by Karly Lane
‘Really? So you didn’t contact her about buying Stoney Creek once?’ she demanded.
‘Not in the way you’re probably thinking …’
‘What other way is there to think? Either you tried to buy this place or you didn’t?’
‘I did put an offer to her, but she didn’t take it.’
‘Why would you be making an offer?’
‘When I heard Harry’s family were selling this place, I called her,’ he admitted, hating the accusing look that was transforming her face before his eyes. ‘But Veronica turned me down.’
‘So you were trying to buy this place out from under me?’ she said, staring at him dumbfounded.
‘No!’ Christ, why couldn’t he get the words out to explain. He chaired meetings where he spoke to a room full of board members, but standing in front of her right now, he couldn’t manage a single word in his defence.
‘That’s what making an offer to buy the place means,’ she said, glaring at him.
‘That’s not how it was …’ He ran a hand through his hair and swore. ‘I was trying to help … I was worried you wouldn’t be able to afford the asking price. I was going to buy it and sell it to you for a better price, but Veronica said she’d already made the offer to you.’
‘So you’re telling me that as the head of a company that buys up prime farming land, you were intending to buy this place and sell it at a loss to me, instead of keeping it for yourself?’ she asked cynically.
‘That’s exactly what I’m telling you. Come on, Georgie, do you really think I’d do something as low as buying Stoney Creek out from under you?’
‘You and Brent were out here looking for property to buy at the time, remember? You told me that was the reason you were out here. If this place came up for sale, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine you jumping at the chance,’ she said, hitching an eyebrow.
‘That’s not why I was offering to buy it,’ he grated out. Goddamn it. He had no way of proving what he said was the truth, and as much as it hurt him to admit it, he could see why she might be having her doubts. ‘I swear I made that call with good intentions. I knew how much this place meant to you, do you seriously think I’d be stupid enough to buy it when I was trying to keep our marriage together? That’d be the final nail in the coffin.’
‘Then why haven’t you told me about it before now?’
‘When would I have done that? You weren’t taking any calls from me at the time, and later it didn’t matter, Veronica had already given you a reasonable offer. It was a phone call. That’s all.’ While she still seemed angry, she was at least looking at him. ‘I swore to you I’d never keep the truth from you ever again and I meant it. This was an attempt to help you that turned out not to be needed. It wasn’t a cover-up. It was nothing more than a phone call I made two years ago. I’ve got nothing but my word to prove that to you. I guess it just comes down to you taking a leap of faith. If we’re going to make this work, then at some point you have to trust me again.’
After a few moments, Georgie got to her feet. ‘I need to clear my head and I can’t do that around you.’
Georgie turned and went outside. She didn’t know what to think. She wanted to believe what he was saying was true, but old fears were creeping back in. Derrick would do it without a bat of his eyelid, because he’d consider it perfectly good business sense, and while she wanted to believe Michael wouldn’t, hadn’t he been the one who had told her that you can’t let your heart rule in business?
Michael’s words crept back into her head. He was right, she was going to have to trust him again if this was going to work out between them. She didn’t want always to be doubting him. Only this did feel a little like before when he justified not telling her about something because he’d been worried about how she’d react. Was a phone call made so long ago worth throwing away the trust they’d been rebuilding? Her head told her it wasn’t, but there was still a tiny scared part of her heart that remembered feeling so hurt and betrayed before and it was hard to reassure it right now.
The sky had darkened considerably since they’d been outside earlier, not helped by the large, dark clouds that hung ominously low in the sky as thunder rumbled not too far away. She headed across to the fence that overlooked the horse paddock and in the darkness she could just make out the faint shadows of the happily grazing animals. The cool breeze against her face felt good and there was a subtle scent of rain in the air.
She’d told herself that once they’d divorced, she’d be able to get over Michael once and for all. But after being with him again … opening the door on the past the way she had, she knew how much she had been lying to herself.
She could have started divorce proceedings if she’d really wanted to. It was a factor that initiating proceedings meant finding money she didn’t really have, but she had used it as an excuse to leave him to be the one who made the end of the marriage final.
The first fat drops of rain splashed on her face, making her blink and wipe her cheeks. She looked out at the lightning that flashed in the distance, frowning when the deep rumble of thunder followed only a few seconds afterwards. The storm was rolling across fast and she needed to get out of it. She turned and retraced her steps back to the house. As another flash lit up the sky, she picked up her pace, jogging the remainder of the way. By the time she reached the verandah, the rain was falling in a cold, bone-drenching deluge.
Georgie shook the worst of the water from herself and pulled off her work boots at the back door, then headed inside. She took down the towel she kept hanging on a peg in the kitchen and rubbed her hair and face dry. Her work jeans clung to her, wet and uncomfortable, her shirt plastered to her chest like a second skin. Looking up, she was surprised to see Michael seated at the kitchen table, a cup in his hand, watching her silently.
‘I was worried,’ he said, when it seemed she wasn’t going to acknowledge him.
‘No need. Just a bit of rain.’
‘Did you reach any conclusions?’
