Australian Outback Kings / The Cattle King's Mistress / The Playboy King's Wife / The Pleasure King's Bride (54 page)

“At least she
had
life.”

“An intolerable one.”

His head tilted in a concessionary nod. “I did come to realise that, Jared, when Christabel effected her escape. It was a desperate act, given she knew the dangers of being without any security around her. At first I thought…” He shrugged. “Once I found her jewellery was also gone, I knew it was a personal bid for freedom, rather than running to another Kruger camp.”

He leaned back in his chair, a musing little smile on his lips. “So what would you have done then…if you were me? Let her go? Tried to find her and bring her back? What, Jared?”

It came to him in a lightning flash what Rafael Santiso had done, and why he was here now, meeting the King Family. Relief poured through him. Christabel and Alicia
were
safe, and his mother and Vikki Chan had not been fooled.

He expelled a long breath. He looked at Christabel's longtime nemesis with a new respect for the man of integrity he actually was, a man who shouldered his responsibilities with utter commitment, yet tempering that commitment with a humanity Jared had to admire. The only thing Rafael had overlooked was Christabel's fear of him, unrecognised, partly because she had hidden it from him, partly because he hadn't known how she'd painted him in her mind.

“Do you have the reports with you?” Jared asked.

Respect instantly flashed into Rafael's eyes.

Understanding flowed between them, man to man on equal footing.

Rafael picked up a Manila folder, thick with documents, from the pile in front of him and slid it across the table. “Much of this contains summaries. If you want more detail, Hans will supply it.”

Jared nodded, picking up the file and rising to his feet. “I'd appreciate it if you'd run through your protection procedure with my family while I speak to Christabel privately.”

“I shall do that and give any explanation they require.”

“Thank you.”

Rafael smiled. “It is good to know at first-hand the mettle of the man who is taking on…whatever has to be done.”

Jared turned to help Christabel out of her chair. She came unresistingly but looked totally bewildered. “It's all right,” he assured her. “We'll come back after we talk.”

“Before you go…”

It snapped their attention back to Rafael. He was looking at Christabel, a powerful intensity in the eyes trained directly on hers.

“I did not know of your fear of me, Christabel, but it did serve you well in your travels, keeping you cautious and not drawing any untoward attention to yourself and Alicia. I want you to know that in the years you've been gone, I have stamped my authority on the Kruger organisation, and I no longer see any danger coming from within. From outside is another matter, but we will discuss that later.”

She shook her head, confused by the turnaround from enemy to ally. Jared took her arm and steered her from the dining room, wanting to get her out of the highly charged atmosphere that swirled with the memories of all she'd been through. She needed to feel free, to follow her own heart without fear, and Jared knew he could give that to her now.

He took her onto the veranda that skirted the homestead—fresh air to breathe, a view that had no boundaries in sight—the vast tracts of King's Eden stretching to the horizon and beyond.
The land of my fathers
, he thought, feeling a well of pride in his heritage. Because he was who he was, and all that was imbued in him, he would have Christabel and keep her, and that was a glorious feeling.

“What are these reports?” she asked anxiously. “What are we doing out here, Jared?”

“Do you still believe Rafael Santiso caused Laurens's death?” he asked, scanning her eyes for any hint of doubt.

She expelled a heavy sigh and made a wry grimace. “No. But I still think he's dangerous.”

“Yes. To anyone who crosses the line he draws. But not to you nor Alicia, Christabel,” he assured her with absolute certainty.

“How can you know that?” she cried, the old fear still fluttering.

“Because he's been protecting you all along. That's what these reports are about. He let you think you were free because you wanted so badly to be free, but he watched over you all the way to here, Christabel. And he came now because of me, to see if I'm good enough to take over the watch from him.”

Her feet faltered to a halt. She swung to face him, her agitation intense. “He could have plucked me and Alicia back any time? Is that what you're saying?”

He nodded. “From Rio onwards would be my guess. He would have put your family under surveillance the moment he realised you'd fled with your jewellery.”

