Irresistible Attraction. Alison Kelly

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СКАЧАТЬ no longer only hinted at, but bursting out in a smile so dazzling that Alessandra felt almost giddy.

      ‘Now there’s an understatement! May I ask what perverse pleasure you get out of watching visitors choke on raw vegetables and charred steak?’ she asked, having no intention of making polite noises about how it wasn’t that bad.

      ‘I figure it’s about time Lisa learnt to cook…’

      ‘At what cost? A manslaughter charge?’

      ‘She’ll get better with practice,’ Bart stated.

      ‘It would be healthier for everyone if she got better with instruction! Besides, cooking isn’t absolutely essential to a woman’s armoury these days. Wouldn’t you be better off hiring a replacement while your regular housekeeper is away?’

      ‘Lisa wouldn’t make any effort at all then. Can you cook?’ he asked.

      ‘No. But I’m sure as hell better than your daughter! Which isn’t to say I’m prepared to take over the task, if that’s what you have in mind.’

      ‘It wasn’t,’ he assured her, standing and commencing to clear the plates from the table. ‘Would you care for dessert?’

      ‘Only if it comes out of a tin.’

      ‘What about frozen pecan pie and ice-cream? I’ll even defrost the pie first,’ he promised. ‘Though I’m not sure Lisa would.’

      Alessandra wondered whether he would use the microwave or simply conserve power by directing his denim-blue eyes on it; for a man who wasn’t good-looking he certainly had some powerful extras!

      ‘Suddenly I’m starving again! And as a dedicated, card-carrying member of the women’s movement I feel obligated to enjoy having a man cook for me!’

      By mutual consent they ate their dessert in the kitchen.

      ‘What made you decide to become a rancher? Marilyn told me you both grew up in Dallas.’

      ‘Even as a kid I always preferred country life over the city. My uncle used to let me spend every vacation on his ranch, working for him. When I was old enough to quit school I did and moved out there for good. When my uncle died he left the ranch to me. Twelve months ago I decided to take a chance and began looking around for an Australian property.’ He shrugged. ‘So here I am.’

      ‘You don’t regret it?’ she queried, sensing the conversation would end there if she didn’t.

      ‘Why should I? Do I look as though I have regrets?’ he returned, holding her vivid blue gaze. Not because he wanted to, but because it was hard not to be drawn into the peacock-blue depths of her eyes.

      ‘No. But few people can claim to have no regrets about their lives.’

      ‘Do you have regrets?’

      Alessandra grinned. ‘No! Not for the last nine years, at any rate. I can honestly say I’ve done everything I have ever wanted to do so far with my life, and I can’t see that changing in the future. Mind you, other people have spent a great deal of time regretting things on my behalf! My girlfriends, boyfriends, lovers, brothers, parents…’

      Realising this woman needed very little encouragement to talk, Bart made no comment as he began to stack the dishwasher.

      ‘Boy! Have my parents spent some time regretting some of the things I’ve done. Like the time I was arrested for assaulting a police officer…’

      Bart swung around, not certain he’d heard her correctly.

      ‘For what?’

      ‘For assaulting a police officer,’ she repeated calmly.

      ‘You see, I was taking part in a protest at White Bar, in Sydney, about the shipping of yellow cake…uranium,’ she qualified, ‘when the guy I was with was suddenly hit by a copper. I mean, Rick—that was the guy’s name— wasn’t doing anything worse than casting aspersions on the copper’s bloodlines when—whammo!’

      She swung a clenched fist at an imaginary figure and winced.

      ‘The boys in blue suddenly wanted to exercise their fists on Rick’s face! Well, hell, what was I supposed to do? Stand back and not even try to help him? Don’t say yes, because that’s exactly what the judge thought too. But I was lucky, I only got fined a couple of hundred bucks. Even though it was the second time I’d been picked up by the cops.’

      ‘The second time?’ Bart wondered just what sort of woman his sister had sent him!

      ‘Yeah, but I got off with a caution the first time. That was for kicking the door on a car after it had run over my dog. They bought the plea of shock that Dad’s solicitor thought up.’ She smiled smugly. ‘In actual fact I was mad as hell and if my brother hadn’t grabbed me I’d have kicked more than the car door!’

      ‘Umn—how long ago did all this happen?’ He hoped she wasn’t about to say, ‘Only last month.’

      ‘I was fifteen when my dog was killed and nineteen the second time. Don’t worry, I’m not a hardened crim. I’m not about to slit your throat in the night and take off with the family silver!’ she teased.

      If this woman claimed she had no regrets about her life to date, one thing was certain—she wasn’t hard to please! He poured two cups of coffee and carried them back to the table. Already Alessandra was into a heartfelt monologue on why uranium shouldn’t even be mined, let alone used for the production of nuclear weapons. He would kill Marilyn for inflicting this on him! Not only was he at the mercy of the emotions of an increasingly difficult seventeen-year-old daughter, he now had to contend with a radical feminist who would probably talk underwater with a mouthful of marbles! Suddenly he could claim one very real regret—he regretted that, on top of everything else, Alessandra MacKeller had to be sexy into the bargain!

      Without a doubt this was going to be the longest summer he’d ever had to endure!

      

      Two days later, Alessandra entered the kitchen to find the teenage Lisa eating breakfast. Except for presenting herself at dinnertime, along with her usual unappetising excuses for meals, the girl had made herself scarce.

      ‘Good morning. Can I get you some breakfast?’

      Alessandra gave a wry smile and leant against the refrigerator.

      ‘Do I look that desperate to eat?’ she asked the young brunette.

      ‘Pardon?’

      ‘Lisa, you may have your old man fooled, but don’t try and come the raw prawn with me,’ Alessandra told her.

      ‘Come the…raw prawn? I don’t understand…’

      Alessandra poured herself a cup of coffee from the pot on the stove before seating herself at the table.

      ‘It’s an Aussie expression that means, “don’t insult my intelligence”. I know a con job when I see one.’

      ‘I don’t know what——’ СКАЧАТЬ