Australian Outback Kings / The Cattle King's Mistress / The Playboy King's Wife / The Pleasure King's Bride (18 page)

The call was disconnected before Nathan could press the point. He hoped Tommy's confidence was not misplaced. A snake had a habit of wriggling and spitting venom even when it was spiked. Still, Tommy should know his own business. It was not only a matter of protecting Miranda. The resort was his baby.

Nathan smiled to himself as he moved out of the office and headed down the hall to Miranda's room where she'd gone to pack her clothes, ready to leave. He didn't mind the resort any more, despite the occasional irritation of tourists wandering where they shouldn't. It had brought him the gold he'd thought he'd never find. True gold. And he'd staked his claim to it. His charming and gregarious brother could win as many kudos as he liked. It wouldn't win Miranda. She was his and his mind was set on keeping her his. Whatever it took.

He knocked on her door, the memory of last night's love-making fresh in his mind. Sleep had been minimal but he didn't feel tired. He'd never felt more vibrantly alive, excitement stirring through him again as she called out, “Come in,” the words reminding him of her sexual openness, inviting all he wanted of her and revelling in every intimacy.

He stepped into her room, itching to hold her once more, and the anxious eyes she turned to him spurred him on.

“Is it all right? Have they gone?”

“Yes.”

She sagged into his embrace, her arms winding around his neck so the full lush femininity of her was pressed against him. He couldn't resist flattening his palm across the pit of her back, fitting her even closer as he lifted his other hand to stroke away her worry lines.

“Tommy assures me Hewson won't be coming back. It's safe for you to return to the resort.”

“How did he handle it?” she asked, uncertainty still clouding her eyes.

“He insists we come and find out.” He smiled to reassure her. “Tommy enjoys a bit of boasting.”

She sighed, her breasts heaving sensuously. He'd never been so horny in his entire life. Difficult to push temptation aside but it was time for business now and Tommy would not appreciate being kept waiting.

“I just hope there aren't any nasty repercussions,” she said, still fretful.

“Not on King's Eden, Miranda,” he promised with absolute confidence, and kissed her frown away. “Ready to go?”

“Yes.” Trust and courage glowed in her eyes.

His heart kicked into a joyous beat at this further evidence that his instincts had been right all along. It had simply been a matter of breaking through her barriers for her real character to be revealed and everything made sense to him now. Whatever had made Miranda Wade, the result was she was made for him. There was not one response from her that didn't fit want he wanted, what he craved.

With this assurance dancing through his mind, he broke away and picked up her bag. He would take her back to the resort and this tourist season would be long enough for her to know the life she would be taking on with him, but he had little doubt about the choice she would make. It had to be.

He took her hand. She looked at him. It was more than a physical link and she knew it. The bonding was there in her eyes. However many partings there would be, Nathan told himself none of them would change what they were to each other, and his soul filled with happiness at the thought. He would not be walking alone through life. Miranda would walk with him.

The drive back to the resort reminded Miranda of the drive away from it on Friday night…the confusion and fear that had churned through her then. The weekend had certainly sorted out where she stood with Nathan and she could almost bless Bobby Hewson for having unwittingly forced an outcome she hadn't dared to believe in a few days ago. Nevertheless, anxiety still fretted at the edges of her happiness.

She had brought this trouble to King's Eden. Inadvertently, but nonetheless irrevocably. She would feel responsible if Bobby did some damage to the resort's good reputation and she couldn't bring herself to believe he wouldn't. It was impossible to trust the man or his word.

Unlike Nathan. She feasted her eyes on him as he drove, loving every aspect of him. He wasn't just big on the outside. He was big all through. Her skin prickled in sensual delight, just remembering the pleasures they'd revelled in last night, how she'd felt so wonderfully enveloped by him, safe and cossetted, belonging to him and with him.

He hadn't said he loved her, but wanting her to think of sharing his life—all the years ahead of them—and hoping she wanted to be
the mistress of his heart…
why would he crave her love, if he didn't feel love for her? The words would come—she was sure of it—when he felt the time was right. Though she didn't really need until the end of the tourist season to know what she already knew…that nothing was going to change her mind or heart. Nathan was the man for her.

