Australia: In Bed with a King

CHAPTER EIGHT

IT WAS good to see Jared again. Nathan reflected that he always had enjoyed his youngest brother’s company. Tommy had a competitive streak, wanting to score points on everything, while Jared was simply content to be himself, not in contest with either brother. Maybe it was because he’d moved himself into their mother’s world, away from King’s Eden. Or maybe it was simply his nature.

They sat in the breakfast room, idling over morning tea, Jared and their mother relaxing after their flight from Broome, Nathan catching up on their recent activities. Tommy would fly in this afternoon and would inevitably draw Jared’s attention to himself, but for the moment, it was very pleasant listening to his youngest brother’s plans to extend the pearl business from wholesale into retail, as well.

“So how goes it with you, Nathan?” he asked, the conversation having lulled after he and their mother had filled him in on their news.

“Oh, nothing really changes here,” he drawled, except he only had half his mind concentrated on station business. Miranda Wade occupied the other half, but he wasn’t about to lay out that very private issue.

In fact, he was thinking this family get-together on the station—the first this year—may very well provide the opportunity to get him close to Miranda again, in a non-threatening social situation, which would surely ease her fears.

“Mum tells me we have a new manager at the resort,” Jared prompted. “A woman.”

“Yes.” A woman who haunted his nights and wouldn’t get out of his head even during the day.

“So how is she working out?”

“I have no idea.” Which was really a lie. He’d envisaged her a thousand times, burning with utter commitment to getting everything right at the resort, shutting out everything else from her mind. Including him. Especially him. Though he didn’t believe she could be any more successful than he was at setting aside the strong attraction they’d experienced. All the same, the need to know wouldn’t wait much longer.

“Don’t you have some impression, Nathan?” his mother asked, frowning at him.

“Why should I? I don’t stick my nose into Tommy’s business any more than I stick it into Jared’s.”

His mother’s gaze sharpened on him. “You did take Miranda on a sight-seeing trip, didn’t you?”

“Six weeks ago,” he answered with a shrug. “I haven’t seen her since.”

His mother sighed, looking extremely vexed.

“I’m sure Tommy will fill you in when he arrives this afternoon.” Nathan smiled at her, seeing a way to use her frustration. “You can grill him to your heart’s content,” he added casually.

It earned an exasperated glare. “I wanted another point of view.”

“Then why not ask Miranda over to dinner tonight, satisfy yourself about her? Satisfy Jared’s curiosity, too. You could ask Sam, as well. Get her opinion. Make a party of it.”

“Yes,” his mother snapped, looking at him as though she wanted to box his ears. “I shall do that, Nathan. I’ll get some answers for myself since I can’t count on either you or Tommy to be sensible about women.”

Her eyes glittered bitter disapproval.

He thought fleetingly of Susan, aware his mother had considered her a waste of his time. But mothers didn’t know everything. All the same, he was glad that door was shut now because another door had opened and it had a stronger lure than any he had ever known.

“Well, it’s lucky you can count on Jared to be sensible,” he tossed out, then slanted a teasing grin at his brother. “Been a good boy, have you?”

He laughed and they moved onto a lighter vein of conversation, which suited Nathan just fine since he only had to give half his mind to it.

Tonight, he thought with deep satisfaction.

Tonight he would find out more about the woman he wanted.

As was her custom, Miranda was ready to welcome back the homestead guests as they returned from their day’s activities. She waited on the verandah, watching the fishing party unload themselves from the Jeep Sam always commandeered, and thinking they looked well satisfied with what they had chosen to do.

“Look at these great barramundi!” John Trumbell crowed, holding up his catch for her to admire as he led the others up the path.

Miranda laughed at his glee. “Biggest I’ve seen this season, John.”

Robyn, his wife, asked. “Can we give them to the chef to cook for our dinner tonight?”

“Of course. Should make a great feast for you.”

“It was a marvellous day,” Robyn enthused. “I’ve never gone fishing in a helicopter before.” She swung around to Sam who was trailing after them. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Couldn’t get you to that part of the river any other way,” Sam informed her.

