The Girl From Eureka
Page 19
Indy just smiled and took his hand in hers. She led him deeper into the stable where the horses were stalled, sheltered for the night. ‘Not yet.’
‘Indy, please,’ he heard himself begging. ‘This isn’t a good idea.’
‘Shh,’ she said, and turning she kissed him again.
He had no fight left in him. He pushed her up against the stall door and kissed her hard and fast. But sense prevailed and he stopped himself just as quickly, removing his hands from her body to grip the wood of the stall behind her, his fingers digging in. He dropped his forehead to hers.
‘I find it very hard to behave myself when I am around you.’
‘And why do you need to?’ Indy asked, her deep quick breaths drawing his eyes to the golden skin above her bosom.
‘Don’t go yet,’ she pleaded. ‘Kiss me again.’
He couldn’t deny her and no longer had the desire to. Leaning in, he kissed her, enjoying the warmth of her tongue as it met his. His fingers travelled lightly down her throat, across her shoulders and her torso, making her gasp as he brushed past the side of her breasts.
‘Touch me, Will,’ she said, the desperation in her voice singing to him.
‘God help me,’ he said through gritted teeth. He wanted to lay her down in the straw-covered ground of the stables and take her body, let his be taken by her. His mouth found the skin at the top of her breasts and he tasted, thrilling at the little moans and sighs he coaxed from her. He brought his mouth back to hers with a powerful kiss.
‘Indy this is dangerous for you. It’s not safe for you to be seen with me, but if they find us like this, with me taking advantage of you, they will kill me.’
‘Perhaps it is I who is taking advantage of you,’ she said with a quiet chuckle.
‘Perhaps it is,’ he answered, for he wasn’t a hundred percent sure he held any power over the situation anymore. ‘But others will not think the same.’
She reached out and gripped his waist, pulling his hips against her and kissing him harder before she suddenly stopped and let him go. ‘You’re right, dammit all to hell. You should go.’
He chuckled at her sulky face and lifted her chin to stare into her eyes one last time, to take one last look at her ripe lips, swollen from his kisses. Sighing heavily, he stepped away and moved out of the stables to his horse. He mounted quickly before he could change his mind.
She walked slowly back out of the darkness of the stable and into the last rays of sunlight. A smile of pride and pleasure crossed her beautiful features.
‘I told you that you would kiss me one day.’
He closed his eyes and tilted his face up to the sky. ‘And God help me for it. I’ll never be peaceful again.’
Her grin broadened with her obvious delight at his words and, taking one last long look, he turned his horse, let out his frustrations with a loud ‘Yah!’ and sped away.
***
As Will disappeared with the setting sun, Indy took a moment to catch her breath. Thank God she’d seen sense. A fling with a soldier in a stable? Was she no smarter than all those silly women who got themselves into trouble? At least now she understood the loss of modesty and intellect they must have felt in the arms of a beautiful man. His kisses had affected her brain as though she’d had too much whiskey. It was like a fog had settled over her mind, blocking it from all conscious thought, and all she’d wanted was the exquisite pressure of his lips on hers. Her hand went to her mouth to recall the firmness and the softness, the warmth and the taste.
And her body … She let her hands run down her ribs where his had been. What thrills had coursed through her system at the touch of his hands when they’d drawn her closer against his strong and solid body. She’d felt his arousal against her when she’d pulled him in. Her heart leapt at the feeling, her belly had quivered and it quivered again now. No man’s kiss had ever felt as wonderful, and as perfect, as a kiss from William Marsh. She had tasted a small, sweet slice of the passion the man had inside him. Now she wanted the whole cake.
