‘Mm hmm, they seem very happy to get used to you in their lives.’ She tilted her face to him. ‘I think that happened in about two minutes flat.’
He smiled into her hair before he shifted to look into her eyes. ‘And you think that too? I’ve found some people have a natural immunity to the Ben Brierly charm.’
‘Oh, I think the progression of the disease once it started happened very fast.’ She shook her head pretending tragedy. ‘And I think it’s irreversibly terminal.’
He laughed quietly but the warmth in her eyes just kept heating and he dared to almost believe her. ‘I’m not going to be a kept man.’
‘I figured you wouldn’t.’ She smiled and moulded herself against him even more firmly. Squashing her delightful breasts against his chest in the best kind of insistence he could imagine.
‘So …’ He touched her cheek, had to reassure himself she was really here in his arms asking for more than just sex. With each stroke of his finger more of her delicious warmth caressed his skin.
She moistened her lips, driving him even more insane, and he wanted to kiss her while her mouth was wet. But he needed this clear. ‘So …’
‘So, what?’
Now?
Ben dropped to one knee and took her hand in his. Held it tight as he poured all of his determination and a whole lot of his enormous amount of love into the words. ‘Holly Peterson. Will you please marry me?’
Then he added, ‘Finally.’
Thought again. ‘Forever.’
Almost groaned at the delay before it could actually happen. ‘Fast.’
As he stared at her, he watched her mouth pull into a tremulous smile and her eyes glinted and he realised they’d flooded with tears. She tugged at his arm. ‘Get up.’
He resisted. No way. Not yet. ‘Not until you say yes. Life is too short. Too dark, without you in my world.’
She looked over her shoulder as if thankful the boys weren’t seeing this. Ben frowned at that. They should actually. He’d have to talk to them about romantic gestures one day.
‘Get up,’ she whispered with a smile that made his heart sing at the promise in it. Then she lifted his work roughened hand to her lips and pressed it against her cheek, turning it until she could press his palm to her lips.
‘Yes.’ His heart leapt.
Another kiss from Holly. ‘Please.’ Then she said the words he’d though he’d never hear. ‘I’d love to marry you, dear Ben, darling Ben, though I’m not sure I deserve you.’ Then very simply she told him why. ‘I’m in love with you.’
He rose so fast he startled her and, again before she realised what he was doing, his hands were around her waist and he’d lifted her up and spun her until the ceiling blurred, his face pressed into her neck.
‘Finally. She said yes,’ he breathed into her ear. ‘We are going to be a very blended, splendid family.’ Then he put her down and hugged her again before he kissed her with a searing possession that left both of them breathless—and wanting more.
‘I can’t believe it,’ she breathed.
Neither could he.
*
Holly’s heart felt like it had grown to fill her chest. A huge, full-moon-sized heart that made her glow from the centre of her being. A world filled with stars. Still dizzy from the twirling in Ben’s arm, she wanted to laugh out loud, to hug him, to wake the boys, shout it from the roof tops, but really she just wanted to kiss him. To lose herself in Ben.
And as if he read her thoughts, he bent and slid his arms behind her knees and lifted her off the ground again, until she was cradled against his chest.
Safe. Loved. His.
As he was hers. The one place in the world she wanted to be. Holly’s heart had found Ben.
Epilogue
Miranda Brierly admitted, with interest, the big old house at Wirra Station had been restored magnificently and, for an ‘intimate’ wedding, as opposed to the extravaganzas they usually held here, the heritage garden looked very romantic. The wedding had been decreed to be small by the bride—and so it was.
Miranda played with the gauzy fan she’d found on her seat, on every seat, and peered at a tiny grotto to her left tucked into a corner. She couldn’t help her smile as she imagined the twins finding the little fairies and elves she noticed earlier in there. She could do a few things like this to her garden when the boys came to live.
Her thoughts swung back to the wedding, as she gently swished her new fan back and forth in front of her face. Pretty. Although she would have preferred a larger gathering, after all Dr Benjamin Brierly of Brierly Park was marrying Dr Holly Peterson, late of the Outback Brides Coffee Shop, but—she was content. The air positively teemed with joy and good wishes with obvious sincerity and she had no doubt her grandson and his bride-to-be were in love.
Something she had despaired she’d live to see, she thought, as she turned her head and glanced at the other white chairs on the bride’s side of the congregation.
Isabella Martenson and her winemaker husband, Harry, were there, not only because Isabella was officiating at the intimate gathering and with her flair for fabulous weddings, even tiny ones, apparently. Or even because her husband Harry had insisted he supplied the Napa Valley wine.
Holly had told her all the Smart Ladies’ Supper Club brides would be there and they’d arrived in style.
Maggie Walker-O’Connor, Wirra’s owner, looking even more beautiful with motherhood, along with her local grazier husband, Max, were there, holding the new heir to the massive agricultural holdings that combined Wirra Station and her husband’s property.
And the Hargreaves, Elsa and Jack. Now the cold war between her and Elsa had thawed to the point of getting her hair done again, it was quite nice to see that young couple so happy.
That hoyden Jasmine Winters had arrived with her new husband, Jason, and they’d brought Miranda’s old foe, Lily Fairclough, who had taken over management of the coffee shop. Still, it meant Holly could go into the medical practice with Ben.
So, more fences mended there, because Holly and the boys had declared Mrs F was part of their lives. It had been a silly feud lasting for years and she’d long forgotten what it had been over, so it was a good thing she could have a sensible conversation with Lily now.
