Woman at Willagong Creek

by Hart, Jessica

  Originally published in Great Britain 1992 by Mills & Boon Limited

  Copyright © Jessica Hart 1992 and 2013

  All rights reserved

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

  This e-edition published by Coleman Hart Publishing 2013

  Cover design by and copyright Debbie Lishman 2013

  Image of couple copyright MJTH 2013, used under licence from Shutterstock.com

  About Jessica

  Jessica Hart was born in West Africa and has suffered from itchy feet ever since. She had a haphazard early career that took her around the world in a variety of interesting but very lowly jobs, all of which have provided inspiration on which to draw when it comes to the settings and plots of her stories. She eventually stumbled into writing as a way of funding a Ph.D. in medieval history and since then has written 60 romances for Harlequin Mills & Boon, collecting a number of awards along the way, including a RITA®, and the coveted Romance Prize (now the RoNA Rose Award), awarded by the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association. Jessica lives in York, a historic city in the north of England, although she still yearns sometimes for wider horizons.

  Jessica loves to hear from readers. You can contact her and join her mailing list for news of new books and more at jessica@jessicahart.co.uk

  You can follow Jessica:

  on Facebook

  on Twitter @JessicaHartXX

  or through her website: www.jessicahart.co.uk

  And of course you can visit Jessica's Amazon page to discover all the books she’s written.

  Also available in the Jessica Hart Vintage Collection

  A Sweeter Prejudice

  For amazon.com readers: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CF136Y4

  For UK readers: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CF136Y4

  Defiant Love

  For amazon.com readers: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CF134IW

  For UK readers: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CF134IW

  Legally Binding

  For amazon.com readers: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CF0T5OU

  For UK readers: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CF0T5OU

  The Trouble with Love

  For amazon.com readers: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CF13E9G

  For UK readers: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CF13E9G

  Find out more about the Vintage Collection, and read the first chapter of Legally Binding, at the end of this book!

  Jessica Hart introduces ...

  Woman at Willagong Creek

  I never wanted to be a writer. My earliest fantasies were about being a nurse (courtesy Lucilla Andrews) or living on a vast outback cattle station with a man who wore a hat and dusty boots (fantasy copyright Lucy Walker). The nurse fantasy was crushed early on - everyone told me I'd be a terrible nurse because I'd argue with the doctors - but I held on to the dream of Australia, and eventually I did go and work as a cook on a cattle station in north-west Queensland, and Woman at Willagong Creek was just the first of a number of romances set in the outback, although as a Brit I always felt a bit cheeky writing them

  This was my third book, and it’s still one of my personal favourites. I’m sure that was a lot to do with the setting. I love the outback: the light, the space, the wildness of it. I wasn’t like Olivia, who hates it at first, but the kitchen at Willagong Creek is the one I cooked in, and she uses The Aerophos Cookbook just like I did. So many of Olivia’s experiences are mine, in fact: taking smoko out to the muster, passing out after cutting my finger with a sharp knife, the homestead with the footprints in the dust …

  Chapter One

  Typical outback type, Olivia thought dispassionately, watching the man lean forward and speak to the hotel receptionist. There seemed to be plenty of them in Townsville; lean, brown, quiet-looking men in cattlemen’s hats, somehow out of place in the bright holiday atmosphere.

  She glanced at her watch again. Where were they? She had been sitting in the hotel foyer for two hours now, waiting for a man and a boy. It had been over three years since she had seen David, but she was sure she would recognise him from the photos Diane had sent to England. And Guy Richardson would probably look very much like the man over there. Diane had mentioned him, of course. He was Pete’s cousin, owner of some vast, ramshackle property in north-west Queensland. She seemed to remember hearing that he was a bachelor. No doubt he’d be more than relieved to get rid of the responsibility of a small boy.

  Olivia’s thoughts broke off as she saw the receptionist point in her direction. The man straightened and turned to look across at her. He had dark eyes and a direct, penetrating gaze, and for no reason Olivia felt her heart give an odd little leap. Suddenly he didn’t look quite so typical.

  He was heading towards her. There was a kind of controlled power about the way he moved, an assurance in the way he held himself, that made Olivia, normally the most confident of women, feel suddenly at a disadvantage.

  He took off his hat, revealing dark brown hair cut close to his head. Olivia was unsurprised. She could tell already that curls or romantic stray locks of hair would not be this man’s style.

  ‘Olivia Bridewell?’ His voice was deep, unhurried. ‘I’m Guy Richardson.’ He wasn’t all that much taller than she was, Olivia realised when he stood in front of her, but the impression of contained strength was very strong. His face was angular, each plane distinct, with dark brows, a strong nose and a stubborn jaw. Not a remarkable-looking man by any means, but a man with presence, a man whose eyes and whose firm, inflexible mouth hinted at a character denied by his detached expression.

  Olivia pulled herself together. ‘Hello,’ she smiled, holding out her hand.

  She was taken aback when Guy Richardson didn’t return her smile. He merely clasped her hand briefly and then dropped it, as if it were something unpleasant.

