by Karly Lane
‘But if he agreed to you coming out to look at Bill’s cattle then he must be coming around?’ Rilee gave a small lopsided grin at her husband’s guilty look. ‘Oh. I see. He doesn’t know you came out here to look at the cattle.’
‘I’m going to do it on my own.’
Rilee frowned. ‘You can do that?’
‘I can, if I use my own money and resources.’
Rilee frowned. ‘When were you planning on filling me in on these plans?’
‘Filling you in?’ He sounded confused.
Marcy was right. Maybe she should have taken a more active interest in the business side of things. Wasn’t it normal that married couples would discuss things like venturing out on their own? Then again, Dan had shown little interest in her business plans. ‘Well, if you’re thinking about starting up your own business, shouldn’t I be part of that discussion?’
‘It’s not really my own business, it’s more a sideline—something I want to do to prove to Dad that what I’m saying can pay off.’ He glanced at her, his expression cautious. ‘It wasn’t a big secret, I brought you along.’
‘Well, yeah.’ Okay, so that was true.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Nothing, forget it,’ she said with a quick smile and wave of her hand before looking out the window.
‘I didn’t know you were interested in any of this.’
‘Well, I wasn’t…but that was before I realised you were planning on doing this without your parents. If this is your project then I want to learn more about it. I’d like to be part of it.’
‘Really?’
‘Of course. You’re supposed to be my husband. Married couples usually take an interest in each other’s business—’
‘There’s no supposed to be about it. I am your husband,’ he said in a low, deliberate tone, and Rilee swallowed a little nervously at the steady look he gave her.
‘Would you keep your eyes on the…out there!’
With a small chuckle he returned his gaze to the front window and Rilee let out a slow breath. The man was far too potent for his own good: with just a look he could send her heartbeat into overdrive.
Their Armidale accommodation took Rilee completely by surprise. She’d been expecting an impersonal motel room, but instead Dan drove their rental car through town and turned off down a dirt road that seemed to go for miles without giving any hint of where it headed. Dan slowed as they approached a sign, which read Wood Smoke Cabin, and then turned down a long gravel driveway bordered by a manicured hedge. At the end of the drive was a clearing where a little cabin sat on the edge of a ridge overlooking the bushland and valley below.
Rilee gaped at the scene before her as Dan retrieved their overnight bag and led the way up the three steps to the verandah.
‘This is where we’re staying?’
‘Do you like it?’ Dan asked as he dropped the bag on the verandah and linked his arms around her waist.
Rilee turned and held him tight. ‘It’s beautiful. How did you find it?’
‘I remembered a mate telling me about it once. He stayed here for his honeymoon a few years back.’
‘It’s perfect,’ she sighed, laying her head against his chest and breathing in the heady mix of mountain air and man.
‘Wait till you see inside,’ he promised, opening the front door.
Rilee gasped as she walked into the cabin and looked around. A huge fireplace dominated the living area and scented candles flickered gently all around the room. A giant wrought-iron bed sat facing a large window which provided stunning views of the mountains, and on the other side of the room a decadent-looking spa bath sat surrounded by a recess of glass, facing a wall of natural rock. ‘This is amazing,’ she breathed and Dan’s smile widened at her delight.
‘You’re amazing,’ he corrected, brushing the side of her cheek tenderly. ‘I know I’ve thrown you in the deep end back at Thumb Creek. I’m sorry things have been so hectic.’
‘It’s not as though you didn’t warn me,’ she shrugged.
‘Yeah, but I just wish it could have been different.’
‘I get to spend every night with you beside me,’ she smiled, slipping her arms around his hips.
‘You don’t regret saying yes?’
‘Of course not,’ Rilee pulled back to look her husband in the face and caught a glimpse of doubt shadowing his expression. ‘Are you serious?’
‘I’ve never had anyone to worry about before, Ri. I don’t want to stuff this up.’
‘I love you, Dan. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with you.’
