Temporary Intrigue (7 page)

“But his foot
does
hurt, Sandy.”

“I’m biting my tongue,” Sandra told her. “It’s your brother. His girlfriend. Their dog. Tell me to mind my own business.”

“Mind your own business,” said Dimity more sharply than she intended, then was immediately contrite. “Don’t take any notice of me, Sandy. It’s been another of those days. Come for dinner and hear the latest.”

“ Will do.”

Heaving the backpack into a more comfortable position, Dimity retraced her steps across the walkway to a bus shelter opposite the hotel. A timetable on the wall told her the next bus was due in ten minutes.

The shelter was dark and far from fragrant. She lowered her backpack to the ground and stood outside rather than taking advantage of its fairly primitive facilities: a wooden bench surrounded by three acrylic glass walls topped with an aluminium roof. When the rain resumed, forcing her inside, she huddled against one of the transparent walls, feeling like a goldfish in a bowl whenever the beam of headlights swept past.

In spite of her sweater, she was cold. Thinking the rain had stopped, and expecting to travel home in Sandra’s car, she had put her parka in the backpack. It now seemed too much trouble to get it out, especially with the bus due soon.

As a car drove past on the other side of the street she thought she glimpsed, in its headlights, a figure standing near the hotel’s entrance, facing her way.

Probably just someone waiting to cross. Nothing to worry about.

For a minute or two there was a break in the traffic.

Whoever it was could have crossed by now. But nobody appeared although, as far as she could see through the rain and darkness, the area in front of the hotel was now deserted.

Maybe she had imagined it.

She looked up the street, willing the bus to appear.

Lights from a car leaving the hotel’s underground parking area flooded the shelter for a few seconds. Dimity pressed even closer to the wall, trying to make herself invisible.

The car travelled to a break in the median strip, did a quick U-turn and drove back, stopping at the shelter. A tall figure emerged, striding towards her through the rain.

With the knuckles of her hand pressed to her mouth, Dimity gave an audible gasp of relief when she recognised Josh.

“What happened?” His tone was more abrupt than she remembered. She saw his nose wrinkle at the shelter’s aroma. “I thought someone was taking you home.”

“She’s working late. It wouldn’t have mattered – I mean, I could have waited but I’m going out later so I wanted to get home –”

Even her teeth were chattering. Pulling off his jacket, he cut through the babble talk.

“Here, you’re freezing.”

Dimity wasn’t sure if she was shivering from cold or reaction. Either way it was immensely comforting to feel the leather jacket around her shoulders.

“Come on, I’ll drive you home.”

She hesitated.

“I don’t want to take you out of your way.”

Eyebrows raised, he eyed her with a hint of the same impatience she had noticed in the hotel corridor.

“Would you rather wait in this stinking place or drive home in comfort?”

She took a deep breath that she hoped he wouldn’t see.

“You’ve talked me into it.”

Heads down against the rain they hurried to the car. Dimity got into the front passenger seat while Josh heaved her pack into the back. He closed both doors and went around to the driver’s side, giving her a rueful grin as he slid behind the wheel.

“Didn’t mean to be high-handed. I was just trying to make it clear that refusal was not an option.”

She found herself grinning back.

“Are you always so persuasive?”

“Always. A cattle prod helps, too.”

He glanced up the road, the smile lingering on his lips. Drops of rain gleamed on his dark hair.

“Want to navigate?”

Dimity jumped. She’d forgotten why she was there.

“Straight ahead for a while. I’ll tell you when to turn.”

They were silent as he drove through the Saturday evening city traffic. From the corner of her eye, hugging the jacket around her, Dimity watched his long, lean fingers controlling the steering wheel. Her eyes drifted to the supple wrists, catching the slight play of muscles revealed by the sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms.

She could still feel a warm trail across her shoulders where his arm had rested for an instant when he put the jacket around her. The memory evoked an involuntary shiver.

“The heater should kick in soon,” he said. “ I was just leaving when I spotted you.”

“I’m glad you did.” She hesitated. “Did you notice someone near the hotel entrance?”

“No, but I wasn’t really looking.” He glanced across at her. “Why?”

“I thought someone was watching me. Probably my imagination.”

Josh frowned.

“Malcolm said something about seeing if you needed a lift. But he doesn’t strike me as the type to stand around wondering.”

“No. Well, I’m glad he didn’t find me. I’d much rather –”

Dimity almost bit her tongue off to stop herself adding “go home with you.”

For goodness sake, Dim, settle down!
she told herself sternly.
He’s only giving you a lift.

