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.
'How big is Gundamurra?' she asked.
'A hundred and sixty thousand acres,' came the mind-boggling reply. 'Patrick runs forty thousand sheep on it.'
Lara did the maths. 'You mean each sheep gets four acres to itself?' He nodded. 'The feed can get very sparse out here.'
'How does Patrick get around such a huge property?'
'Plane, truck, horse, motorbike. Depends on what has to be done.' 'The buildings…it looks like a little village down there.' 'Homestead, overseer's house, jackeroos' quarters, the mess and the cook's house, shearing shed, maintenance sheds, station office, school. There's usually a staff of twelve. With families, there are about thirty people living on the station. You'll have ready company, though not what you're used to, and it is isolated. Mail comes and goes once a week. By plane.'
Like an island, sufficient unto itself, she thought, except it was surrounded by land, not water. 'What brought you to Gundamurra, Ric?' How had he even heard of it?
He shrugged. 'When I was convicted of stealing the Porsche, the judge gave me a choice—time in a juvenile detention centre or working on an Outback station.'
So that was what had happened to him!
'Patrick had set up the work program as an alternative for kids who were prepared to give it a go,' Ric went on. 'At our first meeting he told us that Gundamurra meant "Good day" in the Aboriginal language, and he hoped we would always remember our arrival there as a good day in our lives.'
'And it was for you?' 'Very much so.'
She sighed in rueful memory of the night the police had caught them in the Porsche. Ric had cleared her of any complicity in the theft and her father…'My parents shuttled me straight off to boarding school and watched over me like a hawk after we were caught.'
He threw her a sardonic look. 'No more undesirable connections?' 'None without the proper connections,' she mocked right back. 'Every school vacation I was taken to a fashionable resort, away from any chance of meeting up with you. Or someone like you.'
'I did write to you from Gundamurra. Several letters.'
His voice was flat, non-judgmental, but she sensed the deep disappointment he would have felt at no reply. 'I didn't receive them, Ric.'
'No. I guessed not.'
'I'm sorry. My parents must have kept them from me. Destroyed them.' 'You were only fifteen, Lara,' he said wryly. 'I was no good for you then.'
'Yes, you were.' The words came out with such fierce emphasis, it drew a quizzical glance from him. 'I don't mean about the car,' she hastily explained, flustered by her own outburst. 'I really liked being with you, Ric.'
His mouth softened into a smile. His eyes softened, too…dark caressing velvet. 'I liked being with you, too,' he murmured, then switched his gaze back to the dirt airstrip where he had to land the plane.
She lapsed into silence, shaken by the strength of feeling that had so swiftly seized her. How could she want any man after her experience with Gary? Utter madness. Ric was her safe passage away from an abusive and destructive marriage. Being grateful to him, appreciating the fantastic effectiveness of his resources and the generosity behind his every act on her behalf…that was warranted. But wanting him…?
No. She was emotionally overwrought, off-balance. More likely she wanted to be cocooned by his protective strength. The clawing desire to feel safe was attached to him. But she had to detach it now. They were landing at Gundamurra. It was to be her safe haven, not Ric Donato. Somehow she had to regain at least some sense of who she was before she could even consider forming any relationship at all.
Gary's superficial charm had wooed her into marriage. Her parents' overwhelming approval of the match had also had its influence. Immense wealth had promised security and all the good things in life. But all those shining promises had been false and she had swallowed them. What did that say about her?