She smiled and nodded. He closed her door, then walked around the back of the vehicle, lifted a window and deposited the duffel inside next to their luggage.
When he climbed into the driver’s seat and closed the door, Zoe had to suppress a shiver of anticipation at the thought of spending the next two days with Colin. He was dressed in long cargo shorts, a loose button-up shirt and rugged hiking boots, all of them earth-toned and weathered. He looked strong and bursting with health, and so sexy that she itched to touch him.
Zoe fingered the collar of the shirt she wore that was made out of some hi-tech fabric to wick moisture away from the body. Her boots were new, too. She almost asked him how he knew her sizes, but considering he’d spent the past few days measuring her with his tongue…
“Thanks again for the clothes. You shouldn’t have gone to the trouble.”
“Nonsense,” he said, turning the ignition. “I wouldn’t expect you to have the right clothes for the station.”
“Station?”
“Our word for ranch,” he clarified, then pulled away from the hotel into light traffic headed out of Sydney.
“Tell me about your ranch,” she said. “Is it big?”
He gave a little laugh. “It’s not huge, but it’s a good size. About two hundred hectares—five hundred acres. It butts up next to my brother Owen’s station.”
“You said your brothers were cattlemen. Do you have cattle, too?”
He nodded. “But not as many as Owen. I have sheep, too. And a few goats to graze the scrub.”
“Does your other brother live nearby, as well?”
“Nah. Max has a big spread in South Australia. He’s a serious cattleman. Owen and I just play at it.” He grinned. “It gives us something in common with our dad.”
“Your parents live close by?”
“Close enough to visit whenever they want, but not so close that my dad feels obligated to look after things when I’m not there.”
“You have a station manager?”
“Right. And a handful of jackaroos.”
Zoe frowned. “Are they dangerous?”
His laughter boomed out. “I think you’d call them cowboys. And generally, they’re pretty safe.”
She laughed sheepishly at her mistake. “Tell me what it’s like there.”
He shrugged. “The land is wild, but not as wild as the Outback. It’s a working farm, so there’s always something going on.”
“Do you spend a lot of time at your ranch?”
He shifted in his seat. “Not as much time as I’d like.”
She’d hit a nerve—perhaps Lauren Rook didn’t care for country-living. “Do you have horses?”
“Sure. Do you ride?”
“My uncle used to have a stable north of Atlanta and I worked for him during the summer. But I haven’t ridden in years.”
“No worries,” he said with a smile. “Your body never forgets.”
Zoe’s stomach tingled. She could attest that her body had a good memory where Colin was concerned. Every square inch of her could recall a different touch, lick or bite.
“Did you grow up on a ranch?” she asked.
“A small one, when I was very young. Then I got into soccer, and my family moved to a more populated area so I could compete at a higher level.”
She chose her words carefully, loath to admit she’d looked him up online. “When I first met you, I wondered if you were a professional athlete.”
“Ten years. With the knees and back to prove it.”
“You seem pretty nimble to me,” she said lightly.
He laughed. “You never saw me soaking in a hot bath after one of our games.”
“I’d like to,” she teased, then grew serious. “Do you miss soccer?”
“Not really. I enjoy the hotel industry much more than professional sports. I intend to make a name for myself in luxury properties.”
A thought suddenly occurred to her. “Is that why you were in Atlanta on business? Are you looking at property in the metro area?”
“That’s right. I’ve been working on a deal there for quite some time.”
The news that he might someday have a reason to be in Atlanta on a regular basis—or maybe permanently—left her feeling out of sorts. “And what are the chances that the deal will go through?”
“I’m still very hopeful,” he said, but she could tell he was distracted and didn’t want to discuss it further.
Zoe was quiet with her own troubling thoughts. She’d assumed that when she left Sydney, she and Colin would never see each other again. She chided herself—this was precisely why they should’ve stuck to their original agreement not to ask personal questions. Too much information could be a bad thing.
