‘Oh…’

Wendy’s breath was let out in a long sigh of discovery and delight. This, too, was a cavern, but instead of being gloomy it was lit by a hundred fissures leading up through the rock to the brilliant sky beyond. The sun glimmered and streamed from above, down into the shallow water. The sea beneath them was no more than three feet or so deep, the bottom was sandy, and a thousand little fish of every conceivable colour flitted and darted around their boat, in and out of the sunbeams.

‘Oh…’ It was all she could think of to say. She sounded inane, but there seemed nothing else, and Luke sat back and beamed like a genial genie who’d produced this miracle out of a bottle.

‘This is my cubby,’ he told them proudly. ‘My grandpa showed me this place when I was four years old and, as far as I know, I’m the only person in the world who knows where it is. And now I’m sharing it with you.’

He was talking to Gabbie. He must be.

But Wendy, glancing up from the wonder of the water below the boat, saw that Luke’s eyes were resting on hers.

‘I’m sharing it with you,’ he said again, more softly, and she knew, suddenly, his words were meant for her alone.

It was like a kiss, she thought. More. It was like a declaration made right there and then, and it took her breath away. Like a fool, she blushed crimson and started to stammer.

‘I…it’s wonderful. Like…like a pirate’s cave.’

‘Full of treasure,’ he said gently, and his eyes were still on hers.

Good grief! This man had seduction down to a fine art! Wendy was feeling heat rising from all sorts of places she had no idea heat could rise from. Totally bewildered, she held close the nearest object-Grace-and held her over the water. Grace’s small hands reached out for the darting fish while Wendy fought wave after wave of mounting colour and emotion.

‘We can beach the boat here,’ Luke told them, steering the boat into the far end of the chamber where the water shallowed out to a wide stretch of soft sand. The sun glimmered down here, too-not in a steady stream but rather as individual slivers of silver, like a light show that would have cost thousands if it were man-made, but here it was done for them for free.

Up above, there were fern fronds casting their shadows over the fissures in the rocks, and the dappled light had the fronds indented into the sunbeams, and waving and shimmering in the warm sea air so the sunbeams danced and glimmered and cast a spell that was almost unbelievable in its beauty.

Wendy could hardly take it all in. She was speechless and some of the sensations she was feeling had nothing to do with this place. It had everything to do with the way this man was looking at her-the feel of his hands as he helped her out of the boat, and the way his eyes glinted down at her as if he sensed exactly what she was feeling.

Thank heaven for the children. Without them…oh, without them, who knew? But they were there. Thank heaven…

‘It’s…it’s fantabulous,’ Gabbie said, awed. At the sandy end of the cave, the chamber roof was maybe eight feet above their heads, making a comfortable and easy place to unload their boat. ‘Can we paddle in the water with the fishes?’

‘You can do more than paddle,’ Luke told her. ‘This is the very best swimming place in the world. The fish here are only tiny-the little ones seem to know it’s a safe, safe place, and the water is never over your head. I persuaded Wendy to bring bathers and towels-and a picnic lunch-so the day is ours, and the magic cubby is ours and the rest of the world might well not exist.’

‘You didn’t bring your mobile phone?’ Wendy asked and for the life of her she couldn’t keep a note of bitterness from her voice, but Luke didn’t appear to take offence. Not today. Not with Wendy.

‘No, Miss Cynic, I did not bring my mobile phone,’ he told her. ‘Nor did I bring my computer. I am having a day off.’

‘And yet the world will survive?’ Why was she doing this?

‘I hope it does,’ he said gently, watching her face. ‘Today’s a try-out. If the world manages to get along without me today, then who knows how long I might take to get to know my family?’


‘He’s staying for how long?’

‘I don’t know. Weeks.’ Wendy’s voice was a panicking wail down the phone, and Shanni blinked. ‘He’s set up his office in a spare bedroom. He spends a couple of hours in there every morning but the rest of the time…’

‘The rest of the time he spends with you?’

‘He spends with the children,’ Wendy retorted.

‘Yes, but you’re with the children.’

‘I know.’ Wendy tried to get a hold on herself and failed completely. Luke had been here for a week now, and she was getting more unsettled by the minute. ‘This wasn’t in the original agreement. Shanni, I don’t know how to handle it.’

‘Most nannies have to work in the same house as an employer,’ Shanni said cautiously. ‘It’s not unreasonable for an employer to stay.’

‘But he said he wasn’t-’

‘You think it’s a bad thing for the children?’ Shanni interrupted. Wendy wasn’t making much sense.

