Miranda Lee - Ruthless Seduction

‘Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I mean…you’re not that old.’

‘Both my parents were killed in a car accident when I was fifteen.’

‘Oh, how tragic.’

‘It was. The truck driver who killed them was unlicenced, driving an unsafe, unregistered vehicle. He got a miserable twelve months for murder.’

‘Jack, that’s appalling! You wonder what these judges are thinking of, giving light sentences like that.’

‘Yeah, but it doesn’t really hit home till it happens to you. Injustice is just a word till you experience it for yourself.’

‘I suppose so,’ Lisa murmured, thinking how dreadful to lose both one’s parents like that. Her parents had been divorced, but it had been an amicable enough parting. Her perfectionist father hadn’t been able to stand her mother’s sloppy ways, and had bolted as soon as he found someone more to his liking.

He’d never come back.

Lisa might have resented his defection more if she’d been able to remember him. Or if she hadn’t understood full well why he’d left. She’d left home, too, as soon as she could.

‘I think we’re getting too serious here,’ Jack said. ‘Back to tomorrow night. I presume you don’t want to tell your mother you’re going out with me.’

‘If she found out I was going out anywhere with any man, she’d nag me to death. If she finds out I’m going to a fancy awards dinner with the famous Nick Freeman, I’d never hear the end of it.’

‘She’s a fan of Nick Freeman’s?’

‘Unfortunately. I introduced you to her a couple of months back.’

‘Then don’t tell her. It’s not as though this dinner is going to be on TV, or anything like that. The only media coverage it’ll get is in the Australian Writers Monthly. And who reads that, except the literati? I certainly don’t.’

‘You’re very persuasive.’

‘Is that a yes?’

‘Yes. But…’

‘No buts, Lisa. You’re coming and that’s that.’

‘I was just going to say that I’ll have to tell my mother I’m going somewhere with someone. She’s the one who’ll be minding Cory. I won’t leave him with anyone else.’

‘You’re a woman. You’ll think of something.’

‘I don’t have your imagination.’

Jack didn’t think he had that great an imagination. Lots of things which happened in his books were things which had really happened. But he wasn’t about to tell her that.

‘Always stick as close to the truth as possible when you’re being sneaky,’ Jack suggested, thinking to himself that he had been doing just that. ‘Why not say that a girlfriend of yours has been given two free tickets to the awards dinner and wants you to go with her? That way you can talk freely about your night out and not have to make anything up.’

‘That’s brilliant, Jack!’

‘I am brilliant.’

‘And so modest.’

‘That, too.’

‘But are you a man of your word?’

‘Do you doubt it?’

‘Hal’s not always a man of his word.’

‘I’m not Hal.’

‘I’m not so sure. Your books are told in the first person.’

‘That’s just a tool to create immediate empathy with the reader. And a more intense emotional involvement with Hal’s character.’

‘You succeeded very well.’

‘Thanks. Now, let’s get off Hal for a moment. At the risk of offending you again, are you set, clothes-wise, for tomorrow night? It’s black tie.’

‘Do I have to wear a long evening dress?’

‘Not necessarily. A cocktail or party dress will do fine.’

‘I’ll buy something tomorrow. I was going Christmas shopping, anyway.’

‘Christmas shopping! But it’s only October.’

‘I don’t like to leave present-shopping till the last minute,’ came her prim reply. ‘The pre-summer sales are on at Tuggerah tomorrow.’

‘Where the hell is Tuggerah?’

‘You don’t know the coast too well, do you?’

‘I know the Erina shopping centre. Why don’t you go there? I could meet you and we could have coffee. Or lunch?’

‘I don’t think so, Jack. Don’t forget, I’m only going with you tomorrow night as a favour. It is not a real date. It’s a one-off. There won’t be any encores. Or prequels. Take it or leave it, Jack.’

‘I’ll take it,’ he said, and smiled to himself.

You can pretend to yourself all you like, sweetheart. But tomorrow night is not going to be any one-off. You like me. I can tell. Tomorrow night is just the beginning.

‘I’ll pick you up at six,’ he added. ‘That will give us plenty of time to get down to Sydney. Now, where do you live? Give me your address and some directions so that I don’t get lost. And your mobile number, in case I need to contact you tomorrow and you’re not home.’

‘Why would you need to contact me?’

‘The world’s an unpredictable place, Lisa. I like to be prepared.’

‘That’s what Hal always says.’

‘Does he? Well, I suppose I do have some things in common with my main man.’

Like his womanising ways, Lisa thought, suddenly concerned over her decision to go out with Jack.

What on earth had she been thinking when she let him change her mind?

She’d rung him up to put him in his place and ended up agreeing to be his pretend girlfriend for the night, letting him persuade her with the promise of adult company, great food and the fantasy of actually having some fun.

But what fun would it be if she was on tenterhooks all night, worried about fighting him off at the front door?

‘You’re not having second thoughts, are you?’

Lisa rolled her eyes. What was he, a mind-reader?

‘Not at all,’ she replied crisply. If he did try something when he brought her home, she’d be ready for him. He wouldn’t get so much as a toe in her front door.

‘How about your address and phone number, then? I have pen and paper at the ready.’

She gave him both, plus good directions. It was perfectly clear, however, that he hadn’t been far afield from Terrigal, since he’d never heard of Tumbi Umbi Road.

‘There’s a Central Coast map in the local phone directory,’ she said. ‘Study it up.’

‘I’ll do that. And thanks, Lisa. I really appreciate your coming with me. You’re a good sport.’

A good sport. Was that what playboys called foolish females these days?

‘Bye for now,’ he said breezily. ‘See you tomorrow night.’

Tomorrow night…

Just the thought made her feel sick.

Oh, Lisa, Lisa, what have you done?

LISA’S chest tightened as it always did when she pulled into the driveway of her mother’s place. Not so much these days because the ramshackle farmhouse would be a mess. But because her mother always seemed to say something to get her hackles up.

Lisa could hear implied criticism in even the most innocent of her mother’s comments. As soon as she pulled up on the weed-filled patch of lawn which masqueraded as a front garden, Cory was out of the car like a shot, running up onto the veranda and giving his emerging grandma a big hug before dashing off to play on the tyre which swung from a nearby tree.

‘Thanks for looking after Cory for me, Mum,’ Lisa called out through the driver’s window, trying not to really look at her mother. But it was impossible. Her hair was as red as the red in the multicoloured kaftan she was wearing. ‘Not sure what time I’ll be back. Probably not till after lunch.’

Lisa had decided on the way here not to tell her mother about going out tonight till she returned from shopping. She’d say she’d run into this mythical girl-friend at Tuggerah and been asked out when another girlfriend couldn’t go with her.