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'Thanks,' Robyn typed, ending with a string of exclamation marks to indicate her buoyant mood.

'Would you like something to help you sleep?' Keri asked, concerned about the bright spots of colour which stained her friend's cheeks.

Robyn's fingers spanned the keyboard. 'No, feel great.'

All the same, Keri was worried about the effect Theo's offer could have on Robyn's fragile health. Doctor Syme wanted her to avoid top much stress. This was positive stress, to be sure, but it could still be too much for Robyn to cope with at the moment. She tried not to let her concern show as she helped Robyn to get ready for bed.

When she returned to the dining-room Jessie declined her offer to help clear up after dinner, saying she would leave it for the housemaids to do in the morning. 'I'm off to bed,' she said, smothering a yawn.

Keri looked at the clock. It was late, and Ben had instructed her not to wait up for him. She wavered, then reluctantly went to her own room where she began to get ready for bed.

Easing her cream silk shirt off over her head, she caught sight of herself in the full-length cheval mirror which stood in a corner. Ben had suggested that she look into a mirror to see his ideal woman. He had been pretending for Robyn's sake, of course, but she couldn't help recalling the intensity with which he had said it.

In this pose, her breasts stood out high and firm, and her tanned body shone golden in the lamplight. She let the shirt drop to the floor and examined her face. Her eyes were large and luminous in this light. Although her lipstick had worn off hours ago, her lips were still bright with colour, a legacy of Ben's kiss, she thought with a rush of pleasure.

She crushed the feeling as it arose. She didn't want to connect his touch with pleasure, or with any kind of good feelings. They could be too easily taken away from her, like the last time.

So why did her body persist in vibrating with response every time she remembered being in his arms? She scrubbed at her mouth with the back of her hand but the colour refused to fade. It was as if he had branded her with his kiss, the way he marked one of his prize steers.

Annoyed with herself, she reached for her terrycloth robe, a skimpy garment which reached her thighs. It was more than enough covering in this hot climate. She swung it around her and belted it quickly. Maybe a cool shower would help banish Ben from her mind so that she could get a good night's sleep.

She stayed under the shower for a long time letting the cool spring water sluice away some of her confusion. She had agreed to pretend to be Ben's fiancée to help Robyn, not to leave herself open to fresh heartbreaks. Yet wasn't that what she was doing by letting him dominate her thoughts?

When she emerged, her hair clung to her head in tight curls and her face gleamed in the moonlight. With her robe belted over her shower-damp body, she looked like one of the Mimi, the spirit people depicted by the aborigines in their cave art, she thought, seeing herself reflected in the mirror as she padded across the floor.

Sitting down at her dresser, she started to towel her hair dry. Distantly she heard the front door open and close again. In spite of her efforts to curb it, her heart gave a little leap of response. Ben was back.. Now that Robyn was safely asleep, she might be able to bring up the question of Theo's presence on Champion land.

Before she could move, there was a light tap on her door. 'Come in,' she called softly, and was annoyed at the warmth she heard in her voice. She told herself it was because she welcomed the chance to have a private talk with Ben, but the quickening of her pulses contradicted the logical explanation.

From under her turban of towel, she heard him slip into the room and close the door behind him, his masculine footfalls heavy in contrast to hers before. 'I won't be a minute,' she said, her voice muffled by towelling.

'Take your time. I'm happy to sit here and watch.'

In horror, she snatched the towel from her head. 'I thought you were Ben. Get out of my room.'

'You're not being very hospitable. You only just invited me in,' Rick observed.

She took in his ruddy complexion and the brightness of his eyes. 'You've been drinking.'

He shrugged. 'What if I have? I was entitled to a bit of fun after spending half the evening sipping tea with the Redshaws.'

So that was where he had been. Desperately, she cast around for a way to get him to leave quietly, without disturbing Robyn. 'I don't suppose they feel like drinking so soon after the loss of Persia's grandmother,' she commented.

'They never feel like drinking,' he complained. 'They don't know the first thing about having a good time.'

'Things will be different when it's just you and Persia,' she offered.

'I wouldn't know. I never see her alone long enough to find out what she's really like.'

