The Bad Boy's Redemption: Too Much of a Good Thing? / Her Last Line of Defence / Her Hard to Resist Husband
Lu shrugged. ‘Go ahead.’
The first canvas was of a fantastically, lushly beautiful woman, dressed in a corset and fishnet stockings, a walking cane across her ample chest. She had more curves than a mountain pass and, while her face was partially covered by the brim of a top hat, her expression radiated fun and excitement and raw sensuality.
He moved to the other photograph: a long, lanky man, lying in a hammock, a beer bottle in his hand and his eyes—Lu’s eyes—half closed. A golfing magazine lay face-down on his stomach.
* * *
Sexy, successful, attractive. Everything she wasn’t right now, Lu thought as she watched Will take a closer look at the photographs.
Everything she’d ever wanted to be but didn’t know how. The embodiment of what a successful life looked like.
His looks were an added bonus, she thought, but his success and the material wealth that came along with it was all his own, created by hard work. His hard work and dedication. How she envied him that—envied the fact that whatever he had, and she knew it was a lot, he could say that he’d earned it. Unlike her every possession, including her photography equipment, which came from the massive inheritance her parents had left behind.
An inheritance that would have been non-existent if her parents had died a couple of weeks later than they had. It had been a standard joke between them that there were many millions of reasons to bump the other off...and it was fascinatingly ironic that they’d died together, victims of an out-of-control articulated vehicle.
If they’d lived this house would have been a distant memory for her—sold to pay off the overdraft, the credit cards, the personal loans. At the time of their death they’d been, as Lu had later discovered, living on fresh air and the last couple of thousand on her father’s credit cards. The car and credit card payments hadn’t been made in months; the utilities bills had been late.
Sorting through the financial mess had been a nightmare on top of the horror of losing them. It was probably the biggest secret she’d kept from the twins: that they wouldn’t be enjoying such a privileged lifestyle if their parents had lived.
But her parents’ secret remained exactly that; she’d never told a living soul and would never tell the twins. One person feeling guilty and conflicted about the lifestyle of their family was enough. She didn’t need to burden them with that information; it was, as she well knew, a heavy load to carry.
The flip and very selfish side of that coin was that if her parents were still around they might not have anything like the material wealth surrounding them now, but she’d be supporting herself—working...contributing. She would be on a career path, settled and established. Maybe not rich, like Will, but comfortable, secure. Fulfilled because her security came from the sweat of her own brow and not because her parents had rushed off to a meeting with their bank manager and ended up under the chassis of a ten-ton truck.
So she was ten years behind? It wasn’t as if she was old and past her prime. She was young and fit and determined...and she had time. So what if most women her age were thinking about moving onto the next stage of their lives—marriage and babies? That was their life, not hers.
She’d catch up...she had to. In the couple of weeks since the boys had left she’d been clubbing—she was deliberately ignoring the issue of the spiked drink—she’d worked on her website, sorted out her studio and looked into dance classes.
She’d even invited a man around for dinner.
That was progress, wasn’t it?
Will walked back onto the veranda and leaned against the balcony. ‘Your parents?’
Lu nodded and sipped her wine. ‘My mother was a cabaret artiste and performer, my father a golf pro.’
‘Was?’
‘They’re dead. Car accident. Ten years ago,’ Lu said in a monotone, and she didn’t know that pain flickered in and out of her eyes.
Will winced. ‘Damn, I’m sorry about that. Did you take the photos?’
Lu nodded. ‘I took them shortly before they died; they were supposed to be used in an assignment I had due.’
Lu steeled herself. He’d ask about their death now; people always wanted to know the details.
‘And is photography your passion? Your business?’
When Lu recovered from her surprise at his change of subject she focused on the question. Her passion? Absolutely. Her business? She didn’t know. Could she even call herself a photographer? She didn’t have much of a reputation, didn’t have that much of a portfolio, and hardly any experience. Did updating her website and looking for new business mean that she was actually in business?
Well, she wasn’t a pseudo-mommy any more, so maybe she was.
She touched a camera that sat on the table next to her. ‘I always have one close by so I suppose it must be. Is rugby yours?’
‘My passion and my business? Absolutely.’
