Cracking the Dating Code (11 page)

She’d seen it in his momentary stillness and she would quiz him about it later, make no mistake, but for now, in front of Lena, Poppy was content to follow Trig’s play.

‘Anyway, I think it shows pretty clearly that
someone
in ASIS knows where Jared is and what he’s doing. You said you walked into a trap, back in East Timor. You said they knew you were coming. Maybe there’s a leak inside ASIS and Jared’s working his way back to it at someone’s behest. Maybe there’s no reported information in the file because he’s working outside of regular reportable channels.’

‘Maybe you’re looking in the wrong file,’ said Lena.

‘Damon found it,’ countered Poppy quietly. ‘It’s
all
he found.
You
want to tell him he doesn’t know what he’s doing?’

Lena scowled her discontent, but Poppy knew she’d made her point. Damon was a hacker, employed by governments and those who monitored governments. If Damon couldn’t get to a piece of information, no one could.

‘Well, if Jared is working dark point there’s
no
point trying to find him,’ said Trig.

‘You don’t know that,’ said Lena stubbornly.

‘If he’s on his own with minimal backup he might need us more than ever.’

‘That or we blow his cover to hell and back and endanger all concerned,’ said Trig.

‘That’s always been a concern,’ said Lena. ‘Didn’t stop you from heading off to look for him before.’

‘Because we had absolutely no information to go on, before. Now we do. And it’s worth asking ourselves if we simply need to stop worrying, step back, and let Jared do his job.’

‘I’m with Trig on this one, Lena,’ said Poppy mildly. ‘The file contained good news, rather than bad. I don’t think we need to go looking for him either.’

‘And what do you know about it, Poppy? Where’s
your
covert operations experience that you can so blithely make such a judgement?’

Poppy took the jab in silence and watched as Lena turned and made her way slowly, awkwardly towards the central atrium and out the already open glass doors, past the pool and into the gardens beyond.

Trig sighed heavily and ran a hand through his short brown hair. ‘She doesn’t mean it,’ he muttered.

‘I know.’

‘She’s torn a muscle in her right leg. The
physio told her not to push herself beyond the point of pain, but you know Lena. Now she’s banned from doing any stretching exercises at all. The physio threatened hospitalisation and bed rest if Lena continues to work out.’

‘Oh.’ Poppy offered Trig a sympathetic grimace. ‘Happy times.’

Trig allowed himself to look tragic. Byron had nothing on this one when Trig chose to pile it on.

‘May I make a suggestion?’ asked Poppy.

‘Please do,’ said Trig. ‘Save me.’

‘Go away,’ she said gently. ‘Stay away. Lena pushes herself harder when you’re around. She always has. And whether it’s because she wants to beat you or impress you, I don’t know—I doubt she knows—but until you leave, Lena won’t truly allow herself to listen to her body and rest. Besides, you know more about Sentinel than you’re letting on. You’re going to want to follow that up. No time like the present.’

‘You’re as bad as your sister.’

‘Why, thank you, Adrian,’ murmured Poppy, for that was his real name, even if the only people who ever used it were Poppy and his mother. ‘You flatter me.’

‘Give me a couple of days to arrange a few details and I’ll go,’ he said. ‘But only because
I have things to do. Not because you think your sister will rest easier if I’m not around. That’s insane.’

‘If you say so,’ murmured Poppy. ‘Who’s cooking, tonight?’

‘You are,’ said Trig.

Lena walked to the water and came back and walked up to Poppy and hugged her in silence.

‘I’m sorry, Poppy. I’m so frustrated about not being able to do anything, my temper’s set to fire at the slightest pull. I’m driving Trig nuts. I’m already nuts.’

‘Only a little.’ Poppy continued with the dinner preparation, a stir-fry with lots of vegetables and leftover chicken she’d found in the fridge. ‘Hey, wine waiter,’ she called to Trig. ‘Fill us up.’ And he came in and played the fool when it came to pre-tasting it until even Lena smiled. Trig took himself off to Damon’s office after dinner, and though Lena watched him go with a frown she made no move to stop him.

‘Probably wants us to have a little sister-to-sister time together,’ murmured Poppy. ‘He’s really quite considerate like that.’

‘So what was Tomas’s island like?’

‘Beautiful. Isolated.’

‘And Tomas’s brother?’

‘Sebastian,’ said Poppy.

‘How was he?’

Poppy nodded and practically swallowed her wine glass whole. ‘He was good.’

Bonnie looked thinner than Seb remembered her. More gaunt in the face but her smile was still welcoming as she ushered him inside the house and through to her cheerful, messy kitchen.

