MATT stood on the balustraded roof of the pavilion cafe, watching the tour passengers emerge from the bus at the other end of the kauri pine avenue. Phase two of the match-making plot, he thought in amusement.
Little did his grandmother know, when she'd called last night, he'd already been informed that Nicole Redman was booked to be on this bus today. He would have been waiting for her any day she chose to come.
But she hadn't chosen.
Which put a highly interesting twist on this visit. It was almost three weeks since he'd decided to keep tabs on Nicole's bus tours. She'd done almost every one of them but this, and it was clear from his conversation with his grandmother that the resident family historian had been put under pressure to come today—his day for this plantation.
It wouldn't have been a command. No, more a subtle manipulation, shaped in a way that undoubtedly made refusal impossible. Matt was alert to his grandmother's little tricks. But was she alert to the fact that Nicole Redman was very reluctant to meet him again.
What was she hiding in the cage he'd rattled?
The question had been teasing Matt's mind ever since he realised that her delay in coming here had to be deliberate. Kauri King Park was prime material for the family history. Anyone eager to research the past would have been drawn to this place within days, not weeks. So how good was Nicole Redman at the job she had taken on? How genuine? Was his grandmother being fooled? His very astute grandmother?
Unlikely, Matt decided. She might have been fooled at the beginning, but not after three weeks. Unless she was blinded by her other agenda. Was that possible? Surely she wouldn't want him to marry a con artist. She might have been beguiled by Nicole's looks, but what about character?
How good an actress was this woman?
There she was! Same broad-brimmed straw hat with the sunflower. Even at this distance she stood out amongst the other tourists. She was the only woman in a skirt. The others were in shorts or light cotton slacks, teamed with loose T-shirts or skimpy tops, the usual garb for the tropics.
Nicole had chosen to wear a long-sleeved blouse, the same forest green as her skirt which swung almost to her ankles.
Protecting her skin, Matt thought, but on her tall, slender figure, the effect of the outfit was very feminine. Elegantly feminine. Magnetically feminine in that crowd, especially with the hat. Others wore caps or fabric hats which were easily packed. The sunflower hat was well out of that category. It hid her hair but somehow it made an equally dramatic statement. It stood out, as everything about Nicole Redman stood out. Not one of the pack.
Matt felt his body tightening with the desire to have her. He'd lain awake many nights, fantasising her naked on his bed, her long pale body subtly inviting him to experience every pleasure it could give him, her silky hair flaming across the pillow, a provocative promise of the fiery passion he was sure would blaze between them.
Her reluctance to meet him again had actually fuelled an urge to pursue her, but he'd restrained it, not wanting to give her any sense of power over him. Besides, there was no need to pursue when a further meeting was guaranteed, given his grandmother's game plan. Patience was the better play.
But he didn't have to be patient any longer. She was here.
And for all she knew, he was only doing his grandmother's bidding in personally accompanying her on this lour. Which put him very neatly in control of what happened with Nicole Redman today.
Nicole stared up at the amazing kauri pines as the guide spoke about their planting, sixty years ago. They had such huge trunks running straight up to the sky, no branches at all until the very top and even the foliage they supported seemed dwarfed by the towering height of the trees. The giants of the rainforest, the guide said. She was reminded of the giant redwoods she'd seen in Muir Woods, just outside San Francisco, but these trees were very different, a mottled bark on the trunks, not stringy, and somehow they looked more primitive. Just as majestic but...her gaze travelled slowly up the avenue as she tried to formulate her impression in words... and caught Matt King striding down it, coming straight at her.
She stood like a paralysed bunny, watching him, feeling the primitive power of him attacking her and charging every nerve in her body with a sizzling awareness of it. Her mind tried to argue he was just a man on a family mission that had been requested of him. It made no difference to his impact on her.
Her eyes registered his casual clothes, dark blue jeans and a red sports shirt. Both garments hugged his big male muscular physique, destroying any sense of security in the normality of how he was dressed. He emitted an animal-like force that could not be tamed or turned away. And the really stunning part was Nicole knew it excited her. Something uncontrollable inside her was wildly thrilled by it.
"Good morning," he called to her while he was still some metres away.
Even his voice seemed to put an extra thrum in her bloodstream. She took a deep breath as she fiercely willed herself to respond in a natural fashion. The purpose of her visit here was to see and understand what had been achieved with this park, and the exotic fruit plantation beyond it.
"Hello," she said, more awkwardly than she would have liked. "It's good of you to come and greet me but please... if you should be doing something else..."
He grinned, his dark eyes twinkling at her obvious discomfort. "I don't mind obliging my grandmother, adding my bit to the history of this place."
"The tour..."
"Has moved on while you waited for me." The realisation he spoke the truth brought an instant flush of embarrassment. She hadn't even noticed, hadn't heard the guide directing everyone elsewhere, hadn't been aware she'd been left standing alone. A babble of voices drew her gaze to the left-hand side of the kauri pine avenue. The group had been diverted down a path bordered by electric-blue ferns.
"Shall we follow or...?"
"Yes," she quickly decided, choosing the safety of numbers and hopefully a dilution of the effect Matt King had on her.
She started off after them and he fell into step beside her, making her extremely conscious of how tall he was. She was above average height for a woman but she was only on eye level with his shoulder, and walking side by side, the broad brim of her hat was a barrier to looking directly at him and vice versa, which gave her time to regain some composure.
"So how's it all going for you?" he asked, reminding her of his sceptical view of her staying power at the castle with his grandmother.
"Fine!" she answered lightly. "Not feeling swamped?" "By what?"
"By all the information you'll have to fit into a coherent story."
"It's a big story. Big in every sense. But not overwhelming. There's an innate order to it."
"As there is to any life," he dryly commented. "I assume there's a logic to yours."
"Yes, I guess there is. Though I haven't really reflected on it in that light."
"Perhaps you prefer a haphazard pattern." "I don't think so."
"But you are willing to take on new experiences, despite obvious drawbacks. You're committed to being in Port Douglas for six months although the climate here can't be kind to you."
He was digging at her again, just as he had in his office. Why did he want her to admit she'd made a mistake in taking on this project? Was she some kind of thorn in his side?
"I think it's a wonderful climate," she asserted with a sense of perverse satisfaction in flouting his opinion. "No cold," she added pointedly. "I hate the cold."
"You don't find the heat oppressive?"
"It can be if I'm outside in the middle of the day," she conceded. "Particularly when you have to cover up to protect your fair skin." "I'm done that all my life. It doesn't bother me."
"Well, you don't need your hat on now. We're in total shade. And I prefer not to talk to a straw brim."
She had a stubborn impulse to deny him her bare face. On the other hand, he might have the gall to lift her hat off himself, just as he'd taken the liberty of putting it on her head in his office. Better to avoid that kind of familiar contact. She was barely hanging on to a semblance of control as it was. Besides which, it was true the rainforest canopy had now blocked out the sun. It was unreasonable and probably offensive to stick to wearing the hat so she reached up and removed it.