Chapter 17
The early onset of nasty summer heat had tempers near boiling point as the licence raids went on five days a week. It seemed to Indy there was a meeting on Bakery Hill every second day now. Thousands of miners travelled in from surrounding goldfields to join with the Ballarat miners and make their pleas for social and moral rights as citizens of the colony of Victoria. Indy went along to the meetings occasionally, but the preaching would often go on for hours. It was easy to tell those who had serious intent of trying to abolish the licence tax, of continuing to push for justice for Scobie, and of ensuring the basic rights of miners in the land they had travelled thousands of miles to in hopes of finding a better life. But there were also those who postured and preened, looking for a place in politics should the miners’ case for representation in the legislature ever be approved. They were mostly businessmen, many of whom had been wealthy gentlemen back in their homeland of England, Germany or America.
One man caught Indy’s attention each time he got up to speak. Peter Lalor was a quietly spoken young Irishman, who was clearly well educated, and apparently came from a family with a long history in politics. She knew him a little because he was courting one of the school teachers Indy was friendly with. When Lalor spoke, the miners listened. He also spoke good sense and peaceful resolution and Indy decided he would be a strong ally in parliament, should anyone other than the landowning gentry ever be admitted. Those with no interest in or understanding of politics simply bypassed the large gatherings, and went about their day as usual, more occupied with trying to keep food in the bellies of their families.
Not unaware of the unrest around them, but more consumed by the change in their relationship, Indy and Will did their best to meet as often as they could. But the divide between miners and the government camp grew wider every day. The soldiers and police were never welcome when they chose to venture out of their camp and into town, and were often verbally abused. They rarely travelled about Ballarat alone anymore for fear of retribution. Indy couldn’t blame the miners. Why would they welcome the very animals who would take any opportunity to beat a man simply for not having paid his taxes?
Unfortunately, Will’s short reprieve from the miners’ anger had well and truly been forgotten. Not by Trevor and Eliza though—they assured Will they would be fast friends forever. But for Indy and Will it meant meeting in secret was their only option. Days would go by before she would be able to see him, to touch him and kiss him, and her frustration was palpable. She was becoming tired of herself. Since when was she the type of woman to turn sullen and dreamy over a man? To not be able to hold a coherent conversation with someone because she would see something that would remind her of Will and completely forget what she’d been talking about. She thought of him during the day at work on the mine, and she thought of him at night in the quiet of her tent.
Sean often caught her daydreaming or staring off towards the government camp.
‘What the bloody hell is wrong with you, Indy?’ Sean asked when he’d climbed, yet again, out of the pit, when she’d not been there to take the bucket of dirt he’d sent up.
Feeling foolish, she walked back to their mine. ‘There’s nothing wrong with me.’
Except that a few moments ago, she’d all but raced across the goldfields when she’d seen a blond soldier emerge from Spencer’s Confectionary. She was losing her mind.
Handing Sean a drink of water, she sat beside him.
‘Indy, can you do me a favour?’ Sean asked.
‘Of course.’
‘I want to go and see Clarissa,’ Sean said.
Indy took a good look at Sean. He wouldn’t meet her eyes and she could see there was more colour in his cheeks than just from the sun or hard work.
‘Sean Sheridan, you sneaky bugger,’ Indy said, elbowing him in the ribs. ‘Has the love of a good woman found you?’
He shrugged, going even redder if that were possible. ‘Dunno, never been in love have I
. And don’t you go telling Ma. She’ll have me married off before Christmas.’
Indy chuckled. He was right about that.
‘What’s it like?’ he asked, drawing lazy circles in the dirt with a stick. ‘Being in love.’
‘What are you asking me for, boyo?’ Indy said with a scoffing laugh.
He shrugged. ‘So then what do you think it’s like?’
Indy took a deep breath and thought on it for a moment.
‘I suppose it’s when you can’t live without someone,’ she began. ‘When your every thought is of them. You can’t eat. You can barely sleep for dreaming of them. And then there’s the kissing.’
‘Kissing?’
‘Mmm,’ Indy murmured with a dreamy sigh. ‘The kisses are wonderful. They take you to a whole other place. Your body heats up and your stomach flutters like a thousand butterflies have let loose. And you ache to hold him against you.’
‘Him?’ Sean asked.
