Australian Outback Kings / The Cattle King's Mistress / The Playboy King's Wife / The Pleasure King's Bride
Authors: Emma Darcy
AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK KINGS
EMMA DARCY
CONTENTS
Dear Reader
Last year I chartered a plane to fly me from Broome, the pearling capital of the world, right across the Kimberly region of the great Australian outback. The vast plains are home to huge cattle stations, the earth holds rich minerals, and the outposts of civilisation are few and far between. I wondered how people coped, living in such isolated communities.
âThey breed them big up here,' my pilot said. âIt's no place for narrow minds, mean hearts or weak spirits. You take it on and make it work.' He grinned at me. âAnd you fly. Can't do without a plane to cover the distances.'
Yes, I thought. Big men. Kings of the outback. Making it work for them. And so the King family started to take shape in my mindâone brother mastering the land, running a legendary cattle station; one who mastered the outback with flight, providing an air charter service; and one who mined its richesâpearls, gold, diamondsâselling them to the world.
Such men needed special women. Who would be their queens? I wondered. They have come to me, one by oneâwomen who match these men, women who bring love into their lives, soulmates in every sense.
I now invite you to share the journeys of the heart for these Kings of the Outback. This is Nathan's and Miranda's story. Tommy's will follow. Then Jared's. Three romances encompassing the timeless, primitive challenge of the Australian outback, and a touch of what the Aboriginals call âThe Dreamtime'.
With love,
M
ISTRESS TO A
married manâ¦no way!
Miranda realised she was gritting her teeth again and consciously relaxed her jaw. She'd end up grinding her teeth right down if she kept thinking of Bobby Hewson and his blithe assumption they could continue as lovers, his forthcoming marriage being no barrier whatsoever to what
they shared!
Well, he could find someone else to warm his bed next time he flew into Sydney. Adultery was not her scene. She might have been a fool to have let Bobby play her along with promises for three years, but she was not going to be
used
for his extra-marital pleasure. She'd seen what that second-string kind of relationship had done to her mother. Never, never, never would she go down the same demeaning and destructive path!
“Miss Wade, your gin and tonic.”
Miranda wrenched her mind off burning thoughts and looked up at the smiling airline hostess who proceeded to lay a serviette on the small metal drinks tray, which extended from the wide armrest of the first-class seat. A little bottle of gin, a can of tonic water and a glass with ice cubes were set down.
Nice to be treated to first-class service by her new employers, Miranda thought, and hoped the drink might help relax her. “Thank you,” she said, returning the smile.
The hostess's eyes glowed with interest as she remarked, “I just noticed the book in your lap,
King's Eden
. Are you heading there?”
It was the book Elizabeth King had given her for background information, once Miranda had signed the two-year contract that tied her to managing the wilderness resort. A history of the place and the family who owned it might be dry reading, but mandatory in the circumstances, and the best use of these hours in flight to Darwin. Miranda sternly told herself it was time she concentrated on her future course and put the past in the past.
“Yes, I am,” she answered, deciding to plumb the interest being displayed. “Do you know it?”
“I've been there,” came the obviously enthusiastic reply. “It's what you might call a legendary place in the Kimberly, owned and run by the cattle Kings. Now that they've opened up the wilderness park for tourists and built a resort to cater for them, it's a very popular outback destination.”
“Did you stay at the resort?”
“Not at the homestead.” An expressive eye-roll. “Too expensive. A group of us stayed three days in the tented cabins at Granny Gorge.”
Tented cabins, camping sites, bungalows and homestead suitesâfour levels of accommodation to be managed, Miranda reminded herselfâa far cry from a five-star hotel. Was she mad to take it onâ¦two years in the wilderness?
“Did you think it was worth the trip?” she asked the hostess.
“Oh, yes! Well worth it! I've never seen so many butterflies. The trees around there were filled with them. And we swam in a gorgeous turquoise water-hole fed by waterfalls off the cliffs. Great way to have a shower.”
“So you'd definitely recommend it.”
