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      ‘Thank you very much!’ she ground out sarcastically.

      ‘You will, if you do what I say. Look, this weekend is a perfect opportunity for you to learn how to flirt. You can practise on me to your heart’s content without having to put up with any awkward consequences.’

      ‘No kidding.’

      ‘You can cut the sarcasm for starters.’

      Her sigh sounded … what—weary? Frustrated?

      Suddenly he saw that he was being way too forceful. It was a bad habit of his, trying to fix things and to control things. A result maybe of his childhood where everything had been out of his control.

      ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m being obnoxious, aren’t I?’

      ‘Very,’ she said.

      ‘You can tell me to shut up, if you like.’

      ‘Shut up, Ryan.’

      He laughed. ‘I promise not be so bossy when we get to your family’s place.’

      ‘Don’t change too much,’ she advised him dryly. ‘Gran likes forceful men.’

      ‘But you don’t, Laura. I’m playing your Mr Right, not your gran’s.’

      ‘And you think you know what my Mr Right would be like?’ she scoffed.

      ‘I could hazard a guess.’

      ‘Do tell.’

      ‘He’d be a true gentleman, for starters. Slightly old-fashioned in a way. But there’d be no chauvinism in him. He’d treat you wonderfully, like a princess. He’d be passionate, but gentle at the same time. Gentle and protective.’

      When he slanted a quick glance her way, he could see that he was right on the mark.

      ‘What are you?’ she asked with surprise in her voice. ‘A mind reader?’

      ‘No, but I’m a pretty good listener. I heard the way you described your father and I realised he was your ideal man. I dare say the man who hurt you so badly seemed like your ideal man, but it was only a façade. Underneath, he was anything but.’

      Laura’s grim silence touched an empathetic chord inside him. Ryan understood full well that talking about some things did not help. All it did was dredge up old memories which were better left unvisited.

      ‘Sounds like he was a right bastard,’ he continued. ‘One best forgotten.’

      Still, she didn’t say a word.

      ‘Time for some relaxing distraction, I think,’ he said, and put on the radio.

      ‘Now put your seat back a little and let some of that tension flow out of your body,’ he ordered. ‘And, before you tell me to shut up again, I think you should know that there’s a small part of every woman who wants a man to be forceful with her when the time is right—which is now. So swallow that sarcastic remark which I’m sure your tongue is itching to deliver and just do what I’m telling you. Okay?’

      He was pleased when she didn’t object. In fact, she did exactly as he suggested—put her seat back, closed her eyes and let out a very long sigh. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on inside her head, but soon she began to look a lot more relaxed. In fact, if he wasn’t mistaken, she actually drifted off to sleep. It occurred to him that she might not have slept much the night before, worrying over the weekend ahead.

      Still, it was as well that he knew the way north as far as the Hawkesbury river. Otherwise, he might have had to rouse her for directions. If he remembered rightly, the Hawkesbury was about a half-hour drive from where they were at the moment. That would give Laura enough time for a cat nap before he’d be forced to disturb her.

      Five minutes later, he turned right onto the motorway where he accelerated up to a more enjoyable speed. The traffic thinned appreciably with the triple lanes and the powerful car ate up the miles. The suburban landscape quickly gave way to thick bushland on either side of the road which had been cut through the rocky hills. In considerably less than the half-hour he’d estimated, Ryan began the long incline which he recalled led down to the river and the small hamlet of Brooklyn.

      He’d rented a houseboat there once, on a recommendation from a mate who said it was just the place for a romantic weekend getaway.

      Ryan frowned as he struggled to remember the name of the girl he’d brought with him. Strange; that had only been about three years ago. Maybe not even that long. Yet he could not remember her name, or even her face. All that came to mind was his pleasure at being out in the open on the water. And the fact that he’d caught a fish.

      He glanced over at Laura for a moment. This weekend would hardly qualify as a real romantic getaway. But Ryan rather suspected that he would never forget it, just as he would never forget Laura Ferrugia.

      Ryan smiled wryly at this last thought. Impossible to forget the most irritating female he’d ever met!

       CHAPTER ELEVEN

      LAURA woke with a start, shocked to find that she’d been asleep for almost an hour and a half.

      ‘Why didn’t you wake me?’ she demanded to know when she realised the time.

      Ryan’s shrug was nonchalant. ‘I figured you needed the rest.’

      ‘Where are we?’ she said, suddenly aware that they’d left the motorway and were on a single-lane road. Panic set in until she realised they were on the right road, heading for Cessnock. ‘I thought you said you didn’t know the way!’

      ‘I figured there would have to be signs. When I saw an exit which led to the vineyards, I took it.’

      ‘You should still have woken me.’

      ‘Will you stop fussing?’ he said, his voice showing some impatience. ‘We’re not lost.’

      ‘But we could have been,’ she muttered.

      ‘And if we had been? It wouldn’t have been the end of the world, Laura. We both have mobile phones. We could have called and explained that we would be a little late.’

      ‘Maybe, but I don’t want to give Aunt Cynthia any reason to criticise me.’

      ‘She won’t criticise you with me by your side. She’ll be putty in my hands in no time flat.’

      Laura rolled her eyes. The arrogance of the man!

      ‘Believe it or not,’ he went on with a wry smile curling one corner of his mouth, ‘I have a good track record with the opposite sex. Most women—especially the older ones—find me totally charming.’

      Laura didn’t doubt it. But no way could she let him get away with such self-praise without putting a small dent in his insufferable male ego, as well as reminding herself to be on her guard against him at the same time.

      ‘Which is exactly why I chose you as my Mr Right, Ryan,’ she said in droll tones. ‘Because you have all those superficial qualities which pulls the wool over the eyes of most women. It’s only the once-bitten, eyes-wide-open females like myself who recognise that charm like yours is just so much hogwash.’

      He laughed a very dry laugh. ‘And there I was, thinking you were starting to truly warm to me.’

      ‘In your dreams, Ryan. Now concentrate on the road, please. We’re coming into Cessnock. I’ll direct you from here. It’s a bit tricky getting through the town and out onto the right road.’

      He took her directions without a hitch, and they were soon through the old mining town and turning onto the road which would take them to their destination.

      ‘Not too fast along here,’ she warned him as he whizzed along

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