The Cattle Baron's Virgin Wife. Lindsay Armstrong

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СКАЧАТЬ said, ‘I think you better explain.’

      She went hot and cold. Colour flooded her cheeks, then left her looking pale and mortified. ‘I—uh—disregard that, Finn, it—sort of came out in the heat of the moment and—’

      ‘No. Tell me, Sienna,’ he ordered.

      She swallowed and wished herself a million miles away.

      ‘Sienna,’ he warned, ‘I won’t let up until you do.’

      She closed her eyes frustratedly, then sighed and told him as clinically as she could. It was only at the end of her explanation that she got emotional.

      She said, ‘Funnily enough, I don’t want to be estranged from my family, I do want Dakota to be happy but the final humiliation—’ sudden tears blurred her eyes ‘—would be to be there amongst them on my own and still, obviously, on the shelf.’

      He hadn’t interrupted once and all he said when she pulled out a hanky and blew her nose was, ‘Dakota?’

      Sienna smiled shakily and explained. ‘As kids we used to thank our lucky stars we weren’t conceived in Timbuktu or Harare. We had a whole alphabet of weird place names we could have ended up with.’

      ‘I see what you mean.’ He looked humorous, then sobered. ‘But why me?’

      ‘When this bizarre thought literally popped into my head,’ she said ruefully, ‘that maybe I should hire an escort, my next thought was that it would have to be someone really impressive otherwise it could even be worse!’ She shrugged. ‘I couldn’t, at that moment, come up with anyone more impressive than you. But I never intended to—’ She stopped.

      ‘So what do you think made you say it?’

      She stared at him and a little flame kindled in her eyes as she forgot about herself and thought about him.

      ‘Finn, you’ve been really high-handed and arrogant about this. You’ve gone to my boss behind my back, he’s been on the phone to me and the net result is that I’ll feel bad if I don’t do this on his account, not yours, but all the same,’ she insisted, ‘so—you’ve even gone to the Augathella Hospital behind my back!’

      He looked amused.

      ‘All right, maybe that’s not so serious—’ she waved an exasperated hand ‘—but you have been extremely manipulative and I got mad but—’

      ‘I’ll come.’

      ‘But—’ Sienna stopped as if shot. ‘Oh, look, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I mean, it sounded all very well, throwing down my own gauntlet in the heat of the moment, but that’s essentially what it was.’

      ‘Sienna,’ he said dangerously, ‘let’s keep it simple—if you come to Waterford, I’ll go to the wedding with you.’

      ‘But—’

      ‘Sienna,’ he growled.

      ‘All right. Thank you. I mean—’ her shoulders slumped ‘—at least you’ve made my mother’s day.’

      ‘Why?’ she said suddenly about an hour later.

      They were in the pool doing floatation exercises.

      It was a warm, muggy Brisbane day; the humidity of semi-tropical Brisbane was something Sienna wondered if she’d ever get used to. So it was pleasant to be in the pool surrounded by the gardens of Eastwood.

      She wore a hat and dark glasses and a sleek navy Speedo. She was anointed with sunscreen, and she’d broken off her instructions suddenly to ask her question.

      Finn lay suspended in the fluorescent blue water on his back, then he flipped over and paddled to the side. He pushed his wet hair out of his eyes and studied her for a long moment. ‘You may not want to know why.’

      ‘Yes, I do,’ she insisted.

      He shrugged. His shoulders were broad and tanned and powerful and the only blemishes on his body were several scars from the accident and the operations he had had to have on his leg—in that respect he’d been amazingly lucky, no facial scars at all. ‘It all sounded rather like a cry for help.’

      Sienna flinched.

      ‘It also sounded as if you had no one else to call on. Being dumped in favour of your little sister would no doubt account for that, although isn’t two years a fair while to be carrying a torch?’

      ‘In two years’ time, you may find you have to ask yourself that same question, Finn,’ she said quietly.

      ‘Touché.’ He rubbed his jaw. ‘Well, something like that. Incidentally, I had been advised you had no ties and seemed determined to stay that way, so I wasn’t quite as high-handed as you imagined.’

      Sienna sank down to her sunglasses and came up spluttering. ‘Peter, I suppose!’ she said indignantly.

      He nodded.

      Sienna said something highly uncomplimentary as she called the wrath of God down on Peter Bannister, all men for that matter, and possibly even Melissa Bannister with her kind but gossipy ways.

      ‘If you’re imagining I’m all droopy and sad, I’m not.’

      ‘No.’ He shook his head and his lips quirked. ‘The opposite if anything. A bundle of energy and intelligence, actually. But I can’t help wondering if you see yourself as turned off men for the duration?’ There was something curiously intent in the way he watched her.

      ‘Yes and no,’ she said slowly. ‘I guess, as much as anything, it’s my own judgement that’s a bit of a worry.’ She smiled humourlessly and rippled the surface of the water with her fingers. ‘Then again, while you obviously can’t condemn all men because of one man’s erratic emotions, to be honest—’ this time her smile was genuine although wry ‘—it’s hard not to sometimes.’

      ‘So have you thought about the rest of your life in this context? Marriage? Children?’

      Sienna bit her lip. ‘Yes,’ she said quietly. ‘I love kids, I think I’ve done some of my best work with children, but I can’t see myself falling madly in love again so—’ she looked away and her voice was a little clogged as she went on ‘—I don’t know.’

      ‘Where is this wedding and when?’

      She told him. ‘You should, at the rate you’re going, be pretty mobile.’

      ‘Glory be,’ he said dryly.

      ‘Look,’ Sienna said carefully, ‘I feel really bad now, Finn. I mean, a wedding, after—after what happened to you, might be the last thing you want to go to.’ She stopped and sighed. ‘I just didn’t think. So I’ll come to Waterford but you don’t have to come to the wedding—I’d quite understand.’

      ‘Sienna—’ his eyes were laughing at her although he spoke gravely ‘—you surprise me. I would never have taken you for such a mass of indecision.’

      ‘I’m not, usually.’ СКАЧАТЬ