Indy blinked her way out of her own fantasies. Sean was staring at her with the oddest expression and it was her turn to feel the warmth of a blush creeping up her neck and into her cheeks.
‘Are you in love, Indy?’
‘Don’t be an eejit,’ Indy scolded. ‘Why would you ask such a thing?’
‘’Cause of all that stuff you just said. That’s how you’ve been acting lately.’
Her mind went back over everything she’d told him. He was right. She had been talking about herself and hadn’t even realised it. But was it love?
‘No, I’m not in love,’ she said, more to herself than to Sean. ‘I can’t be.’
Sean seemed to accept her answer. ‘So will you keep my secret? About me and Clarissa?’
Indy smiled. She was actually envious of Sean’s ability to see his girl in public, his only fear being that his mother would be thrilled. He didn’t have to worry about being caught in the arms of the enemy. Why couldn’t she have attached herself to a man who she could be with openly? Instead, she had to wait patiently for a time when she could see Will in secret. Indy was not a patient woman by nature. She would have to get creative if she wanted to be with him more than once a week.
But as Sean went back down the mineshaft, and Indy lowered the bucket on the windlass, she realised that finding time to see Will wasn’t her biggest problem. Losing him altogether when the Fortieth regiment was inevitably shipped out was suddenly at the top of her list of concerns.
***
As more days passed without seeing hide nor hair of Will, Indy went to visit her mother to try and give her mind something else to do other than think about Lieutenant Will Marsh.
She worked around the house and in her mother’s vegetable patch, but unfortunately the manual labour gave her too much time to think. Her mind would wander if she didn’t rein it in and suddenly she would find herself in a daydream about her and Will living at the little cottage with her mother, away from Ballarat and all its problems. She chastised herself for dreaming of something that just could not be. They couldn’t even speak to one another in town for fear of reprisal on both sides of their camps. But as she pulled carrots and radishes one afternoon, Indy hit upon an idea.
‘We should have some company for dinner now that we have all these wonderful vegetables you’ve grown.’
‘The vegetables are for selling at market,’ her mother responded.
‘Yes,’ she tried again. ‘But we’ll save some for ourselves, will we not? Must make sure they’re good enough for market. And we should share our vegetables with a friend.’
‘Indigo Wallace, you’re about as subtle as a licence raid,’ Mary tossed back without even pausing the arc of her hoe in the ground. ‘If you want to invite the Lieutenant for dinner you’ve only a need to say so.’
Indy stood and stretched her aching back, frowning at her Mother’s ability to read her so easily. ‘I wasn’t going to suggest that.’
After a few more moments of silent work she spoke again. ‘Perhaps we can invite the Lieutenant back for dinner one evening.’
Mary chuckled. ‘What a good idea.’
***
Indy went back to town the following morning with bags full of vegetables to sell to the stores and a heart full of joy. Now she just had to find a way to see Will so that she could convince him to come to her mother’s for dinner.
She delivered one bag of vegetables to Grayson’s grocery store and collected the shillings in return, and then proceeded up the hill to the government camp. She wasn’t a hundred percent sure this plan would work, but she could think of no other way to get to Will.
Meeting the sentry at the gate, she smiled prettily.
‘I bring vegetables for the cook,’ she said, fluttering her eyelashes like she had seen Elena Gibson and her friends do when they were flirting.
The sentry moved to take the basket but Indy held it back. ‘I was asked to deliver it personally to a Lieutenant Marsh. Would he be here?’
‘No idea,’ the sentry replied looking her over. ‘There’s so many buggers living ’ere now. I can’t be expected to know ’em all.’
‘Well, perhaps I can go in and have a look for him.’
‘No one is allowed into the camp without authorisation from the Commissioner.’
Indy bit down on her anger. Most days the guard at the gate was so drunk she would have been able to walk right by him. She had to get the one sober sentry in all of Her Majesty’s army.