Will placed his ankle on his knee and Lu wondered why he made her skin prickle. Her veranda was spacious, but he made it seem smaller, cosier. Lu tried to put her finger on what he made her feel. Alive, she realised with a shock.
He made her feel alive. And that she mattered.
Dangerous thoughts, Lu, you need to switch gears. What had they been talking about? Rugby...
Lu’s eyes shot up, sharpened and collided with his. ‘Oh, and on the subject of photography and rugby, who took that photo of you for the Rays’ webpage?’
‘You looked up our webpage?’ Will asked, his mouth twitching with amusement.
Lu blushed, caught out. ‘I was...it just popped up.’ Oh, she was such a rotten liar. ‘Anyway...that photo of you? Who took it?’
‘What’s wrong with the photo?’ he asked, amused at her indignation.
‘What’s right with it? It’s shocking! The light is wrong, there are shadows, you look older than you are...exhausted. Geez, a ten-year-old with a point-and-shoot could’ve done a better job,’ Lu stated, her embarrassment and awkwardness temporarily banished as she spoke about her work.
‘Photography is so your passion. Why do you doubt it?’
Lu blinked at him, nonplussed as she thought about his question. Because right now she doubted everything about herself.
Will saved her from making a coherent reply when he continued in his smooth, deep voice, ‘Think you can do better?’
Lu’s eyes sparked with indignation. ‘I know I can do better.’
Lu didn’t pick up the tongue Will placed in his cheek. ‘I think the photographer was one of the most reputable in Durban.’
‘Well, I’d demand a refund.’ Lu sniffed. ‘Shoddy work.’
Will gestured to the camera with his wine glass. ‘Prove it.’
‘What?’
‘I’m a tough subject—the least photogenic person in the world.’
That was like saying that Ryan Reynolds wasn’t sexy. ‘You?’
‘Why do you think I keep endorsement deals and modelling work to a minimum? I suck at camera work.’ Will motioned to the camera. ‘Do your worst. Actually, do your best. Take a photo of me that’s better than the one on the website; God knows I need it.’
Lu narrowed her eyes at him and couldn’t resist the challenge in his eyes. Without breaking his stare she reached for her camera, flipped it on by touch and lifted it to her face. She adjusted the light filters, the focus, and fiddled with the settings, and then her finger was on the button and his image flew to the memory card.
There was so much she was unsure of but this she knew. Lighting, framing, capturing, Lu slid into the zone. She knew how to pull an image together, to capture the light on his face, the glint in his eyes, the tiny dimple in his cheek.
She might not know him, but through her camera she caught a glimpse of his soul.
And somehow, very strangely, she felt that she recognised it.
FOUR
‘I can’t believe this photo.’ Will picked up her camera from the table and looked at his image captured in the viewfinder. ‘It’s really good. I look serious, but approachable.’
Will expected her to say I told you so, but she just winged a quick, grateful smile his way as she placed a huge bowl of salad on the table.
Will pulled on his shirt and left his towel wrapped around his hips so that it could soak up the water from the still dripping board shorts she’d found for him to wear. Lu had suggested he take a swim while she got dinner on the table, and since it was muggy and hot he’d quickly agreed.
He gestured to the colourful cushions on the chairs. ‘I’m wet.’
‘Yours won’t be the first wet bum to sit there,’ Lu told him, dipping a serving spoon into the lasagne. Behind her back both dogs climbed up onto separate chairs and snuggled into the plump cushions. Lu heard their contented huffs and shook her head.
‘You’re very relaxed about your house,’ Will commented, thinking that his two sisters would have had a hissy fit by now at the thought of dogs on their furniture.
‘The furniture is old and the animals are as much a part of this family as we are.’
Will sat down, topped up their glasses with wine and pushed his wet hair back from his forehead. He skimmed a glance over her face as she reached for a plate to dish up onto and wondered what was going on in that very busy head of hers. Not that he cared, he assured himself, he was just being naturally curious.
Will took the plate she held out, put it down in front of him and reached for the salad. He actually groaned his approval as he dumped a mountain on his plate. ‘God, this looks so good.’
‘Tuck in,’ Lu told him as she dished up her own food.
They ate in silence for a couple of minutes—well, she ate and Will inhaled his food. Even at home he wasn’t much of a cook, so he mostly ate out or ordered take out, and he’d forgotten the pleasure of a simple home-cooked meal. It reminded him of his family, of feeling relaxed, content.
