The Wedding Countdown

Putting her thoughts into action, Tessa padded down the dark, silent hallway to the kitchen. Luckily Rosalind’s big pantry cupboard was fixed with an internal light, so she could find the herbal tea bags without having to illuminate the whole area. She left the pantry door open and used the glow from its light while she found a mug and boiled the kettle.

She placed two tea bags in a small teapot, filled it, then carried it and a mug onto the moon-washed deck. It was cool outside, and she was glad of her warm pyjamas as she settled into a canvas director’s chair, hoping the silvery bay and the distant lights of Magnetic Island would soothe her.

‘I’ll have whatever you’re having.’

‘Oh, Lord!’

Isaac was sitting in the shadows a few feet away. He was grinning at her. ‘I’ll just duck inside and get myself a mug,’ he said calmly, while Tessa’s heart pounded more painfully than ever.

This was getting ridiculous! Wasn’t there anywhere in her parents’ home where she could have some privacy?

When Isaac returned with a mug, Tessa tried to overlook the vast amount of male body outlined by his black silk boxer shorts and skimpy black T-shirt. ‘So you drink chamomile tea?’ she asked, but how could she think about herbal tea when he was so disturbingly beautiful? Apart from the hidden talents he’d alluded to earlier, Isaac had developed some rather spectacular physical attributes. He must have spent a great deal of the last nine years working his body hard, because his chest and arms were more deeply muscled than ever. And life in the outdoors had tanned his naturally dark complexion. She had to force her eyes away from feasting on him.

‘Chamomile?’ Isaac’s eyebrow arched, and then he grinned. ‘I’ll try anything once.’

Tessa kept her eyes steadily on the task of pouring his tea. ‘I find it helps me to sleep,’ she said as she filled the mugs. ‘I’m into herbal teas these days. I keep quite a range.’

‘Surely there are better ways to make you sleepy, Tess,’ Isaac murmured as he drew a chair next to hers and sat down.

Feeling her cheeks start an annoying blush, Tessa retorted, ‘Aren’t you cold? It’s the middle of winter, you know.’

Isaac chuckled. ‘People who live in the tropics don’t know what winter is.’ His amused eyes took in her sensible pink flannelette pyjamas buttoned to the neck, with long sleeves and long-legged pants. ‘Don’t tell me you’re taking those on your honeymoon.’

She glanced at him sharply. In the moonlight his dark eyes teased her.

‘Of course not,’ she answered swiftly, but the startling image of Isaac viewing her in the elegant lace and silk affair she’d bought for her honeymoon crept traitorously into her mind and sent her cheeks flaming again. Her heart shot around in her rib cage at maniacal speed.

‘I see you haven’t lost that habit,’ Isaac observed, interrupting her dangerous thoughts.

‘Habit?’ Tessa asked wildly.

He reached for her hand as it twisted a lock of hair.

‘You still fiddle with your hair when something’s bothering you,’ he said softly. She snatched her hand from the side of her head. But she was mesmerised by his proximity and by the way he stared at the strand of hair she had loosened, bright yellow against his dark skin. He rolled the lock between supple fingers and thumb.

‘Spun gold,’ he whispered. ‘Remember how I threatened to cut off a lock of your hair if you kept twisting it?’

‘You did cut it off,’ Tessa whispered back. ‘When I was sixteen. And it took ages to grow back.’

‘So I did.’ His face was only inches from hers. He stared again at the lock of hair in his hand, then frowned and dropped it abruptly.

‘I—I think I’ll take my drink to the bedroom,’ she said, stammering. It was going to take more than chamomile tea to help her relax.

‘Speaking of bedrooms,’ Isaac replied quickly, before she could stand up.

‘Which we weren’t,’ Tessa retorted, but Isaac continued as if he hadn’t noticed.

‘I was very surprised to find my old room just as it’s always been. I was certain Rosalind would have totally redecorated it by now.’

Tessa shrugged, wondering if Isaac could guess that she had begged her mother to leave everything untouched. She had known it was illogical, but she’d clung to the superstitious hope that, by changing nothing in his room, she could somehow keep Isaac’s feelings for her intact, as well.

And so the room had stayed the same. The oak desk remained by the window, and lined along the windowsill were fossilised sea creatures embedded in ancient rock. Even Isaac’s dried-out starfish and sea-urchin collections had been retained, although now the ancient white skeletons were tastefully arranged in cane decorator baskets.

‘All those marine creatures,’ she said, twisting the mug in her hands. ‘I don’t suppose they have much relevance in your life any more.’

‘Not really,’ he replied, taking a sip of tea and pulling a wry face. He seemed about to comment on the brew, then shrugged. ‘I’ve virtually turned my back on the sea and diverted my focus to the land—to the very bowels of the earth, I suppose you could say.’

‘And you like it over in Western Australia?’

He let out a brief sigh. ‘I’ve been successful there,’ he replied evasively, then added, ‘if monetary gain counts as success.’ He stared at the contents of his mug. ‘Parts of that state are superb. The Kimberley region fascinates me. It has to be among the best wilderness areas in the world. But the mines of Western Australia are completely different from the North Queensland coast. But, you see, being there made forgetting easier.’

Tessa slumped low in her seat. The mug almost slipped from her limp grasp. ‘Forgetting?’ she managed to whisper, although her throat swelled painfully. ‘You wanted to forget everything here?’

‘It makes sense not to cling to unpleasant memories, doesn’t it?’

Unpleasant memories! How could he say that? She had fretted and pined and made herself sick over someone who’d been doing his damnedest to get her out of his mind.

Tessa sat up straight and lifted her chin even as hot tears sprang in her eyes. ‘It makes perfect sense,’ she told him. ‘I’ve certainly put the past behind me.’

‘Where it belongs,’ he said softly, his face grim. ‘You’ve done well, Tessa. You’ve built a new career, acquired a husband-to-be, and all those fine and fancy wedding presents are piling up.’

How could he make the simple truth sound so insulting? Tessa knew if she stayed another minute, the telltale tears would fall.

She jumped to her feet. ‘When you go away again,’ she said as airily as she could, ‘you should make sure you take that old lamp you made from the bailer shell with you,’ and then she quickly hurried across the deck and into the house before he could reply.

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