The Cattle King's Mistress by Emma Darcy Read Free Book Online

fifty million years—but she couldn’t help envisaging ancient rulers being buried inside those time-worn domes.
    “Had enough or do you want to see more?” Nathan asked evenly, not pushing either way.
    “More, please,” she answered, not grudging those words to him.
    He flew the helicopter over the range in a criss-cross pattern, giving her every aspect of it. The narrow canyons or gorges had been carved by water, so she’d read, yet the rock-face it had carved was so smooth and sheer in places, the impression of narrow streets running deep down beside blocks of petrified, window-less skyscrapers kept flowing through Miranda’s mind. If this was the work of nature, it had been wrought in incredible patterns.
    “Time we landed if we’re to keep our schedule,” Nathan informed her.
    “Okay,” she conceded, realising he’d seen all this before and had been pandering to her interest, probably indulging her so she would be more ready to indulge him. And on the ground she would be more accessible to whatever he had in mind.
    He set the helicopter down close to a group of buildings beyond the massif, presumably the park rangers’ headquarters. Intensely wary of his intentions, Miranda swiftly unfastened her seat-belt, whipped off her headphones, opened the door on her side and was out before Nathan could help her, thereby avoiding any macho familiarity he might take, being bigger and stronger than she was.
    “Forgot your hat and bag,” he said, handing her the items as he joined her on the ground.
    “Thanks,” she mumbled, deeply vexed she hadn’t thought of them in her hurry to get out. The omission revealed her distracted state of mind. “That was so fantastic from the air, I’m eager to see more of it from ground level,” she rolled out as an excuse, not wanting him to think he was the cause of her haste.
    “Worth catching the sunrise?” he remarked, his blue eyes glinting with amused mockery.
    “Very much so.”
    “Sorry if I offended your dignity by bundling you into the helicopter back at the resort, but we were running short of time. Nature doesn’t wait on anything. If we want it working for us we have to follow its dictates.”
    Which was a double-edged excuse if she’d ever heard one! If he thought she was going to take sexual dictation from nature, he could think again.
    “I didn’t ask for a delay to our departure, Nathan,” she said pointedly.
    “True!” He had the gall to grin. “But I didn’t hear or feel any protest for quite some time. Which leaves us with a promising area to explore, doesn’t it?”
    “Only if the wish is there to explore it,” she flashed back at him with a look that should have shrivelled his confidence.
    It merely raised a quizzical eyebrow. “No problem on my side. Is there one on yours?”
    She fixed some mockery of her own directly on him. “Just where do you see this exploration leading to?”
    He made a playful frown. “Well, the start of it suggested we’re onto something special together. And now you’re throwing in some mystery. No doubt about a strong dash of excitement. Who can tell what will come out of it?”
    He was laughing at her, making light of any possible reservations she might have about an open-ended future. Except it wasn’t open-ended to her. She saw a very inevitable end.
    “That sounds quite romantic. Except you know and I know there won’t be any romance involved. I bet right now you’re figuring on a two-year convenient affair. And I tell you right now—” her voice hardened as she delivered the bottom line “—I won’t play.”

CHAPTER SIX
    “Play?”
    Nathan King’s incredulous repetition of her word gave Miranda a queasy moment of doubt. Had she let her own fears paint a crass picture of what he intended?
    She watched, with galloping trepidation, while his expression underwent several changes... disbelief shifting to reassessment, then distaste.
    He couldn’t have had anything serious in mind with her, she