Kitabı oku: «Beresford's Bride»

CHAPTER ONE

AT SEVENTEEN she was as pretty as a Persian kitten. At twenty-two she was dazzling, the sort of shining ashblonde men couldn’t take their eyes off.

Zoe all over again.

Then again, she wasn’t, he mused, as the image of the mother was superimposed on his mind. She was several inches taller, her body very willowy and slender where Zoe’s petite frame was almost lush. But the same familiar sex appeal was there. The same chemistry that left men dazzled. She was walking away from the elevator with two good-looking guys about his own age flanking her, obviously paying court. They were doing the talking, she was doing the laughing, one arm raised to fan her long waterfall of hair.

He lost seconds.

The one thing he hadn’t counted on was his own reaction. It shocked him as much as some blinding encounter. His stomach muscles clenched and the blood in his veins began a slow burn. How too damned extraordinary! He gave himself a moment to regain his habitual detachment. This was young Toni, remember? Antoinette Streeton. He had known her all her life even if she had been too young to catch his attention.

Toni was the only daughter of the late Eric Streeton and the notorious Zoe Streeton Von Dantzig LeClair. The Streetons had owned and worked Nowra Station since the turn of the century. Nowra was their nearest neighbour some hundred miles to the northeast, and Eric Streeton had been a lifelong friend of his father and uncles. In fact, Eric Streeton had been best man at his parents’ wedding. The entire family had taken it very hard when Eric Streeton had lost the battle with septicemia a few years before. A deep gash ignored until it was too late. That was Eric. At that time he and his son, Kerry, had been on their own. Zoe had walked out on him when the children were adolescents, returning to sweep Antoinette off to Paris after her final year at boarding school. It was supposed to have been a treat, six months at most. Antoinette stayed with her mother for the best part of five years. Neither had come home for Eric Streeton’s funeral. They’d been too busy cruising the Greek islands with one of Zoe’s admirers, later to become her second husband, Von Dantzig. These days Zoe was on to numero tre. That was the Frenchman. He really didn’t want to think about it, feeling the same quiet rage now as he had then, the same sadness at the way Eric had been treated. The vast Outback, sparsely populated but closely linked, had felt the same way. Now Zoe’s daughter was walking toward him, the light catching some sparkling thread in her short evening dress. It was a very simple garment, figure—skimming, but a showcase for her lovely body and limbs. Her years in Paris showed. She looked enormously chic, finished in a way other beautiful young women of his acquaintance were not. The two guys were waving goodbye like old friends, one whipping out a small black notebook and scribbling something on a page. A telephone number, address? God, shades of Zoe! It touched a raw nerve.

She was moving into the main foyer, drawing all eyes. She must have felt his observation because her head turned quickly as though she was following a beam. He stood up, abandoning the evening paper, trying to dispel the odd mood that had settled over him.

He was even more formidable than she remembered, tall, lean, darkly, aggressively handsome. A man’s man but with a powerful sexuality that made him dangerous to women, like the ironic sparkle in his beautiful rain-coloured eyes. She’d have known him anywhere. Anywhere in the world. For a moment on seeing him she felt a heart-stopping sensation akin to narrowly missing being run over. She found it hard to breathe. It was so strange to face Byrne Beresford again, with his bright aura of excitement, glamour, power. This was the man who ruled a cattle empire with an iron hand. The man she had fantasised about as a profoundly impressionable and romantic teenager. Not that he had ever looked at her except as Kerry’s kid sister. Not solid and focused like Kerry. Potentially another Zoe, a woman as insubstantial as she was lovely, a woman with a habit of wrecking lives. This was Byrne Beresford, the man she had known all her life and would never know.

He was moving purposefully towards her with all the natural grace of some powerful big cat. Six foot three of taut energy that crackled loose like electricity, elegant in the city clothes he wore like a patrician, but something about him, the vigour, the vitality, the deep tan and the far-seeing eyes proclaimed four walls couldn’t contain him. He was what he was, a member of the landed establishment, a cattle baron of influence and power. A man impossible for anyone to ignore, much less a member of the opposite sex.

