The Girl From Eureka

by Cheryl Adnams

  Feeling unnerved suddenly, as though by telling her his life story he’d given her his complete and unerring trust, Indy stood and took the axe from him.

  ‘I think we have enough wood for now.’

  She was so close to his sweat-covered chest she could smell the perspiration, could feel the heat radiating from his body. He licked his parched lips and her eyes were drawn to his mouth. She wasn’t about to make a fool of herself by attempting to kiss him again, so instead, she walked away, turning back as she reached the porch.

  Smiling deviously she said, ‘Why don’t you go take a wash in the river, Lieutenant.’

  ‘A wash?’

  ‘Yes. A wash. You smell.’

  He grinned and gave an exaggerated bow of obedience. ‘Always the measure of politeness, Miss Indy.’

  ***

  The night was stiflingly hot considering it was not yet summer. Indy tossed and turned in the small bed while her mother slept blissfully beside her. How could she possibly sleep? Their shared body heat was overwhelming. Giving up, she left her mother with the bed.

  Quietly, she moved past the room where Will slept. She stopped at the closed door and listened, but hearing nothing she continued outside onto the porch. Even out of the house it wasn’t much cooler. Not a breath of wind stirred the leaves of the eucalypts. Night bugs were chirping and a sliver of moon cast a small amount of light. It took a while for her eyes to adjust as she moved down the steps. She was wearing her thinnest nightdress but even that clung to her body with perspiration.

  Crossing to the large wooden barrel she dipped her handkerchief in the water, reaching deep to get to the cooler liquid in the middle. Her nightdress draped a little at the top and touched the water, making her gasp when she stood upright as the cool freshness transferred to her skin. She wiped her brow and her neck with the handkerchief but the accidental soaking of her nightgown felt so nice she craved more.

  ‘Blow it all,’ she said out loud. Wanting to wash herself properly, she reached down to lift the dress by its long hem. It made it up to her mid-thigh before she heard his voice.

  ‘Please don’t.’

  She gasped and spun around, dropping the dress back down as she covered her chest with her arms.

  He stepped out of the shadow of the house and she could see his wistful grin as he moved closer. ‘I don’t think my gentlemanly nature would hold out if I were to see you naked twice.’

  ‘Will.’ She exhaled in relief, but the thrill of seeing him as he stepped into the pale moonlight stole her breath again. ‘You scared me. I thought you were in bed.’

  ‘Surely, you jest. It’s too hot to sleep.’

  He too was scantily dressed. He wore his uniform trousers but his feet were bare, and there was something incredibly alluring about his large, naked feet. But it was his chest, covered only in the thin straps of the suspenders holding up his trousers, which had her mouth watering, as it had that morning.

  He had taken her advice and gone to the river to bathe. She’d watched for him as she’d sat on the veranda scrubbing potatoes for dinner. When he’d returned, his pale hair had been wet and slicked back, his shirt dripped and clung to his body as he had obviously decided to take the opportunity to wash it while he’d bathed. Her mouth had dropped open at how appetising he looked. That was nothing compared to the man who stood before her now bathed in moonlight.

  ‘Can I talk you into a swim in the river?’ she asked.

  ‘You test my resolve, Miss Indy.’

  ‘Your resolve?’

  ***

  Will stepped past Indy and leaned against the veranda railing. It was wrong on so many levels, these feelings he was having. This was her mother’s house. He could not accept Mary’s hospitality and then throw it back in her face by taking advantage of her daughter. He was not free to marry. He had no idea how long he might be in Ballarat, or even Australia, for that matter. So where could it possibly go?

  But, dammit, he wanted her. He wanted to touch her and taste her. But taking what he wanted would give her the wrong idea. Was it fair to give her false hope that more was possible? No. It wasn’t. It wasn’t fair to either of them. He had to end it. Now.

  ‘Indy, you are a lovely girl,’ he said, turning back to face her.

  ‘Girl?’ Indy said and chuckled richly. She stepped into him again and he felt the touch of her breast through her thin nightdress against his bare chest. ‘Will. Do I look like a girl to you?’

