Storm Haven

CHAPTER SEVEN

IF THERE was to be only one evening left in the world, this could well be the evening. It was a night to forget the past, forget the future and just be.

Something had snapped inside Nikki’s controlled head. Who knew what had caused it? Was it the culmination of long years of work and worry, Charlotte’s lovely dress floating around her slim form, the balmy tropical night, or the presence of the man at her side-a man whose smile made her heart do crazy jumps inside her body and made her forget that she was Dr Nikki Russell with the weight of the world on her shoulders? Which of these things was causing the feeling of euphoria creeping over her? Nikki didn’t know, and she no longer cared. The night was hers.

And somehow for Luke it seemed the same. The world was put on hold. They were alone together and nothing else mattered.

Miraculously there was a table available in the best part of the club-a sheltered alcove with windows looking out over the lights of the harbour to the sea beyond. The waiter showed them to their seats with an astonished second look at the town’s transformed lady doctor. I didn’t know you existed, his glance said, and Luke’s hand tightened on Nikki’s waist as he guided her forward.

The lady’s mine for the night, his hand said. Keep off. Nikki should have shrugged the hand aside but she wouldn’t. Not tonight.

Afterwards Nikki couldn’t remember a thing they’d talked about. Inconsequential nonsense, she suspected. Luke kept her in a ripple of laughter as they ate. The tiny pieces of calamary still tasted of the sea, and of the lemon groves in the hills above the town-and the grilled whiting melted in Nikki’s mouth, blending in with her perfect night.

He made her seem the most desirable woman in the world, Nikki thought, and wondered fleetingly how many other women had been given the same treatment. It didn’t matter. Not tonight. Tonight was hers.

They ate huge red strawberries and farm-fresh cream, drank their coffee and then rose reluctantly to leave. Miraculously the beeper in Luke’s pocket stayed silent. It was as if the world were holding its breath.

‘A walk, I think,’ Luke told her as they emerged to the star-filled night. ‘I’m not ready for bed yet, Dr Russell, and I don’t think you are either.’

‘N-no.’ It was true. Nikki didn’t want this evening to end. In the morning she would be back with her books, and Luke would be back to being her locum, and the world would have shifted on to its rightful axis. But not yet…So they walked along the sand, barefoot, with shoes dangling in their free hands. One hand of each was in use, linked unconsciously with the other.

They walked far from the lights of the jetty and of the town, around the headland where the beach stretched out for mile upon endless mile of deserted sand. The moonlight played on their faces. From somewhere a long way off Nikki heard herself talking of her childhood-telling this man things she had told no one-of a lonely childhood with eccentric parents in a house too big for her-but with love and laughter always present. And Luke talked too-a little-of his family in Melbourne and his life before…before he knew he had cancer.

It was as if the last few years were taboo. They weren’t spoken of. The night was magical, and ugly realities weren’t allowed to intrude.

And finally their wandering feet came to a halt and Nikki’s voice fell silent. Luke let his shoes drop to the sand, removed Nikki’s sandals from her grasp and then took her shoulders, turning her to face him in the moonlight.

‘So what now, my lovely Nikki?’ he said softly. ‘Are you going to let the world in again? Is your life going to have ended when Scott walked out the door?’

‘I don’t…’

‘You can’t let that happen,’ he told her, his fingers tightening on her shoulders. ‘I’m pushing you hard, but when I go, will you close the door on life again? Retire back into your parents’ house and shut the world out?’

‘When I go’…The words hung between them and Nikki was aware of a rush of desolation sweeping through her. This was a transient thing. This moment was just what she knew it must be-a dream-a fantasy of something that could never be.

‘It’s none of your business what I do when you go,’ she managed to whisper.

‘But it is.’ His hands came up to cup her cheeks. Tilting her face, he looked deeply into her troubled eyes. ‘I care about you, Nikki.’

‘Yes, you care,’ she agreed bitterly. ‘The way you care about Karen. And the way you care about Sandra. Like all the other waifs you’ve decided to adopt as part of your healing process.’

It was unfair. Nikki’s accusation was contemptible and she knew it, but somehow…somehow it was so important that she be different.

And she was. She saw it in the sudden blaze of anger in Luke’s deep eyes and the tightening of his mouth. His hands held her harder.

