by Jessica Hart
She had missed his moment of glory. Lucy was mortified, and furious with Guy for distracting her. When Kevin dodged his way across the ring towards her, she gave him a dazzling smile that pointedly excluded Guy.
‘You did brilliantly,’ she said, trusting that he had been too busy clinging on to the horse to notice that she’d been talking to Guy instead of watching him.
‘Wasn’t bad,’ said Kevin laconically.
‘Congratulations,’ said Guy, muscling in where he wasn’t wanted, as usual. Anyone with any sensitivity would have murmured an excuse and slipped away to leave her alone with Kevin, but not Guy! No, he was right there, shaking Kevin’s hand, being friendly and interested and asking him about the skills he needed to stay in the saddle so long, until Kevin was getting positively loquacious.
‘Isn’t it time you went and got ready for the calf-roping, Guy?’ Lucy interrupted as a megaphone crackled into life with an announcement about the next competition. ‘You don’t want to miss your chance to have a go, do you?’
‘You going in for that, Guy?’ asked Kevin and she couldn’t help noticing that he seemed more interested in that than in anything she had had to say.
‘So it seems,’ he said, smiling. ‘Lucy’s issued a challenge that I can’t refuse, although I’m not sure that I’ll be able to take part. I wouldn’t blame the organisers if they didn’t want amateurs messing up their competition.’
Lucy wasn’t going to let him weasel out of it that easily. ‘At least you can go and see.’
Kevin looked puzzled as Guy strolled off. ‘I didn’t know he could use a rope,’ he said.
‘He can’t,’ she said scornfully. ‘He’s just calling my bluff. You wait, he’ll be back in a minute with some excuse about why he can’t do it.’
But Guy didn’t come back. Lucy should have been perfectly happy now that she was alone with Kevin, but her attention kept being distracted by the laughter from where all the contestants were gathered. Whenever she glanced over, she could see Guy, clowning around, pretending to get on a horse the wrong way round, borrowing a hat, making everybody laugh.
What a show off the man was! Lucy turned her eyes determinedly back to Kevin’s ruggedly handsome profile, but it was hard to concentrate with Guy playing to the crowd like that.
The sooner this farce was over, the better, she decided, and was relieved when it seemed to be Guy’s turn. They had found him a horse. Someone would give him a boost into the saddle, he could hold on long enough to go round the ring, and she supposed she would have to give him credit for having tried when-
Oh.
Fully expecting him to bungle mounting his horse, Lucy was taken aback when Guy swung easily into the saddle in one fluid movement. Astounded, she watched him manoeuvre his horse behind the barrier and wait while the calf was released from the chute and given a ten second start.
Alarmed by the unfamiliar surroundings, the calf blundered round and round the makeshift arena, looking for a way out until the barrier was raised, and Guy spurred his horse forward, keeping pace with the animal at an easy canter.
Lucy watched, blue eyes gathering wrath as he rode with effortless grace, detaching the lasso from the pommel and testing its weight in his hand as easily as if he had spent his whole life in the saddle.
I can ride. He had told her, but she hadn’t believed him. He had known that she wasn’t going to believe him, and so he had let her think that he was joking. And now there he was, twirling the rope experimentally before sending it snaking through the air to land neatly over the calf’s horns.
Around the ring there was a burst of applause and Guy was instantly in showman mode again, grinning and waving his hat to acknowledge the cheers.
‘Not bad for a Pom,’ said Kevin.
‘No,’ said Lucy tightly. Logically, she knew that Guy couldn’t possibly have set her up to make a fool of herself, but that was how it felt.
‘Come on,’ she said abruptly, having had enough of Guy Dangerfield for one afternoon. ‘Let’s go and find the others.’
‘Might as well dump our swags too,’ said Kevin. ‘There should still be some space down by the creek. That’s where we usually sleep.’
It was a long speech for him, but that wasn’t why Lucy stopped and looked at him blankly. ‘Sleep?’
‘There’s always a party after the rodeo,’ he said as if everybody knew that. ‘We have a few beers and there’s a dance. Nobody wants to drive home after that.’
