about dogs.’

‘Oh, yeah, sure, Annie. You’re fascinated by Theo Grainger’s dog. But hello—half the UQ philosophy undergraduates are nuts about Dr Theo.’

Annie couldn’t hide her surprise.

‘The female half, that is,’ Mel amended. ‘Not that it gets them anywhere. Apparently, he has a policy of never dating students.’

‘Good for him.’

‘But that’s why I’m so gobsmacked. How did you wangle this date with him?’

‘For crying out loud, Mel. Walking a dog is not a date.’

‘Yeah?’ Smiling, Mel shook her head. ‘That’s like saying a foot massage has nothing to do with sex.’

To her dismay, Annie found it difficult to meet her friend’s gaze.

There was an awkward silence while she stared at the floor and then Mel said more gently, ‘Well, don’t worry. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that jerkishness doesn’t run in Damien’s family.’

Impulsive decisions often had unpleasant repercussions, Theo reminded himself the next morning as he waited at the northern end of the Goodwill Bridge and watched the blue and white City Cats ferrying passengers up and down the Brisbane River.

He suspected that the impulse to invite Annie McKinnon to join him on a walk with his dog had been foolish. But she’d been badly misled by his nephew and he consoled himself that his sense of obligation to her was a worthy motivation.

After spending almost a decade as a university lecturer, he was well aware of the pitfalls of offering even the most casual friendship to an attractive young woman. But in Annie’s case it should be quite a simple matter to guard against repercussions.

He’d kept the invitation very low-key. He’d even been ungallant enough to let her find her own way to the bridge, but now he wondered if she might get lost.

He switched his attention from the river to the traffic speeding to join the network of concrete ribbons that formed the freeway system and in his peripheral vision he caught sight of a hand waving.

Annie.

She was waiting at the pedestrian crossing on the other side of the road. The lights changed and within less than a minute she came hurrying up to him.

‘I hope I’m not too late,’ she said, panting slightly, as if she’d been running.

‘Not at all.’

She dropped to her knees, and focused her attention entirely on the dog. ‘Oh, Basil, you’re beautiful. I could recognise your gorgeous black and white spots when I was still a block away.’

She ruffled Basil’s ears and made a great fuss of him and Theo tried not to notice the way her hair shone in the sun, or how slim and lithe she looked in her black shorts and sleeveless pale blue top. He turned quickly to study the clusters of apartment block towers built close to the river.

‘So which way are we going?’ she asked, jumping to her feet.

‘Over the bridge. Ready?’

‘Sure.’

The Goodwill Bridge was restricted to pedestrians and cyclists and as they set off across its gentle arc the city buzzed around them. At this early hour the air was still and cool, the sky clear, and the parks and gardens green. Brisbane looked clean and at its best.

‘Hey, Theo, is that Italian writing on your T-shirt?’

Annie had the most disturbing way of asking unexpected questions. ‘Yes,’ he admitted, looking down at the slogan on his chest. ‘It’s an ad for coffee.’

‘Can you read Italian? Do you know what it says?’

‘It’s something like…For people who really care about the coffee they drink.’

She looked excessively impressed. ‘Have you ever been to Italy?’

‘Yes, many times.’

‘Wow, I’d give anything to see Rome or Venice or Florence. I’ve read all I can about them and I drool over the pictures.’

‘Italy’s beautiful. I think it’s my favourite European country.’

‘Really?’

To his surprise she looked puzzled.

‘You have a problem with that?’

‘No, it’s just that it’s Damien’s favourite country too.’

‘But he’s never been to Italy.’

She came to a sudden halt and Theo tugged on Basil’s lead. ‘Hang on, boy.’

‘This is weird,’ she said. ‘Do you think Damien has been pretending to be someone like you?’

‘I can’t think why. What makes you think so? Because of the dog and Italy?’

‘Not only that.’ She turned to look out at the river where an old wooden ferry was chugging from one side to the other. ‘He used to tell me things about philosophy, too.’

Theo laughed. ‘Philosophy? Damien doesn’t know the first thing about philosophy.’

‘Well, he sounded knowledgeable to me.’ She turned back and offered him a sheepish smile. ‘But then I wouldn’t have a clue. I’m more of an old movie fan. As far as I know, Scarlett O’Hara’s “Tomorrow is another day” could be philosophy.’

‘And you wouldn’t be too far off the mark.’

She shook her head. ‘I’m beginning to feel so stupid about this. I can’t believe all the things I lov—liked about Damien were all make-believe.’

Not make-believe, Theo thought. They were me.

Annie’s china-blue eyes were round with worry and when their gazes met she chewed her lip and colour stained her neck and cheeks. Had the same idea occurred to her?

When Damien came back he would strangle him.

She let out a long sigh, then shrugged. ‘I’ve got to stop talking about Damien. I’m over him. Let’s keep walking. I didn’t mean to hold you up.’

They walked on and Annie’s gaze darted everywhere, her hungry eyes taking in the towering buildings, the busy traffic on the freeway and the boats on the river. She looked as if she’d never seen anything quite so exciting.

He’d noticed the same sense of delighted engagement with her surroundings at the university yesterday, and now he tried unsuccessfully to suppress the thought that the clever, academic women he’d dated in recent years were a bunch of jaded cynics.

They reached the other side of the bridge and he looked below to the dry dock where volunteers were restoring an ancient tugboat. He’d been taking a keen interest in their progress.

‘Oh, look at that.’ Annie was pointing ahead to a forest of very modern unit buildings surrounded by landscaped gardens and restaurants.

‘What are you looking at?’

‘That dear little clock tower peeping over the fig trees.’

‘Oh, yes. It’s part of the old South Brisbane Town Hall. It’s very Victorian, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, it’s all red-bricked and old-fashioned and out of place, but it’s gorgeous,’ she said. ‘I’m sure it disapproves of all these modern aluminium and glass buildings.’

‘Just like the old Queen would have.’

‘Exactly!’ Annie laughed and her hair glinted pale gold in the sunlight and, without warning, she flung her arms skywards and executed a three hundred and sixty degree spin. ‘Oh, I lo-o-o-ve this city!’

And bang went Theo’s resolve to remain aloof.

‘Would you like to stop for breakfast?’ he asked.

Breakfast? Annie bit back a cry of surprise. Come to think of it, Theo was looking surprised too. Perhaps he’d realised that adding breakfast to a walk along the river turned the occasion into something that was almost a date. Maybe he was having second thoughts.

She wondered if she should let him off the hook.

But she didn’t want to. Something happened to her whenever she was with him. Something deep. Elusive. Nagging.

And it had nothing to do with his dog, and only a little to do with how great he looked in athletic shorts.

‘What about our casual clothes?’

‘Don’t worry. Most of the eateries along here cater to walkers and joggers.’

‘What about Basil, then? He won’t be allowed in a restaurant, will he?’

‘A friend of mine owns one of the cafés on the riverfront and on special occasions he’s happy to keep him out the back for me, away from the kitchen and the diners.’

‘Does this count as a special occasion?’

He smiled slowly. ‘If I say so.

His smile made her chest grow tight. She bent down and scratched Basil’s spotty head. ‘Do you mind being tied up, beautiful boy?’

Basil’s tail wagged madly and Theo said, ‘Giovanni spoils him so much he never minds.’

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