Though she did owe an obligation to Tommy, to work out her contract at the resort…if he wanted her to. It might be better if she didn't, should there be any risk of Bobby spreading damaging lies about the resort because she was the manager. Were Nathan and Tommy right in believing they had fixed the problem?

She hoped so.

It would be good to lay the past to rest, knowing it could never come back to hurt her or those she cared about, and that included everyone who'd supported her at King's Eden. As Nathan drove through the resort to the homestead, she felt she had established herself as a person in her own right here. Maybe that was the effect of the outback, bringing out one's inner resources to meet the challenge of it.

Sam and Tommy were waiting on their arrival, their stances on the homestead verandah reflecting the sparring mood typical of any conversation between them. However, attention was instantly focused on Nathan and Miranda as they alighted from the Land Cruiser. All personal wrangling halted as the
new couple
were scrutinised for sexual signals.

“Well, before I skip off,” Sam addressed them, “you'd better tell me if I'm to damp down the rumours or let them fly. That sleazy creep, Hewson, yapped on about Miranda, having her claws into you, Nathan, and I told him flat that if she did, it was precisely where you wanted her claws to be because no one got to you unless you opened up to them.”

“How very perceptive of you, Sam!” Nathan answered good-humouredly.

“So?” She gave him a piercing look. “What am I to say?”

“That I take intense pleasure in every one of Miranda's claw-marks and can't wait for more.”

“What?” Sam's eyes goggled at Miranda. “You two truly are an item?”

“Yes,” she answered, casting a chiding look at the man beside her. “Though I'm not really into clawing.”

“Oh, boy, this is good! This is really good!” Sam enthused, then turned an arch look to Tommy who had apparently taken the news with bland equanimity. “Looks like you'll have to make do with Celine thinking you're adorable. And that will only last until she hooks up with Jared in Broome and gets her lustful little hands on him.”

“I couldn't give a damn about Celine,” Tommy retorted with a bored look. “It was just part of the game.”

“And you're
such
a good game player!”

Sam stepped off the verandah and pasted a brilliant smile on her face for Nathan and Miranda. “I'm glad for both of you.” She clapped Nathan's shoulder in passing. “I'll try to get Miranda to let her nails grow, Nathan. If ever a man deserves what he wants, it's you.”

With that final little snipe at Tommy, she walked off jauntily, leaving him glaring after her.

“One of these days when that little witch gets off her broomstick…”

“You'll beat her with it?” Nathan drily surmised.

Tommy huffed feelingly. “You couldn't even beat submission out of Sam.”

“You don't want submission, Tommy,” Nathan said knowingly.

It won a crooked smile. “No, but a bit of respect would go a long way.” His eyes flashed satisfaction. “Which is what I taught Hewson. As well as ramming it home that nobody does us a damage without paying a price.”

“I haven't had a chance to thank you for taking over for me, Tommy,” Miranda breathed, acutely aware of what she owed both brothers.

His face broke into a cheerful grin. “One of the best moments of my life…Nathan actually asking me to stand shoulder to shoulder with him against the enemy. For that alone, you're always going to be special to me, Miranda.”

He stepped back and waved them onto the verandah. “Let's go inside and park your bag. Time's moving on. I'll have to be leaving myself in a minute.”

“Not before you tell us the nuts and bolts,” Nathan said as they entered the homestead.

“Just got to collect my stuff from the office.”

“Tommy…”

“Now, Nathan, give me credit,” Tommy crowed, wagging an admonishing finger as he headed them towards the hall leading to the administration wing. “I can spin a story better than most.”

“True.”

“And our guests love outback stories.” His eyes twinkled with teasing triumph. “So over dinner on Saturday night, I regaled them with the legend of Lachlan's law.”

“Lachlan's law?” Miranda queried.

Tommy waved dismissively. “Nathan can tell you.”

