The Bridal Bargain Read Free

acknowledgment. “The older brother of my husband, Edward, carried the family line on at King’s Eden.”
    Remembering the wonderful homestead on the great cattle station, sited like a crown on the top of a hill overlooking the river, she had to ask, “Did your husband build this castle?”
    “No. My father did. It used to be known as the Valeri Villa in the old days. After my father died, and my son took over the plantations, the local people started calling it King’s Castle, and so it is today.”
    “Plantations?” Hannah prompted.
    “It was all sugarcane then.” She waved to the view. “Look across the inlet!”
    Cane fields stretching from the sea to the mountains.
    “My mother used to watch the burning of the cane from the tower here. But they do not burn the fields now. The cane is harvested green with special machinery. My grandson, Alessandro, looks after that business. His brother, Antonio, manages the tea...”
    “Tea?” Hannah remembered seeing a tea plantation at Cape Tribulation.
    Isabella nodded. “Though I suspect Antonio is more interested in his Kingtripper Company. The new boat, Duchess, is his pride and joy.”
    So Antonio would be her boss if she clinched the job. Antonio, Alessandro... a very strong Italian influence here. Maybe that encompassed the thing about family.
    “Your resume says you worked on a boat at Fremantle in Western Australia,” Isabella went on, getting back to tricky business for Hannah.
    She nodded. “Catering for Sunset Cruises around the harbour.” If you could call drinks and nibbles catering!
    “So you’re used to working in a galley.”
    “Oh, yes. Absolutely.”
    “And you don’t get seasick?”
    “Never have been.”
    True, but she hadn’t been tested much on that score. Better buy herself some travel-sickness pills to be on the safe side.
    “Matteo supplies a selection of exotic fruit for exclusive use on Duchess,” Mrs King informed her. “You will have to learn about their qualities. Matteo is my youngest grandson. He looks after the tropical fruit plantations.”
    Three Kings, Hannah thought, and wondered if they had wives. “Do you have any great-grandchildren, Mrs King?”
    She smiled, delight twinkling in her dark eyes. “A little boy, Marco. He is the son of Alessandro and Gina, who is now expecting another child.”
    “Well, congratulations!” Hannah said heartily.
    “Thank you. Unfortunately, my other two grandsons have not yet found...” Her mouth quirked. “...Miss Right.”
    “It’s not easy,” Hannah said with much sympathetic feeling.
    “Love is a gift,” Mrs King murmured, with a look of satisfaction that stirred Hannah’s curiosity again.
    Before she could inquire what was meant they were both distracted by the noise of a helicopter zooming very close above them.
    Mrs King looked even more satisfied as she explained, “That will be Antonio, coming in to land on the helipad. He said he would join us here if he could.”
    Uh-oh! Hannah’s stomach did a little flip. She’d been doing so well with Mrs King, establishing a really warm rapport that would surely have led to her being given the job. Now she had to face the boss-man and win him over, too.
    Double jeopardy!
    At least she had his grandmother onside, which was some consolation, but undoubtedly the boss-man would have the last say.
    Antonio...
    Not married.
    Did this mean he was hard to please? Or just too busy with his plantations and boats to care too much for any woman? Obviously a high-flyer in his helicopter, Hannah fervently hoped Antonio King would still have his head in clouds of tea business, at least until she could get a handle on him.
     

CHAPTER TWO
    Hannah’s heart did a hop, step, and jump as one of the great entrance doors to the castle swung open and the man came striding out towards the table by the fountain. Her wits went flying off to limbo in scattered little fragments. Her stomach contracted as though all her female muscles were twanging red