The Playboy King's Wife. Emma Darcy

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      She didn’t look like anyone’s kid sister!

      Where had Sam’s freckles gone? Her face was pure come-hither, her mouth painted with soft lipstick, her eyes somehow bigger and more luminous.

      Her eyes fastened on Tommy…delivering a sharp kick to his heart. The sultry look she was giving him simmered with sexual promises. His skin suddenly tingled from the top of his scalp to his toes. Countless times he had told himself he didn’t want Sam Connelly. But this wasn’t the Sam he knew. This was…

      Samantha!

      And if ever there was a walking invitation to discover another side of Sam, this was it!

      Dear Reader,

      Last year I chartered a plane to fly me from Broome, the pearling capital of the world, right across the Kimberley region of the great Australian outback. The vast plains are home to huge cattle stations, the earth holds rich minerals and the outposts of civilization are few and far between. I wondered how people coped, living in such isolated communities.

      “They breed them big up here,” my pilot said. “It’s no place for narrow minds, mean hearts or weak spirits. You take it on and make it work.” He grinned at me. “And you fly. Can’t do without a plane to cover the distances.”

      Yes, I thought. Big men. KINGS OF THE OUTBACK. Making it work for them. And so the King family started to take shape in my mind—one brother mastering the land, running a legendary cattle station; one who mastered the outback with flight, providing an air charter service; and one who mined its riches—pearls, gold, diamonds—selling them to the world.

      Such men needed special women. Who would be their queens? I wondered. They have come to me, one by one—women who match these men, women who bring love into their lives, soul mates in every sense.

      I now invite you to share the journeys of the heart for these KINGS OF THE OUTBACK. This is Tommy and Samantha’s story. Jared’s will come next in The Pleasure King’s Bride, on-sale August 2000, #2122. These romances encompass the timeless, primitive challenge of the Australian outback, and a touch of what the Aboriginals call “The Dreamtime.”

      With love,

      The Playboy King’s Wife

      Emma Darcy

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      CONTENTS

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      CHAPTER ELEVEN

      CHAPTER TWELVE

      CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      CHAPTER FOURTEEN

      CHAPTER FIFTEEN

      AUTHOR’S NOTE

      CHAPTER ONE

      A KING family wedding…but it wasn’t hers and Tommy’s as she’d dreamed of so many times.

      Even as Samantha Connelly told herself it was a terrible thing to envy people she really liked and wished well, the feeling would not go away. In another hour or so, Miranda Wade would be exchanging marriage vows with Nathan King, their love for each other would be shining out of them, and Sam just knew she was going to be sick with envy.

      The worst of it was, there was no way to avoid seeing this wedding through at close quarters. As the one and only bridesmaid, she couldn’t wander off and lose herself amongst the crowd of guests. She had to be on hand, performing her duties as helper of the bride, and the whole time she would have to suffer being linked to Tommy King, Nathan’s brother and best man, wishing she was the bride and he was the groom.

      Tommy…who still treated her like a kid sister to be petted and teased and taken for granted as a background part of his life.

      Tommy…who’d probably be eyeing off every attractive woman at the wedding. But not her. Never her. And she’d end up saying something mean and bitchy to him out of sheer frustration, when what she truly wanted…

      A knock on her door and Elizabeth King’s call, “Are you dressed, Sam? May I come in?” forced a swift change of expression from gloom to the expected pleasurable excitement.

      “Yes. I’m ready,” she replied, preparing herself for the all too discerning scrutiny of Tommy’s mother.

      Elizabeth stepped into the room that had been allotted to Sam years ago when she’d first come to work on the great cattle station of King’s Eden. Those days were long gone, but the sense of being at home here with Elizabeth filling the role of her stand-in mother still lingered. Comfortable familiarity and affection poured into both their smiles as they viewed each other in their wedding finery.

      “You look wonderful, Elizabeth.” Sam spoke first, admiring the graceful silvery grey tunic and long skirt the older woman wore with distinction. The outfit was made of a soft, fine knit and trimmed with satin ribbon, and it was set off with the beautiful pearls she always wore. Even in her sixties Elizabeth King was still a very handsome woman, tall, white-haired, with the brilliant dark brown eyes Tommy had inherited.

      “So do you, Sam,” came the warm reply. “More beautiful than I’ve ever seen you.”

      The compliment stirred a self-deprecating laugh. “The miracle of cosmetics. I hardly recognise myself. No freckles on show, my hair done up…” She turned to her reflection in the dressing-table mirror. “It’s like looking at a stranger.”

      “That’s because you’ve never bothered making the most of yourself,” Elizabeth commented dryly, walking over to stand behind her. Their eyes met in the mirror. “Sometimes it does a woman’s heart good to see herself at her best.”

      Would Tommy see her as sexy and beautiful today? Sam wryly wondered. The lilac satin strapless gown certainly emphasised every curve of her figure. Not that she was lushly curved like Miranda. All the same, she was generally satisfied with the shape of her body and it was in proportion to her average height. The slim-line gown gave her an elegance she’d never attached to herself before, but sexy?

      “Well, at least I can’t be seen as a tomboy in this dress,” she commented, trying to ease the tight, hopeless feeling in her chest.

      “You shouldn’t feel like one, either. Why not let yourself enjoy