The Bridesmaid's Baby Bump

‘I mean relaxation,’ she added hastily. ‘Yes, relaxation.’

‘Party Queens keeping you busy?’

‘Party Queens always keeps me busy. Too busy right now. That’s why I’m grabbing the chance for a break. I desperately need some time away from the office.’

‘Have you solved the Gemma problem?’

‘No. I need to give it more thought. Gemma will always be a director of Party Queens, for as long as the company exists. It’s just that—’

‘Can passengers Dunne and Marlowe please make their way to Gate Eleven, where their flight is ready for departure?’

The voice boomed over the intercom.

Eliza sat up abruptly, her newspaper falling in a flurry of pages to the floor. Hissed a swearword under her breath. ‘We’ve got to get going. I don’t want to miss that plane.’

‘How about I meet you at the other end and drive you to Port Douglas?’

Eliza hated being late. For anything. Flustered, she hardly heard him. ‘Uh...okay,’ she said, not fully aware of what she might be letting herself in for. ‘Let’s go!’

She grabbed her wheel-on cabin bag—her only luggage—and half-walked, half-ran towards the exit of the lounge.

Jake quickly caught up and led the way to the gate. Eliza had to make a real effort to keep up with his long stride. They made the flight with only seconds to spare. There was no time to say anything else as she breathlessly boarded the plane through the cattle class entrance while Jake headed to the pointy end up front.

* * *

Jake had a suspicion that Eliza might try to avoid him at Cairns airport. As soon as the flight landed he called through to the garage where he kept his car to have it brought round. Having had the advantage of being the first to disembark, he was there at the gate to head Eliza off.

She soon appeared, head down, intent, so didn’t see him as he waited for her. The last time he’d seen her she’d been resplendent in a ballgown. Now she looked just as good, in cut-off skinny pants that showed off her pert rear end and slim legs, topped with a form-fitting jacket. Deep blue again. She must like that colour. Her dark hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. She might travel Economy but she would look right at home in First Class.

For a moment he regretted the decision he’d made to keep her out of his life. Three months wasted in an Eliza-free zone. But the aftermath of his divorce had made him unfit for female company. Unfit for any company, if truth be told.

He’d been thrown so badly by the first big failure of his life that he’d gone completely out of kilter. Drunk too much. Made bad business decisions that had had serious repercussions to his bottom line. Mistakes he’d had to do everything in his power to fix. He had wealth, but it would never be enough to blot out the poverty of his childhood, to assuage the hunger for more that had got him into such trouble. He had buried himself in his work, determined to reverse the wrong turns he’d made. But he hadn’t been able to forget Eliza.

‘Eliza!’ he called now.

She started, looked up, was unable to mask a quick flash of guilt.

‘Jake. Hi.’

Her voice was higher than usual. Just as sweet, but strained. She was not a good liar. He stored that information up for later, as he did in his assessments of clients. He’d learned young that knowledge of people’s weaknesses was a useful tool. Back then it had been for survival. Now it was to give him a competitive advantage and keep him at the top. He could not let himself slide again.

‘I suspected you might try and avoid me, so I decided to head you off at the pass,’ he said.

Eliza frowned unconvincingly. ‘Why would you do that?’

‘Because you obviously think I’m a jerk for not calling you after the divorce. I’m determined to change your mind.’ He didn’t want to leave things the way they were. Not when thoughts of her had intruded, despite his best efforts to forget her.

‘Oh,’ she said, after a long pause. ‘You could do that over coffee. Not during an hour’s drive to Port Douglas.’

So she’d been mulling over the enforced intimacy of a journey in his car. So had he. But to different effect.

‘How do you know I won’t need an hour with you?’

She shrugged slender shoulders. ‘I guess I don’t. But I’ve booked the shuttle bus. The driver is expecting me.’

‘Call them and cancel.’ He didn’t want to appear too high-handed. But no way was she going to get on that shuttle bus. ‘Come on, Eliza. It will be much more comfortable in my car.’

‘Your rental car?’

‘I have a house in Port Douglas. And a car.’

‘I thought you lived in Brisbane?’

‘I do. The house in Port Douglas is an escape house.’

He took hold of her wheeled bag. ‘Do you need to pick up more luggage?’

She shook her head. ‘This is all I have. A few bikinis and sundresses is all I need for four days.’

Jake forced himself not to think how Eliza would look in a bikini. She was wearing flat shoes and he realised how petite she was. Petite, slim, but with curves in all the right places. She would look sensational in a bikini.

‘My car is out front. Let’s go.’

Still she hesitated. ‘So you’ll drop me at my resort hotel?’

Did she think he was about to abduct her? It wasn’t such a bad idea, if that was what it took to get her to listen to him. ‘Your private driver—at your service,’ he said with a mock bow.

She smiled that curving smile he found so delightful. The combination of astute businesswoman and quick-to-laughter Party Queen was part of her appeal.

‘Okay, I accept the offer,’ she said.

The warm midday air hit him as they left the air-conditioning of the terminal. Eliza shrugged off her jacket to reveal a simple white top that emphasised the curves of her breasts. She stretched out her slim, toned arms in a movement he found incredibly sensual, as if she were welcoming the sun to her in an embrace.

‘Nice and hot,’ she said with a sigh of pleasure. ‘Just what I want. Four days of relaxing and swimming and eating great food.’

‘April is a good time of year here,’ he said. ‘Less chance of cyclone and perfect conditions for diving on the Great Barrier Reef.’

The garage attendant had brought Jake’s new-model four-by-four to the front of the airport. It was a luxury to keep a car for infrequent use. Just as it was to keep a house up here that was rarely used. But he liked being able to come and go whenever he wanted. It had been his bolthole through the unhappiest times of his marriage.

‘Nice car,’ Eliza said.

Jake remembered they’d talked about cars at their first meeting. He’d been impressed by how knowledgeable she was. Face it—he’d been impressed by her. Period. No wonder she’d been such a difficult woman to forget.

He put her bag into the back, went to help her up into the passenger’s seat, but she had already swung herself effortlessly up. He noticed the sleek muscles in her arms and legs. Exercise was a non-negotiable part of her day, he suspected. Everything about her spoke of discipline and control. He wondered how it would be to see her come to pieces with pleasure in his arms.

Jake settled himself into the driver’s seat. ‘Have you been to Port Douglas before?’ he asked.

‘Yes, but not for some time,’ she said. ‘I loved it and always wanted to come back. But there’s been no time for vacations. As you know, Party Queens took off quickly. It’s an intense, people-driven business. I can’t be away from it for long. But I need to free my head to think about how we can make it work with Gemma not on the ground.’