  Perhaps he was shy?

  He didn’t look shy. He looked tough, capable, self-possessed. There was an air of stillness about him that made Olivia nervous. She was used to the more frenetic activity of the arts world.

  ‘Um … where’s David?’ she asked, keeping the bright smile pinned to her face.

  ‘At Willagong Creek.’

  ‘But didn’t you get my letter?’ Olivia looked at him blankly. It had been over a month since she had written saying when she would arrive in Australia to take over her responsibilities as David’s guardian.

  ‘I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t had it. You told me to meet you here this morning.’ Guy sat down on the chair opposite her and looked her over with unfathomable deep dark brown eyes. Outback eyes, very creased at the edges from years of squinting at far horizons; they travelled over her slowly, taking in the long blue-green eyes, the flawless features and the unstudied elegance of her thinly striped grey and white suit. ‘Here I am.’

  She felt her temper rising. She was not used to bein
g looked over as if she were a cow! ‘Perhaps you could explain?’ she said coldly. ‘I was expecting to see David too. I’ve come a long way to collect him.’

  ‘He’s not a parcel, Miss Bridewell,’ said Guy. ‘He’s a kid who only lost his parents a couple of months ago. I left him behind deliberately. I don’t think he’s ready to be collected.’

  Olivia flushed at his tone. ‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ she admitted, realising how unfeeling she must have sounded. ‘I was just anxious to see him again.’

  ‘So anxious that you waited two months before you could be bothered to come out to Australia?’

  She set her teeth. ‘I was on tour with the orchestra in Japan when Diane and Pete were killed,’ she said, as calmly as she could. ‘I explained all that in my letter. I didn’t even see the letter from the lawyer until I got home three weeks later.’

  She paused, remembering that awful day, the shock of reading about her dearest friend’s death in stark, undeniable print. Even now it was hard to believe. Taking a deep breath, she went on, ‘I came as quickly as I could, but I had to sort out my job and my flat … it takes time.’

  She hoped she sounded reasonable. Guy Richardson seemed to have put her on the defensive. ‘Anyway, I’m here now.’ She tried another smile, one that normally had men turning handsprings, but Guy was unmoved.

  He laid his hat on the table between them. In jeans and brown checked shirt, he looked as if he had stepped out of a Western, but there was an implacability about him that made Olivia wary of dismissing him as a mere cowboy.

  ‘What had you planned to do with David?’ he asked.

  Had planned? She raised an eyebrow. ‘I can stay six months on my visa, but I can’t really afford to be away that long. I thought we’d spend some time getting to know each other, and then we’ll have to go back to London.’

  ‘I see. And what if I don’t agree to that?’

  ‘Don’t agree?’ Olivia repeated incredulously. ‘I don’t think it’s a question of your agreeing. I am David’s legal guardian, not you.’

  ‘It’s not quite as simple as that,’ Guy said, an edge to his voice. ‘You weren’t around when you were needed. There wasn’t anyone else, so I took David back to Willagong Creek with me. He’s settled down now, and he’s as happy as he can be under the circumstances. How do you think he’s going to feel about being up-rooted again and dragged off to a strange country with a strange woman? No, Miss Bridewell, I’m not just going to hand him over to you now that you’ve bothered to turn up, legal guardian or no legal guardian.’

  Olivia had remarkable eyes. Tropical-sea eyes, Diane had always described them enviously, more than blue and less than green. Like the sea, their colour was changeable, and now they narrowed angrily to the cool clear green of the shallows.

  ‘I don’t care for your attitude, Mr Richardson,’ she said cuttingly. ‘It’s not a question of bothering to turn up. I’ve been arranging my affairs so that I can take care of David properly. That’s meant letting my flat and resigning from my job, so that I can spend time out here with him before “dragging him off to a strange country”, as you call it. That seemed to me to be the responsible thing to do, instead of rushing out here and having to go back to England to sort things out straight away. That would have been even more unsettling for David, surely?

  ‘Furthermore, I am not a strange woman. I was Diane’s closest friend, and she obviously trusted me to bring up her son as she wanted. I’m grateful to you for looking after David, but I have no intention of ignoring my responsibilities at your say-so!’

  Olivia had a formidable reputation at work for her ability to cut people down to size, but Guy Richardson was unimpressed. ‘Surely your responsibility is to do what’s best for David?’

  ‘Of course it is. At last we agree!’

  ‘It would be best for David to stay with me,’ Guy said calmly.

  Olivia shook back her curtain of shining hair. ‘It’s out of the question!’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘You can’t look after him properly, for a start.’

  ‘I’ve looked after him for the last two months while you were sorting out your career,’ he pointed out.

  She frowned. ‘That was a temporary measure. David’s only eight. He needs a woman to look after him. It might be different if you were married.’

  Guy shrugged. ‘I’m going to get a housekeeper anyway.’

  ‘I hardly think a housekeeper will be able to provide the love and attention that a little boy needs!’ Olivia snapped. ‘I’m sorry, but it’s just not on. You’re obviously fond of David, but even you must see that the outback is no place to bring up a child.’

