The Shock Engagement

Emma threw the shell back on to the sand and wiped the sand from her fingers. ‘What do you reckon?’ Emma asked, bumping him right back. ‘Of course I do. It’s my home page.’

Harry poked out his bottom lip and nodded. ‘Cool.’

Emma could see it was more than cool. The guy was thrilled. He really had no idea how much of an impact he had on her. ‘Is there much of a market for computer whiz-kids in the Kakadu?’

‘Unfortunately, it seems there is. I was there a week before a local paper found out and by the next day I was inundated with requests for help, with job offers, with promotional opportunities and…other things.’

Unwelcome new acquaintances, Emma thought.

‘I almost said yes to becoming the spokesman for an exciting new real estate opportunity out there.’

‘Seriously?’

Harry stopped walking. ‘Of course not! And if you ask me if I’m serious one more time I’m going to throw you over my shoulder and see if that water is as cold as it looks.’

Emma stared back, the desire to test his threat tickling at her throat. Harry’s eyes narrowed and he shifted his stance as though ready to attack her at a moment’s notice. It was enough for her to back down. She knew from long experience that he didn’t make idle threats.

‘Okay,’ she said, ambling away once more, ‘I’m sorry. I’m just as interested as the next guy about what Wonder Boy Buchanan will come up with next.’

‘Don’t hold your breath,’ he said, though so quietly she might have been mistaken. ‘Harold’s House is plenty for me to concentrate on. I now have an agent, a business manager and a mishmash of forty-odd staff scattered throughout Victoria. The site is growing exponentially by the day. It’s a monster. It’s bigger than I ever envisioned.’ He shook his head back and forth and Emma knew he had no idea how he had become such a success.

But she knew. All his ventures, all of his crazy stunts, all of his mad, slapdash efforts to forge out a career for himself, had thrived. But this one had gone stratospheric, because it came straight from his heart. The site’s cheeky language, glorious Australian backdrops and ever-evolving layout were all so much a part of the sun-drenched Aussie man that he was.

‘Seriously?’ Emma asked, skewing the mood back towards fun.

Harry’s discomposure was gone in a heartbeat. He turned to her with a toothy grin. ‘That’s it, kiddo. You’ve done it now.’

Emma squealed and leapt on to the sand and took off down the beach at full pelt. Harry caught up with her in no time. He grabbed her around the waist and all her twisting was to no avail. With a quick heave and an overdone grunt, Harry had her over his shoulder. She kicked out, trying her best to get away.

‘Harry, put me down or I will kick you where it’ll hurt you most.’

‘Nup. You had fair warning, princess. You are going for a swim.’

They had reached the edge of the surf; Emma could see it tickling at Harry’s feet. ‘Come on, Harry. I am giving you food and shelter for the week. Is this how you are going to repay me?’

He hovered and she knew she had him.

‘Put me down, Harry, and I will never question your seriousness again.’

‘Fine,’ he said, groaning loudly as he slid her to the ground. ‘I’m going to hold you to that, little one.’

Emma landed on the soft sand to find herself bodily up against him. One hand rested on his shoulder the other around his neck. His hands remained casually around her waist. An ocean breeze played with his hair.

A wondering smile lit Harry’s eyes as he looked down upon her. ‘Though you really aren’t my little one any more, are you?’

Emma’s heart beat so raggedly in her chest she was certain Harry must have felt it too. He leant away and her hands naturally slipped down on to his chest. If they were any other couple in the world it would have been the most perfect moment for a kiss.

Then he glared at her through slitted eyes. ‘You’re bloody heavy, Emma! At the very least you’re a stone heavier than the last time I had you in a fireman’s lift.’ He moved out of her grasp and bent from the waist with his hands massaging his lower back.

It hit Emma with the force of a thunderclap that they weren’t any other couple. They were Harry and Em, the terrible two, a couple of mates who knew each other so well they could finish off one another’s sentences. It would take more than a haircut, a new apartment and an ocean breeze to make Harry see differently.

She sucked up her disappointment and did her best to look as if she was sharing the same joke. ‘I was fourteen years old the last time you had me over your shoulder.’

‘Hmm,’ he said, straightening up, a flirtatious grin knocking the breath from her lungs. ‘It’s obviously been too long between times. I’ll have to rectify that in the future.’

Emma felt as if she was on the pirate ship ride at the fairground—one minute Harry’s little one, the next on the receiving end of one of his killer smiles. He reached out and gave her a jab in the side. He was a natural flirt, she reminded herself. She was just in the line of fire. She flinched away. ‘Stop it!’

‘Just checking where all that extra weight is distributed.’

‘It’s distributed exactly where it should be,’ she shot back, sticking out her chest to prove it.

If she was any other girl his gaze would have warmed before travelling over all the bits of her that should have grown since puberty. But he merely gave her a brief smile before looking decidedly at the bridge of her nose.

Unable to cope with the rising innuendos, Emma grabbed him by the arm and led him over to a patch of flat rocks at the top of the sand. ‘Come on, boyo, I think you need to sit for a bit. All this exercise is making you say things you don’t mean.’

Though the sun was warm, the ground was chilly, which was fine with Emma. She dug her feet into the fine beige sand and let it cool her from the toes up. They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, watching the sun set over the flat waters of Port Philip Bay.

‘This is new,’ Harry finally said, reaching and giving the second toe on her right foot a wiggle.

Emma glanced at her gold toe ring. ‘Mmm. It was a birthday present. Do you like it?’ she asked, waving it so close to his nose he had to bat it away.

‘You look like a homing pigeon,’ he finally said, grabbing her by the ankle and dragging her foot on top of his thighs where he gave it a casual massage.

The tingles running unabated through Emma were anything but casual. Feigning the need to stretch, she moved her foot away from his warm hands until it rested innocently next to her other.

‘Who was it from?’ he asked.

‘A friend.’

‘What sort of friend?’ The look Harry shot her was hooded, dark, jealous? Emma’s heart thumped against her ribs.

‘It was a pressie from Tahlia.’

‘Which one was she again?’ he asked, his eyes lighting with mischief. ‘The single one?’

‘Yes,’ Emma agreed through clenched teeth. ‘But don’t get any ideas. I share no secrets from Keely and Tahlia. So they know way too much about you for your comfort.’

He gave an exaggerated shiver and silence reigned once more.

‘So have you thought any more—?’ Harry said.

‘Speaking of Keely and Tahlia—’ Emma said at the same time.

They stopped, and laughed.

‘Ladies first,’ Harry insisted.

Emma turned so that one leg was tucked beneath her. ‘Okay. I think I have come up with a solution for your problem, but I’m not sure you’re going to like it as it’s kind of bizarre. Ready?’