Australian Outback Kings / The Cattle King's Mistress / The Playboy King's Wife / The Pleasure King's Bride (27 page)

She was quite awesomely beautiful, Sam thought—flawless olive skin, magnificent hair and her almond-shaped eyes were not dark as they had looked from a distance—probably the effect of the thick black lashes—but a striking golden amber.

“That it does,” Tommy agreed, smiling his most charming smile. “And it tends to call us all back home from time to time.”

“Yes,” she answered seriously. “I imagine it would do that.” She retrieved her hand and gave him a rather formal nod of acknowledgment. “I am pleased to have had the chance to meet you.”

“Delighted,” Tommy replied, but still she didn't smile at him.

Sam got the strong impression of a very self-contained person who made absolutely no attempt to trade on her spectacular femininity, which in Sam's opinion, left Janice Findlay's for dead. She found herself warmly approving Jared's interest in Christabel Valdez, and she was even more intrigued by her manner as the woman stepped from Tommy to her and offered a smile, as well as her hand.

No smile for Tommy but a smile for her? Sam wondered if Christabel smiled for Jared, or did she keep her distance from all men. It would answer Jared's uncertainty about her response to him.

“Hello,” she said far less formally. “Samantha Connelly, is it not?”

“Yes. Nice to meet you, Christabel,” Sam returned, giving her hand a friendly squeeze.

Her face lit with warm animation. “May I say I have never seen that lilac colour suit anyone so well. With your blue eyes… I look at you and think of the sky. And that is where you are happy…flying. Yes?”

“Yes.” Sam found herself grinning, instinctively responding positively to Christabel Valdez. “There's nothing quite like owning the sky. For me, that is.”

“Whereas with me…” she gave a little shrug “…I am suited to the earth colours of Broome. Perhaps I have found my soul-home there.”

“Many have. I think more people of different nationalities have settled in Broome than anywhere else. It's like a world of its own. I hope you'll be very happy in your life there.”

“Thank you.”

With another little nod she moved on. Sam stared after her, suddenly struck by the echo of Tommy's words to her about the sky being in their souls and the earth in Jared's…possibly Christabel's, as well. Had Jared finally found the woman who would share his life?

“What's your impression of her?” Tommy asked between more greetings.

“I liked her. What did you think?” she shot back at him, curious to know his reaction.

“I think Jared will have a tough time winning her.”

“Why?”

“She's very guarded.”

“She wasn't with me.”

He slid her a sardonic look. “You're not a man, Samantha.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to remark that
every
woman didn't have to melt at his smile. She barely caught the acid little arrow back. It wasn't a fair comment. And Tommy's was. She'd seen the change in Christabel's manner between Tommy and herself, indicating the relaxing of a guard she kept with men that she didn't find necessary with women.

Sam wondered what had happened in her life to make her like that. It wasn't really fair to keep all men at bay on the basis of past experiences. Nevertheless, wasn't she herself doing a similarly unfair thing to Tommy, all too ready to snipe at him even when he was being reasonable? If she didn't stop it, she'd drive him away again. After all, why should he take nasty barbs from her when there were so many women who'd be sweet to him?

Here she was, standing shoulder to shoulder with him, sharing a togetherness she wanted, knowing that despite everything that had gone on between them, he wasn't about to let her go. If she hung on to him and kept being a desirable woman instead of a witch, she might be a winner instead of a loser.

Sam had no sooner thought this than her stomach curdled at the sight of her brother, Greg, with Janice Findlay hanging all over him, clutching his arm, squashing her ample cleavage around it as she poured sweet sexy suggestiveness into his ear. Sam just knew it had to be sexy because Greg's face was flushed, his eyes bright with excitement, and Janice had a feline smugness written all over her face. She was creaming him and Sam hated it, certain it was a tit for tat for Tommy's defection, which meant her brother was being taken for a ride.

“Well, Sam-m-m…” she purred, completely ignoring Tommy. “I didn't know you had such a hunky brother. I do so lu-u-u-v men of the land.” She accompanied this with a fingernail stroke down this chest, bisecting the space between the lapels of his suit.

