Is she worth it?
‘Yes,’ he said out loud.
She had asked to see him he recalled, still a little baffled as he followed the Yarrowee River towards a small cluster of buildings that made up the Eureka township. Why? What else could she possibly have to say? She’d been very clear in her opinion of him after he’d done his duty and led the licence raid. He had almost accepted that he would never see her again. But she had planned it all through Jack, and the bushranger had done her bidding. A trustworthy man? Hardly. It had crossed his mind several times that it could all be a trap set by the miners to get a soldier out of the camp. But Will dismissed it when he recalled the sincerity in Jack’s usually laughing eyes. And there was no denying the seriousness of his colourful warning should Will do anything to hurt Indy either physically or emotionally.
As he slipped between the buildings and reached the front door of Mrs Barnett’s boarding house, he had no exact idea of the hour. Would Indy be there already, waiting for him? Or was he early? He felt the thrill of anticipation run through him. Not unlike the feeling he got just before he went into battle.
Stopping on the porch, he realised he could easily see the now completed stockade from here. It was his first close-up look at the stronghold the miners had created for themselves. A few tents were inside the lines of the barricades. By happenstance or by design he couldn’t tell. It was strangely quiet and only two men seemed to be posted as guards. They leaned against a post, smoking and chatting as though they were enjoying a drink at the pub. Other than that it looked like any other part of the goldfield’s camps, except for a few upturned wagons and some oddly shaped fencing made from lumber probably stolen from mineshafts.
As far as defensive fortresses went it was a pretty sad sight. It would serve no hindrance to the licence hunts that were bound to happen the next day. Sunday or not, Rede would not let another day go by without asserting his authority by the arrest of more miners. Shaking his head at the futility of it all, Will slipped quietly into the boarding house.
***
The evening was warm and a light wind blew as Indy ate her dinner with Annie and Sean. The moon rose as a giant gold nugget, creating an almost false daylight across the canvas city. Many of their neighbours commented on the stunning beauty of it. Others were more apprehensive and the superstitious amongst them saw it as a bad omen.
The rice and beans dish Indy swallowed was good she was sure, as it was one of Annie’s signature meals, but she couldn’t taste it thanks to her nerves that intensified as the hour ticked by.
While Jack had been waiting to direct Will to stand and deliver, Indy had already been up and working her little mine for hours. There had been a lot of enthusiasm on the goldfields that day. Men who would usually be down their mineshafts had gathered in little groups to talk in hushed tones as though it were all a grand game to them.
Throughout the day, her emotions were as up and down as the little bucket in her mineshaft. She’d count the slow minutes, excited that she would possibly see Will that night. Then a great depression would come over her that Jack wouldn’t be able to get to Will. Or that if he did, Will wouldn’t come. Or if he did come, it would only be to say farewell. Occasionally, movement in the stockade would distract her from her obsessing about Will. Some men left the barricades in shifts to work their mines, largely unlicensed now of course, taunting the soldiers and police who made occasional sojourns to town in small groups. But no raids came. No effort to break the stockade was attempted by the government forces and the inaction only added to Indy’s apprehension.
More diggers had arrived from surrounding goldfields at midday, boosting the rebels’ spirits. Women could occasionally be seen delivering food to the miners inside the stockade and as the afternoon wore on, the mood at the barricades was jovial. Indy, on the other hand, left her mine with a horrible sense of foreboding that stayed with her as she headed back to camp.
Having helped Sean clean up after dinner, Indy made her excuses to Annie that she was going up to the Gravel Pits to check on one of the German children who was ill with the measles. It was a good plan and easily believed since she’d been teaching English to many of the children in the camp over the last year. She pulled a straw bonnet over her head. The December evening was warm and with many people still milling about, Indy needed to keep her identity covered for as long as possible. The less people who saw her entering the widow Barnett’s establishment the better she figured, since there was no real reason for her to be there.
Passing by the stockade on her way to the boarding house, she noted that quite a few of the miners who had been there earlier in the day had now obviously decided to go back to their own tents to get some sleep or to spend time with family. The men who remained, sat around a fire, drinking and laughing as though it were a normal Saturday night in the camps.
When she arrived at the boarding house, she quickly ducked behind the door as two women she knew were residents came out gossiping.
‘They ought to close the grog tents beside the stockade,’ one woman was saying. ‘The men will become inebriated and then what good will it do them when the troopers come down to check their licences again.’
‘But there has never been a licence hunt at night,’ the other woman responded. ‘They may as well all go back to their tents. Go back to their wives and children. This is all so much a storm in a teacup.’
The voices faded away into the night and Indy ducked into the house behind them. She was relieved to find Mrs Barnett just inside the door. The austere-looking widow, in her plain black dress with dark hair bundled up in a tight bun, had Indy cowering a little as she waited for a lecture about cavorting with soldiers, or bushrangers for that matter. But the widow Barnett simply tilted her head, urging Indy to move upstairs.
‘Room two,’ she said, her lips pursed in disapproval. But Indy knew those lips would remain tightly closed if she wanted to keep her goods from being waylaid on the trip from Melbourne.
