‘My sentiments entirely,’ he echoed.
Rhiannon trembled. ‘I—I still don’t know what to say.’
‘Sit down and drink your tea,’ he suggested.
She looked in two minds then slowly sat down again and drank her tea and ate half her toast before she said with decision, ‘I can’t do it, Lee. I really appreciate your…your thoughtfulness towards my father but what I have to offer in return is minimal, so I would always feel beholden to you and—and I don’t think I’d be very good at that.’
‘We’ll deal with the minimal aspect later—although preserving my home from a woman on the make is not minimal, I can assure you,’ he returned swiftly. ‘But would I be right in thinking this situation with your father is not only much graver now but has come before you’re financially prepared for it?’
Rhiannon swallowed. ‘A bit,’ she conceded. ‘I won’t be able to afford private care for him but—but maybe I could get a loan. I—’
‘I could have offered you a loan but—’
‘Oh no—’
‘Don’t say a word,’ he commanded. ‘But I’d much rather be married to you because what you have to offer in return is not minimal at all. We’d be good together, Rhiannon. In bed and out of it. I have cattle stations to show you, a whole new world for you, and one I’m—’ he paused ‘—I’m tired of running on my own.’
She stared at him wide-eyed. ‘I have no idea—I mean, I know I told you I enjoyed them but I would have no idea how to run cattle stations!’
‘I wouldn’t expect you to run them per se but to have an energetic, capable companion who is also gorgeous and prepared to be involved would be great.
Incidentally,’ he eyed her from head to toe, ‘you didn’t expect to sleep with me like that then simply walk away, did you?’
‘I…’ Colour flooded her cheeks. ‘I didn’t set out to sleep with you, so—’
‘You did such a great job of it, I can’t wait to experience you when you really set your mind to it!’
Rhiannon bit her lip this time and trembled visibly.
He half smiled and put his arm around her. ‘I loved every minute of it.’
‘But we are—we are virtually strangers,’ she mumbled.
‘If you can come up with another stranger who makes you feel the way I do, I’ll retire gracefully,’ he said gravely and started to open her robe again.
Rhiannon took a despairing breath as his hands slid over her breasts but it didn’t stay despairing for long. It became ragged as he set off tremors of desire deep within her; lovely sensations that washed through her right to her toes as well as activating that warm, secure feeling of having come in from the cold.
It dawned on her that she might be fighting a losing battle, much as one small part of her mind was sending out danger signals…
But, if nothing else, to have the burden of her father’s health taken care of so he could get the very best of treatment would be such a relief, could she afford to spurn it?
Chapter 5
A month later, Rhiannon woke up to her wedding day.
It had been a whirlwind few weeks, Lee had worked fast.
Her father had been relocated to a private hospital on the Gold Coast by air ambulance and had his hip replacement as well as operations for his broken pelvis and damaged organs. He’d been heavily sedated before the operations so had had little idea of what was going on. It had been touch and go a couple of times but the expert advice now was that he’d make a full recovery.
An apartment had been rented close to the hospital so Rhiannon didn’t have the daily drive to and from Southall, and she shared it with her aunt.
What with all the coming and going between Sydney—she and her aunt had packed up their rented house—the long hours spent in the hospital with her father while he drifted in and out of consciousness between operations, Lee had made no demands on her.
In fact they hadn’t shared a bed again, although, when they’d been together, the closeness that had sprung up between them after that spectacular ‘turn of events’ had been tangible.
She was still amazed by it. He seemed to be able to read her mind and judge her moods accurately. It was almost as if they’d known each other for a long time.
It was only when she wasn’t with him that some doubts crept in. Did she read him as well as he read her, for example? Or was there a core to Lee Richardson that remained a mystery to her? That was a particularly persistent little doubt she found hard to shake.
Another one was the memory of the times he’d, speaking figuratively, shut a door in her face. For some reason she couldn’t seem to forget them…
Her other concern remained that, whatever he might like to think, what he was doing for her was little short of monumental in terms of the peace of mind it was going to bring her.
