The Rancher's Adopted Family (6 page)

Of course she knew that.

She had never, in her wildest dreams, expected Rachel’s ex to be interested in her. She just wished he hadn’t held her hand this evening, hadn’t made that one slow, deliberate stroke on her skin. She was quite, quite sure she would remember that slide of his thumb for the rest of her life.

But how idiotic was that?

Anyone would think she was a trembling virgin who’d been locked away in a tower for a hundred years and knew absolutely nothing about men. Truth be told, she’d had experience, but she had a terrible habit of picking the wrong kind of guy. Each relationship had ended unhappily.

If she had any brains she’d avoid men completely. How on earth had she allowed this man, this
highly unsuitable
man, to reduce her to such a pathetic state in such a short space of time?

She was a
fool
!

At the sound of Seth’s footsteps, she spun around.

‘All quiet on the nursery front,’ he said, smiling.

‘Is Bella asleep?’

‘Just about.’ He came and stood close beside Amy. ‘And judging by the aromas coming from the kitchen, I’d say our dinner’s almost ready.’

‘Something smells amazing. Is it curry?’

‘Seafood curry. One of Ming’s specialties.’

‘Wow. So we’re in for a treat.’

On cue, Ming appeared with a bamboo tray holding a bowl of steaming jasmine rice and a large blue and white covered pot, which he placed in the centre of the table.

‘Thanks, Ming,’ Seth said with the very slightest hint of an amused smile and a courteous dip of his head.

‘Enjoy.’ Ming bestowed them both with an eloquent grin before disappearing discreetly.

Seth pulled out a chair for Amy and, to her dismay, the old-fashioned gesture set her heart speeding again.

She kept her gaze lowered as he sat opposite her and she told herself again to remember that she was the guardian of Bella’s future. That was her role here.

It was time to forget the handholding, the suntan, and the heavenly blue eyes. Seth was her host and she was his guest. No more, no less.

She took a deep breath and smelled their fragrant meal and the scent of frangipani. In the glow of the candlelight, Seth’s shirt gleamed whitely and his throat was a dark shadow above the V of his open collar. She concentrated on safer things—the smooth gleam of silver cutlery, the crisp white napkins and the fine matchstick placemats dyed a deep watermelon pink.

Helping herself to fluffy spoonfuls of the aromatic rice and curry, she made a stab at polite conversation. ‘I have to keep reminding myself that this is a cattle station,’ she said. ‘I feel as if I’m on holidays at a beautiful resort.’

‘Well, this should be a holiday for you. I’m sure you deserve a break,’ Seth said with a smile. ‘But tomorrow I’ll take you and Bella to see the rest of Serenity. You’ll soon see there are plenty of cattle.’

‘How many?’

‘At the moment we have around seven thousand.’

Amy’s eyebrows lifted. ‘More than a few, then.’ Between mouthfuls, she added, ‘This food is sensational.’

‘Ming’s outdone himself tonight.’

Seth looked and sounded amused, which confused her.

‘Do you dine out here alone, when you don’t have guests?’

He shook his head. ‘Hans and Ming often join me here. Sometimes I eat in the kitchen, or over with the stockmen. It varies.’

‘I wish I’d known that. I would have been more than happy for Hans and Ming to have joined us tonight.’

‘What? And spoil their fun?’

Amy frowned.

‘Those guys see so few women,’ Seth explained, gesturing to the candle and the bowl of flowers. ‘Hans adores his garden, and Ming loves his cooking, and they live for the chance to do this kind of thing.’

‘But they probably think—’

‘Relax. I’ve explained our situation to them.’

‘What did you tell them?’

‘That you’re a friend of Rachel’s. That you and Bella are in the north on business. Just passing through.’

Amy nodded, reassured. She wondered if Seth would tell the others about Bella’s relationship to him once she was gone.

As she thought about their departure in a few days’ time, she realised, with a start, how very far away Melbourne felt. Already, it was almost as if she’d lived there in another lifetime.

She looked out into the moonlit garden, to the dark wall of trees beyond, and the twinkling stars peeping above the forest canopy. This alternative reality had already wrapped itself around her senses. Her heart.

