Page 22 of Outback Secrets
Sweat glistened on his tanned chest, which had just the right smattering of dark hair, and she had the craziest urge to reach out and trail her finger down it. It was then she remembered what Eileen said and her gaze snapped to his shoulders—broad, bulky and, on the left, a scar that looked a bit like a birthmark, only it went inwards.
Couldit be from a bullet wound?
He cleared his throat, and a ghost of a smile crossed his face. ‘Can I help you?’ he asked, putting down what looked to be a power sander.
Embarrassed to be caught with her tongue practically hanging out of her mouth, Henri suddenly forgot the reason for her visit.
‘What are you making?’ She gestured to the various pieces of wood spread across a large bench.
‘A rocking chair,’ he said, reaching to grab a black T-shirt off the edge of the bench, which he sadly proceeded to tug over his head.
Probably a good thing, because Henri was finding it hard to think straight with all that glistening bare skin.
‘It’s beautiful.’ She stepped forward and ran her hand over one of the curved pieces. It was even smoother than it looked. And it smelled good too, reminding her of the times she used to help her dad chop wood on the farm.
‘What are you going to do with it when you’re finished?’ She suddenly wondered if he’d made all the gorgeous furniture in the pub. ‘Do you sell them? This would make the perfect Christmas present for my mother.’
‘I do commissions, but this one’s for Dolce,’ he said. ‘Don’t let her know though—it’s a surprise. She likes to sit out on her porch at dusk watching the world go by and she mentioned her old rocker is on its last legs.’
‘That’s so sweet,’ said Henri, touched by the kindness he showed towards the old widow.
Liam looked slightly uncomfortable. ‘Anyway, did you just come to chat about my side hustle or was there some other reason for this unexpected visit?’
All other thoughts evaporated as she remembered what she’d told Eileen. She wiped her suddenly sweaty hands on her shorts, then cursed silently as she looked down to see they were now covered in black grease.
‘Um …’ Heat flooded her cheeks as regret threatened to swallow her whole. What had she been thinking?
Of course, she’d have to tell her old Sunday School teacher it had been a joke. For all Henri knew Liam already had a girlfriend—the women of Bunyip Bay had to be stupid if they hadn’t worked out a way to tap that yet! Then again, if that were the case, surely Eileen would have known, and she’d have had no qualms about telling Henri off for sleeping with someone else’s man. The world might be a lot more accepting of certain things these days but as far as she knew, infidelity was definitely still regarded as a sin.
But that was beside the point—girlfriend or not, it was a ridiculous idea. Creating a fake boyfriend? It was like something you’d see in a rom-com, not something any rational person would actually try to pull off.
‘Um …’ she said again, then shook her head. ‘Never mind. It was nothing. I’m sorry I interrupted your work.’
But as she turned to go, Liam reached out and gently took hold of her wrist, turning her back to face him.
‘Why don’t I believe you, Henrietta?’ he said, his simmering grey eyes staring directly into hers. ‘Come on, I didn’t take you for a chicken. Why’d you really come?’
‘Because I told Eileen Brady that you and I were in a relationship,’ she blurted, trying to ignore the way her pulse raced under his touch.
‘You did what?’ He let go of her arm like it had burned him.
‘She confronted me in the IGA—apparently everyone’s talking about the fact I left the pub early yesterday morning. They think we slept together. I was about to set her straight, when she started mouthing off about you. Nothing annoys me more than people like her judging others and making assumptions. When she warned me off, saying I could do better than you and that I needed to be careful, I snapped and told her we were together.’
His eyes widened but Henri barrelled on.
‘And then I realised if I told my mother the same thing, it would get her off my back. She’s desperate for me to find someone in Bunyip Bay to settle down and make babies with. That’s never going to happen, but if she thinks there’s even a slight chance, it’ll make the next couple of weeks back here so much easier. Even my friends are trying to convince me to let Grant set me up with someone and this would put a stop to that as well.’
Liam made absolutely no comment while she delivered her monologue, nor did his chiselled face move a muscle. Henri wasn’t usually the type to get nervous, but right now her hands were sweating and she couldn’t seem to stop talking. The more she tried to explain what she’d done, the more ludicrous it sounded.
* * *
‘Are you insane?’ Liam asked when Henri finally stopped talking to catch her breath.
She grimaced. ‘Not usually, but sometimes my family and this town push me over the edge. I just snapped. Surely you can’t be happy about Eileen spreading nasty rumours about you?’
‘I don’t give a damn what people say or think about me,’ he said, struggling not to laugh. He only wished he’d been there to see the look on the meddlesome woman’s face. Always quick to take pleasure in other people’s misfortune, Mrs Brady was one of the few people in town he found it hard to like.
Henri hung her head. ‘I’m sorry.’