Chapter 31.1

"You certainly have my agreement on that, Mr O'Neill. And may I say I'm delighted to meet you and Mrs O'Neill. I look forward to getting acquainted with the rest of Hannah's family today."

A masterly piece of diplomacy. Hannah didn't know if she appreciated it or not. Didn't it perpetuate a terrible mistake which should be corrected?

Her mother then grabbed his hand with both of hers, pressing anxiously. "You mustn't let Hannah talk you into some quick little register office wedding, Tony. I may call you Tony?"

"Of course."

"I told her father we had to get up here in time to stop that. Thank God we could get this trip arranged before the month was up."

"The month?' Tony queried.

It completely blew Hannah's mind. They'd been worrying about a marriage between her and Tony for a whole month? She'd barely been with him that long! Only since the day Jodie and Flynn... understanding crashed through her confusion like a thunderclap.

"You can't get married under a month without a special licence," her mother rattled on. "Which was a worry, knowing how good Hannah is at organising things, but I hoped..."

"Mrs O'Neill..."

"You can call me Maureen, dear." Patting his hand in approval now.

Hannah opened her mouth to rush out an explanation for the situation that had brewed up because of Tony's tactic for getting rid of Flynn. Before she could manage to form sensible words, he plunged on, compounding the whole problem a thousandfold.

"Maureen, I can assure you Hannah and I will have a very proper wedding with all the trimmings and all family present. My grandmother would never speak to me again if we did anything else."

Hannah choked. It was one diplomatic step too far, letting her parents think there would be a wedding. She had to stop this. But how was it to be done without making Tony feel like a fool for coming to her rescue so gallantly in front of her parents?

Weddings could be cancelled, she thought wildly. Who knew that better than she did?

"How long will you be staying in Port Douglas?" Tony went on charmingly, probably wondering how long he had to keep up the pretence. "I know my grandmother would love to meet you."

No, no, no! screamed through Hannah's mind. Isabella King might think it was real. They had to contain the damage, not spread it.

"Only the weekend," her father answered, much to Hannah's relief. She and Tony worked Sundays so...

"In that case, I'll re-arrange the crew roster for tomorrow so Hannah and I are free to be with you," Tony declared, ruining everything again.

Her mother beamed at him. "That will be wonderful! I can see why Hannah..."

"Mum!" Enough was enough! "You, too, Dad!"

That snapped their attention away from Tony and their faces lit up with triumphant delight at sight of her behind the galley counter. Hannah still gave them both barrels of her displeasure at their gross assumptions.

"What on earth do you think you're doing, dragging the whole family up here and expecting..."

"If Mohammed won't come to the mountain..." her father rolled out.

Her mother hastily broke in. "Hannah, we waited and waited for you to tell us about Tony yourself, and when you didn't..."

"I've got a right to my own private life!" Hannah hurled at them. "Now that's enough, young lady," her father boomed, marching up to the galley counter to dress her down. He was a big barrel-chested man who made a habit of mowing down any opposition and he went straight into attack mode, wagging his finger at her.

"We respected your need to flit off and find some new direction for yourself, never mind how much your mother worried about you. For two years you've deserted your family." His fist slammed onto the counter for emphasis. "Two years!"

"I kept in touch," she fiercely retorted, her eyes every bit as battle-green as his as they locked in challenge. "You always knew where I was and what I was doing."

"Travelogue stuff!" her father scoffed.

"Connor, stop scolding!" her mother cried, ranging up beside him, her slender build and the rather scatty mop of grey curls that framed a face full of friendly appeal belying the strength she wielded in the O'Neill household. "We're here to build bridges and don't you forget it."

Behind them, Hannah's sisters and brothers were spilling into the saloon, introducing themselves to Tony, closely followed by wives, partners, children, all creating a distracting hub-bub as they made happy comments about the forthcoming mythical marriage. The whole scene was hopelessly out of control, absolute chaos and getting worse by the second. "Please don't be angry with us, Hannah," her mother was pleading.

"Maureen, she has no reason to be angry with us," her father instantly argued.

"I'm not angry," Hannah put in helplessly. "Just... surprised."

"Of course you are!" her mother agreed indulgently. "That was what it was meant to be. A lovely surprise!"

Twenty-four O'Neills descending on her—the whole family pressure- pack—with Tony haplessly cornered by their belief in a marriage that hadn't really been proposed or accepted. And she could see he was actually beginning to enjoy the act, egged on by her rather boisterous family. She hoped he realised this was all his own fault, using the getting-married line to torpedo Flynn's arrogant attempt to chat her up again.

