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Authors: Sandy Curtis
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successful.”
His satisfied smile cut through Jenna like a
knife. Until then she hadn’t fully acknowledged the extent of her
jealousy, afraid it would reveal just how much she cared for this
man. She had only known him a week but he was indelibly imprinted
on every nuance of her psyche, every corner of her heart. She had
known from the moment he'd kissed her that he would have the power
to break her heart and she had fought his allure. But if her
feelings now were any indication it was an unsuccessful battle.
“I was just telling Caitlin,” he continued,
“that I thought it was time we went for a drive and showed you some
of the Coast. And there’s an ice-creamery at Noosa that stocks
Caitlin’s favourite ice-cream.”
Caitlin nodded and looked expectantly at
Jenna. She was trapped. The way she felt she would have given
anything not to be in close proximity to Braden today. Her
instincts had warned her not to let her feelings for Braden become
so deep. She should have listened to those instincts - he was
obviously involved with Veronica. But if she refused to go Caitlin
would be disappointed, and it would also be defeating Jenna’s own
resolve to get Caitlin mixing with people again.
Well, she'd just have to concentrate on
Caitlin and the scenery. Perhaps ignoring Braden was the way to
cope with her wayward yearnings.
Braden’s silver BMW purred softly past
gleaming white sand and clear green-blue water.
The rolling surf looked inviting, but Jenna
knew she would have little opportunity to sample its pleasures.
Even though Caitlin’s leg was improving and it no longer dragged,
she would not yet have the strength to stand up in the crashing
waves. Braden must have seen the longing in Jenna's gaze.
“When you feel up to tackling a few waves
we’ll have to bring Jenna down to the beach for a swim, won’t we,
Caitlin?” he said.
The girl nodded in agreement. Jenna was
surprised at his perception. And his tact. His phrasing of the
question was designed to make Caitlin feel that she would be doing
Jenna a favour by becoming strong enough to swim in the surf. It
certainly gave the girl a goal to strive for.
As they drove, Braden pointed out various
places of interest, interspersing his commentary with anecdotes
about the buildings his companies had constructed. He was amusing
and interesting, and Jenna found herself relaxing and enjoying his
company in spite of her intentions to ignore him.
They passed beach after beach, each one as
impossibly beautiful as the previous one, before swinging away from
the coast and climbing higher and higher until Braden drove up a
street that ended at a lookout. He stopped the car and they got
out.
“This is Laguna Lookout,” he explained. “To
the east you can see Noosa National Park - over 400 hectares of
grasslands and rainforest. North is Noosa Heads and the Noosa
River.”
The National Park was the green oasis Jenna
expected but what amazed her was the amount of trees and shrubbery
still visible in the built-up areas. This was no concrete jungle.
She turned to Braden in amazement. “There are no high-rise
buildings. I thought Noosa was the tourist mecca of the Sunshine
Coast?”
The smile he gave her was one of genuine
pleasure. “Noosa has a conservation edict ‘that no building shall
be higher than the trees’ so wherever you are down there you can
always look up and see the trees of the National Park or Noosa
Hill.”
“Don’t you find that rather restricting when
you want to carry out any major development work here?”
“No. I’ve always believed that man should
live in harmony with nature. I’ve seen too many places in the world
where development has turned a delightfully natural spot into a
rat-race of the worst kind. Luckily the Sunshine Coast has grown at
a slow enough pace to enable sensible decisions to be made
regarding the future lifestyles of the residents as well as the
tourists.”
A warm glow spread through Jenna. That a man
of
His satisfied smile cut through Jenna like a
knife. Until then she hadn’t fully acknowledged the extent of her
jealousy, afraid it would reveal just how much she cared for this
man. She had only known him a week but he was indelibly imprinted
on every nuance of her psyche, every corner of her heart. She had
known from the moment he'd kissed her that he would have the power
to break her heart and she had fought his allure. But if her
feelings now were any indication it was an unsuccessful battle.
“I was just telling Caitlin,” he continued,
“that I thought it was time we went for a drive and showed you some
of the Coast. And there’s an ice-creamery at Noosa that stocks
Caitlin’s favourite ice-cream.”
Caitlin nodded and looked expectantly at
Jenna. She was trapped. The way she felt she would have given
anything not to be in close proximity to Braden today. Her
instincts had warned her not to let her feelings for Braden become
so deep. She should have listened to those instincts - he was
obviously involved with Veronica. But if she refused to go Caitlin
would be disappointed, and it would also be defeating Jenna’s own
resolve to get Caitlin mixing with people again.
Well, she'd just have to concentrate on
Caitlin and the scenery. Perhaps ignoring Braden was the way to
cope with her wayward yearnings.
Braden’s silver BMW purred softly past
gleaming white sand and clear green-blue water.
The rolling surf looked inviting, but Jenna
knew she would have little opportunity to sample its pleasures.
Even though Caitlin’s leg was improving and it no longer dragged,
she would not yet have the strength to stand up in the crashing
waves. Braden must have seen the longing in Jenna's gaze.
“When you feel up to tackling a few waves
we’ll have to bring Jenna down to the beach for a swim, won’t we,
Caitlin?” he said.
The girl nodded in agreement. Jenna was
surprised at his perception. And his tact. His phrasing of the
question was designed to make Caitlin feel that she would be doing
Jenna a favour by becoming strong enough to swim in the surf. It
certainly gave the girl a goal to strive for.
As they drove, Braden pointed out various
places of interest, interspersing his commentary with anecdotes
about the buildings his companies had constructed. He was amusing
and interesting, and Jenna found herself relaxing and enjoying his
company in spite of her intentions to ignore him.
They passed beach after beach, each one as
impossibly beautiful as the previous one, before swinging away from
the coast and climbing higher and higher until Braden drove up a
street that ended at a lookout. He stopped the car and they got
out.
“This is Laguna Lookout,” he explained. “To
the east you can see Noosa National Park - over 400 hectares of
grasslands and rainforest. North is Noosa Heads and the Noosa
River.”
The National Park was the green oasis Jenna
expected but what amazed her was the amount of trees and shrubbery
still visible in the built-up areas. This was no concrete jungle.
She turned to Braden in amazement. “There are no high-rise
buildings. I thought Noosa was the tourist mecca of the Sunshine
Coast?”
The smile he gave her was one of genuine
pleasure. “Noosa has a conservation edict ‘that no building shall
be higher than the trees’ so wherever you are down there you can
always look up and see the trees of the National Park or Noosa
Hill.”
“Don’t you find that rather restricting when
you want to carry out any major development work here?”
“No. I’ve always believed that man should
live in harmony with nature. I’ve seen too many places in the world
where development has turned a delightfully natural spot into a
rat-race of the worst kind. Luckily the Sunshine Coast has grown at
a slow enough pace to enable sensible decisions to be made
regarding the future lifestyles of the residents as well as the
tourists.”
A warm glow spread through Jenna. That a man
of
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