The colour drained from her face. “All this time,” she said faintly.

“To ensure your safety as best he could, Christabel, while giving you the freedom you craved.”

She shook her head. “I can't believe it.” Her gaze dropped to the file he held. “Show me. I want to see what he did.”

Jared curved an arm around her shoulders. “There's a table on the western veranda. We'll sit down and you can read all you want.”

She moved with him, dazedly repeating, “All this time…he knew?”

“Yes. And I'd imagine—smoothed the path for you wherever he could.”

They sat where his family usually gathered to watch the sunset—the end of the day. It was only a little past noon, yet the sense of the end to a long, long road for Christabel evoked a similar feeling of being able to relax now.

He didn't read the reports. He listened to Christabel's comments on them, her initial incredulity stretching into an awed understanding of how Rafael Santiso had facilitated her
escape
, as well as taking every precaution he could for her and Alicia's continued well-being, without any overt oppression or constriction.

The passports in the name of Valdez were not forged, as she had believed. Rafael had organised that the name of Kruger be legally changed to the one she'd chosen. Wherever she had sold her diamond jewellery,
his
people had ensured she received what it was truly worth. She and Alicia had never been without bodyguards hovering close by. Even in Broome, the caravan next to hers had been occupied by Rafael's
watchers
.

There was also a report on the King family—their history and their holdings—and an assessment on their possible reaction to Alicia's inheritance. The judgment was that it would have little or no influence on the life paths they had taken. The Kings of the Kimberly were deeply rooted in their territory and would not shift from where they were.

“You see?” Christabel commented ruefully. “The intrusion into your life and your family's has already begun, Jared.” Her eyes searched his, needing reassurance. “Do you really want to take this on?”

He nodded. “Whatever comes, Christabel.” He reached across the table and took her hand, enfolding it in the secure strength of his, determined on resolving everything for her to the best of his ability. “They're here to lay out the situation with Alicia's inheritance—Wissmann to deal with the money side, Vogel to deal with the legalities, Rafael to advise on protection.”

She sighed, her eyes filling with pained apology. “I had it so wrong.”

“Not with me. We have it right together, Christabel.” He smiled, wanting to soothe the angst she felt. “Remember Vikki Chan?”

“Yes.”

“A very wise old woman, Vikki. She said of you—and I remember the words exactly—
There is a strong wall of integrity in Christabel Valdez which will not be broken. I think she does, and will always do, what she believes is rights.
”

A little burst of pleasure brought a golden light to her beautiful amber eyes. “I felt her taking stock of me but…to read so much?”

“I've never known her to be wrong about people. So I'm asking you now. Can you…” He held her gaze, pouring all his love for her into his voice. “…do you believe it's right…”

He had to hold her.

“Believe what?” she asked shakily as he stood and scooped her up into his embrace.

“I need to hear you say it's right for us to marry, Christabel,” he declared with a passion he could no longer contain. “That nothing could be more right because that's what I feel and I have to hear it from you…”

It wasn't a command. It wasn't an appeal. It was a burning certainty in his heart as he spoke the words he wanted her to say.

“…because it's what you feel, too.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

S
IX MONTHS ON
…

“Mummy looks so-o-o beautiful,” Alicia breathed on an ecstatic sigh.

Vikki Chan smiled at the child's focus on her mother, who did indeed look as beautiful as a bride should. Truly Jared's bride, Vikki thought indulgently—a tiara of pearls holding her veil, a magnificent necklace of pearls around her throat and pearls studding the diamond pattern on the guipure lace of her strapless bodice. A big silk taffeta skirt billowed out from her hips—extravagant, graceful and lustrously sensual. Altogether, Christabel presented a vision that surely had Jared's cup of pleasure running over.

She was right for him—her wonderful little boy who had become such a man. Tommy was a delight. Nathan was Lachlan all over again. But Jared had always been her favourite—so sensitive and perceptive and receptive, his mind alive to the life in everything, almost Chinese in his appreciation of how nature shaped both good and bad for reasons of its own, the unseen influences that nevertheless did influence important outcomes—winning or losing.