She was aghast at this information. 'Then how can you consider marrying her when you don't really know each other?'

'What does it matter? She's female and available. As brother Ben says, it's time I did the decent thing. If I'd known that this was all it would take to get him to part with some of Dad's inheritance, I'd have married you when I had the chance.'

A feeling of revulsion overtook her. 'Don't you have any principles at all?'

His gaze swept over her, taking in the skimpiness of her robe over her dewy skin. 'Not a one, darling. Besides, it isn't a question of principles to want what's rightfully mine.'

'You mean what would have been yours if you'd shown any care for it,' she retorted. 'If you'd put in half the hours that Ben does on this property, you would have more of a claim to it.'

As she spoke, his colour grew more hectic and she began to wish she had held her tongue. He was in no condition to appreciate a lecture on responsibility now. No doubt he had heard it from Ben a dozen times since their father died.

Rick climbed to his feet and loomed over her, gripping the edge of the dresser for support. 'Just shut up,' he ordered. 'I may have to put up with this from Ben, but I don't have to take it from you.'

'Of course you don't,' she tried to placate him. 'I spoke out of turn just now and I apologise.'

He seemed hardly to have heard her. 'Not that it makes much difference now. Both you and Ben will be laughing on the other side of your faces in a couple of days.'

At the mention of Ben's name, fear gripped her. 'What do you mean, Rick? Tell me.'

Her peremptory tone cut through the alcoholic haze enveloping him. 'I shouldn't tell you, not yet.'

'But you will, won't you?' she coaxed, forcing herself to release the breath she was unconsciously holding.

'Yes, I will,' he chuckled. 'It's too late to do anything to stop it now, anyway.'

'To stop what?'

He stumbled back to her bed and collapsed on to the end of it, smiling at some secret triumph he was imagining. With an effort, he snapped out of it and focused on her. 'Theo 'n me are going to be partners in the biggest casino south of Darwin.'

Although the night was warm, her body turned icy and she hugged the robe around herself. 'Where are you planning to build this casino, Rick?' she asked, although she was afraid that she already knew the answer.

'Where do you think? Along Crocodile Creek. Theo's already checked out the site and he agrees it's perfect.'

So that- was what Theo and his men were doing when she and Robyn saw them at the crocodile farm. 'What about Ben's egg-ranching project?' she asked, keeping her voice carefully neutral.

'What about it?'

'The crocodiles need a natural environment in which to breed. They won't survive with a casino on their doorstep.'

Rick's shoulders sloped expressively. 'So what? I only need a teeny bit of the land. There's a million acres out there, for goodness' sake.'

'But the farm is already established on that stretch of the creek. It would take years to get it going somewhere else.'

'I should have known I'd get an argument out of you. All you care about are those man-eating handbags of yours.'

'They're not man-eaters,' she protested, provoked in spite of herself. 'They've been here for centuries, much longer than we have. They have a right to a protected existence.'

He waved his hand dismissively. 'Then they'll have to be protected somewhere else.'

'Does Ben know about your plans?'

'Why should he? It's my land. I can do what I like with it.'

She clutched at a faint hope. 'It isn't yours yet, surely?'

'I told you, brother Ben generously arranged for me to take it over right away, since the wedding's been held up.'

'You don't plan to marry Persia at all, do you?'

He grinned sloppily. 'If there was a way out of it, I'd stay footloose and fancy-free. But good ole Ben thought of that too. If I don't marry within three months, the deal's off and he gets the land back.'

'You've thought of everything, haven't you?' she said, despair making her voice husky. 'But I can still tell Ben what you're planning in time for him to stop it.'

His smile became sly. 'I told you, it's already too late. The only way I lose Casuarina now is if I don't make it to the altar, and I'll be there with bells on so you needn't get your hopes up.'

'Then why are you telling me all this?'

'So I can watch you squirm as the bulldozers move in. Despite my best efforts, you're still here and Ben is still besotted with you. Since I can't change that, I have to get my own back another way.'

'By raping the land and leaving nothing for your children?'

