Sandra Hyatt - His Ring, Her Baby / His Bride for the Taking - His Ring, Her Baby / His Bride for the Taking

“Yes, but she’s finally on the mend. Jade’s looking after her now, when she’s not working all the hours under the sun, that is.”

“I wonder who your sister is like?” Linda teased, then her eyes widened. “Oh, I almost forgot. It’s Hugh’s parents’ thirty-fifth wedding anniversary tomorrow and we’re giving them a party in the restaurant. You must come, Kirk. They’d be heartbroken if you didn’t. Isn’t that right, Hugh?”

“You know they always had a soft spot for you,” Hugh said, going over to one of their guests who’d come in and made a beeline for the brochure stand.

“I don’t see how,” Kirk joked after him, and Vanessa had to wonder the same thing, too. The man had a hardness about him that didn’t translate into him being more a friend than a foe. Yet watching him here with Linda and Kirk—and he evidently treated his mother and sister well—didn’t fit. That hardness was more than skin deep, she was sure.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he added.

“Good,” Linda said, taking that for his word. “And if you don’t mind, you can keep an eye on Vanessa. She doesn’t know many people in Jackaroo Plains. She’s only been here from Sydney three weeks.”

Vanessa froze.

“It would be my pleasure,” she heard Kirk say.

She recovered quickly. Her cousin was a mother hen at times but she didn’t need looking after, and certainly not by a man who dined on women for breakfast.

“I’ll be fine, Linda. I don’t want to take Kirk away from the other guests.”

“You won’t,” he said, a purposeful gleam in his eyes sending a shock through her, though it shouldn’t have. He’d been making a move on her since he’d walked through the door, and mentally she was already his.

“There you are then,” Linda said, giving Vanessa an encouraging smile. All at once she tilted her head thoughtfully. “You’re looking quite flushed, sweetie. It’s this outback heat. You haven’t got the air-conditioning turned up high enough. You should go for a quick swim but don’t stay in the sun too long.”

Vanessa swallowed with difficulty. “What a good idea,” she said, not looking at Kirk.

Thankfully another guest came into the reception area just then, and with Hugh still busy with the previous guest, Linda came around the counter. “Here, cuz. Let me take over. You go have that swim.”

Vanessa didn’t need further prompting. She twirled toward the door marked Private, desperate to grab any excuse to get out of that man’s presence. She heard him tell the others he had to get home.

Then, “Vanessa?”

If only she could ignore him, but Linda and Hugh would think her rude.

She stopped and glanced over her shoulder. “Yes?”

“See you at the party,” he said, an intensity to his eyes that made her softly gasp.

Somehow she managed a jerky nod before making her escape. It hadn’t been an issue before now but tomorrow night she’d tell him he’d got it all wrong. He had to be told she was a widow. There was no way this man would want any involvement with a woman who was still mourning the man she loved.

Kirk Deverill would never accept being second best.

After six weeks away Kirk had looked forward to coming home but now as he drove toward Deverill Downs, he realized the news that his friends were leaving the area shouldn’t really have come as a surprise. He’d miss them. There weren’t many people he totally trusted like he did Hugh and Linda.

So why did his mind keep switching back to a beautiful, green-eyed woman with honey-blond hair? Tall and with a stunning figure, Vanessa Hamilton was a surprise find here in his hometown. A man would have to be six feet under not to want another look at those firm breasts, or at legs so long and slim they’d cling to him like warm sap on a gum tree.

He grimaced to himself. He was certainly waxing lyrical today. Being without a woman for a while did that to a man.

Okay, so that had been his choice, not the other way around. He’d gone to Sydney over a month ago to spend Christmas with his mother, who’d moved to the city after his father’s death. Then his mother had needed an operation and he’d ended up staying longer than expected when there had been a complication. She was fine now, but he’d been glad to be there for her and his sister.

And all that had put a curb on his sex life. Strangely he hadn’t cared. Running into a newly married Samantha, who’d made it clear she was quite willing to resume their affair, had left a bad taste in his mouth. He couldn’t believe three months ago he’d been ready to ask her to marry him. She was the type of woman who hadn’t wanted children and that had suited him perfectly. She’d lived in Sydney but he’d been certain she’d jump at the chance to marry him and move to the outback.

Instead she’d up and married one of his business acquaintances from the city, an older, richer guy who could give her more than “life” on a cattle station. The worse thing was that Kirk had known she would have married him if Marcus hadn’t come along.

How could he have read Samantha so wrong? She’d put on such a classy act, duping him into believing they might come to love each other and have a decent life together. Thank God she’d dumped him before he’d told her he was sterile. At least she didn’t have that power over him.

No woman ever would.

Bloody hell, he should have learned his lesson with Jillian and their one-night stand all those years ago at university. Claiming he was the father of her child when he’d known he’d used protection had made him suspicious and proven two things.

She was a liar.

And he was sterile.

Never would he fully trust another woman. Nor would he ever ask another woman to marry him, of that he was certain. He could have plenty of satisfying relationships without marriage. There were plenty of women who wanted nothing more than good company and good sex.

Even Vanessa Hamilton.

It wouldn’t be merely good sex with her. It would be great sex. She was a feisty one, that one. All that fire flashing in those lovely green eyes, and the way her delicately shaped mouth had pursed with annoyance, she was just what he needed to warm his bed again. It made him wonder what else lay beneath that prickly skin of hers. No doubt about it, he was going to find out.

Vanessa spent the rest of the day helping out around the motel. She, Linda and Hugh had perfected a routine of taking turns to look after Toby and Josh, taking them outside in the private garden area or playing on the living-room rug with the boys. If they were all busy, then one of the staff usually stepped in for a short time. She felt like she had the best of both worlds, and loved being able to help Linda and Hugh as well.

But tonight as she fed Josh his dinner, her heart was heavy, her mind awash with thoughts. Mike had been careless with money and no matter how hard she’d tried to save, he’d spent it as fast. They’d rented an apartment, their car had been on hire purchase, and they hadn’t owned much. She’d eventually receive compensation money from Mike’s death, but she planned on putting that into a trust account for Josh.

And none of that helped her situation right now. If she returned to Sydney she’d have to find somewhere to live. And she’d have to get a job and put Josh in day care. Or she might have to let Grace and Rupert look after him. Or heaven help her, she and Josh might have to move in with them. Already they had him booked into the right school. It had the right type of people, they’d said, and he’d make the right type of friends.