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the very idea, Ben stepped between them. 'I said she's here as my guest.' He emphasised the possessive pronoun.
    Rick spread his hands apart. 'OK, I get the message. Hands off.' For now, his tone suggested. She shivered. Then feeling that she must say something, she volunteered, 'Hello, Rick.'
    'Hello yourself. Since when did the skinny teenager turn into such a beauty, and in a ranger's uniform yet? I'll bet you look fantastic in a bikini.'
    'It's not something you're likely to find out,' Ben ground out.
    Rick's temper, which Keri remembered only too vividly, got the better of him. 'Now hang on, little brother. How about letting the lady speak for herself?'
    Ben took a menacing step towards Rick. 'Call me little brother again and I'll flatten you.'
    'Why? She's not your property, is she?'
    'As it happens, she is. Keri and I are engaged to be married.'
    Rick looked as if he had been felled by a blow. His face crumpled and he balled his hands into fists at his sides. 'This is pretty sudden, isn't it?'
    'We've been seeing each other in Darwin,' Ben said, the smooth lie sounding more and more polished to Keri's outraged ears.
    'Stop it, you two,' she said, stepping between them. 'As it happens, I'm nobody's property.'
    'I see you've lost none of your spirit,' Rick said in a tone of grudging admiration. 'It's going to be fun having you back.'
    'Aren't you forgetting something?' Ben interrupted.
    Rick dragged his eyes away from Keri. 'Like what?'
    'Like a fiancée of your own?'
    Rick looked as if he would like to hit Ben, but was forced to nod agreement. Then he winked and added, 'But while the cat's away ...'
    Which was exactly the situation Ben had feared when he found out that she was back. 'There'll be no playing,' she said coldly. How could he even think she would be interested after what had happened last time? Already, his nearness was making her flesh crawl. 'You heard Ben. I'm going to marry him.'
    How plausible it sounded when she said it with such conviction.-Rick looked taken aback. Then his unshakeable self-confidence reasserted itself. 'A lot can happen between an engagement and a marriage,' he said, fixing her with an exaggerated wink. Before Ben could react, he grabbed her hand and lifted it close to his face. 'I don't even have to compete with a ring yet.'
    She paled as she realised, that Ben had overlooked the most obvious symbol of their status. 'We haven't had time to choose one yet,' she dissembled, throwing Ben a look of appeal.
    He moved to her side and Rick stepped back just as quickly. 'No need to get excited, Ben. I was just commenting on an obvious lack. I'm sure you plan to remedy it soon.'
    He isn't fooled, she thought with a sinking heart. More than ever, she wished she hadn't agreed to come to the homestead, far less to this travesty of an engagement which only seemed to be fooling Robyn, the last person she wanted to cheat.
    'I'm saving the ring to give to Keri at Robyn's party,' Ben supplied.
    Rick's eyes narrowed and his expression remained sceptical. 'This I have to see,' he muttered as he stormed off the veranda. Over his shoulder, he added, 'At your buck's night, remind me to tell you a few things about your bride-to-be.'
    'You can't tell me anything I don't know,' Ben insisted.
    'Then you already know about the heart-shaped birthmark around her left nipple,' Rick said as he walked away.
    Anger and disgust warred with one another on Ben's face as he confronted Keri. 'Don't tell me that you and Rick . . .'
    'No, no,' she cut across him before he could accuse her and Rick of being lovers.
    'Then he was bluffing about the birthmark?'
    When she remained silent, shivering with tension, he reached forward and unhooked the top two buttons of her shirt.
     

CHAPTER THREE
    SHE stood mesmerised, unable to move a muscle as Ben's fingers connected with the sensitive skin of her throat. One by one, he flicked the buttons of her shirt aside, revealing the deep cleft between her breasts. As he reached for the