Her Fortescue Diamond (2 page)

‘Very noble of him. I’d say that’s two outta two.’

Alicia chose to ignore that comment and continued. ‘And he asked me to go sailing with him the following weekend.’

‘Hang on, what happened when he dropped you home a
fter dinner? Anything, you know
...
?’

‘Get your mind out of the gutter
,
Poll! He was the perfect gentleman and didn’t make me feel obliged to invite him in for “coffee”—or anything else for that matter.’

‘Hm
m
...
t
hat’s three. OK, so you went sailing with him?’

‘Yes. It was our third date. That’s when he told me about his first marriage, which ended in a savage divorce apparently.’

‘Ah, so our hero is love-scarred. Like the one in your second book, what was his name? Greg? Gary? No, hang on, I remember now. Grayson.’

‘Yes, Grayson was a bit the worse for having loved and lost.’ Alicia smiled fondly and paused to take another drink from her mug. She held the flavoursome mouthful on her tongue, relishing it for
a long moment before continuing, ‘A
nyway, this left Gideon financially drained, so it’s a wonder he was able to make such a good recovery.’

‘Hmm
, a successful businessman who’s clever, ambitious, doesn’t suffer fools gladly, but is also caring, loyal and—’

‘Funny,’ Alicia interjected without thinking. ‘He’s also funny. He’s got a great sense of humour, which came as something of a surprise. I thought all tycoons were crusty bean-counters only interested in balancing the bottom line.’

Polly smiled at her friend’s innocent enthusiasm. ‘OK, he’s also funny, and honourable despite having been kicked in the pants by love. So far, so good.’ She checked the points off on h
er fingers while Alicia watched her
with a bemused expression.

‘Do you want me to continue with the story or not?’

‘Of course, but someone’s gotta keep a tally on the “Hero versus Zero” scoreboard.’

Alicia gave a derisive snort. ‘So, anyway, we had a fabulous day out on his yacht—’

‘What’s it called?’

‘What’s what called?’

‘His yacht, dummy!’

‘Oh. Wait, I k
now this, it’s something cute ... o
h
yes! It’s called “Thisiz Livin”
. But why is that important?’

‘Oh, just trying to get a better picture of his character. So he obviously thinks there’s more to life than business?’

‘If you say so.’

‘I do. So, what happened next?’

‘Well, we sailed back into the harbour right on sunset, and Gideon cracked the bottle of bubbly he’d been chilling in the icebox.’ Alicia rested her chin on her hands
and gazed dreamily up at the sky.
She sighed,
‘He served it in two champagne flutes, accompanied by a platter of cheese, crackers and whole strawberries.’

‘Ooh, I love a man with class who knows what really matters, like food and wine. And appropriate glassware.’ Polly gave a cheeky grin.

Alicia smiled too, a little warily this time. ‘And then we moored the yacht, and I went home.’

‘What? T
hat’s it?’

‘Yep, p
retty much.’

‘No, there’s gotta be more to it than that?’

‘Well....
’

‘C’mon. Out with it!’

‘
Oh
alright, if you must know. We
wer
e
making our way
through
the marina towards the car park and he
was talking
about
a movie he wanted us to see
.’

‘That’s more like it! And?’

‘And right about then two bikini-clad bimbos
appeared out of nowhere and
claimed
him.’

‘What, right out from under your nose?’

‘You make it sound like I had dibs on him!’

‘Come on, what happened?’

‘Nothing much. I left him with them.
’

‘But—’

‘
It was obvious I
was thrown into the reject bin
as soon as they appeared on the scene. They pranced around, twittering and fawning over
him, showing off their curves and cleavages.
I
began to feel
like a voyeur, witnessing the precursor to a
ménage à trois
.’

‘So you just left them to it?
’

‘Well
, I got the message. He’s just a man after all. They were showing plenty of taut, t
an flesh in their barely-there ’
kinis. And then there was me, in rolled-up jeans with damp bottoms, a plain white t-shirt a couple of sizes too big, and with my hair up under a wide-brimmed hat, a-la-Granny Grey.’

‘B
ut did he ask
you to go, or
did you just jump
to conclusions? You’ve been guilty of that before
,
you know.’

‘He didn’t need to say anything
, I could just tell.’

Polly gave an exasperated sigh and threw herself against the back of her chair.

Alicia gazed at her for a minute or so before looking down at her hands. She said softly, ‘But there’s a bit more to the story if you’re interested.’

‘Of
course
I am.’ Polly sat forward again, curiosity glistening in her eyes.

‘He rang me that evening to apologise.’

Polly frowned.
‘Apologise?’

‘For letting hi
mself be distracted by the two ’
kini babes. But he also wanted to know why I left so suddenly. Apparently he turned around
and I’d disappeared
.’

‘Oh
, Alicia!
’

‘
Don’t look at me like that.
I was just doing him a favour by leaving him free to play with his new friends.’

‘Doesn’t sound to me like he saw it as a favour.’