“Byrne!” She took a deep breath and put out her hand. He not only took it but bent his dark head to brush his mouth against her cheek. A smooth slide that had a profound effect on her. She not only felt it on her face but right through her body.

“Antoinette, welcome home. How are you? You haven’t changed at all.” Which was absurd. She had blossomed like some wondrous rose. She had a perfect creamy skin with a light fragrance that seemed to engulf him. Damn. It rattled him, being so effortlessly charmed.

“How wonderful to see you! It’s been years!”

“Five next March,” he responded, regarding her. “You’re all grown up.” But definitely off-limits, even if she was far more than he was prepared for.

“Paris has been good to me. How is everyone? You must tell me.”

“Everyone’s fine,” he told her. “Why don’t we go in? Have a drink before dinner.” He took her arm with his refined, assured manner, his fingers momentarily pressing into her bare skin.

She felt scorched, a hot lick of excitement against her ribs. It might have been the first time a man had touched her. Slow down, she thought, shocked by the speed and intensity of her reactions. This man was unique.

A waiter led them to a table in a room lined with mirrored panels. Huge crystal chandeliers on dimmers threw a flattering illumination over their heads.

“What will it be?” He looked at her expectantly, his extraordinary light-filled gaze all the more disturbing for the fact he cared nothing for his own magnetism. It was part of him, like the aura that hung over him, the power and prestige, the great wealth his family had accumulated through successive generations.

“A glass of champagne would be lovely.” She turned her blond head, catching their reflections repeated many times over in the cross fire of mirrors. They looked like a study in black and gold.

“Champagne. Why not? We do have something to celebrate.” As he spoke to the waiter, Toni found herself studying his profile. His was a bold face in every particular, a face of very definite planes and angles. Not gentle. Strongly sculptured. He had the Beresford cleft chin, not shallow like Joel’s, his younger and much more approachable brother, but deeply indented. She thought he would find it a hassle to shave.

“So, have I changed?” He turned swiftly, catching her out.

“Sorry. Was I staring?”

“Just a little.”

She shook her head as though to free herself from currents it would be all too easy to plunge into. “I was thinking how familiar your face is to me, yet so unfamiliar. If you can follow my meaning.” She broke off.

“Well, we were never contemporaries. You’re more of an age with Joel.”

“How is he?” she asked.

“Actually, he’s thrilled you’re coming home.”

“Why make it sound like you thought I wouldn’t?”

“You haven’t bothered before.” It came out more harshly than he intended, but she was having the damnedest effect on him. An unwanted rush of desire, under the desire hostility, and deeper yet, a need to put an end to it.

Opposite him, acutely aware of it, Toni’s eyes glittered with tears. Her voice fell, as though she was talking to herself. “We’ll never be forgiven, will we?”

Those eyes, he thought. Lotus lilies. Blue into violet. “It’s done, Toni,” he said. “All over with.”

There was a pause. “I don’t think so, Byrne.” She wanted to speak candidly, bridge the gulfs, but there were aspects of Zoe’s life she needed to keep private. “You can’t know the difficulties. Zoe was using her maiden name. It complicated things terribly. We were at sea. When we finally got the message, it was too late.” She stopped abruptly, anxious not to implicate her mother further. Zoe had an immense capacity for poor judgment. She had kept the news from Toni for days as she battled her own demons.

“Well, it’s the nearest you’ve got to explaining,” he said in a terse voice.

Her look of pain was almost physical. “We’re still raw with the memory.” The whiplash of grief.

The gray eyes assessed, calculated, found her wanting. “Forgive me, Toni, but that’s a little hard to believe. Zoe didn’t have the slightest difficulty walking out on your father.”

“Am I expected to make expiation?” Her nerves tightened powerfully.

“Certainly not to me.” His voice was clipped. She was getting too close to him. Under his skin.

“I don’t want to have to bear your constant disapproval, Byrne. We are going to be in-laws.”

“I wasn’t aware I was showing any. You’re very lovely, Antoinette.” He gave her a glance that left her shaken. “Paris has put a fine polish on you.”

“I wasn’t talking about my looks,” she countered a little sadly.

“Good Lord, doesn’t everybody?”

Sometimes her looks were a downright disadvantage. Deliberately she changed the subject, picking something safe. “Cate must be very excited.” .