  Certain he’d break teeth his jaw was clenched so tightly, he struggled against his desire to reach out and feel her breast cupped in his hand. To run his thumb across the taut nipples he could see through her nightdress.

  A girl? No, she looked like an enchanted seductress sent to torment him in his every waking and sleeping moment. If he didn’t do something soon, he would never be able to stop himself from pulling her against him and crushing his mouth to hers.

  He would have to be cruel. He would have to be cruel to be kind.

  ‘I’m not good for you, Indy.’ It came out gruffer than he’d expected and she seemed to sense his struggle.

  ‘I’m sure you would be very good for me,’ she whispered back and leaned up on tiptoes until she was closer and closer.

  ‘I prefer an older woman.’

  She dropped back to her feet again with a thud.

  ‘It’s no reflection on you, Indy,’ he added. ‘It’s about my needs, my character.’

  She shook her head. ‘What are you saying? It’s not me, it’s you?’

  He thought about it. ‘Exactly.’

  But Indy was not so easily put off. ‘I’m not a fool, Will. And I’m not a girl. I’m a woman. A woman who knows when a man is attracted to her. Can you honestly stand there and say that you’re not attracted to me?’

  Will’s well-honed military instincts were flashing warning signs. Her hand brushed against his manhood and he gasped.

  ‘Your body tells me otherwise,’ she said, her voice soft and seductive.

  He gritted his teeth, damning his body for its traitorous reaction to her. Lord help him, she was unlike any other woman he’d ever met.

  Cruel to be kind, he reminded himself.

  ‘You’re very pretty and quite spirited,’ he said, taking her arms and pushing her back a step to save his sanity. ‘I’m sure you will make a man very happy one day and give him lots of children. But I am not that man.’

  She stared at him a moment. The only light to see by was the moon, but he could see plainly the hurt that crossed her face as it dawned on her that he was no longer playing. He also saw the moment that she steeled herself. The hardness came into her eyes, replacing the doe-eyed temptress.

  ‘You’re the fool, Will Marsh. You’re panicking, pushing me away because you think I’m trying to trap a husband. You bloody men! You think every woman is going to fall in love with you and you’re so damn scared of love that you run from anyone who shows an interest.’

  ‘Indy, it’s not like that—’

  ‘Or perhaps you’re terrified that if you kiss me, you will fall in love with me, and then where will you be when you have to leave this place for the next? And trust me, Will Marsh, if you kissed me, you would fall in love with me. I’m that good.’

  He blinked at her boldness and opened his mouth to argue but she was on a roll.

  ‘Oh, and if you think me still a virgin, then I’m sorry to crush that fantasy. I’ve been with men.’ She stepped closer to him again and put her hand to his chest. ‘Women have desires and needs of the body just as men do. And you, Lieutenant, have just missed your chance to have mine.’

  And with that, she turned and stormed back into the house.

  He stared after her, completely and totally gobsmacked by her outburst.

  ‘Bollocks.’

  He’d deserved that tongue-lashing. But he also knew he’d done the right thing. So why did he feel like such a horse’s arse? And why was it that the thing that stuck with him most, out of everything she’d said, wa
s that she had been with men? He didn’t need to know that. He didn’t want to know that. Despite his reluctance to get involved with Miss Indigo Wallace, he hated thinking that other men had touched her beautiful body, had gripped a hand in all that luscious hair, had kissed her until she’d sighed. He shook his head hoping those thoughts would fall out and never return.

  Groaning with frustration, he leaned two hands on the edge of the water barrel. Still feeling the residual physical effects of being so close to her, he leaned forward and dipped his full head into the water, staying there for as long as he could hold his breath. When he surfaced, he inhaled lungsful of air and slicked his long wet hair back from his face. His skin cooled, but his blood still boiled with the memory of her touch, her smell.

  Indy Wallace was not a woman to leave a man’s system easily. He tossed and turned in his bed that night as much from the smouldering—and subsequent scolding—midnight encounter with a certain high-spirited vixen as from the relentless heat. The two melded together to make one very sweaty and uncomfortable night.

  Chapter 13

  When Indy returned from checking her rabbit traps in the morning, Mary was cooking eggs and frying soda bread and Will sat at the table drinking tea.