Standing at the door of room two, Indy’s heart raced, her breath quick and shallow. Not from the brisk walk or the short climb of the stairs, but because she knew for certain that Will was on the other side of the door. He had come.
Did she knock?
Did she just enter?
She decided to do both. She knocked on the door and opened it just as she heard him call out, ‘Come in.’
Inside, she quickly shut the door behind her and leaned against it for support. Thank God she did. The sight of him made her legs weak. He wasn’t clad in his usual uniform of red coat and buff-coloured breeches. He wore the uniform of a digger—the blue shirt and rough corduroy pants—and he had never looked more handsome. And he was barefoot. Oh, how she loved his bare feet. Looking around the room she saw that his soldier’s boots sat in the corner by the door.
Shyly, she met his eyes again and for a moment they just stared at each other. Neither speaking, both unsure of what to say.
Digging for strength she surveyed the room. It was nice, as boarding houses went. One small double bed, a side table with a ceramic water pitcher and bowl, a rocking chair in the corner and … she was stalling. When she slowly brought her eyes back to Will, his expression was unreadable.
‘Jack said you wanted to see me.’ His voice held no emotion, no inkling of what he might be feeling.
She became enthralled by the bob of his Adam’s apple as he spoke. She stared and stared but she still couldn’t find her voice.
‘Why am I here, Indy?’
Her eyes flicked up to his again. All day she had thought about what she would say and now that she was faced with the reality of him, all her words, her eloquent speech so well-rehearsed, fell out of her head and what came out was something else entirely.
‘I love you.’
He blinked, surprise now evident across his beautiful features.
A nervous laugh escaped her lips and she dropped her eyes to the floor.
‘I’m sorry, that was abrupt.’
She tried to smile, tried to make light of her clumsily blurted admission. ‘I probably shouldn’t have started with that but …’
There was no time for more because he had crossed the room in two long strides, his hand clasping the back of her neck, the other going to her cheek and his mouth was on hers, desperate, urgent, seeking and giving at the same time.
He pulled back long enough to look into her eyes.
‘I love you too, Indy,’ he said, putting his forehead to hers. ‘Beyond reason.’
A relieved breath whooshed out of her before he kissed her again. His mouth found her cheek, her ear, her neck, and her back found the door once again.
‘I’ve missed you so much these last few days,’ he said, whispering into her ear. ‘I thought I’d lost you. It felt like a lifetime. It’s a kind of madness to be with you and yet a keener madness to be without you.’
‘Then we’re both mad,’ she said, her breath coming quickly. Her hands shook as she began to unbutton his shirt. She tugged the hem from his trousers and he gasped when her hands met his skin.
‘Where did you get these clothes?’
‘Jack,’ he answered. ‘He is a resourceful gentleman. And frightening too.’
‘Jack’s frightening?’ She snorted out a laugh, followed quickly by a gasp as Will’s hands slid up her torso and his thumbs rested across her nipples, now hard and aching beneath her dress.
Will’s mouth was on her neck as he spoke. ‘He threatened to cause my internal organs substantial discomfort should I hurt you in any way.’
Indy dug her fingers into his shoulders as he pressed his lips to her cleavage.
She lifted his head so she could look into his beautiful eyes when she asked him. ‘Make love to me, Will?’
Chapter 26
Will stared, mute and spellbound, at the pure want and love he saw swimming in Indy’s eyes. Swallowing hard against the lump that had formed in his throat, he slowly leaned in to take her mouth with his.
She tasted so sweet and his mind and body were filled to overflowing with the scent and flavour of her. He used his lips to coax hers open, his tongue sweeping against hers, enticing a soft moan from deep within her that reached deep within him.
Keeping her in his arms, he turned her towards the small double bed in the middle of the room. The full moon filtered in through a tiny window and bathed the bed in pale light. But before he could lay her down, she urged him to sit on the side of the bed. Although he was confused at first, he stayed where he was and stared, captivated, as she began to undress herself for him.
More often than not she was dressed in men’s clothing, or the wide-legged bloomer trousers that had become so popular with the working women of the goldfields. But tonight she wore a dress the colour of ripe apricots. She unlaced the threads at the front until she was able to drop the fabric from her shoulders and he was mesmerised as it fell in a swirling heap around her feet. There was no corset—that was no surprise to him—but there were no undergarments at all. He had seen her naked at the river all those weeks ago, but modesty and propriety had forced him to look away. He wasn’t looking away now. His eyes took in every beautiful inch of her body.
She was no porcelain doll. The skin on her arms and neck were tanned from hours in the sun, but the rest of her body was pale and looked soft and sweet and he ached to taste and touch every morsel of her.
Her small hand reached out and he took it and pulled her gently to him. His eyes were level with her navel and he kissed it lightly. She smiled shyly down at him as she reached for his shirt, lifting it over his head and tossing it aside. When he stood, her fingers came to his chest and she feathered them through the light smattering of hair between his pectoral muscles, sending sparks of electricity through his system and straight to his groin. Following the line of hair down his flat stomach, she reached for the waist of his trousers.