“She is,” he agreed, watching the different expressions chase across her face. “The wedding is having a big impact on all of us. The first wedding on Castle Hill since my grandfather’s time. My parents. were married in Sydney, as you know.”

“And Dad was best man. I suppose it was inevitable both families would be united at some time. Cate and Kerry have always been great friends. They radiate such warmth and ease when they’re together. I suppose it was only natural they would fall in love. They’re the lucky ones.”

“Surely you’ve fallen in love yourself?” he asked.

“I thought so. Once or twice. It didn’t work out.”

“Take your time,” he advised. “Marriage is a huge risk.”

“Could that be another dig?”

“Not at all,” he returned. “Clearly you have a chip on your shoulder. How is Zoe?”

She frowned defensively. “She’s staying with friends at the moment.”

“Morocco, isn’t it?” Byrne said.

She nodded. “A villa a few miles from the centre of Marrakech. It’s very beautiful, a French colonial style farmhouse surrounded by date palms, cedars and lots of silver gray olive trees. Pink bougainvillea smothering the walls.”

“You’re really making it sound terribly attractive. You’ve been there, I take it?”

“Some time ago,” she acknowledged in a low voice. “Patrick is hoping to marry my mother.”

“No! ” He feigned shock. “Surely that’s a little difficult even for Zoe. What does her husband think about it?”

“Shut up, Byrne,” she said through clenched teeth. Lord, had she said it? She had.

“No, really.” His smile was cool. “There are a few rules.”

“Mamma hates rules. Besides, Claude is resigned to losing her. He’s many years her senior.”

“So that makes a difference, does it?” His brilliant eyes were diamond hard.

“It does to Zoe. If a thing doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.”

“Of course, one must be happy at any cost. assume Patrick’s rich?”

The gibe nipped sharply. “Of course, he is. We both know Zoe must have money.”

“She appears to have looked after you rather well.” His eyes recorded her perfect grooming, the lovely, expensive pink and yellow silk dress.

“I haven’t lived off my mother or her husbands,” she told him quietly. A point of honour.

“I’m sorry. I understood you followed them all around Europe. You’ve acquired an accent, by the way. It’s utterly charming.”

“Would it surprise you if I told you I spoke French like a native?”

“Not at all. So what have you been doing for yourself in Paris?”

His eyes held a cool taunt.

Obviously he wouldn’t see her as a dedicated schoolmarm tutoring English, which was what she had been doing quite successfully. That and part-time photographic modelling, mostly featuring her long blond hair.

“I’ll tell you some time if you’re really interested,” she said.

“What’s wrong with now?”

“I think you have some preconceived notions about me.”

“Actually, Toni, you hadn’t established yourself at all.” Which wasn’t true. She was affecting him strongly. “After all, your mother spirited you away when you were only seventeen. Kerry missed you terribly. Did you realise that? Especially after your father died.”

She heard the little catch in her voice. “It shouldn’t have happened.”

“No,” he agreed, his striking face grim. “Your father grew careless with life. He was profoundly affected by the divorce.”

“I loved him, Byrne.” She lowered her head, her voice sad.

“He certainly loved you.” Adored her, more like it.

“I was devastated when I heard.” In fact, she had collapsed, full of hysterical accusations against her mother.

“You couldn’t find your way back?” He didn’t feel in the least sympathetic, although she made an irresistibly poignant picture.

She gave herself a second to get herself together. “I had serious concerns about Zoe.” She couldn’t elaborate. “And there was the question of money.” At that time she had been pretty well without resources.

“Zoe wouldn’t give you any?” One black eyebrow shot up.

“Her nest egg had been more than halved. She was terribly worried. She’d made a disastrous investment. A person she thought highly of abused her trust. Zoe’s so impulsive. She acts before she thinks.”

“Hell, yes,” he agreed discordantly, thinking of how hard Eric Streeton had worked for his money. “Let it go, Toni. It’s all in the past now.”

“Unfortunately the past is never truly past. It follows us around. I was very surprised when Cate wanted me for a bridesmaid.”

He knew there had been a big power struggle, the family dividing into two camps, pro and anti Antoinette. “You got on very well as girls,” he said evasively. “You are her fiancé’s only sister.”