They spent almost the entire weekend locked inside their little cabin, only venturing outside to explore the bushland and tracks before hurrying back inside where it was warm, once more.
Eighteen
The sound of a plane droning grew louder and Rilee felt the leap of butterflies inside her stomach. Just be yourself, she recited. Dan gave her hand a squeeze and she looked up to find him watching her with a crooked smile.
They stood side by side at the airstrip, watching the small plane grow bigger as it circled for landing. Jacob had flown down to Sydney to bring the girls home on the final leg of connecting flights. Ellen hadn’t come with them to the airstrip; she was waiting up at the house instead, putting the finishing touches to the party arrangements.
‘Stop stressing. They’re going to love you,’ Dan said.
She managed what she hoped was a confident smile in return, but it did nothing to pacify her nerves. She was pretty sure he’d said the same thing about his parents.
The plane taxied to a stop outside the hangar and Dan tugged her along behind him as they made their way towards the aircraft.
The door opened and steps dropped down moments before a face, similar in features to her husband’s, popped through the doorway wearing a wide grin.
‘Danny boy!’ The excited squeal was followed by a human catapult that launched at Dan in a blur of blonde hair and long denim-clad legs.
Dan barely had time to drop Rilee’s hand before he caught his sister and swung her around in a huge bear hug. ‘Hey, squirt,’ he chuckled as he set her down on her feet. ‘How was the flight?’
‘Long! How come you didn’t come and pick us up?’ Natalie demanded.
‘Someone has to work around here,’ he shrugged.
A second woman emerged from the plane, a stark contrast to the first. Rilee knew what to expect from the photos around the house of the two women, but seeing these two opposite personalities in the flesh was unexpectedly surprising. Megan was tall and slender and dressed impeccably in a skirt, jacket and heels.
She was almost as tall as Dan as she leaned in and kissed his cheek before pulling back and looking at Rilee. ‘This must be our brand-new sister-in-law,’ she said in a low-pitched, almost sultry tone.
‘Nat, Megan, this is Rilee. My wife,’ he added, slipping his arm around Rilee’s waist and pulling her close to his side.
Natalie grinned, pushing her brother aside and giving Rilee a friendly hug. ‘I always wanted a younger sister, and now I have one.’
‘Trust me, they’re more trouble than they’re worth,’ Megan drawled, aiming the playful insult at her sister without moving to hug Rilee.
Jacob called out to Dan to give him a hand with the luggage and suddenly Rilee was alone with the two women.
‘I’m so glad you were both able to come home for the party. Your mother’s been looking forward to you arriving.’
‘We wouldn’t have been game not to come. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you don’t say no to my mother,’ Natalie told her dryly. ‘Besides, there was no way I was going to miss out on meeting my baby brother’s new bride.’
‘I know it was a bit of a surprise,’ Rilee started.
‘You think?’ Megan said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes as she headed towards the vehicle.
Rilee stared after her with a sinking sensation in her stomach.
‘Don’t worr
y about her,’ Natalie said, nudging her shoulder. ‘She’ll come around. She just seems like a coldhearted bitch until you get to know her.’ Rilee started to protest, but Natalie laughed and shook her head. ‘Trust me, she’s worked hard at perfecting that image. In her line of work it comes in very handy. She just forgets to leave it at the office sometimes.’
Rilee soon forgot about Megan as Natalie distracted her with questions about naturopathy. As they chatted they found more than a few common interests which kept them deep in conversation until the men had loaded the luggage into the four-wheel drive and they all headed back to the main house.
It was interesting to watch the dynamics of the Kincaid family in action, Rilee thought as they gathered in the lounge room a little later, sipping port and eating a light supper of cheese and fruit.
Ellen seemed to relax—well, as much as Ellen could relax. The woman never seemed to sit still for more than a few minutes. She was always doing something. Rilee put it down to her dominating nature: if ever there was a control freak it was Ellen Kincaid. However, tonight she did at least seem to enjoy catching up with her daughters.