She’d also been tempted to present her father with a fait accompli regarding her marriage but Lee had flatly disagreed. Her objections had been that her father would worry she’d married a rich man for his sake and would hate not only that but also being beholden to a man who was one of his creditors.
Lee had said simply, ‘We’ll just have to convince him otherwise, then. And unless you’re in the know, there’s no way to connect me with the trucking company.’
‘But I don’t want him to have anything to worry about at the moment!’ she’d said. ‘That’s why if it’s done, at least—at least he can’t upset himself trying to change things.’
‘No, I don’t agree.’ Lee had said it quietly but definitely.
She blinked. ‘I feel as if I’m being held to ransom,’ she’d said slowly.
‘You are,’ he’d agreed. ‘Look, either we’re going to do this and do it openly, or not. In other words, either we agree we have good grounds for this marriage apart from your father or we don’t do it. And if we do agree on that, we have no reason to hide it.’
She looked away. ‘It’s not that.’
‘Good.’ He studied her keenly, the blue shadows beneath her eyes brought on by the strain of everything she’d gone through. ‘So you do agree with me?’ He reached out and traced the line of her cheek with his fingertip.
She trembled.
‘Rhiannon?’
She looked back at him. ‘All right. Let’s,’ she swallowed, ‘do it today.’
‘That’s my girl,’ he said quietly, and proceeded to bowl her father right over when they visited him in hospital that day so that when he left Rhiannon and Luke Fairfax alone, her father seemed to be genuinely happy for her.
‘My dear, oh my dear,’ his face lit up as he studied her, although he was in traction and still experiencing discomfort and pain, ‘I’ve been so worried for so long that you’d put off any romantic episodes on my account! But why—I must say I like him very much—but why haven’t I heard anything about him?’
‘I wanted to be very sure first, Dad. I—actually met him a few years ago but, well, I am sure now. We,’ she lowered her lashes and knitted her fingers together, ‘do good things for each other.’
When she looked up, her father was watching her intently. But all he said was, ‘So that’s why I got spirited up to Queensland?’
‘Yes, Dad,’ she said steadily, and told him about Southall.
‘But—’
‘No buts,’ she said gently. ‘I need you close to me and Di is happy to come too.’
Later, Rhiannon couldn’t help wondering if her father would, when he was in better shape, start to wonder about the financial side of things, but all she could offer herself was the thought that the deed would be done then…
Her aunt Diana had accepted the move to Southall gratefully so she could be close to her brother, although not without grave reservations at first. In fact Diana had wormed, or rather divined, some of the truth out of her niece.
‘Are we talking a coup de foudre here?’ she demanded to know. ‘What else could explain it coming so—so out of the blue?’
‘No! No,’ Rhiannon amended less f
orcefully. ‘But we just—click. And because he’s able to and wants to help Dad we decided not to muck around.’
Diana Fairfax was tall and middle-aged, often vague, often had paint spattered hands—she dabbled in oil paintings as well as music—but at other times she was astonishingly acute. ‘Rhiannon, I know how much you care for your father but isn’t that a little extreme?’
‘It’s not only for Dad. We have an awful lot in common. We do…’ Here, Rhiannon paused then went on a little hurriedly, ‘We do feel quite strongly about each other.’
Diana blinked. She also had sherry-brown eyes. ‘Maybe, but shouldn’t you take a bit longer to get to know each other?’
Rhiannon simply shook her head.
‘I see.’ Diana stared at her niece. ‘I gather your mind is made up, Rhiannon.’
Rhiannon nodded.
‘So nothing I say or do is going to change it?’
Rhiannon shook her head again.
‘Do you know, I’ve seen that stubborn look in your eyes since you were about two years old?’
‘Me? Stubborn?’
‘Yes, you,’ Diana replied. ‘In fact it would be fair to say there were times when you were a right handful and not only as a child!’
