Red-Hot And Reckless

‘I’m not sure...’

Frankly, Amber wasn’t sure about anything at that moment. This startling new development had thrown her for a loop. Pearl Sinclair had not seemed all that interested in money the other day. Neither had she seemed the type to bow to pressure, not even Ben’s. She was as tough as teak.

Maybe she was attached to the ramshackle dump she lived in, Amber mused, but it was hard to imagine so. The house was falling around her ears, and the farm part had long deteriorated into nothing but a chicken coop and a dilapidated barn. The land had also recently had a one-in-twenty-five-year flood rating stamped on the council charts, so on the open market it wasn’t worth much.

‘Maybe we’re reading this all wrong,’ Amber speculated. ‘Maybe old Pearl just couldn’t face the move at her age. Or the search for somewhere else to live. Maybe it was all too daunting.’

‘My dear Amber,’ came her father’s exasperated reply, ‘that would not explain her vitriolic and quite personal attack on us. No, this grandson of hers has got in her ear and stirred her all up.’

Her father fell thoughtfully silent. Amber tried to keep her mind empty of thoughts she didn’t want to think, and memories she didn’t want to remember.

‘What about the son and daughter she mentioned?’ her father asked abruptly. ‘Where are they?’

Amber shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Either she’s estranged from them, or they’re dead. I think Ben is her only close relative. Or the only one who visits. And he doesn’t visit all that often any more. She was complaining over that cup of tea I had with her that he didn’t even come home last Christmas. He lives down in Sydney now, and went off with some new girlfriend. She was pretty upset about it.’

‘I see. Well, my guess is the dear boy will be home soon. With bells on. What does he do, do you know?’

‘He’s a lawyer. Works for some big Sydney law firm.’

‘Dear God, that’s all we need—having to contend with some clever-boots city lawyer. No doubt he’s sniffed a huge profit to be made in all this.’

‘He’s probably sniffed more than that,’ Amber muttered.

Her father’s sharp blue eyes narrowed on her. ‘What the hell does that mean? Was there ever something between you and this Ben Sinclair? Tell me the truth, daughter. Don’t lie. You’re a terrible liar, anyway.’

No, I’m not, she thought. I’m a very good liar. I lived a lie all during my six-year marriage to Chad. No one knew how wretched I was. Or what a failure I felt.

‘No.’ She lied again. ‘There was nothing personal between Ben and myself. But he was dirt-poor back then, and as antisocial as you could get. I think he disliked me merely because I was rich.’

‘When he reads this article in the paper, he’ll dislike you even more.’

‘Maybe he won’t read it.’

‘Pigs. He’s responsible for it, I’ll warrant. We can expect Ben Sinclair on our doorstep any day now.’

‘How delightful,’ she said drily.

Her father’s eyes narrowed on her further. ‘There’s certainly no love lost between you two, is there?’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. We’ve hardly spoken two words to each other in the past ten years. But he was a nasty piece of goods at school, and I see no reason to believe he’s changed. I would imagine that as a man he’s just as disagreeable.’

Amber had actually run into him several times during the three years since her return home. A couple of times in the main street but mostly in church, at Easter and Christmas. Not this last Christmas, however.

She’d known, before his grandmother had told her, that Ben hadn’t come home last Christmas. She’d looked for him at the church service. And missed him, she realised all of a sudden. Perverse, when on each previous occasion he’d reduced their encounters to nothing but a distantly cool nod, or a chillingly polite, hell, Amber.‘

‘Disagreeable or not,’ her father snapped, ‘you’ll have to deal with him if you want to build that complex.’

‘We’ll see, Dad,’ she said, trying not to sound as rattled as she was suddenly feeling. ‘We’ll see.’

‘I have a feeling there’s more to this than meets the eye. Watch it, daughter. The last thing I want to see is our family name splashed across next week’s headlines in another souped-up scandal!’

CHAPTER TWO

BEN scooped up this week’s copy of the Sunrise Gazette from the floor then kicked the front door shut behind him. He stripped off the wrapping, tossed the rolled paper onto his favourite armchair for later perusal, then strode out into the kitchen to stuff the shrivelled ball of plastic into the bin.