His hand caught hers and she looked up at him, surprise and confusion on her pretty features. ‘Let me undress you,’ she said, her voice soft and pleading.
Helpless against her big blue eyes, he slowly removed his hand from hers and let her continue. As she undid the buttons on his trousers he ran his hands first down her arms, then around and down the soft, smooth skin of her back.
‘You don’t mind a woman taking control, do you?’
‘I don’t mind you taking control,’ he said, his voice gruff and affected by his arousal. ‘I’m not going to argue a woman’s place in sex when every touch of you,’ he leaned down and kissed her lightly, ‘every taste, has me wanting you more and more.’
He felt his pants give way and she pushed them down so he could step out of them. Now they were both naked and he took her in his arms and held her against him.
‘Indy,’ he whispered worshipfully. ‘You feel like heaven to me. You’re a revelation. You love as you live, Indy. With passion and purpose and I adore you and love you as I have never loved anyone.’
Gazing down at her again, he kissed her lips softly. Gently, he lay her down on the bed but knelt beside her for a moment, taking in the naked length of her as she glowed in the moonlight that bathed the bed and her.
Reaching out, he covered one breast with his hand, his thumb teasing at the hard bud. Her breath caught and she arched into his hand. He leaned down and took her peak in his mouth. Her soft sigh urged him on. He moved his attentions to the other breast and while his mouth was busy his hand slid down her soft skin to the apex between her thighs. She arched again and he felt just how ready she was for him.
‘My beautiful Indy.’
Taking every care not to hurt her, he covered her body with his and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He entered her slowly, carefully and watched her eyes change as they joined together. But as they began to move, Indy rolled so that he was beneath her. She rose up above him, giving him the most glorious view of her bare breasts, before she leaned down to take his mouth again in a passionate kiss that emptied his mind of anything but her. Her long curls curtained his head in spun gold, surrounding him in her scent and he buried his hands in the thickness, pulling her closer as she moved against him.
The beauty of her face in unabashed ecstasy as she rode him broke his thin grasp on restraint and he fought his passion, fought not to grip her too hard. His wild Indy. His beautiful, untamable girl. How would he ever live his life without her? He pushed aside the thoughts of desperation and drew her down to ravage her mouth as they came together at the peak of their passion.
***
Dozing on a wave of sex-induced relaxation, Will finally opened his eyes. Indy lay across his chest staring at him. Her fingers were interlaced and her chin rested on her hands. She smiled in that devilish way of hers.
‘Why do you stare?’
‘I can’t help it,’ she said. ‘You are too beautiful not to stare at.’
‘Men are not beautiful. Men are handsome, striking even, but not beautiful.’
‘You are,’ she said, running a finger lightly across his lips. ‘The most beautiful man I have ever seen.’
He threaded his hand through her long curls again. Moving her so that she was lying beside him, he continued to play with her hair. It was so soft, so lustrous. He wanted to hold her like this for the rest of their lives. He closed his eyes. That was a dream he could not hope to entertain. Stopping the thought before it took hold he changed the subject.
‘I saw the stockade as I came into town.’
‘I’ve been watching them all day,’ she said, taking her finger down his jawbone. ‘I’m worried.’
That surprised him. ‘I didn’t think anything worried you.’
‘This does,’ she said, a small frown crinkling between her big blue eyes. ‘Where will it all end?’
‘I don’t know. But it won’t end well if the diggers continue to rebel. Commissioner Rede grows tired of them. And that stockade they’ve set up is a show of aggression that won’t b
e tolerated. Just today more soldiers arrived from Melbourne.’
‘How long?’
He knew what she was asking.
‘A day. Two at the most, before the army will act with force.’
She propped herself up on her elbow to look down at him. ‘What amount of force?’
He didn’t answer her, couldn’t look at her.
‘I have to get them to stop,’ she said, sitting upright in the bed. ‘I have to get them to see reason.’
‘You can’t. Indy, It’s too dangerous for you to try and stop them now. They’ve dug a hole too deep.’
‘Then I’m in that hole with them. I took the oath to stand beside them.’
He felt the fear envelop him as he pushed himself up in the bed to look her in the eye. ‘You did what? Indy, please, tell me you won’t do anything stupid. Stay away from the stockade.’
‘Trying to tell me what to do now that you have had my body, Lieutenant?’ she asked, one eyebrow raised in challenge.
‘I know better than that,’ he said, annoyance flaring. ‘And don’t throw our lovemaking back at me as though I would ever use it as a weapon against you. Do not insult me that way.’
Indy fell back against the pillow heavily. ‘This may have been our only chance to be together, Will.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘How will we ever meet up like this again?’ she asked. ‘This was a stolen evening. Even if we weren’t on opposite sides of this conflict, where would we be able to meet?’
Propping himself back against the iron bedhead he sighed, ‘I don’t know.’
‘We could leave.’
She’d said it so quietly he wasn’t sure he had heard her.
‘Leave?’
‘Leave Ballarat. Leave Victoria.’
‘Where would we go?’ he humoured her.
The Girl From Eureka Page 28