by Margaret Way
‘The bastard!’ Clay exploded, then apologised.
‘No need, you’re spot on. Scott has always been in the picture.’
‘Poor Natasha!’ Clay said. ‘Though she doesn’t seem to have much going for her in the way of morals. But she was nice for the time I was with her. Quiet and introspective. Now I know why. In a way it’s the same for her as you. Harper caught both of you into a trap.’
Carrie tasted the bitter truth. ‘I’m thinking Natasha turned the tables on him.’
‘You said it’s over?’ Clay caught the tips of her fingers across the table.
‘It’s over,’ she said, reacting to the thrill of his hand on hers.
‘But you haven’t told him?’
She averted her dark eyes. ‘When he’s settled back at home Scott and I will be having a serious talk.’
‘I’m really happy to hear that,’ Clay said, not looking happy at all. ‘He surely doesn’t think Natasha is going to do as he says?’
‘He’d have to be forced to marry her,’ Carrie gave her opinion. ‘I don’t think his parents would force him to do anything. Especially after his accident which apparently Natasha caused.’
‘I’m sure she didn’t plan it. I guess he went ballistic when she told him.’
‘I would say his reaction would be fairly strong.’
‘Anyway, that’s their problem. Natasha’s child is the Harper’s grandchild. Surely that means everything to them? Their grandchild? The Cunninghams aren’t nobodies. Natasha’s parents would adjust overnight. So would the town if Scott and Natasha were to marry.’
‘Nothing would surprise me,’ Carrie said, ‘but I have the awful feeling some of the scandal will stick to me.’
‘You’re the innocent party,’ Clay said.
‘That won’t stop it. It never does. I don’t feel like I’m walking on solid ground any more.’
‘I can understand that,’ he said quietly. ‘You’re in shock. You have to give yourself a little time, Caroline.’
‘You have to give me a little time.’ She looked into his eyes, sealing the rest of the world off.
‘I’d give you all the time in the world if only we had it,’ he replied. ‘I know what’s in my head already.’ He could, and perhaps should, have said what’s in ‘my head and my heart.’ It was true enough, but she still wasn’t absolutely free of Harper. ‘I know it came out all wrong the last time. I startled you. I see now I could hardly fail to do so, but I’m here for you, Caroline, once Harper is out of the way. I seem to have been alone for so much of my life. It wasn’t only my father who left me. My mother left me as well after he was killed. Neither of them returned.’
She pressed her hands against the heat in her cheeks. It flamed through her whole body. ‘What if you found you couldn’t love me? After marriage, for all your best intentions it just didn’t happen?’ It was a legitimate fear.
All Clay wanted to do was rain kisses on her face, her throat, her breasts, down over her whole body to her toes as beautifully formed as were her slender fingers. Fingers that were doubly pretty because she wasn’t wearing Harper’s ring. When had she taken that off?
‘I refuse to believe it couldn’t happen,’ he said. ‘Didn’t a fire burn inside you when I kissed you?’
She was almost ready to tell him his kiss had awakened her to full life only she held back. ‘This is the wrong time for a courtship, Clay,’ she said. ‘You know it’s funny, but sometimes, I badly want to call you James,’ she confessed.
‘So you can call me James when we marry.’ He gave her the smile that so easily melted her heart.
‘I think it’s time to take me back to the hotel,’ she murmured, just that little bit scared of so much emotion. When she was with Clay she wasn’t prim and proper Carrie. She was someone else.
‘Do you intend seeing Harper again in the morning before we return?’ he asked, somehow sensing what was actually in her mind. He, too, was overwhelmed by the powerful attraction that had overtaken them. He had wished for the right woman. It had happened. But he could see she was so unguarded she could snap.
‘I don’t want to, but I will.’ Carrie spoke more firmly. ‘Hospitals aren’t the best places to deliver bad news. And it will be bad news for Scott and his parents. Scott has lived his life thinking he can have any girl he wants. For whatever his reasons he’s hell-bent on marrying me. Perhaps it was because I wasn’t giving him what he wanted? I had to be absolutely his and marriage was the only way? Who knows? He was only using Natasha when she lay in bed with him. I feel sorry for her. Nevertheless at this point he’s too sick to tell him what I think of him. That will have to wait.’
