Free The Outback Bridal Rescue by Emma Darcy Page A

took its tol , people trailing off to bed until there was only Johnny and Megan left in the room. He was sprawled in an armchair.
    She was on a sofa, one elbow propped on its armrol , legs up, her stockinged feet bare of the shoes she had kicked off. It was a pose that seductively outlined the very female curve of waist, hip and thigh, and Johnny found it difficult not to let his gaze linger on it.
    He expected her to leave. She usual y did avoid being alone with him. Any moment now those legs would swing off the sofa, take her away to the privacy of her room, and it was probably better that they did, save him from making a fool of himself. He watched her feet, waiting for them to move. She wriggled her toes. His gaze dropped to the shoes lying beside the sofa, noting the long, narrow shape of them.
    ‘Cramped feet?’ he asked.
    ‘They’re not used to wearing fashionable shoes,’ she drily admitted.
    ‘Want me to massage them?’
    ‘Is that a big brotherly thing to do?’
    The mocking taunt whipped his gaze up to meet the smoking chal enge she was directing straight at him.

    Megan could no longer contain the furious frustration that had been wel ing up in her al day. ‘I am not your little sister and I do not need you to watch over me,’ she threw at him in seething protest over how he had acted with her—last night, holding her hand and kissing her forehead as though she were a baby, keeping close to her today, ready to be supportive at any falter on her part, inserting himself at her side whenever he thought she might not be able to handle what he interpreted as possibly unwelcome attention.
    He hitched himself forward in his chair, gesturing for understanding, frowning over her reaction. ‘It was just a friendly offer, Megan.’
    Friendly!
    For him to now sit on the other end of the sofa and nursemaid her to the extent of massaging her toes… It would drive her so crazy she’d probably end up needling his crotch with them! She swung her legs off the sofa and stood up, viewing him with bristling hauteur.
    ‘I’m fine. What’s more, I’m al grown up, Johnny, in case you haven’t noticed. Which you should have, since I made the effort not to neuter myself today.’
    He grimaced. ‘Impossible not to notice.’

    ‘So what did I get wrong?’
    ‘Wrong?’
    ‘You weren’t moved to make any positive comment.’
    She lifted her arms and tossed her hair back over her shoulders in angry impatience with it hanging around her face—hair she’d spent over an hour shampooing and blow-drying so it would look fluffy and feminine. ‘Stil not good enough for you!’ she muttered, mocking herself more than him.
    ‘Not good enough?’ he repeated incredulously, shaking his head as though hopelessly confused by her attitude.
    Of course her words made no sense in the context of his little sister mind frame. Total y incensed by his insensitivity to this major attempt at changing his view of her, Megan clenched her jaw and headed for the liquor cabinet at the other end of the room, determined on blotting out the stupid futility of trying to change anything where Johnny was concerned.
    ‘Wel , I’m certainly old enough to get drunk tonight,’ she tossed at him derisively. ‘Entitled to, what’s more. So why don’t you go off to bed, Johnny, and leave me to drown my sorrows?’
    He suddenly exploded off his chair, grabbing her arm as she moved past him. ‘What do you mean by… not good enough? ’ He bit out the words as though they were kil ing him. His eyes slashed at hers, trying to cut through to her soul.
    The intensity coming from him pumped Megan up to defy him further. ‘You didn’t even notice I was wearing the pearls you gave me for my twenty-first birthday,’ she rattled out recklessly. ‘On the other hand, why should you? You probably got some aide to buy a suitable gift and send it to me.’
    ‘I did notice them,’ he fiercely refuted her. ‘I chose them myself. And I was pleased to see you