  He stood as she entered the house. ‘Good morning, Miss Indy.’

  Without a word, she tossed a dead rabbit carcass on the table in front of him and graced him with a look telling him she was still extremely displeased. But even the fire in her eyes couldn’t stop Will’s stomach from flipping, like the eggs Mary turned in the pan, when Indy leaned past him to fill her teacup from the pot. Her long braid brushed against his forearm, the hair tickling his skin and sending heat directly to his groin. He moved his arm away and saw a glint of a satisfied smile on her lips. The woman was diabolical. Even in her incensed state, she could still get him riled up and she knew it.

  ‘Good morning, Lieutenant,’ she returned tersely, and left him to help her mother plate up breakfast.

  ‘Get that animal off my table,’ Mary insisted.

  Indy dragged the rabbit off the table and into the meat locker, slamming the door on it.

  ‘My, but you seem to have brought the frost in with you this morning, Indy,’ Mary noted.

  Placing the breakfast in front of Will, Indy sat across from him and the three of them ate in an uncomfortable silence. She did her best not to look at him, and he did his best not to look at her.

  ‘I thought I might take a ride into town today,’ Mary said, breaking the stalemate. ‘Perhaps we can accompany the Lieutenant back to camp.’

  Indy and Will stopped eating and finally exchanged glances.

  ‘I don’t want you going into town just now, mother,’ Indy said, chasing the last of her eggs around the plate. ‘Perhaps we can just stay here. Will can help get those posts in so we can erect the fence around your vegetable garden to keep the kangaroos out.’

  ‘Indy.’ It took a moment but she finally looked up and met his eyes. ‘I must get back to camp.’

  ‘So that’s settled then,’ Mary said, giving her daughter a telling look. ‘We can escort the Lieutenant back to town and I’ll buy more supplies. We’re almost out of sugar.’

  ‘I’ll get it for you,’ Indy insisted.

  ‘Indy—’

  ‘I don’t want you running into Donnelly,’ she said to Mary, standing to dump her unfinished breakfast on the kitchen bench. ‘Whatever you need from town, I will get it for you.’

  ‘I won’t hide from him,’ Mary argued.

  ‘Mother—’

  ‘If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and get my things.’ Will stood to leave the women to argue in peace. He closed the bedroom door to give them some privacy, even though he knew he would be able to hear everything that was said through the thin wall. But before they could continue their conversation, he heard galloping hooves approaching, followed by yells and whoops.

  ‘Hi, ho, Mrs Mary Wallace!’

  Pushing aside the lace curtains on the small window, he saw two men ride up to the house.

  ‘Bushrangers.’

  He finished dressing quickly, throwing his red coat on in a rush as he nervously surveyed the events through the window. One of the men dismounted in a leap and kissed Indy’s mother on both cheeks as she went out to meet them. So not a danger then, Will surmised and slowed his movement.

  ‘Jack!’

  Will was astounded as the man he assumed was Jack, let go of Mary to catch Indy easily when she threw herself at him. Watching her wrap herself around another man was like a kick to Will’s gut. Was Indy involved with this man? Could he be one of the lovers she had alluded to? He moved out to the living room and continued to listen from just inside the doorway.

  ‘Hey kid,’ Jack said lifting her off the ground with ease. ‘Geez, what have you been eating?’

  ‘Shut ya mouth,’ Indy shot back laughingly as she extricated herself from his arms.

  ‘No, it’s good. I like it,’ Jack said, his eyes scanning her body before his eyebrows did a saucy little dance. ‘You’re filling out in all the right places.’

  Indy gave him a good-natured slap on the arm. ‘I didn’t see you again at the Subscription Ball.’

  ‘I joined a game of cards,’ Jack told her. ‘Won the pot, and then unfortunately a gentleman complimented me on my suit and went on to tell me how he’d had one just like it before it was stolen, along with many of his other belongings, by a bushranger. I decided it was time to take my leave at that point.’

  Indy chuckled but Mary shook her head in disappointment.

  ‘Ladies, I have missed you. I was hoping—’

  When Will stepped out of the house, Jack’s revolver was in his hand quicker than lightning and pointed at Will’s chest.

