New Arrivals: Surprise Baby for Him: The Cattleman's Adopted Family / The Soldier's Homecoming / Marriage for Baby. Melissa McClone
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She turned to him, giving him the full benefit of her warm chocolate eyes, and he was very glad he’d suggested that they take this time to sit on the veranda, drinking coffee after lunch, while Bella napped.
‘It must have been quite a culture shock for you to move all the way from Sydney to here,’ she said earnestly. ‘You were only twelve. That’s smack on the edge of adolescence, when everything looms larger than life.’
‘Actually, I think the fact that everything was so different here helped me,’ he said. ‘I was overawed by this place, but I thought it was incredibly exciting, and my uncle kept me busy from first thing in the morning till I fell into bed at night. He turned my life into an adventure. I’m sure I’d have found it much harder to get over my father’s death if I’d stayed in Sydney.’
Surprised that he’d told Amy so much, he reached for his coffee cup and drank deeply.
Her face was soft with sympathy, as if she was picturing how it had been for him. ‘It can’t have been easy though, when you didn’t have a mother.’
From force of habit, Seth brushed her comment aside. He had no intention of explaining about his mother. She was a subject he never talked about. There was no reason to discuss her.
But Amy had hooked her elbow over the arm of her chair and she was leaning towards him, watching him with her complete attention. Two small lines of worry drew her brows low and her brown eyes were rounded with concern, her pink lips parted. Seth found himself wanting to lean closer, too, to kiss those soft, inviting lips, to kiss away that frown.
It would be so easy.
So incredibly satisfying.
And…totally inappropriate. She hadn’t come here for a fling.
All day he’d been struggling to blank out the picture of Amy this morning in her flimsy cotton nightdress. He tried not to think about the soft round outline of her breasts, the smooth skin of her shoulders, the tapering curve of her waist.
But Amy was different from Rachel. Seth knew she hadn’t been planning seduction, and he could have sworn that she hadn’t even noticed when her wrap slipped from her shoulders.
There’d been no flirting in the pool today either. But, heaven help him, he could still see the back view of her as she climbed the pool ladder. World-class legs. Lovely behind. Movements so graceful and feminine he couldn’t help but stare.
Damn it, the very fact that Amy’s sexiness was unintentional, and the knowledge that she wasn’t trying to seduce him, made his desire for her all the stronger.
But he shouldn’t have been checking her out. Just as he shouldn’t be thinking about kissing her now.
He couldn’t afford to start an affair with little Bella’s guardian when he knew that it could never go anywhere. The child needed stability in her life, and he’d learned the hard way that women and his lifestyle didn’t mix. For the past few years, he’d worked hard at keeping his distance from women like Amy—intelligent, warm-hearted, home-and-hearth-loving women.
The marrying kind.
Even so, he knew it would only take the first taste of her tender mouth, the first touch of his lips to her soft, warm skin and he’d be craving more.
He drew in a sharp breath.
Don’t even think about it.
Why was it so hard to remember his past mistakes?
For pity’s sake, man, just answer the woman’s question.
He said, ‘My mother left after my father died.’
‘Left?’ Shock made Amy’s voice tremble. Are you saying she left you?’
Seth shrugged and forced a smile. ‘Ever since I can remember, she’d had her sights set on Hollywood, and without my father to hold her back she was free to go.’
‘But she wasn’t free, Seth. She had you.’ Amy stared at him, with a hand pressed to her throat. Her dark eyes were clouded, as if he’d told her something completely beyond her comprehension. ‘You’d just lost your father. You were only twelve. Why couldn’t she keep you with her?’
It was a question that had eaten at Seth for years. Even now, he could feel the agonising slug of loss that had flattened him, when he’d finally understood what his mother’s choice had meant.
Her longing for fame and glamour had outweighed her sense of responsibility.
Bottom line, she hadn’t loved him enough.
Regretting that he’d started this line of talk, he sent Amy another shrugging smile. ‘I was better off up here with my uncle.’
‘I can’t believe that.’
‘I didn’t believe it at first, but with the benefit of hindsight I know it was best.’
Amy looked as if she couldn’t possibly agree.
‘Think about it,’ Seth told her. ‘What twelve-year-old boy would choose to live in a low-rent flat in a huge metropolis like Los Angeles, when he could be here, learning to ride horses, to raise cattle, to fish and to skin-dive, to explore deserted islands, and to paddle a kayak?’
‘I guess,’ she said uncertainly.
‘I owe my uncle a great deal.’
As if she needed time to think about this, she picked up the coffee pot. ‘Would you like a refill?’
‘Thanks.’ He held out his cup and he admired the unconscious elegance of her slim wrists and hands as she lifted the teapot and poured.
She was dressed for the tropical heat in a soft blue cotton dress, with loose sleeves that left her smooth, lightly tanned arms free. Her hair, which had dried in natural waves after their swim, was twisted into a loose knot from which wispy curls strayed.
Her citified neatness was beginning to unravel and Seth found the process utterly fascinating. He wasn’t sure which version of Amy he preferred, but one thing was certain—he was finding it close to impossible to remain detached, an aloof observer.
But he had to keep his distance. In a matter of days she was returning to Melbourne. She was a city girl. End of story.
Amy filled her cup and added milk, then settled down to resume their conversation. ‘So did your mother make it big in Hollywood?’
‘She’s had walk-on parts in daytime soap operas, but that’s about it.’
‘Has she made enough money to live on?’
‘I have no idea, but it doesn’t really matter. She remarried,’ Seth said coldly. ‘Found herself a cashed-up Californian.’
‘Has she ever been here?’
‘Once, when she dropped me off,’ he said, unhappily aware that he’d revealed much more than he’d intended. It was time to put a stop to these personal questions. Years ago, he’d learned to live without his mother and he wasn’t going to admit to a tender-hearted woman like Amy Ross that his only contact with her had been letters on his eighteenth and twenty-first birthdays with generous cheques attached.
He drained his coffee cup and stood. ‘I’m afraid I have business to attend to and I’m sure you’d appreciate time to yourself while Bella’s asleep.’
‘I’d like to take photographs of your grounds, if that’s all right.’
‘Be my guest. But keep to the open areas. Don’t go wandering off into the rainforest, or down the track to the beach.’
Amy frowned. ‘Do you think I’ll get lost?’
‘I’m assuming you’d rather not come face to face with an amethystine python, or a salt-water crocodile.’
The colour drained