The Outback Cattleman's Hired Wife

by Natalia Elder

  Kirra shook her head fervently. ‘Nooo thank you!’

  He shrugged his shoulders and took Caleb‘s hand. ‘If you change your mind, let me know.’

  Kirra watched them climb together. Caleb looked so excited. She pulled out her camera and took a photo of them when they’d reached the top. Within seconds, they were sailing through the air and had disappeared under the water.

  Worried, Kirra jumped up. Her eyes darted to and fro and waited for their bodies to resurface in the dark chasm.

  Moments later, they did break the surface, clinging together and laughing.

  Kirra breathed a sigh of relief, then snapped off another photo.

  They performed the same feat several times until Caleb could do it solo. Jared tread water and waited patiently to catch him.

  Jared was superbly fit and she marvelled at his athleticism.

  He and Caleb eventually returned to her and towelled themselves off.

  ‘Well done!’ Kirra praised. ‘Both of you.’

  Jared looked relaxed and happy. ‘Last chance, before we leave,’ he said, ‘Do you want to jump with me?’

  ‘Well, okay, if you two can do it, surely I can,’ she said, ‘Besides, I don’t want to break my motto to try anything at least once.’

  ‘Stay here, son,’ Jared said, as Kirra stripped down to her black and white bikini, then slipped on her Rashie.

  Kirra handed Caleb the camera and showed him how to use it. ‘Can you please take a photo of us?’

  Caleb nodded and took the photo after they’d posed.

  ‘Thanks,’ Kirra said. ‘Can you take one of us jumping too?’

  ‘Yes,’ Caleb said, as if pleased she’d been confident in his ability.

  When Kirra climbed the rocks behind Jared, her heart seemed to jump into her throat. It was higher and more nerve-racking than she’d thought. Jared held her hand securely, absorbing her nervousness. ‘You’ll be fine.’

  When they reached the top, he wrapped her in his arms and said, ‘Ready?’

  Kirra nodded and closed her eyes, when they suddenly jumped.

  Before they hit the ice-cold water, Kirra had a flash of Zac drowning and she gasped. Her mouth filled with water. When they surfaced, she coughed and spluttered.

  Jared held her, as he tread water. ‘Are you alright?’

  She eventually caught her breath. ‘I should have been with Zac on the boat,’ she moaned. ‘I could have saved him.’

  He stroked her wet hair. ‘Nonsense. Don’t feel guilty. When he chose to drink heavily and drive a boat, it’s not only irresponsible, it’s a disaster waiting to happen,’ Jared said, his tone firm and frank. ‘Zac brought on his own untimely death.’

  All at once, the burden of her guilt lifted off her shoulders and she hugged Jared tighter. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Come on,’ he said quietly ‘Let’s get out of here and go home.’

  When they arrived home, tired and happy, there was a red utility truck parked at the front of the house. An exotic-looking woman dressed in jodhpurs and a red-fitted jacket sat on the verandah admiring her fingernails. Could this be someone applying for a Nanny Position for Caleb? Was there another ad placed? Kirra wondered, but hoped not.

  They hopped out of the vehicle and the woman immediately stood and stalked over to the railing, her high-heeled boots tapping heavily on the timber decking.

  Kirra noticed the woman wore heavy make-up, a mask of foundation and red lipstick. Her dark-hair was long and tied up in a ponytail. She wore many rings but there wasn’t one on her marriage finger. Suddenly, Kirra felt naked and gauche in her swimming costume. But she consoled herself, as all three of them hadn’t changed their clothes before leaving Natural Arch. She was infinitely glad that she’d thought to tie a brightly-coloured sarong about her waist.

  ‘Jared, darling,’ the woman purred. ‘You remembered I was coming out today?’

  ‘In all truth, it completely slipped my mind, Magda,’ Jared said, taken aback when she pouted. He turned to Kirra and said, ‘Magda is my A.I. person. Remember I told you about her in the milking shed?’

  ‘Oh, yes.’ You forgot to mention that this person was female and drop-dead gorgeous. Kirra nodded and gave her a welcoming smile.

  He turned back to his visitor. ‘Magda, I’d like you to meet my fiancée, Kirra Whitely.’