Georgie moved around the kitchen, putting the jug on and taking down a cup. ‘I believe you,’ she said calmly, but her heart was heavy. ‘I just …’ She gave an impatient sigh. ‘It just feels like every time we start to put things back together, something comes back from the past to haunt us. I want to trust you again, Michael, I do … but how many more not important things are going to appear down the track?’
‘So it comes down to this again. The past being thrown back at me,’ he said wearily, getting to his feet.
She held his gaze steadily. ‘I can’t give you a guarantee that I won’t do that anymore. I want to leave what happened to us in the past, but just now I doubted you. It’s a reaction. I don’t want to be constantly putting myself through this each time something happens between us. It’s not fair to you or me. Added to that the logistics of our relationship … No matter which way I try to look at it, I just can’t figure out a way to make us work.’
‘Don’t do this, Georgie,’ he said quietly. ‘I swear to you, if you’re worried about this whole offer on Stoney Creek—’
‘I’m not,’ she said quickly. ‘I do believe that you weren’t going to buy Stoney Creek out from under me, but I should be able to believe it automatically, without needing space and time to think about it,’ she said with a sigh. ‘We make great lovers, but we have two separate lives, Michael. I don’t want to give up my place, and you can’t just move here. Marriage isn’t going to work for us and we’re kidding ourselves if we think it can.’
She saw his face fall and the tenderness slip away. Taking a step back, he braced his hands on the back of the chair, his head bowed in frustration.
Outside the howl of the wind increased and goosebumps rose on her arms.
‘What do you want then?’ he asked wearily.
‘What I’ve always wanted. A divorce.’
With a violent expletive, he pushed the chair away and stalked from the kitchen, slamming the door to his room a few moments later.
Georgie remained where she was as a horrible empty hole inside her grew. He wasn’t going to be able to live like this any more than she was. The past would always hover over them, eventually driving a wedge between them. Why drag out the inevitable—it would only hurt more the longer they tried to ignore it.
A loud crack of lightning shook the house and Georgie felt the boom of thunder resound through her chest. The kitchen light went off and she was left in sudden darkness.
The shrill scream of a horse in distress sent her scrambling for her boots, pulling them on as she hopped to the back door.
‘Georgie?’ Michael’s voice came from down the hallway. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Something’s wrong with the horses.’
His warning to wait, and curse when she didn’t, fell on deaf ears as she ran along the timber verandah and out into the rain. As she approached the fence, she swung the torch around the dark shadows of the paddock, searching for the horses.
‘Georgie!’
She slid through the rails and wiped the rain from her eyes with her arm. As the beam of her torch arced, it fell upon a frightened mare with her fetlock tangled in a length of wire. Without hesitating, Georgie moved toward the animal and tried to soothe her.
‘For God’s sake, Georgie, wait.’
Realising for the first time that Michael was there, she yelled over the wind and lightning that a tree had taken down part of the pasture fence on the other side of the paddock where the cattle were, and the animals were now roaming free. The frightened mare must have become tangled in it as she ran from the noise of the storm.
‘I have to get a rope on her.’
Michael tried to stop her but she tugged free of his grip and ran back to the tack room in search of rope. When she returned, he took it from her hands before she had a chance to protest. ‘You go back inside, I’ll get her untangled.’
‘You can’t do it alone.’
Water streamed from his face and dripped from his chin as he turned and headed for the terrified animal, her eyes rolling madly as the wire twisted about her hooves and the wind continued to howl.
With a practised ease he looped the rope over the horse’s neck and drew it tight. He handed Georgie the end of the rope and then, making his movements as calm as possible, he eased closer to the animal, reaching out slowly to run a hand down the horse’s sleek neck.
Georgie realised Michael’s steady presence comforted the mare and she remained still as he eased down and began to carefully remove the wire.
Thankfully it hadn’t been wrapped too tightly, just jumbled and entwined, and within a few minutes he’d worked it free of her. The mare began to prance and nicker anxiously the minute she realised her leg was no longer wrapped in wire.
Michael led the mare to the safety of the stockyards and opened the gates. He watched the sleek flanks of the horse walk past the herd of cattle yarded nearby. They lifted their heads and shuffled together to protect themselves from the worst of the weather.
Georgie removed the rope from the mare’s neck and was about to walk away when she heard the loud bellow of an angry bull. Too late, she remembered Hulk, and as she turned around, she caught sight of his massive bulk parting the herd.
Her reaction time was slow, a combination of cold extremities and slippery mud hindering her ability to make a run for the safety of the fence.
Slipping backwards, she landed hard on her butt, and Hulk’s massive head lowered in a charge, aimed directly at her.
Georgie felt strong hands drag her to her feet and automatically began to scramble backwards away from the impending danger of a thousand-kilogram bull. As she climbed the fence, she realised Michael was not behind her, and she turned in time to see him tossed to the side as bull and man collided.
Her scream was swallowed in the howl of the wind and a deafening rattle of thunder and for a moment, she lost sight of him as the rain blinded her. Then she saw him, just as Hulk turned and made another charge, this time rolling Michael beneath his flying hooves and tossing his head.