Megan was very much like her mother, and yet probably had a great deal of her father in her as well. Jacob seemed different around his daughters too. With Dan he was always so blunt and demanding. As she watched him with his daughters, she saw him listening, nodding and even smiling. She glanced sideways at Dan now and again to gauge his reaction to his parents’ changed demeanours, but he didn’t seem perturbed by it. It was clear that the siblings, although divided by quite a large age gap, were close.
‘When do your parents arrive, Rilee?’ Ellen asked as she passed around a platter of cheese and biscuits.
‘The day after tomorrow,’ she answered, and hoped she didn’t look as nervous as she felt about her parents’ visit.
‘We look forward to finally meeting them,’ she said in a polite tone.
‘So tell us the story of how you two met. I haven’t really gotten to the bottom of this yet,’ Natalie said with a teasing glint in her eye. Rilee shifted her gaze to Dan uncomfortably. Was this what siblings did? Tried their best to make each other squirm?
‘Yes, go on, Dan, we could use a little entertainment,’ Megan added, reclining in her chair.
‘We met at a bucks party,’ Dan supplied unhelpfully.
‘A bucks party?’ Megan grinned at Rilee. ‘What on earth were you doing at a bucks party?’
No doubt she was already imagining there was jumping out of a large cake involved. ‘I was waitressing.’
‘So you saw each other from across a crowded room?’ Natalie prodded.
‘Not quite,’ Rilee hedged.
‘I came to her rescue,’ Dan corrected.
‘Like a knight in shining armour,’ Natalie sighed.
‘Are you sure you’re a high-finance wiz?’ Dan asked drolly.
‘Hey, a girl can be brainy and still like a bit of romance, you know,’ she informed him.
‘He thought I needed help,’ Rilee amended lightly, ‘but then he came back the next weekend and asked me out.’
‘And a few months later you were married,’ Megan finished, although it sounded more like an accusation than a happy ending. ‘I didn’t know people actually did that, you know, other than in the movies—waking up in Vegas and discovering you got married to a complete stranger.’
‘We got to know each other a bit better than that before we decided to get married,’ Dan said.
Even though he still looked relaxed, Rilee detected the slight shift in his mood and sensed a tension between him and his eldest sister that hadn’t been there moments before. ‘When you know it’s right, why waste time waiting?’
‘Why not,’ Megan shrugged. ‘A few months is ample time to get to know the person you’re about to spend the rest of your life with.’
‘I guess we could have lived together for a couple of years first, but then that’s not always a guarantee that you will actually know someone, is it?’ Dan said and Rilee saw Megan’s expression change, the sarcasm of moments before melting into cold disdain.
‘Is there any more food, Mum? I’m actually starving. Airline food still leaves a lot to be desired,’ Natalie said, jumping to her feet.
Rilee wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened, and judging from the bemused glance his parents had exchanged, she wasn’t the only one, but the moment passed and Ellen left the room to organise food, Natalie in tow.
‘I’m heading to bed,’ Megan said, standing gracefully and stopping by her father’s chair to kiss his forehead. ‘Goodnight.’
She didn’t kiss Dan, or say goodnight to him.
Later, in bed, Rilee turned on her side and tucked her arm under her head as she watched Dan take off his watch and place it on the bedside table before getting in beside her.
‘I think I made an impression on Megan,’ she said dryly.
Dan grunted. ‘She’s all right once you get to know her.’
‘Why does everyone keep saying that when what you should be saying is, “Yeah, she acts like a jerk, but you’ll get used to it.”’
He turned his head at that and she caught a slight smile in the moonlight. ‘She’s not always this much of a jerk.’
‘Well, that’s comforting,’ she muttered. ‘So what was all that about anyway?’
‘What?’
‘You know what. You obviously said something to her that hit the mark.’
When he didn’t answer straight away, Rilee thought maybe he was going to shut her out of what was clearly something between the three siblings. ‘I shouldn’t have said it, I guess, but you’re right, she was acting like a jerk towards you and it just came out.’
