The Auction a Romance by Anna Erishkigal Page 17
I slipped on my bikini, the colors of the Australian national flag, and then pulled back on my shorts to cover it up, not certain I'd have the guts to disrobe in front of Adam. It had been a long time since I'd wanted a man to notice me, though honestly, I wasn't sure whether it would be good if Adam noticed me or not. We were both walking train wrecks at the moment, him even more so than me.
I reached for my maillot, debating whether to change into the more sensible bathing suit I'd worn the last time we'd gone swimming.
"I beat you!" Pippa called triumphantly from the hallway.
I threw the maillot back down on the bed and yanked my T-shirt over my suit.
"Not if I beat you first," I shouted out the door.
We scrambled down the hall like two racehorses bursting out of the starting gate and at the end of the hallway stood Adam at the finish line.
"Whoah!" he laughed. "We're only going down to the river."
The three of us picked our way through the tall grasses and tangled shrubbery which had been left high and dry by the receding water, watching to make sure we didn't run into any more snakes. The water now dropped deep beneath the riverbanks, forcing us to scramble down onto what was now a broad, sandy beach.
Pippa lay out her towel and stripped off her T-shirt and shorts.
"Beatcha, beatcha, now I'll have to eat-ya!" Pippa raced towards the water with the abandon that only the very young display, and then turned back to face us, kicking a splash of water our way.
"Eek!" I shrieked as cold water droplets penetrated my shirt.
"Excuse me," Adam grinned. "I've got a tween-ager to dunk." With a single practiced move he stripped off his T-shirt, kicked off his sandals, and raced after Pippa, shouting as he went, "I'm gonna get you!"
Pippa squealed as Adam scooped her up and carried her out until the water came up to his waist.
"Are you ready to get wet?" he laughed.
"No! Daddy! Noooo!" Pippa squealed with a laugh that really communicated "yes."
His muscles rippled beneath his suntanned skin as he lifted the squealing, squirming bundle of giggles over his head.
"It's payback time!"
With a shriek of laughter, Pippa landed in the river. She popped back up again, coughing and laughing, and immediately got back at her father by jumping into his arms.
I sat down on my towel and delicately unstrapped my sandals, placing them to the side so they wouldn't get wet. That ever-present pang of sadness gripped at the empty spot in my chest, made all the more poignant by the humidity of the river and fresh, clean scent of gum trees. Once upon a time my father had played with me that way, in a river not so very different from this one until my mother drove him right off the continent of Australia. I hung back so as not to intrude on their time together. Adam invited me to be polite, but I knew he wanted to spend the day with Pippa.
"Rosie!" Pippa shouted after a while. "Aren't you going to come in?"
"Yes, come in!" Adam beckoned. "Don't sit out on the shore."
What would the beautiful oil heiress I'd only ever seen on the cover of a rag sheet have done? Given them their time together? Or inserted herself jealously between the two?
Eva Jackson would sit on the beach, soaking up the rays, and disdain of getting her hair wet.
"I'll be right in," I said. "But you'd better not throw me in!"
I stripped off my shirt and shorts, feeling naked as I felt Adam drink in my figure. A sudden bout of self-consciousness clenched at my gut. Does this bathing suit make my thighs look fat? Whatever possessed you to prance half-naked in front of the most drop-dead gorgeous man you've ever met? I crossed my arms in front of my chest as if I was cold even though the temperature felt close to 36 degrees. Stepping gingerly amongst the branches left behind by the retreating water, I got to the edge and dipped my toe in.
Adam bent down and whispered something to Pippa.
Pippa bounded up to me, her blonde pigtails resembling soggy wet brown ropes. "Rosie! You look like you need a hug."
I squealed as her cold, wet figure pressed against my skin. "Ack!!!"
Adam burst out laughing. Pippa gave a mischievous giggle.
