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‘Sleep tight.’
As Seth stood up in the confined space his shoulder bumped Amy’s arm and heat flashed through her like a skyrocket taking off.
She struggled to sound calm as she spoke to Bella. ‘I’m going to leave the lamp on for ten minutes, and you must go to sleep.’
Before the little girl could think up another reason to delay her, she turned and left the room, and Seth followed.
Outside, beyond the bedroom’s closed door, she sent him a nervous smile. ‘I do hope she actually nods off this time.’
‘She’s not used to this house yet,’ he said smoothly.
Amy knew this was true, but his indulgent attitude surprised her.
‘She’s used to sleeping in strange beds,’ she said, and then, to her annoyance, she blushed again.
Seth’s eyes sparkled with poorly concealed amusement.
‘What’s so funny?’ she snapped.
‘I was thinking—’ He paused, looking at her, and the light in his eyes made her chest squeeze tight. ‘I was thinking that it wouldn’t be fair if Bella gets all the kisses.’
Amy stopped breathing, and Seth took a step closer.
Chapter Six (#ulink_68be0425-47e1-5917-a138-2717d7f85ef4)
SETH told himself it was a simple thing.
He was merely being playful, giving Amy a friendly and innocent kiss on the cheek just like the one he’d given Bella.
So it made no sense that, from the moment he touched her—merely brushed a wisp of her hair from her cheek—he felt fine, electric tremors all over his body.
Amy was standing still. Very still…Too still…standing with her eyes closed…
Seth could see the delicate blue veins on her eyelids, and he could smell faint traces of the jasmine soap she’d used in the shower. He focused on her smooth, soft cheek and tried to ignore the softer-than-soft bow of her lips, but, for some reason that made no sense at all, he didn’t find his way to her cheek…
He dipped lower…
Until his mouth brushed against hers…and they shared a beat of trembling hesitation…and then a gentle, lingering touch…the most tender of hellos.
And Amy didn’t pull away.
Seth felt a subtle increase in the pressure of her mouth against his, and then her lips parted, yielding and warm. She tasted of the summer night and his blood began to roar.
His heart pounded, his skin burned…the homestead veranda faded and the entire universe became Amy.
Sweetly erotic Amy.
Her mouth was so soft and warm, just how he knew it would be. Oh, God. He’d been fighting this attraction from the moment he saw her in the Tamundra pub, and now she was offering heaven…
He wanted nothing but this…Amy, breathless and needy, her skin silky and hot under his hand.
Her kiss…was such a perfect thing…
But she went suddenly still and pulled away.
Seth realised that Ming was there.
‘I—I’ve left your desserts ready in the kitchen,’ Ming said, eyes wide with poorly suppressed delight, then he scuttled sideways like a crab down the hallway, as if he couldn’t hurry away from them fast enough.
As Seth struggled to breathe he heard Amy’s voice calling, ‘Thanks for dinner, Ming. The seafood curry was sensational.’
She sounded astonishingly calm, not at all like a woman who’d been drowning in a whirlpool of passion.
With her back very straight, her chin high, she turned and sailed ahead of Seth onto the veranda, leaving him reeling in her wake.
He took a swift, steadying breath. If there was one thing he’d learned to do well, it was to hide his feelings. No way did he want Amy to guess how seriously he’d been rocked by that kiss.
Once they were out of Ming’s earshot he asked, almost calmly, ‘Do you think Bella will settle now?’
Amy stared at him blankly, as if she hadn’t a clue what he was talking about. Hastily, she looked the other way. ‘Sorry, what did you say? I—I w-was distracted.’
This was better. Perhaps they were on the same wavelength after all.
She lifted her hands in a nervous gesture of helplessness. ‘I—I was hoping Ming hasn’t got the wrong idea.’
‘He’s discreet, like all my staff.’
‘Well, yes, I’m sure he is,’ she said unhappily.
Seth opened his mouth to apologise, but swiftly changed his mind. He wasn’t about to apologise for kissing a lovely girl in the moonlight.
And he wasn’t prepared to admit that the kiss might have been a mistake, even though it was almost certainly a huge error of judgement. He’d let his desire for Amy complicate a situation that was already thorny enough. He would have to tell her the truth sooner rather than later, but he couldn’t face it now. The painful story was still raw inside him. I’ll do it soon, he thought. When I’ve had more time to prepare.
For now, he decided, it was better to simply change the subject.
‘Are you ready for dessert?’ Before Amy could object, Seth added, quickly, ‘You have to try Ming’s watermelon balls in green ginger wine.’
The ghost of a smile flickered. ‘That does sound tempting.’
‘Take a seat. I’ll be back in a sec—as soon as I collect the desserts from the kitchen.’
As Seth headed off Amy let out her breath on a shuddering sigh. She felt as if she’d been holding her breath ever since he’d kissed her, and now she was grateful for this moment alone, for this chance to close her eyes while she relived that astonishing experience.
It was too bad that Ming had seen them, but she wasn’t nearly as worried as she’d made out.