He grimaced as he reached for the whisky bottle which was sitting in readiness on the starkly white kitchen counter. His other hand up-ended the clean glass which sat next to it. Unscrewing the cap on the bottle, he poured himself a well needed measure.

What a day! What a life! Wall to wall bulldust!

He loosened his blue silk tie with a frustrated yank then retrieved a tray of ice from the fridge, plopping several cubes into the straight Scotch. He was scowling as he snatched up the glass.

Strange. He had always thought being a big-city lawyer would make him supremely happy. He’d have money and kudos. People would look up to him and think he was someone. Women would fall at his feet.

Well, he certainly had money. Corporate law paid very well. How else could he have afforded this snazzy unit overlooking Sydney Harbour? Or the sleek black Saab 9000 CD Turbo which occupied one of his two private car spaces in the underground car park, twenty storeys down?

He gulped down a large swallow of liquid tranquilliser, then frowned at his need for it.

A top-flight legal eagle earned more than most doctors these days, and Ben’s six-figure salary satisfied his craving for monetary success. But he hadn’t been basking in too much community admiration lately.

The status of lawyers worldwide had slipped somewhat in the past ten years. In a recent poll, public opinion had had them just above politicians and used-car salesmen. People generally thought of lawyers as shysters and rogues who charged exorbitant fees for services which were often ineffectual and inefficient.

The law firm where Ben worked as a junior partner was actually very effective and efficient, but very, very expensive. The rate per hour for a consultancy alone was exorbitant. Once a client actually hired them, the costs began to soar. Certainly they got results, which perhaps justified the high fees. Ben appreciated the adage that you only got what you paid for. It was the petty but hidden charges which rankled.

When he’d noticed yesterday that they’d started billing clients two dollars for every miserable photocopy, he’d seen red. But when he’d pointed out this questionable charge to one of the senior partners this afternoon, he’d been told curtly and coldly that crusading lawyers worked for Legal Aid, not one of the largest and most successful law firms in Sydney.

‘Maybe working for Legal Aid might not be such a bad idea,’ Ben muttered into his drink, feeling quite dissatisfied with his professional life at that moment.

Admittedly, he could not complain over his private life and his score rate with the opposite sex. There were an incredible number of beautiful women in Sydney who obviously weren’t as discriminating as the public over where or how you earned your money, as long as you drove a great car, dressed in even greater suits and took them to the greatest restaurants.

Over the past few years Ben had dated a steady succession of society beauties and career colleagues, plus the odd sprinkling of unashamedly ambitious gold-diggers. In a weird kind of way he rather preferred these last steely-hearted souls, because he empathised with what drove them to be so accommodating.

Poverty.

Or an aversion to it.

Ben knew about being poor. And he didn’t plan on being poor ever again. Or being without a pretty woman on his arm. It was just a pity his choice of profession hadn’t won him the personal esteem and respect he coveted as well.

‘Still,’ he muttered as he lifted the straight Scotch to his lips once more, ‘two out of three ain’t bad. Stop griping, Ben. Would you rather still be living with Gran back at Sunrise Point? Every time you become disgruntled with your life, think about the life you once had—living with a crotchety old lady on a ramshackle farm, being treated by everyone in town—and at school—as an outsider. And, worst of all, being looked down upon by the one girl you so desperately wanted.’

Amber Hollingsworth...

Ben’s top lip curled as he thought of her—as he still did far too often. What an insufferably spoiled, self-centred little snob she’d been!

But so bloody beautiful. The type of girl boys like him could only dream about. Blonde, of course. With hair down to her waist, legs up to her armpits and perfect, perky breasts which had jiggled tauntingly as she walked along.

And what a walk that had been! A cross between a wanton wiggle and an arrogant strut. That prettily pert nose always up in the air, her slender shoulders well back, her spine straight, but her hips swaying seductively from side to side as those long legs propelled her along.

There hadn’t been a boy in school—or a man in town—who hadn’t stopped to watch Amber Hollingsworth walk by.