'I'll leave to them just what Jake left to me: damn-all,' he asserted. 'My kids won't be Champion stock, after all. I'm only the stepson, remember? The offspring of a gun-shearer who had a weak heart and no insurance, and a Champion bride who lost interest in me as soon as my half-brother came along.'

'I'm sure that isn't true,' she denied weakly.

'Then why did she give everything to the Champions, including herself in the end? If Jake hadn't wanted more kids, she'd have lived through that flood.' To Keri's horror, Rick's voice faltered and she saw traces of tears streaking his face.

Compassion overcame her dislike of him and she went to him, kneeling alongside him. 'Don't, Rick. It wasn't anyone's fault that she died. You can't hold the Champions or any person responsible.'

'What would you know about it?' Angrily, he pushed her away and she sprawled backwards on to the floor, her robe spilling open. At the last moment, she clutched at the cord fastening the waistline, but she still exposed a lot of tanned flesh to Rick's hungry gaze. He dropped to his knees beside her, preventing her from getting up.

'Rick, let me up, please.'

He tugged at the cord holding her robe closed.

'You were about to offer me comfort. I'm accepting your offer. What's wrong with that?'

'It wasn't, what I was offering and you know it,' she protested, pushing his hands away.

'Bloody hell!' The cry burst over both of them like a thunderclap. Neither of them had heard the door open and Ben come in. Now he stood over them like an avenging angel. 'Get up,' he ordered Rick. 'You, too, and make yourself decent.'

'Ben, it isn't what you think,' she said urgently, hating the way he was looking at her. 'Rick's just had a bit too much to drink.'

His eyes raked her unrelentingly. 'That's his excuse. What's yours?'

'I don't need one. I haven't done anything wrong.'

'Not by your standards, maybe.' He gave an exasperated sigh. 'I thought you were finally coming to your senses, Rick.'

The belligerent Rick of a moment before had vanished. He leaned against the wall,- looking down at his feet. 'I didn't mean anything by it, Ben. I guess seeing Persia tonight and knowing we couldn't be together yet did something to me.'

It was such a blatant fabrication that Keri gave a gasp of dismay. Surely Ben didn't think this was all her fault? But Ben evidently accepted Rick's word. 'There are more acceptable ways of working off your frustrations,' he pointed out.

It was too much! 'He didn't come in here to work off any frustration, as you put it,' she exploded. 'He came here to gloat about how he intends to destroy Casuarina.' She swung her blazing eyes on to Rick. 'Tell him what you just told me.'

He shuffled his feet uncomfortably, then gave Ben a look of appeal. 'I don't know what she's talking about.'

'Well, I do,' she countered, hands on hips. 'He plans to let Theo Strathopoulos build a huge casino on Casuarina land, right next to Crocodile Creek.'

Ben raked a hand through his dark hair. 'My God!'

'She'll tell you anything to get me in your bad books,' Rick broke in. 'But I'll bet she won't tell you how she invited me in here tonight.'

Ben's eyes narrowed and she saw his hands ball into fists at his side, as if he would like to hit someone. But all he said was, 'Did you invite him in, Keri?'

Too late, she saw the trap Rick had set for her. 'Yes, I did, but I thought . . .'

'You thought I wouldn't be back till much later,' Ben cut in.

'No, it wasn't like that. Tell him, Rick.'

'Oh, he'll tell me, all right,' Ben said coldly, earning a look of alarm from his half-brother. 'But not here. Outside.'

He accompanied the command with a sharp jerk of his head towards the veranda. Keri started to follow but Ben shook his head. 'Stay out of this,'

Her jaw dropped. How could she stay out of it, when she was already involved? But Ben was in no mood to listen to her arguments. And nothing Rick said now could make matters any worse so she slumped on to her bed.

The memory of the time when Ben had refused to believe her over the will came rushing back, the hurt as fresh as if it were new. She had known it would be like this if she let Ben get close to her a second time. There was no comfort in discovering that she was right.

The murmur of voices reached her on the still night air. When they refused to be shut out, she moved to the window and looked out.

Ben and Rick were on the lawn in front of the house. Although they spoke in lowered tones, their voices carried.

'I thought you would stick to your deal this time.'