Robyn sighed happily, turning to the other couple who had accompanied her and her husband. “Don’t you just love the outback? It was like fishing in a world of our own.”

The others made equally enthusiastic comments as they passed Miranda. Sam sidled up to her and remarked sotto voce, “Wonderful, when you’ve got money to burn.”

She grinned. It was true the guests who took home-stead suites never seemed to count the cost of anything. Nevertheless, in the month since the resort opened, she’d found that even the campers loved being here, just exploring the gorges, swimming in waterholes, enjoying the unique wildlife.

“So what’s on for tomorrow?” Sam asked, rolling her eyes.

“For them the Bungle Bungle Range.”

“Got Albert lined up to take them in after I’ve landed them?”

“Of course.”

Miranda’s mind flinched away from the memory of her morning with Nathan. It still haunted her, even after six weeks of seeing nothing of him. It seemed he had decided to respect her choice not to play. The problem was, in the lonely hours of the night, she was tormented by the question of what might have been if she’d chosen differently.

“Someone coming,” Sam remarked, squinting past Miranda at a Jeep, which was fast approaching. “Looks like Tommy. Must be coming from the station homestead. Are you expecting him?”

“No, I’m not.” She was puzzled by this unheralded visit. “He dropped in on Tuesday to check through everything with me.”

Sam gave her a crooked smile. “Well, it’s Saturday. Maybe he’s without a date tonight and hopes you’ll fill in.”

“Then he’ll be out of luck.”

Sam shook her head in bemusement. “It’s an education, watching you block him out. Mind if I stay to watch the fun?”

“As you like.”

She didn’t find Tommy’s flirtatiousness fun, and didn’t really see what fun Sam could get out of watching them together. Apparently it amused her, yet Miranda kept remembering what Nathan had said about Sam’s feelings for Tommy, and she couldn’t help thinking it was masochistic to want to watch. Or maybe it was a case of not being able to help herself. If he was like a magnet to her…

A convulsive little shiver ran down Miranda’s spine. It had certainly been easier, throwing herself into her job and getting on top of it with Nathan out of sight, if not completely out of mind. Tommy was not a problem to her. His irrepressible personality seemed to bounce around her personal sidesteps and he never pushed beyond the boundaries she set. Getting the business right came first with him and he wasn’t about to upset that applecart.

“How’s it going?” he called cheerily as he came up the path.

“Fine!” Miranda answered.

He stopped short of the verandah, looking up at them with a quizzical little smile. “Mum and Jared have flown in for the weekend. You are commanded to come to dinner at the station homestead tonight.”

She frowned. “Commanded?”

Her heart started skittering. Nathan had commanded?

“Invited,” Tommy corrected wryly. “But take it from me, there’s no ducking out of my mother’s invitations.”

His mother, not Nathan.

Her mind started skittering.

Did Tommy think she ducked out of his invitations? Why couldn’t he simply accept her disinterest? Was he behind this command? Was Nathan? Was it simply Elizabeth King dictating her own desire to check the situation at the resort?

Why couldn’t they simply let her be? She was doing a good job. Yet she felt an irresistible tug at the thought of meeting Nathan again…what it might mean…

It would be safe, she reasoned. Had to be safe with Elizabeth King there, and the other brother, Jared. It might even dispose of the wanton thoughts that plagued her lonely nights…show her beyond question how foolish any involvement with him would be.

“What about our guests here?” she prevaricated, feeling hopelessly at odds with a desire she knew could lead nowhere good.

“Spend Happy Hour with them,” Tommy promptly replied. “Settle them at the table, and leave them to their own devices. They know each other from last night, don’t they?”

He’d checked the bookings earlier in the week and all four couples in the homestead suites overlapped this weekend. “I won’t be able to leave here until after seven,” she pointed out.

“That’s understood. We’ll be dining at eight.” He slid Sam a teasing look. “Mum said for you to come, too, squirt. Balance the table.”

“Oh, sure! I can just hear Elizabeth saying that,” she scorned.

“Well, I told her you probably didn’t have a dress to wear.”

“I’ll put one on especially for Jared.” She cocked her head on one side. “Or maybe I’ll make a play for Nathan, now that Susan’s out of the picture.”

