“He has some kind of prior engagement.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“And he didn’t eat any of Rachel’s fancy baking.”
“I guess he doesn’t eat that kind of food.”
“It’s wonderful food.”
“I guess he doesn’t eatwonderfulfood then.”
“He doesn’t drink wine, so Pete didn’t have anything to talk to him about.”
“He talked to Lizzi,” she said.
“Correction. Lizzi talked to him, while his eyes followed you around the room.”
She flushed pink at the thought. “Did they?” Suddenly all the doubts and concerns about the evening vanished.
“Yep,” said Jim. “They sure did. Your David managed to confuse, bewilder, upset and aggravate everyone to some degree or other.”
Amber sighed. Her dad was right because it sure felt he’d done all of those things to her. Trouble was he’d also charmed the hell out of her. And she didn’t know what on earth she was going to do about that.
5
Amber lay in her small bedroom at Belendroit watching the sunlight filter through the leaves, creating dancing shadows on the ceiling rose, and catching the crystal droplets of the chandelier with sudden sparkles of color. Her father said the elaborate chandelier looked incongruous in such a small room. It had been hers since birth, and despite having her own cottage in town, she still often used it. More to keep her father company, she’d always persuaded herself. But now she was beginning to wonder.
David’s direct questions about traveling forced her to confront the real reason why she never went anywhere. She was plain scared. After what had happened to her, she’d been more than happy to do as her father had suggested—stay close to home. Stay away from anyone who might take her away and use her, taking advantage of her nature which was to sail away, like a leaf on the water, like a cloud scudding across the sky. She wanted to be anchored here, where it was safe.
But she trusted David. And, for the first time in years, she imagined spreading her wings with David by her side. It was a happy thought.
“Someone looks happy,”said Flo, glancing up from her paperwork.
“Yes,” said Amber, tossing down her tasseled, beflowered handbag she’d bought for a song at a flea market in Christchurch. “Someone is.”
Flo grinned, sat back and studied Amber. “I wonder if that’s something to do with a certain David I’ve been hearing so much about.”
Amber sat down, flung her arms wide and slid them along the antimacassars which Flo had kept from her grandparents’ day. “I’m in love, Flo!”
“Oh no,” Flo groaned. “With David? I mean, I hear he’s a nice guy and all, but isn’t he meant to be some kind of cutthroat property dealer?”
Amber frowned. “Who have you been talking to?”
Flo shrugged, obviously trying to hide the person’s identity, but Amber knew it could have been any one of a number of people. David’s personality wasn’t the kind to make instant friends. She sighed. “I’m sure he’s not cut throat, but he does do something with property.”
“Oh well. I guess doing things with property doesn’t make people intrinsically evil!” She grinned. “So tell me about this David. I’ve heard he’s been seen in and around Akaroa a lot recently. Is he chasing you?”
Amber opened her mouth to reply but closed it again. She grimaced. “I don’t think so. I think it’s more the other way around.”
“What?”
Amber nibbled her fingernails and then stared at them. “Yes, I tried to kiss him yesterday, but he didn’t seem to have any interest in kissing me back. He walked away instead.”
Flo crossed her arms and leaned back against the kitchen bench. “I don’t like the sound of that! Why wouldn’t he kiss you?”
Amber grimaced. “I guess… I guess, I’m not really his type. He’s so different to me.”