‘What was it about?’
‘A few months ago Megan broke up with a boyfriend she’d been with for about two years.’ He paused. ‘After she discovered he was actually married and had a family.’
‘What?’ Rilee gasped. ‘I don’t understand. How do you have a boyfriend for two years and not know he’s married?’
‘My point exactly. Who the hell is she to sit there and say we rushed into something when she had two years with a bloke and didn’t know something like that.’
Rilee pushed up on her elbow and looked down at her husband. ‘So how didn’t she know something like that?’
‘He worked away a lot,’ he said. ‘Apparently he was a pretty convincing liar.’
‘How did she find out?’
‘His wife got suspicious and hired a private investigator to follow him, and then turned up on Megan’s doorstep.’
‘Oh my God.’ Rilee could only imagine how that scene would have played out. ‘And Megan had no idea at all that this guy was married?’
‘Nope. He had it all nicely worked out. His wife and kids lived in Sydney and he commuted to the Melbourne office for three weeks at a time. He told Megan he had to work one week a month in the Sydney office and would fly out and spend that week playing happy families.’
‘And he managed to keep this up for two years?’
‘Apparently.’
Rilee couldn’t get her head around it. Poor Megan. She could only imagine how devastating it must have been to discover the man you loved had a whole other life he’d kept secret from you. How could someone even do that? Then something else occurred to her. ‘Your parents—I take it they don’t know about it?’
‘No. They just know Megan broke up with him, they have no idea why. The only reason I know is because Natalie called and asked me to come down to be there when Julian turned up to move his stuff out. He was giving Megan a hard time.’
Rilee placed a hand on his bicep and smiled. ‘You’re a great brother to go all that way and help.’
‘That’s what family do,’ he said simply.
‘I know, but the way you three stuck together was special, which makes me feel bad about you and Megan and what happened tonight.’
She saw Dan’s face tighten a little. ‘She’s still torn up about Julian.
I get that and for the most part I can give her a break, but not when she takes it out on you and me. There’s no excuse for that.’
Rilee snuggled into her husband’s side and closed her eyes. It explained Megan’s attitude, so maybe she shouldn’t take it personally, and yet, for some reason she had a feeling there was more to it. She smothered a wide yawn. It had been a long day. Maybe things would be better after they’d all had a good sleep.
Nineteen
Rilee walked around the back of the chook pen and into the shed and let out a small squeak of surprise to find Megan inside.
‘Sorry, you gave me a start,’ Rilee said.
Megan’s hand was resting on a saddle which sat on a small stand with bridles hanging on the wall above.
‘Were those yours? Did you have horses?’ Rilee asked. She’d wondered about the riding gear stored inside the old shed. It hadn’t been used in a long time judging by the dirt and mould on the leather. There were no horses on Thumb Creek; everything was done on motorbikes, quads or motor vehicles. She’d been disappointed to discover this: it didn’t fit her romantic image of stockmen on horseback riding into the sunset.
‘A long time ago,’ Megan said and Rilee caught the slightest of hitches in her tone before she cleared her throat and dusted off her hands.
Rilee put back the shovel she’d been using to clean out the chook pen. ‘How long since you were last home?’ she asked.
‘A while. Work keeps me fairly busy.’
‘Well, I’m glad you could make it back for the party. It means a lot to Dan, and to me as well.’
Megan’s eyes narrowed and her head tilted slightly, reminding Rilee of the chooks as they sized up the scraps she threw to them. ‘I hope you married my brother for the right reasons and you know what you’re getting yourself into.’
‘Sorry?’ Rilee frowned.
‘It’s a big gamble to marry someone you hardly know. If down the track you decide you made a mistake and you divorce my brother, you should be aware that there won’t be a hefty settlement.’ She gave a tight smile before adding, ‘One of the benefits of having a solicitor in the family is making sure the Kincaid assets are protected.’