‘I was not!’ Rhiannon looked injured then a little shamefaced. ‘Maybe sometimes, but Di, I am going to do this.’
‘Hmm…Well, I’ll just say this. If ever you need a confidante, I’m here. When do I get to meet him and are you absolutely sure he wants me too?’
‘Quite sure. Oh, Di, you’re going to love it up there. There’s a local operatic society. According to Sharon—she’s the housekeeper—there’s a real opening for a piano teacher and it’s just so beautiful. And you’ll meet him tomorrow.’
You couldn’t exactly say that Lee Richardson had bowled Diana over but he must have made a good impression because her aunt had seemed to relax a bit on the subject of her niece’s unexpected marriage.
Telling Matt and Mary had also involved some subterfuge. Lee and Rhiannon had driven down to the Brisbane apartment to break the news…
‘What?’ Matt Richardson said incredulously. ‘But you barely know each other!’
‘We actually met four years ago,’ Lee replied.
Mary Richardson, who’d obviously got over the trauma of the party, took another tack. ‘How exciting! There, you see, darling,’ she turned to Matt, ‘I told you things would work themselves out with Southall! Although Andrea might not be best pleased…but I did wonder what she’d do with herself up there, anyway.’
‘All the same…’ Matt Richardson shot his wife an exasperated glance then eyed his brother concernedly.
But Lee took Rhiannon’s hand. ‘It would be fair to say we can’t actually wait,’ he murmured and looked at Rhiannon for corroboration.
Her reaction couldn’t have been better if she’d rehearsed it. She had gone pink beneath those dark blue eyes and the little glint in them. Pink and flustered; trapped by the sensual memories of their lovemaking in a way that told its own tale.
Not, she thought as she lay in bed in the cottage her aunt and father would occupy on the Southall estate on the morning of her wedding, that she could have rehearsed that blushing, flustered air she’d given off. It was something that only came naturally—it had certainly reassured Matt Richardson.
Nor had she been perfectly honest with her aunt by omission. She’d left out the fact that she and Lee set each other alight physically, but had Diana seen that for herself?
As for how Andrea Richardson had got the news, and taken it, she had no idea.
She hadn’t asked and Lee hadn’t volunteered anything.
What really exercised her mind as she lay in bed that morning was how she felt, though.
She had butterflies in her stomach and she was possessed of a sense of unreality. Yes, she liked Lee more and more and she was physically set alight by him, but there was something she couldn’t quite put her finger on, something holding her back. Not that she could get out of it now…
She sat up feeling suddenly panic-stricken and had to take some deep breaths.
What had she done? Why hadn’t this panic gripped her before, long before her wedding morning? Yes, she’d always had some reservations but what was the real core of her fear now?
It hit her suddenly and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it before but she had had an awful lot on her mind—what had been so damaging about his previous love life that had turned Lee Richardson off any commitment to a woman until she’d fallen apart in his bed?
It had to have been something really significant he couldn’t put behind him until she slept with him as if he were the last man on the planet!
It had to account for the times when she felt as if she was running into a brick wall—such as his immovability on her wish to get married first and tell her father later. Come to that, his immovability on any terms but his own—which included the whole concept of this marriage.
Why didn’t I ask? she marvelled. Because I was under too much pressure to think straight? Because, secretly, I was afraid of what I would hear?
But what difference would it have made, whatever I heard? We’ve both acknowledged love didn’t work for us so this was the only way to go…
Yet she couldn’t shake the curious feeling of something hovering on the edge of her mind, some mysterious key, something she should be able to work out but couldn’t…
She gave up with a frustrated shake of her head and concentrated on the fact that, even if you were sworn off falling in love, you were always vulnerable to a man who set you alight physically. It was the nature of things.
So how was she going to retain her independence and keep her side of the bargain at the same time?
Take a leaf out of his book? she wondered. Maintain an elusive certain something he couldn’t reach?