‘Why do you do this?’ he said softly, his voice dangerously low. ‘Why do you want to lash out at me?’

‘I don’t…’ Nikki’s voice fell away. ‘I don’t know,’ she whispered miserably. ‘I’m sorry, Luke…’

Her words trailed away. Between them there was a long silence, broken only by the rush of the sea in its constant washing of the vast stretch of beach.

Luke gave a low, savage moan and turned to stare out to sea. Nikki’s hands came up to touch her face where he had held it. What now? What?

And then slowly, as though driven by something he didn’t understand and couldn’t fight, Luke turned. He reached out to take her face again, and when she tried to pull away his hands gripped harder. For a long, long moment he stood looking down into her bewildered face, and then, infinitely slowly, he stooped to kiss her.

It was a harsh, demanding kiss. It was a kiss of confusion and pain, and of punishment. You’ve hurt me, the kiss said, and I take my revenge…

But then it was more than that. The lips that demanded possession of her mouth were asking something more than appeasement of anger.

They wanted her. They wanted to know her mouth-know the secrets of her tongue-possess the smooth contours of her even teeth. They wanted…

It wasn’t the lips that wanted. It was the man… And the woman wanted in return. Nikki felt the hardness of Luke’s body against hers, and a flame started deep within her. This was a sweetness that she had never known. She could smell him, taste him, feel him, and she wanted more! She wanted to be closer than she had ever been to a man in her life before.

Where were the memories of her long-gone husband? They were certainly not here. In fact they no longer existed-blown away by the sensation of these hands holding her, these fingers caressing the smooth contours of her thighs, pulling her closer to feel the. urgency of his want-his need.

‘Luke…’

She wasn’t sure that she whispered the name aloud but it crowded her consciousness. It was a cry of desperate loneliness, need, and the start of some crazy hope. Soon this man would be gone, but if only…if only…

It didn’t matter. For tonight there were the stars and the sea and this man holding her as if she were the most precious thing in the world. Nikki arched herself against him and felt his head drop to her breast.

Somehow the loose silk of her dress was put aside and Luke’s mouth covered the taut wanting of her nipples. The sensation was so sweet that Nikki cried aloud and tears of joy coursed down her face.

Oh, God, it had never been like this with Scott. She had thought Scott was a friend and he turned into her husband. This man, though…this man was no friend. This man was her mate-her soulmate-her love…

Her love. The word swept through and through her and she knew with absolute certainty that it was true. She loved Luke Marriott with every ounce of her being.

She loved. She loves. She will love. Forever and ever and ever. And then as Luke’s arms came around her, cradled her and gently lowered her to lie on the warm sand beside him, she knew that whatever he wanted was right with her. If he only wanted her for this moment, then this moment would have to last forever.

And then, from some far-away place, came the sound of a harsh, electronic beep. It grew into a crescendo, splitting the night with its awful insistence. Luke’s mouth stilled where he had been exploring the valley between her breasts. As Nikki grew rigid in his arms, he swore unsteadily and rose.

‘Fate worse than death,’ he said unsteadily. ‘I think we’re wanted, my love.’ He put down a hand and pulled her to her feet, his arm pulling her to his body. Kissing her roughly on the mouth, he put her from him in bitter resolution. ‘The world calls. Let’s see what they have to say.’

‘The world calls’…Nikki stood, confused, as Luke searched his trouser pocket for the beeper. He lifted it high to see its faint light in the moonlight.

‘McDonald baby arriving,’ he read. ‘Assistance required.’

‘McDonald…’ Nikki frowned. ‘But…but Mrs McDonald’s only seven months pregnant.’ She thought back to the last time she had seen Lara McDonald. Last week. And she was only twenty-nine weeks then… ‘I’ll have to go fast,’ she said unsteadily. ‘We’ll have to try to stop labour until we get her to Cairns.’ She was already searching in the sand for her sandals.

‘We’ll walk faster without shoes,’ Luke told her. ‘Come on. Ready for a run, my love?’