“To anyone,” the hostess confirmed. “Don't miss the Aboriginal carvings in the caves if you go to the Gorge.”
“I won't. Thank you.”
Well, King's Eden had appealed to at least one person, Miranda noted as the hostess moved off. Its only appeal to her at the present moment, was the chance it offered to live her life on her own terms.
If she'd stayed with the Regency hotel chain, she might have moved from assistant manager in Sydney to an overseas posting, an ambition she'd once nursed, but it would have only happened now if she'd also stayed sweet with Bobby. He'd made that clear, offering steps up the managerial ladder as a persuader to win her compliance with his marriage, which, he'd argued, was only for the purpose of cementing an alliance between two great international hotel chains.
Another lie!
The photograph of his French fiancée in the newspaper was more than enough proof to Miranda that Bobby would find his honeymoon no hardship at all.
He'd obviously been lying to her all alongâthree years of lies. The only thing she'd ended up believing was his threat to stop her getting a decent position anywhere else if she walked out on him. It was sickeningly clear he'd do and say anything to get his own way.
King's Eden offered her the perfect escape from that kind of victimisation. It was a one-off resort complex, not linked to anything or anyone that Bobby Hewson could touch or influence.
She smiled grimly as she recalled one of the questions Elizabeth King had asked at the interview.
“You areâ¦unattached?”
De
tached, Miranda had almost answered, barely swallowing her bitterness over Bobby's sleazy propositions and manipulations. “I am completely free, Mrs King,” she had stated. “My life is very much my own.”
And that was how it was going to be at King's Eden, Miranda vowed. Her own life run by herself. She didn't care how different the environment was, what problems she'd have to cope with. Her strong sense of self-worth demanded she make good on her own abilitiesâ¦not by being a playboy's mistress!
She opened the book on her lap, determined on focusing her mind on the future. A map on the first page showed the Kimberly regionâthree hundred and twenty thousand square kilometres, stretching from the seaport of Broome on the high west coast of Australia to the border of the Northern Territory. Blocked out in green was King's Edenâa big chunk of outback country that would be the last place on earth Bobby Hewson would look for her.
It might not be the Garden of Eden, but at least it had no serpent in it. With that blessed assurance in her mind, Miranda turned the page and began reading, acutely aware of having turned a page in her life and there was only one way to goâ¦forward.
“J
UST TELL ME
one thing, Mother. Why choose a woman?”
Because you need one
.
And with Susan Butler finally out of your life, you might look for more than a convenient mistress
.
Elizabeth King hid these thoughts as she assessed the depth of her eldest son's annoyance at the decision she'd made. The irritable note in his voice and the V creased between his brows, plus the tense impatience of his actions since he'd entered the sitting-room, did not promise an encouraging start between Nathan and Miranda Wade, whom he was about to meet.
Running the resort was part of Tommy's business. Running the cattle station was his, and he drew a firm line between the two enterprises. For the most part, Nathan kept his world to himself, but to Elizabeth's mind, that had to change.
He was thirty-five years old. Time for him to get married. Time for him to have children. Passing that particular buck to his younger brothers wouldn't wash. It was Nathan who had inherited the major share of Lachlan's genes and Elizabeth didn't want to see them wasted.
“I chose the person with the best qualifications to manage the resort,” she answered, raising a quizzical eyebrow at the man who was so very much his father's son. “I wasn't aware you held any prejudice against women taking on responsible positions, Nathan.”
He threw her a mocking look from the leather armchair he'd made his, since it was the only one big enough to accommodate his length and breadth comfortably. “Not even you could stick it out here all year around.”
That old argument wouldn't wash, either. “I had other interests to look after, as you very well know.”
His eyes remained sceptical. “The point is, we all agreed a married couple was the best choice.”
“Fine, if the marriage is stable,” Elizabeth retorted, a pointed reminder that the last manager had left under threat of divorce by his wife. “And who is to judge how good a relationship is, on an interview where everyone puts their best foot forward? We've been down that track.”