When his immediate hunger was satisfied Will slowed down and in between bites sipped his wine. Over Lu’s head he could see the portraits of her parents, and he frowned as a thought occurred to him.
‘So, you have brothers, right? Where are they?’
‘They left for university a couple of weeks ago. They’re in Cape Town.’
Curiosity turned to intrigue. ‘And did you see much of them over the past decade?’
‘Sometimes far too much of them.’
Lu’s smile bloomed and his heart flip-flopped.
‘I became their guardian. We all lived here together.’
Will lowered his wine glass in shock. ‘You took on twin boys when you were—how old were you?’
‘I’d just turned nineteen.’
‘And they were—what?—eight?’
‘Thereabouts.’
‘But...you were just a baby yourself. They allowed you to do that?’
Lu shrugged. ‘There wasn’t anybody else who could take them, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to put them into care so that I could carry on with my life.’
Will watched her eat as he thought about what he’d been doing when he was nineteen. Playing first-class rugby in England, pretending to study, chasing girls, drinking, having a ball. Her sacrifice took his breath away.
‘But—’
Lu lifted her hand and he instantly cut off his question.
‘It’s a bit of a scratchy subject with me at the moment. Do you mind if we don’t talk about it?’
‘No, that’s fine.’ It wasn’t, of course. He wanted to shove aside those curtains in her eyes and see what she was hiding, thinking...feeling. Unusual, since he never delved deeper than just below the surface; he’d never needed to.
Will cleared his plate and looked at her bent head. If this was any other girl he’d call on years of practice, find a dozen innocuous topics to discuss, but he was finding that he didn’t want to skim the surface with Lu. How could he? She’d reluctantly told him about the death of her parents, that she’d raised her twin brothers. And, more unusually, she didn’t want to talk about her past... Most women would have given him a blow-by-blow account of her life by now.
She was different, Will thought. And original. And because she was so different he wasn’t quite sure how to handle her.
But they couldn’t sit here in this awkward silence. He’d have to say something.
‘So, do you read?’ she asked, at exactly the same time that he asked how often she went clubbing. ‘You’re kidding, right?’ Lu shook her head. ‘That was the first time in...um...six, seven—eight?—years. I’d rather hand-wash sweaty rugby kit than go again.’
‘That bad, huh? But if you hated it so much why were you there?’
Lu wrinkled her nose in annoyance. ‘My brothers.’
Will looked at the lasagne dish and Lu immediately passed it over. He gestured for her to continue explaining.
She sat back in her chair and stared at her plate for a long time. When she lifted her eyes again they were shuttered and guileless. ‘It was just a stupid dare between us.’
Will narrowed his eyes at the lie. Why would going to a nightclub be a dare for an adult woman? Nope, there was a lot more to that story than she was saying.
‘If that was the best dare they could come up with then they are very uncreative.’ Will deliberately kept his voice mild.
Her blush told him that she realised he’d caught her lie. Lu licked her lips and took a sip of her wine as he placed his utensils together on the plate and pushed it away.
‘More?’
Will groaned. ‘No, I’m stuffed. It was good, thanks. Do you always keep trays of lasagne in your freezer?’
Lu’s wide smile flashed. ‘With teenage boys in the house you always need extra food for when their mates come home unexpectedly. And I keep a couple of trays in the freezer for Mak to take when he runs out of food—which is often.’
Mak again. Will was very rarely jealous. Clothes and looks didn’t concern him, and his success at whatever he chose to do was his to achieve or not, so he never felt envy. However, he did feel something distantly related to jealousy at the very apparent bond Lu shared with Mak.
Will swallowed the last of his wine and thought that if he was at the point of admitting jealousy and frustration then it was definitely time for him to go. He deliberately looked at his watch and was surprised to find that it was later than he’d suspected. ‘I should go. We have a gruelling early-morning team run along the beach tomorrow.’
Lu stood up with him. ‘You run with the team?’
‘I can’t expect them to do anything I won’t do,’ Will replied, picking up their plates and the lasagne dish. ‘In the kitchen?’
‘Thanks. I’ll stack them in the dishwasher.’
Lu fiddled with her camera, then picked up their wine glasses and the salad bowl and followed him inside.