‘So we’re going around in circles?’ Clay realized he had to accept that. He gestured to the waiter for the bill.
‘It’s a bit like that.’ Briefly Carrie met his gaze.
She was standing quietly in the foyer, admiring the exquisite flower arrangement—this after all was the Garden City of Queensland—while Clay settled the bill.
He joined her after a moment and took her arm. They were barely out the door when they were confronted by a well dressed middle-aged couple about to enter the restaurant. It was the Harpers, even though Carrie had been given to understand that Bradley Harper was returning home, leaving his wife staying with a friend who lived on the Range.
Carrie felt so guilty she might have been caught in the execution of a serious crime.
The Harpers, too, looked startled.
‘What on earth are you doing here, Carrie? And with him?’ Shock quickly turned to outright aggression as Bradley Harper addressed her in his deep, gravelly voice. He snapped a furious glance over Clay who stood, a tall, quiet presence by Carrie’s side.
‘Good evening, Mr and Mrs Harper,’ Carrie said in her usual courteous manner. ‘You remember Clay, don’t you? Clay Cunningham?’
‘Yes,’ Thea Harper said briefly, incapable of arranging her face into a smile. She was pale with dismay. ‘What are you doing here together, Carrie? I don’t understand. Scott’s still lying in hospital and you’ve had dinner with this young man? I really can’t believe it. Not you, Carrie. You always conduct yourself so well.’
‘I hope I’m still doing that, Mrs. Harper,’ Carrie said. ‘Clay is my friend. Nothing more.’ That wasn’t true but they didn’t have to know. ‘Many things have changed since before and after Scott’s accident. I’m so glad he’s going to make a full recovery but Scott knows in his heart our engagement is over. It just wasn’t the right time to make that perfectly plain to him at the hospital. I’ll delay our talk until he’s well enough.’
The Harpers stood staring at her. ‘You’re not serious? You can’t be, Carrie,’ Thea Harper moved forward to lay a hand on Carrie’s arm. ‘You’re overreacting surely? My son adores you.’
‘That’s not true, Mrs. Harper,’ Carrie said very gently. ‘I don’t want to distress you. I know how upset you and Mr. Harper have been, but Scott really is involved with Natasha. I’ll allow him to tell you about it himself.’
Bradley Harper broke in so violently he must have reached breaking point. ‘Involved with Natasha Cunningham, rubbish! There are always women like Natasha Cunningham in life. What I want to know is, what’s been going on between you two?’ His expression turned ugly.
Clay spoke for the first time. ‘Have a care, Mr. Harper,’ he said in a very quiet, controlled sort of voice.
‘What was that? Speak up?’ Bradley Harper, a powerful man, began to square up, looking at the six-foot-three, superbly fit young man as though he were an insect to be crushed underfoot.
‘You heard me perfectly well the first time,’ Clay said. ‘We’re in public, remember? I suggest you back down. And you might apologise to Caroline. She’s the injured party here.’
‘Caroline?’ Harper’s expression froze. ‘She’s not Caroline. She’s Carrie. Don’t get smart with me, son!’ Bradley Harper warned, his beefy, still handsome face flushed with blood. ‘I saw off your father. I’ll do the
same for you.’
‘I wouldn’t bank on that.’ Clay’s alert stance and sombre tone would have convinced anyone. ‘As I understand it you didn’t see off my father, as you call it. Your men saw him off your station at gunpoint. You didn’t appear at all. I’m not like my father anyway. My father was a gentle man. I’m not.’
A rush of contemptuous laughter broke from Bradley Harper’s mouth. ‘Why you arrogant young bastard!’ That peculiar smile broadened as he threw a rage packed right hook, which Clay blocked so effectively the older man went staggering back. Like father. Like son.
Both women were utterly dismayed. ‘Please. Please stop it!’ Carrie begged. This wasn’t what they wanted. Other people were coming out of the restaurant, staring at them, whispering.
‘You’ll be sorry for that!’ Bradley Harper snarled at Clay after he righted himself and regained a little control. ‘How dare you lay a hand on me? Do you even have a clue how powerful I am?’
