By Request Collection 1. Jackie Braun

thought so. She wrote threatening letters, she threatened me over the phone, she turned up at work, she harassed my mother—she threw a brick through my car window once. It got to the stage where I was looking over my shoulder all the time, even scared to go out.’

      ‘She sounds crazy,’ he said.

      Holly shrugged. ‘I’ll probably never know whether it was the cause or the effect of her husband’s philandering, but it left me with several complexes. Strangely, although she scared me silly at times, I felt a streak of sympathy for her, whereas I could have killed her husband for putting me in that position. You could say I fell off cloud nine with a huge bump.’

      She looked away and for a moment tears glittered in her eyes.

      ‘Go on,’ he murmured eventually.

      ‘I couldn’t believe I’d been so thoroughly taken in by him. I can only—I’d just lost my father, who meant the world to me, so I was depressed and so on when I met him.’

      ‘He was still living with her?’

      ‘No, he’d moved out, so I had no reason to suspect he was married. But I guess that’s my number-one complex—a terrible lack of judgement on my part. Funnily enough, I’d never believed I was the kind of girl to be swept off her feet by a man.’

      ‘Or vice versa—who does?’

      Holly smiled bleakly. ‘It doesn’t help. Anyway, I’m very much on guard against that kind of thing happening to me again. And I’m terribly, terribly wary now of the maelstrom of emotions that can go with love and marriage.’

      ‘Maybe she was a unhinged. Perhaps you struck a one-in-a-million situation?’ he suggested.

      ‘Or maybe she just felt herself to be a woman scorned. Maybe she felt she couldn’t live without him; they had two children. Maybe she just felt desperate; I don’t know,’ Holly said.

      ‘What happened to them?’

      ‘He went back to her and they moved overseas.’ Holly fiddled with her napkin then looked straight into his eyes.

      ‘But for a few months I was in serious trouble. I felt so guilty, even though I hadn’t known about her. I was a nervous wreck—I still sometimes break out into a sweat and think I’m being followed. But my mother finally persuaded me to get some counselling and that’s when I realized only I could get myself out of it. So I plunged into my work and the harder, even the more dangerous it was, the better.’

      ‘And now?’

      Holly rubbed her hands together. ‘For the most part, fine, but still terribly wary of men and love and marriage—and my own lack of judgement.’

      ‘I see.’ He finished his wine. ‘I guess that explains your aversion to chemistry.’

      Holly bit her lip. Of course, he was quite right. The only thing was, she hadn’t had any problems with “chemistry” after that disastrous affair until he had come into her life. Well, she’d been perfectly capable of stonewalling it without feeling it herself, but that was not the case now.

      She looked across at him. ‘My mistrust of it, yes. But I can’t say it hasn’t happened.’

      ‘Between us?’

      ‘Yes,’ she whispered. She gestured a little helplessly. ‘But you—you’re…This is business, serious business for me anyway. I need to get this interview right. If I don’t, you’ll can it or my editor will.’ She said with sudden passion, ‘I need to make it vibrant and compelling. I can’t do that if I’m—distracted.’

      He stared at her with his lips twitching.

      ‘What?’ she asked huskily.

      ‘You are on the horns of a dilemma.’

      ‘If you’re going to laugh at me…’

      ‘I’m not,’ he interrupted. ‘Although that did strike me as, well, probably the least of our problems.’

      Holly felt herself blush. She said honestly, ‘You’re right. I don’t know where that bit came from.’

      ‘Come and see the moon.’ He stood up, came round to her and held out his hand.

      She looked up at him. ‘Where did that come from?’

      He smiled. ‘The moon? It just struck me, it’s full tonight. See?’ He pointed out towards the east.

      Holly gasped at the orange globe rising above the tree line. ‘Oh! How beautiful.’ She got up.

      ‘Mmm…’ He took her hand and led her out onto the lawn.

      Holly was transfixed as the moon rose, and in the process lost some of its orange radiance and shrunk a bit. She shivered. Days out in the savannah might be hot, but the nights were very cold, and she hadn’t put on her jumper.

      Brett put his arms around her. She couldn’t help herself, and she snuggled up to him.

      ‘Maybe this says it all,’ he murmured, and started to kiss her.

      Her lips quivered, but it seemed to her that her senses would no longer be dictated by her mind. They clamoured for his touch; they were lit by the feel of him, tall and hard against her, and tantalized by the pure essence of man she was breathing in.

      She loved the press of his fingers against her skin; she loved the way they explored the nape of her neck and behind her ears while he kept his other hand around her waist.

      But a skerrick of common sense claimed her and she raised her hands to put them on his chest. ‘We ought to stop and think,’ she breathed. ‘This could be very dangerous.’

      He lifted his head. ‘Why? It has nothing to do with anyone but us, and we couldn’t be in more agreement at the moment if we tried.’

      Holly made a strange little sound in her throat. He stared down at her mouth in the moonlight and started to kiss her again.

      She was almost carried away with delight when he stopped and raised his head to listen.

      She came out of her enchanted trance with a start as she too heard footsteps. ‘Sarah,’ she breathed. ‘I’d forgotten about her. She must be feeling a bit better—hungry, maybe!’

      ‘We’ll go to your…’

      ‘No! I need to go and see if she’s OK.’ Holly stood on tiptoe and kissed him swiftly. ‘Thanks for listening.’ She sped off back towards the house.

      Brett said something unrepeatable under his breath then looked down to see Bella sitting beside him. ‘Come to sympathize, old girl? Well, what would you say if I told you that Holly Harding could be the right one for me? She’s taken to Haywire as if she was born to it; she could be running the place, but of course it’s not only that. She’s becoming more and more desirable. But do I want a wife? It’s hard to put down roots without one. How good would I be with a wife, though?