  ‘It didn’t do me any harm,’ he pointed out. ‘Or David’s father. Have you ever been to the outback, Miss Bridewell?’

  She hesitated. ‘No … but I can imagine what it’s like, stuck out in the middle of nowhere. David needs to go to school, quite apart from anything else. Diane wouldn’t have wanted him to run wild.’

  ‘We’re not savages!’ Guy’s voice was cold. ‘David can do School of the Air until he’s old enough to go to boarding-school.’ He paused. ‘Don’t you think a child’s lucky to have the chance to run wild nowadays? He wouldn’t have much chance to do that in London, would he?’

  ‘No, but he’d have other children to play with. He’d have cinemas and museums and funfairs. It’s not so awful growing up in London.’ She glanced at him, imitating his slow drawl. ‘It didn’t do me any harm.’

  Guy looked at her, and under his dark gaze she felt herself grow suddenly hot, but he said only, ‘We’ve talked about how I can’t look after him properly. What about you?’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘You’re the great career woman, aren’t you?’ he said, disparagingly. ‘Diane was always talking about how successful you were. Olivia’s in New York, Olivia’s in Paris, Olivia’s in Tokyo … When’s Olivia going to be at home with David?’

  ‘I’ve decided to go freelance,’ she said loftily, determined to prove to him that she had thought everything through. ‘I’ll still have to do some travelling, but not as much, and I’ll be able to work from home.’

  ‘I thought you played in an orchestra?’ Guy said. ‘How are you going to do that from home?’

  ‘I’m not a musician - I wish I were.’ Olivia was a little surprised that Guy knew so much about her. ‘I’m an administrator. I set up the tours with the promoters, make all the travel arrangements, deal with the bureaucracy, that kind of thing. It’s not quite as glamorous as playing, but it’s what I’m best at. Now that I’ve got my contacts, I don’t need to work for a company any more.’

  She paused. Useless to try and explain to this man the intimate, gossipy, often incestuous arts world, where professional relationships could be as fraught as personal ones, and when the two combined, as they had in the case of her and Tim, the result was frequently disastrous. If she was honest, she would have to admit that her decision to make the break from Hughes Mackenzie had as much to do with the break-up with Tim as with David or the desire to further her career, but she had no intention of telling that to Guy.

  ‘I’d been thinking about going freelance for some time, actually,’ she said instead. ‘I was getting pretty tired of travelling so much. I suppose having David to think about gave me the incentive to make the break.’

  ‘In fact, it’s fitting in with your career plans?’ Guy said bitingly.

  Olivia’s face froze. ‘I wouldn’t describe Diane and Pete’s death like that.’

  ‘Staying in London doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be at home, though, does it?’ he pointed out. ‘I thought you were the type that was out at night-clubs every night with a different man. Having a kid around would cramp your style a bit, wouldn’t it?’

  Olivia had certainly had a full social life, but it was nothing like the debauched lifestyle Guy clearly imagined. ‘I’m touched by your concern,’ she said in a glacial voice, ‘but I don’t see that my social life is any of your b
usiness.’ She was damned if she was going to start justifying herself to Guy Richardson!

  There was a hostile pause. She stared at him in frustration. None of this was going as she had planned. She had thought she knew how to deal with men, but Guy Richardson had her baffled. He was unimpressed by her looks, impervious to her arguments.

  Her eyes rested on him. He looked pretty ordinary, really - brown hair, deep brown eyes, skin deeply tanned from a lifetime in the sun. Certainly not her type. She liked witty, charming men who flirted and flattered, not this cool self-containment. Guy Richardson was not a man who would give anything away, she thought, eyeing the lean, uncompromising lines of his face. Why was he so keen to keep David? she wondered. Perhaps he wasn’t as remote and unfeeling as he appeared. Unconsciously, her gaze travelled to his mouth and lingered there. What would he look like when he smiled?

  Unaccountably, she shivered. Dragging her eyes away, she forced her mind back to the business in hand. ‘Look,’ she said, trying to sound coolly professional, ‘we don’t seem to be getting very far. You don’t think I can look after David properly, and I don’t think you can. Frankly, neither of us is ideal. You’re a bachelor, with a property to run. I’ve got a career to think about. I also have a legal obligation to take care of David. I’d rather settle this amicably, but I suspect that, if it came to it, the courts would be on my side.’

  She recoiled slightly as Guy leant forward until their faces were very close, his eyes dark with anger. The impression of suppressed power was very strong, and Olivia found that her heart was beating uncomfortably. ‘Let’s not start bandying threats around,’ he said. His voice was quiet, but she edged further back into her seat. ‘You may be used to pushing people around, but I’m not impressed by you or those big, beautiful eyes of yours, and you’re not in an office now. We’re talking about a little boy’s life, not some business deal.’ To her relief, he sat back. ‘I suggest you come out to Willagong Creek with me tonight and see David for yourself. You might even consider asking him what he wants to do.’