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'What happens now?' she asked Ben as they brushed the caked mud off their legs.

'We leave the trap unbaited for a couple of days so Fang gets used to it. Then we bait it with a few pounds of wild pig or a nice juicy flying fox.'

She became aware of Ben's gaze intensifying as he looked at her, and she felt immediately self- conscious. 'Is something the matter?'

'It's you. Out here, in the middle of an operation like this, you seem different somehow.'

She looked around but. the men were all busy at their appointed tasks. 'In what way?' she asked.

'As if this is the most important task in the world to you,' he managed after a thoughtful pause.

'It is,' she agreed. 'What's the matter? Doesn't it fit your image of me as an unscrupulous gold-digger?'

When he winced, she saw she was right. 'Maybe I did jump to a few conclusions. I accepted your word about the cheque, didn't I?'

'That was big of you,' she muttered under her breath and swung away to see how the trap was coming along.

He caught up with her at the edge of the mangroves. 'You can't blame me for thinking you were after the main chance. You did turn up here as soon as word got out that Rick was to get ownership of Casuarina.'

'All right, I planned the whole thing,' she said in a defeated tone. 'I would have married Rick if he'd been named as Jake's heir. I couldn't bear the thought of him marrying someone else, so I came back here like a shot to try to win him back. Are you satisfied now?'

As she became more emotional, her voice rose and she saw the men giving them amused glances. Ben took her elbow and pulled her close to him. 'You aren't making this easy, are you?'

'I thought I was,' she said with exaggerated innocence. 'I've just confessed, haven't I?'

'How should I know?' he growled. 'You're as changeable as the wind. I don't know what to make of you any more.'

Her hair flew around her face as she tossed her head. 'I don't believe you ever did.'

Several days later, they returned to the creek with a haunch of wild pig to use as bait. This time, Ben planned to camp at the creek until the crocodile took the bait. When she made it clear she was staying too, he was less enthusiastic.

'There's no need, I can have one of the men keep a watch,' he insisted.

'I need to be here to tranquillise the animal so it doesn't get overstressed,' she countered.

His frown grew blacker. 'And what about you getting overstressed?' But he didn't offer any more arguments against her presence.

Perhaps it was the screech of an egret, put to flight by Fang's thrashing, but she awoke as day broke over the creek, instantly alert and sure that something was about to happen.

The rest of the camp was still sleeping. She dressed quickly and quietly then made her way to the creek to check on the trap.

The morning was utterly still except for an occasional rumble of thunder across the northern sky. The monsoonal rains would soon arrive and flood these lush green banks. Until then, there was no relief from the oppressive heat, and the air was so moisture-laden she could almost taste the dampness.

Pulling aside the curtain of pandanus palms, she swept her gaze across the cool green expanse of river. The surface was undisturbed except for a gnarled log drifting slowly downstream.

The log changed course suddenly and she realised that it was a big crocodile, easing its way towards the bait. Her heart hammered painfully against her chest as she watched and waited, hardly daring to breathe.

A light touch on her shoulder almost sent her crashing down the bank but Ben's hand clamped around her, steadying her. She gestured towards the river and he looked, then nodded. She felt his body go rigid as he saw what was happening. Her attention was torn between the awareness of Ben's closeness and the drama playing itself out at their feet. She shut out the first sensation although her nerve-endings throbbed in response to his touch. Still she felt a resounding gladness that they were sharing this special moment.

Then it happened. In a blur of movement, the giant crocodile lunged forwards and clamped its jaws around the bait. The sound of flesh tearing made her shudder and Ben's grip tightened.

The force of the crocodile's attack triggered the mechanism which jerked the snare taut. Ben had used industrial webbing which wouldn't cut or choke the animal and now it tightened around the armoured girth. The resistance it provided would gradually exhaust the crocodile. As it rolled and thrashed, she caught a glimpse of its lower law. 'It's Fang!'

They had to wait several hours until the animal was tired enough to attempt an approach. Keri kept watch on it until she judged the time was right to administer a tranquillising shot. As soon as the Flexadil began to take effect, Ben brought his men in with ropes to winch the crocodile up the bank to the waiting trailer.

