When Only Diamonds Will Do Read Free Page B

an exotic surround with secretive dark patches.
    Of course, she knew it off by heart but, thinking of how secretive and unknown in the moonlight it looked now, her thoughts took off down another path. Was she entering an unknown period of her life?
    How could she be as affected as she was by a man she’d only just met? There was no doubt he sent shivers down her spine—shivers of pleasure. One light kiss on her knuckles had not only raised goose bumps for her but it had caused her to warm to him as if they could be friends who cared for each other.
    Or was that being extremely fanciful? she asked herself as she swung into the driveway of the estate called Saldanha, the place she had always called home.
    Set against the background of the Darling Range foothills, Saldanha was special. The Harvey and Margaret River districts south of Perth in Western Australia were beautiful and diverse, with their white beaches, jarrah forests, sleek cattle and the sheer fertility that produced glorious gardens. And adjacent to Saldanha was the Balthazar Winery, also owned by her parents—the other, and probably most famous, export of the area that grew premium grapes was wine.
    Both Saldanha and Balthazar—a Balthazar was atwelve-litre wine bottle—were the names brought by the Theron family, of Huguenot descent, from South Africa to the similar conditions and climate around Perth. The Theron family had also brought their viticulture skills and the Balthazar Winery had flourished. At the same time Saldanha, named after a sheltered bay north of Cape Town, had flourished and the Cape Dutch–style architecture of the house, white gables and a thatched roof, had become distinctive in the district.
    So had the classic dry white that Balthazar was famous for as well as its Cellar Door, run on the estate and visited by wine-lovers from all over the world.
    It was none of this Kim Theron was thinking of as she parked her car, greeted her dog, a devoted blue heeler that went by the name of Sunny Bob, and let herself into the darkened house.
    Her parents were out and her brother no longer lived at home, although he kept his horses there, and the housekeeper had taken the opportunity to visit family.
    But, as she switched on some lamps and kicked off her shoes, Kim’s thoughts were still firmly centred on Reith Richardson.
    Was it unusual to suggest they go surfing? she wondered. Perhaps, but a great idea nonetheless.
    She paused at the foot of the stairs as she tried to analyse her emotions. She was intrigued, without a doubt. But, of course, as the saying went: look before you leap …
    She had no idea, as she stood with her hand on the banister, how that phrase was going to come back to haunt her.
    Margaret River was beautiful.
    The peaceful river gave its name to a district that stretched between two capes—Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin—and ran inland as well. The town of Margaret River was not the only one in the area; there were quite a few, from Busselton to Yallingup and Cowaramup and more. There were some magnificent kauri forests as well as some fascinating limestone caves. The whole district was renowned not only for its wine but also its cuisine.
    It was straight to the beach that Reith Richardson steered his four-wheel vehicle, though, after he’d collected Kim from their appointed meeting place in Busselton, along with her surfboard—and her dog.
    ‘Hope you don’t mind,’ Kim said as she introduced them. ‘Reith, this is Sunny Bob, and this, Sunny Bob,’ she said to the blue heeler sitting politely at her feet, ‘is Reith. He’s a friend.’
    ‘How do you do,’ Reith said gravely but with his lips twitching as he patted the dog. ‘Is he for protection—or what?’
    ‘Oh, no!’ Kim denied. ‘Well, if the need ever arose—’ She gestured and shrugged. ‘But no, he loves the sea and he loves going out with me.’
    Reith studied her for a moment. She wore colourful knee-length board shorts and a shocking pink