Baby at Bushman's Creek (Harlequin Romance #3638)

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Synopsis

City-bred Englishwoman Clare Marshall has been caring for her infant niece, Alice, ever since her beloved sister, Pippa, passed away. On her deathbed, Pippa made Clare promise to take Alice to the little girl's father, Jack, at his Australian cattle station. Clare arrives in the outback only to be met by Jack's older brother, Gray, who doesn't know precisely where Jack is or when he'll be back. Gray advises Clare to go back to England until Jack returns, but her finances won't allow for that. Instead, she offers to work as the housekeeper at Bushman's Creek until Gray can locate Jack. At first, Clare isn't sure about living so far from civilization, but as the days drag into weeks, she starts to discover an appreciation for the remote cattle station, as well as its owner. When her tourist visa is about to run out, Gray offers a marriage of convenience so that she can stay on as long as she needs to, and they start to enjoy a friends-with-benefits arrangement. Soon Clare has fallen in love with Gray, but when Jack finally comes back and Gray doesn't seem inclined to ask her to stay, Clare sees no other option but to return to London.

Gray Henderson and his brother inherited the Bushman's Creek cattle station from their father. Gray was out of the country while Pippa and Jack were having their affair, so he never met her nor did Jack ever say anything about her. When Clare shows up in the nearest town, claiming the baby she has in tow is his niece, Gray isn't certain if he believes it at first. He also isn't too sure how a citified Englishwoman will fare in the outback, but he's desperately in need of help around the house during their busy season. Once Clare is at the station, Gray quickly begins to warm up to both her and baby Alice, which is why he offers a marriage of convenience when her visa is about to expire. Although they start sharing a bed, he places no expectations on her beyond enjoying each other's company, because he doesn't think Clare could truly be happy living in such remote circumstances. When Jack finally returns and Clare makes arrangements to fly back to London, will Gray fight for her or let the best thing that's happened to him get away?

Review

Baby at Bushman's Creek is the third book in Jessica Hart's Love in Australia (aka Outback Brides) series. Clare's sister, Pippa, was diagnosed with cancer and died not long after giving birth to her daughter, Alice. On her deathbed, Pippa made Clare promise to take Alice to her father, Jack, who lives on an outback cattle station in Australia. Clare arrives at Bushman's Creek, only to find that Jack is out of the country. Instead, she's met by his older brother, Gray, who is a bit skeptical at first that the child is really his niece. Since he has no idea when Jack might be back and no way to contact him directly, he suggests that Clare go back to London, but since she spent all her savings on the trip there, she can't afford to come back when Jack returns. When she finds out that Gray is in need of someone to look after things at the ranch during the busy season, she offers to act as his housekeeper in exchange for room and board while they await Jack's return. Gray somewhat reluctantly agrees, but it isn't long before he warms up to her being there and accepts Alice as one of the family. Clare finds Gray very attractive, but she only recently ended a relationship after finding out the man was married and isn't looking to get involved with anyone else, especially since it appears that Gray may still be in love with his ex. But soon the weeks drag into months and Clare's tourist visa is about to expire. Gray suggests that if she were to marry him, she could stay as long as she needed to, and that he wouldn't put any expectations on her. As soon as Jack returns and she's comfortable leaving Alice, he'd give her a divorce and let her go home, so she agrees. Despite thinking that Bushman's Creek was a desolate place when she first arrived, Clare has slowly been warming up to the place and it's starting to feel like home. Not to mention, Gray has expressed an openness to enjoying all the benefits of marriage while they're together, and once she's made love with him, she can't help falling in love. But he believes she's a city girl who could never be happy at the station, and she believes that he's still in love with his ex, not her. So when Jack finally shows up unexpectedly, it could be the end of Gray and Clare's fledgling marriage of convenience that has burgeoned into something deeper.