"Very funny…"
I waded into the water, making 'eek' noises as I gingerly took each step deeper into the river. Soft mud squished beneath my feet, but beneath it the riverbed felt sandy and the water temperature wasn't uncomfortably frigid. At last I felt bold enough to sink up to my neck. I sat down, treading water even though it didn't come up much further than my waist.
"There! Are you happy now?"
Adam gave me a beautiful, uninhibited smile. I had the feeling that, once again, I had just passed some kind of test; that coming into the muddy river was not something that Eva Jackson would deign to do.
Who cares what his ex-wife would do? It isn't like I care if he compares us!
Oh, who was I kidding? I was only too aware of the way the water dripped down his bronzed six-pack to the happy trail where a thin line of sandy-brown hair ran from his navel to disappear into the waistband of his Funky Trunks. A drop of water dripped down his neck, over the curve of ripped out pectoral muscles to linger, tantalizingly, at the end of an erect male nipple.
"Come swim, Rosie!" Pippa called.
She headed back into the river, straight towards a long, grey shape which moved just beneath the surface of the water. A knob on the end of the grey-brown mass bobbed just above the surface. Flared nostrils. Jagged edges. And the hint of an eye…
"Crocodile!" I shrieked.
I splashed towards Pippa, my heart beating in my mouth.
Pippa leaped back and screamed as well.
"Whoah, whoah!" Adam said. "Rosie? What's the matter?"
"C-c-crocodile!" I pointed at the ominous shape which drifted just beneath the surface of the silty water.
Adam grinned.
"That's just a log."
"Are you certain?" I stared at the object apprehensively. "We sometimes had them in Gold Coast."
"There are no crocodiles in the Condamine River."
Adam picked up a stick, and then waded in to poke at the object. Oh, God! The last time he'd done that, he'd grabbed a snake by the tail.
"Look, Rosie. It's just a log. Really."
I crept closer, my hand clutched to my throat, ready to bolt, until I saw it was just a log as he claimed.
"This watershed terminates near Adelaide," Adam said. "It's too far south for them to gain a foothold."
"I hate crocodiles," I said. "One worked its way inland to the golf course at my mother's country club. The club owners wanted to shoot it, but then the conservationists showed up and insisted the crocodile had a right to be there. It was all over the newspapers."
"Which side were you on?"
"The side that didn't want to get eaten alive."
Adam laughed.
"Has anybody ever told you that you're ruthlessly pragmatic?"
I shot him a scowl. That was the exact same thing people always said about my mother. I glanced at Adam and saw he was laughing at my fears.
"Excuse me."
I gave him The Look and dog-paddled out towards the center of the river which had become narrow enough for a decent swimmer to get across. Pippa bobbed beside me like a bright pink buoy and challenged me to race across to the other side. There was still a current, but Pippa was a strong swimmer, and it'd been a long time since I'd gone for such a lengthy swim. By the trip back, Pippa pulled into the lead.
"I win!" Pippa shouted as she scrambled up onto the beach.
I heaved myself out of the water, my legs feeling suspiciously like over-cooked spaghetti as I walked unsteadily to my towel.
"I … give … up," I panted. "You win." I flopped down in a not-too-exaggerated semblance of exhaustion.
Pippa dashed back into the river to play with her father. I watched them enviously as Adam threw Pippa into the water again and again. He clasped his hands and held them out, the 'hands up' move someone used when they wi
shed to help a rider up into the saddle. Only instead of helping Pippa onto a horse, she held his shoulder for balance and stood straight as he hurled her straight into the air. It took a phenomenal amount of upper body strength to be able to throw somebody like that, and a lot of agility and balance on Pippa's part to trust her father would throw her without hurting her.
At last the two made their way back up to the towels and flopped down on either side of me.
"What does a man have to do," Adam asked, "to get you to open that picnic basket and give a couple of hungry swimmers some lunch?"
"I don't know," I said coyly. "You did tell Pippa to get me wet."
Adam rolled towards me.
"I could do a lot worse than that to you." He waggled his eyebrows in a mischievous grin.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Wanna bet?"
