“My pleasure.” He kissed her cheek. She blushed, and her siblings tried not to grin. “You look beautiful.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and shook her head. She wished he didn’t feel he had to say that. She hardly looked beautiful compared to the rest of the women in her family. Still, it was a nice thing to say. “Thank you.” She picked up a plate to offer David. “It’s sweet of you to say so, but I think the other Connelly women have cornered the market on beauty.” She smiled again, but David didn’t. He simply glared at the rest of her family. Amber’s smile dropped. She hoped no one would notice. As much as she appreciated David’s comment, she really didn’t want her family upset.
“Would you like a drink?”
“Sure, thank you.”
“We have pretty much anything you could want,” said Lizzi, the eldest of the family, who ran a café in Shelter Springs, in the Mackenzie country. “Pete brought his latest vintage to top up Pop’s collection.” She gestured to the wine fridge, which took up one corner of the covered veranda, and which contained a selection of wines from her husband Pete’s winery. “So we won’t go short, that’s for sure.”
“Water, please.”
“Oh,” said Pete, looking crestfallen. He and Lizzi exchanged bewildered looks. Their lives revolved around food and wine, and they didn’t understand David’s spartan tastes. Which wasn’t surprising, because Amber didn’t either. All she knew was that there was something quite exciting about watching someone rein himself in that tight. It made you wonder what passions lurked beneath which required such control.
She reached for her own glass of sparkling water and took a gulp. Luckily the moment of silence was broken by the entrance of her other sister, Rachel, who stepped out from the kitchen holding a hot tray in her designer oven gloves.
Just as well she wasn’t the insecure type, thought Amber. Because between her sisters-in-law—Maddy and Laura—and her two sisters—Lizzi and Rachel—she didn’t stand a chance. Luckily, they were all happily married.
Rachel deposited the hot tray on the table and stood back with a beaming smile. After a day spent in a kitchen, Rachel really shouldn’t look quite as fresh and glamorous as she did. She was dressed in a figure-hugging red dress with a deep neckline which showed off her figure. And the only lock of hair out of place looked as if it had been arranged that way for aesthetic reasons—or at least reasons which gave her husband, Zane, an excuse to push it off her face with a loving caress.
Amber shot another glance at David to see if she was checking out Rachel’s cleavage—something which Amber had not a chance of possessing, given the size of her boobs—but, again, David appeared the perfect gentleman, saying something polite to Rachel before turning to Zane, to talk about rugby.
It looked like David was passing the first test—not to be distracted by the beauty and charm of the Connelly women. Which would stand him in good stead for the second test—not to be scared off by the Connelly men, who most assuredly would not appreciate David ogling their wives.
“So, what is it you do, David?” asked Max, taking a swig of his beer straight from the bottle before fixing David with an unflinching gaze.
Amber frowned at Max. Max ignored her,andthe warning hiss from Laura. But, much to Amber’s relief, David didn’t turn a hair. He faced Max, looking as cool and relaxed as if he were ordering a drink at a bar. “I’m in property development.”
Amber’s frown dissolved as she became interested. She hadn’t known this. She’d thought he was something to do with Finance. Finance with a capital ‘F’ because it was a thing about which she knew nothing. Come to think about it, she only had vague notions about what a property developer did, too.
“How do you mean, developing? You mean renovating or something?” she asked. She shot him a smile. It seemed like they had more in common than she’d imagined. “I love renovating old houses.”
Did she imagine it or did his smile fix a little? “No, more like building new ones.”
“Oh, did you build that one opposite Flo’s place? The one I saw you going into the other day?”
“Yes, I did.”
It was Jim’s turn to frown. “The one where old Briar Cottage used to stand? Shame. There was a lot of history in that cottage.”
“Not enough to keep it standing unfortunately, sir.” Jim’s frown deepened at being called ‘sir’ again. “It was riddled with rot and woodworm. It wasn’t cost effective to restore it.”
“Must everything come down to cost these days?” exclaimed Jim, his white bushy eyebrows beetling over irritated eyes.
“Yes,” said David firmly. “It must.” Amber shuffled forward, trying to wedge herself between David and Jim. This conversation wasn’t going as she’d planned. “Otherwise there would be no money to invest in new projects, and there’d be no progress.”
“More drinks, anybody?” she called out too loudly, considering she was standing so close to her father and David. They both looked at her with puzzled expressions. “And while I’m getting them, David, let me introduce you to Gabe and Maddy.” She laughed nervously. “I forgot. You know them already from the café, don’t you?”
Gabe stepped forward with that charisma he had—a warm doctor’s presence—which was entirely natural to him. The entire female population—young and old—of Akaroa had gone into mourning when he’d fallen in love and married the mysterious Madeleine, mysterious no longer.
“Good to meet you somewhere different from the café, David. And thank God you got around to asking Amber out. Between my lovely wife and Amber, I began to think I’d ask you out myself if you didn’t hurry up.”
David’s lips tweaked, which Amber took to be a sign of amusement.
“I would have said no, Gabe. You’re not my type.” The others laughed. “Actually,” he said, looking at Amber with a smile, “nor is Amber.” The laughter stopped, replaced by a stunned silence. “And yet I was entranced from the moment I saw her. I didn’t ask her out immediately because I wanted to see if that interest waned. But…” He sighed and Amber could virtually feel her family leaning in toward him, their anxiety palpable as to what he might say next. “But it didn’t. It only increased. She’s a beautiful woman with a big heart.”
There were huffs, murmurs, and nods of relief from her family.
“You’ll be staying for dinner, I hope?” asked Rachel, obviously warmed by his comments. Since Rachel had returned to Akaroa a few years ago, Amber had grown close to the sister she’d barely known before Rachel had departed to make her career as a TV chef. Rachel gave a quick nod of approval to Amber.
