“Well, lucky for me that I’m not as scared of him as you appear to be.”
“Scared? I’m not…” Jim jumped as a car door slammed, ringing out like a gunshot in the crisp evening air. He met Amber’s glance in the mirror. “Okay, you got me. That man of yours is the scariest bloke I’ve ever met. I thought your big brother Max was macho enough, but this one”—he blew out his cheeks—“sure takes the cake. He’s terrifying. He’s the sort you see in films who’ll step in front of a gun and kill his enemy before they can draw breath.”
“Pop! Don’t be silly. The only thing David kills are business deals… He’s into finance, accounting or property or something.” She frowned. “Something like that.” She sprayed on a little perfume.
“Well, he’s certainly not like your usual type.”
“What do you mean? I don’t have a type.” She did, but she wasn’t in the mood to agree.
“Yes, you do. Dreamy chaps, usually with no jobs, and a penchant for poetry. Dudes, beach bums, call them what you will.”
Amber cocked her head in the mirror just as there was a knock on the door. She turned and smiled brightly at her father, who’d instinctively backed away from the door. “Well, thisdudeis a serious dude. I’d have thought you’d have liked that.”
“I’d like it if you went to the door.”
“Okay, okay.” She picked up her antique evening bag, its sequins showering multi-colored light across the room, and gave her dad a kiss, smudging her cherry red lipstick from his cheek with her thumb. “Don’t wait up.”
“I most certainlywill. You be careful, young lady.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll check to make sure he hasn’t got a gun.”
She shook her head at his suddenly alarmed expression. “Pop… I’m joking!”
Her high heels clicked on the wooden floor as she approached the door. The outside light revealed David’s tall outline, and a gorgeous sensation of nerves and attraction skittered and fluttered in her belly. Not the kind of nerves her father had, but something far more earthy. As she opened the door and she met those intense eyes boring straight into her, speaking directly to her soul, the fizzing turned to an effervescent buzz which reassured her that the only danger she was in from this man was some damned good loving.
“Good evening,” she said brightly, using the formality that David seemed to expect.
“Amber,” he breathed, as she stepped out under the bright light. “You look beautiful.”
She did a mental fist punch. The dress had worked! She’d expected a formal good evening, maybe an arm extended to aid her across the uneven lawn to the car. Instead she received a caress with his eyes and a lowered voice which wound its way sensuously inside her and tugged a little somewhere where it probably shouldn’t have, not with her dad watching, anyway. She glanced over her shoulder. Jim cleared his throat and stomped up the hall to them, holding onto the door handle for dear life. “Enjoy your evening.” He nodded uncomfortably. “Must be off now.” He flashed a brief, uncertain grin at David. “Things to do.”
“See you later, Pop!”
“Good night, sir… Jim.” David quickly corrected himself.
Jim frowned and shook his head before closing the door on them.
She shivered under David’s gaze and her silky wrap slithered from her shoulders and pooled onto the worn wood of the verandah. He picked it up and placed around her, his fingertips brushing her bare shoulders. She shivered again, and it had nothing to do with the soft rain which had begun to fall.
“Are you cold?”
“No.”
He nodded slowly. “Good.”
Amber had never felt so self-conscious in her life as they walked down the steps, she hurrying a little to keep up with his long stride. He opened the car door for her and she slid onto the leather seat. He closed the door and she inhaled again—leather, and some kind of expensive aftershave, the like of which she’d never come across before. She’d have to describe it to Rachel to identify it. Whatever it was, it made her mouth water. He got into the seat beside her and switched on the ignition. The motor purred into life and they bounced their way carefully across the drive.
“Your father’s drive could do with leveling. I’ll get someone onto it on Monday.”
“No,” she said, alarmed at the thought of how her dad would react. “No, thank you, but no. Pop wouldn’t want you to go to any bother for him.”
“It’s no bother. I’ll have someone call him Monday morning and arrange a time.”
She shrugged. She’d let Pop sort that one out.
They pulled out from the bumpy drive onto the empty coast road and headed towards Akaroa, nestled darkly under the lowering cloud. Despite how fast David drove, he didn’t drive recklessly, but with the same intense concentration and focus he appeared to apply to everything in his life.
“Tell me about yourself, Amber.”