That’s it, she thought, and breathed a sigh of relief. There’s a core of me I won’t allow any man to reach or break again. She lay back feeling somewhat reassured.
The wedding ceremony was performed next to the rose garden.
It was a clear, sunny day and the service, carried out by a marriage celebrant, commenced at noon.
Curiously, considering what she’d done for a living, Rhiannon had had little input, but someone had, she divined.
There were beautiful cloths over the small table in the garden and the bigger one on the east veranda. There were roses in vases and she carried a bouquet of the palest pink ones.
It was a small gathering. Matt and Mary Richardson, Diana, Christy and her father, Sharon and a middle-aged couple she’d never met but was later introduced to as Lee’s PA and his wife, George and Judy Benson. She also learnt later that they’d organised the wedding.
It was a simple ceremony and she wore an ivory silk outfit her aunt had helped her to choose. It had a short skirt and loose jacket but the austerity of it was relieved by beautiful intricate pearl beading on the jacket. A silver comb that duplicated the pearl beading held back her hair.
Unfortunately, the butterflies in her stomach came back to plague her as soon as she saw Lee.
He wore a dark suit with a cream shirt and a cream rosebud in his lapel. He looked devastatingly attractive but—a stranger!
Then he turned and saw her, and a smile grew in his eyes as he took her in, especially her legs, and he did the only thing that was going to propel her forward rather than taking flight. He held out his hand to her.
‘Big day.’
Rhiannon turned away from the view. They were in the honeymoon suite of a beautiful resort on the Bloomfield River in far North Queensland.
They’d driven down to the coast with her aunt, still dressed for their wedding, and shared a bottle of champagne with her father. Then they’d changed and flown to Cairns and on to the Bloomfield, where they’d been ferried from the landing strip across the river by boat.
The resort nestled in an exotic mountainous rain-forest area but beyond the wide mouth of
the river another, equally splendid, scenario beckoned—the tropical waters of the Coral Sea and the Great Barrier Reef.
The suite, a bungalow on stilts called a bure, was exquisitely furnished in cool creams and whites against the dark background of native timbers and a soaring ceiling. The huge double bed had a billowing mosquito net caught up decoratively on the wall behind it.
She turned from the veranda railing to Lee who was lounging against the door frame. ‘Yes, but this is something else.’
‘I hoped you’d like it.’
‘How long will we stay?’ she queried as she made the discovery that she was feeling all jittery again. She knew nothing about the most important thing to do with this man, the thing that had turned him off commitment until she’d appeared on the scene and proved to be so suitable, not only for his lifestyle but also as a weapon against his stepmother’s aspirations.
He shrugged. ‘As long as you want to.’ He held out his hand to her.
She stared at it then lifted her eyes to his. ‘I feel—I feel a bit strange,’ she said huskily.
He now wore khaki trousers and a blue and white checked shirt, she wore jeans and a white blouse.
He raised an eyebrow and took back his hand. ‘How so?’
‘It’s a bit like a dream. It’s,’ she hesitated, ‘it’s hard to believe we’re married.’
He glanced at her rings, a gold band and a beautifully cut baguette emerald with two diamonds beside it. ‘It did happen.’
‘Yes, I know.’ She pushed back her hair and tried to concentrate. Then she smiled, a fleeting, wry little smile. ‘I think I know how every wife who’s had her husband chosen for her—may not even have met him!—felt and feels.’
‘That’s,’ he gestured, ‘a bit far-fetched in our case, don’t you think?’
She spread her hands. ‘It’s almost as if it happened in another life. I’m sorry, I feel quite a wimp! I don’t—’ she shook her head ‘—well, I don’t know exactly how I feel.’
He smiled slightly. ‘There’s a beautiful pool here. We have an hour or so before dinner. Like to try it?’
Rhiannon blinked at him but, rather than contesting this apparent non sequitur, she grabbed it with both hands, speaking figuratively. ‘Definitely! Well, it’s warm enough and I do now have a new bikini—uh…’ She paused, looking more confused than ever.
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