Greg laughed with a kind of embarrassed pleasure. His first hot come-on, Sam thought caustically.

“Greg is a great guy, Janice. Maybe you should take the time to get really acquainted with him.”

“Oh, I intend to. There's something about weddings that makes one feel…” She let the word linger, sliding a catty look at Tommy, then back at Sam. “…deliciously horny.”

With a provocative little laugh, Janice snuggled up to Greg again and carried him off into the marquee.

Before she could stop herself, Sam threw a dagger-like look at Tommy. “And
that
kind of mush from Janice made you high again?”

His eyes hardened into smoking black coals. “Don't knock it, Samantha. There are times when a man simply wants to feel wanted. As Greg does right now.”

She flushed and dropped her gaze, painfully aware she hadn't made Tommy feel wanted. Until today.

“And she's probably right about weddings,” he drawled sardonically. “Seems to me you were very definitely turned on when you kissed me on the verandah.”

That was different. Entirely different. “She's using Greg as a substitute. You know she is, Tommy,” she said fiercely.

“And you weren't?”

“No!” she flared at him. “I wanted…”

“Me?” His eyes glittered at her, pinning her down.

There was nowhere to go but the truth. “Yes. I wanted to know what it might be like with you.”

“And I, with you, Samantha,” he returned, giving her the instant relief of knowing he wasn't about to use her admission to any mean advantage. “Do you have a mind to continue this journey of discovery with me?”

“Yes,” she said recklessly.

“Good! Because that's what I'd like, too.”

A dizzy sense of triumph fuzzed her mind. Everything she'd risked so far had paid off. Tommy
was
reviewing their relationship, wanting more from it, wanting to see where it might lead if they gave it a chance to move forward.

It didn't occur to her until they were on their way into the marquee that the questions he'd put to her were all related to “feeling horny.”

Had she just committed herself to having sex with him?

Did he have anything more than that in mind?

Her heart started fluttering.

Then a fierce resolution kicked in.

I don't care. I'11 have whatever I can have of Tommy King. At least then I'll know how much I mean to him
.

CHAPTER EIGHT

E
LIZABETH SMILED AS
she watched Nathan and Miranda happily positioning themselves for the cake-cutting ceremony. What was it…ten months since she had interviewed Miranda for the position of resort manager? Something about her had stirred the hope she might be the right one for Nathan, the one to draw him out of his entrenched view that no woman could be kept happy with his kind of life.

Here they were…married…and Elizabeth had no doubt the marriage would last. The love and need they had for each other carried the same strength she knew were in their characters. They would stand together through any adversity, those two, and it gave her a deep sense of satisfaction that she had selected Miranda for King's Eden.

There would be children now…the next generation. Lachlan would have wanted the family line to go on. At least one decisive step in that direction had now been taken, but one wasn't enough. Who could read the future? Never, for one moment, had she imagined Lachlan's life being cut short…her indomitable husband…gone…and all she had left of him were their three sons.

It wasn't enough.

She wanted to see Lachlan in the children of their children. She wouldn't let it end. And while Nathan was most like his father, that was no guarantee his children would get the major share of Lachlan's genes. It could be Tommy's children, or Jared's who inherited them. Life was a lottery, no guarantees, and the best chances had to be taken, not wasted.

The five-piece band she'd hired struck up a fanfare as the cake was finally cut. A loud round of applause followed, then the announcement from the master of ceremonies, “The new Mr. and Mrs. King will now proceed to the dance floor for the bridal waltz.”

“Ready to follow them on and show them how to waltz, Mum?” Jared teased, rising from the chair beside her.

She smiled at her youngest son as he assisted her onto her feet. In some ways she was closest to Jared who had taken on and expanded the business she'd inherited from her father. He had an intuitive understanding of her interest in the pearl industry, and God knew she'd needed some interest to focus on after Lachlan had died.