Clare adored her sister, Pippa, and was devastated when she passed away so suddenly. She didn't hesitate to step up to care for her baby niece, Alice, or to make her promise to Pippa to take the baby to her father who doesn't know she exists. Pippa had loved Jack deeply, having fallen for him while working as a housekeeper at Bushman's Creek, and regretted ever leaving him. To fulfill her promise, Clare takes a leave of absence from her job and spends her savings on the trip to Australia. When she arrives at the remote, outback, cattle station, she can't imagine living there, as she'd always enjoyed the hustle and bustle of London. Upon first meeting Gray, he kind of rubs her the wrong way, but it doesn't take long for him to start showing a different side that Clare very much likes. But Clare has just recently ended a relationship with a man she'd fallen in love with after finding out that he was married, and Gray seems to still be stuck on his ex. Just as Clare's visa is running out and she needs to make a tough decision on what to do, Gray proposes a marriage of convenience, but with benefits. Thinking it can't hurt to enjoy this attractive man she's been living with while she's there--no strings attached--she agrees to share his bed. Before long, she's fallen in love with him, but he keeps talking about his ex. Even though he swears they're just friends, Clare fears it's more than that, so when Jack returns and accepts his daughter, she can't see any other alternative besides going back to London. Overall, I liked Clare and thought she was an amazing woman to have taken over the care of her niece without a qualm. She's always looking out for Alice's best interests in everything she does. But when it comes to her relationship with Gray, I felt like she was being somewhat immature. I know that she genuinely believed he was still in love with his ex, but I still thought she should have been honest about her feelings and had a conversation with him about it no matter where the cards fell.

Gray and Jack own Bushman's Creek cattle station that's been handed down through the family. Gray seems to really like what he does and their rather solitary outback existence. At one time he'd fallen in love with Lizzy, a girl from a neighboring ranch he'd known for years. They got engaged, but broke it off after Lizzy went to the city and decided not to come back. Gray happened to be out of the country for an extended period of time when Pippa was at the ranch, so he never met her and Jack never told him about her either. So when Clare shows up with a baby in tow, he isn't sure what to think at first. He tells her to go back home to await Jack's return, but when she says she doesn't have the funds and suggests working as his housekeeper until they can contact Jack, Gray reluctantly agrees. Before long, though, he's actually enjoying having Clare and baby Alice around, which is why he makes his own proposal when her visa is about to expire. Although the overwhelming majority of the book is written from Clare's POV, it was pretty obvious that Gray was falling for her, too. But Clare expressed several times how much she loves the city, so when Jack returns and Clare gets a letter from her ex wanting her back, Gray doesn't think it's fair to ask her to stay. Overall, I liked Gray, too. He takes to being a father figure to Alice like a duck to water and I could tell how much he cared for Clare, as well. I know he felt like he couldn't take her away from her exciting city life and possibly the ex that she'd loved, but like with Clare, I thought he should have just talked to her about his feelings and asked what she wanted.

I liked Baby at Bushman's Creek better than the first book of the series, which at this point is the only other one I've read. I don't normally jump ahead in series, but since I couldn't figure out any connection between the two books, I figured it couldn't hurt. (If there is a connection beyond the outback theme, I still didn't find it, although there is a connection between this book and the next two in the series.) I enjoyed the forced proximity trope. However, I felt like this book and the first one were a little too similar. The characters and their situations are different, but there's a child involved in both. There's also a hero running a cattle station and needing a housekeeper to look after things, and a heroine who happens to be in a position to provide that service. Lastly, in both, the MCs are reluctant to divulge their feelings for one another. I did like Gray quite a bit better than the hero of the first book, and I thought that generally Clare was a good heroine. They fit together well, and it was pretty obvious that both had feelings for one another. They have good chemistry and the sexual tension was well done, although the love scenes fade to black before anything really happens. Then we just see them waking up in the blissful aftermath. I typically prefer my romances with a bit more steam, but this worked okay for me in this particular book because the sexual tension wasn't overlooked. Although the story starts out a bit slowly, it picked up steam around the middle and was on track to get a four-star rating from me. But I have to admit that most of the time, I have very little patience for characters who refuse to communicate. I know that both Gray and Clare were either afraid of getting hurt or thought they were doing what was best for the other one, but I couldn't help thinking that they were grown-ass adults who just needed to have a heart-to-heart. Instead they needlessly cause emotional pain and suffering for themselves before finally getting it together. All's well that ends well, but it did diminish my enjoyment of the story somewhat. After two books in the okay range for me, I'm undecided as to whether I'll continue the series. The next book, Wedding at Waverley Creek, is Jack's story and the final one, A Bride for Barra Creek, is Lizzy's story. I'm a little tempted by both to see how these character's stories play out, but I probably won't be a big hurry to get to them.

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Jessica Hart

Themes

Babies & Children
G/PG-Rated Romance