Rose's Vintage (27 page)

‘Here, come closer. You're cold.'

She scooted over to Mark. It felt like the most natural thing in the world for him to put his arm around her shoulders. She breathed in the scent of him, spicy and masculine, just as she had when he'd held her after the fire at Trevelyn's. She'd never felt so utterly safe, so utterly at peace.

And then he turned, and she raised her face up to his and he kissed her, delicately at first, then deeper. He pulled her down so that he was half lying on top of her, resting an elbow on the ground, his other hand cupping her breast through the thin fabric of her shirt.

‘Oh, Rose, you have no idea what you do to me,' he muttered into her hair.

She answered by pulling him tighter in, drawing his hips onto hers. She felt the hardness of him, his long muscled legs stretched out alongside hers, their boots entwining, rucking up the picnic blanket and tipping an abandoned glass on its side.

He dragged his mouth away from hers, his breath rasping as he deftly unbuttoned the front of her shirt, pulling the hem of it free from her jeans. Rose gasped as his mouth found the rosy bud of her nipple, teasing it through the lace of her bra. He gave a low groan and rolled her sideways, using his other hand to unhook the underwear, and then his mouth was on the bare flesh of her breast. He gently trailed a line of kisses along its soft underside, then down towards her taut stomach and along her hipbone. A white heat engulfed her and she was beyond coherent thought. As if of their own accord, her hands dragged his shirt off and over his head, exposing the wide brown expanse of his back and the fine pelt of hair across his chest that trailed down to his belt buckle. Rose kissed him hungrily, running her hands up and down his bare skin. It was Mark's turn to shiver at the sensation.

Rose thought she could hear music, a lilting melody that carried on the breeze. The sound grew louder. Mark groaned and rolled away from her, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his phone. ‘Dammit, I thought I'd turned this off.'

Rose raised her eyes to the heavens, seeing that the first glimmerings of the Milky Way, millions of light years above them, had emerged. She couldn't believe they'd been interrupted just as things were finally getting interesting.

Just my sodding luck. This had better be good.

Mark cleared his throat. ‘Hello?'

There was silence as Mark listened to the voice on the other end of the phone. ‘I see. No, you did the right thing, we'll come straight away.'

Rose looked blankly at him.

‘It's Leo. He's running a temperature of over forty and Astrid says that Panadol isn't touching it.'

Rose immediately felt guilty. Poor boy. ‘Right, let's get a move on then.'

‘Sorry, Rose,' said Mark. Their eyes met. She could see the regret in his.

‘Don't be daft. It's not your fault.'

She buttoned up her shirt and together they packed up the remains of the picnic, then dashed back to the car as fast as their legs would take them. Mark floored the engine and they spun onto the road back to Kalkari.

‘How is he?' he asked as they pushed open the door to Leo's room. Astrid was sitting on the side of his bed, sponging the little boy's forehead with a cloth.

‘He is still very hot. He's also very restless.'

‘Dad. Rose,' Leo called them over. ‘I don't feel very well.' As he finished speaking he sat up in bed and vomit sprayed out of his mouth and nose with such force that it caught Rose front-on and spattered Mark too. A sour smell immediately filled the room and Leo began to sob and choke.

‘It's alright, sweetie,' soothed Astrid. ‘I know, honey, it's rotten to be sick.' She looked at his pyjamas, which were soaked with vomit. ‘Now, let's get these off and change the sheets too, eh?' Leo was now shivering like a dog left out in the cold. ‘How about a nice warm bath?'

While Astrid and Mark took Leo to clean up, Rose opened the window as wide as it would go and began stripping the sheets. Rose dumped them in the downstairs laundry, found a clean set and set about re-making Leo's bed.

When he returned, there was a bit more colour in his cheeks and Astrid took his temperature again.

‘Thirty-eight-point-seven. That's better. His temperature's coming down, thank God,' Astrid said. ‘I'm sorry to have bothered you, but I was so worried when the medicine wouldn't work.'

‘Don't be silly. You did exactly the right thing. I was only out in the vineyard, in any case,' said Mark.

‘Daddy, can you stay?' whimpered Leo.

‘Of course, mate. I'm right here.'

Rose left them alone, retreating to the barn to hose herself off. Mark was a wonderful father, that much was evident, but there was nothing like a bout of projectile vomiting to take the shine off a romantic tryst.

CHAPTER 27

‘I
t's only the most prestigious bloody wine show in Australia,' Dan grumbled to Rose. ‘Nothing to get too het up about.' She'd popped over to the winery with some morning tea and made the mistake of asking Dan what was up. It turned out that the Melbourne Wine Show was being judged that week, and Kalkari had a number of wines entered in different classes.