“I’m sure that was the only reason I made the bridal party.”

“I have to say one or two of us were concerned you mightn’t show up on the day.” He saw a quick flash of hurt in her eyes and instantly regretted his cutting remark. Lord, was he trying to punish her? Maybe he was.

The waiter returned, bearing a silver tray. He deposited a bottle of Dom Pérignon on the table and proceeded to uncork it, murmuring a fervent thank-you as he pocketed his tip.

“Welcome home,” Byrne said, lifting his glass to salute her. “I must apologise, Toni. I’m being too hard on you .”

“I may pay you back one of these days,” she retorted, sounding a different person suddenly. “Anyway, you’re a hard man.”

The gray eyes frosted over. “Is that my reputation, really?”

“Whether you like it or not.” She sipped her champagne.

“Listen to me, Toni.” He loosened the button of his beautifully cut jacket and eased back. “I’ve got a lot of people depending on me. A cattle chain to look after. These are tough times. Testing times. Toughness is a quality to be desired. You’d do well to remember it.”

“Oh, I will! Be sure of it. And Joel isn’t offering a challenge?”

For a moment he looked like he was going to ignore the silky taunt. “I’m not going to put my own brother down, but I think you’ll find Joel wouldn’t want to take on my responsibilities.”

“Just as well, under the circumstances. Personally I don’t go along with the old law of primogeniture. Both of you still unmarried?”

He took his time replying, a little nettled, more amused. “Not even engaged. Joel has plenty of time. I’ll get around to it when I’m ready.”

“You might even have someone already in mind?” She kept those lotus eyes trained on him.

“Not at all.”

“You don’t need women?” She knew she sounded challenging. But then she’d already been labelled.

“Oh, but I do, Toni. I don’t always sleep alone.”

No. Indeed not, Toni thought, endeavouring to ignore the shiver that ran down her spine. “Do we name names?”

“No,” he said bluntly.

So that was that.

“Drink up and we’ll go in to dinner,” he murmured. “I’ve had meetings most of the day. I feel like a Porsche with the engine still running. It will be nice to relax.”

Relax they didn’t. The tensions tightened a notch, even though an attraction between them was tacitly admitted.

The main dining room was opulent, softly lit, with beautiful paintings and tapestries on the wall, the tables glowing with candles and posies of flowers.

“It’s lovely here,” Toni murmured appreciatively, watching the light glance off his dark copper skin.

He glanced around, used to grand surroundings from infancy. “The main dining room has recently been refurbished, I understand. If it’s all right with you I’d like to get away fairly early in the morning, Toni.”

“Have no fear. I won’t put you out.”

He looked at her keenly, almost laughed. “Well, I’d like to be at the. airport by eight-thirty, at the latest. I suppose it’s reasonable to conclude you’ve brought a fair bit of luggage?”

She grimaced at the implication. “I’m not Mommy Dearest, Byrne. I’m here for the month, then I’ll go back to Paris.”

There was a sudden flare in his eyes, like diamonds exposed to bright light. “It sounds like you have someone waiting for you.”

“There is someone.” She took a deep breath, pretending to go starry eyed.

“There always is.” He stared at her for a minute before picking up his menu.

“His name is Akbar,” she confided. “We have crazy times together.”

His handsome mouth tightened. “I’m not sure I’m ready to hear about your little jaunts around Morocco. In many respects I lead a conservative life.”

She opened her eyes wide. “Don’t be ashamed of it, Byrne. You’re a gorgeous man, really,”

Her power to discomfort him was impressive. “Why, thank you, Antoinette. Just so long as you remember I don’t party with youngsters.”

“Which I might say without fear of contradiction lets me out. I’m twenty-two.”

“A considerable age.” His voice was half mocking, half gentle.

“I’m not going to let you patronise me, Byrne.”

“Good for you. I’m enjoying your efforts.” He looked at her.

“Oh? I thought you were trying to make me suffer.”

That put a brake on him.

“Forgive me, Toni, that wasn’t my intention.”

“Of course, I forgive you,” she lied, anxious to defuse the simmering tension. “As long as you remember something.”