‘I love these open verandas,’ she said. ‘They’re such a good idea. Like living in the garden.’

‘The best way to live in the tropics.’

‘But what happens in bad weather? Don’t you have cyclones here?’

‘We have built-in storm shutters that roll down. This whole area can be made completely secure.’

‘That’s clever. Who designed that? Your uncle?’

Seth nodded.

‘Was there a woman involved? It’s all so—so lovely.’

‘No woman. My uncle had a flair for design. He liked to be surrounded by beautiful things.’

A shadow crossed Seth’s face like a cloud over the moon.

Ever so casually, Amy asked, ‘Did Rachel stay here in this house when she was working here?’

Seth blinked and the cloud vanished. His eyes were suddenly bright and alert with more than a hint of wariness. ‘No, Rachel stayed over in the barracks with the other staff.’

‘I see.’ Amy wasn’t sure what to make of that information and she paid careful attention to her food.

‘She also spent some time on one of the islands,’ Seth said.

‘With you?’ Oh, good grief. Amy couldn’t believe she’d asked such a pointed question, but now that it was out she couldn’t take it back.

Seth, however, dodged her question with the practised skill of a politician. ‘She liked to take the dinghy across to Turtle Island on her days off,’ he said. ‘She liked the view to the west, looking back to the mainland, especially at sunset.’

‘I suppose that’s why she called her book
Northern Sunsets
.’

He lowered his gaze. ‘I dare say.’

She could all too easily imagine Rachel with this highly desirable man, alone on a tropical island, watching the sunset, but the thought made her ridiculously miserable and her throat prickled painfully as she tried to swallow.

‘Let’s not talk about Rachel.’ Seth was watching her carefully. ‘I’m sure the memories must be upsetting for you.’

She nodded.

‘I’d like to hear all about you.’

‘Me?’ Her head shot up and she stared at him. ‘Why?’

As if the answer was obvious, he shrugged. ‘You’re Bella’s guardian.’

‘Oh, right. Yes, of course.’ Why else would Seth be interested in her? He had every right to check out his daughter’s protector.

Tamping down the tiniest spurt of disappointment, Amy wondered where she should start.

‘I know you work in marketing,’ Seth prompted. ‘Does that create difficulties for you with childcare?’

‘I do some of my work from home,’ she said defensively. ‘But not all. Do you have a problem with day care?’

His eyes widened. ‘I know very little about it. If you’re single, I guess you don’t have an option.’

‘That’s right. I don’t have an option, but it’s not a problem. There’s a wonderful day-care centre quite near me, and I have a big, extended family so I have a great back-up team.’

‘Is your family in Melbourne?’

She nodded. ‘I have two older brothers, both married with kids. And my parents, of course. Aunts, uncles. We have tons of family gatherings—Christmas, birthdays, Easter, Mother’s Day. You name it, we celebrate. Any excuse for a Ross family get-together.’

‘Sounds like fun,’ Seth said, but a tight note had crept into his voice.

Sensitive to his distinct lack of family, Amy took her enthusiasm down a notch. ‘Most of our gatherings are fun. But big families can be claustrophobic at times.’

‘How does your family feel about Bella?’

Was this a trick question? ‘They adore her, of course.’

‘Of course.’ Seth’s face was grim as he speared a piece of fish with his fork. ‘And what about your boyfriend?’

Amy tried to keep her tone casual. ‘What boyfriend?’

Seth’s gaze locked with hers. ‘There’s got to be a boyfriend. A girl like you must have a host of admirers.’

She almost choked. ‘I don’t have anyone at the moment. There was someone, but it—it didn’t work out.’

It was weird how quickly Dominic had faded from her thoughts. Did it mean she was shallow that, after two months of living with Bella, she rarely thought about him? Now, in Seth’s company, she didn’t want to think about Dominic at all.

In the glow of the flickering candle, Seth’s eyes had turned such a deep blue she feared she might drown in them.

‘If there’s no boyfriend,’ he said softly, ‘why are you blushing?’

Because of the way you’re looking at me
.

‘Amy?’

She chewed nervously at her lower lip, unwilling to admit to Bella’s father the exact reason that had prompted Dominic’s departure. If he knew Bella was involved he might try to persuade her to leave his daughter here.

