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  "Then you think the trouble is over?"

  His head snapped up. "Serge is gone, and I doubt he'll be back."

  "You're giving me the runaround."

  "I can't see into the future."

  "What are you still worried about?"

  He gave an honest answer. "I don't know."

  "Why are you trying to protect me?"

  Because he had realized, much to his sorrow, that he was in love with her? Because if anything happened to her there would be little point in going on? He couldn't tell her either of those things. "Serge's confession explained a lot," he said finally, realizing he couldn't stall any longer. "But it didn't explain everything. Not by half."

  "Like what?"

  "The other two murders."

  "They could have been accidents, or totally unrelated."

  "There's still the comb I found in the mine with strands of blond hair tangled in it."

  Kelsey frowned. "What comb?"

  "The first day I took you down, the day the lights gave us trouble. I found a comb. It wasn't mine or Jake's."

  "Weren't there others down there searching for my father? Couldn't someone from the rescue party have dropped it?"

  "I thought of that. I've asked everyone who went down that day."

  "Then the comb might have been Serge's. He had a reason to be in the mine."

  "Serge isn't blond."

  "Then maybe he took someone with him."

  Dillon nodded. "And maybe they're still in Coober Pedy."

  Kelsey finished her iced coffee slowly, examining Dillon's concerns as she did. Finally she thrust them away. "I think you need to stop worrying."

  "Oh?"

  "Serge had the motive to put you and my father out of commission. He wanted to take the opal from your side of the boundary. He couldn't risk doing that if either of you were around, because he knew you'd realize what he was doing. That's simple and straightforward, and believable. When I appeared on the scene he had to worry about me discovering him, too, so he tried to keep us both so busy we wouldn't know what was going on. Everything fits, Dillon."

  "Everything except two murders, a comb and a hand-cast bullet."

  Kelsey opened her mouth to tell him to put the whole thing behind him, but his last words stopped her. "What does the bullet have to do with it?"

  "Serge's rifle was a semi-automatic. It used standard cartridges. The gun that killed the kangaroo and almost killed me was a different weapon altogether, a single-shot rifle, probably an old one." He didn't add that the bullet he had dug out of the mulga tree after the dust storm had also been plain-based lead. Kelsey didn't need to be reminded that she had almost died.

  "Then maybe he owned two guns."

  "Maybe. But no one knew about the other one if he did."

  "You've been doing a fair amount of snooping."

  He brought his fist down on the table. "Do you think I want you in any more danger?"

  Kelsey stared at him. She had never heard a more open declaration of love. They were sitting in a hole-in-the-wall Greek restaurant in the middle of a one-of-a-kind town. People were coming and going, laughing and calling Happy Christmas to each other. One of the fluorescent bulbs over their heads was blinking on and off with the irregular rhythm of a junior high percussion student, and the only air-conditioning vent in the room was blowing ice-cold air at their ears and noses. And in the midst of this crazy place and this Christmas madness, Dillon was telling her that he loved her, even though he wasn't saying the words.

  "Do you?" he repeated, leaning back and folding his arms over his chest. "Do you think I would let anything threaten you?"

  Kelsey wondered if she were crazy, too. Was she hearing words he would never say? Didn't it make sense that he would want to protect her? Wasn't that just part of who he was? She knew she should brush off his question and forget she had ever believed, even for a moment, that what he felt was anything more than concern for a friend, for the daughter of a "mate." But, somehow, she couldn't.

  She couldn't look at him anymore. She focused on a spidery crack in the table's surface. "Why does that matter so much to you? I've given you nothing but headaches. You've certainly paid your debt to my father by now."

  Dillon knew he should evade the real heart of her question, just as he had evaded others she had asked. But, somehow, he couldn't. "Don't you know?" he asked softly, making no move to touch her.

  She forced herself to look at him. "I guess I'm not sure."

  He smiled unevenly. "If anything happened to you, I couldn't live with it."

  Love couldn't be that easy. She had yearned for it all her life, then fought it when she had found herself falling in love with him. And yet, here it was. Easy, uncomplicated, and so sweet she wanted to cry.

