Barbara Hannay - Borrowed Bachelor

‘I wouldn’t be so certain,’ she answered softly.

‘Come on. You’re not going to let one whimper from your ex-fiancè send you crumpling in a heap like paper thrown on a fire.’ Rick raked a hand through his hair. ‘I kind of understand how you feel. In my line of work, I’ve seen plenty of defeated people. I’ve watched people fight and struggle for basic rights, only to be rejected once too often. That’s when they give up.’

‘Can you blame them?’

‘Not really,’ Rick admitted. ‘But that’s what’s so good about my work. Because it’s at that point that sometimes, by exposing the injustice, my film crew and I have been able to make a difference.’

Maddy had to admire Rick’s zeal. She could tell he genuinely cared about his work. But she didn’t see how her little problem was quite in the same league.

‘You’d be playing right into Byron and Cynthia’s hands if you let them know they’ve hurt you,’ he told her. ‘From what you’ve said, I think this Graham woman would enjoy knowing you were suffering.’

Maddy sat down again and met his grey gaze. She swallowed at the impact it had on her at this close distance. ‘Cynthia would certainly love it!’ she agreed.

She saw his serious expression brighten. ‘Then rise above her!’ he cried, thumping the sofa with a clenched fist. ‘Show her you don’t care. Don’t let either of them see that you’re hurting at all. I promise you, it will feel like a victory.’

Maddy narrowed her eyes as she considered his advice. ‘I don’t know.’ Her voice was low and uncertain.

Rick’s clenched hand reached out to trace her cheek with his knuckle. Maddy was surprised by his sudden show of tenderness. It must have startled him too. Abruptly, he rose to his feet. ‘Think about it. It’s up to you, of course, but my advice would be to take the wind out of their sails. Show them you don’t give a damn. Certainly don’t lose any sleep over them. They sound like they deserve each other.’

‘I will think about it,’ she said, standing beside him and following him to her door. ‘Thanks, Rick.’

‘Thank you for the dinner.’

‘Perhaps—another time—I could cook you a proper meal. I rather like cooking.’

‘Part of the little home-maker package?’ Rick asked.

‘I guess so,’ she said, then smiled. ‘Just look what Byron’s missing out on.’

He drew up his shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. ‘His loss. Just don’t let him gloat, by acting like a victim.’

He let himself out of her flat quickly.

Maddy thought about Rick’s advice all night long. ‘Don’t lose any sleep over them’, he’d said. Well, that was impossible. Not just because she was upset about Byron and Cynthia. Rick upset her, too. He was such a disturbing mixture. Tonight he’d shown her little glimpses of a new-age, sensitive male and yet all week he’d behaved like a primitive Neanderthal caveman, offering her no more than a frown and a grunt.

If she took away his good looks, all that was left was a stubborn, impossible male—who occasionally, out of the blue, seemed unexpectedly concerned and considerate. The last point Rick had made certainly rang true. In response to Cynthia and Byron, she was behaving like a victim.

Somewhere around three a.m. it finally started to make sense. It was time she took control of her life again. And, yes, she would make a start by doing the flowers for Byron Black’s wedding! The Black wedding! She could almost dredge up a giggle. It sounded so macabre. As a few more wicked ideas began to blossom, she almost looked forward to the task. But, she thought as she drifted off to sleep at last, she would need a little help from the man upstairs.

‘They’re coming next Wednesday at five-thirty p.m.,’ Maddy announced to Rick towards the end of the following week. ‘Oh, and I’ve brought you some chicken cacciatore.’

Once again she was standing outside his flat and he was staring back at her, looking grim and a touch confused. ‘Run that by me again, please.’

‘Sorry,’ Maddy apologised, realising she was gabbling. ‘Let me start over. Number one, how’s Sam?’

He folded his arms across his wide chest. ‘Coming along better than expected.’

‘Wow, that’s great! I should think hardly anyone gets to exceed a doctor’s expectations!’

‘Yeah, I guess that’s so.’ Rick’s scowl softened and, like the sun peeping over the horizon, his face brightened. Maddy found herself staring at him. How amazingly good it felt inside to see his slow, sexy smile.

She proffered a covered dish wrapped in a gingham tea towel. ‘Second thing, I made a chicken casserole for my brother Andy and saved some for you.’

‘That’s very kind of you.’ He accepted the dish, his frown back in place.

Maddy’s empty hands dropped onto her hips. ‘But the big news is…that Byron and Cynthia have made an appointment to consult about the flowers.’

Rick’s eyes gleamed. ‘Good. So you’re taking them on.’

‘I am.’ Maddy straightened her shoulders; she was still trying to convince herself that she could pull this off. ‘And I feel quite ready for their visit. Or at least I will when I’ve finished my preparations.’

‘I wouldn’t go to too much trouble if I were you. From what you’ve told me, they don’t deserve any extra trimmings.’

‘No, but I do,’ Maddy replied with careful emphasis.

‘Pardon?’

‘The preparations are for me. I need to bolster my morale so I can face them both and keep my chin up,’ she explained.

He was curious now. She could tell, because he was forgetting to frown at her.

‘So what did you have in mind?’

Maddy smiled. ‘I need to do some reconnaissance.’

Rick shook his head as he lounged against the door-jamb. ‘You’ve totally lost me again.’

‘I need your help. Actually, I need to inspect your flat.’

‘Like hell you do.’ His scowl deepened.

‘I’m sorry, but it’s important. It’s necessary research. I need to see how a man lives,’ Maddy told him cheerfully.

Rick looked so startled, Maddy thought he was going to drop the casserole dish.

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She was getting tired of hovering in the hallway. Rick Lawson certainly didn’t go out of his way to be hospitable. ‘When Byron and Cynthia come. When they arrive at my place, I have to pretend that I have a—new lover. You know, a live-in lover. Remember? I told Cynthia in the shop that day that he was moving in.’

‘So you’re going to keep this subterfuge going as a morale booster, are you?’ Rick drawled.

Maddy hesitated. If Rick was going to be negative or cynical about her plans, she would get nowhere. ‘Well, yes. I couldn’t bear to have Cynthia catch me out. And Byron and Cynthia will get the picture that I’m not jealous much more clearly if I have my own gorgeous hunk of live-in masculinity, won’t they?’

‘I—I guess so.’ Rick stared at her and she could have sworn his jaw thrust forward slightly. ‘So, where exactly does my flat fit into all of this?’

‘Oh, Rick, please let me in and then I’ll explain. After all, you bounced into my flat unannounced the other night and all’s fair in love and war.’

He stood frowning for a little longer before he finally shrugged and stepped back, gesturing for her to enter. ‘I can’t promise you’ll be impressed.’

‘I’m not expecting to be impressed,’ said Maddy, beaming triumphantly as she followed Rick into his lounge room. ‘I have two brothers and their rooms have always looked like war zones. But I wasn’t sure if they were typical of the male species.’

Halfway across his lounge room, Rick paused. ‘So you’ve never been in another man’s apartment?’