Home to Eden by Margaret Way Page A

detective. It’s all long ago, Nikki.No one cares anymore. Are you really going over to Kooltar?”
    â€œNot yet. There’s too much I want to see here, but maybe toward the end of next week, if it suits Drake.”
    â€œIt’ll suit him,” Siggy observed very dryly. “You’re aware he’s got a girlfriend?”
    â€œI’m not planning to seduce him.”
    â€œYou probably will, anyhow. It’s something over which you’ve no control. Just don’t eat any pancakes for breakfast if Callista offers them to you. They could be laced with the weedkiller she picked up at the Koomera store.”

CHAPTER SIX
    J OEL WAS UTTERLY DISMAYED when she asked him to ferry her over to Kooltar in the helicopter. His narrow features drew together, giving him a curiously pinched look.
    â€œI can’t for the life of me understand why you want to go.” He turned hard, reproachful eyes on her.
    â€œLook at it this way. Wouldn’t it be better if we stopped the feud?” Recent comments about Joel had done funny things to her. She almost felt as if she didn’t know him at all. “We mightn’t ever get back to being friends exactly, but I think it’s about time we all tried to put the past behind us.”
    â€œOh, cut it out!” Joel began to pace the terrace where they’d been sitting. “You’ll have me in tears next. It’s McClelland, isn’t it? You’re attracted to him.” Joel came closer, looking as if he was about to grasp her arms.
    She leaned back in reaction. “You think so?” She made her voice distant. His pronouncement was far too close to the truth.
    â€œIt’s my gut feeling. He always had a powerful effect on you. What happened to all those hostile angry feelings?”
    Good question. “I expect they’ll resurface fromtime to time.” She sat straighter, ready to get up and leave.
    â€œWe can never forget the past,” Joel said with fierce certainty. “It’s cemented in place. Mum’s right for once. They hate us. They truly hate us. He wants to absorb Eden into Kooltar. We’ve got a tremendous asset in the Minareechi.”
    â€œThat could well be it,” Nicole agreed tightly. “There are a lot of wild guesses, half-baked rumors, ideas I have to track down. I’d like to sort them out first. It might all come to nothing.”
    Joel glared at her. “I have to tell you I’m dead set against this.” He shook a fist in anger. “I don’t trust McClelland. He’s a guy who goes about acquiring things. He’s already got a foot in the door. Who’s to know what’s going on in his arrogant head? He’s a man of dangerous ambitions. A man of power. They reckon he’s increased his father’s fortune several times over. He might be set on acquiring you. Wouldn’t that be a tremendous coup? At the same time he’d get Eden. Everything would come together. Aren’t you troubled by this?”
    â€œDammit, he’s got a girlfriend! Karen Stirling.” Nicole was really on edge now. She didn’t want to listen to Joel’s ranting. “You told me yourself.”
    Joel stared at her, his hands jammed into his pockets. “He’s been mixed up with a string of girlfriends all begging for him to marry them. It’s so easy to get women when you’re rich and high on the social register.”
    â€œWhy feel so sorry for yourself? What’s holding you up?”
    He gave a faint smile. “No one will measure up to you, Nikki.”
    Some shade of expression in his eyes left her shaken. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m your cousin. We’re family. Remoteness does have its drawbacks. It’s very difficult for you to meet eligible women except at the functions that mercifully get organized so the opposite sexes can come together.”
    His moody face lost its smile. “Don’t start