‘Cal’s out in the yard with a friend,’ she said. ‘They’re camping out tonight in a tent in the back yard. There’s a campfire and everything.’

Seb headed for the sliding door that led to the yard. ‘Looks more like a bonfire.’

‘Yeah, well.’ Bonnie shrugged. ‘Boys. Hey, Cal!’ she said at volume before Seb could stop her. ‘Seb’s here.’

And then Seb’s arms were full of small, grubby boy and then of course he had to meet Cal’s fellow camper, Dek, and check out the tent and the shower facilities—namely the garden hose hanging from the clothes line—and the campfire and the potatoes wrapped in foil, just waiting to be cooked. Seven years old and lost in play and Cal’s words that went,
‘This is my dad’s best friend,’ didn’t cut so deeply after that.

Back to the back steps where Bonnie stood watching, and if Seb’s gaze was full of silent sorrow she made no mention of it, just made her way back inside. Holding up okay, he decided.

‘You right for money?’ he asked gruffly as she handed him a beer and poured a glass of wine for herself. ‘The policy money came through?’

‘It’s coming,’ she murmured. ‘And it’s more generous than I ever imagined. I’m set for life now. Cal too. You did good.’

‘It’s company policy.’

‘It’s your company.’

‘Not just mine. Cam’s stake will roll through to you too. It’s worth a bit in dividends. Plenty more if you decide to sell the shares outright.’

‘I won’t be selling them,’ she said. ‘Cam believed in that company, in the work you do. And so do I.’

Seb had nothing to say to that; his throat had closed up too tight.
Don’t talk about Cam.
Maybe Bonnie could but he couldn’t. Not yet. He took a swig of beer. ‘We’re setting up an R&D division of the company. If
there’s a better way to monitor drill rigs for instability, we’ll find it.’

‘Go, you,’ she murmured. ‘I like it. So what else have you been doing besides deciding to change the world?’

Seb shrugged. ‘Well, I met a woman.’

Bonnie had smiley eyes. ‘You meet a lot of women, cowboy.’

‘One that matters.’

Wide, smiley eyes and a smile on her lips to match. ‘What’s she like?’

‘Smart. Shy. I keep waiting for her to run.’

‘Why would she run?’

‘Risky, loving an oil-man.’

‘Risky loving anyone,’ countered Bonnie. ‘I figure it for the ultimate act of bravery.’

‘Do you ever regret it?’ he asked gruffly. ‘Hooking up with Cam?’

‘It’s not always easy. You lot live hard. Die young. Isn’t that how the saying goes?’

Seb shrugged.

‘Still…’ she murmured. ‘My Cameron knew how to love hard too. All in, and we had some good times. The best times. How can I ever regret that?’

‘I told her about you,’ said Seb. ‘I asked her if I should give you this.’ He reached into his jacket and pulled out the photo of Cam and handed it to Bonnie. ‘She said yes.’

Bonnie took the photo. Damned if she could see it, thought Seb, what with the tears that started falling, but she nodded and thanked him and the pad of her thumb kept rolling gently over Cam’s face.

‘Thank you,’ said Bonnie raggedly. ‘I’ll put it on the fridge. Cal’s going to love it.’ More tears flowed.

‘I should go,’ said Seb.

‘Yeah,’ said Bonnie. ‘Unless you’d rather sit here and watch me cry.’

‘No.’

She laughed at that and wiped at her tears. ‘I like your new woman. I like the advice she gave you and now I’m going to give you some. Love isn’t always wise, Sebastian. So love as you will and try never to regret it. Your girl understands that.’

Bonnie’s thumb slid gently over Cam’s face again. ‘If she’s given you her heart, she’s not going to run.’

Sebastian didn’t know what had possessed him to head for the airport the moment he left Bonnie’s. He’d told Wendy he’d be back at work today. He’d already spent half the morning there. He knew damn well people were wanting his opinion on a number of projects, but he had the work on his computer now, and
he was back online and within email reach. Poppy had been maddeningly elusive about whether she would visit him or not, and he needed to see her again before she went back to Oxford. It was as simple as that.

He hired a car from Brisbane airport and drove his way down the coast to a beach house he had directions to. He didn’t think to phone until he’d pulled up in the drive and by then it was too late. He rang the doorbell and waited impatiently for Poppy to answer it, at which point he would say…something clever, only he didn’t know what. He rang the bell again and this time the door opened and a slim, dark-haired woman regarded him with what looked like a hefty dose of impatience of her own.

‘You’d better not be selling vacuum cleaners,’ she said.

