LITMIR.BIZ

      CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

      BEN REMEMBERED SANDY telling him about her favourite hotel in the inner-city Southbank district of Melbourne—all marble, chandeliers and antiques. He’d teased her that it sounded too girly for words. She’d countered that she liked it so much better than his preferred stark shades of grey.

      He’d taken a punt that that was where she would be staying. A call to Reception had confirmed it. He walked from his ultra-contemporary hotel at the other end of the promenade that ran along the banks of the Yarra River. He’d wait all day at her hotel to see her if he had to.

      It was a grey, rainy morning in Melbourne, mitigated by the brilliant colours of a myriad umbrellas. Ben watched a hapless duck struggling to swim across the wide, fast-flowing brown waters of the Yarra.

      Was his mission doomed to such a struggle?

      He found the hotel and settled in one of the comfortable velvet chairs in the reception area. He didn’t have to wait for long. He sensed Sandy was there before he glanced up.

      He was shocked at how different she looked. She wore a sleek black suit with a tight skirt that finished above her knees and high-heeled black shoes. A laptop in a designer bag was slung across her shoulder. Her hair was sleek, her mouth glossy with red lipstick.

      She looked sexy as hell and every inch the successful businesswoman.

      Sandy the city girl.

      It jolted him to realise how much he’d be asking her to give up. Now she was back in her own world would she want to settle for running a small-town bookshop in Dolphin Bay?

      She must have felt his gaze on her, and stopped mid-stride as he rose from the chair. He was gratified that her first reaction was a joyous smile. But then she schooled her face into something more neutral.

      For a moment that seemed to stretch out for ever they stood facing each other in the elegant surrounds of the hotel. He had to get it right this time. There wouldn’t be another chance.

      * * *

      Sandy’s breath caught.

      Ben.

      Unbelievably handsome and boldly confident in a superbly cut charcoal-grey suit. Her surf god in the city. She had trouble finding her voice.

      ‘What are you doing here?’ she finally managed to choke out.

      He stepped closer. ‘I’ve come to tell you how much I love you. How I always loved the memory of you.’

      Ben. This troubled, scarred man she adored. He had come all the way to Melbourne to tell her he loved her, smack in the middle of a hotel lobby.

      She kept her voice low. ‘I love you too. But it doesn’t change the reasons why I left Dolphin Bay.’

      ‘You gave me the kick in the butt I needed. I’m done with living with past scars. I want a future. With you.’

      He looked around. Became aware they were attracting discreet interest.

      ‘Can we talk?’

      ‘My room,’ she said.

      They had the elevator to themselves and she ached to kiss him, to hold him. That would only complicate things, but for the first time she allowed herself a glimmer of hope for a future with Ben.

      * * *

      Ben was grateful for the privacy of Sandy’s hotel room. He took both her hands in his. Pulled her close. Looked deep into her eyes. ‘More than anything I want a life with you.’

      ‘Me too, Ben.’

      ‘That life would be empty without a child. Our child.’

      He watched her face as the emotions flashed over it. She looked more troubled than triumphant.

      ‘Oh, Ben, you don’t have to say that. I don’t want you to force yourself to do something so important as having children because you think it’s what I want. That...that won’t work.’

      The fear he’d been living with for five years had been conquered by her brave action in walking away from him.

      ‘It’s for your sake, yes. But it’s also for my own.’ He took a deep breath. ‘I want to be a dad again some day.’

      The loss of Liam had been tragic. All potential for that little life gone in a terrible, pointless fire. But no matter how much he blamed himself, he knew deep in his gut he had not been responsible for those out-of-control flames. No one could have predicted how the wind had changed. No one could have saved Jodi and his son.

      ‘I know you were a brilliant father in the little time you were granted with Liam. Everyone told me that.’

      ‘I did my best.’

      The four words echoed with sudden truth.

      He deserved a second chance. Another son. A daughter. A baby who would grow into a child, like Amy, and then a teenager like he and Sandy had been when they met. It would not diminish the love he’d felt for Jodi and Liam.

      ‘I want a family again, Sandy, and I want it with you. We’ll be good parents.’

      Exulting, he kissed her—a long, deep kiss. But there was more he needed to talk about before he could take her back home with him. He broke the kiss, but couldn’t bear to release her hands from his.

      ‘How did your interview go?’ he asked.

      ‘The Melbourne store is mine if I want it.’ She was notably lacking in enthusiasm.

      ‘Do you want it? Because if your answer is yes I’ll move to Melbourne.’

      Her eyes widened. ‘You’d do that?’

      ‘If it’s what it takes to keep you,’ he said.

      She shook her head. ‘Of course I don’t want it. I want to buy Bay Books from Ida and knock through into the space next door to make a bookshop/café. I want to have author talks. Cooking demonstrations. A children’s storyteller.’

      The words bubbled out of her—and they were everything he wanted to hear.

      ‘I want to ask Ida to order matching carvings for the café from her Balinese woodcarver.’

      ‘That can be arranged. I own the café. The lease is yours.’ He ran his finger down her cheek to the corner of her mouth. ‘Will you come back to Dolphin Bay with me?’

      * * *

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