‘No. Of course I don’t. Gabbie’s in love with him. The puppy adores him. He’s bonding with Grace.’

‘Well, where’s the problem?’ Shanni said reasonably.

‘I…’

‘You’re not falling for him yourself?’

‘No. Of course not.’

‘Then you just need good employee-employer guidelines,’ Shanni said brightly. ‘A contract. You want Nick to draw you out a nice legal agreement?’

‘We have a contract.’

‘Days off? Holiday pay? Employer staying at his end of the house between dusk and dawn?’

‘Shanni-’

‘You can’t be too careful.’ Shanni chortled. ‘It sounds to me like this man has you badly rattled.’

‘He has.’ Wendy took a deep breath. ‘Shanni…’

‘Yes, love.’ Her friend heard the worry and reacted accordingly. ‘Okay. I’ll be serious. Something’s really worrying you?’

‘He’s…he’s taken them all for a ride.’

Silence. Not many people would have known what this meant to Wendy, but Shanni did.

‘In his sports car?’

‘Mmm.’

‘You’re going to have to get over this, my dear,’ Shanni said in her best schoolmarm voice, and her tone was almost enough to make Wendy chuckle.

‘Quoth the greybeard.’

‘Yes, well…’ Shanni laughed too, but her concern remained. ‘You need to learn to trust.’

‘I know. But Gabbie-’

‘You need to learn to trust.’

And there it was in a nutshell, Wendy thought as she replaced the phone. This was the perfect job. She should just relax and ride with the punches.

She should stop thinking Luke was trying to seduce her. She should stop thinking Luke was putting the children at risk every time he put them in the car he loved so much.

She should…trust.

She didn’t. Not one bit.


‘How much longer are you planning to stay?’

She shouldn’t ask, but ten days had gone by and he’d shown no sign of moving. Instead, Luke seemed to be wheedling his way deeper and deeper into the running of the house, and he was doing it every way he knew how.

It was Luke who’d taken on the responsibility for Bruce’s house-training-and very well Bruce was going too. He hadn’t made a puddle for three days now.

It was Luke who had gone into Bay Beach and found a whole heap of easy readers-fun little books that were designed to make a child ache to read-and it was Luke who was setting himself up on the veranda each afternoon and saying ‘P-U-P says pup,’ and making Gabbie follow. Gabbie was so excited she could hardly leave her wonderful new books.

For Gabbie, reading seemed the most exciting thing in the world-apart from Bruce-and, watching her, Wendy had to suppress a faint twinge of jealousy at the bond that was forming between man and child.

‘Join us. Help us read,’ Luke often said, as he caught her watching them, but she whisked herself off back to housework that didn’t need to be done or something equally trivial-because sitting beside them while they read was beguiling and bewitching and…dangerous!

It had been ten days and the tension was mounting day by day until she felt she was near to breaking point. Like now. He was so close! The children were in bed and she was washing the dinner dishes. Luke had returned after tucking Bruce into his basket and he’d picked up the tea towel and started wiping-just like an old married man. It was suddenly far too much. This unspoken intimacy that was growing stronger by the minute…

‘How long do you intend staying here?’ she demanded again as he failed to answer, and his brows raised in a quizzical smile.

‘Am I getting under your feet, then?’

She concentrated on an infinitesimal grease spot on her frying pan, giving it her sole attention. ‘Yes. A bit. I just wasn’t aware that you’d ever thought of staying on.’

‘I hadn’t,’ he said seriously. ‘But things change.’

‘Like what?’

And that was a mistake. As soon as she said it, she knew the question was a bad error of judgement-because it had to have an answer. But the question was out in the open now, like an upraised sword, with the power to bring all down around it.

And he brought it down. Finally.

‘People change,’ he said gently, and he laid down his tea towel and turned to face her full on. ‘People like me. Two weeks ago, if you’d asked me what I thought of staying in the country, I would have told you I’d think it was purgatory-to be stuck in a farmhouse with a woman and two babies and a puppy. Now I’m starting to think it’s purgatory to be anywhere else.’

‘I guess…I guess that’s because of Grace,’ she stammered, still concentrating fiercely on her frying pan.

But suddenly the frying pan was taken out of her hands. Her wet hands were pulled to lie between his bigger ones-heavens, there were soapsuds and the soapy foam was squeezing out between their entwined fingers-and Luke was looking down into her eyes as if he was about to make a declaration.