‘But…I didn’t realise you’d be staying.’ Lucy regarded him with dismay. ‘I promised Hal I’d be back tonight,’ she tried to explain. ‘His niece and nephew are coming tomorrow and I said I’d help him make sure everything was ready.’
Kevin couldn’t see the problem. ‘Hal knows you’re with us. He won’t expect you back until tomorrow.’
She bit her lip uncertainly. ‘Did you bring a swag for me?’
‘Sure did,’ said Kevin and he smiled his slow smile, the one that usually had her heart doing handsprings.
For once, Lucy was too torn to respond. She had longed and longed to spend more time with Kevin, and now, at last, when he seemed to be showing a bit more interest, she wasn’t going to be able to enjoy it. It was so unfair.
If only she could stay. She loved a good party, and tonight would probably be great fun. There would be a barbecue and dancing in the woolshed and later, perhaps, she and Kevin could slip away down to the creek in the starlight…It could be the perfect romantic evening.
How could it be perfect, though, when she had promised Hal she would go back? She would spend the whole time feeling guilty.
Her boss wasn’t the easiest of men and, truth to tell, Lucy was a little intimidated by him, but it was Hal who had given her the job and a chance to work in the outback. If it hadn’t been for him, she would never even have met Kevin. And Hal had made it clear that her priority would be looking after his sister’s children during their stay at Wirrindago. Lucy had signed a stringent contract to that effect but, even if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have wanted to let him down. She owed him too much.
But how could she insist that Kevin drive her back tonight? The other stockmen would have to come too, as they only had the one truck, and they would all miss the party. They had few enough social occasions to look forward to, Lucy knew. It wouldn’t be fair to them.
She had promised Hal. It wouldn’t be fair to him not to go.
‘I don’t know what to do, Kevin,’ she said helplessly. ‘I’d love to stay, honestly I would, but I did say that I would go back tonight. If I’d known…’
It was at that moment that Guy came strolling up, as pristine as ever. It looked as if he had hardly broken a sweat on that horse in the crushing heat. Lucy eyed him with deep resentment. He could at least have had the decency to fall off. At least then he would look dirty and normal like everyone else.
As it was, she was convinced with no justification whatsoever that the mess she had found herself in was somehow his fault.
‘Satisfied, Cinders?’ he asked with a glinting smile.
Lucy gritted her teeth. ‘Yes,’ she said tersely.
‘You were good,’ said Kevin. ‘You going in for anything else?’
Guy shook his head. ‘I’m challenged out,’ he said with an amused glance at Lucy. ‘I thought I’d head back to Wirrindago now. Hal could do with a bit of support. For a man who can move a thousand head of cattle around without a blink, he seems unnerved by the thought of two children. But I can’t say I blame him!’
‘Maybe Guy would give you a lift back, Lucy,’ said Kevin, and Guy lifted an eyebrow at Lucy in surprise.
‘Aren’t you staying for the ball, Cinders?’
‘It’s not a ball.’ Kevin was bemused. ‘It’s just a party.’
Lucy was too disappointed to explain. She knew he was only trying to help, but he hadn’t even tried to persuade her to stay, and now he was going to offload her on to Guy Dangerfield, of all people!
‘I told Hal I’d b
e back tonight,’ she admitted to Guy, almost choking on the words. ‘I didn’t realise that everyone else would be staying.’
‘I’m sure Hal would understand if you wanted to go to the party,’ said Guy, who appeared to be able to read her expression without difficulty. ‘It’s not like you’ll really be reduced to rags if you’re here after midnight! I’ll tell him what’s happened, and Kevin can bring you back with the others tomorrow morning.’
‘It’s all right, thank you,’ said Lucy, frigidly polite. She had no intention of enjoying a romantic evening courtesy of Guy, even if she had been sure that Kevin would think to take her down to the creek in the starlight. He certainly didn’t seem to be making any effort to persuade her to stay, she thought glumly. Perhaps he didn’t like her as much as she had hoped?
‘I made a promise,’ she said, ‘and I’ll keep it.’
