Free The Cattle King's Mistress by Emma Darcy

emphatically. “It’s entirely up to you to make good your position here.”
    She nodded, her throat too constricted to speak.
    “You want time to feel settled into your job... fine!” he went on. “But I don’t see myself forgetting what there is between us. And I don’t think you will, either.”
    She did not answer, feeling the threat to her peace of mind and not knowing what to do about it.
    “I’ll see you again sometime,” he added, and took his leave of her.
    She watched him get into his Jeep and drive away. Only when he was out of sight did she begin to breathe easily. Two years at King’s Eden, she thought. Of course she would see him again...sometime. And what then?
    What then?

CHAPTER EIGHT
    It was good to see Jared again. Nathan reflected that he always had enjoyed his youngest brother’s company. Tommy had a competitive streak, wanting to score points on everything, while Jared was simply content to be himself, not in contest with either brother. Maybe it was because he’d moved himself into their mother’s world, away from King’s Eden. Or maybe it was simply his nature.
    They sat in the breakfast room, idling over morning tea, Jared and their mother relaxing after their flight from Broome, Nathan catching up on their recent activities. Tommy would fly in this afternoon and would inevitably draw Jared’s attention to himself, but for the moment, it was very pleasant listening to his youngest brother’s plans to extend the pearl business from wholesale into retail, as well.
    “So how goes it with you, Nathan?” he asked, the conversation having lulled after he and their mother had filled him in on their news.
    “Oh, nothing really changes here,” he drawled, except he only had half his mind concentrated on station business. Miranda Wade occupied the other half, but he wasn’t about to lay out that very private issue.
    In fact, he was thinking this family get-together on the station—the first this year—may very well provide the opportunity to get him close to Miranda again, in a non-threatening social situation, which would surely ease her fears.
    “Mum tells me we have a new manager at the resort,” Jared prompted. “A woman.”
    “Yes.” A woman who haunted his nights and wouldn’t get out of his head even during the day.
    “So how is she working out?”
    “I have no idea.” Which was really a lie. He’d envisaged her a thousand times, burning with utter commitment to getting everything right at the resort, shutting out everything else from her mind. Including him. Especially him. Though he didn’t believe she could be any more successful than he was at setting aside the strong attraction they’d experienced. All the same, the need to know wouldn’t wait much longer.
    “Don’t you have some impression, Nathan?” his mother asked, frowning at him.
    “Why should I? I don’t stick my nose into Tommy’s business any more than I stick it into Jared’s.”
    His mother’s gaze sharpened on him. “You did take Miranda on a sight-seeing trip, didn’t you?”
    “Six weeks ago,” he answered with a shrug. “I haven’t seen her since.”
    His mother sighed, looking extremely vexed.
    “I’m sure Tommy will fill you in when he arrives this afternoon.” Nathan smiled at her, seeing a way to use her frustration. “You can grill him to your heart’s content,” he added casually.
    It earned an exasperated glare. “I wanted another point of view.”
    “Then why not ask Miranda over to dinner tonight, satisfy yourself about her? Satisfy Jared’s curiosity, too. You could ask Sam, as well. Get her opinion. Make a party of it.”
    “Yes,” his mother snapped, looking at him as though she wanted to box his ears. “I shall do that, Nathan. I’ll get some answers for myself since I can’t count on either you or Tommy to be sensible about women.”
    Her eyes glittered bitter disapproval.
    He thought fleetingly of Susan, aware his mother had considered her a waste of his