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Page 173

| with." She reached behind her and began buttoning her dress. "We will meet like this often? It would mean so much to me." |

| "I would find that delightful," Sasha said, silently admiring Bianca's hair, which touched the ground. "I shall look forward to it, Bianca." |

| Bianca came suddenly to her and hugged her fiercely. "Thank you," Bianca whispered, then fled, leaving a strange sort of awkward silence behind her. |

| Sasha had the urge to follow, to see where she had crossed the river. But the wet shift clinging to her body was reminder enough of what she must do. She walked back into the river and finished bathing, then hurried into her now dry clothes. |

| Puzzling still over Bianca's presence in the outback, and her pregnancy, Sasha hurried toward The Homestead. Suddenly she stopped, struck dumb over what she found being built under Ashton's supervision. Even though they had a wide stretch of fence that separated their land from the wilds, where dingoes awaited the chance to feed on sheep, another huge fence was being erected closer to the house. And it was not just any fenceit looked like the sort that was used around forts! |

| Shaking herself out of her surprised state, Sasha hurried to Ashton's side. She looked incredulously around her again at the huge stockade fence more than half built around the perimeter of the house. |

| "Ashton, what is going on here?" Sasha finally demanded. "I came out here to the middle of nowhere to live on a sheep stationnot inside a fortress! Why are you having this dreadful fence built so close to the house?" |

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