Sundown Crossing by Lynne Wilding Read Free Book Online

the Adelaide foothills. She had loved the old sandstone buildings, the sense of a little of Germany having been transported to Australia, for the village had been originally settled by German migrants. As a reward for his labours he had received a scolding from Kurtwho’d thought Hahndorf might have made Marta homesick. Rolfe hadn’t seen any evidence of that; she had had a marvellous time and, in all honesty, so had he.
    Marta Gronow was a joy to be with and every time he was with her he reluctantly acknowledged that he was falling deeper under her spell. Other men would have been smart and run from the situation—the likelihood of falling in love with their brother’s fiancée was not smart. The reason he didn’t was that he believed Marta’s feelings were wholeheartedly involved with Kurt and Rolfe was content to adore her from afar. No one would ever know. Not Kurt or Marta, or his strait-laced Papa.
    Kurt’s expression turned reproachful, then his youthful arrogance came to the fore. ‘Mein Gott, you can be a stick-in-the-mud sometimes. I was going to ask you to escort Marta to the Seppelts wine-tasting on Friday evening. It’ll only take two hours of your time. It’s invitation only and most of the better known growers in the Valley will be there.’
    ‘Why can’t you take her?’ Rolfe asked as he munched on his sandwich.
    ‘Papa, John and I are doing some long forecast budgeting at Rhein Schloss. If I know Papa, we’ll be at the office half the night.’
    ‘The weather conditions are perfect and the grapes are ready,’ Rolfe reminded Kurt again. ‘I’ll be harvesting this week, you know. So will many other wineries.’
    ‘But your crop will be small. You don’t have fruit on all the vines so you should be finished by Friday. Won’t you?’
    ‘Only about half the acreage is planted and some of the vines are less than three years old so, yes, I damned well hope the picking will be done by Friday, but then there’s the crushing. You know the procedure. Otto and Ernst are experienced but because I’m the owner and unable to afford the services of a professional winemaker, I have to be there to supervise.’
    ‘Of course,’ Kurt’s quick response betrayed his impatience. ‘And good luck with your first vintage—that must be exciting for you.’ Kurt scratched his chin, his features tightening as he thought. ‘Don’t worry about Marta, I’ll ask Rudi Farber to take her.’
    ‘That blockhead. Rudi will bore her to death in half an hour.’
    Kurt shrugged, then grinned as he thought of something. ‘Which will make Marta appreciate my company all the more.’
    Rolfe’s resistance collapsed as his brother knew it would. ‘All right. I’ll take her.’ He couldn’t bear the idea of Marta being escorted by the dull Rudi Farber, whose father part-owned one of the larger wineries in the Valley. Besides, he knew he really could spare a couple of hours away from Krugerhoff, do his brotherly duty, then go back to check on the crushing. ‘What time?’
    Kurt’s grin widened in triumph. ‘It’s formal. 6.30, on the dot.’ Watching Rolfe eat hissandwich, Kurt licked his lips in anticipation. ‘I might have one of those.’
    The younger brother’s glance at Kurt was shrewd. He knew that he was angling for Rolfe to make the sandwich for him. Not tonight. He grinned benignly. ‘Be my guest,’ and pushed the various plates towards him. ‘And when you’ve finished don’t forget to put the leftovers in the fridge, otherwise Lilly will give all of us the rounds of the kitchen.’ So saying, and still enjoying his sandwich, Rolfe strode from the kitchen towards the staircase that led to the seven bedrooms on the first floor.
    Tired wasn’t the right word. Rolfe was exhausted, no, beyond exhaustion, if that were possible. The harvesting had taken longer than expected with just Otto and Ernst and himself doing the work. They hadn’t finished till midday on Friday, and had straightaway moved on to