Chapter 44.1

It left Megan with the certainty that he could have married anyone, but didn't have to. They'd fall at his feet, anyway. It was only because she was having his child that he'd decided to marry her. All his love-making, caring… If she hadn't been pregnant, would he have given so much? Any of it?

On that one fateful night of sex, he would have used protection.

Now he was protecting her condition.

Protecting his fatherhood.

Megan's emotions were in a total mess by the time the night of the concert arrived. Lara, who was on the charity committee, had obtained tickets for what she considered the prime position in the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

They were in the front row of the central tier of seats facing the stage.

'Above the floor level,' she explained, 'with a barrier between us and any madness that might break out.'

'Madness?' Megan queried.

'You've never been to a pop concert, Megan?' 'No, I haven't.'

'The area closest to the stage is usually called the mosh pit. Fans can totally spin out, especially when the music gets them going. We'll be safe where our seats are situated.'

Safe…that word grated on Megan's jangling nerves. Yet when they did take their seats in the huge auditorium which was jam-packed with thousands of people all buzzing with excited anticipation, she appreciated the choice Lara had made. Even more so when the first pop band onstage swung into action and the sound assault of their music was increased by almost incessant screaming from fans jumping up and down and carrying on like lunatics.

It was certainly an education to Megan about Johnny's life. She knew he'd done many concert tours throughout his career, more in the U.S.A. than here in Australia. He was a megastar on the country and western music scene, though his popularity was not limited to only those fans. His songs had universal appeal, which was why he was billed as the star act tonight, the last one onstage, bringing the concert to an end, leaving everyone happy and uplifted.

Clearly the performers got a huge kick out of the wildly enthusiastic response from their audience. Their energy level was amazing and there was certainly a sexual buzz in their strutting. Was all this adulation addictive? Would someone who was used to it find life boringly flat without regular doses of it?

As the evening's entertainment progressed, security guards had to stop some fans from climbing onto the stage. Others had to be carried away for medical attention, having fainted from the crush or their own hyperexcitement.

Just before Johnny was to make his appearance, a girl with long blonde hair and a tight scarlet mini-dress was actually tossed by her companions onto the stage and she thrust a note into the retiring singer's hand before leaping off to escape the guards.

'Groupie,' Lara drily remarked. 'No doubt she'll want to be picked out from the crowd backstage once the show is over.'

Megan was relieved the girl hadn't targeted Johnny.

Not that he'd be swayed by it. His view of groupies had convinced her that he would never take that kind of sexual advantage from his celebrity. She simply didn't need any more evidence of how desirable he was to other women. As it was, her nerves were on edge, waiting for his performance—live—in front of this massive crowd of people.

Definitely my last concert, Johnny thought grimly, waiting for the guys to vacate the stage. They were still prancing around, all pumped up from the wild response to their music, eating up the frenetic crowd energy while they could. The buzz didn't last. After the adrenaline rush came the let- down because it was all about the music and the event itself, not the person. Johnny knew he didn't want this anymore. Especially not the empty hotel room afterwards.

Tomorrow he could go home with Megan. To Gundamurra where he was genuinely liked for the man he was. Put all this artificial love behind him and raise a family where the love would be real. Megan would be happy about that. It was just too difficult for her to be faced with everything celebrity involved.

'Something for you, Johnny.' A photograph was thrust into his hand by the main vocalist of the band, now bouncing off stage. The guy winked at him. 'Blonde bomb in a red mini-dress, front row. Great tits.'

Johnny was about to toss it away when the guy added in a mocking drawl, 'Oh yeah! Said to tell you she was your long-lost sister. Try anything, some chicks.'

Sister!

The idea thumped into Johnny's heart.

It had never occurred to him that his mother might have had another child. He couldn't remember one but he didn't recall anything about that time. And he certainly hadn't been told he had a sister somewhere. But would he have been informed if the child had been adopted out? Maybe a baby. Which meant she'd be thirty-six now.

He stared at the photograph. Definitely not a teenager. Could be in her thirties. Difficult to tell a woman's age. He saw no likeness to himself but that meant nothing. She would have had a different father.

Long-lost sister… His stomach started churning. He'd never thought to do a search himself, believing he'd been the only one left abandoned by his mother's death.

What if he wasn't?

'Your turn to wow 'em, Johnny,' one of the backstage guys prompted him.

He heard the MC doing the introduction.

There was nowhere to stash the photograph except under his shirt. He caught sight of writing on the back as he turned it over to slide it down his V-neckline.

Please let me get to you—your sister, Jodie Ellis.

Jodie…Johnny…

Had she tried before and been turned away by his minders?

Or was it simply a groupie scam? No time to think about it now.

He was on.

Blonde in a red mini-dress. Front row.

Megan was totally stunned by Johnny's performance. The screaming of the fans stopped the moment he began to sing. He just seemed to command the rapt attention of everyone in the auditorium, his strong, beautiful voice carrying waves of emotion that swept out and grabbed people by the throat.

He didn't need to gyrate around the stage. He didn't need to whip up excitement. He simply stood and delivered and there were sighs of pleasure as people swayed to his rhythm, happy clapping with the upbeat songs, thunderous applause when he finished each number and flashed the charismatic smile that would have charmed love out of a stone.

Megastar.

Of course, the fact that he was spectacularly male—a man's man—a woman's man—added immeasurably to his powerful attraction. Megan couldn't help noticing the blonde in the scarlet mini-dress doing everything she could to draw Johnny's attention to her. Apparently she had changed her mind about the main object of her desire tonight. No contest, Megan thought, but she didn't like it.

She particularly didn't like the fact that Johnny seemed distracted by the woman, his gaze returning to her again and again throughout his performance. What was she doing that Megan couldn't see? Why was Johnny zeroing in on her so much?

It stirred up all the insecurities Megan was struggling with, especially since she couldn't make eye contact with him herself. Impossible for Johnny to actually see her so far back from the brilliantly lit stage. The major part of the audience had to be a dark blur to him, simply a presence he heard and felt and responded to.

At least he knewshe was here, with his old friends and their wives. When he announced his final song, he did look directly to where they were seated and it gave Megan considerable relief to hear him say he'd composed this song for his wife on their wedding day—a very public acknowledgement of their marriage.

He already had the audience completely in his hands, but his rendition of 'Coming Home' was incredibly moving, heart-tugging, so much so that there were several moments of poignant silence at the end of it before the crowd erupted into huge prolonged applause, everyone on their feet, clapping, shouting, not wanting to let him leave the stage.

But with a simple hand salute to the crowd, he walked off and did not return. The audience eventually accepted that the concert was over. People started to move towards the exits, still buzzing with pleasure despite not having persuaded Johnny into an encore.

Megan would have been happy to leave, too, but she caught sight of a security guard escorting the troublesome blonde with an air of set purpose. The action unsettled her again. Lara, Kathryn, Ric, and Mitch were enthusing over Johnny's performance as they all moved out to the aisle, ready to make their way out of the massive entertainment centre, but Megan was too distracted to voice any sensible comment herself.

'Can we go backstage?' she asked, impelled to settle the nagging sense of not knowing what was going on with Johnny, needing to be with him.

It wasn't planned. But they went.

And were ushered into a dressing-room where the blonde in the scarlet mini-dress had her arms wound around Johnny's neck and her body plastered to his!