Adrienne's home situation was hardly a happy one, with her father absorbed in his glamorous new young second wife, who barely troubled to conceal her jealousy and dislike of Adrienne. So she took a job as secretary at the outback station of Saranga as a means of escape. Saranga boasted a beautiful old homestead, all colonial elegance, of mellow sandstone and white cast-iron lace, framed in cloudy jacaranda trees -- paradise on earth, in fact! Even its owner, Grant Manning, was in keeping with the heavenly surroundings -- handsome, clever, and a man to contend with. Adrienne had escaped from one difficult situation, but didn't it look as if she had got herself straight into another? ( )