Free Trophy Wives by Jan Colley

the front of him.
    â€œWhere was this?” Lucy asked, bringing him back.
    â€œWestern Australia.”
    â€œHow old were you?”
    â€œMoved to the farm when I was six. Walked off it at twelve.”
    â€œAre you an only child?”
    He nodded.
    â€œWhen did the drought end?”
    Ethan shrugged. “We left when the bank foreclosed. Moved into a trailer park in Perth.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Nosy, aren’t you?”
    She nodded, not in the least self-conscious. “Are your parents still together?”
    â€œHe kicked my mother out when I was thirteen.”
    Lucy’s eyes widened. He could almost hear her mind ticking over. Maybe they had something in common. Lonely children, dysfunctional families…
    â€œKicked her out for a girl five years older than me. She was only interested after he won the state lottery. Trailer trash no more.” He raised his bottle and clinked hers in a salute.
    She stared at him, fiddling with the stud in her ear. Women, he thought wryly. Nothing fascinated them more than someone’s troubles.
    â€œWhat happened to your mum?”
    â€œCame back to New Zealand. She’s from Kaikohe.”
    â€œWhy?”
    His brows rose.
    â€œI mean, why did she leave you? ” She had said exactly what was in her mind, judging by the hand she clamped to her mouth. Ethan nearly laughed out loud. A blush streaked her cheeks. She was embarrassed, but she wanted to know. That was the sort of thing women liked to know.
    He looked at her seriously for a moment. “Farming the outback’s tough for a woman. After the farm, he drank and she worked. Couldn’t afford a school uniform, so she home-schooled me in between cleaning jobs. Then one day, my father spent his last dollar on the lottery and it came in. I was sent to a private school. They bought a big house. Mum stopped work, got herhair done.” He took a long pull on his bottle, enjoying the total concentration on Lucy’s face. It was no hardship being the object of her avid attention.
    Where was he? “Might have been a lousy farmer, the old man, but turned out he was lucky as sin on the share market. Doubled his money in little more than a year.” He set his bottle down very carefully. “And that’s when the fortune hunters started sniffing around.”
    It was the longest speech he had made. Lucy looked riveted. He decided to give her a bit of a jolt, so he hit her with the full intensity of his eyes. “Young, beautiful women who’d do anything for money.” His voice was low and loaded. “You know the type.”
    He watched her blink, as if surprised, then her head nodded once, slowly, as if something had suddenly clicked in her mind.
    Was she a gold digger, he wondered? He swore he could see no guile in her eyes, though it was dark out here. But a couple of her lighthearted quips had stuck under his collar like grit.
    And yet, there was a freshness about her that did not equate with any of the parade of girls his father traded in at the rate of one every couple of years. Or the women who schmoozed in the corporate world he moved in. He couldn’t imagine anyone more different.
    â€œI was settled in a good school. I guess she didn’t want to disrupt my schooling any more than it had been. I spent every holiday with her.”
    â€œWhat happened to you after she left?” Lucy asked.
    He considered. “Did well at school. Made the national swim team.”
    â€œI knew it,” she smiled. “I thought you looked like a swimmer.”
    â€œCould have made the Olympics.”
    â€œBut?”
    Another long pause while he assessed how much more to divulge. He wasn’t one for baring his soul but he felt easy, comfortable. Burning up for her, sure, but enjoying himself and quite prepared to continue. “Wasn’t part of the plan.”
    â€œThe plan?” Lucy shifted against the