“A marked change of attitude on Sunday?” Nathan quizzed his brother.

“Like magic it was,” Tommy assured him. “Sam had the highly questionable pleasure of being the Hewsons' guide all day Sunday, and she reported there was no further mention of Miranda and no digs about management. Of course, I did finish up my story with the reflection that you, Nathan, were made in the same mould as our father and held in the same regard by Albert's tribe.”

“Albert?” Miranda couldn't help asking, not understanding what the Aboriginal guide and didgeridoo player had to do with this.

“A particularly vivid touch of reality to the story since they'd met him that morning,” Tommy remarked smugly. He grinned at Nathan. “Then last night I laid the pearls on Celine, shovelling the pitch that her skin was made for them, the perfect sheen for her beguiling perfection, etcetera etcetera and offering up Jared to show her the best in the world. And that, my dear brother, is guaranteed to cost Hewson many, many thousands of dollars.”

“The price of pride!” Nathan said, and laughed. “I salute you, Tommy. Forget the shoulder to shoulder. You can stand in front of me any time.”

“I shall take that accolade and shove it down Sam's throat on some appropriate occasion,” Tommy said with relish. “Meanwhile—” he lowered his brows at both of them as they turned into the administration wing “—am I going to have to rearrange management here?”

“You can count on one season, Tommy,” Nathan answered. “The rest is up to Miranda. Her choice.”

“Right!” he said in some relief, halting at the office door and gesturing them on to Miranda's private quarters. “I'm off then. No playing on my time, Nathan.”

“Your time is much appreciated.” A pause for a warm handshake. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

Tommy disappeared into the office and Nathan walked on with Miranda who was silently rejoicing in how clearly and openly he had declared his interest in her, both to Sam and to Tommy. One season…then the choice was hers. No backing off from him. This wasn't pillow-talk. This was real.

She unlocked her apartment door. Nathan followed her in with her bag, moving to place it on the bed, ready for her to unpack.

“What was Lachlan's law?” she asked, closing the door to seal the privacy she wanted for just a few more minutes before taking up the reins of management again.

He set the bag down and turned around, a curious, assessing look on his face as though wondering how she would react to it. “Our family has a long history of driving serpents out of Eden, Miranda,” he said, eerily conjuring up the thought she'd had about Eden on her journey here.

“In the old days, there was no law in these parts, except what we instigated and practised ourselves,” Nathan went on. “For any isolated community like a cattle station to work well, a harmony had to be maintained on all levels. That remains true. Always will.”

She nodded. “It's true of this resort, too, maintaining a good morale amongst the staff. I appreciate how important it is, Nathan.”

“Critical to holding the right balance,” he agreed. “The outback strips us of easy escapes. We have to live with what's here. And from the beginning, the Kings forged a close connection to the local tribe of Aborigines. It was of mutual benefit. They were always assured of food and shelter, and having a natural affinity to the land, they were by far the best stockmen we could have working the cattle.”

“This is Albert's tribe you're talking about?”

“Yes. Twenty-seven years ago, Albert's father was the foreman at the station, a highly respected tribal elder whom my father trusted to carry through any task. A drifter arrived one day, asking for a job, said he was a trained mechanic. My father set him to work repairing machinery. A few weeks later, when the men were out at the stock-camps, he broke into the supply store, stole a bottle of whisky, got himself drunk, then bashed and raped Albert's mother.”

“Oh, no!” Miranda groaned, hating the thought of any woman being so brutally victimised.

“Albert, who was eight at the time, helped her up to the homestead. My mother took her in, and sent both Albert and me out riding for my father. All the men came in because justice had to be seen to be done, especially when it involved a white man against a black woman. The rapist displayed the attitude that any abuse against Aborigines was acceptable and shouldn't be punished.”

“How can people think like that?” Miranda cried.

“It was not how any of us thought on the station and if a strong stand wasn't taken on it, there would have been a very serious breach of trust amongst our people. I hope you can see that, Miranda, because King's Eden runs on the understanding—forged through generations—that the Kings look after their people.”