They covered the distance back to the car in a time Nikki would have thought was impossible. Luke, however, was in a hurry, and with his hand holding hers anything was possible. He gave Nikki’s feet wings. It was a desperate run, with both knowing the need for urgency, but somehow…somehow it was still part of the magic night. Whatever the night held, Nikki was as one with Luke Marriott. If he ran fast then she was part of him, carried along by emotion.

She was gasping for breath as they neared the car, but as Luke stopped to find the key she started laughing.

‘I feel like a naughty child trying to get home before they find I’m missing,’ she laughed. ‘Oh, Luke, I hope we can stop this labour.’

He looked down at her curiously in the dim light, and his mouth twisted into an answering smile.

‘So do I,’ he murmured…’But whatever we do, we need to do it fast.’

It was an enigmatic statement which Nikki didn’t follow. There was no need to say the obvious, she thought, but then they were in the car, with Luke’s hand on the horn as they turned back out on to the main road towards the hospital.

Nikki turned her face towards the ribbon of bitumen, forcing her thoughts savagely away from the man beside her. Lara McDonald didn’t need a love-struck girl, she needed a competent doctor, and that was just what Nikki had to be.

Nikki was out of the car almost before it had come to a halt at the front door of the hospital, running swiftly up the tiled steps and through the glass doors. The night sister came out to meet her.

‘She’s in the labour ward,’ the sister said. Behind her, a big man in denim work trousers and generous flannelette shirt materialised out of the shadows. He was literally wringing his hands, but ceased momentarily as he reached to clutch Nikki’s arm.

‘The baby’ll die if it comes now,’ he said hoarsely. ‘Doc Russell, it’s too early. And Lara’s had three miscarriages already. This…this is our last chance-’

He broke off to run his hand across his wet cheeks. ‘Oh, God, Doc, you gotta stop it. If this baby doesn’t make it…’

‘Sister, could you find Mr McDonald a cup of strong, sweet tea?’ Nikki said. ‘And then come straight back to the ward. Have you examined Mrs McDonald?’

‘I didn’t like to,’ the sister told her. ‘I thought I might make matters worse.’

‘Good.’ The nurse was right. An internal examination might hurry things even further. She-turned to the labour ward and found Luke by her side.

Two doctors…At least there were two doctors. If the baby was born it would have a much better chance if it could have the undivided attention of Luke while Nikki attended the mother. She smiled gratefully up at Luke as he swung the door wide.

Lara McDonald was a small, wiry woman in her late thirties. She and her husband owned a small sugar farm just out of town, and struggled to make ends meet. Lara’s face reflected it, weathered and lined from years of too much sun and hard work.

Her face was further lined now, creased in agony as a spasm ripped through her. Her eyes were wide with terror, and as Nikki approached she reached out to clutch her hand.

‘Stop it,’ she whispered frantically. ‘You’ve got to stop it.’

Nikki kept hold of the hand until the worst of the spasm passed. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Luke scrubbing and getting into gown and gloves. Once more she was grateful for two doctors. It meant she could stay where she was.

‘Let’s not panic,’ she said gently. ‘Wait until we see what’s going on. When did you start having pains?’

‘After dinner. About…about an hour ago?’

‘Have you had a show? Any bleeding?’

‘No.’ A fresh spasm hit and the hand clutched again.

Then Luke was at the table. The night sister had returned, and together she and Nikki lifted away Lara’s cotton dress. Nikki frowned as the fabric fell to the side. Lara was mid-spasm but her swollen abdomen was smooth and still. Nikki put a hand on the firm flesh. Nothing. This wasn’t a contraction.

She looked a question to Luke. Swiftly he performed a gentle examination, his face clearing as he did.

‘There’s no dilation at all,’ he told Nikki. ‘Mrs McDonald, what did you have for dinner?’

‘I…’ Lara was wincing through pain. ‘I don’t…’ Then she paused. ‘Curry,’ she said suddenly. ‘We had curry.’

‘Do you often have curry?’ Luke’s voice was clipped and professional, demanding the woman’s attention.

‘No…’ She managed a faint smile. ‘But…but I really wanted it. So Bill went down to Innisfail to get some for me. He got three tubs…’

Luke grinned. ‘And you ate the lot.’

‘Well, Bill didn’t like it.’

