The Outback Bridal Rescue by Emma Darcy Read Free Book Online Page A

and trod my own path, I could climb out of the belittling pattern of use and abuse which had been my life for as long as I could remember.’
    Abuse… She hadn’t thought about his life before he came to Gundamurra. Mitch had said something about her not appreciating where Johnny had come from. Had he suffered a traumatic childhood? But that was so long ago.
    He’d become so successful, it couldn’t stil shadow his life…could it?
    He turned a fierce glittery look back to her. ‘So I am who I am, Megan. I don’t have to belittle anyone else to make myself bigger. I don’t abuse the position I have by taking what is offered to me for al the wrong reasons. Far from being tempted by the sweet shop, I feel sorry for the people who populate it because they have never learnt to value themselves. They think if they get a piece of me, it wil make their lives better. But it won’t. Any change for the better has to come from within.’
    It was an impressive speech, forcing her to reassess how she’d painted his life in her mind. Okay, he’d stepped away from continuing a cycle of abuse. Yes, she could see her father’s hand in that. But rejecting every attractive
    ‘freebie’ that came his way?
    ‘I don’t screw my fans, Megan,’ he went on, obviously reading the doubt in her eyes. ‘But they do touch my life and I try to touch theirs through the lyrics of my songs, which carry the same set of values that your father taught me.
    Patrick knew that. I don’t know why you think otherwise.’
    Oh, great! Now it was Saint Johnny, as wel as the king of charm. ‘You’re a man!’ she flashed at him, unable to swal ow such a pinnacle of nobility. ‘As for your songs, isn’t it simply clever commercialism to tap into the dreams people nurse for themselves? That’s street smart, Johnny.’
    His eyes raked her derisively. ‘And you want to put me back in the gutter where I belong. Is that it, Megan?’
    ‘No. You’re perfectly welcome to the bril iant heights of Hol ywood.’
    ‘As long as I leave Gundamurra to you. To an embittered woman who’d rather let it die than accept the help of a man. ’
    The sudden counterattack shocked her into hot denial. ‘I am not an embittered woman!’
    ‘What happened to you? Did you feel used by a man?
    Did he only want sex from you instead of the whole package?’
    ‘That’s none of your business!’
    ‘Oh, yes, it is, Megan. You’ve made it my business by the way you treat me, giving me the low-life status of a rutting animal that doesn’t care what body he uses for sexual release.’
    ‘Okay! So you don’t do that,’ she granted, though some defence was cal ed for. ‘You can’t blame me for thinking it.
    Pop-stars are notorious for taking what they can.’
    ‘Except I don’t have that reputation. Yet you lumped me with it anyway. Because I’m a man? ’
    ‘Because you’re Johnny Charm,’ she jeered, hating the way he was turning the tables on her, digging into her life.
    ‘And you can’t deny that draws a lot of women to you.’
    ‘But not Megan Maguire,’ he mocked. ‘ She won’t be one of the herd. She’ll stand aloof and scorn his company.’
    That was too close. Far too close. She lashed back.
    ‘What’s the matter, Johnny? You can’t stand not having everyone worship you?’
    He bored in again. ‘Why have you been so ready and wil ing to give me feet of clay, Megan? I haven’t used you or abused you. Did the guy you fel for at agricultural col ege turn out to be a womaniser, charming his way into one bed after another?’
    ‘Why haven’t you married if you’re not a womaniser yourself?’ she retorted, fighting for any foothold that would exonerate her attitude.
    He grimaced, his expression changing to an inner musing. ‘There wasn’t anyone I could bring here. Not one in al these years.’ He shook his head, shifted off the desk, a wry look on his face as he turned away from her and strol ed back towards the chess table. ‘Ric had no