  ‘Explain yourself, sir!’ Jack demanded.

  ‘No, Jack!’ Indy exclaimed and put herself between Jack and Will.

  ‘Why are you here?’ Jack asked, pulling Indy out of the way to ensure the gun had good aim at Will. ‘Taking liberties with these particular women will see you full of lead. I don’t take kindly to soldiers forcing themselves on helpless females.’

  ‘I could say the same about bushrangers,’ Will insisted, keeping his eye on the gun aimed at him. ‘And Indy is anything but helpless.’

  ‘Thank you, Will,’ Indy tossed back, slapping at Jack until he let her go.

  ‘The Lieutenant has been convalescing here after an injury,’ Mary added quickly, in hopes of diffusing the situation.

  ‘In the line of duty?’ Jack asked. ‘One of those wily miners get one up on you for a change?’

  ‘In a manner,’ Will said, rubbing the side of his head where the rock had connected.

  Jack seemed to relax a little, but the gun remained in his hand just the same. ‘What part of England do you hail from?’

  ‘Surrey, originally,’ Will replied, thinking it an odd question given the circumstances.

  ‘A fellow countryman,’ Jack stated surprised. ‘Though I doubt we moved in the same circles. I was but a lower-class citizen. Unable to buy a commission.’

  ‘I did not buy my commission,’ Will said. ‘I earned it.’

  ‘But you grew up in the large estates of Surrey, did you not?’

  ‘I’m afraid not. I grew up under the strict tutelage of one Mr Gainbridge,’ Will said, but offered no more explanation.

  Jack blinked, seemingly stunned for a moment, before he lowered his weapon completely. ‘The boys’ workhouse at Effingham?’

  Now it was Will’s turn to be surprised. ‘You know it?’

  ‘I do. Only too well.’

  Will frowned at first but then understood. ‘When were you there?’

  ‘Until I was a lad of fifteen,’ Jack said. ‘Before I was sold to go work at the pig yards for a shilling. But while I was being transported, I escaped and made my way to London. A year or so later I gained employment as a deckhand on a ship to the new colonies.’

  Jack holstered his gun in the waist of his trousers
and smiled, causing two dimples to wink out of his cheeks. The lad looked barely older than seventeen at that moment.

  ‘So we are two from the same wretched upbringing. You chose the regimentals and I chose the more lucrative, but less revered, occupation of bushranging. Jack Fairweather at your service.’ Jack bowed deeply then stood straight again looking at Will expectantly.

  Indy gave a derisive laugh and jabbed Jack in the side. ‘He hasn’t heard of you. See, you’re not so famous as you like to think.’

  Jack scruffed Indy’s hair and squeezed her body close to his as he dug his fingers into her ribs to tickle. Will’s jaw tightened. Talk about taking liberties! And wasn’t Indy just lapping it all up. He had a feeling her over-exuberance to see this man, and her exaggerated flirtation, was mostly for his benefit. She was trying to make him jealous.

  And, blast her, it was working.

  Jack was closer to her age than he was. Was it possible the two of them had a romantic history? A recent history even?

  ‘Oh, give it a rest, you two,’ Mary scolded them. ‘Come inside and have some tea.’

  ‘Thank you, Mary,’ Jack answered and he, and the friend he introduced as Bobby, strode up onto the porch.

  Will stepped aside as Jack and Bobby, who Will decided could be no more than sixteen years old, followed Mary and Indy into the house. It was crowded in the little living area with the barely-of-legal-age bushrangers sitting at the small wooden dining table. Will stood by, trying not to get in the way as Mary set about making tea and Indy put out some ginger biscuits.

  ‘What brings you by, Jack?’ Mary asked, setting the pot of tea aside to steep.

  ‘I heard there was excitement afoot,’ Jack told them. ‘I thought I would ride through town and see for myself the smouldering ashes of what was once the Eureka Hotel.’

  ‘What?’ Indy and Will exclaimed crossing glances.

  ‘The diggers burned the Eureka Hotel to the ground a few days ago,’ Jack said. ‘You hadn’t heard?’