‘Don't remind me. I'm trying my best not to think about it,' said Mark, coming over and helping himself to a large slab of sultana cake. He was noticeably on edge. ‘I just want to know about the Assignation. It ought to do well, but who can tell what the judges thought on the day, or what the competition was like?'

‘It's still a bloody good wine, no matter what,' Dan reassured him.

‘Thanks. I know we know that, but if it gets up, it'll be just what we need. The rest of the country will take a bit of notice of us and our little valley for once.'

It was no use telling Mark to calm down, thought Rose. He was wound tighter than a two-dollar watch. Not surprising really. Despite how much he tried not to let it show, she now realised how much this mattered to him, how much he needed it to help get the winery out of the red.

Earlier in the week Mark had received a call asking him to supply several cases of the Assignation for the wine show dinner. This was a pretty big tip-off that it had done well, but other than that they had no idea. Mark and Dan were flying to Melbourne later that afternoon, both of them last-minute invitees to the dinner, where medals and trophy winners were to be announced. The signs were promising – but there were no guarantees.

The phone call came just after nine-thirty that night. Rose had been checking her phone repeatedly since about eight, making sure it hadn't run out of charge. She and Astrid and Jake were watching TV, but none of them really paying much attention to it. They were all waiting to hear the news from Melbourne.

She could barely hear over the roar of noise in the background.

‘We did it, Rose! We did it!' It was Dan. She could tell he was practically jumping for joy at the other end of the line. ‘We won the bloody Jimmy Watson!'

Rose let out a whoop, as Astrid and Jake looked questioningly at her, anticipation on their faces.

‘Wahooo!' she yelled down the phone. ‘That's awesome! Congratulations! How's Mark?'

‘He's right here. Just a minute, he wants a word.'

‘Rose, we did it! The Assignation won! It was incredible, just incredible. I knew it was good, but crikey, I'm blown away. It's just bloody brilliant!' Mark was rambling, clearly over the moon.

Dan came back on the line, ‘Sorry, love, but we've gotta go, they're calling Mark for interviews. We'll see you all tomorrow.'

Rose and Astrid looked at each other and beamed, then hugged each other with joy. ‘Well, that should put him in a good mood until at least Christmas,' said Astrid, laughing.

‘We'd better organise a party for their return. Whaddya think?' said Jake. ‘Get the valley together – this win is great for them too, and I'll bet they'll want to congratulate the boss.'

‘Oh, you bet! I'll call Windsong, and Lilybells, let the boys know there'll be a celebration tomorrow,' replied Astrid, heading off to find her phone.

‘He likes you, you know,' said Jake.

‘What do you mean?' asked Rose.

‘He likes you. Mark. I can see it in the way he looks at you. He's had a rough trot by all accounts, and he's a decent bloke. Go easy on him.'

‘I'm not sure what you're getting at,' said Rose. ‘Anyway, he's too old for me,' she said, echoing Mark's words to her of a few months ago. ‘He's my boss, and in case you'd forgotten, he is still married, you know.'

‘Yeah, but it doesn't sound like she'll be back in a hurry now, does it?'

‘Not even to see the kids?'

‘Well, yeah, maybe that, but the local intel is that she never liked it here, never settled. And Mark's a man of this land. He belongs here. Just as you do.'

‘Well, you're all up to speed on everything, aren't you? What's it to you anyway?' Rose said feeling irritated at Jake's know-it-all attitude. He'd only been here five minutes and already he was sticking his oar in, assuming he knew best.

‘I like to know what's what, and I'm all for a happy workplace,' Jake said lightly. ‘Anyway, we've got a party to throw. Bring it on! I hope they won't have celebrated too hard tonight, 'cause they'll get more of the same tomorrow.'

Rose and Astrid put the word out – not that they really needed to, as by the next morning the entire valley was buzzing with the news. Everyone they spoke to was thrilled for Mark and promised to be there that night.

While Astrid got Leo off to school, Rose headed into Eumeralla. She bumped into Bevan as she was on her way into the butchers.

‘Heard the news. It's just amazing!' he said, hugging her.

‘Yep, we're all pretty stoked about it,' said Rose, the Aussie lingo she'd picked up coming easily to her now.

‘Want a hand tonight?'

‘That'd be cool. I'm just getting a ton of sausages and some steaks. A few people have promised to bring salads. I've no idea exactly how many are coming though.'

‘Oh, if I know the valley, it'll be practically everyone who can walk. We haven't had something as awesome as this to celebrate in a very long time. Everyone is so proud of Mark; they know how tough he's had it recently, and it might even bring a few of them round to his way of doing things,' said Bevan.

‘Well, I think I'll be cleaning the butcher out then!' said Rose with a laugh.

She stopped off at Sacred Grounds to check her emails – there was one from Henry, but she deliberately left it unopened. She didn't want to think about it right then.