She’d heard Jasmine offer to be designated driver on the run home after the wedding and seen her pat her barely perceptible pregnant belly. Not even one glance at the champagne as it went past on the silver tray. Wonderful what impending motherhood could do.
Miranda couldn’t wait for Ben and Holly to have more family. Judging by some of those sizzling looks she’d intercepted, before she’d learnt not to stare, that wouldn’t be long. Young people.
And, bless them both, they’d agreed to move into the Park with the boys and she would have the self-contained guest apartment that looked over the garden. And Lacey was staying on to be housekeeper, so everything worked out splendidly.
Even the daisy-covered archway the couple were being married under made the most spectacular show.
She hadn’t been sure about the daisies when Ben had suggested them … but Holly’s face had lit up when he said it—well that Maggie Walker-O’Connor had made sure it was done.
Ben looked so handsome standing under the archway waiting. Young Pat stood beside him, his miniature tuxedo fitting him beautifully, and for once his mischievous face was serious, as he held the box with the ring.
Already the boys had stolen into her heart. They made her laugh, something she’d almost forgotten she could do, and despite their beautiful manners and kind hearts, these two were balls of mischief. They healed some of the loss caused when her husband had died and Ben had gone away—but now her life would be full again.
The music started and she straightened in her seat.
*
Ben’s gaze locked on Holly as she glided towards him like an angel in white. The morning breeze caressed the fluttering tendrils of her hair, dark and glistening as it brushed her cheek and n
eck, escaped from the rest swept up to expose her beautiful throat. The soft lace of the bodice cupped the roundness of her breasts and clung tightly to her narrow waist, and he remembered to breathe as he followed the fall of fabric over her hips to the ground, and then back to her face.
His Holly.
He spared a glance for young Tom, who held her arm so earnestly as if he were seventy, not seven, and this task the most important duty in the world as they slowly stepped towards Ben in time to the music.
His Holly was smiling. Her eyes were shining as they held his. He’d never seen her so radiant with joy, and with a swell of emotion he realised their love had made her as gloriously happy as he’d always wanted her to be.
Like the riot of ecstatic daisy faces brushing them as she stopped, their closest friends’ happy expressions surrounded them, he took her hand in his and squeezed. His world was perfect.
A hush fell over the well-wishers.
‘Dearly beloved …’ The words broke the smiling silence.
*
Eight hours later found Ben and Holly, alone, in a protected sandy bay complete with tiny waterfall that ran into a small lagoon beside the beach. The site was theirs for a week. Aptly named Lover’s Cove, the inlet lay secluded from the wind and passing boats, sat ringed by palm trees and sand and a large level green grassed area for camping. Ben had parked under the shade of a huge gum tree, a very large, very luxurious, mobile home, which held all the conveniences any bride could wish for.
On the sand, the newlyweds lay on a huge circular towelling blanket, a wedding present from Jasmine that came with instructions to ‘make love outdoors.’ Even Ben had appreciated that.
Holly cast a wicked grin at her husband and drew her nail gently down his bare chest. ‘Did I mention I like glamping better than camping?’
Ben laughed. ‘You might have.’ When his voice came so deeply it did strange things to her belly and she wanted him to say something else.
‘Did I mention I love you more than glamping?’
‘You did.’ Another deep rumble and she grinned to herself.
‘And did I also mention that this spot is my dream oasis, which I will come to in my meditations when things get wild in the real world?’
‘Really?’ He raised himself on one elbow so he could look down at her. The love that shone from him warmed her soul as it did every time she looked at him. Then he leaned forward and traced her mouth with one amorous finger until she shivered with it. Then he kissed her. ‘Can I come with you when things get wild?’
Ben Brierly, my word you can kiss, she thought, and it took her a second to get her breath back. Then, ‘Absolutely. And when things are not so wild, when we’re not feeling the sun on our skin, and I’m not swimming in the ocean naked with you, we could bring the boys here.’
Ben laughed. ‘Yes, dear. We could. But I think they prefer roughing it.’
She ignored that. ‘Ooh, I like the sound of that. Yes, dear.’
Judging by the firm hands that were sliding over her hips her husband felt the need for another swim. Skin against skin. ‘Have I told you in the last hour how much I love you?’
‘Yes, dear.’ She snuggled against him. ‘But there is no such thing as too many times. Or too many ways.’ She leaned up and kissed him. ‘You have my heart.’
The End
The Outback Bride Series
Book 1: Maggie’s Run by Kelly Hunter
Buy now!
Book 2: Belle’s Secret by Victoria Purman
Buy now!
Book 3: Elsa’s Stand by Cathryn Hein
Buy now!
Book 4: Holly’s Heart by Fiona McArthur
View the entire series here!
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About the Author
Fiona McArthur has written more than forty books and shares her medical knowledge and her love of working with women, families and emergency services in her stories. In her compassionate, pacey fiction, her love of the Australian landscape meshes beautifully with warm, funny, multigenerational characters as she highlights challenges for rural and remote families, and the strength shared between women. She always champions the underdog, and the wonderful, ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Then that bit of drama thrown in because who doesn’t love a few tears, a heartfelt sigh of relief and a big happy smile at the end? Make that gorgeous man earn the right to win his beautiful and strong-willed heroine’s heart because that’s something she believes in. And, absolutely, happy endings are a must.
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