LITMIR.BIZ

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record for Liam. He’d even brought her home with him for the Christmas break, during which time Molly had had many opportunities to see Roxy’s physical assets. What she could do for a bikini was incomparable!

      But I’m not going to think about Roxy right now, Molly told herself as she turned the key and swept open the door. Today is my birthday and my very best friend has come to celebrate it with me.

      ‘Liam!’ she exclaimed, smiling up into his dancing blue eyes.

      ‘Hi there, Moll. Sorry to interrupt. I know you’re working but I simply had to show you my new car. Picked it up this morning at one of those dealerships just the other side of Hornsby and couldn’t resist taking it for a spin. Before I knew it I was on the expressway and heading north. I was over the Hawkesbury Bridge before you could say boo, and was about to turn round when I thought, What the hell, Liam? You haven’t had a day off in ages. Drive up to Gosford and visit your mum.’

      He smiled a rueful smile, showing perfect teeth and a charming dimple. ‘It wasn’t till I pulled into the driveway that I remembered today is her golf day. Took all the wind out of my sails, I can tell you. But no way was I going back to Sydney without showing someone. Naturally, I thought of you. So what do you think of it?’ And he waved in the direction of the car. ‘It’s one of the new Mazda Eunos 800s. The Miller Cycle version. Great red, isn’t it?’ he finished.

      Every drop of joy drained out of Molly. Liam hadn’t come for her birthday. He’d come to show her a pathetic car. Worse, she hadn’t even been his first choice of viewer. She’d run a very poor second. As usual!

      Something hard curled around her heart, setting it in concrete and trapping her love for him deep inside. Molly determined it would never see the light of day again. She glanced coldly over at the offending car and shrugged dismissively.

      ‘If you’ve seen one red car, Liam,’ she said coolly, ‘you’ve seen them all.’

      There was no doubt he was taken aback by the icy indifference of her tone, for his eyebrows shot up and he stared at her with bewilderment in his beautiful blue eyes.

      Molly was disgusted with herself for instantly feeling guilty. So much for her first foray into hating Liam! But she was determined not to weaken this time. Enough was enough.

      ‘You know me, Liam,’ she went on brusquely. ‘I’ve never been a car person.’

      ‘That’s because you’ve never learned to drive, Moll. You’d appreciate cars much more if you were ever behind the wheel. Come on, come for a short spin with me.’ He actually took her arm and began propelling her across the pavement.

      ‘Liam!’ she protested, wrenching her arm away from his hold and planting her sensible shoes firmly on the pavement. ‘I can’t. I’m at work.’

      ‘But the library’s not even open,’ he argued. ‘Surely they won’t miss you for a couple of minutes?’

      ‘That’s beside the point,’ she said sternly. ‘You might be your own boss, Liam, and can come and go as you please, but most people can’t, me included. Besides, it’s almost morning tea and I have to be here for that.’

      The rest of the staff had all chipped in to buy her a cake. It was a tradition in the library whenever one of them had a birthday. No way was she going to run out on her real friends to indulge Liam’s ego.

      ‘I don’t see why,’ he said stubbornly.

      No, you wouldn’t, Molly thought mutinously, and toyed with telling him, just so he could feel terrible for a full ten seconds.

      The decision was taken out of her hands when Joan popped her head out the door.

      ‘Come on, birthday girl. Greg’s brought your cake along and all twenty-five candles are alight and waiting. So get in here and do the honours. You can bring your hunk of a friend, if you like,’ she added, looking Liam up and down with saucily admiring eyes. ‘We’ve more than enough cake for an extra mouth.’

      Molly relished Liam’s groan. To give him some credit he did look suitably apologetic once Joan disappeared.

      ‘God, Moll, I had no idea it was your birthday. There I was, blathering away about my new car, and all that time you must have been thinking how damned selfish I was being.’

      Frankly, she was enjoying his guilt. It had a deliciously soothing effect on her damaged pride. ‘That’s all right, Liam. I’m used to your not remembering my birthday.’

      He winced anew. ‘Don’t make me feel any more rotten than I already do.’

      Molly almost gave in. It was awfully hard to stay mad at Liam. He didn’t meon to be selfish. He was, unfortunately, the product of a doting mother and far too many God-given talents. Brains and beauty did not make for a modest, self-effacing kind of guy. Liam could be generous and charming when he set his mind to it, but in the main he was a self-absorbed individual who rarely saw beyond the end of his own classically shaped nose.

      God knows why I love him so much, Molly thought irritably.

      But then her eyes travelled slowly from his perfect face down over his perfect body, and every female cell she owned clamoured to be noticed back.

      But the only expression in his eyes when he looked down at her was remorse. When he forcibly linked arms with her, she glared her frustration up to him.

      ‘Don’t be mad at me, Moll,’ he said with disarming softness.

      ‘I’m not mad at you,’ she returned stiffly.

      ‘Oh, yes, you are. And you have every right to be. But I’ll make it up to you tonight, if you’ll let me.’

      ‘Tonight?’ she echoed far too weakly.

      ‘Yes, tonight,’ he said firmly. ‘But for now I think your colleagues are waiting for you to blow out those twenty-five candles.’

      With typical Liam confidence he steered her into the library and proceeded to charm everyone in the place. It annoyed Molly that he gave her openly curious workmates the impression he was a boyfriend of sorts. He even extracted her promise in Joan’s goggle-eyed presence to go out with him later that evening. She initially refused dinner—no way was she going to disappoint her mother—but grudgingly agreed to after-dinner coffee somewhere.

      Molly told herself afterwards that she would never have agreed to go out with him at all if she’d been alone with him. She would have sent him on his way with a flea in his ear! She didn’t need his pity, or his guilt.

      The moment his new red Mazda roared off up the road back in the direction of Sydney, Joan settled drily knowing eyes on her.

      ‘Well, you’re a dark horse, Molly, aren’t you?’ she said as they walked together back into the library. ‘I’ve always thought of you as a quiet little thing and all this time you had something like that on the side.’

      Molly silently cursed Liam to hell. All he ever caused her was trouble and heartache. ‘Liam’s mother lives next door,’ she explained with more calm than she was feeling. ‘I’ve known Liam for years. We’re just good friends.’

      ‘Oh, sure. He drove all the way up from Sydney to wish you a happy birthday because you’re just good friends. You know what? I’ll bet you’re one of those girls who go home from the office at night, and perform one of those ten-second transformations. You know the type. Off come the glasses and the straitlaced clothes. Down comes the hair. On goes the sexy gear, make-up and perfume, and—whammo!—instant heat!’

      Molly had to laugh. It would take more than ten seconds to transform her!

      ‘You can laugh,’ Joan scoffed. ‘But I’m no one’s fool. And you’re far prettier than you pretend to be. I always did wonder why you never seemed to be on the lookout for a fella. I was beginning to think all sorts of things till glamour boy arrived on the scene today. He gave me a case of instant heat, I can tell you. And I saw the way you looked at him when you didn’t think anyone was

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