  ‘Fiancée?’ Magda bit out, her hand shooting out and fisting her hip. ‘When did this happen?’

  ‘Very quickly, I’m afraid,’ Jared said, giving Kirra a reassuring glance.

  How dare he? Kirra bristled. She hadn’t said that she’d marry him yet! She had a good mind to tear strips off him in front of this woman, but something in Jared’s body language told her that he had said it deliberately. Perhaps, Magda wanted him, but the attraction wasn’t mutual? She wondered.

  ‘Pleased to meet you, Magda,’ Kirra said magnanimously. Her arms were filled with wet towels so she luckily couldn’t shake hands with her. Those painted false nails did look sharp. The poor cows! She suddenly thought.

  ‘Yes,’ Magda replied on a snort, giving her a dismissive wave.

  ‘I’ll get changed,’ Jared said in a business-like tone to Magda. ‘I’ll meet you in the barn shortly.’

  ‘I want to see Chocolate,’ Caleb said excitedly.

  ‘Come inside with me, Caleb,’ Jared said in a softer tone. ‘Would you like to take Chocolate out to play in the barn, while we feed the heifers?’

  ‘Awesome, Dad!’ Caleb said and ran inside ahead of him.

  When Jared had disappeared from sight, Magda sidled over to the top of the steps and effectively barred Kirra’s way.

  ‘You know Jared is impotent,’ Magda said, her fancy, acrylic nails resting on her hips like knives. ‘He was devoted to his first wife. It’s a psychological thing.’

  Kirra knew differently, but she wasn’t going to let her know. Not one for gossip, she only dealt with facts. What she did know was that small town gossip spread like wildfire. She decided to call her bluff. Kirra’s chin lifted in defiance. ‘How do you know? Have you tried to bed him?’

  Magda snorted air through her nostrils. ‘He tried to bed me.’

  ‘I doubt that very much,’ Kirra refuted. ‘The Jared I know has integrity and professional ethics.’

  ‘You’re right of course,’ she tittered and waved her lie away with a brief flick of her hand. ‘I was just testing your mettle. You’ll be very good for him. You see, he blamed himself for Heather’s death. She really was quite mad. Poor dear, she wandered off in the middle of the night and drowned in the river. Jared found her face down in the morning.’

  ‘Oh, how awful.’ Kirra chewed on her bottom lip.

  ‘You didn’t know?’

  ‘No.’

  Magda smiled in triumph. ‘Jared doesn’t like to talk about it, but we’re old friends. We go back a long way.’

  Jared came out then. He looked every inch the virile man Kirra knew he was.

  ‘I thought you’d be at the barn by now,’ he said to Magda. ‘Let Kirra pass, I’m sure she’d like to get out of those wet clothes.’

  ‘It’s okay, Jared,’ Kirra said lightly. ‘We were just getting acquainted.’

  ‘Magda lives in the city. She provides her services to farms within a three hundred kilometre radius,’ Jared informed her. ‘You may not see her too often.’

  ‘The city is much more fun, darling,’ Magda said and flounced down the steps, brushing past Kirra.

  ‘Caleb and I will be out this afternoon,’ Jared said to Kirra. ‘We’ll bring home something for dinner.’

  ‘I’m sure I can keep myself busy,’ Kirra said, as he cupped the back of her head with a large, gentle hand and kissed her on the forehead. Kirra smiled, feeling a glimmer of hope in her heart that he loved her.

  Kirra padded into the homestead. She tossed all the wet towels and swimwear into the washing machine and turned it on.

  After taking a quick shower, she pulled on well-worn jeans and a long-sleeved,
cream t-shirt, before heading into Jared’s study.

  With practiced efficiency, Kirra turned on the computer and plugged in her camera. She knew exactly how she would spend her alone time.

  Firstly, she downloaded the photos taken today and saved them into a folder. She thought Jared might like them for keepsakes.

  Secondly, she did some research on the internet about accidents with low, narrow bridges without guard rails. A five hundred word article ensued about the accident near Jared’s homestead they’d come across this morning.

  Thirdly, after a proof-read and edit, she attached the article, along with the photo she took of the car and the bridge, and emailed it to her editor.

  The usual thrill, like a Mexican Wave, whipped around her mind. When she’d finished an article, especially one where she could make the public aware of an injustice, nothing compared to it.

