Margaret Way - Required - Three Outback Brides - Cattle Rancher, Convenient Wife / In the Heart of the Outback... / Single Dad, Outback Wife

Holding her in his arms had quite spoilt it for him. The truth was—she couldn’t hide it from herself—she had been as aroused as he was. Powerful physical attraction was a daunting thing, especially when it came out of left field. She would do well to be wary of it. Once bitten, twice shy? What did she know of him after all? Her judgement had been way off with Mark. She wasn’t about to make a habit of it. She needed to know much more about Rory Compton. It would be better given her background to mistrust rather than trust.

What you’re feeling, girl, are hormones. You have to let it pass.

He was seated on the verandah at the white wicker table. Valerie and Chloe flanked him, both looking surprisingly mellow. Chloe too had gone to some pains, Allegra thought gently. Her apple blossom skin that flushed easily heightened the colour of her eyes and she was wearing a very pretty dress Allegra had brought with her as a present, knowing exactly what would best suit her sister.

Allegra paused for a moment in the open doorway, hoping she had given them enough time alone with their visitor as requested, though requested was too polite a word.

Immediately Rory Compton saw her he sprang to his feet, the man of dark compelling looks she too vividly remembered. A wedge of crow-black hair had fallen forwards on his forehead giving him a very attractive, slightly rakish look. Worn longer than was usual, his glossy, thick textured hair curled up at his nape. It would be great hair to touch. His eyes glittered against his bronze skin. Today his cheekbones looked more pronounced. There wasn’t a skerrick of weight on him. His nose was very straight above his beautifully cut mouth. Not generously full lipped like Mark’s, but firm and chiselled. He had the sort of face one wouldn’t forget in a hurry.

Despite her little pep talks to herself she forgot about betrayal, failure and the tense situation that existed between her and Valerie. She pretended she was considering a particularly sexy man to act as the foil for the beautiful female model in a fashion shoot. No question he would get the job. Two or three inches over six feet, by and large he was moving from lean to nearly thin even in the couple of days since she had last seen him. It startled her to realise it, but something about him caught at her heart. It was a sentiment that in its tenderness took her completely by surprise. This man was eating away at her defences. No wonder she felt a tingle of alarm.

As on the first occasion when they had been introduced, he didn’t smile and he had a wonderful smile. She’d seen it directed at Chloe among others. She didn’t smile, either, and there was nothing wrong with her smile. Instead she inclined her head in acknowledgement of his presence. Both of them matched up in self-protectiveness, she thought. Perversely she wondered as her eyes alighted on his mouth what it would be like to kiss those chiselled lips?

Don’t think about it!

She had nothing to hope for with Rory Compton. He was a near stranger It was the wrong time for starting another relationship anyway, though she couldn’t help but be aware there was something between them.

‘Mrs Hamilton!’ He inclined his dark head in greeting.

‘Please, Allegra.’ It came out more coolly than she intended. She planned to drop the Hamilton anyway.

‘Well now we’d almost given up on you!’ Val announced, as though Allegra was habitually late and consciously rude.

‘Why is that, Val?’

Rory held a chair for her. He hadn’t been expecting to hear her call her mother by her Christian name, or to mark the swirling undercurrents now they were together. This wasn’t one close-knit family, he swiftly intuited. Chloe had no problem with ‘Mum.’ In fact Chloe was sweetly affectionate towards her mother and her mother clearly doted on her. That wasn’t the case, it seemed, with her elder daughter.

‘Well you did tell us you had plenty of other things to do,’ Chloe started into a deliberate lie. Why did men have to look at Allegra the way they did? It brought out the worst in her.

‘Like making coffee or tea?’ Allegra looked down on her sister’s silky brown head. ‘Would you like to come and help me?’ Since when? When there was a job to be done it had never taken Chloe long to disappear. Born and reared on a working station Chloe had no love of the outdoor life or work of any kind. As a girl she had always wanted to stay at home with Mum who had never encouraged Chloe to pull her weight.

Valerie, as was her practice, jumped in on Chloe’s behalf. ‘Chloe has opted to take Rory for a drive around the property. But we would like coffee first. Coffee for you, Rory? Or tea if you prefer?’ Valerie smiled at this extraordinarily personable young man. Chloe had already told her how strikingly handsome he was. Not to mention those eyes!

Rory, however, turned to Allegra. She was so damned magnetic he decided there and then caution had to determine his every response. ‘Coffee’s fine,’ he said. ‘Sure I can’t help you bring it out?’

Some imp of mischief got into Allegra. ‘Thank you so much,’ she said gracefully. ‘Please come through.’ She turned to lead the way, but not before catching the glare in Valerie’s eyes.

Under the terms of her father’s will his estate had been split three ways, but not in the way any of them had expected. Certainly not Valerie. She and Chloe had each inherited quarter shares; Allegra half, much to Valerie’s outrage.

If I want to invite this man into the house I have a perfect right to do so no matter the scowl on Valerie’s face, Allegra thought. Her father’s will had further alienated her from her family when she had thought their mutual loss would bring them closer together.

Faint hope! She knew Valerie and Chloe believed she had received a handsome divorce settlement from Mark but she had refused to take a penny. How could she do such a thing? The choice to end the marriage had been hers. She wanted nothing of Mark’s, even the beautiful jewellery he had given her. She hadn’t even opted to take her wedding ring let alone the magnificent solitaire diamond engagement ring. He could save that for her successor.

Rory followed her into the large well equipped kitchen, definitely troubled by the undercurrents. He was surprised Allegra—who looked like she was used to being waited on hand and foot—was the one to organise the morning tea. He really had to stop being so quick with his assumptions Blame it on his unnatural bias.

‘Coffee, you said?’ She gave him a glance that just stopped short of challenge.

He understood because he felt the same powerful urge to challenge her. He didn’t understand exactly why, but he did know everything had changed since he had met her. ‘Yes, thank you.’ He looked about him. ‘You have a very attractive home.’

‘It actually needs refurbishing,’ she said, setting the percolator on the hot plate. ‘Nothing has been touched since my mother redecorated it in the early days of her marriage.’

That meant well over twenty years surely? Chloe had told him that first evening she was twenty-three to Allegra’s twenty-seven. She had made twenty-seven sound more like seventy-two. ‘She hasn’t felt the urge to try her hand again?’ he asked. ‘I thought women loved rearranging things.’

Allegra sliced into the fruit cake she had made the previous day. ‘So we do, but my mother, sadly, is no longer with us. She was killed in a car crash when I was a toddler. I would have been killed, too, only it was one of the rare times I wasn’t with her.’

Initially he felt shock, then an explanation for the things that were troubling him. ‘I’m very sorry for your loss,’ he said with sincerity. ‘So Valerie is your stepmother?’