Outback Wife and Mother. Barbara Hannay

      “Alexandra? What are you doing here?” About the Author Title Page Dedication PROLOGUE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN EPILOGUE Copyright

      “Alexandra? What are you doing here?”

      Clearly Fletcher regarded her as an intruder. How could this happen? He had come to the city and made exquisite love to her and changed her life forever. “You’re surprised to see me,” Ally whispered.

      

      “Surprise is one word I could choose, I guess,” Fletcher drawled, his deep voice rumbling with sarcasm. His eyes traveled—very deliberately—over her slim frame. ”What are you doing here?” he repeated, his voice less harsh this time, as if he had run out of breath suddenly.

      

      “I have brought your little godson, Connor. You’re his guardian now....”

      

      “I know damn well I’m his guardian, but what have you got to do with it?”

      

      “Well, the point is,” resumed Ally, “I’m his nanny.”

      

      The color in Fletcher’s face deepened while, with the worst sense of timing, a kookaburra broke into raucous laughter in a gum tree overhanging the track. “Ally! You can’t be!”

      Barbara Hannay was born in Sydney, educated in Brisbane and has spent most of her adult life living in tropical North Queensland, where she and her husband have raised four children. While she has enjoyed many happy times camping and canoeing in the Australian bush, she also delights in an urban life-style-chamber music, contemporary dance, movies and dining out. An English teacher, she has always loved writing and now, by having her stories published, she is living her most cherished fantasy.

      

      Outback Wife and Mother is Barbara’s outstanding debut title for Harlequin Romance^®-we just know you’ll love her heartwarming style, so look out for more from her in the future!

      Outback Wife and Mother

      Barbara Hannay

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      

      

      

      For John Dow,

      who was my father and my first hero

      PROLOGUE

      MUMMY was crying again.

      Lying in his bed, the boy could hear her muffled sobs and his father’s pleading voice in the next room. ‘But, Vivienne, you mustn’t go. You can’t leave us.’

      He could see the friendly silhouette of his teddy bear on the pillow beside him, but not even his favourite toy could help him feel safe or happy. Not when he could hear the desperate sadness in his mother’s voice.

      ‘I feel so—so stifled here in the outback,’ she sobbed. ‘I think I’ll go mad.’

      Eventually, he pulled the pillow over his head to shut out the frightening voices...

      Then with the first creamy fingers of dawn, his mother crept into the room, smelling as fresh as flowers. She sat on the edge of his bed and he buried his head in her lap.

      ‘Mon petit,’ she whispered, stroking his hair. ‘I will miss you so much.’

      Something started to thump loudly in his chest. ‘You don’t have to miss me, Mummy,’ he cried. ‘I’m going to stay on Wallaroo with you and Daddy for always.’

      With a choked moan, she hugged him close, cradling him with her soft, warm arms. ‘Oh, cheri,’ she whispered and, looking up, he saw her beautiful eyes fill with bright tears. ‘Always remember, I love you very, very much. But you belong here.’

      There was a crunch of tyres on gravel in the yard outside, and then heavy footsteps on the wooden floorboards of the veranda. Ned, the stockman, stood in the doorway. He cleared his throat as he fiddled with his wide-brimmed hat.

      ‘Yes, Ned. I’m coming,’ she said softly.

      The boy felt her warm lips on his cheek and she held him so tightly he couldn’t breathe. Then she stood up and drifted away from him, out of the room, as soft and pretty as the morning mist on the river.

      His feet hit the cold floor as he hurried after her.

      Outside, the bush was already waking. A huge flock of pink and grey galahs rose from the gum trees along the creek, filling the reddening sky with their raucous chorus. Ned opened the door to the truck and she slipped inside. The little boy could just make out her pale face through the window glass.

      He ran faster, but as he reached the top of the steps, two strong arms caught him and lifted him up and he felt his father’s bristly morning cheek pressed against his. ‘We’ve got to let her go, Fletcher,’ he said, his voice sounding gruff and strange. ‘She doesn’t belong in the bush. She needs the city lights.’

      What was Daddy talking about? Of course Mummy belonged here. The truck’s engine spluttered to life and the station dogs barked and yapped at its tyres.

      ‘It’s just you and me now, little mate. At least she let me have you...’

      The truck rolled forward.

      Thoroughly bewildered now, the boy struggled in his father’s arms and cried out to her, ‘Mummy, don’t go!’

      But the truck gathered speed. And she looked back at him one last time, raised a graceful hand to her lips and blew him a kiss.

      CHAPTER ONE

      FLETCHER HARDY ran an irritated finger around the inside of his uncomfortably stiff collar and glared at the marbled floors and mirrored walls of the enormous ballroom. He had rushed straight to the hotel from a press conference about the drought in North Queensland and he had to postpone a dinner meeting with the Minister for Primary Industries—simply to watch half starved girls sashaying around in outrageous costumes!

      He prided himself on never doing anything against his will, but in a rare moment of weakness he had allowed his cousin, Lucette, to talk him into coming to a fashion show.

      Grimacing as his shoulders met the