The muscle relaxant made the animal safer and easier to handle, but they kept a wary eye on the huge jaws until Fang was safely aboard the trailer.

She and Ben had been working side by side since the moment of capture, anticipating one another's needs as if they were in telepathic contact. When Nugget slammed the tailgate shut on their prize, Ben grabbed her and swung her high into the air. 'We did it! By God, we did it!'

Her sense of elation matched his. 'We sure did. They'll be calling you Bring 'em back alive Champion after this.'

His eyes danced. 'More like Bring 'em back alive Donovan. You did all the scientific stuff.'

'We're a great team,' she said, smiling, then sobered as she realised how true it was. Since dawn they had worked together like two halves of a perfect whole. She had worked on captures like this, but never in such harmony before. Her lowered lashes fanned her hot cheeks. 'Today was fantastic, wasn't it?'

He had also turned serious as if his thoughts echoed hers. 'Fantastic,' he agreed. Then his voice lifted. 'Let's just hope Matilda likes Fang.'

The intimacy which had existed a moment before vanished. She tried to make her tone as light as his. 'You know how it is with arranged marriages, they'll learn to love each other.'

'Can you learn to love?' Ben asked in an oddly brittle tone. 'I thought you either did, or you didn't.'

She shrugged. 'Who knows with crocodiles?' But she had a feeling that he wasn't talking about the saurians.

Ben had prepared a second pen next door to Matilda. They had a moment of anxiety when the time came to remove the topes trussing Fang, but the crocodile was still affected by the muscle relaxant and moved sluggishly when he discovered that he was free.

The stockmen moved back smartly, aware that a blow from the massive tail could break a man's legs. But it was some time before the animal recovered enough to move at- its old speed, then it made for the artificial pond covered with lilies and sank beneath the surface. Soon all they could see was the distinctive nostril ridges and the bulbous eyes.

'That's it, show's over,' Ben announced.

She felt a stab of disappointment that the adventure was ended. She was pleased that the crocodile had survived the relocation in apparently good health. A lot could go wrong, from infection setting in to drowning, while the crocodile was drugged. Luckily nothing had gone wrong. No one had been hurt, although that was always a possibility in such dangerous work. They had much to be thankful about. Still, she felt depressed, reluctantly recognising that it was because the closeness she had shared with Ben had also ended with the adventure. Today they had moved and thought as one, and she knew she would miss the feeling for a long time.

Ben didn't seem to share her mood. He was still on an emotional high after the capture and she watched him laughing and joking with his men. When he spoke to her it was with an easy friendliness which should have cheered her but only made her feel worse.

She didn't want to be Ben's friend, she discovered with a sense of shock. She wanted to be much more.

For the next few days she came out to the crocodile farm with Ben to see how Fang was settling in. There was no question of introducing him to Matilda until he was at home in the new surroundings. 'Has he eaten yet?' she asked Nugget on one such visit.

'No, not yet,' the stockman admitted sorrowfully. 'I've tried all the crocodile tucker I can think of, from flying fox to haunch of buffalo. He just lies there sulking.'

She and Ben exchanged worried looks. 'If he doesn't eat soon, we'll lose him,' Ben said for both of them.

They had the same idea at the same moment. 'What if he heard us feeding Matilda?'

There was no reason why it should work but nothing else had, so Ben decided to give it a try. As soon as he opened the bin holding Matilda's supply of fish, her giant head rose out of the lilies and the great jaws snapped open, waiting. Ben fed her slowly, making the production as noisy as possible. Then he hooked a dead mullet on to the end of the feeding pole and held it out over Fang's pen.

They held their breath. Very slowly, the water parted and two eyes appeared, fixed on the mullet overhead. Then Fang lifted his head out of the water and closed his teeth over the fish. With a snapping sound, the fish was gone and he sank again.

Keri's sparkling eyes were reflected in Ben's. 'He's going to be all right.'

