There was a tenderness here that had been lacking in those posed shots. This girl was different.
It shouldn’t matter.
He’d been her comfort in a bleak moment, in the wrong place at the wrong time. It wasn’t just his recklessness, a complete disregard for his life, that had stopped her from calling him.
It had been a magical evening, a precious moment in a dark time, and she hadn’t wanted to destroy that memory. It wasn’t as if he was going to say, my bad, our child needs a father, marry me. No one did that any more and she’d read about too many cases in which the rich and famous had defended paternity suits through the courts, with every sordid detail aired for the world to salivate over.
She hadn’t needed his money.
She’d had the London flat and divorce settlement, left to her in her mother’s will. She’d had a career—science teachers were in short supply and she would never be short of a job. She and Hannah would be fine.
She’d thought it would be easy. She’d thought she would never see him again.
But there he was.
And it did matter.
‘Give me a hand up, Eve,’ Martha said. ‘I’ve sat too long and seized up, but I’m determined not to be outbid.’
Grabbing the chance to escape, she said, ‘Would you like me to bid for you?’
‘And miss all the fun? Come on. Let’s see how we’re doing.’
There were more people around the bidding forms now, checking to see if they were in with a chance, making last-minute bids. Martha pulled a face and went higher.
‘Is that your limit?’ Eve asked, hoping to get away.
‘My limit and more,’ she admitted. ‘Come on. It’s your turn.’
There were half a dozen bids after hers and while she was looking up at the display someone took it up another two hundred and fifty dollars.
Nymba...
Home.
As she hesitated, torn between longing and reality, there was a movement at the far end of the table as Kit and Lucy arrived to chat to the bidders. There was a crush behind her and, boxed in, unable to escape, she took the pen that Martha was offering her and bent over the form, keeping her head down as she slowly wrote a fresh bid.
Behind her someone began to complain that she was taking too long, dragging it out to stop anyone else bidding. As if...
She surrendered the pen, but her apology was brushed aside as the man pushed past her. Taking a swift step back, she caught her heel in her hem and, stumbling, flung out an arm, groping for something to grab onto and stop herself from falling. There was nothing, she was going down, but then, out of nowhere, a hand grasped hers, catching her, steadying her.
She didn’t have to look to see who had saved her. It was a hand she knew. A callused hand that had scraped over sensitive skin, waking up hitherto unexperienced heights of pleasure and, for a few brief hours, blocking all pain.
For a heartbeat that hand was all that was holding her up, but then a bell was rung for the end of the auction, jolting her back to reality and, as a cheer went up, she recovered her balance.
Keeping her head down, she muttered a hoarse, ‘Thank you...’
No one heard. Kit had been enveloped in hugs, Martha was with friends and, finally, she was able to slip away.
* * *
Kit felt the woman’s hand slip from his grasp in the crush but before he could go after her, make sure she was all right, he was being hugged by someone overjoyed at having made the winning bid for a trip.
He caught sight of her as she hurried away, presumably one of the unlucky ones who’d missed out at the last minute. Relieved that she was okay, he surrendered to the moment, congratulating the winners, all the while unable to shake the feeling that he’d seen something this evening, heard something. Missed something.
‘Kit. It’s good to see you, although not in these circumstances. How is your father?’
Martha Adams was one of his grandmother’s oldest friends and he kissed her cheeks, introducing her to Lucy before answering her question.
‘Frustrated. He’s desperately trying to issue orders, but the words are eluding him.’
‘The speech will come back, but it takes time. I imagine your mother has her hands full.’
‘She’s more than a match for him.’
‘I’m glad to hear it. And how about you? How are you coping?’
‘Brad is doing a great job and Laura is home, helping out. I’m trying to help but if I’m honest I’m just getting in everyone’s way.’ Getting in his brother’s way. While he’d been chasing trophies, Brad had stepped into his shoes, buckling down to learn the business. Now his brother was convinced that Kit had returned to grab back his rightful place. ‘Did you bid on anything tonight, ma’am?’
‘I did,’ she said. ‘I’m going to your spa in Phuket and I couldn’t be more excited. Have you been there?’
‘I stopped over a couple of years ago when I was racing in that part of the world. It’s beautiful and the staff are amazing. You’ll have a wonderful time.’
* * *
Eve was sitting in the shadows on the terrace when Martha carefully lowered herself into the chair beside her with a contented sigh.
‘I’m sorry to run out on you at the last moment, Martha,’ she apologised. ‘Did you win?’
‘I did, thank you, but I saw that man push you out of the way. So rude. Are you all right?’
‘The only harm was the hem of my dress and I’m sure you’d say that was a win. I just needed some fresh air.’
‘Then you’d better take a big breath.’ Martha handed her the folder she was holding. ‘We’re both going on a dream trip. You’re going on safari.’
‘What?’ Eve’s head was still reeling from the impact of the encounter with Kit. How close she’d come to being face-to-face with him and uncertain which would have been worse: the shock of recognition or the polite expression of a man who was being kind to a total stranger. ‘No...’ She was holding the glossy brochure, looking down at a photograph of the elephant and her baby. ‘This can’t be right. There was another bid. Right at the last moment...’
‘The man who knocked you out of the way? So rude. He dashed off a bid but I managed to top it in the last seconds before the bell rang.’ She hesitated, for a moment uncertain. ‘I saw the longing on your face when you were looking at that photograph, Eve. If I was wrong, I have no doubt that your rival bidder would be happy to pay the extra hundred dollars and take it off your hands.’
Overwhelmed with such a rush of conflicting emotions, at that moment Eve couldn’t have said which way was up but there was one thing she was certain about.
‘No.’ Clutching the folder tightly to her chest, she said it again. ‘No,’ she repeated. ‘I’m going home.’ She looked at Martha. ‘There’s only one problem. You’ve volunteered Mary to look after Hannah, but who is going to look after the cat?’
Martha rolled her eyes. ‘I fed Mungo until you arrived, I suppose I can do it again.’
* * *
‘It’s the annual audit next month, Brad. You have to be here for that,’ Laura said. With their mother fully occupied looking after their father, it was just Kit, Brad and his sister Laura at the family meeting. ‘I can go to Nymba for the trust meeting. It’s just a formality, showing a Merchant face once a year.’
‘It’s not just a formality.’ Brad’s temper was wearing thin. ‘The Nymba Trust