Free Outback Sunset by Lynne Wilding Page A

wasn’t a worldly-wise man but that might be a nice change. After losing David she’d thought a good deal about the attributes she wanted in a man: sincerity, loyalty, honesty. Bren had all these things and more. She smiled at her reflection. Yes, it would be easy to fall in love with him. Indeed. Dead easy.
    The front doorbell rang.
Bren
. Vanessa turned the hi-fi off and went to let him in. ‘Come on, Sandy,’ she called, listening to his pit-patter footsteps behind her, ‘we’re going on a holiday.’
    Manoeuvring the brightly painted, six metre barge along the narrow canal was not as simple as Ronnie, Vanessa’s friend and their instructor, had made out. Bren had learned that after a few kilometres down the main canal. It was still early in the season, so there wasn’t a lot of craft on the water. Vanessa had said that at the peak of summer, barges waited for hours to go through the several locks along the way. Bren glanced at the countryside as he steered. After a wetwinter, the countryside looked so green his eyes hurt. He couldn’t imagine Amaroo having the lushness of England. If it did, he could run three to four times the number of cattle he ‘grew’ on his property.
    The barge’s motor, a simple engine, putt-putted away, trailing a column of greyish-black smoke from the narrow funnel above the cabin. If Curtis could see him now, with his cap on — Vanessa insisted that as the barge’s captain he had to wear it — a woollen checked shirt and a sleeveless nylon zip-up vest and black corduroy pants, no doubt he’d get a sneer and a horse laugh from him.
    Bren didn’t care. He couldn’t remember being happier. Vanessa was like nothing he had ever experienced. Most of the time he stood in awe of her beauty, quietly amazed that she enjoyed his company. She was lovely, and unaffected, perhaps even unaware of the massive effect she had on him. He watched her come out of the cabin, bearing mugs of hot tea.
    ‘We should reach the next village by lunch. We can tie up there and have a meal at a cafe on the main street,’ she said as she handed him a mug.
    ‘Sounds good.’ He looked up at the sky. ‘The weather looks as if it’s closing in.’
    She looked up too. ‘Just a shower, that’s all.’
    He grinned. ‘I wish I could bottle some of your weather, the countryside too, and transport them to Amaroo.’
    She lifted an eyebrow at him. ‘Are you getting homesick?’
    ‘Not at all. I’ve missed out on a lot of hard work, and the heat. In late summer, going into ourautumn, it’s pretty warm in the Kimberley. My brother will be down in the mouth at not having me around, but he’ll manage.’
    ‘You’re lucky to have family to rely on. I envy you that.’
    He glanced at her over the rim of his mug. ‘You envy me! You, who has everything. The theatrical world’s at your feet, adulation from fans, financial security.’
    She shook her head at him. ‘What I envy is your family. You’ve a brother, a sister, a mother, nephews and a niece. I … have no-one except Kerri — she’s the closest thing I have to family. Sometimes, even in a city as crowded as London,’ she confided, ‘one can feel very much alone.’
    He put his free arm around her and drew her closer. ‘I’ll share my rellies with you,’ he offered. ‘How about that?’
    ‘That’s nice of you.’ She kissed him on the cheek.
    Very quickly he turned her face-on so he could kiss her lips. The kiss deepened and her arms slid up around his neck. The hand not on the barge’s tiller crept around her waist and pulled her hard against his chest.
    Vanessa experienced a slow, sizzling sensation. It enervated her spine and a certain breathlessness accompanied the lightheartedness which began to invade her. She tried to think straight and couldn’t. Then, she decided she didn’t want to and gave herself up to what he was arousing in her — marvellous, wonderful feelings. When they separated each stared deeply into the other’s eyes,