‘You’re not above the law, Mr Harper,’ Clay reminded him, in a voice that held a natural authority. ‘What you attempted was assault. I’ll lay charges if you ever attempt anything like that again. Believe me, I only stopped you because of the ladies and the fact I knew you’d come off badly.’
The tears were spilling down Thea Harper’s face. ‘Brad, please! You’re making a spectacle of us.’ She’d had the feeling all along it wasn’t a good idea for Brad to bring her here. Now this!
‘These two are making the show,’ Bradley Harper corrected her with surprising venom.
‘I’m sorry, Mrs Harper.’ Carrie, who was trembling badly, took Clay’s arm to move him away. She could feel the tension right through his body—the desire she supposed, to pummel Bradley Harper as he had pummelled Scott. There were old issues that had to be settled here, though she knew it wouldn’t be Clay who would make the first move. He’d simply finish it.
Neither of them said a word all the way back to the hotel where they were staying.
‘I feel like a drink,’ Clay said softly, when they entered the hotel lobby. ‘Care to join me?’
‘I’ll sit for a while,’ she said, too upset to go up to her room. ‘I feel very shaky. He’s an awful man, Brad Harper.’
‘Of course he is.’ Clay led her into the well-appointed lounge where a few guests were seated at the small circular tables. ‘You can count your lucky stars you won’t be getting him for a father-in-law after all.’
‘Mrs Harper is okay.’ She sank into a plush banquette, resting her back against it. ‘She’s easy enough to get on with, but she’s right under his thumb, poor woman. He’s such a domineering man. Even Scott is intimidated by his father.’
‘Bag of wind,’ Clay said, dismissing the powerful and ruthless Bradley Harper. ‘What can I get you?’
‘I don’t especially want anything.’ Yes, she did. She wanted his arms around her.
‘What about a brandy and ginger? You want something to settle you down. I’m for a single malt whiskey. Don’t move from this spot. I’ll be back in a moment.’
Her mother and father would soon get the news, Carrie thought, watching Clay walk over to the bar. When he arrived there, he turned and looked back at her. Even at a distance his eyes burned an electric-blue.
She gave him a little wave, conscious women at other tables were looking at him as well. And why not? He was a marvellous looking man. She hadn’t planned on falling in love with him. Yet here she was with him. She saw him give the order to the bartender, then he returned to the table, settling his tall, rangy frame into the banquette beside her.
Carrie drew great comfort from his nearness. Comfort and a kind of bliss that flushed her skin and made her look as though she were lit from within.
‘What’s with the Harpers always throwing punches?’ he asked, wryly. ‘Wild punches, I might add.’
‘They see themselves as men of action,’ Carrie said, with a crazy impulse to lay her head on his shoulder.
‘Better to think first and act later,’ Clay said, looking towards the waiter who was approaching with their drinks.
Carrie took not a sip, but a gulp of her drink. Things were getting right out of hand. The encounter with the Harpers had really thrown her. Her drink was cold and the shot of brandy added depth to the sparkling ginger ale. ‘Mrs Harper won’t lose any time ringing my parents to let them know they’ve seen me with you,’ she said, one part of her admiring the paintings around the walls. ‘They’ll do it tonight.’
‘It’s always best to say exactly what you’re doing, Caroline,’ he told her quietly. ‘You’re a grown woman not a child. You could have told your mother I was giving you a lift.’
‘I did,’ she said.
‘Well, that’s not so bad then?’ He studied her pure profile. ‘Would she tell your father?’
Carrie shook her head. ‘No. I’m beginning to think there’s lots my mother doesn’t tell my father. Sometimes I can’t figure Mamma out. She does things I know she doesn’t want to, to please Dad.’
‘Lots of wives would do that.’
‘Mamma does it for a living,’ Carrie said. ‘It’s all coming to a head, isn’t it?’
‘It has to, Caroline. You have to get on with your life. Whether I’m in it or not remains to be seen.’
‘Sure you don’t want to run that advertisement?’ she asked, tilting her head to stare into his eyes.
‘Only if you write it up for me.’