Luke shook his head. Nikki found herself relaxing, the tension oozing out of her. Three tubs of curry when unaccustomed to it…

‘Mrs McDonald, you’re not in labour,’ she said gently. ‘I’m sure of it. What’s happening to you is caused by your system reacting to curry. Probably your pregnancy has made you a bit more prone to tummy upsets than usual, and the curry is making itself felt.’

‘Is that all?’ The woman’s eyes widened. She stared wildly from Nikki to Luke and then back to Nikki. Slowly the frantic terror behind her eyes faded. Still clutching her stomach, she fell back on to the pillows, exhausted. ‘Oh, my God,’ she whispered fervently. ‘Oh, thank you.’

‘Any time.’ Nikki grinned. She looked up to see Luke’s smile reflecting her own. Relief was making her light-headed, she thought suddenly. She felt like singing. Or maybe…maybe it wasn’t all relief.

‘We’ll give you an injection to settle your tummy, and we’ll keep you overnight,’ Nikki reassured her patient, forcing her attention away from Luke. ‘But you’ll live to eat curry again.’

‘And…and the baby…?’

‘It seems he’s enjoying the new sensations you’ve been causing him too much to want to leave,’ Luke grinned. ‘I bet he emerges in two months demanding more vindaloo and chapattis.’

‘Ugh…’ Lara McDonald moaned. ‘Don’t even mention them…’

A few minutes later they left their patient resigned to an uncomfortable night. Nikki had kept a straight face as she’d administered medication, but as she climbed into the car she broke into delighted chuckles. It wasn’t often that dramas turned so nicely into farce.

‘Unsympathetic wench,’ Luke growled. ‘Did you never have food cravings in pregnancy?’

‘I was desperate for oysters and beer one night,’ Nikki confessed. ‘But I made myself a cup of hot milk instead.’

‘A very restrained young lady,’ Luke nodded. His hand came over to her side of the car. Starting from the tip of her knee, his fingers gradually worked their way upwards. ‘Keep your eyes on the road, Dr Russell,’ he advised kindly. ‘Just remember how restrained you are.’

Nikki gasped. ‘Don’t…’

‘Why?’ The fingers were touching the soft flesh of her inner thigh through the flimsy fabric of her dress. ‘Why stop, Dr Russell?’

‘Because I’ll crash the car if you don’t,’ Nikki managed.

He grinned. ‘Point taken. How long until we get to Whispering Palms?’

The house was in darkness when they arrived home. A solitary lamp burned in the hall, but Beattie and the children had long gone to bed. Nikki locked the big front door behind them and then turned uncertainly to the man beside her. All of a sudden she felt very young, and very shy.

‘G-goodnight, then,’ she stammered.

He flicked her cheek with his finger, lifting an errant wisp of flaming hair. ‘Do you want it to be goodnight, my Nikki?’

Of course she did. Of course she wanted to walk along the passage to the solitude of her own room. She could even do an hour’s study before she slept.

So why was she slowly shaking her head, as if mesmerised by Luke’s slow smile-the look of understanding and care in his hypnotic eyes? Hypnotic… It was the right word, she thought ruefully. It was as if she were drugged. Her eyes held his and she smiled uncertainly up at him.

‘N-no.’

‘Are you sure?’ He took her shoulders in his hands and held her at arm’s length. ‘Nikki, I make no promises about tomorrow. I’m here for two and a half weeks and after that…well, after that, who knows where I’ll be? But for now…’

She could hardly accuse him of deceiving her. He was laying his bitter cards out for her to see, and if she didn’t like them she could leave right now-walk through the house to her bedroom and close the door hard behind her.

But he wasn’t lying. This man was telling her the truth, and, no matter how unpalatable it was, the truth was what she wanted. Scott’s lies and deception had been with her for too long for her to want anything else.

And she wanted Luke. His eyes held her, mesmerised, and Nikki knew that if two weeks of this man was all she could have, then two weeks would have to be enough. It would have to suffice for the rest of her life.

She lifted her hands to hold his face, and stood on tiptoe to touch his lips with hers. ‘If tonight is all we have,’ she whispered, ‘then tonight is all there is.’

For a long moment he stood motionless. Nikki felt a moment’s searing panic. She had thrown herself at him. Would he react in disgust?

