Page 128 of Seduction Under the Southern Stars

I just smile, and she sighs. “I suppose we should get into bed.”

“Yeah. Come on, let’s get ready.”

We brush our teeth while standing next to each other in the small bathroom, and then while she finishes up in there I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and drink a third of it. When she comes out, I tell her to have a good drink, and I have a last visit to the bathroom before going back into the bedroom. We slide under the covers and cuddle up as we look out through the window at the stars. The ship’s engine is audible as a low hum, and I can just hear the sound of the ship plowing through the waves.

“It’s funny to think that we’re moving,” she says. “Will we be in Dunedin when we wake up?”

“Yes, it arrives at 7:30 a.m., I believe.”

“How strange.”

“Mm.” I skim my hands down her back, then up her ribcage, a continuous loop as I enjoy the feel of her soft skin.

“You do that a lot,” she murmurs sleepily.

“What?”

“Touch me. You’re always brushing your fingers across my neck or face or shoulders or back.”

“You’ve got the softest skin I’ve ever felt.” I trace a pattern on her back. “I like touching, and being touched. I was hardly ever touched as a kid. My father—I mean Don—never hugged or kissed me.”

“Your mother must have, surely?”

“Not that I remember.”

She’s quiet for a moment. Then she says, “That surprises me. She obviously had feelings for Edmund or she wouldn’t have had an affair, plus you said when she told you about him that she looked wistful. I’d have thought that she would’ve treasured having his child.”

“I don’t know. Maybe I was a reminder of an indiscretion she wanted to forget. Or she could’ve been afraid to show me affection in case Don saw it.”

“Were they both affectionate with Sean?”

“Yeah. I mean, Dad was never the hugging sort, but he did ruffle his hair and speak gently to him. Mum often gave him hugs.”

“What about other family members? Grandparents, aunts, uncles?”

“I never saw any. Mum was Australian. She’s got a sister, but she wasn’t close to her family. My grandparents visited once, when I was six or seven, but I don’t remember much about them, and we never went to Australia to see them. Dad had relatives up in the North Island, I think, but he never spoke about them, and we never saw them.”

She strokes my chest. “I’m so sorry.”

I sigh. “It was a long time ago.”

“I know, but that kind of thing never goes away. It’s insidious. It’s like mistletoe.”

“Sorry, what?”

“It’s a hemiparasitic plant. It survives by attaching itself to a host tree and sucking out its water and nutrients like a vampire.”

“I never knew that.”

“The host tree can become stunted and sometimes it even dies.”

I look out at the stars. I don’t think about my childhood much now, but for once I let my mind wander back to those days when I felt so resentful and angry because I didn’t understand why my parents seemed to hate me so much.

“You were the first real person who ever gave me a hug,” I tell her.

She pushes herself up onto an elbow. “Really?”

“Yeah. Not long after I arrived at the school. I was having trouble adjusting. I was playing up in class, being rude to all the teachers, and causing trouble after school. I was sent to your father’s office. I hadn’t been there since the day I arrived and hadn’t seen much of him. I was sitting outside, sulking, and you came around the corner. You ran up to me and said, ‘Linc! I found the skull of a kiwi!”

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