LITMIR.BIZ

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      His body stirred to life. With an exclamation of disgust he changed the channel to a rerun of Platoon and immersed himself in its claustrophobic tale of war and death.

      He was going to stay away from Julie Ferris.

      And for two weeks he did just that. But he wasn’t always as successful at keeping her out of his thoughts. At a barbecue in Mike’s back yard a young woman called Carole attached herself to him, agreeing with everything he said, laughing sycophantically at all his jokes; Julie’s level gaze and caustic tongue were never far from Teal’s mind. Then Marylee and Bruce, two of his oldest and most cherished friends, invited him to spend the day at their summer cottage on the Northumberland Strait.

      ‘Can I ask Danny?’ Scott said immediately. ‘We could go swimming and play tennis, hey, Dad?’

      ‘No,’ Teal said, the reply out of his mouth before he even had time to think about it.

      ‘Why not?’ Scott wailed.

      Teal didn’t know why. Because he didn’t want to explain to Bruce and Marylee who Danny was? Because he didn’t want to phone Julie and tell her about the outing? Because he didn’t want to feel that he should ask her as well?

      Knowing he was prevaricating and not liking himself very much for doing it, Teal said, ‘We can’t go everywhere with Danny, son. And his mother might not like us driving all that distance and being late home. Maybe another time.’

      Scott stuck his lower lip out and ran up the stairs, slamming the door to his room. Teal raked his fingers through his hair. He should discipline Scott for his behavior. But somehow he didn’t have the heart to do so.

      Logically, Julie Ferris was exactly the woman he should be taking with him to the cottage. She wasn’t interested in him. She wouldn’t be phoning him all the time or trying to give him presents he didn’t want. She wouldn’t be doing her best to entice him into her bed.

      Restlessly he prowled around the room, picking up the scattered pages of the newspaper and a dirty coffee-mug. So why wasn’t he phoning her and suggesting that she and Danny accompany them? It would be a foursome. Quite safe.

      Like a family, he thought, standing stock-still on the carpet. A husband and a wife and their two children.

      No wonder he wasn’t picking up the telephone—the picture he had conjured up hit much too close to home. But there was no way he could explain to Scott the real reason why Danny and Julie Ferris couldn’t go with them.

      The cottage on a sunny afternoon in July was an extremely pleasant place to be. Scott was playing in the swimming-pool with Sara and Jane, Bruce and Marylee’s two daughters, while the adults lay on the deck overlooking the blue waters of the strait, drinking rum fizzes and gossiping lazily about some of their colleagues, one of whom was having a torrid affair with a female member of parliament. Marylee, a brunette with big green eyes, said casually, ‘Are you involved with anyone, Teal?’ As he shook his head she tilted her sunhat back the better to see his face. ‘It’s two years since Elizabeth died...isn’t it time?’

      Glad that his dark glasses were hiding his eyes, Teal said fliply, ‘Nope.’

      Reflectively she extracted a slice of orange from her glass and chewed on it. ‘Even if you don’t want to get involved, that’s no reason to eschew female company.’

      ‘I don’t,’ he said, stung. ‘Next Friday I’m going to a medical convention dance with a surgeon who’s definitely female.’ He had wondered if Julie Ferris might also be going. But he wasn’t going to share that with Marylee.

      Wrinkling her tip-tilted nose, Marylee said, ‘And I bet you five dollars that’ll be your first and last date with the surgeon.’

      ‘I’m not interested in another relationship,’ Teal said tightly.

      ‘You must have lots of offers.’

      ‘Too many.’

      ‘Well, you’re a very sexy man,’ she said seriously. Bruce, stretched out beside her, gave a snort of laughter. Ignoring him, she added, ‘Plus you’re a good father and a fine lawyer—you have integrity.’

      Embarrassed, Teal said comically, ‘I don’t think the women are chasing me because of my integrity.’

      ‘It’s your body and your bank account—in that order,’ Bruce put in.

      ‘Stop joking, you two,’ Marylee said severely. ‘Grief is all very well, Teal, but Scott needs a mother. And it’s not natural for you to live like a monk.’

      Grief Teal could handle. It was the rest he couldn’t. ‘I’m not ready for any kind of commitment, Marylee,’ he said, getting up from his chair and stretching the tension from his body. ‘Who’s going for a swim?’

      ‘Men,’ Marylee sniffed. ‘I’ll never understand them if I live to be a hundred.’

      Bruce pulled her to her feet. ‘You shouldn’t bother your pretty little head over us, baby doll,’ he leered. ‘Barefoot and pregnant, that’s your role in life.’

      ‘Men have been divorced for less than that,’ Marylee said darkly, then giggled as Bruce swept her off her feet with a passionate kiss.

      Teal looked away, conscious of a peculiar ache in his belly. Although Bruce and Marylee had been through some struggles in their marriage, he would stake his life that the marriage was sound. Yet it hurt something deep within him to witness the love they shared.

      Love...that most enigmatic and elusive of emotions.

      No wonder he didn’t want to get involved, he thought, and headed for the pool.

      CHAPTER THREE

      JULIE FERRIS was on Teal’s mind again the following Friday when he and Dr Deirdre Reid entered the banquet hall in the hotel. He found himself searching the crowd for a crown of gleaming blonde hair, and didn’t know whether he was disappointed or relieved when he couldn’t find the tall, strikingly beautiful woman who was the mother of his son’s best friend. His companion said something to him, then tugged at the sleeve of his tuxedo. ‘Who are you looking for?’

      ‘It’s always interesting to see how many people I know at affairs like this,’ he said vaguely. ‘Do you have any idea where we’re sitting?’

      ‘At the head table—I told you I’m the president of the local association,’ Deirdre said briskly, and began threading her way through the throng of people.

      Grinning to himself, not at all surprised that they were at the head table, Teal followed. One reason he’d accepted Deirdre’s invitation was because he didn’t think there was any danger she’d fall in love with him; Deirdre Reid’s emotions were very much under control. If indeed she had any. There were times when her acerbic sense of humor made him wonder. But she was good company, intelligent and well-informed politically.

      He was introduced to a great many medical pundits on the way to the head table, where the meal was interjected with speeches, all fortunately brief, some very witty. But it was not until the dancing began in the next room that he saw the woman he had subconsciously been searching for all evening.

      Julie Ferris. She was jiving with a tall, strikingly good-looking young man. She danced as if there were no tomorrow, every movement imbued with grace, joyous in a way that made his throat close. Her unselfconscious pleasure seemed to embody something he had lost—if indeed he had ever had it. He said, without having thought out the question at all, ‘Who’s the tall guy with the red hair?’

      Deirdre followed his gaze. With a malicious smile she said, ‘The youngest and most brilliant specialist on staff—neurosurgery—and the worst womanizer. Why do you ask?’

      ‘I know the woman he’s with.’

      Deirdre said dismissively, ‘He’ll be bedding her before the night’s out, I’m

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