‘Did this man break your heart?’

‘Is that any of your business?’

‘I thought we were having an adult conversation.’

‘Yes, we are.’ She let out an impatient huff.

‘Did he?’

‘Break my heart? No. I—I don’t think so.’

‘You don’t
think
so?’ Seth skewered her with a searching, no-holds-barred gaze. ‘That isn’t possible. If your heart was broken you’d know about it.’

‘You sound as if you’re speaking from experience.’

He shrugged, but didn’t answer, and she realised with a sharp pang that it was true. Seth had been hurt badly and he still carried the scars.

With her eyes on the bowl of floating flowers, she forced herself to ask, ‘Was it Rachel? Did she break your heart?’

‘No, not Rachel. It was years ago—long before she came here.’

Puzzled, Amy looked up, but he smiled at her with a surprisingly gentle look that sent her pulse spiralling helplessly. At the same moment she caught a movement
out of the corner of her eye and she turned to see Bella in her green and white pyjamas, coming towards them across the veranda.

‘Baby.’ Amy jumped to her feet. ‘What are you doing out here?’

‘I waked up.’

Hurrying to the little girl, Amy scooped her up quickly and hugged her close. She smelled warm and sleepy, and she was rubbing at her eyes with one fist while she clutched her pink pig with the other.

‘You didn’t kiss me goodnight,’ Bella said with a hint of bossiness.

Aware that Seth was watching them, Amy tried to be stern. ‘But you sent me to find Seth. You wanted him to kiss you.’

‘Want you, too,’ Bella said, sticking out her bottom lip stubbornly.

‘If I take you back to bed now and give you a kiss, you must promise to go straight back to sleep.’

‘Sef, too.’

‘But you’ve already had a goodnight kiss from Seth.’

Bella looked mutinous ‘Sef, too.’

Amy sent a helpless glance back to Seth, and saw that he was already on his feet.

‘It’s OK,’ he said, coming towards them with a slow, easy smile. ‘I can give Bella two kisses in one night.’

‘Well, yes. Of course.’ Amy hoped she didn’t sound flustered.

He followed her to the bedroom, and she was far too aware of his presence as she turned on the lamp, and rearranged Bella’s toys around her pillow, then helped the little girl into bed and retucked the sheets.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she gave Bella’s soft
cheek a kiss. ‘Night, night.’ Gave her another hug. ‘Don’t let the bed bugs bite.’

She stood and shuffled in the narrow space between the twin beds to make room for Seth, who suddenly seemed enormously tall and broad shouldered. And excessively male.

Bella’s eyes shone as he perched on the bed beside her and she grinned with delight as he kissed her.

‘Goodnight, possum.’ Gently, he tucked a strand of hair from her face. ‘Now close your eyes.’

Bella obeyed.

‘Sleep tight.’

As Seth stood up in the confined space his shoulder bumped Amy’s arm and heat flashed through her like a skyrocket taking off.

She struggled to sound calm as she spoke to Bella. ‘I’m going to leave the lamp on for ten minutes, and you must go to sleep.’

Before the little girl could think up another reason to delay her, she turned and left the room, and Seth followed.

Outside, beyond the bedroom’s closed door, she sent him a nervous smile. ‘I do hope she actually nods off this time.’

‘She’s not used to this house yet,’ he said smoothly.

Amy knew this was true, but his indulgent attitude surprised her.

‘She’s used to sleeping in strange beds,’ she said, and then, to her annoyance, she blushed again.

Seth’s eyes sparkled with poorly concealed amusement.

‘What’s so funny?’ she snapped.

‘I was thinking—’ He paused, looking at her, and the light in his eyes made her chest squeeze tight. ‘I
was thinking that it wouldn’t be fair if Bella gets all the kisses.’

Amy stopped breathing, and Seth took a step closer.

S
ETH
told himself it was a simple thing.

He was merely being playful, giving Amy a friendly and innocent kiss on the cheek just like the one he’d given Bella.

So it made no sense that, from the moment he touched her—merely brushed a wisp of her hair from her cheek—he felt fine, electric tremors all over his body.