‘It was a few hours afterwards when he called. For all we know by then he’d probably used up all the favours on offer.’

‘Do you really think he’d bother to ring and apologise if that was true?’

‘Who knows. Maybe he’s just prepared to put in a bit more time and effort to get what he wants from me.’

‘For a romantic, you’re such a s
ceptic,
Alicia.’

‘No, just a realist.’

‘So, did he ask you out again?’

‘Yes. And I said no.’

‘What?’

‘You heard
. I said no.’

‘But why?’

‘Haven’t you been listening
,
Poll? The minute something more shiny came into view, Shallow Hal forgot all about me.’

‘Sounds more like you chickened out the minute there was some competition. Maybe
it’s more a case of Shallow Gal.
’

‘You’re calling me shallow?’

‘I am.’

‘In the words of that famous female politician,
please explain
?’

‘A shallow gal
fo
cuses on the external only. She
accept
s what she
see
s
as being the sum total of someone,
instead of looking deeper for
the real person. And I have a feeling that’s what you’ve done with Gideon.’

‘Oh, come on
, you don’t even know him! How could you assume that?’

‘Because I’m looking deeper into the person you’re descri
bing. And so, by definition, I’
m
not
a s
hal
low g
al. You, on the other hand....
’

Alicia gave a grunt and arch
ed an eyebrow at her friend.

Polly star
ed back at her unrepentantly.
‘Alright
, w
e’ve compared Gideon with two of your heroes. What about the guy in your latest book, what’s his name?’

‘Byron.’ Alicia frowned a little uncertainly.

‘Yeah, that’s him. Doesn’t the heroine initially regard him as shallow?’

‘Well, yes....
’

‘But he turns out to be deeper than she thinks, a worthwhile object for her affections?’

‘Yes, but—
’

‘But what?’

‘
We’re back where we started
. Byron is make-believe, the product of my imagination, as are Royce and Grayson. Gideon is real. And as a real man, he has faults.’

‘But your heroes aren’t completely perfect. They have faults too. That’s what makes them interesting to both the heroine and your readers.’

‘Well, they have to at least
seem
realistic.’

‘There you go.’

‘There I go what?’

Poll
y sighed. ‘I guess I have to spell
it out for you.’

‘Please!’

‘I think Gideon rated highly on the Royce-Grayson-Bryon scale. He passed all the hero tests, and that’s what scared you.’

‘Humph!’

‘Don’t
huff and puff! Hear me out.
You’re convinced that only imaginary men can come close to meeting your “Fortescue Diamond” love criteria. You’re so sure these criteria are unachievable for mortal men, you’ve turned away from a man who
actually
ticks all the boxes; one who just might be able to make you happy.’

Alicia had been glaring at her friend, but those words suddenly found a soft spot in her heart’s armour. She started to speak a couple of times, but the words died in her throat. And then she didn’t say anything for a while.

Both women sat back, finishing their rapidly cooling coffees, lost in their thoughts.

After a
while
Alicia looked over at Polly
but couldn’t quite meet her eyes.
She cleared her throat.
‘Much as I hate to a
dmit it, you might be right
. I guess I might have spoilt my one chance of snavelling a hero of my own.’

‘Nonsense! Nothing’
s over until it’s over. Call him. It’s not too late is it? He’s not engaged or married by now?’

‘It’s only been a couple of weeks since I last saw him, so unless he’s a
really
fast worker—’

‘Get that phone out girl! I want you to ring him right here and now.’

Alicia dug out her mobile and pressed a couple of buttons. She put the phone to her ear and glanced at her friend a little anxiously. When Gideon’s deep voice rumbled from the speaker, she got up and moved away to a quiet spot where they spoke for a short time.

When she came back to the table she turned shining eyes on Polly. ‘Oh
,
Poll....
’

‘WHAT? What did he say?’

Alicia smiled to herself. ‘Not much.’

‘What do you mean, not much?’

‘He said we’ll
talk more tonight. O
ver dinner.’

Polly gave a deep, satisfied sigh and sat back in her chair. The two women gazed at each other for a few moments. Both wore silly grins, like cats who’d just spotted a bowl brimming with cream.

Polly suddenly sat forward. ‘Hey, I just realised
something
. I don’t know Gideon’s last name?’

‘Oh. That’s right. I haven’t told you, have I?’

‘No. So, what is it?’

‘Fortescue.’

‘What?’

‘Gideon’s surname is Fortescue.’

Both women burst out laughing.

‘Oh
,
Alicia, y
ou dag! He’s your Fortescue Diamond!’

#
#
#

About the author:

Alicia Hope live
s in Queensland, Australia, and
writes contemporary women’s fiction, romances, and ‘soft’ paranormals
.

She
draws upon her extensive
corporate experience
to
create
stories with
credible
characters
in
real
istic situations and
settings
.

Hers are
feel-good books
, which
readers of any age can
curl up with on a rainy afternoon
(or any time!)
and enjoy.