‘Let’s see, how would it go?’
‘You’re the journalist,’ he reminded her.
‘Photojournalist,’ she corrected with a little smile. ‘I take photos for the Bulletin as well.’
‘I’m certain you’ll take a good one of me. Now where were we?’
‘Bush Bachelor, twenty-eight, never married, very fit, owns his own pastoral property, is looking for a wife aged between—?’
‘Twenty-four and twenty-eight,’ he filled in, in a helpful tone of voice. ‘Under twenty-four too young to really know their own mind, over twenty-eight older than me. Twenty-four for preference. Petite. Must be a golden-blonde with velvety-brown doe eyes. A countrywoman, loves the land, an excellent horse-woman, interested in restoring a historic homestead, eventually having kids, two or three, must be able to guarantee a daughter who looks just like her. Let’s see, what else?’
‘You don’t need me at all,’ she said. She took another little swallow. Even tried a smile.
‘Oh, yes, I do. Haven’t I just described you?’
‘Maybe I was the first one your gaze really fell on?’ she suggested. ‘Maybe knowing I was Scott Harper’s fiancée had something to do with it?’
‘What is that supposed to mean, Caroline?’
The question was dead serious. ‘Didn’t Brad Harper fire up when you called me Caroline?’ she remarked, ignoring his question. ‘You’d think that wasn’t allowed.’
‘Answer the question, please.’ He gently tapped the back of her hand.
‘Maybe you felt like taking something of his?’
He kept looking at her until she looked away. ‘Actually I’m fine with that, but the thought never crossed my mind. I saw the connection as a huge complication. I definitely wanted to get to know you better, but there you were, engaged.’
The air around them seemed on the point of igniting. ‘I’m sorry,’ Carrie apologised.
‘So you should be. But I’ll forgive you. This one time.’
‘It could just as easily have been someone else. One of the McFadden sisters,’ she persisted. ‘Jade or Mia. Both of them are very attractive and good company. They’re station people. They’re good riders. Jade and I often battle it out for first place in competitions. They certainly gave the impression they were attracted to you.’
‘So we’ve narrowed it down to the McFadden sisters and you.’
Inside she was deeply, deeply, shaken. ‘I can’t see clearly about myself, Clay. You’ve got to heed it. What I do see is a twenty-four-year-old woman who was about to marry a man who contin
ued to sleep with other women—I bet there were others—while we were engaged, then he impregnated one. Finally to cap it off a man who told another woman to get rid of his own child so he could still marry me. What kind of a fool did he think I was? What kind of a fool am I for that matter?’
‘What kind of a callous bastard is he, don’t you mean?’ Clay responded, with frightening calm. ‘Countless people have been deceived, Caroline. Men and women. They give their trust only to have it trampled underfoot. One doesn’t have to be a fool for that to happen. It happens right across the board.’
‘Trust is so very important,’ she said quietly. ‘It is to me yet it’s so easy to lose faith. What happens then? Does one turn into a cynic, never trusting anyone again?’
‘You know what they say! Life’s a gamble. Love’s a gamble. We come through with courage and a dollop of daring.’
‘And there’s another thing about me,’ she said. ‘I don’t know my own mind. I’d be devastated if I’d truly loved Scott. Obviously I didn’t. I just thought I was in love with him.’
‘So when did you wake up to the fact you weren’t?’ he asked dryly. ‘Did it just happen one morning?’
She turned her head slightly. ‘The fact I could so easily be attracted to you was a tremendous eye opener. What if it had happened after I married Scott?’
‘No need to worry about it,’ he consoled her. ‘You’re not going to marry Scott. We might leave the rest of that drink.’
‘Are you saying I’ve had too much?’ There was a little flash in her dark eyes.
‘Perhaps the tiniest little bit. You had very little to eat and that confrontation with the Harpers upset you.’
‘Didn’t it upset you?’
‘I wanted to hit that man,’ Clay admitted, his handsome face taut. ‘I wanted to hit him so badly, but he’s too old to hit. And then there were you women. Women don’t like violence.’
‘You’re right about that!’ she wholeheartedly agreed. ‘I’m apprehensive about what my father is going to say.’