Will changed from the swimming shorts into his clothes and thought that in his normal life, with a ‘normal’ girl, he’d just lay it on the line and suggest they spend the night together: big fun, no commitment. That spark of attraction to Lu was there, he admitted to himself. It burned hard and bright and he’d ignored it all night. Whenever he thought about acting on it something held him back.
His conversation the other night with Kelby kept resonating with him and he was forced to admit that Kelby had been bang-on with a lot of his observations. He was Mr Control these days—his life went into a tailspin when he cut loose—and if he had to be totally truthful he admitted that he’d never allowed any of the attraction he felt to a woman to be fanned into a fire. He used sexual attraction to get...well, sex. And while he always made sure that both he and his partner had a fun time in bed, he knew that at any time he could walk away. He didn’t allow himself to get emotionally involved because he genuinely believed that he couldn’t offer a woman anything permanent. Every fire went out eventually.
Yet Kelby’s question kept prodding him in the head.
‘Why don’t you try being friends with a woman instead?’
And Lu—strong, calm and capable—was just the type of woman he could be friends with. Her decision to raise her twin brothers at such a young age told him that she was loyal and determined. He liked those traits in men and they were very attractive in a woman too. He could respect her—another trait he considered essential for a friendship.
And, with her lithe body and quick smile, she was a lot easier on the eye than Kelby and his other mates.
Lu had just started to stack the dishwasher when Will walked back into the room, his car keys dangling from his fingers. ‘Thanks, Lu. For dinner and the company.’
‘Pleasure.’ Lu walked him to the hall and shoved her hand into the pocket of her shorts, pulling out a memory card. She held it between her fingers. ‘Change the photo, OK?’
Will’s smile was warm and deep as he took the card. ‘I’ll pass it along. Thank you.’
Will couldn’t stop himself from lifting up his hand to touch her cheek. He needed to know whether her skin was as soft as it looked, whether her bottom lip was a plump as he thought it was.
It was all that and more.
Will shook his head as he turned away. He’d never had the urge to touch his mates’ faces and thank God. If he did he’d get the snot smacked out of him.
* * *
Lu looked up as Mak and Deon walked into her kitchen, courtesy of the set of keys Mak had been given by her father all those years ago, when they’d first become friends. Lu accepted a hug from Mak’s high-functioning Down Syndrome son and smiled when Deon headed straight for her cookie jar. He was as at home in her house as the twins were. Lu had been his official babysitter since his mother had left a year after his birth, shortly before her parents’ death.
Mak took a seat at the kitchen counter and accepted the glass of iced tea Lu pushed across. ‘No wine?’
‘It’s three in the afternoon, Mak. A bit early.’
‘Damn.’
‘Tough day?’ Lu asked, knowing that it was a battle for Mak to juggle his business and the demands and needs of a highly active special needs child. Deon had an au-pair he adored, and numerous aunts and uncle who showered him with attention but Mak was his lifeline, his safety net, his hero.
‘How did the interview go at that other school?’
Mak shrugged. ‘Fine. They’d take him tomorrow if I wanted, but I’m holding out for St Clare’s.’
‘You haven’t heard yet?’
Mak looked frustrated. ‘No.’
Lu bit the inside of her lip. Deon was lonely and needed to get back into school—a school where, unlike at the last one, he wouldn’t be incessantly bullied and tormented.
Mak waved his hand in the air. ‘I should hear within a couple of weeks. So, have you had any luck picking up work?’
Lu blew air into her cheeks. ‘Not a damn thing! I’ve only had one enquiry on the website and I’ve visited all the bridal shops and florists and dished out my card, hoping for referrals. I’m thinking of getting another job—’
‘Lu, it’s only been a month since the boys left. Give yourself some time. Keep plugging at it. Something will come up. So...I saw Will Scott’s flashy Range Rover parked in your driveway the other night.’
‘Were you spying on me again?’ Lu demanded.
‘Sure. That’s what good friends do,’ Mak replied. ‘I came around to check on you and saw Will’s car, so I left.’
‘You should’ve joined us.’
‘And have Deon buzzing on rugby talk for the next week? No, thanks!’
Lu smiled. Deon was completely rugby-obsessed and the Rays were his idols. He would be thoroughly over-excited if he met Will, and he’d nag Mak and her to make Will introduce him to the rest of the team. When Deon got a notion in his head it required a water cannon to dislodge it.