Susan…Miranda found her hands clenching and consciously relaxed them. Susan might not have been Nathan’s mistress, but he hadn’t married her. Don’t forget that!

Tommy laughed and bounded up the steps, ruffling Sam’s copper curls as he passed. “Go get him, Red!” Then to Miranda, “I’ll just have a word with Roberto. He can come out of his kitchen between courses and wax lyrical about what he’s cooked for the guests. Keep them happy.”

They watched him head off inside, mission accomplished as far as they were concerned.

“One of these days I’m going to kick him in the shins,” Sam muttered.

It drew an instant wave of sympathy. Both of them fools over men. “You have beautiful hair,” Miranda quietly assured her. “If you ask me, Tommy couldn’t resist touching it.”

She heaved a rueful sigh. “I bet no man has ever ruffled your hair, Miranda.”

“I haven’t had the easy-going kind of friendships you’ve made. I rather envy you that.”

It drew a speculative look that Miranda instantly shied away from, not wanting to answer questions about her life. She glanced at her watch. “Better get moving. Are you going to accompany me to the commanded dinner or go over earlier by yourself?”

“I’ll wait for you. I’ll get one of the resort Jeeps and have it out here at seven-fifteen. Okay?”

“Yes. Thanks, Sam.”

“You’ll like Jared,” she remarked, still with that speculative look.

“We’ll see,” Miranda returned non-committally.

It wasn’t Jared on her mind as she headed off to get ready for tonight. It wasn’t Jared or Tommy or Elizabeth King playing havoc with her pulse rate and tying knots in her stomach.

Nathan…his name was like a drumbeat on her heart.

Tonight she would see him again.

And she wanted it to be right.

But how could it be?

It was mad to think it…mad to want it…yet despite every bit of hard, common sense reasoning…there was no denying what she felt.

CHAPTER NINE

IT WAS Tommy, not Nathan, who greeted them at the door and ushered them inside. As they moved towards the lounge room, the usual snippy repartee went on between him and Sam but it floated over Miranda’s head. Every nerve in her body was screwed tight, waiting with an excruciating awareness of her own helpless fever-pitch anticipation, to feel whatever she would feel when she came face-to-face with Nathan King again.

Then they entered the room where he had to be…and he wasn’t there. The big black leather armchair where he’d been sitting that first night was unoccupied. Elizabeth King was sitting in her chair. A tall young man—the third brother?—had risen from the nearby chesterfield and was holding his arms out in welcome. No one else was in the room!

Sam rushed forward and into Jared’s offered embrace with all the gusto of an excited puppy, delighted to see a much-missed loved one. While she was being whirled around, admired and kissed, a strange, blank feeling descended on Miranda, stilling all the wild agitation this visit had set in motion.

She wasn’t aware of having come to a dead halt, wasn’t aware of Tommy lingering at her side, wasn’t aware of Elizabeth King watching her. For several empty moments, she didn’t know what she was doing here. The whole focus of her coming was lost. Nathan wasn’t even present.

Then Tommy nudged her elbow, and her mind clicked into a different alert phase. It was Elizabeth King who had commanded her presence and there was another brother to meet. It took a giant effort to recollect herself, to smile at Nathan’s mother, to move forward for the introduction Tommy obviously wanted to make. The older woman, dressed in a pale green shift tonight, and the pearls she seemingly always wore, dipped her head in a gracious acknowledgement.

Miranda had chosen to wear white, wanting Sam to feel she outshone her, which Sam did in a bright blue clingy dress that enhanced the colour of her eyes. Whether Sam’s glamorised appearance had the desired effect on Tommy, Miranda neither knew nor cared at the moment. His voice seemed to boom in her ears, accentuating the hollowness inside her.

“Jared, if you wouldn’t mind freeing yourself from the sex-kitten clinging onto you…”

The man with Sam grinned at him. “Jealous, Tommy?”

“Wait for the claws, little brother. That kitten can deliver lethal scratches.”

“Oh, there are some guys who can make me purr,” Sam tossed at him, purring so exaggeratedly it made both men laugh.