"Do it," Pippa taunted. "Rosie looks hot."
I could tell the exact instant that Adam's intent shifted by the way his pupils widened black to obscure his irises. I skittered back like a crab escaping the net.
"Don't you dare!"
Adam lurched forward, amazingly fast for a man so tall, and pinned me just long enough to scramble to his feet. With a shout of victory he grabbed me by my waist, picked me up and slung me over his shoulder cave-man style.
"Do it, Daddy!" Pippa shrieked with delight.
"Let … me … go!" I pounded on his back, kicking and squealing like a greased piglet as he waded back into the river and pried me off of his back.
"One … two …" Adam shouted as he heaved me out of his arms like a fifty kilo sack of horse feed. "Three!"
I breathed inward as I hit the water, momentarily disoriented in the cool, murky river. I broke the surface, choking as I tried to expel the water from my lungs.
Strong arms came around me.
"Are you okay, Rosie?"
I gasped for breath until I retched up the water in my lungs. Adam hugged me to his chest, his hand splayed across my back as he rubbed it and reminded me to breathe. I looked up into his worried aquamarine eyes.
"I'm sorry," Adam said. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
He brushed my sopping wet hair out of my face. His touch was tender, and wherever our bodies met, my skin tingled with a sense of anticipation. Adam's expression changed to one of hunger. His hand slid down to the small of my back as he pulled me closer.
"Rosie," he murmured. His voice grew thick and husky.
I pressed myself against the hard length of his torso, a little harlot eager to ride the wild brumby stallion. I could feel his interest harden against my hip.
"Whoo-hoo!" Pippa splashed into the water after us. "Did you see the look on Rosie's face?"
We pushed away from each other at the exact same moment, Adam suddenly bashful and me hot with the flush of mortification. What the heck were we doing, getting it on right in front of his daughter?
"I'm okay," I told Pippa. "I just got water in my lungs."
"Let's eat," Adam said. He helped me get back to the shore, but he kept me at arm's length, as though an invisible person stood between us so that while he was helpful, he never came too close.
We lined our towels up underneath the shade of a eucalyptus tree. The temperature was so hot, my bathing suit almost instantly dried except for a few spots in the creases of my thighs, but it wasn't sufficient to warm up the chill which had suddenly developed between me and Adam. Pippa dug into the basket while her father silently lay out the plates and cups.
"Here." He handed me my share, but I noticed he avoided my gaze.
"Thank you."
We ate in silence, the spontaneity of earlier suddenly gone.
"Tell me about the Mimi's?" Pippa asked. "Tell me the story that Grandma used to tell you?"
Adam gave her an indulgent smile.
"During the time of the Aboriginal Dreamtime," Adam said, "there lived within the rocks that ran alongside the rivers a group of spirits called the Mimis. They were tall and slender, with long arms and legs, and would usually only come out on nights when the air was still, for it is said they are so thin that a single breath of wind can knock them over."
"One day the Mimi spirits saw that the First Australians had little to eat and were forced to consume what little food they found raw. The Mimi spirits took pity upon the First Australians and taught them how to make hunting implements, to use these weapons to hunt the wild animals, to cut them up and use fire to cook them as food."
"And where are the Mimis now?" Pippa's eyes grew wide, as if this was a story she already knew.
"On nights when the air is still," Adam said, "sometimes, along the rivers, the Mimis still build their bonfires to cook their meat and dispense wisdom to those who pay them the proper respect."
Pippa clapped her hands together. "Grandma said in Europe they are called will-o-wisps or fairies."
After lunch, Pippa and her father went back into the water and dog-paddled around in the middle of the river, but not even Pippa invited me back in. The kid had been through enough drama between her parents that she must have sensed something had happened. She no doubt thought I was angry because her father had thrown me in. It was past six o'clock when we finally rolled up our towels and headed back up the path; time to eat a quick supper before tucking Pippa into bed.