What she wondered now was how she’d lived so long, and dated so many guys, without discovering that one kiss could be a phenomenal, life-changing moment.
Gently, with a sense of wonderment, she traced the soft skin on her lips as she remembered the hot, out-of-this-world thrill that had jolted through her body as Seth’s mouth settled against hers.
She’d give anything to experience that sensation again—everything: her job, her life in Melbourne, the close contact with her family.
She’d never felt anything remotely as exciting when Dominic had kissed her. Small wonder their relationship hadn’t survived. There’d been no real chemistry.
Chemistry. That was the secret ingredient in tonight’s kiss, wasn’t it? Mysterious, magical, astonishing chemistry.
But chemical reactions could also be dangerous and she had to remember that now as she heard Seth’s footsteps returning.
She had to remember that Seth was potentially dangerous. Chances were, every woman reacted that way when he kissed them. Especially that one woman who’d broken his heart.
And Rachel.
A thud of disappointment brought Amy back to earth. What on earth had she been thinking? She couldn’t afford to forget, even for a moment, why she was here. Clearly, this man was indeed dangerous. He had seduced her best friend and made her pregnant and here she was getting into a flap over a tiny kiss that probably meant nothing more to him than yet another woman falling at his feet.
‘I think you’ll find this dessert is the perfect second course after curry,’ Seth said as he reached her.
‘Thank you,’ she said primly.
He set a green glass bowl in front of her and she caught the sweet scent of watermelon mingled with the deeper spiciness of the green ginger wine.
‘That smell reminds me of Christmas,’ she said, determined to steer her thoughts onto a safer track.
‘It certainly reminds me of summer. Tuck in.’
She watched as Seth slipped a marble-sized ball of lush pink fruit from his spoon to his mouth.
Oh, for heaven’s sake! Already she was thinking about his mouth, about his kiss—so perfect.
‘What’s Christmas like here?’ she asked, trying again for a distraction. ‘Do you usually have a big party?’
‘Not any more. We used to throw parties, but they’re not really my scene.’
‘That’s a pity.’ She looked around her at the open-plan living spaces on the veranda, and she pictured paper lanterns in the garden. ‘This is a perfect house for a party, and with Ming to help with catering it would be a breeze, and so much fun.’
‘So you like parties, do you?’
‘Most parties,’ she said. ‘I sometimes have to organise them as part of my job—to help clients with networking, or to launch new products.’
As she said this Amy was hit by memories of the launch party on the night Rachel died and she felt another sickening thud, deep inside, as if her heart had crashed from a great height.
‘Amy, are you all right?’
She reached for her water glass and took a deep sip. ‘I’m OK,’ she said. ‘It just catches me every so often—the pain, you know—when I think about Rachel.’
‘Yeah,’ he said softly. ‘I do know what you mean. And it lasts a long time, I’m afraid. I still miss my dad after all these years, and it’s been worse since my uncle died.’
She was surprised that Seth hadn’t mentioned mourning for Rachel, too. Surely he must feel some degree of grief for Bella’s mother?
For Amy the smallest memory of Rachel could trigger pain—Rachel’s habit of flicking her long, pale hair over her shoulders. Her deep, throaty laugh. A punchline from the zany jokes she loved to tell.
But she wasn’t prepared to share these memories with Seth. It was far safer to leave the intimate details of his history with Rachel where they belonged—firmly in the past.
Unhappily, she scooped up a spoonful of wine-drenched fruit. ‘Can you tell me more about your uncle? Did he always live here?’
Seth shook his head. ‘He started off in Sydney like the rest of my family. Moved to Cape York in his late twenties.’
‘To be a cattleman?’
‘Yeah.’ Seth smiled. ‘Left a thriving family business to become a struggling grazier.’
‘That’s intriguing.’ She dipped her spoon into the bowl. These watermelon balls were amazing. ‘What was the family business?’
‘Have you ever heard of Reardon and Grace?’
She shook her head.
‘It’s a very old importing and exporting business. My great-great-grandfather started it way back, and he owned one of the first warehouses in Sydney.’
‘Wow.’
‘All the men in my family have played a role in the firm, including my father. Seth was the first to leave.’
‘Seth? Was that your uncle’s name, too?’
‘Yes. He was my father’s younger brother.’
Amy frowned. Somehow, this information seemed significant, but she was too caught up in this story to stop and puzzle it out. ‘Why did he leave Sydney?’
Seth’s mouth twisted into a wry smile and she winced.
‘Am I being too nosy?’
‘Not really.’ His steady gaze met hers. ‘But it’s rather a sad tale.’
Unwilling to push him, she took another spoonful of her dessert.
‘You see, my uncle was madly in love,’ Seth said quietly. ‘And everything was fine until he brought his girlfriend home and introduced her to his older brother.’
‘To your father?’
He nodded. ‘He wasn’t my father then, of course. This was before I was born.’
‘But your father fell in love with the same woman as your uncle?’
‘Yes, and he married her.’
The penny dropped, making Amy gasp. ‘So this woman was your mother. Your uncle was in love with your mother.’
‘Completely and hopelessly, I’m afraid.’
