Heller’s Decision (28 page)

I smiled. “Going to my parents’ place for
dinner? It’s not that bad. My mum cooks a great roast.”

“
You know what I mean, smartarse. And I’m
starting to think I know what the worst idea I ever had
is.”

I rang off hurriedly then, reasonably sure
that hiring me was going to be his number one pick of bad
ideas.

I decided to leave arranging
interviews with the two
contentious people until tomorrow morning, needing the time on the
drive home to the Warehouse to worry instead about how the dinner
with my family was going to play out. Heller, always unpredictable,
could not be relied on to ever have ‘normal’ reactions to any
social engagement, so to say I was concerned about the evening was
rather an understatement.

He didn’t say much on the drive over, only
to remind me that the price I’d pay for this
‘sacrifice’ from him would be strenuous
and would involve me wearing nothing. I thought I had a pretty good
idea what it would be.

Mum and Dad had gathered together Brian,
his pregnant wife Gayle; my other brother, Sean, and his pregnant
wife, Elise, and my two grandmothers, who hadn’t met Heller before
and who both gaped up at him in wonder. My two little nieces were
with Gayle’s parents for the evening and I was sad about that – I
hadn’t seen them for a while.

Mum’s pet dog (more like her fourth
child), Puddles, announced our arrival. His excited barking could
be heard from outside. I warned Heller to avoid Puddles’
disposition to pee on shoes in happiness, but I needn’t have
bothered. One sight of Heller had the overenthusiastic, overgrown
puppy running to hide under the dining table.

Mum fussed around
Heller as usual, almost purring with
happiness at his presence. Elise reddened every time he even looked
in her direction, and Gayle openly stared at him, much to Brian’s
annoyance. My father and Sean were their normal amicable selves
towards him, but Brian glowered silently, making it perfectly
obvious he objected to Heller setting foot inside his parents’
residence.

Despite my earlier concerns, Heller proved
to be a charming guest when he spoke
, which was rarely. As he was so health conscious,
I thought he’d be fussy about the food put before him, and I
worried he’d offend my mother. But he ate everything he was given
with no complaints, even consuming a glass of wine. I appreciated
that he was making an effort to fit in on my behalf and I squeezed
his hand under the table in gratitude. On the few times we heard
it, he mesmerised everyone (well, the women at least) with his
gorgeous accent.

When he finished eating, he draped his arm
around my shoulder and began to stroke my upper arm. Brian
immediately frowned and Dad sat up a little taller, his glance at
Heller a little less friendly than it had been previously.

“What’s going on between you two?” Brian
demanded in what could only be taken as a hostile voice.

“
I’m sorry. What do you mean?” Heller asked
with dangerous politeness.

“
Look at you with your sleazy hands all
over her.”

“
Brian!” interrupted my mother sharply.
“Where are your manners? Mr Heller is a guest in your father’s and
my house and we are not going through
that
again.”

He ignored her and her veiled reference to
their earlier stoush. “What’s going on between you?”

“
Brian,” I complained, annoyed that he’d
brought up the matter before I had a chance to say anything, and
throwing a significant glance towards my grandmothers who listened
avidly. “It’s not the time or the place right now. And besides,
it’s none of your business.”

“
Matilda and I are
lovers,
” said Heller. He
leaned over to kiss my forehead.

“
Oh, my …” my mother managed to splurt out,
her hand to her chest. My father choked on his mouthful of
food.

“
Heller . . .” I said faintly, looking at
him. His eyes remained as glacially cold as usual, showing no
apparent awareness of the inappropriateness of his
comment.

Silence fell around the table. I’m sure my
parents knew deep down in their hearts that I was no longer the
virginal little girl they’d raised, as are few twenty-six year old
women these days, but to be confronted with that fact to their
faces by the man their daughter was getting it on with, was
difficult for them. My mother paled and my father’s back grew even
straighter as he laid down his cutlery.

“
What are your intentions towards my
daughter
?” he asked
stiffly.

Heller seemed puzzled by the question. “My
intentions? I intend to have sex with Matilda as often as
possible.”

“
Oh, dear lord,” I whispered to myself, not
missing the gasps from my grandmothers nor how my father’s face
suddenly seemed set in stone. I worried my mother was going to
hyperventilate.

Heller went on
in a patient voice, “Mr Chalmers, you do
understand that’s what I meant when I said Matilda and I are
lovers, don’t you? We have sex quite a lot – every night at least.
She’s very good.”

“
Heller!
Please
stop it,” I demanded in a low voice, ready to die of
embarrassment and concerned my father would have another
heart-failure incident if he continued talking. I could honestly
say that the word ‘sex’ had never before been mentioned at my
family’s dining table.

“
I think you should stay
right the hell away from him,” Brian said
to me, now not even bothering to appear congenial.

“I fail to see what Matilda’s and my
relationship has to do with you,” Heller said coldly.

“
I’m her brother and I don’t want to see
her making stupid judgements of error. You’re not good for her.
You’re taking advantage of a young woman who doesn’t know any
better.”

“
Brian –” I started, angered by
that.

He overrode me, intent on getting his
point across to Heller. “And what you have doesn’t sound like any
kind of ‘relationship’ – more like you treating my sister as your
little plaything.”

“
Back off, Brian,” I
warned, riled by his comment. “It’s none
of your business. You don’t understand.”

Heller leaned down to kiss my forehead
again, before smiling at Brian in an unpleasant way. “Matilda loves
me. She’s told me that many times. She has no complaints.” Well,
that was a huge lie to start with – I had plenty of complaints
about him, some of which I’d be airing freely in the car on the
drive home.

