Required: Three Outback Brides: Cattle Rancher, Convenient Wife / In the Heart of the Outback... / Single Dad, Outback Wife

Obviously Clay hadn’t filled him in. Rory was grateful for that. He really didn’t want to talk about his family. Nevertheless he found himself nodding casually. ‘The very same, Greg.’

‘Say that’s great!’ Greg Stapleton gazed back at him with heightened interest. ‘But what are you doing in this neck of the woods? You’d be way out of your territory?’

Rory answered pleasantly though he wanted to call, ‘That’s it!’

‘Actually, Greg, I’m looking to start up on my own.’

Stapleton look amazed. ‘Glory be! When Turrawin is one of our major cattle stations? The biggest and the best in the nation. Surely you’d have more than enough to do there?’

‘I have an elder brother, Greg,’ Rory said, making it sound like it was no big deal instead of a boot out the door situation. ‘Jay’s my father’s heir. Not me. I’ve always wanted to do my own thing.’

‘And I’m sure you’ll be marvellous at it,’ Chloe spoke up protectively and gently touched his arm. Chloe it appeared was a very sympathetic young woman. Nothing wrong with that!

‘I’m totally against this primogeniture thing!’ Greg announced. ‘It’s all wrong and it’s hopelessly archaic.’

‘Ah, here’s Allegra!’ Caroline rose gracefully to her feet, grateful for the intervention her guest’s arrival presented. Clay had told her in advance a little of Rory Compton’s story so she knew he wouldn’t want to talk about it. But there was no stopping Greg once he got started. She welcomed the newcomer to their midst. ‘Just in time for a drink before dinner, Allegra!’

‘That would be lovely!’ A faintly husky, marvellously sexy, voice responded.

My God, what a turn up!

Rory just managed to hold himself back from outright staring. He was absolutely certain this femme fatale had left not just a husband but a string of broken hearts in her wake. He had enough presence of mind to rise to his feet along with the other men as Chloe’s sister walked into the room to join them. No, not walked. It was more like a red carpet glide. How exactly did unexceptional Chloe feel about having this beautiful exotic creature for a sister? All Rory’s sympathies were with Chloe. The sisters couldn’t have looked less alike. He hoped Chloe wasn’t jealous. Jealousy was a hell of a thing to haul around.

In a split second his dazzlement turned to an intense wariness and even a lick of sexual antagonism that appeared out of nowhere. It wasn’t admirable and it stunned him. He wasn’t usually this judgemental.

She was a redhead. Not Titian. A much deeper shade. More the lustrous red one saw in the heart of a garnet, a stone he recalled had been sacred to ancient civilisations such as the Aztecs and the Mayans. She wore her hair long and flowing. He liked that. Most men would. It curved away from her face and fell over her shoulders like a shining cape. It even lifted most glamorously in the evening breeze that wafted through the French doors. Her eyes were a jewelled topaz-blue, set in a thick fringe of dark lashes. Her skin wasn’t the pale porcelain usually seen in redheads. It had an alluring tint of gold. Very very smooth. Probably she dyed her hair. That would explain the skin tones. Her hair was an extraordinary colour.

She was much taller than Chloe with a body as slender and pliant as a lily. Her yellow silk dress was perfectly simple, yet to him it oozed style. He might have been staring at some beautiful young woman who modelled high couture clothes for a living or something equally frivolous like spinning the wheel on a quiz show.

‘You know everyone except Rory,’ Caroline was saying, happy to make the introduction. ‘Allegra this is Rory Compton who hails from the Channel Country. Rory, this is Chloe’s sister, Allegra Hamilton.’

She was walking towards him, graciously extending a long delicate hand. What was he supposed to do, fall to one knee? Kiss the air above her fingers? Powerful attraction often went along with a rush of contrary emotions, or so he had read. ‘How do you do,’ she said in that husky voice, as though equally struck by something in him she didn’t quite understand, or for that matter like.

It might have been a gale force wind instead of a breeze blowing through the open doors. Rory swallowed hard on the roaring in his ears. What the hell! One could shake hands with a vision. Get it over. Life went on. He knew he hadn’t imagined the shiver of electricity. It was a wonder they hadn’t struck sparks off one another. It happened. But there was bound to be a scientific explanation. He felt more comfortable with that, though he hadn’t the slightest doubt she could cause such a response at will.

Well ma’am, I survived it!

She didn’t smile at him, coolly summing him up. He didn’t smile at her. Instead they studied one another with an absolute thoroughness that seemed to lock out everyone else in the room.

She looked away first.

He didn’t know how to interpret that. A win or a loss?