She glanced at Colin’s handsome profile, his forehead creased in thought. How would she feel if he was living only a few miles away?
It doesn’t matter. You’ll be married to Kevin and he’ll be married to Lauren Rook.
“I forgot to mention,” Colin said, nodding to her bag, “that we won’t have cell-phone service on the station, so if you need to make a call, you should do it before we get out of range.”
“I suppose I should check my e-mail,” she murmured, pulling out her phone and initiating the download. “My mother is driving me a little batty.”
Sure enough, her phone beeped eight times, seven of them messages from her mother, and one from Erica, who was fond of putting her entire message in the subject line:
* * *
I miss the Aussie men. Hope U R misbehaving.
* * *
Zoe bit her lip. If her friend only knew.
Her mother’s messages were about—what else?—the seating chart. Zoe felt her blood pressure rising.
“Wedding details?” he asked.
She hesitated, then nodded. “I feel strange talking about my wedding with you.”
“Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
He shrugged. “We’re just having sex, Zoe. One doesn’t have anything to do with the other.”
Technically, it was true…so why did his words sting?
“So,” he said cheerfully, “how many bridesmaids?”
“Six,” she said, confused by his line of questioning.
“And how many opals will you need for the bracelets you’re making?”
Of course—the opals. An unbelievable opportunity, but his generosity made her squirm. “One for each will be enough.”
He grinned. “Ah, I think we can do better than that.”
There was that tug on her heart again. Zoe returned his smile, then pretended to be absorbed in her mother’s e-mails. Colin turned on the radio, and they eased into comfortable small talk.
After stopping for tolls leaving Sydney, they made good time, since it was interstate driving all the way to Canberra. Zoe watched the passing landscape change from lush greenery and thick copses of trees to grassy pastures to scrub foliage, dry eucalyptus forests and hilly terrain. True to the yellow kangaroo warning signs along the highways, they saw several groups of the animals hopping along in the distance. No matter how many times she saw them, she still thought they were bizarre, amazing creatures.
Canberra was the country’s capital, she learned, situated between the two largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne.
“Downtown Canberra is a thriving city,” he said, “but we’re going to the bushland outside of town.”
After they reached Canberra, she lost track of the roads he turned onto, but noticed they kept getting more narrow and more rugged. Finally he slowed to put the SUV into a lower gear and turned to climb a steep but well-maintained crushed-stone road, announcing, “Welcome to Benbullen Station.”
“Benbullen?”
“An Aboriginal phrase for a quiet, high place.”
She smiled and turned her head to take in the palm trees, pine trees and giant ferns that lined the road. “It’s so green. And there are so many trees. I thought it would be all pastureland.”
“The pastures are farther out. To the right is a registered rainforest plantation. It’ll be ready for harvest in, oh, about twenty years.” He slowed and pointed. “Look closely up in that gum tree.”
Zoe gasped. “A koala bear.”
“They seem to like it up here.”
“I can see why,” she murmured, soaking up the landscape. She pointed to a field of staked, waist-high plants snaking up a hill in long, even rows. “Are those grapevines?”
“Yup. We have a small winery. Remember the cabernet that you liked earlier in the week?”
She nodded and opened her mouth to comment, but was distracted by the appearance of a two-story rock-and-timber house with a sage-colored roof and wraparound covered porch. It was beautifully situated on a rise, nestled among the trees. The lines were simple and the proportions exquisite, blending in with the landscape versus jutting out of it or towering over it.
“It’s…perfect,” she murmured, then glanced over at him.
He had stopped the SUV and was watching her closely. “I’m glad you like it.”
“What’s not to like?”
“The remoteness, the lack of conveniences…and the swooping magpies can be annoying.”
“Sounds charming to me.”
Colin smiled. “Let’s go see.”
He drove up to the house and parked in a separate garage that was large enough to house three or four vehicles. Nearby was an in-ground pool, the blue-green water beckoning. Colin carried their luggage to the house, entering through a set of French doors from one of the wide porches.