  "I'm not used to people caring that much."

  "Loving," he corrected.

  His green eyes were so warm, so fiercely luminous, that she could hardly make herself look into them. "Do you fall in love easily?" she asked, and knew how insecure she sounded.

  "You're asking how special you are?" He leaned forward and reached for her hand. "Completely special."

  Kelsey looked down at their hands. She wanted to make a joke. She wanted to sing. Instead she cleared her throat. "Is this my Christmas present?"

  "It's a gift. No strings attached. I guess you needed to be told."

  "I guess I did." She met his eyes again. "This doesn't happen every day. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say."

  His eyes burned into hers. "How about thank you?"

  She smiled and knew her smile was a little wobbly. "Thank you."

  "My pleasure." He squeezed her hand, then let it go. "I think we should go back now," he said gruffly. "I've got packages to wrap before we go to Anna's party." He swung gracefully out of the booth, then reached for Kelsey to assist her. For just a moment she leaned against him, then she pulled away, confused, afraid.

  She was sure of only one thing. She needed time alone. "I'm going to stay in town. Dimitri said my father's ute would be fixed again by today. I'll walk over and get it when I'm ready to come home."

  Dillon felt Kelsey separate herself from him. He cursed himself for frightening her by telling her a truth she wasn't ready to hear. But he knew she might never be ready to hear it. She had been denied love for so long that it might always frighten her. He forced himself to speak calmly. "You don't really need to be afraid to come home. Nothing has changed."

  "I have some shopping to do."

  He made himself step away from her. Nothing would improve if he pressured her. "Then I'll see you after a bit."

  "I'll be back in time to get ready for the party." She watched him walk to the counter to pay their bill. Then she headed for the door.

  Chapter 15

  ANNA'S DUGOUT WAS an underground palace. Gero, her husband, was one of the fortunate few who had hit a large seam of crystal opal early in his mining career. A relaxed, easygoing man, Gero had decided on the spot that after he cashed in on his good luck, he was gong to retire from the endless drilling and tunneling, picking and shoveling that made up a miner's life. He would take his tidy fortune and invest it back in the town that had been so good to him. Easygoing Gero—who had the business instincts of a Wall Street trader—had seen that tourism would soon replace mining as Coober Pedy's reason for being, and he wanted to cash in on that, too.

  The Pizza Palace was just one of Gero's ventures. He owned a small fleet of tour buses and a demonstration mine in addition to a shop that specialized in the gimmicky merchandise that appealed to the tourists he served. His home reflected his imagination and his wealth.

  "I'm not dreaming this, am I?" Kelsey asked Dillon as she stared at the sparkling green pool that stretched away from her to end against sunlit windows.

  "Quite a few dugouts have pools, actually. I plan to put one in mine someday." Kelsey could picture a pool off Dillon's comfortable lounge. She could also picture Dillon slicing through the water with quick, sure strokes. Alon
e. When she tried to picture him swimming with a woman—a wife, perhaps—her stomach turned over.

  And yet that was what would surely happen someday. Dillon wasn't a man to live his life in seclusion. He needed the love, the warmth, of a family. He was a man who would give unqualified, unlimited love in return.

  He loved her.

  She had spent most of the afternoon wandering the Coober Pedy streets trying to absorb it. She hardly knew what love was, but Dillon loved her. And she was so filled with emotion that she was afraid to speak, afraid her own feelings might come pouring out against her will.

  "Did you bring your bathers?"

  "I didn't know I was supposed to."

  "I should have warned you. You Yanks don't do much swimming at Christmastime, I suppose."

  "In Florida, maybe." Kelsey glanced at him, then looked away.

  "Anna's oldest daughter, Gina, probably has something you can borrow, or I can take you back home to get a suit. But you'll have to go in the water. Everyone does." Without waiting for an answer, he strode off to find Gina, leaving Kelsey to continue gazing at the pool.

  Kelsey knew Dillon regretted telling her his feelings. He had treated her with nothing except exceptional politeness since. She knew it would be up to her to break the strained silence between them. She just didn't know how, or what to say.