“By the way,” he said, changing lanes to pass a lumbering bus, “I’m sorry I didn’t recognise you at first yesterday when you brought the sheet back. You looked different. More ordinary. No, sorry, I mean–”

For a Mr Cool he sounded unexpectedly embarrassed. Dimity felt her tension unwind. Embarrassment was something she could relate to.

“More – conventional?” She tried to choke the gurgle back but failed.

“Let’s say – comfortable.” He gave her a sideways grin as they stopped at a red light. Those brown eyes had a life of their own. She felt her own dancing in response.

“Sandy was practising on me for a hair colouring competition while I took a lunch break from the face painting,” she explained. “Then a recruitment agency rang, giving me half an hour to get to – um – to a job interview. There wasn’t time to go home and change so I borrowed an outfit Sandy had at the salon, and let her do my makeup.”

She paused, recalling the results.

“Sandy’s tastes can be – well, bizarre,” she added.

“No kidding.” Josh maintained a deadpan expression. Dimity giggled.

“And we’re different sizes.”

“My sisters are like that. They swap clothes all the time. The size thing doesn’t seem to worry them.”

“Do you have any brothers?”

“One, younger than me. He’s had his moments but he’s a great kid now. How about you?”

“One younger brother. Shane. He was working as a chef in Sydney but the restaurant folded. He’s back home with his girlfriend until he finds something.”

“The brother with the unusual CV.” He was grinning broadly.

“Sandy’s work again,” Dimity said wryly. “She’s always trying to match me up. She printed that stuff out on my computer and I picked it up by mistake.”

“That explains it. I didn’t think you’d need to go searching the internet for a partner.”

His quick look made her stomach do that darned flip-flop thing again.

“Turn left at these lights,” she said, glad of an excuse to change the subject. “Then straight ahead to the roundabout and turn right. That takes you down a steep hill.”

“You weren’t kidding,” Josh commented a few minutes later, easing the car down an incline that seemed almost vertical. “I wouldn’t want to try this without brakes. And I wouldn’t want to live there,” he added, nodding at a brick house facing them directly across the road from the T-intersection where the descent ended.

Dimity laughed.

“I think they’ve had the occasional car in their front yard. You won’t have to come back this way to get on the Sydney road.”

“At least there’s a vacant block next to them,” Josh noticed. “Maybe the runaway cars head that way.”

“It’s actually a reserve that goes through to my street,” Dimity said. “But we’ll have to take the long way.”

She directed him around a couple of corners into a quiet residential area. The rain stopped as suddenly as it had begun.

“It’s the house on the corner.”

“Nice place,” said Josh, pulling up at a cream house with green picket fences facing both streets and brushwood fencing on the other two sides. “I’ll get your backpack.”

Glancing around, Dimity saw a white food carton on the back seat.

“That’s not your dinner, is it?”

None of her business, of course, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“I asked the hotel chef to make it up for me.” As he leaned across to open her door she caught the pleasant tang of a citrus aftershave. “I’ve been so busy talking business at meals in the past two days that I’ve hardly touched whatever was on my plate.”

Dimity pictured the crockpot bubbling merrily in her cosy kitchen, then thought of the two-hour drive to Sydney.

“Do you have to be back at a particular time?”

He looked surprised.

“No.”

“You can eat with us before you go. I put a pot roast on this morning.”

“Well, thanks, but no, I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble.”

“Hey.” On secure ground now, Dimity eyeballed him almost fiercely. “It’s no trouble. You’re eating with us, okay? Refusal is not an option.”

He looked taken aback then laughed and raised his hands, palms towards her.

“You’ve talked me into it.”

****

The outside light revealed a neatly kept garden and a few small trees with raindrops glistening on their leaves. Dimity led the way to an enclosed veranda at the back of the house where an overweight beagle emerged from a kennel, greeted her ecstatically, then sniffed suspiciously at Josh’s ankles.

“This is Shane’s dog, Bert,” explained Dimity, kneeling down to hold him. “He’s staying here for a while with Shane and Shane’s girlfriend, Leigh.”

“Hi there.” Josh crouched down too, massaging Bert’s thick chest. Glancing up suddenly he found Dimity’s eyes level with his.

The green pools looked very dark, deep and inviting.

His hand stilled and he thought he heard her catch her breath before she stood, brushing dog hairs from her jeans.

“Let’s eat,” she said, opening a door into a kitchen where an appetising aroma sent Josh’s taste buds into an immediate frenzy. He had an impression of cheerful yellow walls, timber bench tops and the same ordered atmosphere he had noticed in the yard.

A young man at the sink, filling a saucepan with water, looked around.

“One more for dinner,” Dimity said. She gestured at the young man. “This is Shane,” she told Josh. “Shane, this is – um–”