“Please don’t stop yourself from telling me.” He poured them both another glass of champagne.

“I’m not stupid.”

He looked at her, light leaping from his silver-gray eyes. “That makes you doubly dangerous.”

Toni waited until they were airborne before she allowed herself to speak. “I’ve got to say I love the new plane.” She tapped one beautifully manicured nail against the arm of her chair. “What happened to the Beech Baron?”

“I sold it to Winaroo Downs. It was just what they wanted.”

“And this is the Super King Air?”

“Yes. Turbo prop. Averages about two hundred and eighty knots. A jet would have been fairly useless to me, what with trying to find suitable landing strips. This can get in just about anywhere the Baron could, which is what I need. I find I’m doing more flying around the country, checking on other properties, attending meetings, whatever.”

“It must have been hellishly expensive,” Toni said. Millions. Probably five or six.

“It’s not a luxury, Toni, not a rich man’s toy. It’s a necessity. A way of life. It comfortably seats ten passengers, as well as your seat beside me. A lot of the time I have a full complement on board. Especially when I’m carrying fellow cattlemen. They like to cadge a lift on the most comfortable plane.”

“Don’t I know.” She glanced at the earth. “I never grow tired of flying,” she said. “It’s a miracle.”

“You know Kerry had to part with the Cessna?” He shot her a keen look.

“Of course.” She bit her lip. “No matter how hardworking Dad and Kerry were, there were so many reversals.”

“And Zoe wanted a big slice of the pie.” The old bitterness slipped out.

“I don’t know anything about that, Byrne.”

“You had to know. Why lie?”

“Dad didn’t discuss the settlement with either of us. I was thirteen when Zoe left, remember? Kerry had only just finished school. Dad tried to protect us.”

“Then I’m sorry. He wasn’t happy about you going off to join your mother, either.”

“He agonised, then, loving me, gave in.”

“Did she never marry the man she went off with?” Byrne asked after a long pause, “or wasn’t he sufficiently well-heeled?”

She looked out the window. Brilliant blue sky and a streaming wedding veil of clouds. “Something like that.”

“How long were you with your mother before Von Dantzig disappeared?”

“It was all very distressing, Byrne.”

“I bet it was.” He felt a sudden wave of protectiveness. “In fact it must have been a nightmare for a beautiful young girl.”

“I had nothing to fear. I cried a little when Zoe and Rolf split up. Zoe had already met Claude. He decided to convert her to a grand lady. She liked that.”

“Dear, dear.” He clicked his tongue. “How did you keep up with these dreadful affairs?”

“I’m infinitely older than my mother,” she said simply.

“Is that why you stayed? To protect her?” His eyes were shrewd.

“And all the time you thought I was raging back and forth. Into guys. Into parties. Into drugs.” She shot a mocking glance at the hard, handsome profile, which he caught.

“I saw your pals at the hotel.”

“What pals?” She blinked in confusion.

“The two who were anxious to get your address.”

Her shoulders slumped. “Oh, them! You get pleasure seeing me as an air head, don’t you?”

“I know perfectly well you’re not.” She had wit, intelligence, her own apparent strengths.

“Actually I was giving them some tourist destinations on the Barrier Reef. They’re Americans, heading that way.”

“They didn’t invite you?” Hell, he was going out of his way to taunt her.

“All right, they tried. It’s no big secret men are convinced blondes know how to enjoy life.”

“It sounds just about right to me.” He smiled, and it was like the proverbial ray of sunshine spreading radiance across his dark, daunting face.

“Didn’t you have a wild girlfriend at one time?” she countered, trying to fight the punch his smile delivered.

“I doubt it, Toni. Wild women aren’t my style.”

“Yet I seem to remember her. Hettie? Lettie? Tall, good-looking brunette, not shy about spouting off.”

“I think you mean Charlotte Reardon.” The silver-gray eyes sharpened.

“Yes, Lottie. Everyone said she was very fast.”

“What the hell are you up to, Toni?” He raised a brow.

“I just wanted to see if I could take the mickey out of you,” she joked.

“You’d better wait until you know me a little better.”

“I’ve known you all my life.” Not in this way, she thought. Not with all the flash and challenge.