Jared knew how to win. Instinctively, intuitively, he got it right. He had the gift for it. And he certainly looked the winner this evening—so tall and handsome and splendid in his formal silvery grey suit. Even the high peaked white collar of his dress shirt and the silk cravat looked perfect for him. A truly magnificent man. He made her feel very proud.

And having the wedding here in Broome for the whole town to see her boy and his bride…it was an occasion to savour in the days to come, talking it over with her old friends. A touch of honour, too, having Chinese lanterns hung around the grounds. It was a fine choice having the wedding at the Mangrove Hotel, out on this big lawn overlooking Roebuck Bay. Soon the moon would rise.…

“Alicia King,” the child lilted, trying out the name. She looked up at Vikki, her big brown eyes sparkling with excitement. “Now that Mummy's married to Jared, I'm not going to be Alicia Valdez any more. I think King sounds better, don't you, Vikki?”

“It is a fine and honourable name, Alicia, and a great blessing to be one of the Kings of the Kimberly. They are a family to be proud of.”

“I love having a family,” the child declared feelingly. “Now I've got a father like all the other girls in my class at school, and when Tommy and Sam fly me back to King's Eden after the wedding, Miranda said I could help mind her baby.”

Vikki nodded to herself. People, not money, gave the real riches of life.

“I hope Mummy and Jared have a baby,” the child rattled on. “Then I'd have a brother or a sister. Do you think they will, Vikki?”

“In time, little one. We must always wait for good things to happen. There comes a right time and that is the best time.”

* * *

“Let's sit down, Miranda.” Sam rolled her eyes at her sister-in-law. “I
need
to sit down.”

Miranda laughed and accompanied her to the closest vacant table. As Christabel's matrons of honour, they'd been standing for a long time, throughout the wedding ceremony and then the photograph session, and Sam was four months pregnant, though it barely showed. It didn't show at all in the princess line dress Christabel had chosen for them, and the midnight blue colour was definitely slimming. Flattering for her own figure, as well, since it was only a month since she'd given birth to Matthew and she wasn't yet back in shape.

“All I can say is, thank heaven the morning sickness is over. Pregnancy does not suit me,” Sam declared as she sank onto a chair. “I get so tired all the time.”

“This, too, will pass,” Miranda advised, taking the chair beside her.

“Where's your gorgeous baby boy? I need a reminder of what's at the end of this.”

“Nathan has him, parading him around the guests.”

They both laughed. Nathan doted on his son.

“Tommy's going to be the same. He's so cock-a-hoop that we're having a girl.”

“Well, it will be the first one born to the King family for three generations.”

Sam grimaced. “I always wanted to be a boy myself. I'm not good at the female thing, Miranda.”

“Nonsense. Boy or girl, I think you just have to let them follow their own nature and enjoy them for what they are. Besides, you've been marvellous with Alicia and you've said yourself she's a delightful little girl.”

They both turned their gaze to Christabel's daughter who was chatting away to Vikki Chan, her vivacious face alight with excitement. She'd been a bundle of excitement all day, being a flower girl at her mother's wedding and so happy to be getting Jared as her father.

“You're right. I do enjoy Alicia,” Sam conceded.

“Please God we never get some nasty investigative reporter connecting her to the Kruger heiress,” Miranda murmured. “She's such a lovely natural child.”

“Good thing Rafael had fixed up the Valdez identity so it was legal. It made everything easier for them.” Sam nodded to where Rafael Santiso and Elizabeth stood together, watching the bride and groom while they enjoyed a private tête-à-tête. “He's covered his tracks here, too, with his personal interest in Elizabeth.”

“I doubt that has much to do with covering his tracks,” Miranda said dryly. “Rafael is seriously courting her, Sam.”

“So it would seem. What does Nathan think?”

“He thinks she should go for it. What's Tommy's reaction?”