‘You must be Lena,’ he said. ‘Is Poppy in?’

‘You want Poppy. My sister.’

Blunt was good. He was guessing it ran in the family.

‘Yes.’

‘And you would be?’

‘Waiting to see if you’re going to let me in.’

‘Not without a name, pal.’

‘Sebastian Reyne.’

‘Tomas’s brother?’

‘Yeah. Tom’s brother.’ Good ole Tom’s brother. Poppy hadn’t mentioned Seb to her sister. It didn’t bode well for an enthusiastic greeting but he stood his ground, for he’d know soon enough.

Lena stepped back slowly, carefully, and Seb finally got around to noticing Lena’s pallor and her white-knuckled grip on the door. ‘You all right?’

‘Don’t you start,’ she muttered. ‘I pinged a muscle or something on the way to the door. It’s nothing. Not even worth mentioning. To anyone.’

The door opened wider. ‘The kiddies are playing in the pool.’ Lena looked back over her shoulder as Seb stepped inside. ‘No, Poppy’s out now.’

The beach house had been built around a central open-air entertainment area, complete with roof and pool. The engineer in him wanted to linger over the design but Ophelia was indeed out of the pool, wearing a yellow and red polka-dot bikini her soon-to-be sister-in-law had probably bought for her and dripping water all over the tiles.

She wasn’t alone. A bulked-up, bronzed Adonis hauled himself out of the water to stand beside her, smiling with easy familiarity as he responded to something she said.

The man grabbed a couple of towels from a nearby pile and handed one to Poppy. Poppy did not look at all uncomfortable about being nearly naked in front of this man and she sure as hell didn’t appear to be having any trouble communicating with him.

Possessiveness roared within Seb, but he held it in check.

Could be one of her brothers. Damon, whose house this was, or Jared, freshly back from wherever. Could be that the compelling urge to go over there and stare down the other man and then brand Poppy with his kiss was all kinds of wrong.

He had no problem when it came to branding her with his eyes, though. No problem at all.

‘Well, colour me intrigued,’ murmured Lena, and in a voice that would carry, ‘Poppy, you have a visitor.’

Poppy turned and saw him, her eyes widening. ‘Seb!’

The unknown Adonis turned towards him too and then for some unknown reason stepped closer to Poppy rather than away. And then the Big A put his towel around Poppy’s shoulders, for she was still strangling hers with her hands, and after that Seb had very little in mind but murder.

Poppy smiled in greeting but her eyes showed no little concern as she headed towards him. ‘Is everything okay?’

‘I don’t know,’ he said as she came to a halt in front of him. Seb’s gaze cut to the other man now heading their way as he returned Seb’s quietly murderous gaze measure for measure. ‘Is it?’

‘I, ah—’ Poppy looked bewildered.

‘Introduce them,’ murmured Lena. ‘That might help.’

‘Oh,’ said Poppy and blushed.

‘About that difference,’ the Adonis said to Lena. ‘
Now
I’m seeing it.’

‘Aren’t we all,’ said Lena.

‘Seb.’ Poppy’s hand went to his forearm and her blush deepened fetchingly. ‘This is my sister, Lena, and our family friend, Adrian.’

The name did not fit the man. Good ole family friend Adrian had far more menace in him than that. Adrian offered his hand. Seb took it, shook it, and returned the expected crusher-grip with one of his own. The handshake didn’t
look
like a test of strength, but it was. And Seb had the edge.

‘Call me Adrian and I’ll be forced to deck you,’ offered Adrian pleasantly.

‘Feel free to try.’ Seb’s voice was equally
pleasant as he released his grip on the other man’s hand.

‘A little more information, Pop,’ muttered Lena.

‘Adrian is otherwise known as Trig,’ continued Poppy hurriedly. ‘Trig for trigger happy. I may have mentioned him. Could have been when we were talking about Marlin fishing.’

Seb let himself relax slightly beneath Poppy’s delicate touch but his eyes didn’t leave the other man’s face.

‘Trig. Lena.’ A thread of steel had entered Poppy’s warm, melodic voice. ‘This is Sebastian Reyne, my co-worker’s brother. I’ve been staying on his island. Seb’s company troubleshoots offshore oil wells. He’s also my, ah…’ It was here that the thread of steel began to dissipate. ‘My, ah…’ Poppy turned to Seb. ‘The protocol for this situation escapes me. What are you?’

Sebastian watched as Trig caught Lena’s bemused gaze and wicked humour ran thick and swift between them. Only then did Seb allow himself to relax a little more and turn to the stammering Ophelia and raise an enquiring eyebrow.