‘Good girl.’ Guy nodded approvingly. ‘I can’t say I’d mind having some company on the way back,’ he added. ‘It’s a long drive on your own. The pumpkin’s ready whenever you are, Cinders.’
Lucy cast a last longing look at the woolshed. Tonight it would be throbbing with music and laughter, and the old wooden floor would reverberate with dancing feet. The smell of beer would mingle with the smoke from the barbecue, and the light would spill out through the great doors into the vast, silent outback night. It would be the kind of party she had always dreamed of.
And she wouldn’t be there. Kevin would be dancing with a nice Australian girl who could talk horses with him, and she would be stuck with the only Englishman for hundreds of miles around. She could have wept with disappointment, but she had given her word to Hal and there was nothing she could do about it now.
She sighed. ‘I’m ready now,’ she said.
CHAPTER TWO
IT WAS a silent drive at first. To Lucy’s relief, Guy didn’t try to make conversation. If she hadn’t already decided that he was unbearably arrogant and conceited, she might have thought that he was being sensitive about her disappointment. He didn’t tease her about not going to the ball, as she had half expected that he would, but let her stare miserably out of the window and think about Kevin and all the other girls he might be dancing with in the woolshed that night.
With a sigh, she took off her hat and ran her fingers through her flattened hair so that it fell, blonde and dishevelled now, to her shoulders. Glancing at Guy under her lashes, she saw that he was watching her with an unreadable expression and, for some reason, she found herself blushing.
‘You know, you could have stayed,’ he said. ‘Hal would have understood.’
‘I know, but I’d given him my word.’ Aware that she was being self-indulgent, Lucy made an effort to pull herself together. None of this was actually Guy’s fault, she realised, and he was her employer’s cousin. It might be a little late to start being polite, but she could always try. ‘I’m sorry, I’m not being much company,’ she said and mustered a smile. ‘I’m not usually this miserable.’
‘I know,’ said Guy. ‘I’ve been struck by what an extraordinarily happy person you are. Most girls your age would grumble about being stuck in an isolated homestead all day with nothing to do but cook and clean for a bunch of taciturn men and nowhere to go in the evenings, but you seem to love it.’
‘I do love it.’ Lucy was surprised that he thought that there was anything odd about it. ‘It’s all so romantic! Exactly how I always imagined the outback to be! I can’t believe how lucky I am to be here.’
‘It’s just that you give the impression of being a girl who likes to have fun,’ he said, his eyes on the dirt track that ran arrow straight through the red dust to the horizon. ‘I could see how disappointed you were not to be able to go to the party tonight.’
Lucy eyed him uncertainly, not quite sure how to take him when he wasn’t making fun of her. ‘I do love a party, but I don’t mind the isolation.’
She didn’t mind anything as long as Kevin was there. If he’d been beside her instead of Guy, she wouldn’t have given two hoots about the party. As it was, she couldn’t help wondering who he was with and what he was doing.
‘Maybe living so quietly makes you appreciate social events more,’ she said. ‘I’m glad I didn’t have to make all the men come back with me. They don’t get to go out much, and they’ll have a great time. It won’t matter to them if I’m there or not.’
Guy cast her a glance, evidently not in the least fooled by her bright smile. ‘Kevin isn’t going to get together with anyone else tonight, if that’s what’s worrying you,’ he said.
‘How can you know?’ Lucy abandoned the pretence that she wasn’t worried.
‘Hey, Prince Charming never settles for anyone less than Cinderella, right?’
Lucy wasn’t reassured. ‘There might be someone more suitable there.’ She turned the hat wistfully in her hands. ‘I wish I wasn’t so English,’ she confessed in a low voice.
‘Come on,’ said Guy as the truck juddered over a rough patch in the track. ‘Kevin may not be the most talkative guy in the world, but he’s a man, and you’re a very pretty girl, as I’m sure you must know. He’s not going to be interested in suitable when he’s got you.’
‘I hope you’re right,’ she said, chewing anxiously at the side of her thumb. ‘It’s hard to tell with Kevin,’ she went on in a burst of confidence, even though part of her was marvelling that she was actually talking to Guy-Guy, of all people!-like this.