Georgie raced towards the kennels and threw open the doors. As she ran back to the yards, the dogs overtook her, sensing her panic and leaping through the fence of the stockyards without hesitation. Without the dogs, she had no chance of distracting Hulk in his blood lust, but she already feared she was too late.
Michael lay face down in the mud, his big body lifeless as the rain pelted down around him. With a quick glance, she noted the dogs had the bad-tempered bull distracted at the other end of the yard. The two younger dogs were fearlessly holding their ground against the much larger, angrier bull, who tossed his large head and pawed at the muddy ground indignantly.
Falling to her knees, Georgie rolled Michael over, knowing it wasn’t the correct thing to do but, under the circumstances, necessary. He’d smother in the mud and dirty water if she didn’t. The rain pelted against her back and plastered her hair to her head.
Listening to his chest, she whispered a prayer of thanks when she heard the faint sound of a beating heart and watched his chest move ever so slightly.
‘Michael, can you hear me?’ Her voice broke as she yelled above the roaring noise of the wind and rain.
There was no response.
A frantic barking signalled to Georgie to lift her head, and she saw that the dogs were beginning to lose their advantage as Hulk became increasingly agitated.
‘Michael, please,’ she begged, her tears mingling with the rain and her face looking up at the dark sky in vain. She had to get him out of the yards, but he was a dead weight and too heavy to move on her own. It couldn’t come down to this. She couldn’t lose him now—it just wasn’t fair.
With no hope of moving him herself, Georgie forced herself to calm down and think. Getting to her feet, she ran across and opened the gates, whistling for the dogs to hunt the cattle out. The truck coming to collect them would have to wait. She’d deal with that later. For a moment the big bull hesitated, reluctant to give up his attack; however, with his girls eagerly making their escape from the yards, the chance at freedom proved too tempting to resist and he turned and trotted after them.
With a sob of relief, Georgie ran through the gates, securing them shut, and locking Michael inside, safe from the threat of further trampling. Then she ran for the mobile to call the ambulance. As she gave the information to the operator, she grabbed a tarpaulin from the shed, then took a blanket from the ute to warm Michael’s cold body. She draped the tarpaulin over them both, then gently cradled his head in her lap as she waited for the ambulance to arrive. It was an agonising wait for help.
‘Please open your eyes, Michael,’ she whispered, leaning over him. She slid her hands to his wrist, checking his pulse, terrified she wouldn’t find one, he was lying so still and pale. Titch came up beside her, giving a small whimper as she nuzzled close to her side, lying down to help keep watch over the injured man.
‘He’s going to be okay, girl,’ Georgie said, looking into the dog’s loving brown eyes. ‘He has to be.’
Twenty-Nine
The cold plastic seat pressed hard against her back and she shivered as another tremor raked her body.
The ambulance had called for a rescue helicopter to meet them at the hospital in Armidale to fly him to Sydney, after realising he would need emergency surgery.
Having only taken the time to secure the dogs back in their pens and grab a change of clothes, Georgie had been shaking so much behind the wheel of her ute that it had taken three attempts to turn the key in the ignition.
She’d arrived barely twenty minutes after the ambulance and had been able to travel down in the chopper with Michael.
After they’d taken Michael into surgery, she’d tried to track down Shannon and Brent, still away on their honeymoon. She’d had to leave a message explaining what had happened so they could inform his mother.
A nurse came down the hallway and Georgie looked up hopefully, but she continued walking and Georgie let her tired eyes flutter s
hut as she listened to the nurse’s footsteps fade away.
She awoke with a start, looking up into the weary face of a scrub nurse who bent over her, a gentle smile on her face.
‘You can see your husband now.’
Georgie followed the nurse down a corridor and past a blur of rooms before they stopped in front of the intensive care unit.
At Georgie’s expression, she touched her arm reassuringly. ‘It’s okay, he’s only in here so we can keep an eye on him for a few hours, and then hopefully he’ll go into his own room. You can’t stay very long, but it’s okay to sit with him for a while.’
‘Thank you,’ she murmured, her eyes already on still form in the bed. Michael looked so weak and pale, nothing like the big, vibrant man she knew.
She carefully pulled out a chair and sat down, her eyes fixed on his bruised face and steadily moving chest. The insistent beep of the machines in the room was the only sound as she tentatively reached out and touched him, careful to avoid the tubes taped to the back of his hand and attached to a drip beside the bed.
Relief surged through her body and tears welled but she refused to allow them to fall, knowing that if she did, she may never be able to make them stop.
A little while later, the surgeon came into the room and reassured Georgie that Michael was doing well. The young doctor had bloodshot eyes and shaggy dark hair and looked as though he hadn’t slept in a week, which he probably hadn’t. His kind smile was almost her undoing, and she had to dig her fingernails into her palm to concentrate on keeping it together.
‘He’s a lucky man,’ he said after going through the operation briefly with her. ‘That must have been one angry bull he took on.’
‘Keep your eye out for some steak coming your way real soon, Doc,’ she murmured, her gaze once more resting on Michael’s bruised face.
She could still see his body lying so terribly still in the mud and a shudder ran through her body.