The Outback Marriage Ransom. Emma Darcy

Patrick.’

      ‘I look forward to meeting her.’

      It may not work out the way you want… Ric pondered those words as he strolled down the street to the Gecko Café where he could buy a coffee while he waited for Lara.

      What did he want from this?

      He knew what he didn’t want—Lara being a battered wife.

      But beyond setting her free from Gary Chappel…he wanted to see joy in her eyes…to recapture something of the girl that had once made every moment spent with her unbelievably special.

      Magic.

      Or was that a youthful dream, reaching for stars that were unreachable?

      He shook his head, accepting Patrick’s dictum that it may not work out how he wanted.

      But it didn’t kill the latent hope in his heart.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      RIC was leaning against the hood of the hire car, arms folded in a posture of relaxed patience. He’d left his suitcoat and tie in the plane. His shirt collar was open, sleeves rolled up his forearms.

      Lara paused in her rush to the car. Seeing him like this, at a slight distance, she realised he had a more powerfully built physique than Gary. His arms were very muscular and his shoulders were still broad without any clever tailoring to make them seem so. He’d filled out quite a lot from the boy she remembered.

      She’d never thought of a photographer as leading a hard physical life, but of course it could hardly have been a picnic in war zones. And if Ric had also worked on an Outback sheep station…

      Though how had he come to Gundamurra in the first place?

      An odd choice for a city boy.

      He might be very wealthy now but he was certainly a different breed to the men she knew. That hadn’t changed about Ric Donato. He was different and she still liked the difference. She’d never been afraid of it. It was attractive, exciting. But more than that, she knew instinctively he would never knowingly hurt her.

      Was that because of seeing his mother hurt and hating it?

      Even as a teenager he’d treated her as though she were some precious being to be handled with care, given every courtesy. Like a princess…

      Well, she was little more than a beggar maid now, and what’s more, she never wanted to be viewed as a princess again. She resumed walking, happy with the clothes she’d bought. No artifice about them. No stylish elegance. Now that she was free of Gary, she was going to be a person, not a clothes horse to be shown off as a man’s possession.

      Ric caught sight of her and snapped upright, ready to move. Action man, she thought with almost giddy joy, still amazed at how he had so personally effected her escape, even to flying her away in a private plane. Though they hadn’t yet arrived at their final destination, she hastily reminded herself. Even so, she no longer cared where it was or what it was. Ric said it would be safe there and she believed him.

      She believed him even more as they approached the landing strip at Gundamurra. The Australian expression—out the back of Bourke—took on real meaning as she gazed down at a vast flat landscape, seemingly endless inland plains, far from civilisation.