Kissed By a Stranger. Valerie Parv

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СКАЧАТЬ fine, honestly,’ she repeated, for what seemed like the dozenth time.

      She was still repeating it when Rick and the crew yielded to her request to be dropped off at a friend’s place on the Gold Coast. ‘Are you sure you’re all right?’

      ‘The ambulance people checked me over and everything’s working perfectly,’ she insisted. Everything except possibly her common sense. Why else was she so anxious to track down a man she’d never seen before today? Yet something drove her to try, even if it proved hopeless.

      ‘I’ll join you at the studio as soon as I take care of a personal problem,’ she promised, waving the crew away.

      She stood outside her friend’s office, gathering her thoughts. If anyone could help her find out more about her mysterious, camera-shy rescuer, it was Kitty Sale. Kitty ran the most successful photo library on the coast and had supplied Sarah with more useful information than she could remember.

      ‘You realise he could be passing through? He may not even live in Australia,’ Kitty pointed out over herbal tea when Sarah had finished relating the afternoon’s adventure.

      Sarah sighed. ‘I know. I have so little to go on. But I must find him and thank him for pulling me out of the car. He probably saved my life.’

      Kitty regarded her shrewdly. ‘All you want to do is thank him?’

      ‘Well, maybe a bit more than that.’ She set the cup of chamomile tea down on a side-table. ‘All right, he intrigues me.’

      Kitty’s eyebrow lifted. ‘Personally or professionally?’

      Sarah hesitated. She’d been telling herself that her interest in Luke was professional, but in the instant she opened her mouth to tell Kitty so she knew it wasn’t the whole story. ‘Probably both.’

      ‘At least you’re honest. He sounds worth the effort—although your description could fit a dozen dark-haired hunks on the Gold Coast.’

      ‘All called Luke?’

      ‘If it’s his real name.’

      Sarah pressed her fingers to her temples. Her head ached, thanks to the accident, making it hard to think clearly. Then she remembered something more. ‘His hair is unusual,’ she said, without opening her eyes. ‘He has a streak of silver at each temple.’

      When she opened her eyes, Kitty was grinning. ‘Silver streaks, huh? Why didn’t you say so in the first place?’ She dived for her voluminous photo catalogues, shuffling through files until she located a brown envelope. With a flourish, she pulled out a glossy photo of a man in sleek black and gold racing leathers. ‘Is this him?’

      Sarah’s heart missed a beat as she took the photo from Kitty. The midnight eyes seemed to lock with hers as she studied the craggy face above the leather outfit. It was Luke.

      He cradled a full-face helmet in one arm and stood, with legs braced wide apart, alongside something that looked more like a silver bullet than a car. The power and purpose she’d sensed emanating from him suddenly clicked into place. Her throat dried. ‘Yes, it’s him.’

      ‘I knew it. As soon as you mentioned the silver streaks. They are . . . were . . . his trademark. He’s Luke Ansfield and those same streaks earned him the nickname “Lightning”. He used to be the top Formula One racing driver—five times world champion, if I recall correctly.’

      Sarah resisted the urge to hold the photo close against herself, hardly daring to examine her motives. The man had saved her life. She shouldn’t read more into this than there was. All the same she heard herself ask Kitty, ‘Can I keep this for a while?’

      Kitty nodded. ‘What are friends for? When you return it, make sure you put his phone number on the back.’

      Something sharp stabbed Sarah, yet she had no claim on Luke Ansfield. She had no reason to react so strongly to Kitty’s suggestion. She made herself laugh. ‘What happened to Jeff, the one who jumps out of helicopters?’

      ‘He only did it once, to get an award-winning aerial photo. In any case, I’m involved with Kevin now. He’s a cinematographer at the film studios.’

      This time Sarah’s laugh was genuine. ‘Ian, then Jeff and now Kevin. Still working your way through the alphabet?’

      Kitty grinned. ‘Maybe. And you know what comes after K? L—as in Luke.’

      ‘Remember what you told me. He may not even live on the coast.’

      ‘Neither did Jeff or Kevin. It doesn’t have to be a handicap—especially at the speed a man like Luke moves.’

      Surprise jolted through Sarah, but Kitty was referring to Luke’s racing career, not to what had happened on the highway earlier. Still, the comment had hit so close to home that Sarah shuddered.

      ‘He used to have a pretty wild reputation,’ Kitty went on. ‘He’s supposed to have settled down after he got into some trouble in Europe—enough to make him give up racing, since he came back to Australia four years ago. So it might pay you to be a bit cautious.’

      Kitty meant well, Sarah knew. But she sensed that nothing Luke could have done could be so terrible. But it had made him give up a sport he loved. She chewed her lower lip. ‘How do you know so much?’ she asked Kitty.

      ‘Gavin, who came before Hedley, was a pit-man on the Grand Prix circuit. When we were together I spent some time trackside. How do you think I got that shot of Luke?’

      Sarah nodded. ‘I’m glad you did.’

      ‘What will you do now? Use your journalistic skills to track your hero down?’

      ‘You never know.’ Sarah looked at her watch and started. ‘But not right now. I was due in make-up half an hour ago.’ Throwing her thanks over her shoulder, she flew out of the building and hailed a taxi to take her to the studio.

      Donna Blake, the producer of Coast to Coast, was tearing her hair out. ‘Didn’t the guys tell you about the accident?’ Sarah asked, allaying the woman’s censure.

      Immediately the producer looked concerned. ‘You went to a doctor?’

      Sarah squirmed uncomfortably. ‘Not exactly. But the delay did involve the accident.’ It was the truth, Sarah told herself.

      The producer looked severe. ‘Sarah, the contest for the job of permanent anchor on this show is down to you and Richard Nero. Unless you buckle down and work like mad, you’re practically handing him the job.’

      Sarah was only too aware of it. ‘Sometimes I feel like making him a present of it,’ she retorted. But it wasn’t entirely true. The anchor job on Coast to Coast would be the culmination of years of commitment and hard work on her part.

      Starting as a newspaper journalist, she’d progressed to on-air reporter, occasionally filling in as anchor when the show’s regular front-person, Angela Fordham, was on holidays.

      Angela had been head-hunted by a national network six months before. Since then, the anchor job had been shared between Sarah and Richard Nero. The two of them spent alternate weeks in the job while management and the ratings СКАЧАТЬ