  "Enjoying a real Aussie Christmas?"

  Kelsey looked up to find Melanie standing beside her. For once she was simply attired in white shorts and a yellow blouse. Her arm was wrapped around Gary's in a stranglehold. Gary looked distinctly uncomfortable.

  "It's different, but then I've never been a big fan of mistletoe and holly."

  "I get nostalgic this time of year. I want to see all the annual specials on television. I want to buy everything in sight."

  Gary extracted himself, with a pat on the arm for Melanie and a nod to Kelsey. "I'm going to see what Gero is up to, love." He took off like a man released from prison.

  "Doesn't he love to be with me?" Melanie cooed.

  "Maybe you should try ignoring him. Play hard to get."

  Melanie dropped all pretenses. "I am going to play hard to get. The hardest. I've decided I'm going home after Christmas, and I don't intend to come back."

  Kelsey was stunned. "I thought you were going to stay here forever."

  Melanie's shrug didn't quite come off. "So did I. But I've got a remnant of sense left, even if you can't tell to look at me. While I do, I'm going to get away from Gary while I still have some pride left to take with me."

  Kelsey tentatively slipped her arm around Melanie's waist. "Does he know?"

  Melanie shook her head. "He won't care. He'll start looking for another woman for his collection. And his choice will be as vast as this damned desert we live in. He's so full of icy charm, women will line up to take my place."

  "No one could take your place." Kelsey didn't know what to think about Melanie's declaration. She had seen little of Gary, but she knew from her few observations and Melanie's remarks that the relationship was a dead end. "I guess I'm glad for you," she said at last. "You deserve more than you're getting."

  "I hope so." Melanie's face looked strained, as if the decision she'd made had been hard won. "Maybe we'll see each other back in the good old U.S. of A."

  "Sure. North Carolina and Nebraska are practically next door to each other."

  Melanie gave her a wan smile right before Gary signaled her to come to his side in the doorway. "Excuse me, won't you, Kelsey? The lord and master wants me, and that's so unusual, I'd better take advantage of it while I can."

  Saddened, Kelsey watched her go. She didn't even hear Dillon come up behind her. "Gina sends you this." He handed her a royal blue racing suit that looked as if it would fit a teenager who hadn't yet earned her share of wolf whistles.

  Kelsey pushed the conversation with Melanie out of her mind. "And you're going to swim?" she asked, stretching the taut fabric doubtfully.

  "Couldn't keep me out of the water if you tried."

  Kelsey went to find a place to change, running into Anna on the way. By the time she reappeared in Gina's suit, she had been introduced to everyone at the party, whether she already knew them or not. She had a drink in one hand, a plate of food that Anna had forced on her in the other, and Gero's fatherly arm around her shoulders.

  Dillon was glad he was waist-deep in the water. The blue suit fit Kelsey like a second skin, emphasizing every curve of her body and the sleek length of her legs. She had tied her shining butterscotch curls in a riotous fall that bounced wildly each time she moved her head. Shorter, loose curls brushed her cheeks and neck. Her skin glowed with good health and natural vitality, and her eyes shone. He had never wanted her more, and he had never been more sure he wouldn't have her.

  He hadn't meant to tell her that he loved her. Perhaps it had been an unconscious gamble. He was a gambler. Every time he went down into the Rainbow Fire he was courting Lady Luck. He had the credentials, the training to make a comfortable living as an engineer. Instead he wrestled with dirt and rock, putting his own sweat on the line for the chance to make a fortune.

  He had put his heart on the line today with Kelsey. And, like the Rainbow Fire, it hadn't paid off. He had cursed himself for a fool the moment she walked out the restaurant door. He had known there was no chance that she would want him, would want to stay in Coober Pedy with him and face the conditions here. When a man gambled, he gambled alone.

  And still, he hadn't been able to stop himself. Because some part of him had hoped that maybe she loved him, too.

  He watched her search the room as she chatted with Gero. He lay back in the water and waited until her gaze came to rest on him. Her smile was tentative, but it bloomed for him alone. When Gero walked off to greet more guests, she set down her dishes and stepped into the water without taking her eyes off him.