"He's certainly a fine figure of a man, Hannah," her mother said admiringly.

"I like him much better than Flynn already," her father declared, intent on mending fences.

"Connor, we are not going to mention Flynn," her mother chided.

"And why not when he's to blame for Hannah playing this secret hand?" he growled. "Here she is, too uptight to tell us anything in case something goes wrong this time."

"That's not true, Dad." Hannah took a deep breath, feeling more and more wrong about letting this deception run on. Tony didn't have to save her face in front of her family. As for bringing his grandmother into it, that was just way over the top. Her family would simply have to understand that their information had been deliberately planted on a person who wasn't supposed to be in contact with them. Which reminded her... "Who told you about this?" she demanded.

Her mother grimaced apologetically as she replied, "Our Trish ran into Jodie Lovett at a fashion parade three weeks ago. Jodie made some catty remark about you and Tony King and your sister promptly dug her heels in and wouldn't let Jodie go until she had explained herself..." Her eyes telegraphed knowledge of highly suggestive intimacy as she added, "...very fully."

Hannah flushed, recalling that Jodie had seen Tony enter the Coral King apartment with her, as well as being witness to the dinner for two at Nautilis. No doubt Jodie had painted a vivid picture, and Trish, eager to believe her jilted sister did have a new fiancé, had probably elaborated on it to the rest of the family.

She could see them all speculating like crazy, especially when there had been no news from her about an engagement. Tony had never encountered the O'Neill clannishness—the networking that never stopped. It was one of the reasons Hannah had run two years ago. She couldn't have stood their overwhelming sympathy and caring, endlessly turning the knife in the wound of what had happened in their attempts to cosset and comfort.

"So when do you and Tony plan to marry?" her father demanded to know.

"Dad..." She heaved a sigh and gathered herself to lay out the truth, "...we haven't even..."

"The ring!" Trish called out excitedly, breaking from the pack around Tony, the lovely auburn hair she'd inherited from their father—although his was now white—being flipped over her shoulder as she rushed forward, completely forgetting the sinuous grace she used on the catwalk as a top- line model. "Show us the ring, Hannah!"

It was the last straw of this whole ridiculous mess! Hannah glared at her busybody younger sister, opened her mouth and began to say, "I haven't got..."

"She hasn't got it on," Tony loudly overrode her, drawing her gaze to his as he parted the cluster of O'Neills and strode towards her, his eyes transmitting an unmistakable command that Hannah let things be.

Which threw her into more turmoil. She didn't want to let Tony down, but couldn't he see how much out of hand this could get if they kept feeding the misunderstanding?

"Hannah doesn't like to wear the ring when she's working—preparing food, cooking fish, wiping up, using her hands all the time," he explained.

All very reasonable. Hannah's heart was sinking at his persistence with the story. He was pinning her to it instead of...

"So I keep it in my pocket for her."

All eyes turned to him as he pulled out a small jewellery box from his shorts pocket and held it out on the palm of his hand for everyone to see. It was like a conjuring trick. Hannah couldn't believe it. Her parents moved aside to give him room to reach the galley counter directly in front of her and he placed the black velvet box on it—unmistakably a ring box. Even Hannah's eyes were glued to it now and it certainly wasn't disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Give me your hand, Hannah."

She did. It seemed to her that her left hand lifted of its own accord.

Tony opened the box, plucked out the ring, held her hand steady, and slid a fabulous emerald ring onto her third finger. The brilliant green gem winked up at her as if to say, "Here I am, as promised, all yours."

"Well, the cat's out of the bag now," Megan muttered smugly.

And it was! Everyone was oohing and aahing over the ring Tony had put on her hand, on her engagement finger, a very real, very serious ring that spoke more convincingly than any words could. If she tried to deny it...no, that option was gone. They would all think she was mad, treat her as mad, not realising that Tony had swept away her right to choose.

Her heart quivered at the sheer boldness of his move. He had to have ordered this ring for her, planned a proposal of marriage. How could he have made up his mind so fast?

Panic welled up in her. It was too fast.

Much too fast.

"Take it back, Tony," More panic...did she really want him to? "Keep it for later," she hastily tagged on.

Later...when they were alone together...when this madhouse with her family was behind them...and she had time to think. All she knew now was she couldn't hand out a public rejection. The emerald ring was too serious. It forced her to look at what could be... if she truly was the only woman in the world for Tony King.