  After two hours of work, she stood and stretched, then went to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. She gave Jesse a long tummy-rub, before carrying her tea back into the study.

  Suddenly, she decided to check the national newspaper archives for any further information on Heather Glengarry’s death.

  To her surprise, she found something.

  Jared was detained on suspicion of murdering her, while an autopsy was performed. Later, he was released without charges. The autopsy had proved there was mental illness in the brain and no other evidence of foul-play. So he had told her the truth.

  Kirra gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, feeling heartfelt compassion for him. Her burning curiosity satisfied, she closed the window on the monitor. A moment passed before she realised Jared was leaning against the door frame.

  ‘Enjoying yourself?’ he said lightly. When she didn’t answer, his brow knitted together and he folded his arms loosely across his chest.

  Kirra unconsciously whipped out the camera cord from his computer. It was a silly thing to do. It made her look like she was up to something underhanded. ‘Jared, I -,’ Kirra stopped cold. How could she explain that she’d checked up on him? ‘I’m sorry for using your computer without asking.’

  His eyes turned to steely-blue. ‘If you’ve written that article about me and plan to publish my photo or Caleb’s without my consent,’ he ground out, ‘I won’t be impressed. You gave me your word.’

  Kirra jumped up out of his chair. ‘I certainly have not!’ She crunched up the camera cord with her camera in one hand and strode towards him. ‘I’ll tell you the truth if you’re willing to listen.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ he said, his eyes pure steel. ‘What truth?’

  ‘I did write an article and I’ve already sent it to my editor with a photo, but -’ She hesitated, when he swore and shook his head in disgust.

  ‘How could I be so stupid as to trust a journalist?’ Jared bit out harshly. ‘It’s just a story to you, but real lives can get damaged by what you print.’

  ‘The story wasn’t about you,’ she explained, touching him on the forearm, her eyes pleading to believe her. ‘Well, sort of, but not really –‘

  A muscle in Jared’s jaw tensed and Kirra knew wasn’t making much sense. She was making things worse, if anything.

  ‘I’m going out to the barn to check on some cattle,’ Jared said through gritted teeth, before he abruptly turned and strode down the hallway.

  Kirra shivered involuntarily. She’d had all day to mention her idea to Jared after she’d snapped the photo at the bridge, but it had slipped her mind when they’d started playing I Spy again.

  How could everything go haywire so quickly? She thought in dismay. To react so heatedly, he must have had major problems with journalists before.

  If only she’d had a chance to read the entire article and searched if there were any follow-up articles surrounding the inquiry into Heather’s death?

  Jared wasn’t going to talk it out with her now judging the state he was in.

  She scampered into the granny flat and started to pack. She could see no way out, but to leave. What was she thinking? She wasn’t. Her insides felt like a ship wrecked in a giant eddy in an ocean storm, flotsam and jetsam flying every which way. Dropping down on the bed, she buried her head in her shaking hands. She didn’t want to go. She loved Jared and Caleb. Caleb’s fragile little heart, she knew, would be broken if she left him without a word.

  Feeling wretched, she ran out of the homestead, needing fresh air, as she choked back the tears. She hated ‘Catch 22’ situations. That’s why she’d stayed her married to Zac. She knew that now. She’d known they weren’t compatible within the first month of their married life, but pride and determination had made her persevere and try to make it work. Young and naive, she didn’t know she couldn’t change people. She could only change her own behaviour. And her behaviour just then had been thoughtless, purely impulsive. Dammit!

  Not mindful of where she was going, Kirra ran out across the paddock towards the river. Within moments, the sound of a speeding vehicle could be heard behind her.

  Kirra glanced over her shoulder. It was Jared coming after her in the Land Cruiser.

  Surprised, when he drove the vehicle around her and pulled up, effectively rounding her up like a stray cow, she spun around on the spot.

  He jumped out of the vehicle and bolted towards her. ‘Kirra!’ he called out, his voice filled with a desperate kind of emotion she hadn’t heard before.

  Her arms wrapped around her belly, she stood perfectly still and caught her breath. It took an eternity for her mind to register what was happening.

