Free Black Ice by Sandy Curtis

coffee table. 'Jenny told me.'
    'Jenny would never tell anyone my address.' Daniel's presence had disconcerted her, and Kirri spoke so sharply his eyebrows drew together.
    'I told her I was Catelyn's father.'
    'What did you do that for? Jenny is my cousin. As soon as she gets home and tells her mother it will be only minutes before Aunt Deila is on the phone to my grandmother, and she'll tell J.D. Then he'll try to contact my mother, and … '
    'Why don't you want your family to know that I'm Catelyn's father, Kirri?'
    She saw the hurt in his eyes, and her anger subsided. 'I just needed some more time to come to terms with it myself, before I have to deal with my family putting me through the third degree.'
    Daniel nodded in understanding.
    'Kirri, you ran off so quickly … I was worried. We should talk.'
    'What about?' Kirri ran her hands down the sides of her paint-spattered jeans.
    'Us.'
    'There is no "us", Daniel.'
    'There was once. There could be again.'
    'Why? So you can give up on me if I don't follow you to the ends of the earth?' No sooner were the bitter words uttered than Kirri recognised the feeling that had plagued her since she'd run from Daniel's devastating kiss.
    Resentment. Resentment against Daniel not being there for her when she was injured, for not making contact with her when he'd finally found her. Resentment that he wasn't there to share Catelyn's birth. And resentment for the memories he had that she couldn't share.
    'I've let you down, Kirri, and I'll never forgive myself for that. I just hope that one day you can forgive me.'
    Kirri could see how wretched he felt. His misery touched her heart, but she refused to allow herself to offer him comfort.
    'Why, Daniel? Why didn't you come out to Australia and talk to me when your private investigator found me? Why did you just assume I'd walked out on you? Did you think I was that shallow?'
    'I thought you were the most genuine person I'd ever met.'
    'Then why …'
    Daniel reached up and ran strong fingers through his thick brown hair. Something tweaked quickly in Kirri's mind, then was gone. She fought desperately to get it back, but couldn't.
    'Kirri, the only female contact I had when I was growing up, apart from the girls at school, was a housekeeper who believed in the adage that children should be seen and not heard, and my mother's mother who I only saw on school holidays. My father's sister lived in New York, and my father's parents had retired before I was born and gone to live in Florida. I don't know if I was different before my mother died, but I've been shy for as long as I can remember.'
    'You don't seem very shy now.'
    'Taking over my father's business cured that. But when I met you -'
    'Where did we meet? Heavens, Daniel, it's so frustrating.' Kirri could hear the catch in her voice, knew she was in danger of bursting into tears. She began to pace the short distance between Daniel and the front door. 'You know so much about me, and I know nothing about you.'
    'We met on the "Natchez" riverboat. It was tied up at the wharf, and the calliope on the top viewing deck was playing "When the Saints Go Marching In". Corny, I guess, but the tourists loved it. It was a perfect Fall day, not cool enough to need a jacket. You were watching the river, your hair was long and blowing back off your face.'
    Her pacing slowed. His deep, quiet voice washed images over her.
    'Your jeans and shirt were light denim, and you wore a vest that you'd painted. On the back was a bush scene, with kangaroos and koalas and all kinds of Australian native animals. And the front panels were like a section of the Great Barrier Reef. You told me it was your way of advertising the "best country in the world".'
    By now she had stopped in front of him, soothed by the low, seductive timbre of his voice, by the scene he was describing. 'So you asked me about it?'
    'Only after you'd spoken to me. I was so fascinated by you that I doubt I could have found the courage to