“
I understand all right. I’ve seen plenty
of predators in my job and you’re one of them. You’re making a big
mistake being with him, Tilly,” Brian scorned.

“
I think you’d be better served paying
att
ention to your own
relationship rather than to ours,” Heller rejoined, accompanied by
another insulting smile.

Brian stiffened, his cheeks blazing.
“Don’t you dare even mention that topic.”

Heller raised a quizzical
eyebrow. “Or you’ll attack me
again? If I remember correctly, that didn’t end too well for you
last time.”

“You’re such an arrogant shit.”

“
Brian!
” my mother and father said simultaneously,
shocked. My grandmothers’ hands flew to their mouths.

“
There’s something wrong about you that
sets my radar buzzing,” Brian
continued, almost snarling and paying no heed to
anyone.

“
You really have no idea about that,”
Heller smiled again, and while everyone else would have taken that
as a friendly comment meant to disarm the tension, Brian and I both
recognised the threatening undercurrent to his words. I thumped
Heller’s thigh under the table in warning to him to behave
himself.

Mum jumped up, flustered and a little
desperate that the family dinner was rapidly unravelling. “Time for
dessert, I think. Tilly, do you want to help me in the
kitchen?”

I took her hint and jumped up too, my
smile brightly brittle. “Dessert for everyone? Heller?”

He placed his hand on the small of my back
and rubbed. “Only the minutest of portions for me, my
sweet.”

As soon as we reached the kitchen, Mum
shut the door and rounded on me. “Matilda Ann Chalmers. I can’t
believe you didn’t tell me that you and Mr Heller are . . .” She
struggled
to find the
right euphemism. “. . . dating.”

“
I was going to say something tonight, but
Brian ruined it all,” I said,
busily slicing the cake she’d baked early in the day to
avoid meeting her eyes.

“
I don’t know why he’s so set against Mr
Heller. I just can’t understand it. It’s very distressing.” She
pulled the ice-cream from the freezer to allow it to thaw a little.
“Especially if Mr Heller is going to be part of the family from now
on.” Her sideways glance was hopeful.

“
That’s rushing things a little, Mum.
Heller’s not really a settling down kind of man.” I sure wasn’t
going to tell her how reluctant he’d been to come tonight – or what
I’d have to do to make it up to him.

Her face fell. “Oh. I just thought . . . I
know you wouldn’t . . . Not if you didn’t love him . .
.”

I
abandoned my cake-cutting to hug her tightly. “Don’t worry
about me. I’ll be okay, no matter what happens.”

I looked at her. She was a little teary,
so of course tears sprang to my eyes. “My little baby has grown up
and I don’t know where all those years have gone.”

“
Mum. I just want you to know that I
do
love him. A lot. He’s . . .” It
was my turn to search for the correct term. “He’s one of a
kind.”

She brushed my hair back with her
hand
and kissed my
forehead. “So are you, darling. Never forget that. You deserve the
best.”

When we served dessert, Heller instantly
noticed our slightly red eyes and glanced down at his cake with
uncertainty, hesitant to try it. “Is this an onion cake, my
sweet?”

I snorted with suppressed laughter. “No. Mum
and I were just having a moment.”

“I have no idea what that means.”

“
I know. Eat your cake.” The sooner we ate,
the sooner we could escape Brian’s baleful eyes.

After protracted goodbyes and half-meant
promises to visit again soon, Heller and I were back in his
Mercedes
, driving
home.

“Please stop needling Brian,” I asked,
dropping the smile I’d been maintaining for the last hour.

“Why? I enjoy it.”

“Because he’s a good person underneath. And
he’s my brother. It upsets everyone.”

“
I don’t care. He picked this fight and I
don’t walk away from a fight.”

“
You said it was over between
you.”

“
It was, but if he continues to insult me,
what am I supposed to do? Ignore him?”

“
Yes! Exactly that.
”

“Not my style, Matilda.”

I studied him in despair. His profile was
beautiful, perfect, but rock-hard and unmoving. At that moment I
felt my lack of influence on him stronger than I’d ever felt
it.

“
I guess there’s no point then in bringing
up your totally embarrassing comments to
my parents
about us having sex?”

He cut me a sideways glance. “They can’t
hear the truth about us? You’re a grown woman and we are lovers.
What else do they think we do? They need to come to terms with
that.”

I gave up then and later, on our return
home, I gave in to him when he took my hand and led me to his bed,
reminding me that I’d promised him a reward in return for
accompanying me to dinner. But although the pleasure was intense as
usual and I was tired, for once I was the one wide-awake watching
him while he slept, thinking about him, thinking about
us.

They weren’t happy thoughts.

Chapter 19

Out the front of the courthouse, the
local
Cybelians had
organised a small gathering to protest the media’s recent portrayal
of practitioners of magic. After Trent’s interview with Liya and
Reverend Joshua, and because of the current court case, it had
become quite a hot topic. A number of columnists, some of them with
very strong views about anyone who dabbled in magic rituals whether
for good or evil, had written some pretty scathing things about
Cybelia. Declaring they were being discriminated against because of
their religious beliefs, the local coven and a few other hangers-on
and hopefuls, protested peacefully with signs and a stall holding
information about Cybelia. Liya was front and centre, addressing
the small group of interested citizens with great
passion.

I glanced at them curiously as I hurried
past, but I didn’t stop. I was running a b
it late, and didn’t want to miss the beginning of
the third day of proceedings. I’d spent the morning ringing
Reverend Joshua, who seemed worryingly keen to be on Trent’s show
again tonight, even though I told him Malefic would also be a
guest. I wondered if I should warn Trent. Maybe he should wear a
shower cap or something.