The blinking red light of the answering machine caught my eye as Pippa hogged the bathtub. I pushed the button. Seven hang-up phone calls registered one after the other, but whoever called had chosen not to leave a message. Adam frowned. As soon as Pippa came out it was my turn to wash the river mud from my skin. I used his Irish Tweed soap, imagining it was him who touched my body instead of the lemon-sandalwood scented bar, and then slipped into my thin cotton nightgown and frumpy bathrobe.
Adam stood waiting as I went to exit the bathroom.
"Adam."
"Rosie."
He towered over me, impossibly tall and handsome, with his golden-blonde hair stuck up in different directions, a casualty of having dried after swimming without the benefit of a comb. He still smelled of the river, a pleasant, earthy scent. I prayed he would finish what Pippa had interrupted.
"I'm sorry for earlier," he said. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
"I wasn't hurt, Adam. Only surprised."
He reached out to tuck back a strand of long, wet black hair that had plastered itself to my face behind my ear. My pulse sped up. Kiss me. Kiss me. Oh, Adam, just kiss me and let's find out what happens? His eyes turned dark blue as they traveled down to my lips, parted in anticipation of the kiss I sensed he wished to give me.
Adam yanked back his hand.
My face, I am certain, fell to the floor.
"I'm no good for anybody right now, Rosie," Adam said softly. "You deserve better than a man who is on the rebound."
He stepped back to let me pass, and then he moved silently into the bathroom to take his own shower. I stared at the plain, wooden door Adam had just politely shut in my face. What the heck is wrong with me? Lusting after my boss? I tossed my dirty clothing into my basket and then went out to do my job.
Pippa sat happily in her favorite pink My Little Pony pajamas, brushing the knots out of her still damp hair. My mood lifted as I helped her separate her hair into strands and plaited it into long, blonde braids.
The phone rang.
"I'll get it!" Pippa bounded upwards.
"That's my job, nipper." I rushed to beat her to the landline. I picked up the receiver and said 'hello.'
There was a moment of silence, and then a woman's voice came on the line.
"Is this Rosamond?"
That Gitano sense of knowing shrieked 'hang up.'
"Yes."
"Can I speak to Adam?"
Hang up! Hang up!
"He's in the shower right now."
The woman hesitated, and then muttered a curse.
"Can I speak to Pippa then?"
Tell her it's a wrong number and hang up!
"Who's calling please?"
"This is Eva. Adam's wife."
Chapter 17
Pippa bounced up and down, an ecstatic, wiggly ball of white-blonde braided pigtails as I read her a bedtime story and tucked her into bed. She chattered non-stop, too excited to fall asleep, oblivious that my stomach twisted and threatened to eject our earlier supper.
"Mommy said she'll spend the whole rest of the summer with me," Pippa said. "And while I'm home, we can visit Grandpa!"
"That's wonderful, nipper." I tousled her hair. "How often do you usually see your grandparents?"
"Only once or twice a year. Grandpa's house is right on the beach"
I tried to act happy, for Pippa's sake, even though it felt like I'd just been thrown from the saddle. Just as I'd begun to feel like I had a place to call home, Eva Bristow-Jackson called to announce she wished to invoke the original custody arrangement which said she had the right to take Pippa for the summer. In the other room, Adam argued with his wife.
"No. You can't just fly in here and upset the plans I made after -you- blew her off. I don't care what the court order says! -You- were supposed to take her four weeks ago, and then you pulled a fit because I wouldn't let you take her out of the country!"
Thunderlane whined. His brown, puppy eyes looked worried as he laid his nose upon his paws and gave his tail a weak wag.
"I don't care what your father's solicitor says! You made a scene in front of three hundred witnesses! At her grandmother’s funeral!"
Despite Pippa's almost manic cheerfulness, I could tell her parents' fighting upset her. I pulled her pink-and-white comforter up to her chin.
"Would you like me to turn on the radio?" It was a trick I'd learned when my parents used to fight.
"I don't care if you take away the station! I already told you … keep it! Keep it all! I just want you to quit using our daughter as a weapon!"