Amy was standing still. Very still…
Too
still…standing with her eyes closed…

Seth could see the delicate blue veins on her eyelids, and he could smell faint traces of the jasmine soap she’d used in the shower. He focused on her smooth, soft cheek and tried to ignore the softer-than-soft bow of her lips, but, for some reason that made no sense at all, he didn’t find his way to her cheek…

He dipped lower…

Until his mouth brushed against hers…and they shared a beat of trembling hesitation…and then a gentle, lingering touch…the most tender of hellos.

And Amy didn’t pull away.

Seth felt a subtle increase in the pressure of her mouth against his, and then her lips parted, yielding
and warm. She tasted of the summer night and his blood began to roar.

His heart pounded, his skin burned…the homestead veranda faded and the entire universe became Amy.

Sweetly erotic Amy.

Her mouth was so soft and warm, just how he knew it would be. Oh, God. He’d been fighting this attraction from the moment he saw her in the Tamundra pub, and now she was offering heaven…

He wanted nothing but this…. Amy, breathless and needy, her skin silky and hot under his hand.

Her kiss…was such a perfect thing…

But she went suddenly still and pulled away.

Seth realised that Ming was there.

‘I—I’ve left your desserts ready in the kitchen,’ Ming said, eyes wide with poorly suppressed delight, then he scuttled sideways like a crab down the hallway, as if he couldn’t hurry away from them fast enough.

As Seth struggled to breathe he heard Amy’s voice calling, ‘Thanks for dinner, Ming. The seafood curry was sensational.’

She sounded astonishingly calm, not at all like a woman who’d been drowning in a whirlpool of passion.

With her back very straight, her chin high, she turned and sailed ahead of Seth onto the veranda, leaving him reeling in her wake.

He took a swift, steadying breath. If there was one thing he’d learned to do well, it was to hide his feelings. No way did he want Amy to guess how seriously he’d been rocked by that kiss.

Once they were out of Ming’s earshot he asked, almost calmly, ‘Do you think Bella will settle now?’

Amy stared at him blankly, as if she hadn’t a clue
what he was talking about. Hastily, she looked the other way. ‘Sorry, what did you say? I—I w-was distracted.’

This was better. Perhaps they were on the same wavelength after all.

She lifted her hands in a nervous gesture of helplessness. ‘I—I was hoping Ming hasn’t got the wrong idea.’

‘He’s discreet, like all my staff.’

‘Well, yes, I’m sure he is,’ she said unhappily.

Seth opened his mouth to apologise, but swiftly changed his mind. He wasn’t about to apologise for kissing a lovely girl in the moonlight.

And he wasn’t prepared to admit that the kiss might have been a mistake, even though it was almost certainly a huge error of judgement. He’d let his desire for Amy complicate a situation that was already thorny enough. He would have to tell her the truth sooner rather than later, but he couldn’t face it now. The painful story was still raw inside him.
I’ll do it soon
, he thought.
When I’ve had more time to prepare
.

For now, he decided, it was better to simply change the subject.

‘Are you ready for dessert?’ Before Amy could object, Seth added, quickly, ‘You have to try Ming’s watermelon balls in green ginger wine.’

The ghost of a smile flickered. ‘That does sound tempting.’

‘Take a seat. I’ll be back in a sec—as soon as I collect the desserts from the kitchen.’

As Seth headed off Amy let out her breath on a shuddering sigh. She felt as if she’d been holding her breath ever since he’d kissed her, and now she was grateful for this moment alone, for this chance to
close her eyes while she relived that astonishing experience.

It was too bad that Ming had seen them, but she wasn’t nearly as worried as she’d made out.

What she wondered now was how she’d lived so long, and dated so many guys, without discovering that one kiss could be a phenomenal, life-changing moment.

Gently, with a sense of wonderment, she traced the soft skin on her lips as she remembered the hot, out-of-this-world thrill that had jolted through her body as Seth’s mouth settled against hers.

She’d give anything to experience that sensation again—
everything
: her job, her life in Melbourne, the close contact with her family.

She’d never felt anything remotely as exciting when Dominic had kissed her. Small wonder their relationship hadn’t survived. There’d been no real chemistry.