‘Very well,’ she said, raising her chin defiantly. ‘I shall take my delicious fresh vegetables, meat pies, cheeses, bottled fruits and pickles and deliver them elsewhere.’
‘Meat pies?’ the sentry asked and Indy knew she had him. She could all but see the man’s mouth fill with saliva.
She lifted the cloth from the top of the basket to show him.
‘How about a little morsel for yourself?’ she said, offering him a wrapped portion of her mother’s tiny meat pies. ‘How can you be expected to stand post on an empty stomach?’
His stomach rumbled loudly, and she grinned as he took the little round pastry from her.
‘Very well,’ he said, already shoving the pie in his mouth as he waved her through the gates.
She was glad he’d taken the food. Her next plan had been to show him her breasts and the thought of that didn’t thrill her.
Wandering across the compound, she tried her best to look like she belonged there as she searched out Will. The sentry had been right. The camp was overflowing with soldiers. The garrison was clearly not large enough to accommodate so many bodies. The men she passed looked tired, gaunt and dishevelled. Hardly the pride of Her Majesty’s military. They barely had the energy to take note of a woman passing them by. She had no idea how she would find Will before someone realised she shouldn’t be there.
As she neared the jail, she frowned, concerned at the men who languished there. A well-known thief and several miners unable to pay their taxes, or the resulting fine, sat on the dirt covered floor inside the hot and vermin-infested prison. Looking around to ensure no one saw her, she tossed a few of the vegetables and fruits through the timber bars. The men dove on the food and she hoped there wouldn’t be bloodshed as they fought over the scraps.
‘Bless you, girl,’ one of the men called out, and her heart sank again for the abuse the poor men had no doubt been subjected to.
She was about to turn away when she heard a voice behind her.
‘You there!’
Blast it all!
She’d been caught. Turning slowly, she instantly recognised the soldier. He’d been with Will the first night she’d met him behind the Eureka Hotel.
His eyes narrowed as he tried to place her. ‘I know you.’
‘Yes,’ she answered quietly. ‘I’m Lieutenant Marsh’s friend. Do you know where he is?’
‘I’m right here. And just what the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?’
She spun back to see Will stop just in front of her. ‘Timmons, what is she doing here?’
She lifted the cloth and held it out to him, urging him to take what he wanted.
‘Ooh! Strawberry jam!’ he exclaimed and gleefully took the little jar.
‘Eat it in good health.’
‘Indy!’
‘Good luck,’ Timmons murmured to her and made a hasty retreat as Will continued to glower at her.
‘Prunes?’ Indy asked, holding out the little bottle and giving him a sweet as sugar smile. ‘You look a little constipated, Lieutenant.’
‘God, you’re a pain in my arse,’ Will muttered exasperated. ‘You really don’t understand the concept of your own safety, do you?’
‘No more than you it seems,’ she tossed back. ‘Why is my walking into the government camp any more dangerous than you spending time in the Eureka camp?’
‘Because I am a man. I can take care of myself.’
‘Well, oh great and mighty man. If you are so able to take care of yourself, you won’t be requiring the lovely food basket my mother sent you.’
‘Stop twisting my words, Indy, you know I hate that.’
He moved closer to peek into the basket and she saw the desperate hunger in his eyes.
A troubled frown touched her brow as she examined him. His red coat seemed to hang from his shoulders. Had he lost weight since last she saw him? She recalled how lean the other soldiers had appeared on her walk through camp. There’d been rumours throughout Ballarat that there was a boycott on deliveries to the government camp. Local merchants were delaying food supplies for the nearly three hundred members of the police and military, and deliveries from Melbourne were intermittent.
Knowing Will’s pride, Indy didn’t mention it, instead moving on to the reason she had come in the first place.
‘Mother also wanted me to invite you for dinner tomorrow,’ she said, covering the basket again to show he would get nothing. ‘But since you take such pleasure in annoying me, I may have to rescind the invitation.’
‘You really do have the most wretched wild temper, Miss Wallace.’