  She swam with the same grace that characterized all her movements, reaching him in seconds. He knew he must be a worse dreamer than he had thought, because he found himself hoping once more.

  "The water's colder than I thought it would be," she said, stopping just short of swimming into his arms. She stood and brushed wet curls off her cheeks. "It feels spectacular."

  Dillon tried not to concentrate on the way the suit pushed her firm breasts higher. He looked away. "It stays cool because we're still underground, even though those windows lead to the other side of the hill."

  She didn't want to talk about the water temperature and dugout architecture. She wanted to talk about love and relationships, but she didn't know what to say. "This is the right way to celebrate Christmas."

  "You don't miss snow?"

  "We only get a little of that where I'm from. But then, they didn't get a lot in Bethlehem that first Christmas, either."

  He smiled, reaching for one curl that she had missed. He stroked her cheek with his thumb as he took his time pushing the curl into place. "So Christmas down under's not too bad?"

  She drew a quick breath as the casual caress went straight through her. "Not bad at all."

  "Wait until you see the tucker Anna's prepared."

  "She already loaded my plate."

  "That was only a bit of a snack."

  Kelsey knew she had run out of small talk as surely as if someone had reached into her brain and pulled a plug. She laid a hand on his bare shoulder, fingers just grazing the gold chain at his neck. She wished a touch could somehow take the morass of feelings inside her and solidify them, clarify them until the words she had to speak came fluently. "Dillon, I—"

  The pool suddenly seemed to change dimension and become a living thing. The water heaved as if it had turned into a rushing river. Startled, Kelsey looked up to see Gero pushing his guests one by one into the pool.

  Dillon's laughter was a deep baritone that warmed the empty places inside her. "Happy Christmas, Coober Pedy-style," he said, pulling Kelsey to rest against him away from the splashing and cursing of half-drowned guests. His arms cre
pt around her waist and crossed against her abdomen, resting lightly on her hip bones. She settled against one leg, and her head fell back against his shoulder, tickling his neck with her wet curls. Lightly, slowly, his fingers smoothed spirals along the bare skin of her thighs.

  Kelsey wished they were anywhere other than in the midst of a group of merrymakers. She wished she could turn to him and smother her doubts, her fears, in the warmth of his embrace and the heat of his kisses. Instead she rubbed her head against his cheek, letting him know that he was turning her body into something she didn't know or understand.

  When the pool was too crowded and the splashing too tumultuous to ignore, Dillon's hands crept back to her hips and he turned her, then met her soft, lush lips with his own.

  The kiss lasted only seconds, but it told Kelsey everything she needed to know about the control he'd exercised over the last four days and how quickly it was slipping. He pushed her away, then began to swim the length of the pool with swift, determined strokes. Kelsey swam to the side and watched him cut through the water, back and forth.

  When she could watch no longer, she climbed out to find her clothes and change.

  The rest of the party passed in a blur of Christmas cheer. Father Christmas came, looking amazingly like Gero with a white beard, huge red T-shirt and surfer shorts over a natural potbelly. Children squealed over toys and games that were a prelude to their family celebrations tomorrow, and adults exchanged smiles and good wishes.

  They sang carols to the accompaniment of an accordion. Some Kelsey had never heard, with cattle drovers replacing wise men, and kangaroos and wallabies replacing the traditional ox and ass. Others were more familiar, and she found herself singing "Silent Night" with something akin to tears in her eyes.

  She had never spent a Christmas Eve this way. These people weren't her family; indeed, they weren't even countrymen. But she felt a kinship that transcended bonds of blood or nation. She let her gaze wander through the crowd. Surrounded by their children, Anna and Gero sang in lusty, accent-laden English that only made the songs seem holier. Alf Sweeney, his two sons and the wife Kelsey had just met sat beside them, the accent different, the sentiment the same. Kelsey noted Dimitri, a tiny baby against one shoulder, his wife's head against the other. Even Gary and Melanie were holding hands, forgetting for a few precious moments the differences that separated them.