“Not up close,” he told her, eyes narrowing. “Tell me why you really came home.”

As a question it was almost aggressive. “To be with Kerry, of course. To be one of Cate’s bridesmaids. I consider it an honour.”

“What will Zoe do without you?”

“Zoe has made her decision, Byrne. She’s going to marry Patrick. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

“But you’ve got a problem with it?” He glanced at her, trying to pierce her guard.

“Maybe. Zoe loves weddings. All the excitement and glamour. That wonderful feeling of magic in the air. She doesn’t give a lot of thought to after.”

“Then you can count it a miracle she stayed so long with your father.”

“I promise you she did love him,” Toni said out of her deep knowledge of her mother. “And there were the two of us.”

“A daughter thirteen. A son seventeen. Problematic ages, one would have thought.”

“Zoe wasn’t qualified to give advice.”

He glanced at her with a sympathy he couldn’t suppress. “Does she ever show regret?”

Toni rubbed a finger between her arched brows. “One can’t judge Zoe by normal standards. She doesn’t look on broken marriages as failures. More as a way of breaking out of a bad situation. I should warn you, she could bring Patrick when she arrives.”

“So long as she doesn’t bring Akbar.” Amusement showed in his light-struck eyes.

“All right, I was joking about Akbar.”

“Some joke.”

“You believed me?”

He shrugged. “It must have something to do with the fact you’re Zoe’s daughter.”

“A real flake.” That was the general impression before they came to know her.

“The sort of woman to drive men wild.”

It was difficult suddenly to breathe. “I missed out on that talent.”

“I’ve seen nothing to indicate- that so far,” he drawled. “In fact I’m wondering how we’re going to prevent you from upstaging Cate.”

Toni flushed with hurt. “That’s what I call a bit of out-and-out malice.”

“Not at all.” His silver eyes sparkled. “Some weddings I’ve been to the bridesmaid has upstaged the bride.”

“That shouldn’t happen.”

“But it is a problem. I suppose you know Cate has three little flower girls lined up, as well as her four bridesmaids?”

Toni smiled. “She always did say she wanted a large wedding. I know Sally and Tara, of course—” she referred to the Beresford cousins “—but I don’t think I’ve met Andrea.”

“Andrea Benton.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.” She looked at him inquiringly.

“You’ve been out of the country awhile. Andrea’s father has been making the news for the past couple of years. Corporate takeovers, that kind of thing.”

“It doesn’t sound as if you like him.”

“I can promise you I like Andrea.” He let his gaze skim over her. Thinking, She doesn’t miss a thing.

“Should I read something significant into that?”

“You’re welcome to, if you like.” He smiled. “I don’t know that it means anything.”

“Just a friend of the family?” She shifted position so she could look at him. He was the most marvelous-looking man she had ever seen. Supremely self-assured, and it showed.

“Don’t press too hard, Toni,” he warned without sounding riled.

“Why, are you scared of matrimony?”

“That’s right, ma’am,” he drawled.

“Shame on you, Byrne. And you don’t like to get yourself into critical situations?”

“You’d better believe it.” He took his eyes off the control panel to stare at her. “There are no scandals in the Beresford family.”

“None whatsoever?” She couldn’t resist it. “Didn’t your granduncle have a mistress called Dolly?”

He laughed all of a sudden, and the laughter stayed in his eyes. “Lord, yes, I’d forgotten all about Dolly.”

“It’s what’s called selective memory. But I suppose if we stuck Dolly into the cupboard you’d have been a very worthy family. Maybe a bit starchy.” What the heck was she doing, being so irreverent?

“Okay, Antoinette, you’ve had your little bit of fun.”

“Only because you’re being pretty mean to me.”

He gave her a glance that spangled. “I’m sorry.”

She felt a kind of heat spread in her. “Okay, apology accepted. Anyway, I can’t talk. I have no immediate plans to get married, either. I’m a bit like you. I’m runnin’ scared.”

She hoped she might have tweaked his ego, but he laughed. “I guess I asked for that. Was it so bad moving in your mother’s circle?” he asked with surprising sympathy.

“Awkward.”

“If you needed money to come home, you only had to ask.”

“Do you honestly think I’d have approached you, Byrne?”