Lu explained that she’d invited Will around for supper to say thank you.
Mak took a sip of his drink. ‘So, did he come around to say it was a pleasure to your thank you? Or did he have other pleasure on his mind?’ Mak waggled his eyebrows at her.
Lu glowered at him. ‘It wasn’t like that, Mak!’
‘It’s always like that, Lu.’
Lu didn’t tell him about Will touching her face, about the flare of passion she’d thought she saw in his eyes. She placed her elbows on the counter and grinned at Mak. ‘He is hot, though.’
Make rolled his eyes. ‘So I’m told.’
‘So, last night I went to the Botanic Gardens and the Philharmonic Orchestra was playing. I thought that it would be so much fun to have someone to do things with. I mean, I didn’t mind being on my own, but—’
Mak looked horrified. ‘I am not going to any classical concerts.’
Lu laughed. ‘Actually, I wasn’t thinking about you...this time. I was kind of considering whether to invite Will along the next time. Do you think I could do that?’
‘Women have been asking men out for a while now,’ Mak pointed out.
Lu slid her bum onto a stool. ‘Do you know what I realised this week, Mak?’
‘What, honey?’
‘That I have been so worried about the boys being independent enough, strong enough to go off on their own, and they are fine. Me—not so much. Of the three of us I’m the one who isn’t independent. I’m the one having the most problems adjusting. Apart from that night with Will I’ve hated being in this house alone, waking up alone, going to sleep alone. The lack of noise, the tidiness... I miss them so damn much.’
‘Of course you do.’
‘I desperately need to work, to prove to myself that I am something other than a fake mommy. I want to create again. I want people’s eyes to react—good or bad—when then see my photos. I miss it, Mak. I miss being...productive. I can take as many photos of the sea, of the dogs, as I want, but it’s not the same as creating images for someone else. I miss being...me.’
Mak listened and waited for Lu to carry on.
‘And...I guess I’m just lonely. I never realised I was until the boys left. Having supper with Will the other night made me realise how much I’ve missed being with someone...and, sorry, you don’t count.’
‘You’re too skinny and too pale for me anyway.’
Lu reached across the counter to swat his shoulder. ‘I thought that Will would be an ideal man to practise on.’
Mak’s head snapped up. ‘Huh? What?’
‘I can use him to get my confidence back, to get back into the whole dating dance again. To help me become—independent. Is that the word I’m looking for?’
‘You are making absolutely no sense.’
‘I’ve lost the ability—I’m not even sure I ever had the ability—to flirt, to enjoy a man’s company, to do the dance. Having a flirtation, a fling with Will, would boost my confidence and in a weird way sort of be a...um...a kick start to this new phase of my life. A way to remind myself that I’m more than what I was—something other than the being the twins’ guardian, their housekeeper, their taxi.’
Would Mak understand that she suddenly felt lost and unable to cope now that there was only herself to worry about? She was supposed to feel relieved and free. Instead she felt more insecure and scared than ever before.
That wasn’t right. Or fair. And it definitely wasn’t acceptable. So she’d do something about it.
Preferably with Will. Could she do it? Was she brave enough?
Mak was quiet for a long time. ‘I’m all for you having some fun—getting your groove back. But there are dangers in this, Lu.’
‘Like?’
‘You falling for him and getting hurt, for one.’
Lu shook her head. ‘Firstly, he’s avoided serious relationships for years, and even if I didn’t know that he has “No Trespassing” signs all over his heart, so I know that falling for him would be stupid. Secondly, he’s only here for three months—less than that now. That’s strike number two. He’ll be my practice man and when he leaves I’ll be fine. I just need someone who’s kind of in my life to ease me into the rest of my life. Does that make any sense at all?’
‘Sort of. If you manage to keep it just fun and games.’
‘I won’t allow myself to get attached to him.’
‘Sometimes you can’t help it,’ Mak insisted.
‘Mak, it’s just an idea, and if he says no then it’s no harm, no foul. As grateful as I am to him rescuing me from the club, I have no intention of trailing after him, dragging my tongue on the floor, appreciative of any attention he’ll give me. I won’t beg, I still have my pride. And if he says yes then I’ll keep my emotional distance.’