Miranda managed to keep a smile pasted on her face and tried to inject interest into her eyes as Tommy proceeded to present her to his brother.

“This is my resort manager, Miranda Wade. And Sam’s victim for the night is my brother, Jared, the jet setter, who has deigned to touch down with us this weekend.”

“Now, Tommy, you know you wear the title of King of the Air. I’m merely a passenger,” Jared remarked good-humouredly as he offered his hand to Miranda, smiling into her eyes. “I’m delighted to meet you.”

“Thank you. It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, Jared.”

She forced her mind to gather impressions. Of the three sons, he most favoured his mother in looks, the same deep brown eyes, high cheekbones, straight aristocratic nose. His thick black hair dipped over his forehead in an attractive wave, softening what was a rather lean face. He was slightly taller than Tommy, not as tall as Nathan, and his slim physique seemed to carry a whip-chord strength rather than solidly built muscle.

“I hope it will be,” he said, projecting warm friendliness. “Some people find our family a bit daunting en masse. Sam is used to us—” he withdrew his hand and put his arm around her shoulders, giving her a smile and a hug “—virtually grew up with us…”

En masse? The phrase jolted Miranda. Would Nathan be joining them?

Unaccountably her skin began prickling. Her attention drifted from what Jared was saying. As though tugged by some invisible force, her head turned…and he was there, bringing with him a current of energy that blasted everyone else out of Miranda’s consciousness.

Her body instantly reacted to how big he was, how male he was, and a shock wave of memory supplied how he’d felt pressed close to her…the power and the strength of the man tapping on instincts that responded in full flood. An aching weakness spread through her, threatening every bit of composure she’d managed to harness.

She watched his approach with a sense of helpless vulnerability, belatedly realising he was carrying a tray of drinks from an adjoining room and not really targeting her.

“Champagne cocktails for everyone,” he announced, drawing enthusiastic replies from the rest of the party.

Miranda stood dumbly, feeling his deep voice thrum into her bloodstream, kicking her heart into a wild gallop. He made good-humoured comments to everyone as he offered the tray, first to his mother, then to her and Sam. Miranda took a glass before caution could whisper she shouldn’t consume anything so potent as a champagne cocktail. The men took their drinks and Nathan made a toast.

“To a happy evening together.”

Tommy and Jared kept topping that toast in a stream of witty repartee. Sam and Elizabeth King laughed at them. Nathan casually moved aside, placing himself directly in front of Miranda.

“Would you prefer iced water?” he asked. “I’ve just remembered…”

“No, this is fine, thank you,” she rushed out so fast her voice sounded breathless. Her gaze was stuck at the gleaming V of brown flesh revealed by his open-necked shirt. She had to force it up, feeling dreadfully unprotected as the force of his dangerously discerning gaze hit hers. “Drinking a toast with iced water isn’t quite the same, is it?” she said in a more moderate tone.

He smiled. “The choice is yours.”

Her mind seized on his seemingly deliberate use of the word, choice. His smile was inviting, encouraging, or was she so giddy from trying to control her own desires she was misreading his intention?

“This will do for now,” she said, sipping the cocktail gingerly.

“Good! Is the resort working out as you wanted?”

“Everything is running very smoothly at the moment.”

His smile took on an ironic curl. “My mother was extremely vexed I knew nothing to tell her. Tommy, incidentally, gave a glowing report.”

“I’m glad he’s pleased with my management.”

“No question about that,” he assured her, though his eyes seemed to burn with questions.

Miranda could feel herself flushing. Did he think she had Tommy dangling on a string? “I like my work,” she said defensively.

“My mother will be glad to hear it. She likes to check things for herself.”

Was he excusing himself from having anything to do with this command invitation? Letting her know she was still safe from him? Subtly directing her to where she should be right now!

Her gaze shot to Elizabeth King and her cheeks grew hotter at the realisation that the older woman was keenly observing her. Distracted by Nathan, Miranda had ignored her hostess, and was probably being judged wanting in good manners. It was all the more embarrassing, with Nathan actually hinting where her place was.

“Please excuse me,” she gabbled, and made a beeline for Elizabeth King, concentrating fiercely on how to minimise her gaffe.