The crocodile accepted two more mullet then sank beneath the water. Because of their slow metabolism, the crocodiles fed only once a week, so this meal was more than enough to sustain Fang. Keri felt a warm glow of happiness as they walked away from the pen towards Ben's Range Rover.

Why can't it always be like this? she asked herself. Here at the crocodile farm, he was warm towards her, but the feeling evaporated when they returned to Kinga Downs homestead. There she was treated with loving warmth by everyone except Ben.

'Is everything OK between you two?' Robyn had typed on her keyboard the previous evening.

'It's fine, nothing for you to worry about,' she had assured her friend. Robyn still believed she and Ben were engaged and Keri dreaded telling her the truth. Robyn had been improving steadily since Keri arrived, but lately she had begun to look pale and listless again. Keri hoped it wasn't because of the strained atmosphere between herself and Ben.

She was conscious of it now as they walked back to the car. Her need to be in his arms was like a hunger, growing in intensity with every day she spent here. But it would never be satisfied as long as this wall existed between them.

With her hand on the car door-handle, she paused. 'We can't go on like this.'

Ben reached around her to open the door for her. 'I know, but we don't have a choice until Robyn is a lot better. I'm sorry that it's so hard on you.'

It was, but not for the reasons he thought. 'You still think Rick's the reason I'm here, don't you?' she said tonelessly.

The muscle in his jaw worked. 'You admitted as much on the day of the crocodile hunt.'

Was that why he had been so cool towards her ever since? She thought he understood she had been provoked into saying it in the heat of the moment. 'I didn't mean it,' she insisted. 'It was a stupid thing to say, even in jest.'

His eyes darkened but whether with anger or sadness, she couldn't decide. 'Many serious things are said in jest,' he reminded her. 'I'd find it easier to believe you if I hadn't seen the marks on your back. Only blind love could bring a woman back to a man who did that to her.'

Caught between Ben and the car door, she had nowhere to run, and no way to avoid his intense gaze as he searched her face. The pain she glimpsed as he looked at her resonated inside her. 'No, Ben, you're wrong,' she protested.

He didn't seem to hear her and when he spoke, his voice was filled with anguish. 'My God, it is true.'

As he walked away from her, she thought of pursuing him and trying to make him listen to her. But what could she say when he had already read the truth in her eyes? She did love the man who had branded her, for all the good it was going to do her.

FOR the next few days, Ben kept out of her way. She began to wonder why he bothered with the pretence of an engagement, when it was obvious to anyone that they were anything but a loving couple. Then she realised that he had to go on with the fiction for Robyn's sake.

When Robyn was around, usually when they dined together at the end of the working-day, he maintained a front of loving concern for Keri. But as soon as Robyn retired for the night, he withdrew into his shell. The only time he opened up to her was when she asked him about Fang.

'He's much more approachable, especially when you come bearing food,' he told her.

At the warmth of his voice, a pang shot through Keri. She tried to tell herself that she wanted him to be indifferent to her. It would make their inevitable parting so much easier. She was surprised how hard she had to work to convince herself.

'How is Fang getting along with Matilda?' she asked, finding that she enjoyed the cessation of hostilities between them and wanted to prolong it.

He smiled but even as she responded, she saw his gaze become distant and knew that he was mentally at his crocodile farm. 'Fang seems eager to meet Matilda. Every time he sees her, he throws himself at the wire barrier separating them. The trouble is, I don't know whether he's smiling at her affectionately or hungrily.'

That's why they say, "never smile at a crocodile",' she half sang. 'Whichever it is, I've seen them mating in the wild and I'm glad I'm not a crocodile.'

He joined her in her laughter and for a moment, there were no barriers between them. Then his shuttered look told her he was remembering all that had gone before. He stood up and stretched. 'I'd better turn in. Tomorrow is a long day.'

Against all common sense, she felt a need to keep him there for a short time, prolonging the camaraderie of the last few minutes. 'What are you doing?' she asked.

A flicker of irritation crossed his face but he paused. 'I'll be down at the stock yard sorting cattle. Nugget's bringing in fifteen hundred head tomorrow. Most of them have never seen a human so you can't afford to turn your back on them for a second.'