Appointment At The Altar. Jessica Hart

cry from the front veranda made Lucy brighten at the perfect excuse to avoid tackling the mess for a while. Wiping her hands on a tea towel, she hurried along the corridor to help Hal unload.

      The front door stood open, but a screen door kept out the insects. It fell into place with a clatter after Lucy exited and made for the steps leading down to where Hal had parked the truck. She saw his tall figure first, and then noticed with surprise that he had brought someone with him. He hadn’t said anything about a visitor when he left that morning.

      Lucy’s blue gaze was on its way back to Hal when it stopped and returned to the stranger in a ludicrous double take. Surely not? It couldn’t be…?

      But it was. Her sister, so dearly familiar and yet so utterly unexpected out here that for a long, long moment, Lucy could only stare.

      Meredith?

      Meredith looked up at her. ‘Hi, Lucy,’ she said.

      It was her! Lucy’s heart swelled with astonished delight. She hadn’t realised how much she had missed her no-nonsense sister until now. Hurrying down the steps, she swept Meredith into a hug.

      ‘I can’t believe it’s really you!’ she cried excitedly. ‘It’s so good to see you!’ Then she pulled back to look into her sister’s face. ‘But what on earth are you doing here?’

      

      ‘Your sister?’ Guy’s brows rose. He had been out all day and had only just come back to discover that Hal had brought an unexpected visitor back from Whyman’s Creek. ‘Has she come out to visit you?’

      ‘Not exactly.’ Lucy was distracted as she turned the potatoes in the hot fat.

      They needed more cold meat for lunchtime sandwiches, so she had planned to roast another huge joint tonight and now she was glad. She could cook roast beef in her sleep these days, and she had too much on her mind to concentrate on anything more complicated.

      ‘She wants me to go home with her,’ she told Guy. ‘A friend of ours has been in an accident. He’s in a coma, and they think that my voice might help him to come round.’

      Guy sat on the kitchen table and regarded Lucy’s downcast face thoughtfully. ‘That’s bad news.’

      Lucy sighed, too miserable even to resent Guy’s presence. ‘I know.’

      ‘What are you going to do?’

      ‘I think I’m going to have to go,’ she said. ‘It would mean breaking my contract—you know how insistent Hal was that I was here to look after Emma and Mickey—but Meredith’s talking to him now and we’re hoping that he’ll agree to her taking my place while I go back to London and see Richard.’

      Guy frowned slightly. ‘Will it really make such a difference if you’re there?’

      ‘Meredith seems to think that it will.’ Lucy put the potatoes back into the oven and straightened, smoothing some stray hairs from her forehead with the back of her arm. ‘To be honest, I don’t want to go, but I owe Meredith a lot and if this is what she wants, then I’ll do what I can. I spoke to Richard’s mother on the phone, too. She sounded desperate, as if they’ve pinned all their hopes on me going back. How can I refuse when it means so much to them?’

      Guy hesitated. ‘What about Kevin?’

      ‘He’ll wait for me, I hope,’ she said, her eyes sliding away from his. ‘Even if Hal doesn’t agree to keep the job open for me if Meredith stays, then I’ll get back to the outback somehow. I’m not going to just give up on my dream.’

      But Hal had agreed, Meredith told her, when she came into the kitchen a little later and was introduced to Guy.

      ‘Now we just need to get you to Darwin,’ she told Lucy.

      ‘I can help you there,’ said Guy. ‘As it happens, your timing couldn’t be better.’ He told Meredith about his mother’s hip operation. ‘I need to be there,’ he said, ‘not that Ma will appreciate it! She’ll probably just tell me that I’m in the way, but I’ve chartered a plane to pick me up from the airstrip here tomorrow morning anyway. The pilot will fly me directly to Darwin, and I can pick up the London flight there. Lucy might as well come with me.’

      Lucy had been listening to him with growing dismay, but Meredith’s face lightened. ‘That would be great,’ she said gratefully. ‘It means she can get home much sooner.’

      ‘I’m sure we can find a local flight,’ Lucy cut across her. ‘We don’t need to put Guy to any trouble.’

      ‘It’s no trouble,’ said Guy. ‘There’s room for another person on the plane and, as I’ve chartered it, it won’t cost any extra.’ He glanced at Lucy’s mutinous face. ‘Of course, the alternative is for Hal to drive you into Whyman’s Creek,’ he said mildly. ‘There’s a local flight to Darwin and you might be able to get a seat on it, but as Hal’s just got back from town today, he’d probably be glad not to have to drive you in again tomorrow morning.’

      This was so patently true that Lucy was left with nothing to say, as Guy was no doubt perfectly aware. She could hardly insist on Hal going to all the effort of driving her into town on the off chance she would get a seat on the next flight when it had taken all Meredith’s persuasive powers to get him to agree to her leaving at all.

      Raging inwardly at the workings of fate, Lucy threw her things into her rucksack the next morning. She had so been looking forward to Guy going, and to spending some time alone with Kevin—well, without Guy’s smile lurking distractingly in the background, anyway—and now here she was, leaving with him instead of waving him off with a bright smile. Spending an hour and a half alone with him on the drive back from the rodeo had been bad enough. How was she going to manage going all the way to Darwin?

      They were even going to be on the same plane to London, she had discovered to her dismay. While she had been saying goodbye to Kevin, Guy had been on the phone, arranging her ticket.

      ‘Meredith said she would do that,’ Lucy protested when she found out, but Guy only shrugged.

      ‘Meredith was exhausted last night,’ he pointed out. ‘It seemed the important thing was to get you on to the first plane so I got my PA to book you on the same flight.’

      At least she would only have to put up with him until they got to Darwin, Lucy consoled herself. Guy was a first class traveller if ever she saw one, and she was most definitely a budget traveller. Once they got to Darwin, he would be so coddled by special lounges and fast track service that with any luck she wouldn’t see him again after that.

      But there was another shock at Darwin itself. ‘You’ve booked me in first class?’ Lucy’s voice rose to a squeak of appalled dismay.

      ‘It’s a long flight,’ said Guy. ‘You might as well be comfortable.’

      ‘Meredith told me that Richard’s parents wanted to buy my ticket home, but I’m quite sure they didn’t intend me to come first class!’ Lucy was aghast. ‘I know Richard’s father is a successful businessman, but he’s not so successful he can afford to hand out first class plane tickets.’

      ‘In that case, it’s lucky that I am,’ said Guy, putting a firm hand under her elbow and piloting her towards the first class check-in desk. ‘Richard’s parents can pay for your ticket back to Australia, and you can travel as economically as you like then.’

      Lucy dug in her heels as she realised what he was saying and rather belatedly wrenched her arm out of his warm grasp. ‘You bought my ticket to London?’

      ‘I can’t take any credit for it. My PA did all the work.’

      ‘But I can’t let you pay for me. I hardly know you!’

      ‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that,’ said Guy, repossessing her elbow and propelling her firmly forwards. ‘We’ve been living in the same house for the past week. You know that I like marmalade on my toast and I know that you’re