Consider "Cecilia grinned to herself; she had been so wise to invest in a hotel here on Castle Rock, rather than depending on the hospotality of others." (Moon, Elizabeth, Change of Command, Baen Publishing Enterprises, Riverdale, New York, December 1999, p. 48, par. 3b, l. 3b.) Note that `instead of' is better than `rather than' here - `instead of' has a larger scope than `rather than'. That, presumably, is why English has both.