  Jared’s face was contorted with pain, as he ran full-pelt towards her and wrapped her up in a bear-hug. ‘Don’t kill yourself!’

  Kirra looked puzzled. ‘I would never do that,’ she said firmly.

  He relaxed his hold a little, but he kept her in his arms. ‘I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions,’ he said ruefully. ‘I didn’t let you explain. Come back to the homestead please, Caleb -’

  ‘Where is he?’ Kirra’s heart skipped a beat. ‘He’s not hurt?’

  ‘He’s with Max,’ he said soothingly. He cupped his hand on back of her head and stepped in close. ‘He wants to milk the cows again this evening.’

  Kirra looked up into his intense, blue-grey gaze. She dropped her hands and calmed down a little. ‘He likes agriculture?’

  ‘Yes, I think he’ll want to be a farmer when he grows up,’ Jared said proudly. ‘He could tell the difference between bulls and cows as soon as he could talk.’

  ‘Jared, why did you come after me like a man possessed?’ Kirra asked, pressing her hand on his chest over his heart. It was thumping hard against his ribcage. ‘Was it because of Heather?’

  One dark eyebrow rose. ‘Heather?’

  ‘Magda told me how she died.’

  He sighed wearily, then grimaced. ‘I felt guilty for a long while because I didn’t wake up that fateful night she walked out of the homestead.’ His gaze softened. ‘But no, I came after you because I realised I acted like a caveman back there.’

  ‘Yes, you did,’ she stated matter-of-factly. ‘All you had to do was ask to see the article and I would have shown it to you.’

  ‘Will you show it to me now?’

  ‘Sure,’ she said in a flippant tone. Her hooded eyes, flared with anger. He still didn’t trust her. But maybe, it was just her profession in general he distrusted. She hoped so.

  With such access to instant information on the technology highway, was anyone able to simply fall in love without checking out everything there was to know about a prospective partner?

  Maybe, that’s why on-line matching services were so popular, but she couldn’t ever imagine using one of them. If you chatted on-line for a while, what would you talk about when you met? She wondered.

  ‘Let’s go back to the homestead, shall we?’ Jared suggested and turned to slip his arm about her waist to guide her towards the Land Cruiser.

  Still out-of-sorts and needing some space, Kirra twisted out of his hold. ‘I th
ink I’ll walk back. I need time to clear my head.’

  ‘Sure,’ Jared said, tipping his hat. ‘Please stay away from the river. There may be germs and snakes in the water.’

  ‘Snakes?’ She said and shivered. After doing the article on the man with forty-four snakes, she wasn’t keen on coming face-to-face with even one.

  Kirra started to walk back to the homestead. ‘The article is under Public in Peril,’ she decided to yell out to Jared, ‘Just in case you’re interested.’

  Jared grimaced as climbed back into the driver’s seat. ‘Public in Peril’ didn’t sound like a story about a lonely farmer unable to find love because he was riddled with guilt, he thought, easing off the brake.

  What a fool he deemed himself? A buffoon? A lovesick puppy? He loved Kirra he knew that now, and if he kept screwing up, he’d lose the best thing that had ever happened to him!

  Even he knew mutual love didn’t happen very often in one’s lifetime. The number of times at university he’d hooked up with women, none had developed into full-blossomed love. He’d loved Heather and she’d professed to have loved him, but that hadn’t lasted when mental health took hold of Heather’s mind.

  Kirra … Kirra, he had fallen for hook, line and sinker! If he didn’t marry her soon and make her his, he’d damn near go mad himself. He knew that Kirra was the love of his life and if he blew it now, he’d regret it until the grave.

  What a fool he was to tell Magda that Kirra was his fiancée without her agreeing to it yet. He’d jumped the gun big time! He was worried about not trusting her, but had he himself earned the right to be trusted?

  Dammit! He knew now that it was imperative that he showed her that he trusted her. No matter how curious he was, he would remain disciplined. He wouldn’t read the article, he decided.

  Chapter Ten

  EXERCISE WAS GOOD for releasing anger and frustration, so much so, that Kirra felt relaxed and calm when she returned to the homestead.

  When she opened the front door, the distinctive aroma of Chinese Food teased her nostrils. Hungry, she followed her nose through the kitchen and into the dining room.