It must be something about being shut up together in the front seat of the truck, she decided. The cab made for an oddly intimate environment, especially when you were driving across the outback and there was nothing to distract you and no one else around for miles and miles and miles. There wasn’t much else to do but talk.
‘I just don’t know what he feels about me.’ She sighed.
‘It’s hard to tell with someone like Kevin, I agree,’ said Guy. ‘Not like you.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’re obviously not a believer in keeping your feelings to yourself,’ he said with a touch of irony. ‘It’s not very British of you, but I kind of like it.’
Lucy flushed. ‘I’m in love with Kevin,’ she said, and her glance held more than a hint of defiance. ‘Why should I try and deny it?’
‘No reason,’ said Guy mildly.
‘My sister thinks you ought to keep everything bottled up inside,’ she went on, a little deflated by his lack of response. ‘But if you love someone, why not say it? Why should you be ashamed of your feelings?’
‘You shouldn’t,’ he said, ‘but sometimes it’s worth keeping them to yourself until you’re absolutely sure that is how you feel.’
‘You sound like Meredith.’ Lucy hunched a shoulder. ‘I am sure how I feel about Kevin. Why shouldn’t I be?’
Guy shrugged. ‘You don’t need to justify yourself to me,’ he pointed out. ‘Kevin seems a nice enough bloke, even if he hasn’t got much to say for himself. I just wonder how much fun you’ll have with him. I mean, what do you talk about when you’re together?’
Lucy didn’t want to admit that she was rarely alone with Kevin. The Wirrindago homestead might be isolated in the middle of a million acres but there was surprisingly little privacy. The stockmen worked together, ate in the homestead together and then retired to their communal quarters. It was hard to find an opportunity to slip off on your own, or rather with someone else, but if anything, that had only made Lucy yearn for Kevin even more.
She had fallen in love with him on her first evening at Wirrindago. He had walked on to the veranda, a dream come true in his checked shirt and boots and rugged male attraction, and Lucy had been lost. He was perfect, her dream of living forever in the outback with him was perfect, and she didn’t want Guy Dangerfield casting doubt on it.
‘When you’re really in love, nothing else matters,’ she said loftily. ‘It’s not about making conversation. It’s about being together and loving each other.’
‘If you say so,’ said Guy
, clearly unconvinced. ‘It can be a lonely life in the outback, though.’
‘Not if I’m with Kevin.’ Lucy was uncomfortably aware that she was making her relationship with Kevin seem rather more established than it was, but it was a point of principle more than anything else. ‘You dreamed about being a rodeo rider,’ she said. ‘Well, this is my dream.’
She shook back her hair defiantly, and Guy sent her a sideways glance.
‘I grew out of that particular fantasy,’ he pointed out. ‘About…oooh…eighteen years ago.’
‘And have you never had a fantasy since?’
As soon as the words were out, Lucy wished that she had phrased it differently. She saw the corner of Guy’s mouth twitch, and she felt a flush creeping up her cheeks at the unwitting suggestiveness of her question. ‘You know what I mean,’ she snapped. ‘A dream. You’re not going to tell me that you don’t dream any more, are you?’
‘No.’
Lucy half turned in her seat, suddenly curious. Guy might give the impression of being very open and friendly, but behind that lazily good-humoured expression it was hard to know what he really felt about anything. ‘So what do you dream about now, if it’s not rodeo riding?’ she asked.
Guy’s smile gleamed. ‘I don’t think I know you well enough to tell you that, Lucy,’ he said. ‘I’m with your sister on that one, I have to admit. Some fantasies are best kept to oneself!’
Lucy gripped her tongue between her teeth as she smeared chocolate icing over the top of the cake. Ostensibly it was for afternoon smoko, but really she had made it for Kevin. Chocolate cake was his favourite, so she made it as often as she could.
She was feeling very happy today. Kevin had actually said that he had missed her at the party after the rodeo, and Lucy hugged the memory of his laconic comment to her as if it had been the most passionate declaration of love. A man like Kevin wasn’t going to rush into anything, she reminded herself frequently, so admitting that he had missed her was a big step.