Her Outback Commander. Margaret Way

to my half-brother. As far as my family is aware you were the one person outside Amanda that Mark didn’t hate or resent in some way. Mark fed on resentment.”

      That was her own judgement, yet she felt as if she was being dragged into a deep, murky pond. “Let’s get this straight,” she said. “When exactly did Mark talk about me? More to the point, why? I didn’t see Mark all that much.” Made sure I didn’t.

      He tossed back the remainder of his cognac. “Don’t let me upset you, Sienna. None of this is easy. I only mean Mark obviously thought very highly of you. He wrote about you to his mother. That’s if you were Amanda’s bridesmaid and her best friend?”

      “I was my cousin’s bridesmaid.” She frowned in perplexity.

      “As I thought. Only Mark failed to mention you and Amanda were related. Knowing Mark, I would say it was a deliberate oversight. Hilary insisted on showing me his letter, although I didn’t particularly want to read it or even know what Mark had to say at the time.”

      “Well, you could tell me now.” She settled her gaze on him. “The notion that he bothered to write about me at all doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. What did he say? Mark had good-looks, and an easy charm when the mood took him. That would be no surprise to you. But to be painfully honest we didn’t get to be friends.”

      “Except Mark didn’t see it that way.” His shapely hand gently rocked his empty brandy balloon. “Not so surprising when one thinks about it. Mark believed what he wanted to believe.”

      “Which, in my case, was what?” she asked, with more than a touch of asperity.

      “Well, you are a very beautiful woman. And you seem to have been important to Mark.”

      She gave an exasperated groan. “If I was, he didn’t share that with me.” She had no alternative but to lie. “What has that got to do with anything anyway?” she asked. “Mark fell in love with Amanda. Mark married Amanda. End of story.”

      “Only you know the story, Sienna. We don’t. But I’m more than prepared to listen to anything you want to tell me. The marriage was happy?”

      “Why wouldn’t it have been?” she parried. She wasn’t about to tell him there had been lots of crises, rows, Amanda in floods of tears. What good would it do?

      He studied her. “The simple answer. I knew Mark.”

      She had known him too. “It was happy enough,” she answered, caught up in a swirl of emotion. Even the air seemed charged.

      “You were there when he had his fatal accident?”

      Memory swept over her. She lowered her head, unaware the light was bouncing off her rose-gold hair. “Yes. Amanda had invited me along.” She had only relented and gone because Amanda had seemed desperate she join them at the ski resort. She still didn’t know why Amanda had appeared so distraught. “I don’t need to tell you Mark had a reckless streak. Amanda and I are experienced skiers. We’ve been skiing all our lives. Mark, very tragically, thought he was a lot better than he actually was. It was a terrible day. Amanda went totally to pieces.”

      “But you didn’t?”

      Her eyes flashed. “That sounds remarkably like an accusation of sorts.” Her response was just as terse as his question. “I was deeply shocked and saddened, of course, but I was glad I was there. Amanda needed me.” Amanda was one of the neediest young women in the world. But no need to tell him that either.

      His eyes lingered on her beautiful face, now flushed with colour. He had angered her. But it couldn’t be avoided. “You do know I’m here to arrange for Mark’s body to be shipped home? I also want to invite Amanda to return with me. She must want to attend Mark’s funeral, surely? And she can finally meet the family. We will, of course, meet all her costs. Do you think she would do that?”

      Sienna had to take time before she could answer. “Blaine,” she said in a subdued voice, “Amanda is rather a fragile person.”

      “And you’re her anchor?”

      “I’ve always looked out for her,” she admitted. “We’ve all deemed it important to look out for Amanda. She lost both her parents at such an early age. I must tell you she couldn’t have found better foster parents than my mother and father. There were and remain kindness itself.”

      “I’m sure of that,” he said. “Hilary said your father sounded very kind and compassionate. But you don’t think Amanda will meet me, let alone come back to Australia with me?”

      She stopped him by placing the tips of her fingers very briefly over his. It was a totally spontaneous action born of compassion. “I’m so sorry,” she said.

      Her skin was warm and as soft as silk, yet it sent tremors shooting down his spine. “I don’t want to go back without her.” His expression tautened. “She should want to attend Mark’s funeral, surely? She did agree to our taking his body home. And as Mark’s widow she stands to inherit money. I administer the Kilcullen Family Trust now my father has gone. I can make it easy for Amanda to access her inheritance or difficult for her to gain control of the funds. I don’t think she should escape meeting her late husband’s family at long last. Hilary will welcome her. So will Marcia, Mark’s twin.” He was far from sure in Marcia’s case. Both Mark and Marcia had inherited difficult natures. Not from Hilary, herself but Hilary’s family.

      Mark had left them right out of the loop, Sienna inwardly lamented. “Mark never once said he had a twin. He could only be drawn on you.”

      Blaine shrugged an impeccably tailored shoulder. His tone was ironic. “I expect there’s an avalanche of things you don’t know. Do you think the trip back to Australia would be made easier if you accompanied your cousin?”

      His suggestion rocked her. It also gave her a totally unprepared for thrill.

      “That’s if you could possibly spare the time?” he said. “I could hang on for a day or two. As an artist, I think you’ll find our Channel Country has a lot to offer. At the moment it’s boom time. We’ve had record rains over the past couple of years. The desert dunes are thickly clothed in green. There are wild flowers as far as the eye can see. Flood waters have even rolled into Lake Eyre, turning it into the fabled inland sea of pre-history. A number of Australian landscape artists have stayed with us on the station of recent times. And Hilary and Marcia love company.”

      “You’ve quite astonished me.” She was unable to free herself from his gaze. It was downright mesmerizing.

      “But the idea isn’t entirely unacceptable to you?” Brackets framed his mouth. Amusement? Triumph? She couldn’t tell. He was a man of contradictions.

      “Perhaps …” She found herself admitting, “But you don’t know me! I’m a stranger.”

      “Oddly enough, you don’t seem like a stranger to me.” The remark was delivered without his thinking, yet it had sprung from deep inside him. More than one switch had been turned on, he thought with a degree of self mockery. He had more than enough problems, yet he wanted this woman to come. He wanted to see her on his own land. He had never remotely expected this. being exploited, perhaps, by a beautiful woman wasn’t on his agenda.

      Sienna, ever perceptive, had caught the subtle nuance.

      The level of intensity between them had gone up several notches. She dropped her eyes, startled to discover she was powerfully attracted to Mark’s ‘Lucifer’. Attraction was beyond anyone’s control, she excused herself. It simply happened. Often when one least needed it to happen.

      “So many things we’ve lived with without knowing,” she said ruefully.

      “There are things that you need to know. Amanda, you, your family who raised her. Surely you all thought it extremely odd that Mark didn’t reach out and at least invite his mother and his twin to his wedding?”