Chemistry. That was the secret ingredient in tonight’s kiss, wasn’t it? Mysterious, magical, astonishing chemistry.

But chemical reactions could also be dangerous and she had to remember that now as she heard Seth’s footsteps returning.

She had to remember that Seth was potentially dangerous. Chances were, every woman reacted that way when he kissed them. Especially that one woman who’d broken his heart.

And Rachel
.

A thud of disappointment brought Amy back to earth. What on earth had she been thinking? She couldn’t afford to forget, even for a moment, why she was here. Clearly, this man was indeed dangerous. He had seduced her best friend and made her pregnant and here
she was getting into a flap over a tiny kiss that probably meant nothing more to him than yet another woman falling at his feet.

‘I think you’ll find this dessert is the perfect second course after curry,’ Seth said as he reached her.

‘Thank you,’ she said primly.

He set a green glass bowl in front of her and she caught the sweet scent of watermelon mingled with the deeper spiciness of the green ginger wine.

‘That smell reminds me of Christmas,’ she said, determined to steer her thoughts onto a safer track.

‘It certainly reminds me of summer. Tuck in.’

She watched as Seth slipped a marble-sized ball of lush pink fruit from his spoon to his mouth.

Oh, for heaven’s sake!
Already she was thinking about his mouth, about his kiss—so perfect.

‘What’s Christmas like here?’ she asked, trying again for a distraction. ‘Do you usually have a big party?’

‘Not any more. We used to throw parties, but they’re not really my scene.’

‘That’s a pity’ She looked around her at the open-plan living spaces on the veranda, and she pictured paper lanterns in the garden. ‘This is a perfect house for a party, and with Ming to help with catering it would be a breeze, and so much fun.’

‘So you like parties, do you?’

‘Most parties,’ she said. ‘I sometimes have to organise them as part of my job—to help clients with networking, or to launch new products.’

As she said this Amy was hit by memories of the launch party on the night Rachel died and she felt another sickening thud, deep inside, as if her heart had crashed from a great height.

‘Amy, are you all right?’

She reached for her water glass and took a deep sip. ‘I’m OK,’ she said. ‘It just catches me every so often—the pain, you know—when I think about Rachel.’

‘Yeah,’ he said softly. ‘I do know what you mean. And it lasts a long time, I’m afraid. I still miss my dad after all these years, and it’s been worse since my uncle died.’

She was surprised that Seth hadn’t mentioned mourning for Rachel, too. Surely he must feel some degree of grief for Bella’s mother?

For Amy the smallest memory of Rachel could trigger pain—Rachel’s habit of flicking her long, pale hair over her shoulders. Her deep, throaty laugh. A punchline from the zany jokes she loved to tell.

But she wasn’t prepared to share these memories with Seth. It was far safer to leave the intimate details of his history with Rachel where they belonged—firmly in the past.

Unhappily, she scooped up a spoonful of wine-drenched fruit. ‘Can you tell me more about your uncle? Did he always live here?’

Seth shook his head. ‘He started off in Sydney like the rest of my family. Moved to Cape York in his late twenties.’

‘To be a cattleman?’

‘Yeah.’ Seth smiled. ‘Left a thriving family business to become a struggling grazier.’

‘That’s intriguing.’ She dipped her spoon into the bowl. These watermelon balls were amazing. ‘What was the family business?’

‘Have you ever heard of Reardon and Grace?’

She shook her head.

‘It’s a very old importing and exporting business.
My great-great-grandfather started it way back, and he owned one of the first warehouses in Sydney.’

‘Wow.’

‘All the men in my family have played a role in the firm, including my father. Seth was the first to leave.’

‘Seth? Was that your uncle’s name, too?’

‘Yes. He was my father’s younger brother.’

Amy frowned. Somehow, this information seemed significant, but she was too caught up in this story to stop and puzzle it out. ‘Why did he leave Sydney?’

Seth’s mouth twisted into a wry smile and she winced.

‘Am I being too nosy?’

‘Not really.’ His steady gaze met hers. ‘But it’s rather a sad tale.’

Unwilling to push him, she took another spoonful of her dessert.

