Seth tried to be patient while Bella was persuaded to sit cross-legged on the carpeted floor with books and a handful of toys. He and Amy sat at one of the dining tables.
‘Hey, diddle, diddle,’ the child announced gleefully.
He stifled a sigh of irritation. ‘Does your daughter usually accompany you to business meetings, Mrs Ross?’
‘Cat an’ fiddle,’ chanted Bella.
Flushing, Amy nervously lifted her hair from the back of her neck. Clearly, the heat and the tropical humidity were bothering her. Her hair was damp against her skin, and her neck was flushed and shiny with perspiration.
‘I’m not married,’ she said.
It was only then, as Seth watched her elegant hands securing a twist in her honey hair, that he noticed she wasn’t wearing rings.
So she was a single mother. He supposed he should be more tolerant. He’d heard all the news reports about the excessive costs of day care.
‘I don’t usually have Bella with me while I’m working,’ she said. ‘But I had to travel such a long way this time, and I didn’t want to leave her.’
He bit back a question about the child’s father, but he couldn’t help wondering where the guy was and why he hadn’t been able or willing to help out.
‘You’ve come quite a distance,’ he said.
‘Don’t I know it? It’s so hot and muggy here.’ She lifted the limp collar of her cotton shirt away from her skin. ‘The tourist agency told me it’s as far from Melbourne to Tamundra as it is from London to Moscow.’
Seth nodded. ‘And you’ve chosen the very worst time of the year to make such a long journey.’
Her lower lip pouted. ‘I had no choice. There’s so little time to get publicity organised. Rachel’s book is coming out in April.’
‘Ah, yes, Rachel Tyler’s book,’ Seth said quietly and he narrowed his eyes.
‘Aren’t you pleased about it?’
‘Why should I be pleased? When Rachel was on Serenity three years ago, she never once mentioned to anyone that she planned to write a book. I was very sorry to hear about her accident, but I can’t say I’m happy that there’s a book coming out now, after such a long silence.’
‘Rachel’s—Rachel was—a brilliant writer. She had a wonderful gift for description.’
That was all very well, but what had she described? As a reclusive bachelor, who prized his privacy, Seth was distinctly unhappy that a former employee had written a book about the six weeks she’d spent on his cattle property.
On the phone last week, Amy Ross had gone to great lengths to assure him that the book was a work of fiction and people’s names had been changed to protect the innocent. But Seth wasn’t at all confident he could assume that Rachel Tyler had been discreet.
Rachel had claimed to have been on a back-packing holiday, but she’d never hinted that she planned to race off and write a book about it.
To Seth, Rachel’s behaviour had been sneaky. People in the bush were upfront and open and the whole business of this book made his gut churn with apprehension. Even so, he was determined to find out what he could. It was why he’d agreed to this meeting.
He frowned at Amy. ‘You were Rachel’s best friend, so I assume you can shed some light on this book.’
Amy smiled awkwardly. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know much at all. I’m here because the publishers have a limited budget for the promotion, and I wanted to do as much as I could for—for—’
Her eyes rested on the child. ‘I wanted to do this for Rachel.’
The little girl looked up suddenly. ‘Mummy?’
To Seth’s surprise, Amy paled and closed her eyes, as if the child had upset her.
When she opened her eyes again, a moment later, Seth was struck by their dark, liquid beauty.
There was something very graceful and feminine about Amy Ross that he found eminently watchable. On the other hand, there was something about her story that didn’t quite add up.
The child’s presence…Amy’s nervousness…Her insistence on coming now at such an inappropriate time when the wet season was about to break over their heads.
He knew Amy hoped to return to Serenity with him to take publicity shots, but already he was convinced that even agreeing to this meeting had been a huge mistake.
Amy could feel her heart beating in her throat. It had been such a shock to see Seth and Bella together. She’d never dreamed there could be such a strong likeness between a grown man and a baby girl, and she found it hard to believe that he hadn’t seen the resemblance for himself.
How much time did she have before he began to notice and to ask difficult, searching questions?
She was pretty sure he could see huge holes in her claim that she’d come here solely to gather promotional material for Rachel’s book. She was terrified Seth Reardon might change his mind about allowing her to spend a couple of days on his cattle property, and if that happened she would have no choice but to reveal her real reason for coming north.
But she couldn’t tell him yet.
It was too soon.
To surprise this cold and forbidding cattleman with the news that he’d fathered a daughter was a delicate and difficult exercise. The timing was crucial, and there was no way she wanted to tell him such distressing news now in this strange hotel, miles from anywhere.
This exercise couldn’t be rushed. She needed a chance to get to know Seth Reardon first. She wanted to win his confidence and trust—if that were possible, which right now she seriously doubted. She had hoped that together she and Seth could work out the best way to care for her precious Bella.
Amy forced a shaky smile, uncomfortably conscious that Seth Reardon was an exceptionally good-looking man. Rachel had always had good taste in men, and Seth’s lean, rugged physique and arresting blue eyes were enough to make any young woman forget her mother’s warnings.
Last night, when Amy had arrived here, she’d mentioned his name to the publican’s wife, Marie, and the woman’s reaction had puzzled her.
‘Seth Reardon?’ Her eyes had widened with sudden surprise. ‘Oooh…He’s a quiet one. Doesn’t hang around the pub much. He’s…cold. But there’s something about him though. Eyes that make you wonder.’
‘Wonder what?’ Amy had prompted, hoping to hear a positive comment.
The woman had actually blushed, and then she’d shot a quick glance at Bella, who’d been sitting at the dining table, absorbed in drinking a glass of iced milk with a straw.
‘What?’ Amy had asked again.
‘Oh, I’ve always had a soft spot for a man with blue eyes,’ Marie had said lamely and she’d become very busy clearing dishes while she muttered about needing to get back to the kitchen.
Amy had been left with the impression that Seth Reardon was dangerous.
Even Rachel had admitted that Seth had been cool and distant at first, until she’d got to know him. Not that Amy would allow her mind to dwell on thoughts of Rachel and Seth becoming familiar…
Or intimate.
The very idea…of Seth Reardon making love…was like a close encounter with a lightning bolt.
He sent a frowning glance to the window and Amy saw that it had started to rain rather heavily.