And then his hands came around her body, and tenderly she was lifted up to lie cradled in his arms. He held her hard against him and his lips deepened the kiss.

‘My bedroom has the double bed,’ Nikki whispered as the kiss came finally to its sweet end, and Luke chuckled.

‘Ever the practical one, Dr Russell.’ He pushed the door from the hall open with his foot. ‘Well, Dr Russell, what are we waiting for?’

It was the sweetest night Nikki had ever known.

Five long years she had been without a man, and her body had forgotten just how good it was. Or maybe her body had never known. Luke held her tenderly in his arms and the world was forgotten. All she knew was the feel of his skin against hers, his warmth embracing her, making her feel the most desirable woman in the world.

And when tenderness turned to urgency it was Nikki’s desperate need that drove her on. She wanted this man so much. She wanted to be closer to him than she had ever been to another person in her life before. She wanted to be part of him, one with him, and when they climaxed together she soared on a pinnacle of ecstasy that made her feel the night was exploding around her.

Oh, God, she loved him. She loved him so much…

Nikki drifted towards sleep in his arms, his face cradled in the rise of her breasts, and her heart swelled in a rush of pure tenderness. She would do anything for this man. Anything. And he was only hers for two and a half weeks.

They hadn’t taken precautions. Nikki’s eyes suddenly widened in the dark as the thought struck. Suppose…Suppose she was wrong about Luke’s infertility…?

He felt her sudden stiffness, and stirred to lift her face to his. ‘What is it, my beautiful Nikki?’ he asked sleepily.

‘Luke…’ Nikki said unsteadily. ‘Luke, I’m not…I’m not protected. I didn’t think…’

‘There’s no need.’ Luke’s voice was suddenly bitter. ‘You know the ramifications of the treatment for Hodgkin’s disease as well as I do, Dr Russell, and as for anything else…well, I haven’t been with a woman since I was ill. You’re quite safe.’

‘Oh, Luke, I’m sorry.’ Nikki could have bitten her tongue from her head.

‘Yeah, well, leave it,’ Luke said roughly. ‘Go to sleep.’

She didn’t straight away. As Luke slept, Nikki lay in the dark and tried to come to terms with what she was feeling. She couldn’t. The emotions crowding through her mind were those she had never felt before and had no idea how to cope with.

‘I haven’t been with a woman since I was ill…’ Where had he been? Had he moved from locum position to locum position since then? And if so, what was he trying to escape?

It was too much. For now, he was here and she could somehow assuage the barrenness of the past. And he could do the same for her.

Nikki nestled her head against Luke’s bare chest. He stirred slightly in his sleep and pulled her closer.

She slept.

Luke woke at dawn. Gently he disengaged himself from Nikki’s arms, but the slight movement woke her. For a moment-just a moment-she wondered where she was, and then the tender memories flooded back. Her hands reached out to hold him to her. He couldn’t leave. Not yet.

‘It’s nearly morning.’ Luke smiled tenderly, leaning over to kiss the smooth skin behind her ear. He entwined a golden curl in his finger and then replaced it reluctantly where it had been lying on the pillow. ‘Do you want your daughter to burst in on her not so respectable mama, Dr Russell?’

Nikki chuckled and her hands tightened. Luke’s chest was broad and muscled and warm. A tremor went through her as the flame started to spread without volition through her naked body. ‘Amy’s a heavy sleeper,’ she whispered. ‘And she’s under strict instructions not to wake Mummy until seven.’

Luke shifted slightly so that he could bring his arm up from under Nikki’s supine form. ‘Give me back my watch, woman,’ he growled. Finally he held it up. ‘Six-fifteen,’ he announced. ‘That gives us forty-five minutes.’

‘Forty-five minutes for what?’ Nikki asked breathlessly. She knew, but to ask was heaven.

‘If you don’t know, then I’m not the man to tell you,’ Luke told her sternly. He moved to pull his body up and over her. The flame in Nikki’s thighs was building to an inferno.

‘You…you won’t tell me?’ she managed.

‘Lady, what use is talking?’ he muttered. He leaned down to take first one nipple and then the other between his strong teeth. It was all Nikki could do to stop herself crying aloud. ‘What use is telling, when I can show you?’