Alison Roberts - The Australian's Bride

The mayor of Crocodile Creek was still wearing his gold medallion, although he’d discarded the rest of his official robes in the wake of the ribbon-cutting ceremony and speeches of the afternoon. He seemed to want to repeat his speech, verbatim, to Alex.

‘We might be in the far north and outside the location of what many people consider civilisation, but if you’re unfortunate enough to get sick or injured in these parts, you can be sure of getting the best care that medicine has to offer. Even if it happens when you’re on a tropical island holiday.’

People were starting to move towards their allocated tables. Susie was going with her friends, Mike and Emily and another two couples. It seemed like one of the only tables with an uneven number. Was she here alone? Was she, in fact, single and… available?

Was it too soon to consider taking his jacket off? Did anyone else in this room feel that it was far too warm despite the air-conditioning?

Introductions to his other table companions, George and Sophia Poulos, spelt the end of any chance in the very near future of getting near Susie. Sophia was in transports of delight on discovering his nationality.

‘My boy!’ she cried, reaching up to pat his cheeks. ‘Come. You must sit beside me . Tell me about your village. Your family. You must come to the Athina before you go home. As our guest, of course. Greek food. Greek music. It will be just like home….’

It was alarmingly like home already. Sophia could have been one of his mother’s sisters. Or any woman in his home town. Hellbent on organising his life. Raising his child. Telling him exactly what he should be doing and how he should be feeling.

Well intentioned, of course, but totally suffocating and tiring to control. Claiming independence by moving as far away as he could had been the best thing Alex had ever done. The only way forward.

He could see Sophia now as he led Susie towards the dance floor. The older woman was tugging excitedly on her long-suffering husband’s arm. Pointing in Alex’s direction and talking non-stop. Delivering a verdict, no doubt, on his choice of partner. He could almost hear it. She would lament the fact that Susie was not a ‘nice Greek girl’ but within a breath or two she would be cooing about the beautiful babies that could eventuate.

It was almost enough to take away the pleasure of finally satisfying his desire to touch Susie.

Almost.

As they reached the dance floor, Susie turned and came into his arms. There was a question in her eyes as she looked up and caught his gaze. An expectation. That it was simply curiosity about his ability to dance felt too shallow. The chemistry going on here was far more powerful than that. Alex felt as if he was standing on the edge of an emotional precipice.

Where was the self-control he prided himself on so much in such areas of his life? Sucked into the ether somehow. Non-existent. Gone to the same place as that barrier that should have kept Susie from getting this close. It was too late now. There was no way he could step back.

He didn’t want to. He wanted to dance. To touch this woman and move with her, the music flowing around them. And the moment they started moving, a whole new dimension opened. Susie was either naturally gifted or she had taken more than a few dance classes. The way her body moved was like touching the music he was hearing. As they grew more used to each other, he found it effortless to lead her. To provide the foil to let her interpret the music exactly the way she wanted to. To step and twirl and dip until she was laughing from the sheer joy of it and the hem of her dress was swirling high enough to reveal glimpses of smooth brown thighs.

Dancing was not going to be enough. They could dance until dawn and it still wouldn’t be enough. How soon would this function wind up?

How soon could Alex offer to escort Susie back to her suite?

Why hadn’t it occurred to Susie that Alex would dance as well as everything else he did in his life?

Or how dangerous it had been to accept that invitation?

Dancing was a revelation. It could tell you so much about the person. About their finesse, consideration of others, self-confidence. Even the need to control. It could be an exploration of someone’s personality that could tell you far more than you might consciously recognise.

It was also a potent fuel. Dangerously inflammable. It was probably one of the fastest routes to falling in love ever invented, and Susie was, quite literally, being swept off her feet.

Falling in love with a man who made her feel like no man had ever made her feel.

Beautiful. Talented. Something to be cherished.

Experience had shown her that a man’s talents on the dance floor could be correlated rather closely to his talents in the bedroom. By the end of the evening, hesitating for more than a moment when Alex offered to escort her upstairs required enormous self-control.

She did try a little harder when they reached the door of the penthouse suite.

‘Is someone with Stella? Are they expecting you back?’

‘No.’ Alex was standing very close as Susie fumbled with the room card. ‘She’s staying in the dormitory tonight. They were having an evening of ghost stories and she said she didn’t want to sleep in a room on her own after that. Here, let me do that for you.’

The door swung open but Susie didn’t move. She looked up at Alex.

She didn’t want to sleep in a room on her own, either.

In fact, sleeping wasn’t on any desirable agenda.

For the longest moment, their gazes were locked. Slowly—with infinite care—Alex reached up and brushed a strand of hair from Susie’s cheek. Having completed their task, his fingers hovered for a heartbeat. And then another. And then those fingers went into the hair at the back of Susie’s head. Cradling her skull as he bent and touched his lips to hers.

A brief, gentle kiss. Just enough to make every nerve ending catch fire with a heat that was white hot. His eyes closed for only a second. Susie knew that because her own flew open in response to the intensity of the heat being generated and she found herself looking into black pools like the ones she had seen last night.

Pools she knew it would be easy to fall into.

She wanted to fall. No. She already had.

This was it. A wordless question, and she had no words with which to answer it.

None were needed. Alex saw exactly what she wanted him to see. He took her hand and led her inside the suite, pushing the door softly closed behind them.

C ONCENTRATE !