Over dinner, it turned out stunning Allegra was also smart. Pretty soon he’d be lost in admiration. Lighthearted conversation set the tone for most of the meal. They talked about anything and everything. A recent art auction, remarkable for the high prices paid for aboriginal art, music, classical and pop, favourite films, books, celebrities in the news, steering clear of anything confrontational. He liked the way she entered spiritedly into the discussions, revealing not only a broad general knowledge, but a wicked sense of humour. Now why should that surprise him? Rory had to chide himself for being so damned chauvinistic in the face of the twenty-first century. Why shouldn’t there be a good brain behind that beautiful exterior? His mother had been a clever woman, well educated, well read. Not much of a mother, however, as it turned out. Not all glorious looking women kept themselves busy luring rich guys into marriage he reminded himself.

What really struck him, was the way sweet little Chloe kept heckling her sister just about every time she opened her mouth. Heckling was the only way he could interpret it. It was all done with a cutesy smile, which he thought rather odd, but towards the end he found himself fed up with it. Sisterly ease and friendliness appeared to be a thin veneer.

On the other hand—further surprising him—there appeared to be no limit to Allegra’s tolerance. She had such a high mettled look to her and surely a redhead’s temper he had expected a free-for-all. If again that gorgeous mane was natural? But never once did she retaliate to her sister’s running interference when Rory had thought of a few sharp answers himself. There was no way Chloe could be totally free of jealousy, he reasoned. Poor Chloe. This was one of the ways she handled it.

‘And what’s your feeling, Rory? ‘Allegra startled him by addressing him directly. She looked across the gleaming table, her beauty quite electrifying amid the candlelight and flowers.

‘I’m sorry, I missed that.’ I was too damned busy wondering about you!

She smiled as though aware of it. ‘We were talking about the mystery resignation.’ She named a well-known politician who had stunned everyone including the prime minister by vacating his federal seat literally overnight.

‘He’s had a breakdown, I’d say,’ Rory offered quietly, after a moment of reflection.

‘Doesn’t look like that to me.’ Greg Stapleton’s mouth curled into a sardonic grin. ‘Could be woman trouble. The man looks great, fit and well. I saw him only recently on a talk show. He’s a good-looking bloke, happily married supposedly. One of the top performers in government.’

‘A high achiever,’ Rory agreed. ‘And he is happily married, with three children. He is a man who drives himself hard. When depression hits it hits hard. It can hit anyone. I’ve met the man and really admired him.’

‘So you think all the stress that goes along with the job—the lengthy periods away from home—got to him?’ Allegra asked, studying Rory very carefully and obviously waiting on his answer.

‘That’s my opinion,’ he said. ‘But I’m prepared to bet he is the man to confront it and win out.’

She gave a gratifying nod of approval. ‘I’m sure we all wish him well.’

Chloe at this point, not to be outdone, attempted to start a rousing political discussion, which was met not so much with disinterest but a disinclination to spoil the mood. Subdued she turned her attention back to cutting down her sister at the same time keeping her own brain underwraps. Appearances could be very deceptive Rory was fast learning. He’d initially thought sweet Chloe would make some man a good wife. Perhaps she would. Just so long as her sister wasn’t around.

Irritations aside, dinner went off very well. A roulade of salmon with a crab cream sauce; smoked duck breast as a change from beef, a lime and ginger brulée. Someone took an excellent approach to cooking. He hadn’t been eating well on the road. Clay and his beautiful wife were the best of hosts; the formal dining room recently redecorated and refurbished was splendid and the food and wine matched up.

It was well after midnight before they broke up. Rory was one of the last to make his way upstairs to his guest room because he and Clay had a private conversation first.

‘If you want I could have a word with Allegra in the morning,’ Clay suggested, drawing Rory into the book filled library. ‘There’s a possibility the Sanders property—it’s called Naroom by the way—could come on the market.’

‘You think they’re serious?’ Rory asked, staggered by all the leatherbound tomes. Did anyone read them?

‘We won’t exactly know until I broach the subject.’

‘Why Allegra, why not both sisters?’ Rory asked, fairly cautiously.

Clay’s response was dry. ‘Not to be unkind, you’ve met both sisters. Allegra is definitely the brains of the outfit.’

‘Is that why Chloe’s so darned resentful?’ Rory’s chiselled mouth twisted.

‘I’ve never seen Chloe quite so bad,’ Clay confessed. ‘You might have had something to do with that!’ A teasing grin split his face.

‘Cut it out!’ Rory’s voice was wry. ‘I’m sure Chloe can be a very nice person when she tries, but I have to say I’m not interested.’

‘What about Allegra?’ Clay continued, tongue-in-cheek. ‘She’s so much more beautiful—’

‘And brainier,’ Rory cut in. ‘Sorry, I know what a beautiful woman can do to a man. You’re one of the lucky ones.’

‘About as lucky as a man can get,’ Clay admitted with a smile. ‘Anyway, who could blame Chloe for being so miffed. Allegra has so much going for her.’

‘Really?’ Rory raised a brow. ‘I thought she’d just come out of an unpleasant divorce?’

‘So she has. I think she’s been feeling a bit down lately. Who could blame her?’