‘You see, my uncle was madly in love,’ Seth said quietly. ‘And everything was fine until he brought his girlfriend home and introduced her to his older brother.’

‘To your father?’

He nodded. ‘He wasn’t my father then, of course. This was before I was born.’

‘But your father fell in love with the same woman as your uncle?’

‘Yes, and he married her.’

The penny dropped, making Amy gasp. ‘So this woman was your mother. Your uncle was in love with your mother.’

‘Completely and hopelessly, I’m afraid.’

‘The poor man.’

Amy could picture it all. Seth’s uncle, this other Seth Reardon, must have been so upset when he lost the woman he loved, that he’d left his comfortable life in
Sydney and travelled all the way up here to try to forget her. To start a new life.

‘Did he have to start here from scratch?’ she asked.

‘More or less. It was hard work, but he took to the life like he was born and bred for it, and he soon toughened up. You know what they say? When the going gets tough, the tough get going. He pitched in with the fencing gangs. Joined in the mustering. Helped to build this house. He thrived on the life here.’

‘But he never married?’

‘No.’ Seth’s brow furrowed in a deep frown. ‘When my father died, my mother brought me here, and I think my uncle had hoped that she’d stay.’

‘But she went to America?’

‘Chasing her dream.’ His face darkened. ‘This is no life for a woman.’

‘Why couldn’t a woman live here?’ Amy asked. ‘It’s beautiful.’

‘The house and garden might be beautiful,’ Seth said tersely. ‘But that’s all there is here to keep a woman happy. There are no shops or cafés. No chance for catching up with girlfriends. The nearest hairdresser is in Cairns.’

Amy wanted to disagree. She knew Serenity was remote, but she suspected that a woman could be very happy here. She would have to be the right woman, of course, with the right man.

But if the two of them loved each other deeply, if the chemistry was right, why couldn’t they be blissfully happy?

It wasn’t a question she could ask when Seth’s mother and Rachel and possibly the girl who’d broken his heart had not been prepared to stay.

Amy shivered at the thought of Seth’s loneliness, which he seemed to accept as his fate. She longed to reach out and touch him tenderly, to cup her hand against the rugged line of his jaw, to brush his lips with the pad of her thumb, to show him that she cared.

She longed to rekindle the passion of their kiss, and now, with no Ming to interrupt them, who knew where it might lead? Amy didn’t care. She wanted it, wanted him.

But that’s crazy
.

Oh, God. For an insane minute there, she’d almost forgotten Rachel, Bella, her job, her family…She’d almost been ready to throw every responsibility to the four winds…in exchange for a night with Seth.

Shaking, shocked by her foolishness, she reached across the table for his empty bowl. She spoke carefully. ‘Thank you for the delicious meal. I’ll take these things through to the kitchen.’

Instantly he was on his feet. ‘No, you don’t have to worry about the kitchen. You’re a guest.’

Avoiding the fire in his gaze, she said, ‘But I haven’t performed a single helpful task since I arrived. Let me rinse these couple of bowls to keep my hand in.’

He gave her a puzzled smile. ‘If you insist.’

‘I insist,’ she said quietly but emphatically. ‘Goodnight, Seth.’ She walked away swiftly, carrying the dishes, unable to return his smile.

A noise woke Amy, a sudden flapping of wings outside her room and the haunting call of a bird, which she thought must have been an owl. She rolled over and looked through the moon-streaked darkness to Bella’s bed, hoping the sound hadn’t woken her.

Fortunately, the little girl remained very still, undis
turbed. Amy rolled onto her back again and closed her eyes. She crossed her fingers, hoping she would drift back to sleep.

She was tired. Really tired. She hadn’t slept well since she’d left Melbourne and right now she wanted to stay drowsy and dopey. She needed to sleep, and not to think.

But already she could feel her brain whirring to fretful life, spinning thoughts…throwing up questions…

About…Seth.

And that kiss…

It was so easy now, in the middle of the night, to let her mind zoom in on the details of that kiss, to live it again in close focus.

She could feel again the intimate brush of his lips against hers, the imprint of his hand at the small of her back, the nerve-tingly pleasure and the rush of delicious heat that had flooded her, the astonishing need, the glorious, overwhelming longing…