something he did easily, and he doubted he did it well. She might still reject him, but if she agreed to his proposition, they’d both have a chance of moving on.
She cupped her hands around the mug he placed in front of her. “I admit I feel something for you, and it’s powerful. No, let me finish while I can,” she said as he moved to interrupt. “If I thought going to bed with you would get you out of my system I’d say yes.”
“So what’s the problem?” he demanded, unable to stay silent.
Lifting her head, she gave him a troubled look. “I prefer to keep my life the way it is, free of emotional entanglements. It isn’t personal.”
“The hell it isn’t. Whatever you need or want from me to ease your fears on that score, tell me and I’ll make sure you have it.”
“It isn’t that simple. What I want is to stay uninvolved.”
“What you want?”
She heard the disbelief in his tone. “All right, what I need. If you truly feel about me the way you claim, you’ll try to understand.”
“I’ll never understand,” he stated. “And I will do everything in my power to change your mind.”
Her faint smile was his reward. “I’d be surprised if you didn’t. But I won’t change my mind. And I’ll find another way to go after the diamond mine.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
Coffee sloshed over the edge of her cup. “You mean you’ll help me?”
“I always intended to help you, no matter what your answer. I guess I hoped you’d fall for my bluff and give me more incentive to go looking for this blasted mine.”
“Don’t you believe it exists?”
“It’s a beautiful legend, and as tempting as that lottery win you mentioned before. And just about as likely.”
“Then why look for it?”
He couldn’t hold back his smile. “Because it gives me an excuse to stay close to you for the next month. How else can I work on changing your mind?”
Chapter 3
Judy wasn’t sure how she felt; everything was happening too fast. She didn’t need anything else on her plate. Least of all Ryan trying to pressure her into a hot and heavy affair.
No, not an affair. She could have handled a fling. And she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t thought about becoming involved with him. But she doubted she could protect her heart if they took their attraction to the next level.
He wasn’t the only one struggling to deal with the chemistry between them. She also remembered the awareness that had flashed between them like summer lightning when they were both too young to understand what was going on.
Every time she’d seen him since then, she’d felt the pull growing stronger, more irresistible, until she’d found herself making excuses to fly to wherever she knew he was working, usually as a stockman on some outlying property. He’d greeted her cordially enough, but she’d never been able to tell whether he was pleased to see her. Once or twice, he’d acted as if he couldn’t wait for her to leave, making her wonder if there was another woman involved. Still she’d kept tabs on him. Some people never learned.
Sometimes she wished she could forget all about him, putting as much distance between them as humanly possible. Was that how he’d felt when he’d run away from Diamond Downs as a teenager? When he’d gone, she’d felt as if something precious had been taken away. She’d told herself she was worried about how he would cope on his own, although he’d been doing it long enough. The truth was she’d missed him.
Not that she’d been short of companionship. Blake, Tom and Cade were good fun when they’d been persuaded to forget that she was—shock, horror—a girl. Ryan had never needed persuading; every look and casual touch acknowledged the inescapable fact. She’d missed that, too.
Especially that.
Yet now, facing him and hearing him say point-blank that he wanted her, she wished she were anything but female. Anything but the focus of his single-minded attention. What was going on with her?
The feel of his kiss lingered on her mouth more strongly than the food they’d shared. She knew she would taste him long into this night.
Ever alert to her moods, he pushed his coffee mug to one side and rested his forearms on the table. “Where do you want to start?”
With her mind still on his kiss, she almost answered the wrong question. Then she realized he meant the diamond mine.
She marshaled her scattered wits. “You went over the map with Blake and Tom, so you know roughly where they think the mine should be found.”
“The hidden valley that leads off Cotton Tree Gorge,” he said, showing he’d done his homework.
She smiled. “Blake wants Dad to call it Francis Valley after Jo.”
“Sounds fair. I gather she took quite a tumble falling into the place while dodging Eddy Gilgai. Then she picked herself up and went exploring. Resilient as well as smart. She did well for herself snagging Blake.”
Judy made a face at him. “Couldn’t he be the lucky one?”
“Ideally, the benefits are mutual.”
“Big of you to admit it,” she muttered under her breath.
Ryan didn’t react. “They did us a favor finding the remnants of your great-grandfather’s canoe in the Bowen River,” he went on.
“If they’re right, a branch of the river disappears underground not far from the Uru cave—where Tom and Shara found the rock paintings,” she said.
“I know where it is. I haven’t seen the cave yet, but the others brought me up to speed on the discovery. They were pretty excited to find evidence of a prehistoric civilization living in the area. No wonder the world’s scientists are already beating a path to your door.” A frown arrowed his brow. “Didn’t Max Horvath find traces of diamonds somewhere near the Uru cave?”
She inclined her head in agreement. “Jo found a couple more along the creek in her hidden valley.”
He drew patterns on the checkered cloth with a finger. “So the truth lies somewhere along that creek between the cave site and the floating island where Jack Logan’s canoe fetched up sixty years ago.”
Ryan’s nails were short and blunted by hard manual work, Judy noticed, distracted. But his hands were clean and well cared for. A man’s hands, she thought. Hard when touching her softness. Gentle but irresistible. How would they feel seeking greater intimacy? The thought sent streaks of flame licking through her, homing in on the places she imagined him touching.
A physical relationship with him would never be enough to satisfy her, she sensed. Against all her self-imposed rules, he would make her want more, need more, leading to the very future she was determined to avoid. So she pushed the images away although the quivers of sensation lingered,