“You know,” Jared murmured, having taken her arm for the walk to the dance floor, “Tommy and Sam seem to be getting it together for once. Not one spat that I've seen. And looking at them now, getting up to dance…”

She looked. They were sparkling at each other and the electric charge running between them was definitely positive, their body language emitting an eagerness to dance together—anticipating pleasure, no mere sufferance for the sake of good form. For the truce she had asked for to have lasted this long—close to six hours now—was a major miracle, and Elizabeth prayed they had settled their differences.

“It's about time they got it together,” she murmured to Jared. “All these years of mutual frustration…”

“Well, Sam's sure got him snagged today,” he returned laughingly. “Miranda made a great choice with that bridesmaid outfit.”

“I hope Tommy is seeing further than that.”

And she'd make it her business to ascertain what was actually going on there. There would be a rotation of partners during the bridal waltz. It would probably be her only chance this evening to get Tommy to herself for some straight talking.

The band started up, swinging into a waltz number, and Nathan and Miranda circled the floor, transmitting the magic of their wedding to everyone watching. Jared timed their entry with smooth grace, and Tommy whirled Samantha onto the floor with his usual zestful panache. Samantha's face was lit with happy excitement. It gave Elizabeth's heart a lift. True happiness…so hard to come by at times.

She glanced up at Jared and found his gaze trained on the table where Christabel Valdez sat. He was very taken by her. She was certainly a highly creative, innovative designer, but Elizabeth felt uneasy about a relationship developing between the beautiful Brazilian and her youngest son.

Behind the practised serenity of those golden-amber eyes, Elizabeth sensed many secrets which Christabel didn't care to bring into the light of day. Widowed, she'd said, perhaps giving legitimacy to the child she had, a little girl Jared had met by accident, not by active introduction.

And why did she continue to live in the caravan at the Town Beach in Broome, despite her current, very well-paid employment? It smacked of a deliberate choice to maintain a temporary place rather than get into a fixed address. Elizabeth didn't have the answers and the younger woman never invited any intrusion into her private life.

Christabel…she had an exotic quality that appealed to Jared. Elizabeth understood the attraction but it was worrying. She didn't want to see her youngest son hurt by it. Still, there was nothing she could do to avert that outcome. Some things just had to run their course.

“On to Nathan, Mum,” Jared warned, giving her a whirl towards her eldest son before turning to take Samantha as his partner.

Nathan smiled at her as he took her in his arms. “You've done a wonderful job with the wedding, Mum. It's everything I wanted for Miranda. And your speech, welcoming her into the family…” His smile turned crooked. “…it meant so much, she was moved to tears.”

“She
is
everything I wanted for you in a wife, Nathan.”

He sighed contentedly. “Me, too. Lucky you hired her to manage Tommy's resort, wasn't it?”

“Yes. Though I recall you weren't too pleased with my choice of a woman manager at the time,” she archly reminded him.

He laughed. “I changed my opinion the moment Miranda walked into my life.”

“So you revealed in your speech.” She smiled, enjoying her own secret triumph over bringing them together. “It was a lovely speech, Nathan. It moved
me
to tears.”

“Just as well Tommy got us all laughing when he got up to do his best man bit. He really is a brilliant raconteur. Had everyone hanging on his next line.”

“It was certainly a good performance,” she agreed. The question was whether it was also a performance with Samantha. Tommy was very very good at putting on a show.

“I thought what he said about Sam was nice, too,” Nathan warmly added. “Did you see her glow when he praised her for being the best helpmate anyone could ask for?”

“Yes. I'm glad he was kind.”

“Mmmh…” His vivid blue eyes twinkled. “Might be a bit more than kindness, Mum. You can check him out on that one. It's his turn to dance with you.”

He passed her on to Tommy who put his own unique style to the waltz steps, grinning as she matched his timing. “At last…the perfect partner!”

She raised her eyebrows. “I think someone younger should fill that position for you.”

He laughed, exuberant with the excess energy that always marked high spirits in Tommy. “And very shortly will. The force is with me tonight.”